“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 629 (Sunday)

The day’s plan, determined on Saturday, was to do nothing, but a sudden urge to accomplish a Christmas task erupted with the coffee drinking. Hail the power of caffeine. Items were searched online. Prices, timeframes, and convenience factors of online versus in-person shopping were compared and considered. Even the hybrid option of ordering online and picking up in-store was entertained.

After the analysis, a trip out into the world was deemed appropriate. The primary destination was a bookstore, and with a gift list in hand and one title known to be in stock, the adventure began. Barnes & Noble in Nashua had the title listed on their website at $13.47, a discount from the usual $16.00. Amazon had the same title at $12.17 that could arrive in a day or two, but visiting B&N would put it in hand today, helping with the timeline for wrapping and assembling a package to be mailed. For the small price difference and immediacy of possession, B&N was chosen. I skipped the buy online pick up in the store option and decided to freewheel it.

The store seemed very large, but that perception may be colored more by living the life of a recluse than actual square footage. After wandering around for a few minutes, help was enlisted to locate the book. Then, clutching two copies of my selection, there was casual but unfruitful browsing in another topical area that also required professional assistance to locate.

Hours after paying for the gift books, I realized the price on my sales receipt was the $16.00 list price. The better choice from a financial perspective would have been to buy it online and pickup in the store after all. And knowing that I paid nearly $4 more per copy with B&N than Amazon caused my frugal gene even more pain.

After B&N, a visit was made across the street to Savers, a secondary factor in the earlier “in person versus online” shopping debate. Since yesterday’s thrift shop visits, handknit sweaters are parked on the brain. I don’t need any, as my wardrobe holds maybe two dozen knit by Mummu, but obsessions are not always rooted in actual need. Or maybe that’s just me and mine.

There were several handknits found in the sweater racks, with seemingly random prices from $9 to $17.99. Unlike some thrift shops that price all items in a category the same amount (all tee shirts are X dollars, sweaters are Y dollars, jeans are Z dollars, etc.) product pricing at Savers follows no discernable logical scheme. Trust me, I've been puzzling over it for years. I’ve held two shirts of same label, same size, and same color, and one was tagged for $5.99 and the other for $8.99. Some of the prices are actually higher than brand new versions of the same items at Kohl’s or Target. Maybe the thrift store stink commands a higher price, but I have developed no theory for the random and erratic pricing differences.

Anyway. Several handknits found their way into my cart. There was a hunt for a mirror, required since the fitting rooms were dismantled and removed from the store leaving nothing but worn marks on the floor where they were once located. This is also why I was not looking at pants. A mirror was found in a main aisle, and the try-on results were comical and disappointing.

True attention to detail.

The several creamy white Irish knits were too large and bulky and looked like they were eating me. There was no level of adjustment that helped, they just looked wrong. That left only the teal and olive button front cardigan bearing the tag “Hand Made by Alice Barnes.” I would love to find more handmade items by Alice Barnes, as the meticulous attention to detail in this sweater beats that in most garments of any type I’ve seen anywhere. The neck seam and front edges feature a handstitched binding to prevent the seams and button holes from stretching. The $12.99 price tag is truly an insult to the expert handcrafting of Alice Barnes, but a fine and affordable addition to my wardrobe where it can be properly appreciated and respected. 

A valance was found to dress the bathroom window, and once that $2.99 decision was made, a striped bath towel featuring all the colors in the valance (plus a few more) practically jumped from the rack and into the cart. It’s an invigorating $8 bathroom refresh, and the boring plain blue valance that formerly graced the window can go back into the thrift stream from which it was plucked five years ago. It may be enough of a distraction that I can probably delay repainting the bathroom for another five years, so it's money well spent. If I could only stop being troubled by the off center towel rod and light fixtures, and oddly placed light switches.

Freshened up.

By suppertime, all the newly acquired items had been liberated of the peculiar thrift shop fragrance. The valance and towel were placed in active service in the bathroom. The handknit, plus another mass-produced factory-made sweater, are ready to be pulled from the drawer. I told myself sweaters would be donated to accommodate the day’s acquisitions, but they have yet to be determined. I think we know how this is going to end, and I should probably just start looking for an additional bureau and save some time.

The day that was intended to be spent on the couch passively watching movies or actively reading the new 700-plus page book that recently arrived. In terms of executing the plan, it was a failure, but if considered in light of adaptability and accomplishment, it was a spectacularly successful, accidentally productive day.