When my sons were very young I provided a nightlight in the bathroom. This served several purposes. It provided a sense of security for them. It “lit the way” to the bathroom since our upstairs hall has no windows, and most importantly it made it easy to find the toilet bowl (supposedly to improve their aim). After 10 years or so the nightlight fell apart. The plastic cover, shaped like a dinosaur, lost its head and then the tail. Then the lightbulb burned out. It was tossed. We lived quite well without the nightlight.
Fast forward 15 years. I was gifted a battery powered tea light that sat in a glass jar decorated with lace and ribbon. It wasn’t exactly my style but I put it in the main bath as a nightlight for guests. It gathered dust. The battery in the tea light died. I was going to replace it but could only get a package of 12 (very expensive too). After giving it some thought decided to recycle the jar and pitch the tea light.
Another time jump of several years. We were visiting rummage sales this last summer trying to hunt down some furniture for Son#1 and Son#2. At an estate sale I found a package of 3 nightlights for 25 cents. They looked pretty good and I noted that they were the kind that only went on when they were in the dark. I merrily plunked down my money and brought them home. After some cleaning I tested them. The good news was that all 3 worked beautifully. The bad news was that there was only one functional lightbulb between them. This sent us on the hunt for a very specific size of lightbulb. We went to several stores but they either didn’t carry that size or were out of stock. We looked on line which indicated that they were available but BACK ORDERED! I kind of shrugged and decided to just put them on the list of items we’d buy if we could find them.
Here we are just a few days after Christmas and the stores are all frantic to get the Christmas merchandise cleared out. I generally look away from the gaudy mess but this time something caught my eye… There, front and center, was the picked-over light display. There weren’t many of the popular LED lights or strands of icicle twinkle lights left. instead all that was left were strings of “Retro” lights – the really big bulbs in red, yellow, blue, green and clear. But what was even better they had tons of packs of 4 replacement bulbs for half price! I was able to snag a couple packages of the clear ones. I now have lightbulbs for all the nightlights! I even deployed them into all the bathrooms. The major issue is that the light gives off such a glow that I have to close the bathroom door so that I can sleep! On the bright side I no longer have to turn on the light when I get up in the middle of the night!
The Coffee Crisp is imported from Canada and retails for about $2 each. I gave one to Sparky to try (I hate the taste of coffee) and he gave it a thumbs up. I added them to the stockings for the boys and Sparky.
Then there was the Violet Crumble from Australia. What can I say? I tried it and it shattered my expectations! This candy is just as expensive as the Coffee Crisp. It was so good that I hustled back to the store to see if there were any discounted ones left. I was in luck and scored another 4 bars for only $1.60!! Those went into the stockings too. There was just a little more room and I found some Haribo Goldbears and Trolli sour worms from Germany at the dollar store.
A Different Perspective 