This is the last STRAW!

Well, I've been keeping a secret from you all. It's been going on now for...oh...probably a good year or so and up until this point, I've kept it hidden from everyone but my immediate family...but now that the kids are older and they are starting to notice...and lately I've even had them be my little accomplices...I figure I'll just spill the beans. I steal straws.

Yep, you read that right. I do. I steal straws. Only the big fat ones though. My favorite places are Braums, Sonic and McDonalds because they have the biggest ones. You can't buy nice big ones at the store...so my only option is to take them, a couple at a time, every time I eat out.

Here's what I do:

When I get our tray of food, I usually grab enough straws for everyone in the family plus 2 or 3. I stick the extras in my purse. Then I'll go up and get some napkins and take another 1 or 2. A little while later, I'll have the kids go get some more ketchup and I'll holler "Grab a straw while you're up there." Usually I end up leaving with 5-7 in my purse. My record though was 14 a couple of weeks ago. I can't decide if this is "BAD" or not. I mean, the places really don't care. It's not like I am taking 30 or something. Plus, I make smoothies and shakes for us at home all the time and the skinny little straws you can buy at the store SUCK when you're trying to drink something thick through them. I would be MORE than happy to pay for these straws...but really...I doubt they'd let me. It started out as something I'd do as an honest mistake. Kind of like when you grab a few too many ketchup packets out of the bin or a couple extra napkins. Where most people probably throw that kind of stuff away, I've always put it in my purse and just taken it home. I never thought of it as stealing since it would have gotten thrown away anyway. Now, here lately though, since I am intentionally taking the straws, I feel kind of guilty. I mean, when you have to look around the restrurant before you take them and then slip them into your purse as FAST AS YOU CAN and then hope that no-one saw you.....doesn't that probably mean you think you're doing something bad?

Here is another way I justify it: As a kid, we would always go out to eat after church services with our friends. The adults would sit and talk for hours while us kids did mischevious things like dump out all the salt and pepper into the ketchup and mix it up and we would also use TONS of straws to play with. We'd first pull off one end of the paper and then blow the rest at our friends face...then we'd take the straw and wind each end of it around one of our fingers and then have our friend flick it in the center and hear the loud pop noise as the straw "pops". I bet we went through 30 straws sometimes!!! No one ever said a word to us about this.

(of course, now that I am a parent, I would NEVER let my kids do stuff like this and I can't BELIEVE my parents allowed it!!)

Anyway, what do ya'll think? Is it bad? I mean, I really try to only get a few, 5 or so, each time. The time I got 14 was kind of an accident because Grant grabbed a big handful and rather than take them back, I just took them.

The kids have asked me why I like to take straws and I just tell them "Well, I like to have a few extra's just in case we need one at home." They seemed to think that was a very sufficient answer and haven't asked anything else.

I really don't think I'm "stealing" but maybe I am...????