Heading to North Atlanta

We bid goodbye to Aunt Nett and take our time getting up to

Atlanta.  We stop at the outlets north of Macon, some of our favorite huge liquor stores off I-75 where John shows admirable restraint when faced with some beautiful scotches.  We are planning at being Kevin and Lori’s in time for the Rose Bowl where Georgia will be playing and have to get some  beers for the game… Oscar plays in the little motorized vehicles at the outlets until I 

 bring him in with me to a kids’ store while John goes and checks on a place he wants to look.  I have never really let him shop for his own clothes, because I didn’t think he was in to that 

yet, but realize my mistake in bringing him in when he sees all these cool shirts with planes, dinosaurs, hockey, race cars, etc and just starts pulling them off the racks.  To be fair, he’s getting one of each, so he understands the concept,

  he’s turning down things that he doesn’t like a much, and then shows that he’s not just interested in shirts with pictures, by getting two pairs of pants because he wants ones with pockets….holy crap, he has John’s 

 loving of acquiring clothes combined with my shopping addiction.  I can only be glad that at this time he gives in gracefully when I say, “not this” and that everything is on super clearance.  We’re talking about getting clothes off the rack at Gymboree for cheaper than I can buy them at Goodwill.  What’s up

with that?  And why didn’t I already know that the time to get clearance stuff is on New Year’s day, not immediately at Christmas?  We get through Atlanta with no problems and Oscar naps through the city, so he’s raring to go when we hit North Georgia and see Kevin, Lori, and their 3 kids.  Oscar has

  no memory of being here two years ago, but that doesn’t stop him from barreling in to this house and mixing it up with Cole’s, Camryn’s and Carly’s toys.  We do our friends a favor and effectively quash their son’s desire for a little brother over the next few days, 

 sleep in every part of their house, and eat at way too many places for me to still be anywhere near the weight I left Michigan at.  Kevin is an ebay aficionado and he and John and the boys scour the thrift stores and stores around them for bargains at a sedate 

 pace.  I think that I scare him by coming in 45 minutes later and scooping up a ton of bargains in small fractions of the time, but I’m used to our up north shopathon in Michigan where you will get left if you can’t get in and out quickly.  It is still freezing here and while I know that it’s even colder in Michigan, the cold in Georgia has the problem of the unexpected.  We didn’t bring clothes for this and I had planned on getting the warmer clothes that the southerns don’t buy for a song down here, but they actually want these things now.  We do have a ridiculous moment in Bargain Hunt which is like the crazy store in

Michigan.  I get a couple of pairs of the thinsulate gloves for Oscar for $5 each because they’re perfect for the snow.  Then, they ring up at 50 cents.  What?  90% off people for all the gloves, hats, mittens, scarfs.  So, I just fill a buggy with them and figure that there are plenty of kids in Michigan that can use these.  You do have to figure in the $10 for used luggage that we get at Goodwill to fit all of our purchases, but I still think they’re worth it.