Shopping with MIL

My MIL's sister passed away a week ago today. She had been battling cancer for over two years, and just when she thought it was beaten, they found her liver full of cancer. They gave her 2-3 days; she lived 6 more weeks.

Aunt Hazel was a very tenacious woman, and though I didn't know her very well, I remember her laugh the most. She had a hardy laugh, and she loved nothing more than to have conversations that involved story-telling. She will be missed by many.

MIL was concerned, as she only had one dress, and she had worn it before and thought people might notice. So, we went to Mishawaka in search of the perfect dress.

We hit paydirt at JC Penny's. They were having their annual Labor Day Sale, and most everything in the store was marked down. She found two dresses she really like, and tried them both on. She looked great in both, but was very self-critical and didn't like "how big her hips looked" in the one, and how "low-cut" the other dress was. I knew all I had to do was read the price tags for her to make the decision. Mom likes value (don't we all), and when I told her the "low-cut" dress was on sale for $26, she made her decision. "I don't have any pantyhose!" She said with large eyes. Off to the lingerie section.

She clucked at how expensive the pantyhose were. I agree. Even when they were $1.99 a pair, I thought they were too much, as I inevitably only get one wear out of the little beggars. She bought the cheapest pair she could find, then said, "you know what, I don't think I have a purse that would look right with this dress." Off to the purses...

She looked at many purses. Many, many purses. She loves purses like I love shoes. I think she has in the neighborhood of 20 purses, and the number keeps growing. She also makes purses, so she has lots of cute quilted bags as well. She managed to find a very cute purse for $8. SCORE! "You know, I don't think I have shoes that will go with this dress..." Off to the shoe department...

The shoe department was busy. They had lots of summer shoes marked 70-80% off, so you can imagine what it was like. I thankfully had no money, so I didn't walk out of the store with a half-dozen shoes and the giddy head-rush that comes with knowing I have new shoes. I found a pair that was oh-so-cute, and MIL loved them as well. They were normally $90, but they were marked down to $29, so they were a steal at that price. At the register, she looked at the cashier and lamented, "I don't have any jewelry to go with this outfit!" The cashier told her kindly that she would hold the items and pointed her toward the jewelry...

Bud has a great eye for that kind of thing, and he found her a gorgeous necklace and matching earrings (the earrings were actually a three pack, and they were the same price as the single pack earrings, so again, SCORE!)

We went back to the shoe counter, and the sales associate rang everything up. Her outfit: dress, shoes, jewelry, purse, and nylons was--are you ready for this?--$94. Can you believe it? The discounted prices were discounted even MORE. She saved almost $150. I don't know who was more tickled--MIL or me.

Here she is in her dress as we were heading out to the funeral. The handsome man on her shoulder is my hubby. We clean up pretty good!

I actually enjoyed my shopping experience with MIL. She was like a little kid at Christmas, and I was glad to see her so happy.