When Frugality Becomes Dangerous

All last week I tried to get to the thrift store to pick up a bunch of easy reader books for Roshane, as it is his birthday tomorrow. It was either raining, threatening to rain, or my husband picked him up because we had doctor's appointments, and we never got a chance to go.

Today it finally looked like it would stay dry, so I ventured off to the thrift store with my three-year-old and the baby. We actually have both a Goodwill and another charity thrift store right next to each other, but Goodwill's stuff is overpriced. At the other thrift store I pay 40 cents per book, and they have a lot. The only problem is that there is no organization to it, so you have to sort through everything.

I had gone through two shelves already, and Sky was finding some Goosebumps books on a shelf next to me. All of a sudden I feel a hit to my head, then another one before I know it I black out. It was so scary, and I just remember being dizzy thinking to myself get your act together, you have the boys with you, are they okay?

I looked around, but no one seemed to have noticed what had happened. I stood up, put my hand on top of my head, and just as I feared my hands were full of blood. Sky looked horrified, and said "Sorry Mommy, Sorry Mommy!" I told him it was not his fault, and I reassured him that he had not done anything. Apparently there were some books (heavy oversized kids ones) on top of the shelf where I was looking, and they all came down on top of me.

My eyes searched around, and I noticed an employee by one of the clothes racks. She looked at me and was horrified. I asked if she had water, but she looked like she was about to panic and did not understand. I then pulled out the little Spanish I had in my head and asked for aqua. She nodded and ran to get another employee, and I guess she ran for the restroom key as well. Then a gentleman shopping in the store saw what was happening, and he came to ask if I was okay. He checked the wound, and said that it was not too deep, and at this point I was reassured that it was not too big of a cut.

Another employee came to me, she spoke a little English but not, but I managed to let her know that I was okay, and I just needed to get cleaned up. I had grabbed one of the dishtowels that I use, when I burp the baby, and I was holding this to stop the bleeding. The other lady returned with the restroom key, and I followed the two ladies to a stinking restroom.

Before I knew it I was surrounded by Spanish speaking ladies, some were trying to get that awful smell out of the bathroom, and others helped get me cleaned up, so they could see how deep it was. There were no mirrors, so I had no idea how bad it was, but since I did not feel much pain, I was sure I was alright. The first lady took a look, and told me it was okay, and then more ladies came to take a look. Some brought clean towels, one brought ice, and at one point someone brought some bandages and something to clean a wound.

I was able to explain to them that I had to pick up my son from school, so they helped me clean off most of the blood. Since I had been hit at the top of my head, I really had no idea how bad it was, but I did remember all the blood that had first been running down my throat. I dug out a little clean burp cloth from the stroller and put it on top of my head, and then I put on my hat to put on pressure and to keep everyone from looking horrified when they saw me.

Sky was a champ through it all, and Emmett only woke up once. When he did Sky told a lady to "push him back and forth just like Mommy do". I did not feel much pain at that point, but I was beginning to get a bit dizzy, so I just wanted to get out of there.

I had called my husband to hear if he could pick up Roshane, but he was too far away to make it back in time, so my focus was on getting to the school.  As soon as I got out into the 90 degree weather the pain appeared and the dizziness increased, but I just wanted to stay focused and get us to the school.

When we got to the school, Sky blasted out to the crossing guard we always greet that his mom got hit in the head. I quickly explained what had happened, and she reassured me that there were no obvious signs of blood. (I was afraid of frightening the kids). We were fifteen minutes early at the school, so Sky and I sat down by a tree and read a lizard book.

At this point my husband called me to let me know that he would be there to pick us up. We got a hold of Roshane, and went to wait for my husband. I was glad I did not have to walk home, as the dizziness was bad, and I did not want to take the kids into the traffic.

When we got home my husband declared that it was a pretty big cut, but that it did not look too deep. He told me that he wanted to put some neosporin on it, but that he needed to cut some of my hair.

My hair??? I imagined having an empty piece on the top of my head, and oh no there was no way I would let him come near my hair with a pair of scissors. I just wanted to take a shower, and fortunately the baby was still sleeping in the car seat, so I could bring him into the bathroom while I got cleaned up. I put in the neosporing, and I tried to look in the mirror. I still had a hard time seeing the injury, so I took a few snapshots to see how bad it is. While it is quite a cut I got, it is not too deep, and I put some neosporin on it.

One thing I learned today is that frugality can be dangerous.

Another thing I got confirmed is that I need to pick up some Spanish lessons somehow, English feels like my first language these days, but my Spanish surely needs to be brushed up on. It was amazing how we got things accomplished though since the ladies spoke a little English and I spoke a little Spanish.

Of course we did get the original mission accomplished, and while I did not get as many books as I wanted, I did find four dollars worth of easy readers for Roshane.

Have you ever been injured while shopping?