Dh took all the crummy books no one else wanted over to the used book store by the preschool yesterday. He picked up BM so I could work late and shop - phew.

Anyway, I found out about the store recently because a woman in my mom's group owns it. We stopped by last year and they had 2 super-sized fat cats which the kids love, but a pretty small store, more expensive than others & the buyback credit wasn't very good.

But we've been weaning through our books and frankly just want to get rid of them. Dh has taken them to the other bookstores a couple of times, just trying. Every time they take a few more, but he seemed to hit a wall. So he took them to this other place and they took them ALL and he got a $40 credit. Pretty sweet! The downside is you can only use credit towards 1/2 your purchases and we have an endless supply of free books from Scholastic. So it isn't the greatest deal ever, but I am sure glad to be rid of 2 boxes of books. Woohoo. I guess if dh or I need any books we can peruse there but we usually just use the library really.

Dh also scored $4 cash at our regular used book store and about $10 store credit there which I think he used already on some grown up books, maybe a couple of kids books.

I on the other hand was anti-frugal last night. I Spent about 2 hours & $200 at Mervyns. It was rather depressing. Everything looks like potato sack on me but I do have to remind myself even when I was a size 0 everything looked like a potato sack on me. So really I just can't win. But I have been creeping up in weight a little and maybe needed the wake up call.

I finally found a swim suit top. I actually found one that was just perfect but then realized it was missing a strap. Bah. The removable straps. I guess I could have just gotten it. But I settled on a nice modest top that will go well with the bottom halfs I have. The only swimsuits as a whole I would consider wearing were in the womens' sections and on sepcial 1/2 off from $68. I was really tempted but the the 2 that looked really good and cute were just either one size too big or too small. The other ones I tried just were hideous and I felt like an old grandma - hehe. They had a lot of size 12/14s mixed in with the 20+ size womens and all those big women kept coming over and giving me weird looks like what was I doing there. I am just thinking, if only you knew. In my everyday clothes (& I do love black) I can pass off as a size 6 or 8 but once I strip down I could only fit in the size 14 swimsuit. & the rest of the store was filled with bikinis - I don't think so. LOL. I can't believe 99% of women wear bikinis - I mean seriously does anyone who had children and didn't have plastic surgery wear a bikini? I don't foresee it in my future even if I got back down to size 0. I got some serious excess skin and am not going under the knife for something so vain. As long as I don't have to wear a bikini I am cool with it. But I don't know. If women were really just embracing their bodies and baring all I would really be all for it, it would be refreshing, but I don't see it happening. So I ponder why the womens section is 99% teeny-tiny bikini... Of course 1/2 the people I know are having tummy tucks so that would probably explain it! It's insane around here.

But yeah I think the swimsuit shopping was better than dress shopping. They all looked like sacks and I started having memories back to being a kid and dress shopping. I just don't do dresses I guess. I found a dress that was so-so and I Was about to get it and just wait and pull off the tags until I was sure I was going to wear it, when I finally found the most perfect dress. It actually fit well, looked good, and the best part is it was professional looking so I can wear it for work too. win-win-win. So I have something a little dressy for the cruise .

So for $200 I got:

2 swimsuit tops (taking one back)
3 nice work shirts (taking 2 back)
1 Dress
3 cheap shirts from the $9.99 shelves
2 tank tops for summer (cute!)

Since none of my summer clothes seem to fit - so it goes.

I was actually really bummed that 1 of the work shirts I got looked hideous (I get so sick of trying on pants usually that I just take all the tops to try on at home because they usually fit). So anyway, had a large shirt for work that was just beautiful and loved it but it was a little tight. Thinking of keeping it because if I lose a few pounds it should fit well. I don't want to take it back. Stupid sizes running small. Ridiculous.

So yeah as much as I love clothes this is why I only go ever so often. The whole process can be frustrating.

I have a pile to return this week, or maybe when we get back. So all in all I will return around $50 at least.

Mostly I am just happy that I now have a swimsuit option that I think is cute and nice and not too granny-like. Woohoo.

I got all checked in online for our cruise, made some lists, did some shopping. Today I need to figure out what books I want from the library. I still need some ideas of some light non-financial books. Which reminds me that I still have 1 or 2 unread books from the sisterhood pants series. I really like it for some mindless summer reading so will have to pack those. THinking of picking up a couple of Money magazines and crossword books and such. But dh said if I sent him a list he'll run to the library for me too so I have to think. Getting close...