Friday, August 21, 2009

But I Want *THAT* One

Reminder: Tonight is your last chance to enter my giveaway here!

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I'm one of those people who knows what she wants. And once I know what I want -- even if I haven't seen it -- that is what I want. This is part of the reason it took us a year and a half to find our home. I have criteria and think about what something should be like, and then I create that magic image. And I'm just not satisfied until I get that.

I sound really spoiled, don't I? Fortunately, this doesn't happen too often.

But this year Mister Man goes to kindergarten. And because we're going to the private school, it's a full day kindergarten, and he needs a lunchbox. Strike that -- I was talking to another mom today who informed me that we actually need two lunchboxes because they bring a snack in kindergarten, and snack has to be in a separate lunchbox.

*sigh*

The snack lunchbox? I really don't care about that one. I'm going to put something together -- a granola bar, a piece of fruit, something -- and all I need to do is have something to contain it.

For the lunch lunchbox though... that's where my problem comes in. I want something that is large enough to hold a sandwich, a side of veggies or crackers or granola or something, some fruit, and his drink. And I want it to be relatively green. I hate the idea of going through 300 plus baggies that are thrown away to encase his food over the coming school year. I want to do something better, better for him (no BPA) and better for the environment.

It finally dawned on me. What I want is a bento style lunchbox. But I don't want a traditional one completely, because I want it to have lids for each compartment so that the applesauce won't spill, for example. And I want the compartments to be removable, so that if I want to only send three things instead of four, I can do that easily.

Hmmm.

That lunchbox doesn't exist in the land of Target, Wal-Mart or Lands End. I found something sort of like what I want online at Amazon called Laptop Lunchboxes. But being me (remember that part about enjoying research?), I looked up customer reviews. And I realized that the lid issue is one that a lot of people face. Because only one or two of the five containers have lids. And several people reported issues with the hinge on the lunchbox breaking.

Great. Now I know just about exactly what I want, but with a few tweaks. And unlike my house, a) I don't have a year and a half to find it and b) the exact features don't appear to exist anywhere.

So what's a girl to do?

Well, I'm headed down to Mitsuwa Market to see if I can find something there. And I'm going to go look at Whole Foods to see if I can find something there. I may track down a Tupperware consultant, as it looks like they have something that would work -- including a lifetime guarantee on wear and tear. Of course, the Tupperware lunchbox isn't sold in their online store. That would be too easy.

And come Thursday, the first day we really need to send lunches because it's a full day of school? Well, let's just hope I have something for the poor kid!

On the plus side, I did finally find the Crayola Broad Tip Classic Colors markers. In the eleventh store I looked in. I bought literally the last package of those markers in the tri-county area. And had there been two or three packages, I would have bought them all.

I'm so over this school thing. This isn't a good sign, considering I have fourteen more years to go, is it?

15 comments:

Laura August 21, 2009 at 8:52 PM  

HA! We have a laptop lunch and to-go wear love em both but our local-ish oriental market has tons of cool ones too good luck! Enjoy them while they are easy my 16 yo was just busted w/ a girl in his car thats a no go because he still has his provisional license. And he is mad at me because I busted him and yelled at him AND the girl. Tough. Like I said enjoy this, it gets worse.

Claudya Martinez August 22, 2009 at 1:47 AM  

You'll become a seasoned pro.

WeaselMomma August 22, 2009 at 10:03 AM  

GL on the lunch box. If anyone can find it, it's you.

Mrs4444 August 22, 2009 at 6:47 PM  

He might survive with a paper bag for a few days.... heehee

septembermom August 23, 2009 at 6:24 AM  

You'll find it! Don't worry :) I never had to get a snack lunch box AND a lunch box. I just put both snack and lunch in the same one. Don't we have enough to buy for school already?

S3XinthePantry August 23, 2009 at 7:26 AM  

You'll have to share a photo of us when you get it.

BTW you are super smart waiting for the house. It's better to wait than rush in and buy something you don't really want just becasue it is a good deal.

Good luck!!

Pat August 23, 2009 at 9:10 AM  

Wow, you go to a lot of work looking for a lunchbox! I'm sure the one you find will be perfect for him. I always just grabbed a non-girly one for each son. You could only find plastic ones in those days; now I see there are metal ones!

Angie's Spot August 23, 2009 at 7:41 PM  

I swear, if anyone had told me just how much sleep I was going to lose over this whole lunchbox madness, I never would've believed it. Talk about stress! Hope you ended up finding what you wanted. :-)

Anonymous August 24, 2009 at 11:25 AM  

www.goodbyn.com

Pat August 24, 2009 at 12:11 PM  

I can't wait to hear how Mr. Man's first day of school in kindergarten went! I help in my friend's K class...Their first day was Aug. 19th. It was like herding cats.

Hyacynth August 24, 2009 at 2:01 PM  

Sounds like you have an invention that's worthwhile ... use those blogher contacts to get it on the shelves!
I always want specific things, too, and I end up settling and becoming disgruntled. I need some of your perservence.

Melisa Wells August 25, 2009 at 8:12 AM  

Oy. The sad thing? Replace "lunchbox" with any one of about 1500 things, and I've been there. :)

Michelle August 25, 2009 at 9:04 PM  

Laura - What's a to-go wear? I'm intrigued. I sadly didn't have time to get to Mitsuwa, but ... I'll figure out something. Soon.

Unknown Mami - You show such faith in me. Thanks!

WeaselMomma - Again, such great faith. I love it! How goes the search for the black Sharpie?

Barb - That would imply that we HAD paper bags at home. :)

Kelly - Yeah well... the snack is eaten in the classroom and has to be COMPLETELY peanut and tree nut free (including non processed in a plant), while the lunch doesn't need to be. Thus, they can't mix. And we need to boxes.

S3XinthePantry - You know I will. Along with photos of everything else, right? :) And I am thrilled with our house. And so glad we didn't buy some of the other ones that were available.

Pat - Ummmm yeah. It's possible I sometimes create work for myself. There are all KINDS of lunchboxes now. It's pretty impressive.

Angie - I'm so glad it isn't just me. What did you decide on?

Anonymous - Thanks?

Pat - Herding cats. I think that's a good way of putting it. Dropoff tomorrow ought to be interesting!

Hyacynth - Ummm yeah. I may create work for myself but not THAT much work :) And hey, feel free to take my perseverance. I could sometimes use a little less of it.

Melisa - Of course you have. I'm so not surprised by that :)

Elizabeth September 3, 2009 at 3:51 PM  

Wish I had read this earlier! I had a whole lunchbox issue too. Decided to head down to Brentwood (how close do you live to St. Louis?) and go to the Container Store. I got some good, small, reusable, lidded containers. I wanted small ones for dips, so Katie would finally eat carrots and broccoli at lunch.
Then about a week later, I was at our local Pottery Barn Kids and saw an entire line of bento-style containers (in all kinds of colors) WITH LIDS.
If you're still trying to figure out how to deal with the lunchbox thing, let me know and I'll go buy you some of these gems and mail them to you!
Here's the link I found to them: http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/hm30/index.cfm?pkey=xsrd0m1|12|||1|||||||lunch&cm_src=SCH

Michelle September 8, 2009 at 1:26 PM  

Elizabeth - Oh you are too sweet! I'm not near STL, although we'll be there in a few weeks (my husband is from STL and we'll be down for a Rams game). We have PBK by us, so I'll have to check that out. I did break down and order one of the laptop lunchbox NEW systems that is a little better than what I'd seen on Amazon but not quite what I was looking for. Thanks for the tip!

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