Adventures in Kroger

I called my mom to tell her my grocery shopping adventure today, and she said, "Now that's one you need to blog about." So, here I go:

Amelia decided she wanted to come along, so the two of us started off for Kroger. I decided to stop first at Kroger Fuel and fill up. Then we proceeded to the store. While in there, I remembered that I better start getting a few things for our annual Easter egg hunt, which has always ended with a treasure hunt where I (the Easter Bunny) gave the kids chocolate bunnies or kites or whatever I could find. So, this year I found big bouncy balls. Since I was going to purchase all that stuff for the party, I decided this would be the trip where I spent $200 because I had a great coupon ($20 off $200). I usually don't spend that much, so I also picked up the gift cards that I need for Mik's teachers for Staff Appreciation and also my sweet babysitter and the girl I tutor who both have birthdays this week.

We started looking kind of funny because I had ten big bouncy balls in the buggy, which filled it up really fast! When we got to the check out, there was a cute kid helping us. At the end he asked me for my Kroger card...oh, shoot, oops...I couldn't find it ANYWHERE! Then it dawned on me that my DEBIT CARD was also gone. Then I remembered the gas and that I had left them in the car after I paid. So I left Amelia there and ran out to the car to get my wallet.

I came running back in breathless and embarrassed...and then I looked at the total amount that I had just spent... $325!!!!! I had no idea that I had spent so much and I was freaking out, but I had already made a little bit of a scene with the balls and running to my car, that I just handed him my card, along with the 21 coupons I had for the trip. Then he said to me, "I put the ball that your daughter wanted and all of her gift cards in her own bag."

"Excuse me? My cards are all right here," I said. "No, the ones that are for your daughter," he explained; very patiently, I might add. I took a peak in Amelia's bag to find gift cards to Claire's, Build-a-Bear and Limited Too!

I was like, "AMELIA, WHAT WERE YOU GOING TO DO WITH THESE?" She just looked at me and said, "Mom, I was going to play store in the playroom."

By this time, I didn't even know what to do. I asked the kid if he could please take them back, and after figuring out how to do it, he took the money off and gave the blank cards to Amelia to play with. So my grocery bill ended up being about $220, not bad for the week's groceries, our Easter party and four gift cards.

The sweet cashier ended up helping us out with our buggy (buggies, I should say, since we had two). As Amelia and I crawled into the car, exhausted from our adventure, I looked down and saw the $20 off $200 coupon and realized that in the chaos, I had forgotten to give it to him.

I grabbed Amelia and we started laughing and walked back into the store to customer service. I didn't know if she would do anything, but I knew I wouldn't spend this much for a long time. She took one look at my receipt and handed me $22.80 in cash....it was super easy, and we both left with smiles on our faces and laughter in our hearts...what an adventure!

BTW, today is my dad's birthday! Give him a shout out please! I can't wait to see you Dad. We'll celebrate on Thursday!