Can you be too cheap?

If you know me, you know I am the Queen of Bargains. I love to get things on sale or with a coupon - or if I am really lucky - both! I get so excited about getting good things as inexpensively as possible. I wouldn't say (though others might!) that I am cheap. I am just always on the lookout for a good deal! And last night, I hit the jackpot!

As noted in a previous post, I am a fan and loyal shopper of Publix. Last week, I saw an advertisement for an in-store Thanksgiving Feast. Samples of an entire meal would be available, and I decided we would stop in and at least see if we could make a free meal out of it.

Truthfully, I didn't know what we would find, but we were pleasantly surprised. We "dined" on everything from turkey and dressing to shrimp and ham to carrot cake and ice cream. It was a great spread throughout the store. (Just a note: There was a crowd of shoppers who had come for the festivities so we weren't the only ones enjoying the free dinner!)



Jackson and Wesley enjoying Pomegranate 7-up


Even Santa even made an appearance! They were providing free picture opportunities, and we tried to get a picture of Jackson with Santa. Wesley leaned in to put Jackson on Santa's lap, and WOW! Jackson has never met a stranger. He will go to anyone, but we learned yesterday that he won't go to Santa! Poor Jackson!





That was our cue to wrap things up so we picked up a few groceries, and headed out. Though we had eaten our fair share of samples, Wesley and I were both a little hungry. We didn't want anything big so we decided to use a gift certificate for appetizers at a local restaurant, Adkins Park.







When we arrived, we saw the sign "Kids Eat Free!" Great! Now we could get Jackson something. We could enjoy an appetizers, and hopefully, not owe too much at the end. How surprised were we, when the bill came back and they owed us $3.43! Yeah!! We left a tip and were on our way!



At home as Wesley was getting Jackson out of the car, I went in and for some reason, immediately checked our voicemail. Surprisingly, there was one from Publix! During the course of the night, I had registered each of us to win a $20 Publix gift card, and Wesley won!


We were so excited - not just about the $20 but also about the fact that this night was getting cheaper by the minute! We strapped Jackson back into the car and headed back to Publix. When we got there, we told them that Wesley was here to collect his prize. One of the ladies said, "Oh yeah! I am glad you were the ones who won!" (We had made ourselves known earlier in the night when Jackson had his Santa meltdown!)


Instead of just taking his gift certificate and leaving, Wes (ever the joker) told the ladies, "You know Leanne has a blog. Can we get a picture of this so she can put it on there?" I almost died of embarrassment, but it didn't stop me from snapping this picture!

As we were leaving, we both were so happy. When we got in the car, we realized that we had probably acted a little too happy since we had only won $20. We decided that the good folks at Publix were thinking to themselves as we left the store, "Bless their hearts. I guess they don't get out much!" Truth is, we do...just not this cheap!