Still Awake?

Yes I am. It's 8:40am. I had an up and down night. I never did make those cookies. I got a bug up my butt and went to the grocery this morning around 6:30. Along the way I rescued an abandoned shopping cart which I promptly abandoned out front of the store for another. I was on the verge of going to bed but somehow decided enough was enough and to just get the grocery out of the way. Of course, along the way, any passersby could see me verbally sparing with myself whether to detour to the house or not. In the end, I did not. It didn't make sense and would've added probably two miles to my trip. I decided Mother would've said, "Take care of yourself first. You don't own the House, I don't own the House, go to the store!" Sound advice.

The store was empty except for a few scattered employees and lots of stock. (Kitty is getting on my case for being off schedule right now but I think I talked her down from her rant.) Where was I? The store. I looked at canned goods and battled with myself over the "sale" prices and concluded I could decide at the end of my trip to come back to the aisle if I wanted. I did and picked up cans of chili to go with my cans of raviolis. 80 cents for raviolis! I wasn't passing that up. The chili was gawd awfully high at $2/can but it was cheap for the grocery store. Along my trip I think I remembered most of what I needed or wanted. I checked the toothbrushes. I wanted a cheap one to help me clean my keyboard. Wow. Even the store-brand was $1.80! No, wait, I spy a kid's pair of brushes for $3. Last second I spied a two-pack of "travel" toothbrushes for $2.49. OK, sure I could've got one brush for $1.80 but I'm always going to need another toothbrush, right? Two for $1.25 is a bargain! I snatched up some dental gum and mouthwash (citris flavor). There was a woman attempting to stock the shelves and I kept coming back into the aisle when I remembered another item to look for. This time it was Tylenol or something like it. Sorry, I'm not paying those prices even for the generic! Such is the evil of grocery store markups.

I didn't get Nutella. It was almost $5 for a tiny jar. I'll check somewhere else. I looked at the peanut butters. I like the store brand. Of course they actually have three (or more) under their name. I have to ask myself, just how nasty are the peanuts that go into the super cheap peanut butter? I'm talking cheaper than the "normal" store brand by 50 cents. Mother, in her misbegotten youth, was a food chemist and helped develop store-brand versions of the market leaders. I wish she was around to tell me more stories. Perhaps it's an irony that she was a brand-loyalty shopper in general. Maybe it's because she had that luxury or maybe she just felt at her age, damn it, I'm going to eat what I enjoy. Yeah, it was probably the latter. I always annoyed her when I'd stand there and debate whether it's worth saving ten cents. She hated that I'd fuss over things like that. Sometimes the cheaper brand was satisfying and sometimes it was putrid. Mostly she'd just saying, "Oh for Heaven's sake! Get what you *LIKE*!" Sometimes I would.

Today was a bit of a tribute-shopping. Haagan Dazs was on sale. Ok, it was a crappy sale. Two for $7. But, just before getting into the check-out line, I decided to buy it. I also bought more cookie dough. Bloody hell, it was $1! You can't pass that up! I made sure to get one of the $1 cookie doughs that hadn't passed their "Best By" date. Many were a month past and one flavor was two months over! Crazy, lazy store. I wonder if Nestle know what they're doing. I had made cookies from dough I'd forgotten in the fridge until a month past the "Best By" date and the damned little things stayed almost square! It's one thing for me to make that goof at home but the store should *not* be selling that "expired" product. It's a liability issue just waiting for the right lawyer.

I trolled the frozen section and, damn it, when I got back and loaded the freezer saw I'd gotten a couple varieties mixed in that I didn't want! Ugh. The walk back seemed rather long but I hadn't taken the route in that direction before. The hill is much more imposing going back down. I picked up some juice. I wasn't really in the mood to pick up soda. Diet versions tend to annoy my stomach and regular versions aren't really good for a person to drink on a regular basis. I need to work that out. I got a bottle of Cranberry that claims to be 100% juice. It was on sale. Only $2. Just to compare I got the one from concentrate as well. I don't do fruit juices much because I tend to burn out quickly on them and they ferment on me. My stomach doesn't care for apple juice although apples themselves and apple sauce have never been a problem.

Cereal was a pain in the butt. I swear there's a cartel of cereal price fixers. $8 for Cheerios? What the hell is that all about? I ended up getting a small bag of the store-brand corn flakes for $3. I hate that store. It's so damned expensive. Yes, I have an alternative but this was closer and I knew it was open at that hour. I'll just continue to look elsewhere for cereal that isn't at platinum prices. There was a coupon machine in the frozen aisle spitting out coupons. Since I was buying the product, I took a pair of coupons. I didn't really look to see the requirements. I think it was cents off on 3. Fine, I had more than that. What I did notice is the coupon expired last month. Well, hell, I thought. If they haven't changed the damned machine, I'm going to offer the coupons at the register. It's all computerized and I've seen coupons rejected before. The system took the coupons. I guess expired food isn't the only think OK in that store. *shakes head*

I probably could've saved more if I'd gone to the other store. Damn it. Maybe next time. Or I'll finally order online and never leave the apt complex again.

I think my delayed sleeping is catching up with me. It's about time to pass out. I might go up to the office and get some tea. I went earlier but it wasn't open yet. I mailed my peanut butter jar lids from the recall finally and wasn't sure I could put them in the normal mail slots. I had planned to leave the packet with the office out going mail. Not being open, I decided to see if I could get it into a mail slot and was successful without losing any fingers or toes.

I wonder what the cat is up too. She's been far too quiet.