Running Into Wal-Mart

Do you ever plan on just running to Wal-Mart and somehow, some way it always takes longer than you expect?  Well, not even that I had to be somewhere immediately after my trip, but it's just the fact that I thought I could run into Wal-Mart, yes, Wal-Mart of all places, and it took an hour.

Okay, so granted part of it was absolutely my fault.  I've been told a time or two that I'm somewhat neurotic.  I'll let you decide that for yourself over the course of my blogs.  I went to Wal-Mart for just a few things...I needed eyeliner, mascara, dental floss, and windshield wipers.  The eyeliner and mascara are in the same place.  So the dental floss and wipers would take a few minutes.  With the dental floss, I already knew what kind I would get.  There are some things, that I always get the exact same kind of...same brand, same scent/flavor, same everything.  Dental floss happens to be one of them....Reach, mint, waxed.  Easy enough.

Well, the eyeliner and mascara proved to take some time.  I'm definitely not brand specific when it comes to these.  There are certain aspects of each that I like.  Liner, I tend to like the wooden, what do you call it?  The wooden outside and not the plastic?  With the wooden outside, the inside, the liner part tend to get sharper, which I like.  Now, mascara I'm quite picky on.  It's so difficult to find a good mascara, like a good pair of jeans. Why is it so rare to find a good pair of jeans or a good shade of lip gloss. When I do find the ones I like, they tend to get discontinued.  Welcome to my world!  You'll find that as a repetitive theme in my life.  Well, I'm trying to find mascara that I want, but I just hate to pay over a certain price for it.  I realize on some levels that doesn't make much since, since if you like something, the two dollar difference shouldn't really make that big of a difference.  But to me, a sometimes neurotic person, it does..depending on the item.  There are some items, that I'm just quite impartial to...it depends more on the price, which to me makes oh-so-perfect sense.

Anyways, so I'm basically price shopping between the three aisles of makeup for mascara and liner.  I actually bought some green liner not that long ago, but it's too green.  I wanted more of a dark green.  The green I bought makes my eyes say,  "Oh, here comes some green eyeliner...oh and there I finally see the eyes."  So I needed a darker more subtle green.  I really wanted to buy this Almay grayish blue liner, my favorite color, but as my world would have it, they no longer sell it.  I found a better shade of green for me but had yet to find what I was looking for with my grayish blue.

Then I found two other shades, that I basically settled on...and by the way, I just absolutely hate settling, even on small things like this.  Then before I found my mascara, I got stuck looking at lip gloss.  Okay, so this is definitely a weak point with me. I love, absolutely love, lip gloss.  I have a makeup bag in my purse, and it is filled with only lip gloss.  I believe lip gloss can make or break an outfit, just like shoes or accessories.

So, once again, there's a shade of lip gloss, by Rimmel, that I just love.  Of course, I've had it so long that the color's name has faded so much I can't even make out a letter, let alone the word.  I'm basically going on the color in the container...which I haven't found at three stores I've looked for it.  I'm assuming, once again, they've discontinued it.  I've even bought shades that seem relatively close to it, to get home and put it on, for the color to be oh-so-not even close to it.  Some would also say I get a little obsessed.  To me, this is not obsessive, this is just really liking something and not willing to give up on the possibilities of it existing.

Okay, so one day, I may have to give up on it, but not quite yet.  I did, however, find another shade, Snog, of Rimmel lip gloss that I needed because I was out of the one I had.  Lo and behold, they actually still make that color.  Yeah for me!  After all of this, I still had to find mascara.  I went out on a limb and bought mascara that I've never tried.  I actually had a coupon for it, and that's why I bought it.

I'm not afraid to say that I use coupons.  Gosh, I've saved so much money over the past few years investing a few minutes in coupon clipping.  I just make sure I don't buy things that I wouldn't already buy, because then that would actually mean I'm just spending money I wouldn't already spend, which then doesn't save me money at all.

Anyways, I finally got those things and proceeded to buy wind shied wipers.  Now, I'm one of the lucky few who have a part-time mechanic in my dad.  Well, he is a self-taught mechanic...and he would never claim that title, but he does all the car maintenance that is possible...oh, and saves me a ton of money.  He changes my oil, airs my tires, checks fluids, etc.  Today, he was my windshield wiper changer.  I always buy the necessary car parts for my personal mechanic, so I'm quite familiar with what I need to do.  The problem is I always call to make sure I'm getting the right thing, because one time I didn't.

The one time I didn't I bought the wrong oil filter.  The sad thing is I had bought an oil filter for the same car before.  When I bought it, I thought, "I don't remember it being this one," but I'd only bought it one time before, because the car was relatively new.  My dad put that filter on and then realized it was the wrong one when he put the old filter in the box of the new filter, and it was a different size.  I had to go buy another filter, and it took my dad 30 minutes just to get the wrong filter off, because it was made for a sports car and was tighter on my car.

Anyways, I called my dad just to ask which brand was better Michelin or Rain X.  I went with Michelin, because they are both good, and it was less expensive.  So, now I'm thinking that I'm almost out of here.  I find I get a little frustrated at the bigger Wal-Marts, when I'm "running in."  There are just so many people, most of them are not in a hurry, so they are going at a normal rate, while I find myself racing in a zig zag motion in and out of people to try and quickly get in and out of there.

I scan all the check out lines. There are no self check outs on the end of the store where I am.  If there were, I would have definitely used one of them.  I tend to use them, because I find them easier and quicker than waiting in line, although it may not always be the case.  I guess part of it is, because it depends on my quickness and not someone else's.

I find the line that I think would be the quickest and most efficient for me.  I proceed to the check out line with about 8 items.  There was one person in front of me with about 100 items, but the 10 items or less line had 5 people.  I thought this line would be quicker.  Well, the lady bought some clothes that didn't have a SKU on them.  The cashier manually put the SKU in twice, and it wouldn't take it any more.  The manager came over to try and help, and this is when I switched lines to the 10 items or less.  Another lady in line even suggested I go to the 10 items or less line.

When I walk the five feet over to the line, since it was the line next to the one I was in, three more people got in line in front of me.  If I would've stayed in my first line, I would have been done before I even got to the front of the line.  Why does that always seem to happen?  One line takes what seems like forever, so you switch lines, to the wrong line that seems to take forever?  I finally leave more than an hour after arriving, when this trip was supposed to take about 15 minutes.

So next time, you think you can just run into Wal-Mart, you might wanna think again.  Oh, and forget about running into Wal-Mart if you have kids.  I once thought I could do that with my nephew, who was pretty self-sufficient at 8 years old.  Well, I was trying to be quick, and he had a completely different idea.  He wanted to look around and lolligag...the definition of quick to an 8 year old doesn't exist.  He thinks it means to take two steps every two minutes and only look at every item in the aisle, because he has to handle, pick up, hold everything...even if it would never interest an 8 year old boy.

Kids are funny...and my idea is to just forget about going to Wal-Mart with more than one kid.  You moms and dads are amazing, because you have no choice but to take the kids...guess you're not running in anywhere then?!

I get home, and my mechanic dad has problems getting the old wipers off my car.  He finally gets the one off the driver side, but then can't get the new one to click into place.  Although it won't come off, it doesn't click.  My dad keeps reading and re-reading the directions, knowing the wiper won't come off, but can't let it be, because it's not clicking.  If there's any wonder why I might be a tad neurotic, I get it from my dad, just in case it wasn't obvious.  I suggest taking my defective blade back to Wal-Mart, although I really don't want to.  My dad is finally convinced the wiper really is attached and not going anywhere...that it really won't fall off.  And tell me not to take it back.

Well, all of this was for me to get my state inspection, since I am a week late on when mine expired.  Now, car shops are known to take so long.  I'm prepared for my being at the state inspection place for a while.  I've been to car places several times in my drivers license career, and I've never gotten out quickly.  I get to the state inspection place.  Now something can be said for a car place that is efficient, quick and gives me advice for my car when I'm leaving.  He told me FYI I need point 3 brake fluid.  Well, I thought it was point 3, but as my dad corrected me when I relayed the message, it's DOT 3.

So, there's a little more for me to still learn about cars...If you can believe it, I'm in and out in 12 minutes.  It took me longer to stand in the first line in Wal-Mart.  Actually it took me longer to get out of the makeup aisle at Wal-Mart.  I'll try and remember this when I'm "running into Wal-Mart."  Actually, I'll probably forget and have all this happen to me again. Then again, it's Jessica's World, and you just never know what's going to happen there : )