Not the Queen of Free, but the Princess of “Almost”

If Angie is the Queen of “FREE”, then I am the Princess of “ALMOST.”

First, a confession.  I am NOT a bad mother.  Just because my daughter complained months ago that her Hello, Kitty boots were too small and I made her wear them today and she got blisters within an hour of putting them on does NOT mean I am a bad mother.  They’re the same size as her other shoes, for crying out loud!  And she looked so darn cute wearing them with her little sale outfit from Kohl’s (another “ALMOST” free purchase).  And I did feel appropriately guilty to the point where I bandaged her feet and carried her out to the car and into the Payless to buy her new shoes before school.  So crucify me if you must, but I am NOT a bad mother!

So there you have the backround for this story.  Laden with guilt and needing to remove the label of “BAD MOTHER” from my forehead, I dutifully trekked into Payless for new black boots.  They wouldn’t be as cute as her Hello, Kitty ones, but I had moved past that.  After having her foot measured, I had a new “BAD MOTHER” sign screaming neon pinned to the front of my sweatshirt as we discovered that her foot has grown anywhere from a half-size to ONE AND A HALF SIZES LARGER than any of her current shoes.  Yep.  She’s a size 12 and I’ve got her in anything from 10 1/2’s to 11 1/2’s.

Feeling ever more burdened under the heavy load of guilt I was now carrying, I sought to find a shoe, ANY shoe, that would fit her growing feet…and still be cute.  It was BOGO time, so I thought I might be able to sneak out 2 pairs of shoes without spending too much money.  We ended up finding a cute pair of black half-boots and some pretty black lace dressy shoes for church.  While the dress shoes were full price, the half-boots were on clearance for $9.99.  With BOGO, that made them all of $5.00.

But wait!  There’s more!

So as I’m checking out, the cashier tells me,  “Oh, those shoes were on clearance for $4.00, so you’ll get them for”  – are you ready for this? – “$2.00.”  And I stood there all cool and calm and collected like a total bargain shopper while she rang up my purchase.  And Crisana walked out of there proudly wearing her brand-new, VERY cute, VERY stylish, VERY $2.00 shoes.  And I proudly turned off the flashing “BAD MOTHER” sign on my chest, and wiped the “BAD MOTHER” decal from my forehead and dutifully strapped my darling princess into her booster seat before checking both ways to back out of my parking space so I could speed er, drive her carefully to preschool.

Yes, I may not be the Queen of “FREE”, but I rather like being the Princess of “ALMOST”.