Costco!

Today, bright and early I joined my friend Lisa and her mom for a shopping trip at Costco. It was really fun! I am sure for many of you, a big box store is nothing, but for me its still awe inspiring and amazing. Every time I go I see things I haven't seen before.

As a shopper, Costco has very good prices on a few things that are hard for me to find but not consistently. Sometimes their prices as high or higher than the sales at the local upscale super market. As a marketer, I enjoy how they change item locations and reroute traffic flow. As a walker, its like a big indoor walking adventure complete with obstacle course. During my trip today I walked 1.55 miles!

Since the price of food around here has been jumping quicker and higher than the price of gasoline, and I have been talking with some friends about food budgeting, I decided to put my list in a cute little moleskin notebook someone gave me. I have had it a while and never used it because I prefer these. I carry 1-2 of the them with me most times, one is for experiences and things I want to record for some reason and the other for clothing, textile and/or design related things.

Anyway, on one side of the pages I had my list and recorded the prices next to it as I put them in the cart, on the opposite page I wrote down things I might like later such as a new rechargeable sonicare tooth brush for $99.00 with 2 bases, 3 heads and a quad timer and a big rival crockpot for $35.00. I was disappointed that they didn't have kiwi's, Muir Glen tomatoes, frozen french cut green beans and Ocean Spray cranberry sauce, however today, the tastes today balanced it out!

Usually unless they are sampling fruit with no sauce, plain meat/fish or dark chocolate, everything seems to have wheat, dairy or sweet bell peppers in it. Amazingly, I was able to try THREE things: gluten free breaded chicken pieces, blue corn chips with hummus and goat cheddar. They all tasted very good too, and I almost bought the goat cheddar but I didn't as it wasn't on my list. I spent about $33 on chicken broth, lemon juice, orange juice, wipes and frozen organic broccoli.

Usually a gallon of lemon juice would go a very long way but recently I have had a series of unexpected visitors (ie. friends, their kids, my brothers...) My solution is has evolved to taking them out to the balcony and serve them lemon aid to which they can add fresh cinnamon basil. My balcony is 6 x 12 and fits 4 adults, 2 kids quite comfortably. In the past week or so, it has happened so much I have started keeping sugar syrup in the frig for just such occasions. I made a batch of stew a few days ago, so I have been offering that too. Now I could offer steamed broccoli with a choice of dressings I made the other day, LOL!