I, Jeanne Sager, got in the car early Saturday morning with one of my best friends from childhood with an adventure in mind. Our objective? A desk for the kid's room that wouldn't cost me my arm, my leg, and her -- my firstborn (not to mention only born).
I stumbled on a debate recently over why Sullivan County residents flock out of this place in droves to do their shopping, and there were more than a few voices who would call my trip traitorous.
Fact is, I've always tried to be a promoter of the shop local movement and I pay it more than lip service. There is good stuff here, folks, marvelous stuff, if you actually bother to use it.
Best birthday present I received last year? Massage gift certificates to Western Sullivan Massage, right in Jeffersonville. Easiest Christmas presents purchased last year? Gift certificates (sensing a theme?) to the eclectic Global Home - again in Jeffersonville - and the Callicoon Theater.
See! I'm legit! I don't talk out of my you-know-what.
But did I mention there isn't a store in this county that sells the moisturizer that's done wonders for my skin? And I'd love to buy the kid a pair of nice jeans at a fancy boutique, but fancy boutique jeans gets holes in the knees from recess just as fast as the $10 box store stuff, only they hurt my pride more.
I love my small town, but let's just say I work at home and sometimes this writer needs a real adventure -- one that requires a drive with a friend and a credit card.
So fast forward to Saturday night and the reality of being a shop local do-gooder who can't always do good.
The floor of the playroom was a disaster. Baggie of hardware here. Long boards there. Wooden dowels as far as the eye could see.
And then it happened. My husband realized the project I'd delivered onto him on a Saturday afternoon could not be completed -- at least not with the components inside the two boxes I'd loaded just hours before from the correct aisles and bins at the Swedish wonderland 200 miles away.
While I tried to affix a Pepto Bismol pink plastic seat to a metal base, my husband was turning the playroom upside down hoping the missing pieces for our kid's new desk would magically appear.
They didn't. Surprise, surprise. A few phone calls later, and they are on their way, expected to be delivered by FedEX ... sometime.
No wonder it was on sale.
Go ahead and rag on me for crossing our borders. I won't be able to use my guest room until it's free of boards, dowels, and baggies of hardware. I think I'm due a break!
Fellow country living folks, be honest ... what do you venture out to buy (and do you regret it)?
Have you "liked" Inside Out Motherhood on Facebook yet?
Photo via seanboyer/Flickr
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