Happy But Healthy is Questionable

Ok, I have a disclaimer before I begin this. I know full-well that I write disproportionately more about my 10yo than my 12yo. It is not intentional in that I somehow love my 10yo more.

It is intentional in that quite simply put: the 12yo isn’t as “into” my blog and doesn’t really WANT me posting things on here that he does or says.

The 10yo, on the other hand, is all about the free publicity.

So…I felt like needed to say that. No one has been critical to my “face” (or my email inbox) but I was feeling as though I needed to put that out there…lest anyone be curious.

And with that, I shall begin the post which I intended to write:

For several months now, my 10yo has been wanting a Packer’s Snack Dispenser.

Yes, you read that correctly. He is something of a Packer’s fan (in case that had not been made clear in the past, please check this out) and for some reason he felt like it was the one thing which was lacking…the one thing which would make his collection complete.

Plus, who WOULDN’T want a snack dispenser of their favorite NFL team?

Ok, to be honest, I would just like a snack dispenser…I don’t have a favorite NFL team (don’t breathe a word of that to the 10yo BTW…if you tell him and he questions me about it, I will totally throw you under the bus.) so I don’t need that attribute included in my snack dispenser requirements.

Here’s a picture in case you were curious as to what I am talking about.

So…he really wanted one of these things and I just could not bring myself to buy it for him. Not even for Christmas.

I am a mean mama, for sure.

But…fortunately he has a great-grandma who was happy to oblige him for Christmas with a $20 NFLShop.com gift card.

The snack dispenser cost $14.95. With shipping, it came out to $19.95. So he bought it.

And now he has an NFLShop.com gift card with 5 cents on it. I might be able to throw it away, but it is still sitting on my kitchen counter.

I need an intervention; someone might need to come over and toss it for me.

It’s 5 cents for crying out loud…if you saw 5 cents lying on the ground, you’d pick it up, right?

Anyway, the much-beloved snack dispenser arrived last week.

And since last week, the 10yo has been badgering me to take him to the store to buy some “snacks to dispense”.

Now, he didn’t really say it like that, but it makes me laugh to think that he would.

Anyway…he wanted M&M’s. It made me think of In the Coop.

But as far as I could tell, they were not on sale. Anywhere. At least at a decent price. So I was able to put him off.

Until this week…when it started again. As I knew that it would.

So I had to go to Walgreens anyway, and I let him tag along. As an aside, Walgreens had their brand of Children’s Cough and Cold medicine marked down to $1.44, and a $1 coupon in their monthly coupon book. So yes, I spent 44 cents for a bottle of Children’s Cough & Cold medicine. Which worked out well, because the 12yo has been snuffling for a couple days; I am holding my breath that it’s nothing more than allergies…you know we’ve had the windows open so much lately….

But I digress. I caved and took the 10yo to Walgreens. With his $5 in tow. I wasn’t footing the bill for his snacks.

Walgreens had their M&M’s “on sale” for $3.79. And this was not a large bag, mind you. I told him that it was too expensive and that he wasn’t going to get them there.

Surprisingly, he didn’t argue.

As he stood there looking at the sign, he shook his head and said, “Well, I am NOT at the corner of Happy and Healthy.”

Perhaps I’m not the only one who enjoys a good commercial.

Next stop: CVS. My beloved CVS. As another aside, they have a coupon this week that you can get at the scanner BEFORE you shop.

You know what I’m talking about, right…the price scanner. It also prints out coupons…lest you be unaware.

So…after you scan your CVS card, the scanner will kick out a coupon for $2.25 off a tube of Colgate. And there was a 75 cents off Colgate toothpaste manufacturer coupon in the Sunday paper this past week-end.

And since the toothpaste is on sale for $3 (I’m going to do some math, so get ready)…that means the toothpaste is free.

AND the M&M’s were on sale 2/$6 with $2 in ExtraCare Bucks back. So it only cost him $4.41 for two bags. Nice.

And now, every time I go in his room, he insists that I turn the dial on the snack dispenser and help myself to some snacks.

How could I be rude and decline? You never want to dis you “host”.

In unrelated news, I’ve had to spend a lot of time in his room lately.

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