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Wednesday, November 07, 2007

A Million Dollar Idea For You

Today was one of those days when I was just 5 minutes off for everything. Hmmm...let me rethink that. I was 5 minutes off and forgetful today. I completely spaced on the fact that my older son (OS) needed to stay for lunch at preschool, and therefore I needed to pack him a lunch. I remembered this when I was halfway to the preschool running of course 5 minutes late.

I wasn't really sure what to do. Obviously it wasn't a crisis by any means, but I did need to somehow get OS lunch. However, I was hosting playgroup in 20 minutes so I really didn't have time to drop OS off at school, which we were already cutting really close, and then go home to make lunch and come back again. Frankly I didn't really want to do that either. I also would rather walk to the preschool and back barefoot with the lunch rather than unload the kids from the car if we stopped at a grocery store. That's when I came up with my million dollar idea which in reality has probably been thought of by 99% of all parents. I even came up with a name for it: Three Items or Less.

Three Items or Less would be a drive-thru convenience store where you could purchase three or less items. In my case, I would have driven through and picked up a Lunchable or another somewhat palatable lunch offering or at the very least something that resembled lunch. Let's say you were running low on milk and tampons. Instead of having to schlep your kids out of the car and listen to the ensuing whining, you could get the items through a drive-thru window!

Since Three Items or Less only exists in my head, I had to go to the closer real life version of it: Dunkin Donuts. Fortunately they're located about every 5 feet here in MA. I got OS a bagel with cream cheese and juice. I have to say that I was surprised by two things
  1. I am not the first parent to send their kids with a drive-thru lunch (and here I was patting myself on the back for my sheer brilliance...in an effort to assuage my guilt for forgetting about lunch in the first place.)
  2. It was his favorite lunch of the year.


As for my million dollar idea, if I had the time to implement it, then I wouldn't need Three Items or Less in the first place. On a side note, can someone please explain to me why my golden retriever had to contemplate whether or not to eat Teddy Grahams off of the floor? Due to some weird force of nature or perhaps my younger son (YS)'s carseat, YS had about 15 of them stuck to his bottom which of course spilled on the floor right when we walked in the door. The dog initially stuck his nose up at them before reluctantly eating them. He loves eating out of the cats' litter box, so you would think that the cookies would be a gourmet treat!

A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: If your first choice place doesn't actually exist, use a drive-thru to grab lunch for your child.

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posted by Alex Elliot @ 6:15 PM   11 comments
11 Comments:
  • At 11/07/2007 9:53 PM, Blogger Heather said…

    That's a really great idea. I would have loved a place like that when I had 2 kids under 3. Heck, I'd still like a place like that, especially when I'm sick, or one of the kids is sick.

     
  • At 11/07/2007 10:06 PM, Blogger slouching mom said…

    And OF COURSE it was his favorite lunch of the whole year, LOL!

     
  • At 11/07/2007 10:09 PM, Blogger Rimarama said…

    I love your idea. I would buy stock in that store and drive thru every day! When I lived in Detroit, they had something called "drive through party stores" where you could buy convenience items, alcohol, and cigarettes all from the comfort of your car.

    If you are ever in a similar pickle in the future, Arby's actually serves kid meals that include turkey sandwiches on whole wheat bread and mandarin oranges as a side!

     
  • At 11/08/2007 12:23 AM, Blogger Nora Bee said…

    Great idea! You are a natural business woman :-). Except coffee shouldn't count as one of the three things.

     
  • At 11/08/2007 2:13 AM, Blogger Lady M said…

    This is a worthy idea. There are a lot of businesses that should offer drive through, targeted at parents. Diapers and milk come to mind.

     
  • At 11/08/2007 4:40 AM, Blogger Chantelle said…

    Very solid idea. Maybe it could actually be combined with a coffee to-go business. "I'll have one lunchables, a pack of diapers, and a vanilla latte, please." Between this and the teenager moving start-up you should rake in the big dough.

     
  • At 11/08/2007 10:06 AM, Blogger Mayberry said…

    I love it. I had a friend from England who once said "I never understood all these American drive-throughs. Then I had a baby."

     
  • At 11/08/2007 12:43 PM, Blogger Suzanne said…

    See, your dog doesn't have good taste. I LOVE Teddy Grahams and very well might have eaten them off the floor had I been at your house. However, I am not at all interested in eating from the cat's litter box. It's a matter of good taste, if not behavior.

     
  • At 11/08/2007 3:38 PM, Blogger Worker Mommy said…

    Love the idea. I had a kind of related one. An "after hours" delivery service. People could call up and have your deliver things that they had forgotten on their way home, suddenly developed a craving for or were otherwise needing and didn't have time to get due to the fact that it was late and they had other responsibilities..
    This came about when I realized I was out of Diet Coke at 7 pm (I'm a fanatic about that stuff) and was too lazy to go to the store!

     
  • At 11/10/2007 12:16 AM, Blogger VDog said…

    That IS weird your dog hesitated at the Grahams!

    I would LOVE 3 items or less. Where do I sign up for a franchise?

     
  • At 11/13/2007 4:05 PM, Blogger Trenches of Mommyhood said…

    I think that is a STELLAR idea, applauds the mom of 3 boyz whom are all still in carseats!

     
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Name:Alex Elliot
Home:MA, United States
About Me:Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
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