Quite a rationalization there, huh? I mean, $13.75 is pretty steep for one bottle of beer, especially when the day before, we had bought a whole case of beer for $11.96. True story.
Some background is definitely in order here. My husband and I had made plans to do some traveling this past weekend. When those plans fell through, I decided we had to create a plan B. I needed to get away for a little while, just a short break from my hectic daily routines and some of the drama we’ve had around here the past few months.
So we headed up to New York. We live less than an hour from Corning, and we’ve made many day trips over the years, but there are always reasons to return. This trip, we wanted to go back to the Corning Museum of Glass on Saturday, and then on Sunday, try a part of the Finger Lakes Wine Trail we had never visited.
Two weeks ago, we had taken our visiting sweeties to the glass museum. They enjoyed it somewhat, but most of the exhibits and demonstrations were a little too advanced for four-year-olds. Husband and I were forced to take our leave far sooner than we would have liked.
While there that day, dear husband had treated all of his “ladies” to presents. For the girls, glass princess ornaments; for their mommy, a large glass rose; and for me, a half dozen red glass roses in a vase. We all felt like princesses ourselves.
Last week, while running the vacuum (yes, he truly is a “dear” husband), he rattled the side table where my roses were displayed in their vase. The vase fell over, and all but one of the roses shattered. Poor thing, he felt terrible. In the spirit of “it’s the thought that counts,” I reassured him I wasn’t angry. (Seriously, if you had a husband who does the vacuuming without being asked, would you be angry that he broke some roses?)
When we visited the museum again this Saturday, he offered to buy me a replacement set of roses. I turned him down, preferring to spend the money on something that we would both enjoy.
Before heading out to the wine trail on Sunday morning, we popped in the museum again to walk through one of the galleries we had missed the day before. DH again offered to buy more roses, and I again declined. “Thank you,” I said. “It’s a sweet offer, but let’s use the money for something for both of us.”
(We’re getting closer to the beer, trust me.)
After the first visit to the museum on Saturday, we needed to stop at a drugstore for replacement reading glasses for DH. Drugstores and grocery stores are somewhat of a novelty for us. We’re from Pennsylvania, home of some of the most antiquated liquor laws in the country. So when we walked into Walgreens and saw the large display of Big Flats beer for $2.99 for a six-pack, we couldn’t help ourselves. My husband and two grown sons are beer enthusiasts; they enjoy learning about and trying new beers, particularly imports and craft beers from small breweries and brew pubs. My older son’s every day beer, however, is something called “Natty Lite.” At around $15.00 a case, it’s budget friendly. My husband and I just couldn’t resist buying a case of the Big Flats beer as sort of a joke. Twelve bucks for a case of beer in a Walgreen’s was just too much to pass up. (more…)
