The Beach Trip

We did it! We made the trip to the beach Monday, safe and sound.



The morning began with a light, misting of rain which continued for the first 2 hours of our trip. We stopped 30 minutes into the trip to grab some breakfast at McDonald's. Yum! Nutritious! Somehow Mom ended up with a monster sized cup...



Thus began the humor in our trip. I brought along my son's school books, some crochet projects, and my newly aquired set of Trivial Pursuit cards. Did I tell you that I found a complete, original Trivial Pursuit set for $1??? Fantastic yard sale find!



These provided several hours of entertainment!

Upon arrival at Myrtle Beach, SC we proceeded straight to the Easy Spirit outlet store, off 501 near the old Waccamaw Pottery. Mom could hardly wait to procure her now famous socks! (They are Level 3 Athletic socks. Before you look on the Easy Spirit website, let me save you some time. They aren't listed!)


I headed off to browse the clearance section at the back of the store while she stocked up on socks. Before leaving I mentioned that the shoes were buy one, get one half-off (on top of their already lower than retail prices!) Mom said, "I don't need any more shoes, Danita. I have plenty."


When I came back to the counter 3 minutes later she had snagged 2 pairs of shoes and 6 packs of socks. What woman can resist a shoe sale, I ask you? The cashier was so slow ringing us out that Mom added 2 more packs of socks before she finished. They were on sale, too!

We visited the Reader's Digest store a few doors down. I'm a book fanatic and they had some tantalizing cookbooks in the window. Did I tell you about my cookbook collection? I have many... The best part was the educational section. Being a homeschool mom I'm constantly on the look out for educational material. We found an American trivia game, similar to Trivial Pursuit, for $7! Need I tell you what we did on the ride home? For some reason, a lot of Mom's answers were Cassius Clay. Never knew he was that involved in science and art...

After our brief shopping experience we headed up the road to Calabash, NC. It's about 1 hour from the south side of Myrtle Beach. Our tummy's were grumbling just in time for a visit to Tony's. Didn't I tell you she'd stop there?


It was a little crowded inside so I didn't photograph our food. Mom had her standard Steak and Cheese sub and I was in heaven with my House Special baby pizza. It's basically like a Surpreme pizza from Pizza Hut but, has many more black olives. My son, Caleb, waited to eat his breakfast biscuit after shopping. He wasn't hungry when we arrived at Tony's. Poor fellow. He missed a delicious meal!

The ride was pleasant, for the most part, and there were several bouts of laughing so hard that we almost peed our pants.



End of the day totals-

2 pairs of shoes

8 packs of socks - 2 pair per pack

1 photo box

1 American Trivia Game

3 McDonald's breakfasts

1 pack of bubble gum

1 Steak and Cheese sub

1 House Special baby pizza
half a tank of gas

Thousands of smiles


Can you think of a better way to spend the day?

Happy Birthday, Mom!

My dear mother's birthday occurred this week. She made it back from Germany just in time to celebrate! Unfortunately, I've been unwell since Saturday night and wasn't able to properly celebrate the day. Hopefully that will be rectified this coming week as she has requested that we take a jaunt down to the beach for a few days.


This was the conversation -

"Danita, would you like to go the the beach next Monday? I want to go back to get more socks."

Side note on the sock story - One of Mom's best friends has a beach house and they went down the weekend before she left for Germany. There are many outlet stores in the area and they hit a few stores while there. She found "the best socks I've (she's) ever owned in my (her) entire life" at the Easy Spirit outlet. Upon her return and subsequent use of the few sets she picked up at the beach, she visited the local Easy Spirit store only to be told that the socks were very popular but not an item that they carry here in town due to space limitations. Don't you hate it when that happens?


Back to the conversation...

"Mom. Are you seriously going to go all the way back to the beach for socks?" Additional unspoken thoughts - This trip is about 4 hours, with no traffic and not even considering the gas expenditures - FOR SOCKS.

"Well, yeah. I told you I liked them and I can't get them here. Remember, I tried."

Okay. I'm vocalizing my thoughts, "It's a 4 hour ride and a lot of gas."

"Uh-huh," she replies, not batting an eye.

After a few moments of thought I uncover the suspected true plot. "You want to go to Tony's, right?"

"Uh, well, we can..." imagine the largest, cheesiest grin you've ever seen in your life and insert it here, "Or we can get some seafood."

A few years back she discovered what she considers to best the best little pizza shop in the world, right on the North Carolina coast - Tony's. Every time we ride anywhere remotely close to the area she wants to stop. Does she get pizza? NO. She gets a steak and cheese sub. Alright, I confess that it's a pretty good sandwich, but 4 hour ride good? Hmmmm....

"But, I really want those socks!"

"Right, Mom. Socks."

Here I am turning the lights out to save the world from Global Warming.

Here's my Mom, riding 4 hours in an SUV to buy socks and a sub.

Am I going? You betcha! It's time with my Mom...and that matters more than all the rest.

**********

For tangible gifts, I picked up this cute little Duke Blue Devils "Dammit Doll" by pghpatchworkgal on Etsy. (By the way, it can also be changed to a Darn It doll for those of you that are more sensitive to wording.)

Photo from pghpatchworkgal's listing on Etsy

Mom LOVES Duke. She's been a fan for years. She follows them in football and basketball. I do hate that her birthday is just shy of the main basketball season, but football season will be here before we know it!

The little tag attached to the doll has a rhyme about the uses. Basically, you use the doll to fuss at the team. You can beat the doll or throw it at the TV when your team makes a bad play, neither of which would cause any damage to anything. Of course, this doesn't make the best example for small children, but my sister and I are both grown...use it with relish Mom!

Next...

Two weeks ago I found an aluminum pound cake pan at the Goodwill exactly like my mother's, from the 60's. When she saw my find she immediately instructed me to find her one, too. Mom makes the best pound cakes and has requests for them often at church functions and from family. Since she says that this is the only pan she can make her pound cakes in, and you can no longer find these lightweight aluminum ones in the store, she only makes one at a time. I found two for her while she was gone!

Do you think that picking up some gifts at Goodwill will make up for the ecological damage we'll do next week on the beach trip????