I live to shop

Not really. But I blog to live, and on a night with two other writing assignments due, it's time to reach for the ol' meme standby. I've been tagged by a couple of people, but Nancy (in my comments) was first.

1. What are you proud of?
I took a step toward cleaning out my bookcases -- a very distant step, one that requires a lot of other steps -- by getting a couple of packages of padded envelopes for sending mooched books.

2. What are you embarrassed by?
The $1 USA coloring book I picked up on a whim for Cady Gray. Not real embarrassing objectively, but I'm bourgeois enough to be faintly ashamed when I buy something really cheap.

3. What do you think you couldn't live without?
The spiral bow that I got to put on a gift bag for a three-year old, who couldn't have cared less whether the gift was nicely packaged or wrapped in the comics pages.

4. What did you most enjoy purchasing?
The envelopes gave me the most satisfaction. I always feel good when I purchase something in pursuit of some plan that I think will make me a better person. Frequently those items end up languishing unused because I never develop the determination to carry out the plan. But right now I'm sending and receiving books regularly, so the envelopes are working out.

5. What were you most tempted by? (This last one may or may not be an actual purchase!)
It was Wal-Mart ... a place that doesn't feel much like temptation. I did want a chocolate bar at checkout, and I think I would have actually bought one if I had been in a lane where they were at impulse eye level. My sweet tooth was acting up this week; I was craving dessert and I didn't want to wait for my No-S-Diet-Approved weekend allowance. Luckily the Wal-Mart design team didn't put my will power to too much of a test.

Hey, if you need a blog post or you'd like to examine your relationship to consumerism, feel free to grab this one.