God Bless America!

No one who knows me would expect a headliner like that!  It came about in a funny and unexpected way and if you read today's post you will know why I wrote that.

The family and I made a swift trip to Bangor Maine last Thursday.  We spent the night, shopped 'till we dropped then headed back north of the border.  It was quite the learning experience in different ways!

The first is related to the post's title.  Daughter has rather unusual-sized feet (thanks Mom!) and finding shoes that fit is almost impossible here.  On a whim and remembering I've found good shoes in the U.S., we popped into a shoe store where daughter discovered many pretty shoes that fit her feet!  She was estatic! Thrilled!  She found 4 pairs of trendy, comfortable shoes and clutching them to her chest, while dancing down the aisle she proclaimed, "God BLESS America!".   Or in other words....THANK-YOU-fate-that-American-women-have-big-feet-like-mine-and-like-to-wear-pretty-shoes-too!  I loved the price!  There was a sale of course so the 4 pairs of shoes cost $100 American, which is the same in Canadian dollars right now.  Compare THAT to the last time we found shoes that fit her - in Alberta at the West Edmonton Mall.  We found 2 pairs that fit, and they were $120 and $140 A PIECE.  God bless America, indeed!

Daughter also discovered "Khols" which was very good to her.  A brand new wardrobe came home with her; well needed as she has slimmed down noticeably and needed smaller clothes.  We also stumbled across that brilliant hair dye she's been seeking up here to no avail.  She settled for blue and pink dye and also purchased the bleach kit.  She streaked her hair blue, although there is violent debate if the colour is actually "blue", "green", "aqua" or "turquoise".  I think it is a turquoise colour myself.  Hubby isn't keen on the hair colour but it doesn't bother me.  I suppose that is because I used to experiment with MY hair and turned out a few shades of red, orange...black or blonde.

Son did not cope well at all.  Crossing the border frightened him.  Due to his nature of being inappropriate at the MOST inopportune times we did have to warn him to keep quiet and that may have increased his anxiety.  He was overwhelmed for much of the trip and acted out quite a bit, making shopping difficult.  We did find a store that had many logo shirts that fit him so he was happy while shopping in "Hot Topics".  Aside from that he really didn't relax until we returned to the Canadian side of the border.  He does not want to go with us the next time we head south.  Oh darn.  Heh heh heh.

We picked up chicken and milk on the way back; both are at least half the price of the same groceries in Canada.  Outrageous!  Gas on the Maine side was $1.06 while it was just shy of $1.29 on our side.  There were so many stores we didn't even have time to drive by during our rushed trip -- another good reason to go back!

With Asperger's Syndrome one never knows how it will act out with the one having this disorder.  Sometimes son does handle changes well but not so much removing him completely from his environment.  This was the first time he could verbalize how he was feeling which helped considerably (my blood pressure shot up faster so I had to act on his impending explosion sooner!) .  Small, day trips in our local area are much more manageable for him.  He was sorry for not coping better but I know there are some things you can't reason with.  I took it as a great learning experience as to what his limits are.

Hubby hates to shop.  He was grumpy a fair bit and probably needed a pretty spot to sit and put his feet up.  He was my shopping monitor; he accompanied me when I peeked into craft stores to ensure I came out in a reasonable time.  The trouble was determining "reasonable time".  Oh I could've stayed a few more days easily!!

To all you American women with larger-than-average feet; "bless you!"