Mason 365: Day 12

Passing The Bar

Earlier, while Zach and his dad were cleaning out the garage and preparing dinner, I was tasked with making the roughly twenty mile trek to Walmart to retrieve s'more preparation materials. After spending a good 10 to 15 minutes getting two of our four children changed, bundled and in the car, I proceeded to spend the next two plus hours in some combination of driving to and from Walmart and canvassing its shelves for just about anything that caught my attention... because I was there with only two kids and they were both trapped in the cart (!) and quiet, which was in and of itself  little short of miraculous.

So, long story short(er), a set of living room curtains, a wireless ipad keyboard, a little girls' clearance top, a lengthy chat with a nice pair of preschool parents, a box of graham crackers, a carton of iced latte, and a few other random grocery items later, we pulled up to the holy grail of the Super Walmart - the glimmering, glorious candy bar section. Here, the deceivingly arduous (though infinitely worthwhile) decision-making process began.
It started out simply enough, with me reaching for and retrieving my usual standard-size Hershey bar 6-pack (most likely the only variety of 6-pack I'll ever consume.) That's when I make my fatal mistake. Just before dropping the pack in the cart, I take a last-minute inventory of the candy bar unit prices. (Since becoming a Cereal Mom who has neither the time nor the patience for couponing, I've become little less than obsessed with unit pricing. Unfortunately my obsession does not negate my lack of math skills. Thank goodness Walmart fields the calculations for me.) And there it is! Right smack at my eye level, three tenths of a cent cheaper per unit than what I'm 2 seconds away from no longer having in my hand, my new best confectionary friend, the almighty, royal King Size Hershey bar.
I've just begun eagerly grabbing up about as many as I can hold when I glance just above them and spot...  a slightly more cheap and massive bar - the goliath Giant Size! By this time, King Size is disappearing into my rearview faster than you can say 'shelf space' and I leave the store congratulating myself on my brilliant economizing. The only thing that could have made that moment any happier is if my lifelong quest for generic Hersheys had finally been realized. But let's just not go down that road... not on this happiest of days.

To the shock of all barbecuers present, I rolled in just  in time for dinner, sporting my glorious prize. They may have to hack it apart with a machete, but at least they'll appreciate all the money I saved while they're cracking their teeth on rock-hard s'mores - at least until the dental bills arrive...
And isn't that really what summer is all about?

'Cause we definitely needed this many.
We used one.
And the teeth were a closer call than you might have guessed.
Next time I feel the urge to take advantage of a fantastic deal on chocolate bars,
I think I'll put the dentist on speed dial...
Just to be safe.