Happy Monday!
I hope you guys had a great weekend! I wrapped some gifts, finished some painting (on projects and the house), and watched some Hallmark Christmas movies. I will be honest that I have never watched any of these before. Now … none of them that I have watched, so far, are going to get any Academy Awards, but they are strangely addictive. I’m embarrassed to admit how many I have in my Tivo queue right now.
Another thing I have been doing lately is stalking a certain toy I wanted to buy for my niece for Christmas. It has been out of stock everywhere since Black Friday, and I have been checking Target every couple of days since. I was there once again the other day, and lo and behold, there was one lonesome one on the shelf. I grabbed it off the shelf and sat it by my feet with my purse on top of it. It was a little play village, and I was deciding which family I wanted to go in it.
A lady pulls her cart (with 4 children under the age of 5 in it) up next to me, points to my village, and tells me to hand it to her (tells me … not ask me mind you).
I nicely told her that I was sorry, and I was already going to buy it (hence it being off the shelf, by my feet, and my purse was on top of it).
She just stands there staring at me.
Then she rudely says, “If you’re not holding it, it’s not yours.”
I nicely pointed out that I had taken it off the shelf and sat it next to me because it was heavy, and I was just trying to figure out which family I was going to buy to go with it.
Louder this time, she repeats herself, “If You’re Not Holding It, It’s Not Yours!”
Knowing that I had not done anything wrong, by this point I pick up the village so that I am holding it. I just ignore her and quickly grab the little family also, so I can get the heck out of there.
That really makes her mad, and she yells at the top of her lungs, “IF YOU’RE NOT HOLDING IT ITS NOT YOURS!!!!”
I’ve had enough at this point, and I say back “I Am Holding It!”
I then walk off with my village and I can here her yell, “WHAT A B—-!”
Seriously? All of this over a freaking Lil Woodzee TreeHouse Village? And in front of 4 little kids? Then I hear her yell to a Target employee “Sir, can you help me? That woman stole my kids’ Christmas present!”
Then I proceeded to stand in line to check out for 20 minutes praying I did not come in contact with the crazy lady again.
The sad part was, if the lady had been decent and told me that she really needed it, I probably would have given it to her. I certainly wasn’t going to after that.
My niece better love this freaking thing.
After that, I vow that I was done going to stores this Christmas season, and the rest of my shopping would be done online.
For the last 6 years, the unnamed child had a gumball machine in her bedroom that I had bought at a yard sale. I forgot to take a before pic but it looked like this.
Since it was always sitting there empty, and she was getting a bit too old for it, I decided to make it over.
I took it all apart, and threw away the inner gumball dispensing parts. Then I spray painted the base, body, and cap with Rust-Oleum’s White Gloss.
I found a broken snow globe type thing at JoAnn’s for a dollar (a tree had become uprooted in an apparently violent storm of glitter snow), and since I didn’t want the globe (just the house inside it) it was perfect.
I set the house inside the gumball machine and filled it with loose faux snow that I found at Target.
I then put the cap back on, tied on a bow, and set it by my Christmas tree.
Make sure you check out my other Christmas posts from last week!
Wow! People can be so rude, can’t they? That’s why I do all my Christmas shopping on line. I just can’t handle crowds much anymore either.
I really like your snow globe! Such a neat idea!! Hope your niece likes her village.
That rude woman in Target…you should have told her your mother in law was on the next aisle over and she was just looking for a fight! 🙂 But I do hope little cutie will love her tree house! That snow globe is so adorable! You have such great ideas!! And better yet, you actually finish your ideas..about 1,000 of mine are still in Rubbermaid in our office..I should let you have it all and go for it!! love you dear.
What a great role model for the future generation sitting in her shopping cart! That story makes me sad on so many levels. Rudeness and entitlement seem to be so prevalent these days and we wonder why the world is getting so messed up! I’m glad you took the high road, Shanna – high five to you! I love your gumball machine snow globe – it’s so pretty.
I’m surprised she didn’t just snatch it out of your hands. It’s horrible that she would behave like that in general but also that she did that in front of her kids. She’s just teaching them how to behave badly. She clearly forgot to take her medication that day. Glad you held your ground, she definitely didn’t deserve to get the toy. And that snow globe gumball machine is such a neat ideal! Looks great!
Oh, and those Hallmark movies…so oddly addicting! I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks so. I have been watching them like crazy and I don’t even know why.
So glad you didn’t give up the toy…that would’ve been rewarding her BAD behavior. I would’ve done the same thing & maybe given it up if she had a sweet attitude about it.
I, too am getting hooked on the Hallmark movies – sappy as they are! But the movie that really did me in was Dolly Parton’s Coat of many Colors the other night…boohoo’d thru most of it. lol
It’s hard to understand how people can become so angry at with such a small problem. Sometimes it helps me handle a situation like that to imagine that they must have a very sad life in order to act that way. We can’t change a person’s attitude but we can prevent ourselves from returning anger with anger – you handled the situation perfectly.
I love how you changed the old gumball machine into a little winter wonderland. Great job, my dear!
Unfortunately, people like that breed also. You were wise to leave before she demonstrated how she puts the “fun” in dysfunction. She probably did not know how to handle it when she did not receive attitude and anger in return. Your gumball machine snow globe looks awesome. It would be hard not to pick it up and shake it though. Great website!
That’s too bad that she couldn’t channel her inner kindness! It was buried deep deep deep deep down! Too bad you didn’t say something to her like the lady above said “I would have been glad to let you have it if you had chosen to use kind words, but I can’t reward your bad behavior”…..come on that would have been funny!! But that gum ball machine make over is AMAZING! Now I have an unhealthy obsession with finding an old gumball machine!!
Simply Put, Merry Christmas… You deserve a Merry Christmas..Love the globe.