Keeping up with the Kreiders: November 2010

I'm going to my friend's Bachelorette Party tomorrow night, and so while I was in Wal-Mart, I decided to look and see what kind of lingerie they have. I've bought cute things like this from Wal-Mart before, but tonight I didn't have any luck. The only thing I saw that I even considered was a specific bra, which is where the lesson comes into play...

I was bending down looking at a particularly over-crowded rack of bras. These weren't just your everyday, run-of-the-mill bras, because I was shopping for something tastefully scandalous for the bachelorette party. So I was looking at a zebra-striped bra that very clearly advertised being an extreme push-up bra. Of course that would be the exact moment that a 7th grade girl from my school strolls by with her mother. We made eye contact. It was awkward. I tried to smile and look nonchalant, but she didn't smile back. I'm not sure if she didn't smile just because I'm a teacher and students don't say hey to teachers outside of school, or if it was specifically because she just saw a teacher looking at zebra-striped push-up bras.

I'm already the youngest teacher at the school. Now I just fueled the flames by looking like the young, reckless, right-out-of-college teacher who still wears scandalous undergarments. Needless to say, I got out of their immediately and did not buy any lingerie whatsoever. I guess I'll have to go shopping tomorrow.

So I learned a new lesson tonight: "Don't ever go shopping in a Wal-Mart near your place of work. But if you absolutely must do so, make sure you are NEVER looking at something inappropriate."

I like the title of this blog post simply because of the alliteration, but it actually seems like kind of a lie. Because for one thing, I'm upset that we seem to have missed fall altogether. Just two weeks ago Derek and I had to turn our air conditioning back on so that we could be cool enough, and suddenly within a week's time, the temperature has gotten down to freezing and I had to pull out my big puffy coat that I bought for the sole purpose of staying warm on our winter honeymoon in NYC last Christmas. (I think my previous sentence was quite a run-on. Sorry for all of those grammar Nazis out there.) So to me, today doesn't even seem like Fall, which kind of makes my title somewhat of a misrepresentation, which is just a politician's way of saying "a lie." Sorry, everyone.

Anyway, I had a WONDERFUL morning with my good friend, Ashley, as we drove out to the Pendergrass Flea Market just to experience it. I've passed this Flea Market at least 100 times in my life and have always wanted to go. I guess you could say that it was one of those things on my bucket list. I'm not quite sure why I've always wanted to go, as I've been to other flea markets, and let's be honest, if you've seen one, you've pretty much seen them all. But maybe it's the fact that there's a huge billboard of a smiling cow right outside the huge building, and it always seems so inviting to me!

I actually really like cows. I'm definitely on the side of "weird girl who likes cows," but I'm not quite as far as my sister, who has made it all the way to "really weird girl who is absurdly obsessed with cows." My parents and sister still, to this day, laugh at me for my fascination with cows when I was little. Whenever we'd be driving home from somewhere, my mom wouldn't want me to fall asleep in the car, as that would mess up my regular napping schedule and would result in Grumpy Catty. So whenever I would look like I was just about to fall asleep, everyone in the car would yell, "Cows, Catty, Cows!," which would of course rouse me from that wonderful point of near-slumber, and I would strain my eyes and head to see out the window and look for the cows, which of course were never actually there. They would always just tell me that I'm too slow. Kind of a sad story.

So by 9:45 a.m. Ashley and I were on the road to be some of the first in line to peruse the undoubtedly awesome and unique wares at the flea market. I was elated when I saw the big smiling cow billboard from a distance, just like a 5-year-old probably looks when they see Disney World from a distance. As we were parking our car, we saw a woman with her two high-school aged daughters (or at least who look high-school aged, which is what everyone probably says about me when they see me out with my mom), and the trio only had one small, inconspicuous black bag. We were appalled by the fact that they couldn't find anything more in this land of random shopping bliss, until Ashley surmised that they must live close by and this was just another regular trip to the flea market on a Saturday morning. whew! Good save, Ashley. That makes SO much more sense than thinking that these women couldn't find anything good in Pendergrass!

So we walk inside and immediately to my left I see a big display case of skull figurines, and to my right I see a huge wall of ghetto-fabulous clothes. I just KNEW this was going to be a good day! After contemplating whether we should buy a ghetto-fab outfit to wear to Jeff and Mary Elizabeth's wedding next weekend, we decided that perhaps we should just save the fun for next Halloween, instead. (Jeff, you may now add "Catalina and Ashley wearing booty-clothes and getting down and dirty on the dance floor" to your wedding nightmare. Tim Keller, eat your heart out!) So we begin our tour.

It was very hard to focus throughout the entire journey. Ashley and I kept saying that we felt very visually over-stimulated. It was hard to concentrate on anything other than just looking. It was set up in a very organized fashion with the huge row going down the middle labeled "Main Street" and then each off-shoot of "Main Street" was a different Avenue. Of course, 5th Avenue was my favorite, which was comprised of all of the "high-end" wares. It was hard for Ashley and I to talk to one another because I was in A.D.D. overload! It very much reminded me of Mexico.

Aside from the red-topped tianguis (I have no idea how to spell that, actually, so if anyone from Mexico knows what I'm trying to say, please let me know how to spell it), the flea market looked, sounded, and smelled just like a Sunday morning main street in a Mexican neighborhood. We saw:

animals. There were live animals (some at a petting zoo, some being sold as pets, and some clearly being sold as dinner... not sure if some were being sold as sacrifices...). We got to see a monkey-like creature called a "bush baby" that climbed on my shoulder and had hands just like ours, only smaller.

dentist tools. We saw pliers and those small mirrors they put in your mouth.

"Egyptian cotton" sheets. riiiiiiiight... If those were real, they were definitely illegal.

BOOKS! I actually bought quite a few books for my classroom and for my future children (I just love children's books!).

bras. There were probably 10 different lingerie/bra/panty stands with every color bra imaginable. (Mary Elizabeth, we contemplated whether a hot pink girdle would be an appropriate wedding gift!)

eggs. People were actually selling eggs.

Hispanic cds and dvds. Of course, they were playing all this music. It wasn't blaring quite as loudly as they would play it in Mexico, but it still gave the same feel.

acupunture stands. (Because you just know those needles would be properly cleaned.)

tattoo stands. Derek and Brian, we have something to show you later... ;-)

socks, tshirts, and other clothes. (I bought some socks for the raffle drawing I do with my students every three weeks.)

pictures and figurines of la Virgen de Guadalupe. This REALLY made me feel like I was in Mexico City again. We talked to one of the guys selling this for quite a while. It was awesome hearing his story about coming here from Mexico and living in NYC. His daughter got a scholarship to a college up in NYC and his other daughter goes to GATech. Apparently his wife's name is also "Catalina," and she is from Jalisco. He buys the stuff he sells from the D.F., Cuernavaca, and Jalisco. It made me really want to go back to Mexico!

watches, sunglasses, and handbags. These were all either knock-off or stolen.

taco stands. We didn't eat here, but I know the next time we go back, we will.

CHURROS! Yes, I bought two on my way out. Though they looked very authentic, they weren't as fresh and good as the ones in Mexico.

big screen t.v.'s. I'm sure those were legal.

So pretty much the only thing this Flea Market was missing were stands and stands and stands of clearly bootleg (and sometimes very illegal) copies of movies and cds. Otherwise, it made me flashback to my time in Mexico. I even spoke a little Spanish! We had an absolutely wonderful time! So thank you, smiling Pendergrass cow, for making my dreams come true!

So I'll close my post with one last statement:

"Get ready to fight over OUR White Elephant gift, Krieder/Johnson/Pudwill family!!" :-)