I have a date!

Queenie came home from the football game last night & informed me that she has a date for Homecoming. Now while I am happy for her, this brings back really bad memories of the last school dance she went to. Not the dance itself, that went great according to her. It was the shopping. Shopping with a 15 year old just sucks. I took her to the mall. I was hoping for some nice Mother Daughter bonding. Wishful thinking on my part. I'm hoping she has something in her closet that she can wear to this dance. But I am betting she doesn't.
Here is what happened last time we went shopping for a dance outfit.

Queenie is going to the Winter Formal at school. This requires a shopping trip because she has nothing to wear. Went Wednesday to the next town, hit 7 stores & found nothing. Thursday night we went to the mall.

Leave the house at 4:30 to go to The Mall. I have $50.00 cash I hope it's enough otherwise plastic here I come. We park in front of Sears & I say a quick prayer to the clothing Gods for a quick & painless trip on my way in. First stop Sears, nothing. Damn. I was hoping for a miracle. Oh well many more stores to go. Next stop Deb's. After spending what seemed like 3 days in here I found a black skirt with red trim on the bottom that actually fit, looked good AND she liked it. Plus it was only $12.99 SOLD!! Bad news is that the top we had at home has green stripes on it and won't go with the new skirt. Ok, don't panic, now we need a shirt & shoes. Spend another day and a half looking in same store for shirt. Can't find anything we like. Off to the next hundred or so stores. Nada. Ok now I am starving & my feet feel like they are going to fall off. We make a pit stop at the food court when I sit in a booth with my legs propped up feeling very old. After we eat it's off to the next store, where we found nothing. Then we hit J.C. Penney's. In here we find shoes, a necklace & bracelet, all on sale! Yes!!! But still no top. It's about 7:00 now & those strollers you can rent that look like fire trucks are looking pretty good about now. I wonder if she will push me? Probably not.
Now I start with the "you have to find a shirt soon we have to go" speech. That went over like a fart in church. Back to Deb's where I threaten her with the "you only have 15 minutes to find a shirt" speech. She is now pissed & I am ready to kill her. Spend 2 days wandering around the store looking at prom dresses. Even found one I wanted to try on. Wait! What am I thinking we are here to get a shirt, where is she? Spot her wandering around. Threaten her again. Thought I saw a tear. Crap. Then I tell her we are going to Sears. It is the last store before the car. You HAVE to find a shirt in here or you will not have one. Yep there it is… an actual tear. Wonderful. Off I go into Sears with her trailing behind me. About 10 feet into the store there it is. Music goes off & light shines above the rack. It’s a red silky top. We both stop to look. Oh my God she likes it. I grab 2 sizes & drag her toward the changing room before she can change her mind. It’s more then I want to spend but at this point I don't care. When she has it on & STILL likes it I toss in the skirt. I might actually get lucky here. Well how is it? I hold my breath as she opens the door. She says the most beautiful words….. "I like it". I almost wet myself. You’re beautiful I say. She shuts the door & I send a prayer of thanks to the clothing Gods that I lived through this. She tosses out the skirt & top. I sprint toward the checkout to pay for it before she changes her mind.
Moral of story:
Skirt-$12.99
Top-$23.00
Shoes-$13.00
Necklace-$1.98
Bracelet-$1.98
Spending quality time with your 15 year old daughter......... PRICELESS