by Erika Hancock

Created on: September 23, 2009

Double coupon day comes for Jose and the Prophylactics!

It's Friday night, the young people who live with us have just been dropped off at my mother's for a sleepover and I'm driving back home. This is so exciting! No kids on a Friday night! The Man and I will have the house all to ourselves. I get a phone call on the way home. It's The Man. He asks me to pick up a few things for our evening without the kids. No problem, says I. I'm a grown-up-type person. I can buy...stuff.

I normally don't get embarrassed about buying the more personal items. I buy maxi-pads and toilet paper all the time (with three children in tow) and I'll bet a million dollars that the ladies behind the cash registers have used both at least once. (I can't speak for the gentlemen.)

It's less emotionally damaging when these products are put on the conveyor belt with a few friends to keep them company. I tend to have about a dozen other things on the belt that help draw the attention away from the economy-sized package of birth control. "Let's see, I need eggs...milk...flour...new socks...a couple of Slim Jims...(this giant box of rubbers)...and Pez! Yep, that's all for today."

That's what works for me. The box doesn't call attention to itself and practically sing to the rest of the store, "Guess who's getting lucky tonight?!" However...

*ahem*

When you show up with Trojans, K-Y, and a big bottle of Jose Cuervo, at the checkout, everyone KNOWS what you're doing with your Friday night. Of course, when you make this purchase at the express lane, the question that begs to be asked is "Will you be able to wait until you get to the car, lady?"

The Barely Legal To Drink kid standing next to me with his OWN prophylactic/alcohol power duo in hand, caught my eye for an instant before he resumed his intense study of the floor tiles. I wish I could say I was cool enough to at least wink at him and tell him to have a great night. Alas, I was not. I merely turned six shades of red as I made my purchase, remembering to use my frequent shopper card and a "$5 off a $25 purchase" coupon. (Score!)

Oh, yeah. That's dead sexy.

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