Adventures In Futility

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. So far, so good.

And did I have a present for Marilee before today? No.

Yikes!

So in my typical style, I waited until THE worst day to get a Valentine's Day present, the day before. And what did I get?

[Note: There is no reason to worry that Marilee will see this post before tomorrow - she doesn't read my blog.]

I got such a fun present for her. One that took a lot of thought... wait, I'm getting ahead of myself.

OK, perhaps you've seen the jewelry store ad that's been on TV lately - the guy gets his gal a pair of earrings - and the earrings are inside a musical jewelry box, complete with ballerina that spins when the top is opened. Says she "I had one just like that when I was a little girl."

"It is the one you had as a little girl - I got it from your Mom."

She opens the jewelry box, ballerina starts spinning, removes the box containing the earrings, fade to "Every kiss begins with..."

The first time I happened to see the commercial with Marilee in the room began the adventure - in a voice I'd never heard her utter, she said "I never got a jewelry box like that when I was a little girl".

That was about a week ago - I figured there was plenty of time to get the perfect music box.

Yeah, riiiiight.

OK, so this is the first time I've been in the market for a wind-up musical jewelry box with spinning ballerina. Preferably the last time for a while, anyway. Hopefully, the as-yet-unborn grandkids will get one that's more easily attainable. Music box attainability is the point of this little exercise.

The search started a few days ago, actually. A quick internet search suggested that K-mart would have said music box, and if not there, then Sears. Since Sears owns K-mart, that seemed likely. Otherwise, just about any store would have one.

As an aside, the first stop this morning was to get new batteries for our wireless phones. Not that that is important, but it got me in the shopping mode.

From there I was off to Sears at Fashion Place. Traipsing about the store, I came up quite empty. A circuit of the mall proper turned up NO wind-up musical jewelry boxes with a spinning ballerina, though a salesperson at Things Remembered was lost on the whole jewelry part of the equation and offered a snow globe. Ballerina, yes, jewelry box, no.

Shapiro, no. All the damn jewelry stores? No.

Nordstrom? Dillard's? No and NO.

Sat a while in the parking lot thinking, and then it dawned on me - That backwards R store! Toys R Us!

For naught. While they did have a cheap-o plastic musical jewelry box, ballerina and all, they would not sell it to me - apparently, it had been recently recalled and had not been removed from the store shelves yet. Crap!!

Shopko across the street? Nope.

OK, now, this is getting ridiculous.

The saleslady at Toys R Us had suggested that Walmart might be a good choice - so I headed there. Besides, the nearest one was across from a K-mart. So off I went to Walmart.

As you can see at this point, there's a LOT of words above this point, and a heck of a lot below. Suffice to say, Walmart wasn't happening, either. But what sent me skyrocketing was what the jewelry department lady said at K-mart - "Oh, we don't put out stuff like that until Easter."

[So as to not offend my readers who consider Easter as an event having more meaning than coloring chicken eggs and biting off chocolate bunny heads, I'll refrain from writing what I was thinking about K-mart and their sales practices.]

At this point, I was running out of options, until I remembered a toy store in Foothill Village called Nifty Cool. I was soon headed north.

[Note to those who might want to go to Nifty Cool - they're gone. Don't know where. Shame.]

In a bit of foresight, while I was at Fashion Place, I did go into one of my favorite stores - Brookstone. And got a backup gift, just in case. Not exactly Valentin-y, but still think it was worthwhile, if not for the name of the product. Read through to the end for the backup.

And while I'd gone to several big boxes, I still hadn't hit Fred Meyer Smith's Marketplace, downtown. Off I went.

I'd spent a lot of time in that store last year, so didn't have to roam too much, and started out in the sparse toy department. That was the basic game plan for all the stores; toys then jewelry. And while the jewelry department wasn't much better in terms of choice, they did have the holy grail. A frickin' wind-up, musical jewelry box, with spinning ballerina. Ta-da!!

And it gets better. The price was mismarked by an order of magnitudes and after paying for a music box Marilee never received as a child, I walked out of the store with a smile on my face, a spring in my step, and not too much of a dent in my wallet.

And that gift from Brookstone? It's the perfect backup:

A five-function clock - with timer, alarm, calendar, and temperature gauge.

I got a red one. And for a limited time, it's buy one, get one free.

Yes, you can get two Bob's for the price of one!

Take a look.