Yesterday was one of those days I should have stayed in the house. I do grocery shopping on Thursday, and I also needed gas yesterday. So, I head out for stop one, the gas station at the grocery store. I go there all the time, have for years. But, for some reason, starting about 2 weeks ago, on the day that Mr Vanilla's paycheck is deposited, the debit card won't work at the gas pump. It will work in the store, at an ATM, at other gas stations, but not this one. And, since I wasn't sure how much gas I needed, I didn't want to give the cashier an amount to put on the debit card, and then have to go back and add more or have her put money back on the card. So, I had to leave with no gas.
No problem, I'll go down the street to the Shell by the house, and head to Wal Mart from there. I see the gas price advertised is $3.69, fine, same as grocery store gas. But, when I pull up to the pump and get out, I see a piece of paper taped (yes, taped) to the pump, showing the advertised price is only for cash, and if you are paying by debit, it is $3.79. REALLY!!! Stupid idiotic false advertising! Back in the car I go, on to do the grocery shopping.
I eventually got gas for $3.71 at QT before I picked Little Vanilla up from school. It just shouldn't be this hard!
Then, at the grocery store, I kept dropping stuff, knocking stuff over, had the produce bags ripping open...bad karma day! Ad matching amazingly went fine, and I had a super nice lady behind me who didn't glare, huff, or make comments, which was nice. Do I like ad matching? No, not at all. Have I cut my grocery bill by $400 a month using it and coupons? Yes. So, I make myself do it. But it can be challenging to unload the cart, especially with my OCD. I put all the ad match stuff out first, so we can get it out of the way, and then everything else behind it. But I usually have to stop unloading, ad match, finish unloading, and grab all the bags that have taken over the bagging area. I shop in the late morning, and never use an express lane. Also, you can see I have a full cart. So if you have 10 items, and you choose to get behind me, don't mutter and glare at me - it is a Thursday morning, and there are 5 fast lanes open, use one of those!
I think my favorite memory is of the guy who got behind me with more that 10 but less than 25 items. He got behind me while I was still unloading the cart, so he could see what he was in for. When I started ad matching he got upset, glared, huffed, reloaded his cart and went to a different line. Fine by me. When I was done checking out, I started to walk out and saw this same guy JUST FINISHING CHECKING OUT! Serves him right for glaring and huffing at me. I have to save money where I can, as do most of us, and I am going to ad match, take my time, and use my coupons.
Tomorrow Teenage Vanilla is having what sounds like all 17 members of her freshman class over to swim and hang out in the evening. Little Vanilla has a friend coming over to keep her company. I have my good friend Bree coming over with her little son to both help keep an eye on the teenagers, and to keep me laughing - and Mr Vanilla laughing. We've had most of the kids over several times, and they are all pretty good kids. They did play spin the bottle truth or dare, but the most I saw was garbage can licking (ick!), and later heard that was the worst, so I'm not going to get my panties in a bind worrying about what they might do.
I know a lot of parents might think my attitude is too casual, but really, if kids are going to do things, they are going to do it regardless of the policing us parents provide. Next year at the Charter school both girls attend the new campus will be grades 6-10 (currently one campus is PK-6, the other is 7-9), with plans for it to be grades 6-12 by the time Teenage Vanilla is a high school senior. She loves that she will always be top dog! I have heard several 5th grade parents are concerned about the 6th graders being at the same campus with high school kids, even though 6th grade will be in a separate area. I decided not to take offense to parents making the high school kids sound deviant even when they know one of them is mine. One thing I keep hearing is kids are making out under the stairwells! Really?! Hmmm
I don't know that I'll blog over the weekend, but after the party, I might want to! Have a Very Vanilla Day, and Weekend Too!
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