My Sisters Keeper

 Where have I been the past few days? Shopping, UGH!!!! I hate to shop!! This week has been a HUGH act of kindness sorta time :) My side of the family is having a family reunion in a few weeks the first in more years than I can remember. Trying to figure out a way to get my disabled Sister to the reunion has been a nightmare. She can't drive the 10 hours required for 2 reasons. Reason number one is she is without a car. Hubby and I have been trying to buying her a used car for the past two month's from long distance. It is NOT working!! As soon as hubby returns home we will purchase a car for her in our area then deliver it. Reason number two is she can't drive any distance, just getting around town in all she can do. Flying her in wouldn't work as the closest airport in an hour from her home, the other BIGGY is she would never be able to figure out how to make the connecting flight, sigh. Sooooo...I will be driving down 6 hours to pick her up then do the best we can to make the drive up to IN. I am giving myself 2 days for the 10 hour trip with her as she has a ton of motion problems. Thinking the plan had been worked out when I spoke to her this week she had decided she just can't go, WHAT. After a long talk over the phone I found out the last hurdle is she didn't have anything to wear. We are not talking the typical "I have nothing to wear" so many ladies complain about, she literay had nothing she could wear that still fit :(  I assured her that was not a problem, I would work it out. She IS GOING!!

 Let me just tell you if you need to build a waredrobe bottom to top now is a great time to do it, the sales are AMAZING!!!! Here is a sneak peak of three dresses of the 11 I found for my Sister along with costume jewelry. As much as I HATE to shop I am super excited to see her face when I turn all these bags over to her.

 The final extra item I needed to add to her haul was a purse and wallet. It might seem odd to buy a high end purse and wallet for someone who has nothing but let me tell you the deal DD#1 and I got.... Clearance purses were on sale for 50% off. in addition the store had an additional 50% off all sale items. The savings didn't end there!! We had a 20% off your total purchase coupon!!!! End results...$1,482.00 worth of purses and wallet for a grand total of...$406.77!!!! Holy cow. Now I am not a fancy name brand purse sorta person, for the most part I carry hand made (by me) purses but I know from family and friends this brand of purse will hold up for years, the style is classic and will work year round. My Sister is worth a little something special and...Christmas shopping has begun :)

All of this shopping and saving had me dragging around this morning when Tater Tot and Kara arrived. It has been POURING down rain here for the second day, keeping Kara locked up in the house...Lord help me. I explained to her this morning Nanny was super tired I was going to need her to be my big girl helper. She jumped right in having a ball helping in every little way with her sweet little brother. She really enjoyed being the BOSS of the day. She told me as she left today that she was a "Super Hero" I have to agree she got my engine running with all her ordering around :)

I just have to share the total over the top savings (to me) I was able to score on this new wardrobe. Here is the list.

11 Dresses 7 of which are long  (there was a reason for this)
2 Pairs of Capri's
5 Shirts
4 Infinity scarves
3  Hip sweaters, the kind that are long in the front
1 Denim jacket
1 Pair of PJ'S
2 Packs of undies
2 Bras
7 Necklaces
1 Wallet
1 Purse

Total price for everything? 534.23!!!!!! Total savings $1,240.00. How is that for some super saving?

OK now for an explanation of the long sleeveless dresses. We live in the south, my Sister is even farther south than we are. By throwing a cute sweater or jacket along with a scarf and closed toe shoes with those dresses they will work from Spring until late fall. You can get a lot of bang for your buck when it comes to long dresses here in the south. The other bonus? No waistband!! I'm just sayin :) You can dress a dress up or down with zero cost. I LOVE long dresses.

Was this extra expense in the budget? No!! Times like this is where that EF comes in handy. The need is there, we can meet that need and do a little extra to boot. Clipping coupons, watching sales, cooking at home, making do and all that jazz....Heck ya I am all in!! I just have to tell you this was one "Murphy" that has me smiling from ear to ear!!! Even the whole shopping and driving around town was well worth the pain :)

Time to hit the drug store for today's photo order, OH MY. Ladies DO NOT let you photo's set in your PC for years and years putting off for the day to print them out. All I can say is OUCH!!!!