Beware those big "bargain" stores

A lot of people think that just because something is at Sam's Club, it is a better price than anywhere else. Don't get me wrong. I know that some things there are great deals - you just have to make sure you are really getting as good a deal as you think you are.

Let me backtrack a few years. Justin and I had rolls of lifesavers as wedding favors. They were very cute - here are the customized wrappers that we got to put over the existing packaging:


Anyway - after getting all the wrappers, I just needed to get 300 rolls of lifesavers. I was at Wal-mart and priced them, just so that I could see what a better deal I would be getting when I bought them all at Sam's. To my surprise, they were about $.50 more per pack of 10 at Sam's than they were at Wal-mart. Since I was buying 30 packs, I left and went back to Wal-mart so I could save $15.

Now on to today - we ran out of black ink for our printer. Our printer takes 6 different ink cartridges and although we had a back-up for light pink and light blue we didn't have another black one. How we buy the ink depends on all the other ink levels. Each color cost anywhere from $10-$12 to replace and the black usually costs about $20 since it is a larger cartridge. In the past when all the other levels are looking low, we have bought a package that contains all six cartridges and 150 4"X6" sheets of photo paper at Best Buy for around $40. We haven't done much photo printing so we now have quite the stash of photo paper - but even if we are just using the ink, it is a much better deal to buy the big pack.

We looked at the ink levels and it looks like the next ones to go are going to be the two colors that we already have back-ups for so really we just needed black ink. I decided that I could probably get a package of 2 black ink cartridges at Sam's Club for around $30 so I headed there this morning.

How surprised was I to see that not only could I not just buy black ink for our printer at Sam's, but that the 6 cartridge multi-pack (without any photo paper) was $58.96 (+ tax)! I knew that we hadn't bought ink for a while, but surely the price hadn't gone up that much. I went next door to Best Buy and bought the multi-pack (with photo paper) for $35.99 + tax. That means that (including tax) it was $25 less to buy the ink at Best Buy than it was to purchase it at Sam's.



And that is supposed to be a "club" price at Sam's? Shame on you!

They grow up so fast!

So - both Justin and I have been not so good at blogging lately. We really should tell you more and more about our little boy.

Last week he was sick and I had to take him to the vet on Monday. They weighed him in at just over 6 lbs. He is quite a healthy eater though and when I took him in this morning to have him kenneled for a couple days, he weighed in at just over 8 pounds. The vet said that maybe we should start feeding him only 3 times a day instead of 4.

Anyway - here are just some pics that we have taken of him. There is one of him with a stuffed animal in his mouth. Sometimes when we put him in his pen, he picks up all his toys that he can and start whining. It is his way of saying, "I just want to come out and play with my toys!" When we really know that he wants to come out and bite us or chew on the carpet.


This one is Colby saying "Let me out of jail please. I will be a good boy"

Colby's Longest Car Ride

Last Saturday, I gave Julie a break from Colby. I took him with me for a trip to Sargent, TX., which is between 1.5-2 hours away from our home.

A senior manager where I work had invited a bunch of us to go to his "fish camp" in Sargent, to help him with the construction of a deck.

At first Colby was a bit restless, and barked a bit. Then, I guess he resigned himself to the fact that we were going somewhere, and barking wasn't going to get us there any faster. Or, maybe it was the lull of the road that knocked him out. Either way, he slept most of the rest of the trip there.

When we arrived, I set up his pen and crate partly in the shade and partly in the sun. He did pretty well, as I had positioned his pen in a way that he could see us and not feel abandoned.

Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, everyone there loved him. They thought he was so cute. There was a boy there who kept Colby company, either by sitting and playing in his pen, or by walking him around on his leash. I would have let him run around on his own more, but the back and the left side of the house are adjacent to the river. That wouldn't be so bad, except there is nothing to keep Colby from walking across the lawn and straight into the river.

Colby liked the water bottle we bought him Friday, which hangs on the crate or pen. It looks like it is for a big hamster. (Our big hamster named Colby)

I could tell that he enjoyed sniffing around and exploring that strange new place. I'm glad he acclimates well to new surroundings.

The trip home was even better than the trip down. Not only because traffic was lighter, but because Colby slept almost the whole way.

This should help him when we decide to go up to Dallas or over to Austin. :)