Hot toothbrushes anyone?

You remember I don’t do Christmas shopping, actually any kind of shopping, right?

We received a Costco coupon in the mail for $20 off Sonicare toothbrushes, and figured everyone in the family could use a little hygiene.  I sent Couponman off on the quest.  When he returned, he bragged he’d received $30 off for each box instead of $20.  Come to find out, he’d picked up the more expensive model, with a travel charger and some new-fangled feature.  So the extra $10 off really cost us an extra $30 per unit.  “That’s all they had,” he insisted.

We found a less expensive “two toothbrush, two charger” model on sale at Target.com.  And just our luck, the store carried them.  So off Couponman went to pick up “more” electric toothbrushes, and get his additional 5% off for using his Target card.  He was, again, pretty proud of himself when he came home with four more boxes of “double” toothbrushes and chargers, along with the four gift cards I’d asked him to pick up.  “Why did you buy so many boxes of toothbrushes?  There’s two brushes in a box.  I can split them up,” I asked, sorting through the bags.  “Which gift cards are for $25 and which ones for $50?”

“I dunno,” he answered.

“And why does one of the gift cards have a happy birthday cake on it?”

“The sales lady was in a hurry,” he said.  “She just grabbed.  I’ll go back and get them squared away.”

He invited me to go along.  Somehow against my better judgment, I accepted.  “I’ve got to run by Costco,” he said.  Everyone who owns a membership card knows there is no “running by Costco.”  While he’s putzing around, I found they did indeed carry the less expensive model that I was originally hoping for.  The model at Costco included a replacement brush for the same price as Target.   

“Don’t worry we can return the other boxes later,” Couponman said, acknowledging that we’d failed to bring back the expensive models to return.  “Let’s get the ones you want while we are here.  The coupon expires tomorrow.”  So now we are up to our molars in toothbrushes.

We dropped by Target.  I stayed in the car while Couponman went in to find out which gift cards were which, and exchange the birthday-looking card for a Christmas-looking card.  For twenty minutes, I sat in the car.  I feared he’d found some sale or maybe a WaterPik he couldn’t resist.  I jumped out of the car and ran in to save my kids’ inheritance. 

He was just stepping out of the Target deli section.  “What’s taking so long?” I asked, a little perturbed. 

“I thought you might want to share a soda,” he said, lifting a drink to me.  Some mustard was still in the corner of his mouth. 

“I don’t drink soda,” I said.  He grinned.

We arrived home and unloaded boxes.  It looked like we had robbed “Smiles R Us.”  We laughed. 

Anyone need a toothbrush?  I’ll be selling them from my trunk after the holidays.

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2. Decorating blues
3. Progressive December
4. I need a vacation from my vacation
5. Holiday preparation