Grocery Stores

I hate grocery stores; a few more than others, but hate, HATE them.  We all know I don’t like food, so it isn’t a stretch that I would feel that way about supermarkets.  They are a necessary evil, I mean, how are people supposed to get their food and various sundries?  The problem with living in a smaller town is the choices of where to shop are pretty limited.  I’ve started going out of town to shop.  There is a nice grocery by my office I go to pretty often.  The other grocery is in Hartford.  I like that one, but I can’t tell my Mother I go there, she gets all upset because it is in a not so nice part of town.  But with the choices I am presented with, it makes the most sense.

Waldbaums is at the top of my places I don’t like to go to EVER.  First off, it is located by a senior community, nothing against senior citizens, but they can get pretty cranky.  The parking lot is a mess and if I were to get into an accident it would be there.  If you make it into the building, the inside is pleasant enough, but the aisles are wicked narrow. And when friends bump into each other in the aisle and start talking, it is amazing how they can completely ignore anyone trying to get by.  In one particular aisle, there is a pole right in the middle so you can’t get your cart around it.  What is up with that?  There is also a ramp that I can’t figure out.  Was someone lazy and didn’t want to make the ground level?  It’s also pretty warm in there, I’m guessing to accommodate the seniors.  One time, my husband I were in there doing a mother load(buying two weeks worth of groceries)and we went through the self check out.  Big mistake.  There were a gazillion people there and they were all at the registers.  My husband had a brilliant idea to go to the self check out.  The 12 items and under express lane!  Really?  Jeeeeeze, so here I am in my ski jacket that will keep me warm in the Arctic Circle in this HOT grocery store swiping bar codes that aren’t swiping, putting my items in the bags, my husband taking the bags off the stand, then having the computer tell me not to take off the bags causing an error to happen and the unhappy girl from behind the supervising desk to come over and put a key in the register to fix it all the while glaring at us for taking up too much time in the express lane.  At some point, I had my jacket off, sweating up a storm and my husband and I having words loudly over how to properly go through one of these self checkout lanes.  I got myself in such a twist, my husband very quietly and politely asked me to leave the store, which I did in tears.  After an extended period of avoidance, I eventually succumbed and went back.  Then there was the hummus incident.  I had a positive attitude about the store that day—I will shop here, I will be pleasant, I will enjoy this time to myself without the kids.  Well that got cut short.  In the front of the store when you walk in is the deli and produce.  I had a few things in my cart then walked away to look at the hummus.  Grabbed a big tub for my vegan son, plopped it in my cart and started off towards the meats.  All of a sudden, this very senior woman shouted, “Hey, that’s MY cart” and slapped my arm!  Ohmygosh, I am so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.  She grunted and walked away in a huff.  I didn’t do it on purpose I called after her.  No response.  I tried to shrug it off, but my arm really stung!!  L Later that afternoon, my son cracked open the hummus container.  MOM!!! He shouts, come here quick!  He thought he was eating the skin of the chick pea when in fact it was either a mealworm or a maggot.  AACCKKK! I didn’t look at it too long to figure out what exactly it was, all I knew is that it wasn’t right.  I drove back to the store to return it.  It really wasn’t about the money, more of like, this is what happened to me today, one of your patrons slapped me and I have maggots in my hummus.  I told the poor girl at the customer service counter that I would NEVER step foot in her store again.  She said she didn’t blame me. 

Then there is the grocery store on Farmington Avenue that the whole town shops at.  I can never get in and out of there without seeing at least 3 people I know.  We also have a Trader Joe’s and two Whole Foods.  TJ’s is great but not a lot of variety and Whole Foods can get pricy if you are trying to feed a family of 5.  Now that it’s just my husband and I most nights for dinner, I do shop there out of laziness.  If I want to do a big grocery load, I’ll go to the store that is on the edge of the bad side of town.  Its clean, has wide aisles, really nice looking produce and friendly staff.  And most important, they carry a whole range of Hispanic foods.  My husband can get the chorizo he likes and I can get my cheesey arapas.  Full of carbs but oh so good for a once in a while treat.  But not a good place to be in the first of the month.  That’s when peoples get their check.  The grocery stores are packed then and I stood in line for 45 minutes once just to check out! 

Now, as luck would have it, I might be banned from all grocery stores.  My wheat allergy has gotten much more severe.  When near the bread aisle or in proximity to the bakery department, I feel like I am breathing in nails, my nose and lungs just ache.  When I told my allergist that, she had a freak out.  Well I guess that answers that.  No more craziness in parking lots, no more dodging people I don’t want to talk to. No more standing in check out lines forever.  My husband will have to man up and do the shopping from now on.  I think I can live with that!

Things

Birthday gifts.  Christmas, Anniversary, Valentine’s Day gifts...and we can’t forget the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.  Is anyone else besides me having trouble buying for people nowadays?  Kids especially, they have everything already.  And my parents, good grief!  If they want something they just buy it, so shopping is that much harder to do.  My biggest nightmare question is when my parents start asking what to get my kids for birthday or Christmas.  They don’t need or want anything.  They already have it!

What happened to saving your allowance to buy the Sweet 16 Barbie that smelled like strawberries or to buy the really cool t-shirt at Spencers?  All three of my kids are different with money.  My daughter used to get $1 allowance per week when she was little.  The first thing she would want to do is run to the Dollar Store and buy plastic fingernails.  I’d sit and meticulously put those on her and they would fall off in 10 minutes tops.  The middle child was pretty thoughtful with his allowance.  He would want to buy something to share with either his siblings or the whole family.  My youngest holds onto his money, I think he could start his own bank. 

As they have grown, gotten jobs, they want for nothing.  Cell phones, lap top computers, game systems.  What happened to calling someone on a land line or playing a game with an actual person.  My daughter started amassing kitchen appliances, tools, gadgets, pots, pans a year before she moved out.  Lest I forget to mention the new bedding, towels, pillows, lamps and furniture she bought herself.  My house was starting to look like a cross between Pier 1 and Williams Sonoma.  Because she kept buying her own things, that left nothing for the rest of us to get her.  The day she moved in, I asked her where her vacuum was.  Oh, I don’t have one.  What??  I picked up my Mother then ran to Target to get her cleaning supplies and toiletries.  I don’t think I have ever seen my Mother so happy to buy someone a vacuum!  Now the question is; does she actually use it?

My middle child has a townhouse apartment across from the campus of his university.  Talk about not needing anything.  He and his roommate are all set up.  His roomie is graduating this December and the lease on the apartment is up in January.  My son is graduating in May so we decided not to renew the lease.  That means Mr is moving home after exams in December and will commute his last semester.  He has three floors of used furniture.  I told him he has to have a tacky tag sale and get rid of things he does not need.  All that crap is not coming in my house.  I just got rid of a department store, I don’t want another coming in! 

My youngest is the one who wants nothing.  When he was seven, we asked him what he wanted for Christmas.  A penny he said.  A penny?  Yeah, I don’t need anything mom, a penny will do.  He has his clothes, phone, lap top and Playstation.  That is all he wants or needs in his life.  I am helping him pack up for school and everything that boy wants to take can fit in one suitcase.  Where did he come from?  He is certainly not like the other two. 

My husband is a big culprit of spending money on himself.  He just bought himself a brand new high end car and pampers that thing like it was alive.  The man also wants for nothing as far as his guitar/music studio is concerned.  There is always new equipment being snuck in down the basement stairs.  And he says I’m bad about spending money! For all you inquiring minds out there, I DO wear all the shoes in my closet and use all the handbags as well!!  Not all at the same time. 

When is this spending going to end?  How long can we sustain this?  Pretty soon everybody is going to have everything, then what?  When I say everybody I mean EVERYBODY.  What is going to happen when there is nothing left to buy?  Hopefully people will start to realize that life isn’t about having things.  I was thinking about going to the mall this afternoon to scope out fall fashions and pop into the craft store to get a few things.  Instead, I am going to spend the afternoon with a friend.  We are going to bring her paintings to a gallery and set them up for a show.  Afterwards, we are going to “the meadow”(what the boys call the river bank) for cocktails while we watch our husbands fly fish on the river.  Next time my parents ask what we need, I think I am going to ask for their time.  Time spent together going over old pictures, time to hear stories about their childhood (who knew Auntie could get a bicycle up a tree?) and time creating new memories.  Because at the end of the day, it’s all we really have.

Home Depot Madness

I stopped in Home Depot today to pick up a few things.  I decided to opt out of the self check-out.  If you don't know me, I cannot deal with self check-outs.  My husband had to ask me to leave the store once I was getting so bent.  I pick the register with no one in it and our conversation went like this...........

Girl-How are you today?  Find everything you need?
Me-Fine thank you, yes I did.
Girl-Would you like to open up a Home Depot card today and save 10%?
Me-No thanks, we already have one.
Girl-Do you want to open a NEW Home Depot card? You can save 10% today and have no finance charge
       for 12 months, it's a great deal, blah blah, blah(I stopped listening, it was like school)
Me-No thank you.
Girl-Are you sure?
Me-Yes, I'm only spending $12!
Girl-RELAX!
Me-Inner horror and a shocked look on my  face

Now, I don't know if she was telling herself to relax or me, I don't think she was all there to begin with.  I mean, if you already have a credit card to the store, why would you open a NEW one?  And why would a person want to open up a card for $12? I don't know, it just struck me as odd.  And I walked out of there feeling like I needed to take a shower.  Why does that always happen?  I purposely didn't touch anything I didn't need, I chose items that weren't dusty and I still walked out of there feeling gross.  Not to mention the creepers in there staring at me, its like they have never seen a girl in a hardware store before.  I think I'll let my husband go from now on.....