I HEART KIDS CONSIGNMENT STORES

Friends and family of The Warden know this about her if they know nothing else:  she has a Dooney and Bourke purse addiction.  Seriously, I need a 12-step program.  It started when I was deathly ill one weekend and had the t.v. turned to QVC as I was in and out of consciousness on the couch.  The Today's Special Value was a Dooney & Bourke satchel, which I thought was horribly expensive.  Then I kept seeing the purse as they showed it over and over and over throughout the day and by midnight I had ordered one.  It was my downfall.  It was that first potato chip or that first bite of Ben & Jerry's.

Now, before you start thinking I'm some horrible spendthrift with credit card debt up to my boobs, let me assure you that I do not spend all our income on purses, no matter what my husband says.  I do, however, like to save money where I can and to that end I love, love, LOVE kids consignment stores.  I've shopped them for so long I get sticker shock and have to be resuscitated when I go in a regular store.  And I feel very virtuous, since the money saved at the consignment store can then be put in the kids' college funds, the IRAs, or used for...well...PURSES, if you must know.

I ran up to Once Upon a Child this morning after receiving an e-mail that they were having their summer clearance, with 50% off marked merchandise.  (Cincinnati-area residents, make note of the sale!!!)  I came home with about half a dozen each of next year's shirts and shorts for Foghorn and an equal number of shirts for my every-growing son, who's been eating so much lately I'm convinced he has a hollow leg.  Including one special non-sale item I picked up for Foghorn, the grand total was $50 and change.

Now, about that special non-sale item.  I just purchased tickets for Grandma, Uncle Chester, Foghorn, and me to see Wicked at the Aronoff Center in Cincinnati this November.  (Tickets go on sale to the general public tomorrow, August 26th, if you're interested.)  Well, as I was slapping through the racks of clearance items, I spotted this little beauty out of the corner of my eye:

And the first thing that went through my head was, "Oh, my God!  It's a ruby slippers dress!"  The pictures don't do it justice, as the color is much richer, the fabric beautiful, and the sparkles catch the light and twinkle like mad.  My girl likes a little bling, so the red sparkles will thrill her.  And it's just the style of dress that suits her tall, lean body.  She looks good in anything, while I clomp around looking like an Irish potato farmer (but with a fabulous giraffe-print purse).  She didn't need the new dress for Wicked, but you just know how the other girls will be dolled up for the occasion, so I thought a $7.00 splurge was in order (particularly since it still has the Kohl's tag hanging from the sleeve).

Oh, and regarding that 12-step program I need, let me add that I've been clean and sober since Christmas.  Yep, no new purses this year...yet.  See, I have this anniversary coming up in October...