Coupons

I have a new hobby: couponing! Don't get any crazy ideas---I'm not one of those "Extreme Couponers" you see on TV. (Although, I did clear a shelf in our kitchen closet for extra dry goods....and the shelf is now full after two weeks of awesome deals.) I'm sure by now you know that I have an addictive personality when it comes to organizing things; when I get "into" something, I often can only think of that thing. Such as our upcoming garage sale. I would say that I'm "addicted" to finding stuff to sell in our house, pricing it and throwing it on the ever-growing pile of STUFF that I can't wait to get rid of. So, you can imagine how couponing is SO FUN for me! I've tried this before, but thanks to my aunt, I'm doing it again. I've always had the problem of how to organize my coupons until my aunt sent me an actual coupon organizer book for my birthday. All of a sudden, I can't leave the house without it and I'm dragging my kids all over creation to get the best deals. So what kind of deals am I finding? Well, it's not like I'm getting everything for free, you see. But, I am learning the savvy lifestyle of combining store coupons with manufacturer coupons and looking through the Sunday circulars to find discounted prices on things we use. It's like a treasure hunt! So far, my best shopping trips have been to Walgreens, where I spent $14 but saved $18 and my most recent trip to Cub Foods where my receipt told me that I saved 39%. NICE!

Okay...boring boring boring. Not everyone wants to hear about coupon deals, so this is where my story begins:

The other day, I needed to go to three different grocery stores. I won't bore you with ALL the mundane details, but in the event that you are asking yourself why the heck I needed to go to THREE stores, here's the answer: coupons/BOGOs at one store, double coupon day at the next store and inexpensive produce (and wine!) at Trader Joe's. (Man, I love that place!) Anyhoo, we were somewhere in the middle of the second store and the kids were already getting antsy. Connor wasn't having it---he was squirming in the cart and getting ready to scream. Hannah was hanging off the side of the cart with one of her arms INSIDE of her shirt and her shoes on the wrong feet (and I'm sure she was singing to herself, which is most often the case), and Caleb was walking next to me with BOTH of his arms in his shirt. All of a sudden, in that loud voice that only kids can get away with, Caleb randomly said, "Hey, Mom! I have three nipples!!" There were at least three people in the aisle that looked our way with shocked faces and only one of those was a mom who was amused by Caleb's comment. Needless to say we bustled out the door as quickly as we could get everything paid for.

Fast forward to the THIRD store, which I waited to go to until later in the day to avoid a meltdown from my kids. This store was VERY busy and I was constantly telling my kids to stick close to the cart or to move out of someone's way. About halfway through my shopping list, Caleb blurted out another random comment, VERY loud: "Mom, what if I had FOUR nipples?" Again, looks and stares, but mostly grandma-ish women who thought Caleb was being "cute".

I not only look forward to next week's shopping trip for the coupons, I also can't wait to see what my kids will say to embarrass me! (And, in case you're wondering the outcome, Caleb does not, in fact, have three nipples. False alarm.) :)