Can I get a price check?

Ok. Here's the thing about Wal-Mart.

They have this handy "Open 24-7" thing at the larger centers

I don't know if there are any left that don't fall into the "larger center" category, but I have 4 of the always open kind within a 45 minute drive.

And somehow, whenever I go, I end up leaving with a few extra things I didn't realize or forgot I needed.

So, I made my Halloween candy run... to Marshall. They told me that the person who marks down the candy is on vacation and someone is coming in at 5:00am to take care of it. But I was on a chocolate buying mission and was not about to be thwarted so easily, so I just bought some eggs, laundry detergent, and something else that I can't think of right now but must have remembered I needed when I saw it.

And then I went to the Wal-Mart in Montevideo. (I'm not a big fan of the Wal-Mart in Montevideo. They don't leave the greenhouse area unlocked on Sunday and overnight in the summer. But like I said, there was candy that needed purchasing.)

So now I'm at the Montevideo Wal-Mart and I have a couple bags of candy - but I don't know if it's half price yet. I wander all the way across the store trying to find one of those damn price scanning things, but fail to do so. I can't help but wonder if any of the 5,560 kids that have been found and returned by Wal-Mart's "Missing People" thing were located by shoppers who were wandering around the store trying to find a price scanner.

I finally find one of the overnight people who leads me to a price scanner and teaches me an important lesson that I would like to pass on to you, my devoted following, here.

If you are in Wal-Mart and need to check a price, look for the support posts that have a blue line on them. If there is a blue line on the post, there is also a scanning thingy on it.
Bonus feelings of happiness are yours if the thing works.

If the post has a red line on it, there is a fire extinguisher on the post. Someone with less patience than you and I might try burning the place down after wandering all the way across the store without finding an employee or a scanning thingy. You can put out the fire, keep the consumer costs low, save the day, and educate the disgruntled shopper on how to significantly improve their shopping experience!

Note: This info is valid for all Wal-Marts. I've double checked at the ones I go to so as to be sure I'm giving you accurate information. Some posts have both a scanner and a fire extinguisher and apparently found favor with the guys distributing the red and blue lines. And some posts have nothing on them. Feel free to feel sorry for these posts, and maybe give them a hug.

So, back to the candy business. Yes, the scanning thing verified that at least some of it was half off. Good enough. Bought a bunch and went home.

But then, the next day, I find the empty cat food bag under Todd's bed. I don't know exactly why he folded it up so nicely and put it under his bed, especially since the bedding itself was on the floor in David's room, but I made the connection that the cat must need food.

So I made a list because it's back to Wal-Mart time again. (If the Mom and Pop Shops were open between midnight and 4am, I'd shop there, too.)

I usually prefer to not shop with a list because I've heard somewhere that when you see a male in a store with a list it's because his wife sent him there with it. I don't want a potential girlfriend to dismiss me because she thinks I'm already taken, so I cleverly stick the post-it containing the list inside my checkbook cover. (Yes, I realize that she might think I'm glancing at my checkbook account to see if I can afford the two packages of hamburger buns I've placed in my cart, which doesn't really give one the impression that I won't get dismissed even quicker, but it's my story, so let me tell it how I see fit.)

So on my list I have cat food, milk, socks, roast seasoning, and gravy. (I made the kids beef commercials last weekend. They were highly impressed and have asked me to repeat the performance. I told them the story about how the first one I ever had I was with their grandpa and we were at the Nowacki Gas Station in wherever and so on.) Anyway, should be about 40 bucks.

* Doodles and Sindee - Nowacki is our last name, in case you're wondering what the significance is.
** Creepy Internet Stalkers of Boys - You can now find us. I still don't value your life. Keep that in mind.

Back to the story. :)

The Schwan's guy didn't have any corn left on his truck on his last visit so I checked out the frozen veggies. Mom had told me I should try the microwavable "steam fresh" veggies, so I picked up a couple of bags. But right next to the corn they had steam fresh brussel sprouts, and I have always found brussel sprouts to taste kind of disgusting and thought they looked like the evil alien pod things on "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". So I bought a bag of those, too. Cuz really, who doesn't enjoy pretending they're snacking on evil fetal embryonic alien lifeforms?

And then I see the pre-flame-broiled burgers on an end cap. Marked down to $1 from $6-something? I better get 8 in case they're good! And what's this? Bacon wrapped steaks that were originally $11-something and are on sale for $4? HolyTolyDoly! I must buy 12!!!

And some oil for the deep fryer, because it's getting low, and maybe 4 boxes of cereal because we might be low on that. (Oops...still have 11 boxes at home. My bad.) And so on.

So anyway, I leave with considerably more than what I had on the list.
I had no idea how much stuff I needed!

And today is beautiful! I started a fire in the the old fire pit when I got home from work this morning, added more wood when I got up this afternoon, and have it all ready to whip up some of those steaks when the kids get home from school. I hope the weather is as nice where you are!