My Score of the Season

This Christmas feels as if it will break us. Bryce, who has had his present phone since high school, has asked for an upgraded I-phone. Sean, approaching 11, wants to get his first phone and wants an I-phone, like his brothers. I can no longer budget a couple hundred dollars per boy. We are well beyond that now.

But all is not despair. Today I scored the best Christmas deal I will ever find. My boys are aware that I'm a thrift store shopper and that sometimes their gifts will be second-hand. I've never heard one of them complain, because I do fairly well at finding brand name clothing or books and games in good shape. So far, I've purchased two books and a game for each of the younger boys from the thrift store.

Yesterday, while looking for a tree topper for my small hallway tree, I noticed a really decent pair of  men's Schwinn roller blades in a size 10/11. That is Bryce's size, but I didn't think he'd want them. After I left the thrift store, however, I thought about it more and realized that Trevor would love a pair of roller blades and since his shoe size is 9-1/2, by the time spring rolls around again and he can use them regularly, they will probably fit fine. Besides, they were marked $4.99 and for that price, even if he never used them, it wouldn't be a substantial loss.

So this morning I stood outside the doors waiting for the store to open and praying that nobody else had chanced upon the roller blades and snatched them up. I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw them in the same location and quickly settled them into the basket of my cart. I decided to skim the store again to see if anything new popped out at me. On a top shelf in the electronics section, I noticed a large globe. Sean has been fixated on geography lately. When we ride in the car, he brings up a map on his phone and asks me to try to stump him. Usually, he finds every country I mention.

I pulled the globe down and realized it was supposed to be an electronic one (duh - it was in the electronics section). It had a cord with one prong that looked like a headphone jack. Although I was well aware it might not work at all, I decided to buy it anyway because it was only $3.99. When I got home I looked up the globe on the computer and discovered it is supposed to have a wand. Back I went, explaining to the sales clerk that I had bought the globe but it was missing a piece. Amazingly, I found the wand on a shelf nearby. Whoever checked the item in separated the wand from the globe and priced them separately. The clerk waived me away when I showed her the price tag on the wand, saying "You already paid for the globe and it goes with it." I still didn't know if the thing would work. The battery compartment on the globe had four corroded batteries in it and I had to clean the battery compartment out and put new batteries in. So, I still had my doubts.

But, when I got home, put a fresh battery in the wand and pushed the power button, the thing sprang to life, speaking an introduction to the globe. It is so cool. You press the wand to various locations and can learn all sorts of facts like capitals, population, area, etc. It even has a game asking you to find and touch various cities on the globe (this is sure to appease his love of challenge in finding locations). Plus, here's the kicker. When I googled "smart globe" to find out what piece might be missing,  the first smart globe pictures that came up listed that item as $165. Even though this is a different (and discontinued version), I'm sure I found a Christmas steal!