I think it is a myth that women love to shop, I detest shopping and I do everything in my power to avoid it. Robbie loves to shop, if shopping was an Olympic sport he would be a gold medalist! Pain permitting he will happily wander from shop to shop making a mental note of everything in stock. He is interested in absolutely everything, clothes, shoes, books, toiletries, gadgets, kitchen equipment, you name it Robbie knows about it! When he can't shop he reads about shopping, even about the changing dimensions of toilet rolls!
These days unfortunately pain and long working hours limits Robbie's enjoyment of shopping to some extent these days. I find myself I often find myself doing errands for him and woe betide me if I get the wrong item. Yesterday I went shopping for food, just day to day items mainly, but Robbie likes a particular brand of chicken and mushroom pie and I was going to get one of those for him too. They didn't have any in stock so I was brave (or foolish) enough to buy an alternative brand instead. It was a more expensive brand so I thought Robbie may be willing to try it. As soon as I told him about it he had that sulky look that he does so well. It was as if a big black cloud had settled over us. He said he was unhappy because the quality of the gravy was bound to be wrong and he would rather go without than have to put up with an alternative. Failed again!
I failed last week too, I bought the usual brand of liquid soap, but I chose the green one with aloe vera rather than the usual option. Robbie gets very sore cracked hands and I thought the aloe vera may be good for his skin. He was not impressed, he complained plaintively about the 'smell' I think it is quite pleasant, but it doesn't float Robbie's boat. It looks as if we will have to have his and hers hand wash for a while until I work my way through the three bottles of aloe vera that I bought. Today he mentioned that he needs more hair stuff. I am dreading getting that because when they changed the packaging I bought a stash of the old design, but now he has to adjust to the new pack and I know that he will moan about it. I guess I will just have to throw a deaf ear, I am good at that, I get lots of practice.
I am quietly confident that he will be pleased with one recent purchase. I have to do some odd things for Robbie at times but 'feeling' Lego men has to be closet to the top of the list. The minifigures come in individual sealed packs, there are 16 to collect but the only reliable way to find the one you want is to feel the pieces through the foil bag. I have become very good at finding them this way, but I have had some very dodgy looks. I must be mad, standing in the shop for ages 'molesting' Lego men, just to put a smile on Robbie's face! He only opens one figure each day and he still has a couple of unopened ones in his stash, but I am confident that they will complete his set of series 7 minifigures.
Robbie is a bit of a mixture, in some areas of life he is very open to new ideas, in fact it is hard to keep up with him at times, but when it comes to changing a brand that he is used to it is a very different story. He is fastidious about hygiene and he has to have the right brand, 'flavour' and size of the many toiletries he uses. If a brand changes the shape or size of container, or heaven forbid if they change the fragrance I know that we will be in for a difficult few weeks. Last year we faced a couple of problems like that, his trusted brand of deodorant not only changed the shape of the container, they changed the contents. I had to agree with him that the new fragrance was horrible, it made me cough and according to Robbie it wasn't nice on the skin. After lots of moaning he grudgingly agreed that he had to change and I set about finding a suitable replacement with the right smell and a container that met his specifications. I was lucky I stumbled across a less well known brand that met his needs perfectly - and peace was restored.
Then horror of horrors they discontinued his flavour of mouthwash. I scoured the town looking for it, but in the end he had to face facts and try another brand. I bought several, but he wasn't impressed, then we found one that met with his approval. It wasn't cheap and he gets through it remarkably quickly, but it was worth it for a peaceful life. Then towards the end of last year the supermarket had his mouthwash on offer, it was better than half price so I stocked up. During the offer period I bought about a dozen bottles, which were left in the kitchen for several weeks because there was no logical place to store them. In the end I prevailed on Robbie to find a space and put them away. Imagine my surprise when he told me last week that he had run out of mouthwash and he needed me to buy more - at full price! I couldn't believe it, and under close questioning he conceded that he may have put the bottles away and forgotten where they were, but he thought it was more likely that I was mistaken and perhaps I had brought my son's brand rather than his. I am rarely mistaken! He wouldn't let me search for it at the weekend as he had tidied up, but I had my suspicions about where it was and when I had the house to myself today I played hunt the mouthwash. I found it stashed away next to the freezer (not sure why) so he now has 9 bottles to keep him happy!
