[wolf]

Shopping.

I really dislike doing it. I mean, I can wander around and look at stuff okay, but this was "I have a list and I have to cross things off it" kind of shopping.

Didn't do so well at that, as it happens.

See, what I really needed was a new pair of sneakers. The soles of my beloved Adidas hikers are starting to separate from the shoes, and just gluing them isn't doing it, and I really am not so much of a nerd as to just wrap a piece of duct tape around them, so I need new sneakers.

Now, I have some pride, so I can't just roll down to the Walmart down the street and hook up on some $10 rollback specials.

So, I decided to go to the Target, because I do have this list that included a lot of other things, all of which I knew Target would stock. And they did, except, as it happens, the sneakers. Yes, that's right. The item I specifically went to get, I failed to obtain. They did HAVE sneakers, damn ugly kind of fake Converse sneakers ... no interest there. Lots of kid sneakers, but nothing but those damn ugly converse things in my size. They didn't even have low hikers, which I would have settled for. So, after the shoe aisles I head straight for the checkout.

And realize, in the middle of the parking lot, that I had failed to hit the grocery section, which I had planned as my last stop. Well, it really wasn't a grocery trip, just a trip to get some extras of things I'm close to being out of, but not THAT close, so I keep heading toward the car. Stow everything, and realize I still hadn't gotten the sneakers that pried me off the couch, and I'll need the sneakers, we're doing some rah-rah fitness thing at the rehab, and I signed up for it, so I need some decent sneakers, right? Well, I am just down the mega-center from a sporting goods superstore, and so I'll head in there, yeah, fine, but I'm going to stop in the Old Navy, just to confirm that they don't sell any grown-up clothing, they don't.

So then into the sports store, head for the sneakers, and ask the clerk, "So, do you have anything sneakers that cost less than fifty bucks, aren't white, and aren't high tops?

No.

Back out into the damn heat, but I did run into the Five Below and got some bottled water to fend of the early symptoms of dehydration, and realize I'm looking at the back of a shoe warehouse, go in, grab a pair of very sweet looking Adidas sneakers, try them on, try two other pairs, just in case something else will fit, the $150 Asics were really nice, but didn't look as good on my feets as $150 worth of shoes should, hit the checkout, paid my $49.97 (yay, sale ... $70 regular price) and I was off like a prom dress.

I really don't like shopping.