I finally converted the non-believer!

Ever since I've known him, Hubs has been strongly anti-Value Village. When we first moved to Red Deer I got a job at Toys R Us and had to come up with a 'uniform' of black pants and a white dress shirt. Being on a strict budget (meaning completely broke, the norm for young punks like us) meant I couldn't go out to Sears or the Bay and drop $50, so instead I went to Value Village (made Ty come with) and only spent like $10. I was just thrilled but I remember him being horrified by that place. He'd never been in there and he vowed he never would again. He said the smell of the place, you know that smell, traumatized him and he could never imagine wanting to wear someone's castoff clothes. Typical spoiled-rich-boy attitude, eh?

For years, I tried to get him to change his way of thinking. When I'd show him all the awesome finds I'd made there, clothes for the kids and myself at a fraction of the price, he'd just smile and say, "That's nice." But he'd still refuse to let me buy him clothes there. When I brought home one of those huge molded plastic kitchen sets for Lena and he saw that I only paid $10 for it, I think his attitude started to change. Just a little, though.

In the past month, Hubs has managed to destroy three pairs of his work pants, giant rips in the crotch and legs that would be impossible to fix by sewing. Which left him with only two pairs of work jeans. He mentioned that he should go shopping for some new jeans for work. Which just enraged me, "You mean you want to buy NEW jeans so you can wear them to WORK?! I don't think so!" I mean, how bone-headed is that? New jeans at like $40 a pop, just to wear to work and get them all dirty, stained and ripped? NO. So I decided to go against his anti-VV mindset and pick him up some new pants at, where else, VV. Unbeknownst to him, of course. I'd just hand him the pants and he'd have no choice but to accept them, since they were already paid for. Right? Makes sense.

So when my wonderful, thoughtful grandma Dea called me Sunday night to let me know VV's 50% sale was the next day, it seemed like providence. Loaded up the kids Monday morning, drove to VV, and got to work shopping. And when I say 'got to work', I really mean it. That place was PACKED. I managed to find the lone parking space, only to discover once inside that all the carts were gone! So with my new attitude of 'no regrets, be bold', I commandeered a cart full of clothes sitting by itself at the end of an aisle. No one seemed to care when I dumped the clothes out into a bin, so I figured it must have been a cart that a worker had placed unwanted clothes into. So that small triumph set the tone for the next three hours. Yes, three hours, people. I literally went down every single aisle.

First I loaded up on clothes for No.3 and No.4. Got Lena five new pairs of jeans, really nice ones too. A couple of skirts, lots of t-shirts, two really sweet jean jackets, and a totally wicked pair of shitkicker boots for her. (When I told her that since they really are shit-kicker boots, she was allowed to say that, she was so shocked and thrilled, "You mean I can really say that word? Yesss! I can't wait to tell Gramma Hag about my new shitkickers!" Yep, that's my girl.) Ryder got about ten new pairs of pants, three pairs of summer shorts, lots of t-shirts, and a new pair of sandals.

Then I moved on to the boys section, looking for new shirts for No.1 and No.2. And man, did I ever find some awesome stuff! A couple of West 49 shirts, a Moto-X one, a few with funky cool skull designs, even a black shirt with their school logo on it! They each got about six new shirts, and they were ecstatic over what I picked out for them. To the point where I was almost offended, "What, you think I have bad taste or something? Did you think I'd get you Bob the Builder shirts or something? Geezsh!"

Next I moved on to the women's section. Three t-shirts (one is a retro-looking Blondie one, so cool), a pair of white capris in that light sweatshirt material, and a sweet pair of Levi's low-cut jeans. Oh, and a pair of wedge heels. Because you know that I scoured that shoe section like crazy. Heels and purses seem to be my new obsession. I'd originally had about twenty pairs of jeans and capris in the cart to try on, but when I saw how long the line was for the change rooms and the lady told me you could only try on 5 at a time, then had to go to the end of the line to wait for your next turn, I was like, "HELL no." Put all the pants back but for that one pair of jeans and the capris.

So by this time, we'd already been there a good two-and-a-half hours. Thank GOD I had the foresight to bring a lunchbag stuffed with snacks and juiceboxes for the kids, else I would have lost my ever-lovin' mind. By the time I made it to the men's pants section, almost all the food was gone and the kids had that look in their eyes, like they were going to strangle me if I took any longer. I made my way through all the t-shirts, must've looked at 500 shirts before choosing two that I was pretty sure he'd like. He's real picky with shirts, so I have to be very choosy. Then on to jeans. Out of the hundreds of pairs there in his size, I'd say a good 90% were Wranglers. Hubs would not be caught dead in Wranglers, ever, so those were out. After much deliberation and careful thought, I found him three new-ish looking pairs of Levi's (at half price, so around $7 a pair, what a steal!). And as I left that aisle and headed for the check-out, I noticed a pair of grey shorts hanging on the end of a rack. Went to check them out, turns out they were Airwalk shorts, kind of dressy-looking like golf shorts. For $4! I was so thrilled.

Oh, and I should mention that Lena made me go through the toy section with her. She begged me for stuffed animals and dollys, to which I emphatically told her NO, we don't need any more of those in the house. So she settled on a bag full of Polly Pocket stuff (a car, clothes, figurines, a little house, etc) and a bag full of various stencils. Stencils! I mean, I'm always on the lookout for more stuff to add to the arts and craft arsenal we got going on, but stencils? Her reasoning was that then the brothers could do stencils with her and they'd all have fun, and who can refute that? What a little sweetheart.

So anyway, flash forward to that night. The boys had already been through their stuff, ecstatic and quite in awe of me and my mad fashion-skills. But we were all anxious to see how Daddy would react to what I'd got him. Remember, this is the man who's trash-talked VV for years. I'll admit, he did make me bargain with him, he said "a kiss for trying on each item", so that worked out to six kisses. Suited me just fine, best bargain I ever made! Haha. What a stinker he is. But here is the totally awesome, amazing thing -- he friggin' LOVED the clothes! When he tried on the three pairs of jeans, he just couldn't believe how "nice" they were, "practically new!" I told him his ass looked sweeeet in them, so of course then he had to strut around and model them for me. He actually said to me about the one super-nice pair, "I'll have to keep these in my emergency overnight bag, so if I get sent up north I can wear them and not look grungy, and all the hot waitresses at the hotel restaurant will try to flirt with me." I just grinned and shook my head at him. He tried on the Airwalk shorts and when I expressed anxiety that they looked a little tight, he assured me, "Oh, well, once I drop my drinking-weight, they'll fit better." What is that, "drinking-weight"? "You know, if I stop drinking I drop like 20 pounds." Must be frickin' nice!!!! MEN! So not fair. And the shirts I got him, his reaction was hilarious! "Why would anyone want to give these away? Are they insane? These are awesome!" So he just thought I was THE shit after that, the fashion Queen, the most wonderful wife ever!

What a relief. I should have done this years ago, eh? Just taken the bull by the horns, disregarded his vanity and snobbish mindset, and gone ahead and done it. I think he's probably thinking the same thing! I'll admit that I had to get in a couple of 'told-you-so's in there. After all, behind every great man is the even greater woman who picks out his clothes, right? LOL