Sometimes the Mega Roll isn't such a great deal

Last week, I needed to do some grocery shopping and I was going to squeeze it in while Kid 3 was at swim practice.  The Factoria Mall in Bellevue was close by and has a Safeway, so I stopped there.

As I was walking towards Safeway, I remembered that there was Target in the mall.  Target has much better prices on things like shaving cream and paper products, so I decided to split my shopping into two chunks and pick up toilet paper and kleenex at Target and the rest of the groceries at Safeway.

Seems like a logical, fiscally prudent thing to do,  no?

What I didn't realize was that the Target was on the opposite end of the mall from Safeway and where I parked.  But it was no biggie, I knew I was going to get the better price on toilet paper.

In the Target, I found the toilet paper section our brand was on sale!  With a small smirk, I knew that I had found the best deal.  As I compared prices (interestingly, Target doesn't post per unit pricing like they do at grocery stores), the Mega Roll package was the best deal.  Sixteen Mega rolls of the right kind of toilet paper (Ultra Soft, not Ultra Strong)  what could be better?

Well, I realized the first downside to the 16 pack Mega Roll. The package is big. Very big.  Having a social conscience, I didn't have Target put my paper in a bag, I carried it in my own two hands, back to my car.  All the way back to my car.  It seemed much further when I was carrying the big package of toilet paper and a several boxes of Kleenex.

I proceeded to buy the rest of my groceries at the Safeway, pick up Kid 3 from swim practice and then return to the Factoria Mall to eat dinner.  Since most Saturday's I'm at one of the Starbucks over there, it prompted this tweet.

I spend too much time in Factoria. Dinner and grocery shopping tonight, Saturday AM at starbucks.less than a minute ago via TweetDeckBeau Raines
beauraines

I was able to get the groceries, the swim bags, Kid 3 and the Mega pack of toilet paper home in my MINI without further incident.  A few days later, Kid 2 comes to me and asks whats up with the toilet paper.  It wouldn't fit on the toilet paper roll holder!

Kid 2 and I took pictures, which I unfortunately cannot find at the moment.  But the roll of toilet paper was 1 inch larger in diameter than the regular sized roll.  Because the paper roll is sort of compressible, it would fit, but the roll wouldn't turn.  There was so much toilet paper, but you couldn't get it when you needed it most.

So, sometimes the Mega Roll might be the best price per square foot of toilet paper, but in the end, its not such a good deal.  At least I got the right kind of toilet paper, not the Ultra Strong kind.

Post Script
While writing this post and looking for the Charmin website, I discovered a free offer, while supplies last, for a Charmin Mega Roll Extender!  Why didn't I discover you sooner?

No more Mr Scruffy

Its done. After 14 days of no shaving, I took it all off.

In the morning, I looked like this:

and after lunch:

The full day by day slide show is on Flickr.

Which do you like better?

Quick updates on blogging and shaving

Check this out, everybody.  My wife has started blogging on The Stir at Cafe Mom and her first post was published this morning.  Go read what she wrote!

On other matters, I've continued to not shave (is that proper grammar?) for the ninth day in a row. I don't think I've ever gone this long.

Check out the full slideshow on my Flickr account.

Happy Hump Day!

I should blog since I'm not shaving

Last week, I crashed on my sisters couch when I was on a trip.  While I brought my full set of toiletries (it fits in a TSA approved quart size ziploc bag), I did not shave in the morning.  When I returned home that evening, I received some rather positive "feedback" from my wife that she liked the scruffy look.

So, I've stopped shaving for a while and am growing out the scruffy look.  Each morning, I've taken a quick snapshot of the daily growth.



While this lasts, I'll keep adding to the slideshow on Flickr.

Let me know what you think of the scruffy look in the comments.

Field trip to the Zoo

Yesterday, my wife and I chaperoned the second grade field trip to Woodland Park Zoo. We really lucked out, because the weather was great in Seattle.

The two of us were assigned two kids to chaperone, one of them being our own Kid 3.  Other groups had a higher kid to parent ratio, but I've gotten used to it. The teacher isn't slighting my ability to supervise kids by giving me a smaller group. I can keep 'em in line better than some!

Doesn't look too hard to keep in line, does he?

But back to the zoo.  It had been a while since I'd been to the Woodland Park Zoo (I think we still had kids in strollers) and I really enjoyed seeing the exhibits.

Kissing Komodo Dragons

 We went into the zoo and all identified what animals we wanted to see and then headed out to find them.  Kid 3 had the map and was pretty good at his map reading skills.  We hit the petting zoo (not open until 11 am - but a good linkup point while Scout paid for parking), the penguins, orangutans, meerkats, komodo dragons and more.

It was a fun field trip and I'm glad that I had the day off to go to the zoo with Kid3 and Scout, and the rest of the second grade.