Grocery Shopping??

 A VERY cranky person wrote an article about grocery items that anger him. Some of the items were worthy of condemnation, some were just rants. Here’s my take on a few of them, whether I disagree with him, am neutral or I’m standing right by his side.

Like:

Vegan, gluten free dessert hummus. Made for dipping fruit, grahams crackers, etc. in. It actually sounds pretty good to me and I would be willing to try it, depending on the cost.

Cartoon juice bottles with Iron Man, the Hulk, Princess, etc. The reason I put this in the “like” section is I would totally buy a 3 pack of these to use for putting my own juice, water or milk in for the future. Gives your little one something cute to drink out of. But I would only buy them ONCE. Then use the bottles over and over.

K-cups or other coffee pods. OK, I admit they are an unnecessary luxury and they cost way more than putting your own ground coffee in a reusable pod, but doggone it! I LOVE ‘em! I love being able to have a vast variety of flavors to brew up. If I was a straight no-flavor coffee kind of gal, then yes, I would do my own. But I’m not, so I won’t, so there! (stamping foot)

Bottled lemon and lime juice. I grew up with the cute little lemon shaped bottle of juice that was always in the fridge. I’ve never used lime juice, and I only use the lemon for fish sticks, fish patties or shrimp. MAYBE a little squirt in hot tea or booze drinks. A real lemon would go to waste.

Water enhancers. Totally fine with this. If it helps to get you to drink more water, what the hey. If you’re doing this for nutrition or vitamins, just take the supplements. Washed down with lots of water, of course.

Instant mashed potatoes. I grew up with this. I used this product a lot in the beginning of my marriage. I liked the taste and it was also great to thicken soups. A friend of mine would make fried chicken with instant spuds as the coating. Then they started “improving” it and it started tasting like the box it came in. The only kind I get now are the flavored ones like garlic, chicken, etc.

Neutral:

Monster energy drinks. The only time I tried part of an energy drink (and it was a small part) I didn’t sleep AT ALL that night. And I’d had it mid-morning. So I don’t really use this product and don’t know a whole lot about it.

Bottled water. Who’da EVER thought we’d be BUYING water??? I don’t care, though. Do it if you wanna. And in my case, whenever I go down to Fresno, I NEED bottled water because Fresno water DOES NOT agree with me and I don’t want to spend my week with Lia in the bathroom. But I get the water in gallon jugs. All other times, I have my Bubba Kegs that I keep tap water in when I’m out and about.

Fruit flavored snacks. They’re candy. Treat them as such. Use as a dessert, not a substitute for real fruit.

Ones I also condemn:

Peeps milk. It’s basically flavored milk. Easy to do at home with Nestles flavors or syrups.

Broken Oreos in yogurt. Or really anything added to yogurt. It costs more and you know you have stuff at home you can put in your yogurt.

Pumpkin Salsa. Ugh. ‘nuf said…

Herbs in a tube. Never heard of these before reading this article. Lots of added ingredients to make the stuff squeezable. I’ll pass, thanks.

Lunchable cookie dunks. Way over priced (like all the other lunchable things).

Cup-holder cookies and crackers. Same as above.

Peanut butter to go. Same again. The dollar store has all sorts of small containers for these snack foods and you will save money. Now, for traveling, I’m all for stuff you can give the kids in the car to shut them up for a bit, but you can do better than this…

P3 Protein Snacks. These are just Lunchables for grownups. Make up your own and have them in the fridge. Put ‘em in an insulated bag and you’re good to go.

Walking Tacos. Another Lunchable product. Yes, they’re handy to just nuke in the microwave, but personally, I’d prefer something I’d made at home and taken to work or whatever.

Frozen PB&J sandwiches. I got these ONCE just to see what they were like. Yuk.

BUT…everyone’s different. Get what you want, eat what you want. Be nice to kids and animals. Don’t litter. Peace out…

Blah blah blah MEME blah blah blah

I forgot to do a blog last week and NO ONE NOTICED! So for my OWN amusement, I will do this meme that has been making the rounds of late.

1. Are you named after someone? Yes, my dad’s sister, who was named after their Aunt Dorothy
2. When was the last time you cried? I battle depression. I cry all the time.
3. Do you like your handwriting? Ehhh…it’s OK. My 5^th grade teacher Mrs. Berg did her best, but I doubt she would give me a good grade now.
4. What is your favorite lunch meat? I like most of them.
5. Do you have any kids? 1 girl and 1 boy
6. Do you use sarcasm? Moi? Moi? Surely you jest…
7. Do you still have your tonsils? Nope. They were yanked when I was 5.
8. Would you bungee jump? Would I set myself on fire? The answer is the same…
9. What is your favorite cereal? I pretty much like them all, hot or cold.
10. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? Almost never.
11. What is your favorite ice cream? Thrifty’s brand black cherry
12. What do you notice first about a person? Their smile, or lack thereof.
13. Red or pink? Either one, don’t care. Prefer blue
14. What is your least favorite thing about yourself? I always expect the worst.
15. What was the last thing you ate? Ramen with leftover chicken in it.
16. What are you listening to right now? Marv watching Alaska The Last Frontier
17. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Midnight Blue
18. What is your favorite smell? Nature—rain, cut grass, pine trees
19. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? Don’t remember. The last one I texted with was Sarah.
20. Hair color? Brown with a lot of grey. And I am PROUD of my grey hair!!
21. Eye color? Hazel
22. Do you wear contacts? Not anymore. Once I got bifocals it was pointless.
23. Your favorite food? Beer-batter fried prawns/filet mignon

24. Scary movies or happy endings? Happy endings, every time.
25. Last movie you watched? Nine Lives. GREAT movie!
26. What color shirt are you wearing? Yellow shirt with my “cute but dangerous” pirate kitty on it.
27. Summer or winter? Actually, I much prefer Autumn.
28. Hugs or kisses? Both, unless you’re sick. Then stay away! Fist bump!
29. What is on your lock screen? Some kind of purple flowery thing that was one of the options on my new phone.
30. What did you watch on TV last night? Blindspot
31. Favorite sound? Nature—wind, rain, birds, trees rustling
32. Rolling Stones or The Beatles? Beatles
33. What is the farthest you've traveled? Germany
34. Do you have special talent? Loyalty and a helping nature
35. Where were you born? Smithville, Missouri 

Pointless facts

Yet another article from MSN. A lot of these facts were in the category of “who cares?” and “wish *I* could get a boat load of grant money to research this!”

I have included only those I found worth mentioning.

The Haskell Opera House was deliberately built on the U.S.-Canada border. The opera stage resides in Canada but most of the opera seats are in the United States.

{OK. Big question. Do you need a passport if you come from the US and want to go up onstage? And what if you’re trying to flee the US and go into Canada. Can you buy your opera ticket and then sneak out the back door and you are over the border and free? THIS NEEDS TO BE LOOKED INTO!!}

Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

{My only comment is how much time and money was spent on this?? Did they have to buy a special fridge for the research lab? Just how did they research this?}

If kept in a dark room, a goldfish will turn white.

{Just this bald statement. How long did this poor fish have to spend in the dark? And when it was brought back into the light, did it turn orange again? And did you know you could BUY fish that were already white?}

The Fitzroy River turtle, also known as the bum-breathing turtle, obtains almost 70% of the oxygen it needs through its buttocks.

{This is the ABSOLUTE BEST subject for junior high science/biology class. I can hear the snickering from the 7^th grade boys. Every boy should have his own bum-breathing turtle.}

Some species of snails may have more than 20,000 teeth.

{OK. My biggest question is how on EARTH they found a dentist willing to get a snail into the examining chair and find a dental dam small enough to pry that sucker’s mouth open…}

If an electric current is applied to a pickle, it will glow in the dark.

{I would be willing to guess most things, with enough electricity, will glow in the dark. I’m just grateful they did this with a pickle and not a cute little bunny rabbit.}

Before starving to death, a cockroach can live for nine days without its head.

{HA! That’s nothing!! I’ve known SEVERAL people who exist just fine WITHOUT A BRAIN!}

On average, there are 8 insect legs in a chocolate bar.

{I do NOT need to know this kind of thing and I apologize for sharing this info, but I had a blog to write and I was running out of material.}