Zannee’s Blog at BargainsLA.com

Occasionally while doing this bargain shopping thing, I am out for long intervals of shopping research and forget to eat.Friday, after writing at the computer for a couple of hours and driving the 5 fwy for another, I am at the new Macy’s Furniture Outlet in Main Place Mall in Santa Ana.(Yes, there are great bargains in this Mall). I had completely forgotten about the tags with extra discounts… additional 10%, 20% even 40% off. You have to re-calculate every price to find out the lowest discount price. Every item there had an additional discount that I had to recalculate. Researching this place is work.

After two hours of looking over furniture, writing down manufacturer names, product descriptions, regular discounts, calculating additional discounts and then interviewing the manager, I left. Half way down the escalator, I zoned. That staring into space, la la land zone. I practically fell off the escalator at the bottom. I had gone 5 hours without anything to drink or eat. Decisions are difficult, creatively is non-existent and reasoning is near kaput. I had forgotten one of my basic rules. Always keep water and a small snack with you when shopping.

I had some warm bottled water in the car that I quickly guzzled…but no food. Then I got stuck in traffic. What the heck has happened to OC street traffic? What a nightmare! Forget the Orange Crush, try the parking parade on Main Street in Santa Ana. Construction combined with street parking bottlenecked the street. I finally made to the freeway and started heading north to beat out the worst of the commuter traffic.

The water had helped and I felt a bit revived. I check my Palm Pilot. I notice a new Fragrance outlet lead in Downey. I thought I’d give it a go. Up and down and up and down Imperial Hwy I went. Even with the address, I am soo brain dead I can’t find the place. When I finally pull over… there it is. But the store turns out to be nothing to cheer about. Now, the food pains are fierce. I had gone 7 hours without food.

A favorite pit stop, the La Mirada location of In ‘n Out is on route. This location is less busy than most locations, so I got my food fix quickly. A coke and cheeseburger put me quickly back in the swing. Protein, caffeine and sugar are great pick me ups.

After re-fueling I head to the Dale Tiffany Outlet up the block from In ‘n Out. This place is still one of the most awesome factory outlets. They were super busy so I couldn’t get any inside info. But the savings here are 20%-70% off retail on some of the most beautiful lighting pieces ever created. I always leave this place in a good mood.

When I arrived at home an hour later, I was challenged by my daughter to a round on Dance Dance Revolution. Since I was back on my game, (thank you In ‘n Out) I accepted.

After an hour of following dizzy-ing arrows and watching an anime girl wiggle her groove thing, I was danced out to the point of real sweat.

Beaten and exhausted, I was once more entering the La la zone. This time I decided to stay in the zone and added a glass of merlot to the mix