when shopping equals death

For real, all that I wanted to do this afternoon was hit a few stores to look at a few "bigger" office supplies for one of my jobs (we just got a new office, and I'm in charge of some purchasing). I am still considered contagious and have been in my apartment for a few days now with all of my plans to be around people canceled, so I though being in large crowds of people that I didn't know would be safe.

WRONG! One of the stops I made was at Target. I guess I should first explain that our Target parking lot was not well designed. The rows and the parking spots are too close together - even at midnight in the middle of winter when no one goes shopping. But especially on Sunday afternoon when the the closest LARGE university is beginning welcome week. The entrance to the parking lot is on a hill. As I pulled in, the sea of cars and people made me turn up the classical music on my radio in an attempt to remain patient and calm. I turned right to avoid the most dangerous area of the parking lot, but then found myself stuck behind five cars waiting for a sea of college coeds with their new dorm decor. Ten minutes later, I finally made it to where the first car in line had been, and took a left-only to slam on my breaks for a car that thought it was okay to stop in the middle of the chaos and rearrange things in their car! I turned the music up a little louder, dodged a pedestrian and a runaway cart, and found my way into a parking slot. Although the parking was a great feat, as the car to my left had taken some liberties with the yellow lines.

Inside proved just as hairy as outside; aisles busting at the seams with people. I got cut-off, rammed into with a cart, huffed at for taking too long to look at some posters (which really was only 30 seconds), and assaulted by an office chair. I seriously thought I was going to kill or be killed before I could made an escape. Luckily, I long ago learned the back way out of that parking lot - today, it saved my life.

In other news: I now have a sore on my toe and a few new sores on my hands; my sister wants me quarantined, and my nephew said "Huskers!" for the first time yesterday. Now, he knows where it's at! Enjoy the pic of the little man!