Manic Monday: Shop/Shopping

It's interesting how much my shopping patterns have changed over the years.

I used to take great pleasure in finding the perfect item at the perfect store. And this isn't particularly referring to Christmas shopping, just my everyday shopping habits. If I needed makeup or shampoo I would go to a store just for that. When I needed groceries I would head over to the grocery store; a nice upscale store where they would take my purchase to the car for me. If I needed a birthday card and wrapping paper I would go to another store just for that. And of course if I needed a copy of the newest hit CD I would go to a music store for that. And while at any of the above listed stores I would leisurely browse through the products as I did my shopping, often stopping to examine other products or read labels. It truly was enjoyable and relaxing. Maybe even fun, but it's hard to remember.

Now, however, my day-to-day shopping can be summed up in a single multilingual word: Walmart, or as a fellow Walmart shopper referred to it one day..."The Devil's Store." Do I frequent the store because I absolutely LOVE Walmart and their rollback prices? No...It's because I have three kids to pack in and out of the car and the fewer stops we have to make, the better. But I actually loathe that store. The location closest to us is easily the biggest Walmart I've ever seen. I was told it's six acres worth of store and it looks like it. It's dizzying to just be in there. Honestly my first couple of visits there made me a little nauseous. And my days of browsing and leisurely shopping are over too. I make a mad dash through the store as if I've won a shopping spree.

Hopefully shopping will be fun again someday. Until then, I'm going to try and figure out how I can fit all of my purchases in the cart so easily as I shop, but then it suddenly seems like twice as much merchandise once it's in bags and loaded back into the exact same cart.