Shopping

It was both good and bad today.  First was the grocery store.  Last Fall I got either the flu or covid shop.  Couldn't remember which and couldn't find the record of it.  And lately, there has been a line at the Pharmacy counter so it seems too long to wait just to ask if they knew which one I had already gotten.

Today there was no line, so I stopped to ask.  I had gotten the flu shot.  So I asked to get the covid shot.  The timing was perfect.  They were about to close for lunch, but agreed to give me the shot.  What usually takes 20-25 minutes suddenly became 10!

I didn't even have to fill out the whole permission form.  They just said "sign here", LOL!  And I received the shot.  I appreciate the modern thin needles.  I can still usually tell I am getting the shot.  It hardly bothers me.  This time, I couldn't even feel it at all.  I saw it go in (yes, I watch) so I know they did it.  But talk about easy.

And not only is the shot free (my Dr would charge a $20 co-pay), Safeway gives you a 10% discount coupon on the whole cart.  Not only that, they gave me 3 coupons!  I make a profit getting a health-promoting shot.  

The bad was that their website is changed (or temporarily messed-up).  Safeway offers website digital coupons (called "Safeway For U).  You have to click on each specific item you want though.  I couldn't just click on all of them, but I think they learn to offer what I click on most frequently, and my needs are specific.  So I pick and choose.

But sometimes, it doesn't work quite right.  I find some stuff I've clicked on not registering at checkout.  And I think that happened today.  Usually I check the receipt before I leave the store.  Sometimes I have to go to the Customer Service Desk (and they are pretty good about making adjustments).

But when you have that 10% discount coupon from the covid shot, they don't just reduce the final bill by 10%.  They assign a few pennies discount to each item you purchased.  So between my store loyalty card discounts, the shot discount, and the Safeway For U digital discounts, the receipt was 3' long.  I just didn't want to stand there 15 minutes and review every item.

So I went on to the other food store I shop at.  That one is sort of like a large 7-11 for real food.  Deli counter, personalized meat counter, beer/wine/liquor, specialized herbs/spices, some basics, and some fruits and veggies.  I love the place!  Never seen anyplace quite like.  They have weekly sales of good quality meat.  And they happily accept my special orders of cases of the wine I most like.  And "by the case" is discounted.  They even call me when my order has arrived.  The store manage knows me by name!

The store is busy, but the checkout lines are short because they have enough of them open.  It is a pleasure to shop there.  And they bring my wine out to the car and load it!

So of course there had to be another "bad" experience to make up for the good ones.  On the way home, I stopped at my "not-my-usual" 7-11 to buy some cigarettes.  It was horrible!  Yeah, yeah, I know I shouldn't smoke.  But I do and this one was on my way home.

I buy cigarettes by the carton.  It's just easier that way and the price is the same.  But it saves me going to buy a couple packs every week.

So I asked for a carton of Marlboro Red 100's.  The clerk grabbed 1 pack.  No, I said a "carton" and made the shape of one.  It's like the a 2" slice of a shoebox the long way.  "Ah" he said and proceeded to take a pizza out of the oven and slice it up.  Took him 10 minutes.

Then went off to a secure backroom to get a carton.  Came out and "no carton", like he expected me to leave.  I said 10 loose are fine.  So he pulled 10 loose packs off the rack.  And he started ringing them up (after I entered my smartphone number for a slight discount).  He rang up 2.  Then 2, then 6.

I asked why.  Please understand that I try very hard to understand people for whom English is a 2nd language.  I'm not good at it and I partly blame myself for that.  I just don't have an attuned ear...  But I could not understand a word he was saying, what he was doing, or what I was actually being charged.  

I turned to the next customer in line to ask if he understood what the clerk was saying.  He must have been a smoker too.  Because while he didn't understand what the clerk was saying, he understood what the clerk was doing.

There was some promotion deal where buying 2 packs gets a small discount (up to 4 packs).  So he was ringing up 2, charging my card, rang up another 2 and charging me separately for that, then ringing up the 6 not eligible and charging me for those.

A quick look at the receipts at the counter suggested it was about the usual price, so I just gave up and left.  But I should have been more observant.  When I got home, I realized I had been cheated.  Marlboro sells their cigarettes in various colors indicating quality.  I like the best of their line which is "Marlboro Red".  Other colors indicate a decline in quality (but also in price).

Sort of in declining order (by memory) are Gold, Blue, Black, Special Blend, and Silver.  And one I had never heard of.  Red Label.  The pack is red, but slightly different in design.  Mid-quality and $2 cheaper per pack.

I got charged full Marlboro Red 100s price for the lesser quality Red Label 100s.  

I don't expect that most of you smoke.  And some people who do don't really care about the differences.  But I do and I can tell.

I am never going to go back to that 7-11!

My Busy Day

Yeah, somedays I do more than usual.  And I bet many of you do more than I do, so I'm not bragging about it, just mentioning it.  To me it was a busy day.

Partly, it is that I just stay in bed 10-12 hours.  I don't really know why, but I sleep poorly and it takes 10-12 hours to get 7-8 hours actual sleep.  So half the day is gone by the time I get up.  I am resenting that loss of useful time.  I mentioned that to my Dr once, but nothing came of it (as there were more serious issues on the table).

So I got up and made lunch.  I wanted something quick because I had "stuff to do".  But it is surprising how long it can take to peel 2 hard-boiled eggs and dress the halves with a smear of mayo, salt, paprika, and onion powder.  And cut up a tomato, 2 celery stalks, a carrot, and a cucumber.  And then eat it all while reading the newspaper.  😋

After that, I got at my errands.

First, visit vet to pick up new sub-Q fluid bag for Marley.  I bought one a week ago, but SOME cat bit it open and all the fluid drained out.  That used up a 1/2 hour.

Then to the grocery store.  I hit a busy time.  One cashier lane open, so 30 minutes shopping and 20 minutes waiting to pay for it.  I should remember not to grocery-shop between "end of school day" and "pre-dinner" times!  An hour used up there.

Then to Nick's (the liquor/deli/specialty store I like).  Picked up 6 cases of my special-ordered wine.  It is actually a repeating order, but they had a sale on it, so I ordered extra.  No point in passing up a good value.  It's not like this wine goes bad in 6 months.

By the time I got home, it was past 5 PM.  And I had lots to unload and put away.  Did the groceries first, since the was milk and deli meat involved.  And bulk stuff has to be separated out for the basement refrigerator.

Then the 6 cases of wine.  I have gotten to the point where a case of wine is a bit heavy for me to just carry to where I store it in the basement.  So I dragged out my hand truck/dolly to pull them from the garage to the basement.  It wouldn't move.  One flat tire!

It is a small tire, so I pulled out my old bicycle pump.  5 minutes of that and no improvement.  The bead on the tire is separated from the rim.  So I dragged my mechanical air pressure pump into the garage.  And that wasn't enough to reseal the tire to the wheel.

But I had 3 cases of wine on it.  I removed one and 2 cases was light enough to wheel around with just the natural rigidity of the tire.  Got the cases moved.  I'll deal with the failed tire bead another day.

By the time I had the wine put away in a corner of the basement and had all the groceries put away, it was 7 pm.  Dinnertime!  

The Mews were a bit short on meals (because I got up late and then was gone for hours), so I just kept feeding them once per hour until they didn't want anymore food.  Full kitties are happy kitties.

Then, and only then, I made my own dinner.  Had to be something easily, because I was pretty well worn out.  I am glad I make spaghetti sauce with meatloaf mix, saute'd onions, mushrooms, garlic, and oregano in large batches and then freeze dinner-portions.  Thawing the sauce out is easy in hot water.

Watched 2 hours of political analysis news on MSNBC, then came here.  And I have more errands to do tomorrow!

Grocery Store Pickup

My right hip is causing enough problems that I can't go through the grocery store to choose items, even with the roller/walker I bought.  Can't manage the roller and a shopping cart at the same time.   So I decided to surrender and get store pickup.  I can drive without any difficulty.

I have had a few CT and X-rays of the hip, but nothing is "for certain" yet.  I'll tell you all when it is.

I say "surrender" because I am fussy about fresh fruits and veggies.  I'm sure I will get hard peaches and limp lettuce.  I think my "fussy" days are done.  I can use the roller in small shops where I am buying small amounts.  But my grocery-shopping is bountiful.  

So I tried out shopping online at Safeway (and I'm sure other stores are about the same).  It was difficult.  OK, it was the first time...  I had to look up categories and scroll through pages of items by popularity to find what I wanted.  They seem to think that everyone wants only canned, frozen, and prepared foods.  And I suppose they are right, but I'm not in that group.  

So I went through veggies, fruits, condiments, and a few other categories.  Finally finished with 48 items.  And then couldn't check out!  Went around in circles with the cart and "continue" several times.  Finally saw a small chatbot button and tried it.  It's pretty stupid, but eventually I figured out the right question.

Apparently, even though I was signed in, I had to sign in again.  I guess that the 2nd sign-in actually registered I was placing a pickup order.  Even then, I had to go through my entire shopping order to undo "allow substitutions".  Seriously, if I am ordering yellow peaches I don't want a white nectarine.  They should have a button at the top to say "no substitutions" for everything.

I wish I was a young coding expert working for them who could do things like that.  But then, they probably just order delivery food every day.  And just mentioning that the store cashiers are baffled at things like bok choy or parsnips.  Well, OK, I understand.   If it isn't something you buy yourself, you don't recognize it very well.

But I finally managed to get to a payment page!  After that I got an email confirmation on the order.  I sure hope the stuff is decent quality...

I'll tell you how this all went tomorrow.

Two Busy Days - Monday

Errands and shopping. Monday.  And I have to consider items that are temperature-sensitive.  Milk, ice cream...

So I went to PetsMart first.  Marley needs his kidney care diet food.  And PetsMart has been a bit low on the varieties lately.  So I visit whenever I am near.  I was able to get 2 more flavors.  If Marley has to eat this less flavorful stuff, at least I want him to have some different flavors.  

Since the cat food is stable in the car, I went to Walmart next.  Some things Walmart sells brand name things very cheap.  I buy those there.  Got a bag of walnuts, bag of pistachios, milk, eggs, green olives, dark chocolate-covered cherries, Cokes, some other stuff.

But since I had milk, I drove home to refrigerate everything and went to Safeway for fresh produce afterwards.

Got my RSV vaccine shot there.  They are wonderful about shots with superthin needles,  I didn't even know they gave me the shot until they put the bandage on afterwards.  But it is no charge and I get a 10% discount at the checkout!  And got lots of fresh produce at discounted prices with my "Safeway For U" app.  

Brought out all my compostible containers to add to the pile.  The temperature dropped since last week, so I need to turn the pile back to the first bin.  Mixing things up causes heat again.

Washed out a dozen 6"x6" plastic mushroom bins.  I'll use that to sort out cat toys.  Right  now, they are all sort of spilled out of a big box.   

Saturday Surprise

I have been getting my wine, meat and deli stuff from a small specialty store for 20 years.  They are great on meat (both cheaper and better quality than chain stores), cheaper and better deli products too.  Their wine selection is great.  So is their specialty liquors (I found apple liquor there for a 'Golden Dawn' cocktail.

They are even the only place I can dependably find egg roll wrappers.  And they are also the only store around who seem to understand that Golden Delicious apples should be gold and not green!

Well, at checkout, confetti fell from the ceiling and a horn blared...

I was their 1 millionth customer!  Boy was I surprised!  I got my stuff free.  They took some pictures too.  Manager and me.  Cashier and me.  Apparently, it will show up in the local newspaper (I'll have to buy a few copies for posterity)!  I'll post pictures when I get them.

Things like that never happen to me.  So this is a real surprise...

An Interesting Day

Some days are routine, others are not.  I went grocery-shopping.  I have a lot of meat stored away in the freezer, but fruits and veggies don't do well with that so I had to get more.  It's that time of year when many fruits are either not available or poorer quality through long shipping. 

And it has been a hard year for growers.  Haven't seen a peach since September and the plums are gone.  Strawberries have doubled in price.  But blueberries were cheap.  I have no idea why.  Bananas stay cheap.  Apples stay cheap.  So I eat those after dinner.

The grocery store cashier was unusually conversational.  Wanted to know how my day had been.  "average".  Was I happy?  Huh?  Well, I worked in department stores for a few years and every new manager thought we should be "friendlier" on demand so I know how that works.  So I was friendly in return (while watching the checkout display screen like a hawk; they make errors).

But I'm conversational about things that aren't secrets, so we talked.  Then I realized he was just standing there.  He had bagged the last items and handed them to me.  He was waiting for my card in the reader...  He could have mentioned that.

But the weird part of the day came after I got home and put the groceries away.  I knew I had bags of cooked and uncooked meat in both the upstairs and downstairs freezers (or refrigerators).  So I decided to sort them out and put them in meat-specific plastic containers.

Took HOURS!  OMG, I had more pork than I realized.  I think I like cooking more that I like eating.  Its almost a hobby.  And chicken.  And NY Strip steaks.  And Filet Mignon (when on sale).

So I sorted it all out.  I AM organized.  I have individual large plastic containers for each meat that fit perfectly into my basement refrig freezer.  So I put the newest stuff on the bottom of each and the older stuff on top.

But I had WAY too much pork to fit.  Well, I keep containers around, and found one that fit perfectly in the upstairs refrig freezer.  I'll be eating a lot of pork for a while, LOL!  I don't mind that.  Pork is easy to use in many ways.  Stir fries, cubed with gravy, smothered in carmelized onions or bell peppers, added to baked beans, etc.  But I sure won't be buying any for a while!

But I DID get all of it organized, and that was good.  

So what did I have for dinner tonight?  Spaghetti.  I found a frozen hamburger patty in the freezer, so used it up...  Can of crushed tomatoes, saute'd onion and mushroom, crushed garlic, lots of Italian Seasoning.  Touch of sugar and red wine.  Best I've made in a year.

But I really DO have a lot of pork to use up.  Any favorite recipes?