Shopping With Three “Helpers”

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About ten days ago I was taking my kids to hang out at a friends house who also has kids.  I decided to stop by CVS on the way.  My husband said, “Are you sure you want to do that?”  I replied, “Yes, I don’t need a lot.  There’s a good sale.  Plus, it’s right on the way.”  He skeptically said Ok in that voice that implies that he knows I will regret it later.  I really need to remember that my husband is usually right.

So off I head to CVS where I have been learning to get the good deals and Bonus Bucks.  The three children are excited about going to the store and their friends house.

We bounce into the store and find a cart.  Their shopping carts are smaller than the grocery store carts.  They don’t need to be large unless everyone shopping there has 3 kids that want to hang on and ride in the cart. “Mommy, why don’t you just get another cart for me?”  Now how do they think I’m going to push two carts?!

The carts at our CVS are not balanced well.  For instance, if you have a one year old in the front seat of the cart a four year old can hang on the handle and the cart will  start to tip.  I think I almost had a heart attack.  What a feeling it is to see the cart with your baby in it start to fall over! 

My main shopping item was medicine; Advil in particular.  They had a good sale and my husband goes through Advil almost as fast as my children go through candy - but not quite.  I wanted to get some different kinds of Advil.  You know - night time, regular, for cold and sinus - just as long as it was all Advil brand so I could get the bonus bucks back. 

One would think that all the Advil would be together.  Well… it’s not.  There is a section for all the brands of regular medicine; for all the cold medicine; for night time medicine; for stomach medicine; for this-mother-is-going-crazy medicine…  I just want Advil!!! 

I find the regular stuff and leave that aisle so that the cart will move and the children will be slightly appeased; but five minutes later I’m back in that aisle looking for the cold & sinus Advil.  “Mommy, we already did this aisle.  Why are we going back in here?  You already got something from this aisle.”  Nobody told me that a mother is only allowed to go down each aisle once.  If you don’t get it the first time through you are out of luck, I guess.

 After another perusal of the medicine aisle I go to the deodorant aisle and again look for a certain kind out of about 300 different deodorants.  Bless their hearts, my kids wanted to help me find what I was looking for; but they can’t read.  “Here Mommy, Daddy will like this one.  Is this the one you want, Mommy?  What do you think of this one?  I like this one Mommy.  How come I don’t have any of this stuff Mommy?  When do I get to use de-o-drant?”

Finally I picked the ones I wanted [Buy 1 get 1 free - plus use a coupon] and we head back to the medicine aisle for the third time.  I’m bound and determined to get that medicine that I want.  It is a good sale.  I forewarn the kids this time.  “Okay we are going in this aisle one more time; but it’s the last time and we will leave soon.”

Well, I found it.  Guess what?  It has a card that I need to take back to the pharmacy to get the medicine.  The government is watching who is buying and how much of it they are buying.  So, I have to show ID, sign their book, and pay for the medicine at the back counter.  Then I have to answer the 500 questions that my kids ask about why I had to get the medicine from that man, etc.,etc., etc. 

The good thing is that the bonus bucks printed at the back register and I used them for the other items at the front register.

We made it out the door and back to our vehicle.  I had managed to keep the one year old in the cart the whole time.  I had used every trick I could think of including giving her my cell phone to play with.  I could only imagine the havoc she could wreak in the medicine aisle!  By this time she does not want to be sitting anymore, but I wrestle her into her car seat, buckle the other ones, and we are off!

We get to my friends house and they erupt with energy and excitement.  She had battened down the hatches and was ready for kids with a pool and a thing they could jump in.

Next time, I will go to CVS by myself.

Possibly Related posts:

1. That’s Bad; That’s Good.
2. The Cold Didn’t Come Soon Enough
3. Actually Started Christmas Shopping
4. A Fairly Fun Shopping Trip
5. Tis the Sick Season

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