Dash for Picnic Supplies Costs $48.63

"Can we go to the store?" Colleen asked the other night.
"Do we have to?" I asked. It was after 8 p.m., I had just finished
cleaning up after my kitchen cleanup crew, and I was ready to hang
up my towel for the day.
"We have our school picnic tomorrow and I don't have anything
good to take for lunch," she said.
I agreed that was a dilemma, and off we went to the store.
No big deal, you are thinking. This should be a quick shot in and
out of the store for a bag of chips and some Ho-Ho's or Twinkies.
Well, you are thinking wrong, as all Colleen's classmates and
their parents who were also picking up picnic supplies will confirm,
There is no such thing as a quick grocery shopping trip.
I believe this picnic lunch cost me $48.63, because once I was in
the store I remembered all sorts of things we needed.
If we needed them, what's the problem? We may have needed
them, but I intended to do without until my next shopping trip. Now
we not only bought the items ahead of schedule but we also ate
them ahead of schedule.
We are at the height of the field trip season. which means an
appropriate kid's version of a gourmet lunch has to be prepared for
each school outing.
Maureen, who is not a big eater, makes me wonder if she plans
to set up concession stands on her outings. The other day she gave
me her list of items to get for her lunch, and that night she put it
together.
She made a turkey sandwich with sliced $3.98-a-pound turkey
from the deli. She also packed a container of yogurt, fruit roll-ups,
taco chips, two cans of pop and strawberries. And then she had a fit
when someone opened her bag of chocolate kisses and smuggled
out several pieces.
When she finished with her larder, she put the bag in the
refrigerator - then forgot to take it in the morning. I was a bit put
out about this, but I forget things, too.
The week before, I was supposed to buy a can of pop for
Maureen to take to school to drink while her class was treated to a
movie. But I forgot, so I promised I'd buy pop and bring it over
when I picked up John's kindergarten car pool.
And even though Maureen asked me several times, left a note on
my pillow, and even called from school to remind me, I completely
forgot until two hours later when I was getting the boys haircuts
and Pete started begging for a can of pop from the machine.
I quickly bought a can, even though it wasn't the brand Maureen
requested. then raced to school with it just as the movie started.
It would be nice if the extra food I buy for one of the kids'
excursions would last for someone else's, but it doesn't work that
way. They never want the same things.
John wanted to get a cherry pie for the zoo trip. Mike thought
John should get Hostess cupcakes, the chocolate ones, but John
didn't want to. Mike thought we should get them anyway. He
expressed that opinion so effectively - he began opening the box in
the store - that I agreed we needed them.
Of course, it doesn't matter at all because the cupcakes disappeared
shortly after they arrived.
For her field trip Colleen requested Perrier water, which I think is
a ridiculous purchase. I'm just not cool. But I decided to be
extravagant and get it for her.
When she took. two bottles of the bottled highfalutin water to
school, a teacher at first thought she had bottles of beer. So for her
class picnic Colleen opted to bring something more easily recognized:
Classic Coke.
May 20, 1987