At least it's something

Another post in the spirit of Christmas. I have most of the gift shopping done, but there are a few more things to pick up. I also had to buy some small items for starting my daycare, so off I went to Walmart, armed with a list of specific, yet relatively easy things (or so I thought). On the list: caps for wall sockets, an anchor for a book shelf, puppy mittens, a Santa hat (for J's Christmas concert) and possibly a TV mount.

Here's how I did.

I walked around in seventy circles before I found the socket caps. Thirty minutes. I asked four (yes, FOUR) employees for help with the book shelf anchor, and not one knew what it was. I finally pulled something off the shelf that looked somewhat relevant to my needs, and all four employees said, yes, that was it. It's not. It's an artificial stud for drywall. Well, in my defense, at least it goes into a wall. The TV mounts were all over $100, which may be inflated because it's Christmas. But really, who puts that on their wish list? The puppy mittens were also a no-go, but there was an overabundance of Hello Kitty wear, obviously. As for the Santa hat, I saved that for last, thinking that it would at least be there and that would cheer me up. But lo and behold, I get to the proper department and the only hats left are in pink. J's a boy.

So I got angry. It's supposed to be a holly jolly time of year (according to my husband, at least), and I was not holly-jolly. I went to the table asking for donations. At least I could do something productive while I was there. I picked a card and bought a present for a boy without a family for Christmas. There was all his basic information and some suggestions of what he might like. One was hockey stuff. So I went to the hockey stuff and immediately found a very nice fleece blanket with all the Canadian NHL teams on it. That was something. It made me feel a bit better, although no less grouchy.

Then I went to another store for a Santa hat and guess what? The only ones they had were for dogs! So I gave up.