Thanksgiving shopping nightmare

I am a creature of habit. I always like to shop at the same stores. I even park in the same general area so I always know where my car is going to be. I know where everything is at Walmart and it is about 2 minutes from my home. Plus, Walmart will price match other stores ads. I didn't used to take the time to do that, but recently I have and you can save a lot of money. Anyway, Thanksgiving is a different story. I look at all the ads and I usually end up going to the store that has the best Turkey price. You never know if Walmart is going to match something like that and when it comes to big holidays, they never have the best prices. This year, the best price for Turkey wasn't even printed in the paper, Super Saver just printed that they would beat the best Turkey price by 2 cents per pound. So, I decided to brave a new store, one that was easily 20 minutes away, so I could get a deal on a Turkey. I left early Saturday morning. Rachel came with me and that came in handy because she added things up on the calculator (I was trying to follow a strict budget). Before I went to the store, I stopped and got gas (I'm pointing it out because it is an important part of the story). Then we make our way to Super Saver and got through our list. It was pretty busy, but not too bad. We finally got all our shopping done and made our way to the checkout. I had some store coupons and a couple price match items that I had to keep track of (Super Saver also matches ads, but you have to have the ad with you and they are a little more strict about it than Walmart). Anyway, as we are nearing the end of checking out, I realize that my wallet is not in my purse. I start to panic. This has never happened to me before. At that moment, my brain froze. I totally forgot that I had stopped to get gas and therefore my wallet had to be nearby. I just thought that I had taken it out of my purse at home. I was so flustered that I wasn't thinking straight. I did have my checkbook with me and I tried to write a check. Of course I didn't have ID and I'm not a pushy person demanding that they take my check. I quickly offered to go home and get it. I still had to bag up all my groceries, have them set them aside, and then come back and do the whole checkout procedure again. I was mortified. The store acted like it was no big deal. I rushed to the car, still not thinking that I had purchased gas earlier, and rushed home as fast as I could. I ran inside and started looking for my wallet in the usual places. When I couldn't find it, I started to get worried, where could it be? That is when it hit me, I had it with me the whole time. After I got gas, I set my wallet on the seat of the car. It was in the car and if I hadn't been so flustered, I probably would have noticed it when I got back in the car. So, I drove all the way back. Part of me just wanted to leave my groceries back at the store and never come back. But then I would have to do my Thanksgiving shopping all over again. I went back, they rang up my groceries again, and they were nice enough to put my cart in the cold dairy section because I had some frozen things. But, hold on, it even gets worse. When they rang up the turkey, it came up as .67 cents a pound. It was only the Norbest Turkey that was .44. The poor cashier just gave me the lowest sale price. He was probably tired of dealing with me. I still can't believe I went all the way to this special store and I didn't even get the turkey that was on sale.

Anyway, despite my shopping troubles, we had a lovely Thanksgiving with another family from Church. We had lots of good food and since the other family was bringing the rolls, yams, and mashed potatoes, things did not feel rushed on Thursday morning. I think next year I'll just go to Walmart.