Imani's New Room

Well friends, by now I am in Dallas for work until late Thursday night, but lucky you that I planned enough in advance to write a few posts and schedule them to post in advance (God I love that feature!)

So the story of Imani's new room . . .

Imani's room should have never been painted pink.  Imani is not a "pink" girl.  She's not a frilly, girly girl.  She's never liked princesses or barbies or anything else stereotypically marketed for girls.

She likes digging in dirt and finding fossils.  She likes treasure hunts, baseball, basketball and skateboarding. 

And most of all, she loves music.  While most kids her age save their money to buy toys or candy, Imani saves her money and asks us to take her to a local music store to buy her instruments.

She lays awake in bed at night and writes lyrics for rock songs.  We hear her whisper-singing for hours in bed.

So it seemed appropriate when she said she wanted a music-themed bedroom.  At first, since Imani plays the violin quite well (she's been playing since the age of 5 and she's nine now), I thought I'd do her room in soft browns and pinks.

And then I remembered: Imani is not PINK!  I am pink.  I needed to let that go. And, although she is most fluent in violin, her favorite instrument is guitar.  She has an acoustic and a cherry red electric guitar.

So I asked her what color she wanted her room and she said she didn't care -- that we could keep it pink if we wanted.   She is very much eager to please me.

I explained that it was her room, so she could pick whatever color she wanted but she wouldn't budge.

"Pink's fine Mom, just as long as it's a music room" she said.

A few days later, we were in Target and her big brown eyes locked onto something down one of the aisles and I saw the excitement in her face.

She reached for the red electric guitar wall hanging.  "Mom, this would be PERFECT in my music bedroom!"

My response?  "Yeah, but it's not pink . . . and it's $29.99 so you can forget it."

"What about this? This is sooooooo cooooool!!!" she said, pointing to a piece of canvas wall art in red, white, and black that said "I am Rock."

Price tag: $39.99

"Nope; this DEFINITELY doesn't go with a pink room," I told her.

I waited and waited and waited for the guitar and wall art to go on clearance at Target, as all of their trendy items always do, but finally I caved and bought them at full price.  I couldn't believe I was spending $70 on two pieces of wall art made in China.

Imani has no idea, of course.   I asked the nice cashier at check out if the items went on clearance if I'd be able to bring in my receipt and be refunded the difference.   She assured me that as long as it's within seven days, I would be refunded the difference and all I would need was my receipt.


TWO days later . . .

I'm strolling through the aisles at Target and I peer down the aisle where the music decor was and I see a bunch of red clearance tags!  50% off!  I was so psyched and Imani wasn't with me, so I marched my proud little self up to the service desk to get my refund.  The lady informed me that price adjustment refunds are not allowed on clearance items, only on sale items.

What?!  Was she really telling me "No?!"

"I need to speak to a manager,"   I said in my calmest voice.

Sure enough, Mrs. Manager came up and told me the same thing.  No price adjustments if something goes on clearance.

Me (in my longest run on ever . . . ):  "So, what you're saying is that I can go home and get these two items and bring them back and return them and watch your stock guys put them back on the shelves and then pick them back up and buy them for the clearance price?" 

Mrs. Manager: "Yep."

Time: 9:35 pm and Target closes at 10 pm

Apparently, Mrs. Manager didn't know that I live less than a block from Target.  I was back in less than five minutes with my two items.  I returned them and re-purchased them and saved $35.

I hate nothing more than policies that don't make sense.

And to anyone who reads this who regularly sees Imani . . . shhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  This is a secret!  Imani loves surprises, so we hope to complete her room while she is at a friend's and then reveal it to her.

Maybe I'll even videotape it and attempt to post a video here on my blog.

Anyway . . . since she chose the red electric guitar and the black and white wall art, I figured that would be a good color scheme.  I'll show you the inspiration pictures next!