'First Monday'

___I’ve just returned from that all-weekend manic shopping mecca better known as First Monday. ___ For those not in the know, First Monday actually occurs the weekend before the first Monday of the month in the little town of Canton, Texas. Small stands and covered pavilions ALISON WINGFIELD cover acre upon acre of grounds housing everything from crafts and antiques to tires and equipment. Vendors and shoppers converge on this place from all over the United States. ___ Tramping around with the masses were me and a troupe of seven other women, mainly from our neighborhood. Every year these women (this is my second time to go with them) get up early Saturday morning, go straight to Canton, shop all day, spend the night at a bed and breakfast, get up and shop some more and then come home. ___ Being with these women was such a treat. No kids, no husbands, no responsibilities. The highlight of the weekend is Saturday night when we have "show and tell" and share all the goodies we found. ___ Canton itself overwhelms me. Lost is probably a better description. The maze of buildings and individual tents would stupefy even those with a better sense of direction than myself. ___ Thank goodness we had several walkie-talkies with us so we could communicate and find each other when needed. There are a few serious shoppers among the group (I am not one of them), and we let them tour the "back 40" while we ambled along in the pavilions. Shopping with different friends enhanced our time together, as we compared notes about what we liked and what we didn’t. And of course, we were all good at getting each other to spend money. ___ True confessions. I spent too much money. I bought (some) things I didn’t need. But it was worth it. Mark Wingfield is managing editor of the Standard. Alison Wingfield is a freelance writer. The Wingfields moved to Texas from Louisville, Ky., where Mark had been editor of the Western Recorder, in which this column appeared weekly. ___How could any husband resist an introduction like that? For a male, I’m a pretty good shopper. But I have absolutely no desire to go to Canton. ___ I’m smart enough to realize how dangerous it is to send a pack of women there for two days, though. On the other hand, I’m smart MARK WINGFIELD enough to know I would be cutting my own throat to rain on this shopping parade. ___ So, I’ve taken to giving little tidbits of advice instead. ___ This year’s advice was simple and straightforward: Please don’t buy any more of those sheet sets that are sewn together. ___ One of Alison’s big finds last year was sheet sets for the boys’ twin beds. These sheets are unique because the fitted sheet and the flat sheet are sewn together on the bottom and one side like a sleeping bag. The idea is that this should make it easier for kids to make their beds. ___ Well, you can lead a kid to sewn-together sheets, but you can’t make him reach out his hand and pull them together. The number of days Luke and Garrett have made their own beds in the last year has hovered in the easy-to-count range--just like the years before. ___ The only difference has been my frustration. Those darn sheets are impossible to fold when they come out of the dryer. I usually give up and make a wad out of them and stuff them on the shelf. ___ As far as I can tell, Alison did better this year. The show-and-tell session once she got home didn’t raise any immediate red flags--other than the fact that she came in and spread her wares all over the house I had slaved to straighten and clean during her absence. ___ But what good’s a shopping spree if you can’t show off your purchases afterward? ___ Besides, I accomplished my main housekeeping goal while Alison was gone. I took those hard-to-handle sheets off the boys’ beds, washed and dried them, wadded them up the best I could and stashed them away. ___ Now I’ve got a year to figure out what to do with the antique trunk she brought home this year.

PREVIOUS HE SAID/ SHE SAID COLUMNS:
1999: 6/16, 6/23, 6/30, 7/14, 7/21, 7/28, 8/4, 8/11, 8/18, 8/25, 9/1, 9/8, 9/15, 9/29, 10/6, 10/13, 10/20, 10/27 11/17, 11/24, 12/1, 12/8, 12/15, 12/22,

2000: 1/5, 1/19, 1/26, 2/2, 2/9, 2/16, 2/23, 3/1, 3/8, 3/22, 3/27, 4/3, 4/10, 4/17, 4/24, 5/1, 5/8, 5/15, 5/22, 5/29, 6/5, 6/12, 6/19, 6/26, 7/10, 6/26, 6/19, 7/17, 7/24, 7/31, 8/7, 8/14, 8/21, 8/28, 9/4, 9/11, 9/18, 9/25, 10/2, 10/9, 10/16



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