Got the license plate for the new wheels and it’s 100% a Droid name, ha! So the Stormtrooper name it is. Besides, as Dangerspouse reminded me a few days ago, stormtroopers never hit anything. In that context, it’s the perfect name for a car.
I’m counting the minutes until we head out for the better part of two weeks’ vacation. Like Santa, I’m making a list and checking it twice. Or more accurately, four or five times times.
Maybe six.
Ten or twelve, tops.
We’re looking forward to the trip – to seeing the kids and getting out of the desert for a while. Should be fall colors. Our cameras are itching to go. If all goes well, we plan to pull out of the driveway Friday morning shortly before daylight.
My spousal unit, G, went through his closet yesterday to dig out non-work pants he can still wear, so he could start packing.
When we first got together seventeen years ago, he looked like the outskirts of Auschwitz, bone thin and an expression so hollow it was almost physically painful to see. Out of respect for his privacy I won’t go into details, except to say he earned those looks in some very hard ways..
When we moved in together, he literally owned two pair of jeans, no dress pants, and a few shirts, and they were all threadbare.
One of the first things we did was buy him clothes. We bought new, naturally, but he also enjoyed getting things from thrift stores. It was still a big step up from what he had, and he could wear them to work without feeling guilty if they got dirty or torn. Mind you we could have bought all new – he just enjoyed hunting for deals more than he enjoyed new clothes.
Over the years, he’s accumulated a bit more padding around the middle and a substantially larger wardrobe (in terms of quantity). He’s is a long way from overweight, but I was reasonably sure I’d have to go shopping before we left. He scoffed and told me I was being ridiculous.
Lemme save time: other than one pair of jeans I hounded him into buying three weeks ago, he didn’t find any that fit. Not a single pair.
After clearing his closet of what was too small, what remained were the one new pair of jeans and four tattered pair of work pants. If it were up to me, those work pants would have been in the dumpster a long time ago. They’re that bad. He’s fine for shirts, jackets, etc. – but not pants.
I made a mad dash to Wally World after work last night and found two pair in his size, all there were in stock (other than more jeans, which he didn’t want). I wouldn’t have minded going to Kohls or Dillards, somewhere a bit better quality, except he lives 100% in work pants. The fact he’s outgrown every non-work pair, and didn’t know it until three days before going cross-country, says it all. Two of the too-small pairs still have the tags on, bought several months before the pandemic. He never tried them on when they were new, even though I bugged him to check. I suspected when I bought them they might be on the small side for him – but he insisted they’d fit.
And here we are.
We didn’t want to spend money on luggage. (*cough* G didn’t want to spend money on luggage *cough*) It’s our first real vacation together in all those years. We do enjoy traveling, but most of our adventures are day trips.
I found the perfect solution to appease Mr Cheapskate and still carry clothes, toiletries, etc., for a couple of weeks: reusable shopping bags from Ross. They’re heavy-duty, they’re H-U-G-E, and they’re 99¢ apiece. I bought three of ’em, plus we already had a couple here at home.
Apparently you can take the trailer trash outta the trailer, but you can’t take the trailer trash outta the girl.
If I’d known sooner how much he’d fuss about buying a couple of duffle bags, I’d have ordered something with zippers from Amazon, because fait accompli trumps cheap. By the time I knew it was too late, though, so shopping bags it is.
At least I talked him into the reinforced Ross bags instead of thin plastic grocery bags!
The reusable shopping bags are great! When I moved, I put all my pots and pans in bags. Easier to carry, and easy to shove them into places where a box wouldn’t go. I use them everywhere and I have about 15 of them.
They do the job, which is the whole idea 🙂 I’d prefer something that closes, but I’ll take what I can get.
I’m glad you made him try on his pants so you could get him some that actually fit. Maybe a shopping trip for bargains along the way will sooth his cheapskate ways. LOL
I hope you both have a grand vacation away from the desert. The trees should be turning soon. Here in Indiana, it is still warm but some trees are slowly turning color.
I did indeed make him try these on the minute I got home with them. If THESE hadn’t fit and he didn’t realize until we were on the road, he’d have never heard the end of it, lol.