Friday Coffee Date

TGIF!!!  Seriously, I’m ready for the weekend.  But first, let’s have a lovely cup of coffee (or, tea) together and chat about our lives. If we were having coffee together, I’d talk about our weather.  The other day I saw this headline on our local news: “Cold Front Arriving.”  Oh, REALLY?  Let’s just look at the forecast: Now, a high of 79 is a HUGE improvement!  And it was cloudy!  And windy!  You could tell it’s no longer summer.  And running this morning when it was 69 degrees felt amazing.  But I was still wearing a tank top.  I know our perspective gets skewed after living in Florida for a while, but I think we should strive to be a little more accurate with our adjectives.  80 degrees is not a “cold front.” Moving along.  I had a personal triumph this week involving pants.  My daughter needed pants for a concert on Wednesday, and Tuesday we discovered that her old ones no longer fit.  She had no time to shop, so Tuesday after work I found myself at Macy’s frantically going through the racks.  Of all the articles of clothing to buy for another person, pants are the worst.  I brought along a pair of her jeans for reference, but there are so many choices.  Straight leg?  Flare?  Does she want pleats?  Pockets?  Is she going to wear a belt?  I finally picked out three pairs, figuring one of them would fit and I could return the other two. LUCKILY, one of them did fit!  The next day I headed back to return the other two, but at the last minutes I noticed one of the tags said “Final Sale.”  NOOOOOOO!  How did I not see that before?   They weren’t expensive, but I figured that was $20 down the drain. But then… I thought of my ex-boyfriend- let’s call him “Andy.”  Andy had ZERO fear of rejection.  He had no problem asking for special favors.  If there was a sign saying you couldn’t do something, he would ask if they would make a special exception for him.  And he couldn’t understand why I didn’t like to do that.  So what, he would say- the worst that could happen is they’ll say “no.” I decided to channel my inner Andy.  I was literally cringing inside as I said “I know these say “final sale”, but is there any way I can return them anyway?”  The clerk scanned the receipt without saying anything and handed me my refund.  I must have looked astonished because she said “You have one day to return “final sale” items.”  WELL.  Who knew??? I was so elated!  I had written off that $20, and now I felt rich.  And… guess what store is right across from Macy’s?  Bath and Body Works- and they were having s SALE on fall candles! I had to get it!  It was only $10, so I still came out $10 ahead.  And it smells sooooo good.  I don’t like candles that smell sweet- like I don’t want my house to smell like apple pie.  This just has a lovely, fresh, apple smell.  Oh, and guess why the fall candles are on sale? It’s obviously time for Christmas!  Unlike some people, I don’t mind seeing Christmas displays in October.  Show me all the Christmas!  I’m not going to BUY any Christmas items (I’ll wait till November) but I did smell the candles.  I like the ones that smell like Christmas trees. Would you try to return pants that said “final sale?” Is it too early for a Christmas display? Top photo by Brigitte Tohm on Unsplash