I spent a good part of yesterday shopping at the Salvation Army. Some of you may think that sounds like fun. Others may hear that and wonder what I did to deserve such a punishment. To you I would say, “I don’t know but I promise never to do it again!”

To clarify, I have no problem with the Salvation Army . It was close to downtown Austin and seemed to be a fairly new facility. It was clean too and organized.  Although I admit at one point after about an hour of looking through every.single. piece of clothing – organized by color, who does that? – I thought to myself, “I’m surrounded by a bunch of clothes that look too small and are out of style. I might as well shop in my own closet.” But I like their mission so I would definitely stop in again.

Another thing you should know is that the company, the two ladies I went with, were not the problem either. I enjoyed my time with them just fine, especially lunch at Chuy’s.

No, the reason I might agree that it was nearly a punishment was my general disdain for all things shopping. I’m not kidding, I’d be more than happy to give up all shopping completely if only I could get the family to just stop eating. Cold, aren’t I?

I don’t know if it’s just a phase, a really, really long phase, I’m going through or if this is me now. I actually hope it’s a phase because most of the things in my home are getting old and falling apart. Someone is going to have to replace them, especially those pathetic bathroom towels. Those things are in sad shape.

The other thing is that shopping always seems to fix women’s problems and make them happy. I sure would like to be super happy again!

I wonder how long this can go on before I’ll be forced to turn in my woman card?

In Wisconsin, while there were many, many deer, they usually kept hidden. On several occasions, I’d see them far off in the distance in a farmer’s field while driving. They stayed far enough away from human activity that seeing them was exciting. Hitting them with the car late at night on a cold, icy road was exciting too. Not that I’d actually know.

They are shy in Wisconsin and fast too. If you came near them, and when I say near I mean is-that-a-deer? near, they took off running.

In Texas, the deer have a whole different attitude. They don’t give a hoot how close you get, they ain’t budging. I’d swear they know exactly when hunting season begins and don’t plan on taking cover until the day before the shooting begins.

The other day, we pulled up in the car very close to these little guys, there was a group of about ten to twelve. Since some of them were blocking the road, we yelled for them to move. Nothing. One baby looked up, almost ready to go, when it was quickly chastised by the rest of the group.

So hubby stepped on the gas and hit one.

I kid! But we should have, there’s just something about a deer with attitude.

They seem to taste better.