needle in a haystack

so, i get this bright idea that the kids both need strings to attach to their mittens so they don't keep dropping them in the snow. we were still at my parent's house for the holiday and i thought my mom could just whip me some up. or i could go buy some. and then we read on the internet that those strings are no longer in use. because they can cause a hazard. like if they get caught in an escalator. and they don't break free. okay. good point. but it's funny how the internet can put the fear of god in you. every kid had them back in the day. it's like you can't have a string in your hood nowadays either. or lead paint. anyway, we think of another idea. we can use suspender clips. off to the fabric store we go. they don't sell the clips in pairs. they sell them individually. for four dollars a pop. we refuse to pay that much. and we are off across the parking lot. to goodwill. in search of old suspenders. zilch. the next day we are off to salvation army. we find some suspenders. and a bunch of other stuff we don't need. but neither one of us can pass up a good deal. the suspenders we found only had three clips per pair. and we need eight total. and one of the clips didn't hold well on one of the pairs. about two hours later i am looking in the woman's accessory section and what do i find but a pair of suspenders. black with pink polka dots. and black clips. three black clips. we still need two more. and you had better bet we are using that polka dot elastic for something too. we figured we had all that the store had and we would look again another day. but wait. on our way to the register we stop and look through the shirts. and my mom starts to laugh. which doesn't surprise me. we are always picking out the best shirts for each other. but this one was the show stopper. it was a white long sleeve shirt. with a pink patterned piece in the shape of the top of some overalls that was stitched on the front of the long sleeve part and the faux straps held on at the top with no other than suspender clips. one on each side. i. kid. you. not. if ever you need something you can call my mom. i swear she will find it. and i have no doubt that if we had not bought that shirt it would have remained on the rack until the year 3018. when it fell off the hanger. all by itself.