by jphilo | Nov 7, 2013 | Three Thoughts for Thursday
- The way things are constantly moved around at Costo, shopping there is akin to shooting at a moving target. Just one more reason I regret not having tried harder during the archery unit during sophomore gym class.
- Did you hear cocoa prices will go up around Easter because the weather played havoc with the African crop? Wise parents will purchase discounted Christmas candy after the holiday, and then color the candy with pastel markers before hiding in the freezer until Easter. The kids will never know the difference!
- Carol Burnett received the Mark Twain Medal for Humor on October 20, 2013. In their report about the honor, NPR played a clip from their 2010 interview with Burnett, in which she was asked where her innocent style of comedy came from. She said, I think my attitude was nurtured by seeing so many movies in the 1940s, you know, where there was nothing cynical about anything. The bad guys got it. The good guys won. Everything was hopeful. So when I came to New York on my own, I never thought that good things wouldn’t happen. Now, maybe today, if that situation were the same, I might not have been that confident. But in those days, it was like, yeah, let’s go try. Let’s do it. And I never took anything personally when I didn’t get the job. What I always thought was, well, it’s not my turn. That’s her turn. My turn will come. Carol Burnett, your well-deserved turn has finally come. Thanks for so many years of laughter!
Are you a Carol Burnett fan too? How does she make you laugh? Leave a comment.
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by jphilo | Jul 12, 2013 | Family
Shadow Valley Family Camp’s first official meal was supper last night, July 11. But the carpenters and cooks who make camp a reality were planning construction projects and meals for months before they arrived. Many have been here for a week or more, doing advance work to make the week go smoothly.
For the first time, I arrived two days early and was able to participate in the Shadow Valley grocery shopping spree on Wednesday, July 10. During the spree, the cooks purchase almost everything necessary to feed close to 40 people 3 hearty meals a day for more than a week. Not a task for the faint-hearted. Therefore, the shoppers (see photo above) drive to Panhandler’s Pies Restaurant and Bakery in Sandpoint, Idaho for a hearty breakfast. And, yes, everyone had pie for dessert, which explains the smiles.
Fully fortified and mighty happy, the shoppers climbed into one van and a humongous extended cab pick up and drove to Costco in Coeur d’Alene. On the way Pam, master planner and list creator, read the shopping list categories: dairy, breads, pantry items, condiments, cleaning supplies, and produce.* Each shopper, or pair of shoppers, picked a list, looked it over, and asked questions that came to mind.
At Costco, each grocery guru grabbed a cart and got to work. Each item found was crossed off the list, and eventually the gaggle of gurus met in the front of the store with loaded carts:
In order of appearance: bread, dairy, cleaning supplies, canned and boxed goods, paper products, produce, and condiments.
And here are all the carts lined up at the checkout line:
Next stop was Walmart where we purchased the remaining items on our lists. The carts weren’t quite as full here, but the manager assigned us a lane and closed it down so other shoppers wouldn’t get frustrated by a long wait:
Then, it was back to camp to unload the vehicles,
and put everything away.
That’s not quite everything, but you get the idea.
Once that was done, the men ordered pizza for supper, and the shoppers took a well-deserved break. But first, the cooks set out brats and hot dogs to thaw, along with buns and cans of baked beans for supper on July 11. Yum!
*Many thanks to June who weeks ago not only purchased the items on the meat list, but also did all the advance meat prep, repackaging, labeling, and freezing!
by jphilo | Jul 5, 2012 | Three Thoughts for Thursday
Shopping is never my drug of choice. But this week’s forays into the retail rat race and resulted in the following three thoughts for this Thursday:
- Purchasing self-serve soft ice cream for Mom at a Casey’s gas station sounded great until an ice-cream-cone-challenged daughter tried to fill the cone. Guess I’ll take Dairy Queen Girl off the list of possible retirement careers.
- Walgreen’s Drugstores have succumbed to Bieber Fever. Their new Justin Bieber card display (I’m not making this up) takes up at least one-fourth of the card aisle. Rather than explain the phenomenon to Mom next time she wants to buy greeting cards, I think we’ll go to the Hallmark Store.
- Next year, I’ll know better than to plan a Costco shopping trip the afternoon before July 4th. I wonder if any of the other shoppers cramming the aisles and the parking lots will do the same.
What shopping adventures have you had lately? Leave a comment about what you saw.
