E proves he can shop.

Let's set the record straight. The title of this post may lead you to believe that E lacks skill in shopping. False. The E man has always been a good shopper, and a recent excursion to my beloved Target led to a dream coming true.

To me, there are two kinds of shopping:  the shopping that a lot of people do when they see something they like and buy it, and the shopping I do - bargain shopping. If you know me, you also know that I won't buy anything unless it's marked down 75%, or if it's 10$ and below. My extremely wise mother, the ultimate shopper, taught me at a young age that garage sales and clearance racks are our friends.

I've tried to impress these philosophies on everyone I know, and one Saturday night, a students became a master. E and I were in Target's shoe section, scavenging the shelves of on-sale shoes looking for a pair of slippers. I made the mistake of walking into the store knowing exactly which pair I wanted, and to my predictable displeasure, they were nowhere to be found. I dreaded admitting to myself that waiting for them to go on sale would bite me in the butt, and just when I was about to settle for a lesser pair, E saved the day. He called my name, and as I turned to look, he was strolling towards me with the slippers. I could barely contain my excitement as he asked, "What about these? They're your size."

I almost screamed when I saw that my husband had found the fancied moccasins, originally $19.99, for $4.98. We left Target a happy couple - me with my cheap, awesome slippers, and him with the new Dark Ascension Magic deck. And two weeks later, E outshone himself with another fantastic bargain display at Kohl's. Gosh, I love that man.

$4.98 has never felt so warm.

There is a time for grocery shopping.

And apparently, that time isn't ever on a Saturday, and it definitely isn't on the Saturday before Super Bowl.

Aside from the money it costs, I enjoy grocery shopping. At the end of each week, E and I sit down to decide what the next week's menu is going to look like. After the menu is set, I (sometimes we) venture out to gather the supplies. It took a little bit to figure out which grocery stores we liked best and which ones are cheaper - two details that coincide with each other - and today, I headed out to two of our favorite spots while the hubby guarded our fortress (a.k.a. played video games).

What I did not know was that my beloved grocery stores were also going to be everyone's favorite spot that day. It didn't click with me at the first store, but as I made my way to my second stop - HyVee - I realized the error of my ways: I had tried to do normal grocery shopping on the Saturday before the biggest American sporting event of the year. What had I done?!?!

It was not pleasant. There were people everywhere, and the "deals" overwhelmed me. I could barely find the things I actually needed through the thick of sale advertisements. And just when things couldn't have gotten more delayed, I made the ultimate mistake.

...I tried to use a coupon for Pepsi on Coke products.

It's all a blur as to how it happened. Everyone was moving so fast. I couldn't differentiate Pepsi's cool blue packaging from the bold red of Coca-Cola. And thankfully, seeing that I was clearly out of my element, the clerk politely honored my coupon as long as I promised to visit customer service and make a swap on my way out.

Learn from my ways, fellow grocery shoppers. Go against the grain and do your shopping another day, and maybe give it a fun nickname. Something like 'Major Grocery Shopping Monday', or 'This-Sure-Beats-Shopping-On-Saturday-Day'.