..tempter's target....in the USA

Enough Series no.1

There was a good amount to be done ... But even all wound up with grief, conversations, and decisions...there were gaps; which the Singaporean lot of us took as cue to go shopping.

This plus my tween daughter's struggle to find clothes her size and our budget. So off we went to Target, a cosy commoner one-stop shop. Previous experience tells me there will be good finds. It's like going to Makota in Malacca I guess.

Quick as a flash, my daughter picked out five pieces per our agreement for less than sixty dollars, mostly from the Clearance racks.

Then the challenge began: while some of what we wanted to get was legitimate; the attractive prices, array of options, quality of products (even the Made in China ones looked better in the USA),  quickly bumped us all confused between needs and wants. Two distinct moments arose: I stopped my younger brother to remind him to do a currency conversion, I stopped myself to talk with God. The word came easily enough as I stood at aisle 18 (?). 

"You simply don't need this". No qualifications. 

I could do with quite a bit...or ..okay, I could not. Indeed, I do not. 

It's easy; if I didn't see the stuff, I really would live on very fine. Wait, that's how temptation works, isn't it?  

See
Consider
Relish
Reach for it

I believe it happened in primordial times and everyday since.

We returned with same suitcases, more filled  --- but better yet, a heart more satisfied that I paused, listened and obeyed.

Shopping with the daughter

SHOPPING is not exactly my thing. I love to buy stuff; but to shop ie. walk in and out of stores, sampling, comparing prices and tempting my heart-purse-strings is not really for me or my feet (and today my head joined in the protest when it quivered after only 2 hours).

But, the nearly twelve needs some clothes and hey, a mommy-daughter bonding time...come on...!

We went to really, the nearest mall, 2 train stations away..and at first could absolutely find nothing for her size (she's a puny teen). One kind salesgirl said, "er..teen shops..don't have..go to children's and buy the bigger sizes?". This little trick worked well, even for me when I was a teen, but this time it was a no-go. Her very definite taste buds said no.

So we traipsed on some more..and finally found the rather ubiquitous Hang Ten and Bossini. O well. Last year when we were all the way in HongKong, shoppers' paradise - we ended up in Bossini (we could not find Hang Ten). So you know where my imagination borders.

A hundred dollars poorer --yes and this is because it's HT and B not Mango or Abercombie [hey i do know some stuff]...we realised we were done in already! Our feet were protesting and our heads seemed to lag behind our bodies..

We stumbled into a bookstore where we both grinned at the sight of a book with a nice Burmese kitty on the cover and a tagline that went: cats and daughters are alike: they dont come when called. Touche! I felt a secret triumph as my girl squeezed my arm tight and we exchange a warm hug...and agreed that shopping - except for books - isn't really our thing.

The icing on the cake came when she said, "i dont understand why some people must have so much clothes!" Bless her heart; may she hold true to this thought forever..and long live affordable stores!

a view of the Mall - and the shop i had vouchers for but she found nothing she favoured!