My wife has made me go to the store so many times, I'm starting to like it!

[OmegaWoods]

The only store I go to with Mrs. Woods is the thrift store as a self-preservation measure. She has ultimate self-discipline (even more than me) at the grocery, the clothing store, the five and dime, the general goods store and the mall. But, turn her loose in a thrift shop and, well, all bets are off.

If I'm with her, she doesn't buy large pieces of gently loved furniture for refinishing or baby toys (we're both 55 and our youngest grandkids are 3).

 

[OmegaWoods]

Target has my wife caught in that infinite loop of always having a gift card to use. She will say she is going because she has a card to use. Then she comes home with a new one. So she has to go because she has a card to use. Then she will come home with a new one.

It's like a hamster on a wheel.

Those Target folks are tricky...and smart!

 

[Toto'sDad]

Yeah, we did some of that during the Troubled Times, because it would be nice and quiet. And there'd be crazy discounts on the baked goods that didn't sell that afternoon - but all the specials on fresh vegetables would be sold out and the fresh fish department was closed.

I want to apologize for sounding like an idiot shopper, plowing through the maze of shopping carts (which my girlfriend insists is not true) but I do get peeved at the Unaware 30 year old Woman Shopper with her 3 Unaware Kids who make it their mission in life to block aisles in an NFL style formation or appear to think they're the only ones in the store. I really don't mind if an elderly shopper needs time to negotiate the aisle in front of me, but I give a Full Fail to parents who don't teach their offspring situational awareness.

I really never have any problem negotiating an aisle, I just stand on one foot, lean over a little, and lift the other leg, it's amazing how the aisle opens up all around in no time at all. (Some of the regulars know I ain't bluffing)

 

[P Thought]

I go to town with a list some of the time, but I don't usually go along with Mrs. Thought on shopping trips (when I do I stay in the car and read my book.) I stay here and play with Mr. Peavey.

 

[Ronhar]

I'm retired. I figured once I was retired I would have all sorts of time to play, record, learn new things. Well, I actually got more done when I was working. Grocery stores are daily, if not that, it's doctors visits. The around the house tasks are endless. Lunch is a daily outing. She won't eat cold cuts two days in a row. I have to get them fresh daily. After all that stuff is done, am I motivated? Didn't quite turn out like I imagined it would. I feel your pain...

Exactly!!!

 

[Ronhar]

With inflation, one of my dear departed sister-in-law's favorite sayings has never been truer. To wit: Money ain't no good 'til you spend it. Inflation fighting is spending the money while it's still worth anything at all!

And that’s good enough for a new guitar.. Or amp…

 

[Toto'sDad]

And that’s good enough for a new guitar.. Or amp…

I can see you're a thinking man!

 

[Recce]

Yesterday, knowing that I face a huge hurdle in getting past Christmas without gaining weight, I stood in front of the ice cream display while my wife was off looking for something. When people would open the door on the freezer, and take out their delicious smelling concoction, I could enjoy it vicariously for just an instant. I could see sitting there, tempting almost beyond my ability to control myself, a small box of oatmeal cookies containing ice cream in a sandwich. Were not my loins girded about with my newfound resolution, I would surely have bought a dozen boxes of the cookies and ice cream on the spot!

It’s so sad that you live in California, the land of fruits and nuts, and therefore do not have access to Blue Bell Ice Cream. You would have bought some.

 

[trapdoor2]

Generally, Miz Diane has a list going in her head 24/7. When she can see more than, say, 50% of the fridge's back wall...time to start the hard copy list.

I'm not a shopper, I'm a "getter". I get the list. I go get the stuff.

It takes me a few trips through any particular store to memorize the layout. Once I have the layout, the inital hardcopy list is reordered based on my directional preference through that store. Miz Diane has usually already vetted the list via the bargain flyer (or their website). Sometines, she'll notate the aisle # on unfamiliar items.

Rarely do we "shop" together. She's prone to wandering, stopping suddenly when my attention is elsewhere, indecision and impulse buying. She also likes cheap where I am relatively unconscious of value...I like what I like.

Wednesdays we now get 5% off for surviving as long as we have. It is a sea of gray heads (dotted with mottled skin). For a fat man, I can get down an aisle. Sometimes its a Mambo, sometimes a Cha-cha. If it devolves into a Bossa-Nova, I'll turn 'round and swim upstream...avoiding the bears!

 

[Toto'sDad]

It’s so sad that you live in California, the land of fruits and nuts, and therefore do not have access to Blue Bell Ice Cream. You would have bought some.

At this point, my desire for ice cream is so great, that if Blue Bell is the most horrendous tempter of the genre, I would surely explode, before I could contain the ingest mode I would go into.

 

[ChicknPickn]

Today, I was grocery shopping with my wife, anyone who has read even a few of my posts, knows my wife is an inveterate shopper. Her favorite saying is, "well now that we've gone to the store, we won't have to go again for a while." Which could mean not until later that day, the next, or at most three days from when she said it.

Today, as I was actually involved in picking out things, like Christmas candy, fruit cakes, and pie crusts, I discovered a strange thing. The people all milling around me made me feel comfortable, like a bunch of fish in an aquarium, we were all just making our way, dodging each other elegantly with nary a thought. Suddenly, I LIKED SHOPPING. I guess it's like anything you do it enough, you form a habbit! By the way, I'm getting pretty good at estimating the cost of the shopping cart just eyeballing it. Today I guessed before the checker hit total, that the bill would be $257, it was actually $266, but hey, that's pretty good for an offhanded guess!

I like to play my own little private version of "The Price is Right."

 

[Tone Quest]

Time for therapy.