So there I was, entering Fred Meyers, when she was headed towards Wal-Mart.
...She managed to get word out to my younger sister and my brother. My younger sister read the message...after having pulled into the Fred Meyers...at the gas station. So as she made her exit, my brother started to enter, spotted her, and they visibly exchanged a weird look, as he--confused--...pulled into the Fred Meyers. At the gas station.
Then, it was a matter of who we shop for. One remains in exile, the other three shop for gifts. We settle this in the only acceptable sibling manner:
Rock paper scissors royale.
As it turns out, going with rock was a hilariously bad idea, because all three of my siblings on their first throw went with paper. Now, in the Fred Meyers, I know where the furniture is. I also know where the areas my siblings are likely to go are. So I can comfortably rest for the hour or so it takes them to find my presents.
Not so much in the Wal Mart.
And this was after I was working all day. (I came straight from work.) In which, between before and after, I had walked 4-5 miles. My feet were not happy, to say the least. And then it was a threeway battle I got to watch. My older sister lost that one, though I really wish we had shopped with her opinion first because she would have basically given away what to give her and what not to give her yet because she was first that meant relying on our younger sister to guess.
Then it came down to the big match: my brother versus my younger sister, the traditional match we have every time we meet. My sister lost. Then we got to hear my older sister's many opinions on what to not get, with only vague ideas on what to get. I only got a single item with the rest of my alloted $20 being spent on two gag gifts. An hour later, we were able to more or less scrounge up what we needed, and it was time for my brother.
The problem with my brother is that anything he'd actually like, he's already got. He's the only one in the family who actually has money, and money to spare at that--so if he wants something, he can actually afford that something. (That's not to say he's a bottomless pit of wealth, of course. But I work a minimum wage job, my older sister might make less than minimum wage, and my younger sister works a minimum wage job, whereas...my brother has a Masters degree in the field he is actually working in, and is appropriately paid. Software Engineers are many things, minimum wage is not among them.)
So it was difficult finding something for him.
We did manage, though.
So that was my afternoon.