Drink Your Ovaltine

Imagine my delight and excitement when checking the mail this afternoon and discovering that after 4 and a half months of waiting, my free Rachel Ray cookbook from Nabisco had finally arrived! My Mom had actually teased me a few months back that when I finally received the cookbook it would say nothing inside but "Drink Your Ovaltine" (remember the kid from "A Christmas Story"?), but nothing could dampen my anticipation about the free cookbook.

See, around the holidays last year Nabisco had this promotion for a free cookbook from Rachel Ray, and all you had to do to get one was send in 6 proofs of purchase coupons from boxes of Wheat Thins and $4.95 for shipping & handling. And that was really easy for me since I consume about 3 boxes of Wheat Thins a week. OK, that might be a slight exageration. But I could certainly plow through one in a single sitting if I didn't exercise restraint. I don't know what's in those things, but I suspect some combination of sugar, wheat, and crack, but I digress. So I saved up the cracker points, sent in my check, and began my long wait. I understand that this might seem a little pathetic, seeing as how I could just go over to Barnes & Noble at any point, plunk down $18.95 and just buy the damn cookbook, but that's not the point. There is just something about sending away for something for "free", and then the joy of receiving it in the mail. I don't know how to describe it. But I know this - if you make fun of me for getting so worked up over a free cookbook, I will not cook for you. You'll have Ovaltine for dinner instead.