Saturday, January 31, 2009

Adventurous Mood

Today I needed to stock up on a lot of different things, so I worked out how to find them all in Nashville instead of moaning and groaning about how I don't have _____________ (fill in the blank with anything really) that was in whatever city I used to live in or frequent regularly.

My first stop was Frugal McDoogals, which is a wine and liquor store over near the Gulch area in Nashville. And before I talk about the store, can I just say that the Gulch is really getting to be pretty awesome? I went to a few shows at City Hall before they shut down, and while I'm sad about that, I'm pretty stoked that we're getting an Urban Outfitters. We're also going to get a Cantina Loredo- YAY! I've been to the one in Huntsville several times and their food is great but the best thing- ever- is the Mexican Brownie. And now I can get one right here in Nashville.** There are going to be a bunch of other shops and restaurants opening up down there, and I really hope that they do okay despite the economic outlook. It is a really cool little area.

Okay, so Frugal McDoogals is my new favorite store. I mean, my new favorite liquor store. The place is really big and had everything. The staff seemed really friendly, they carded me (AHHH, SO FLATTERING), and the prices were dirt cheap. I found some wine at Costco in Huntsville over Christmas that I really liked- the Francis Ford Coppola Russo table wine or something like that, and this place had it for $7.99 a bottle, even cheaper than Costco I think. So I stocked up on that. This will be a great place to go for wine. They also had lots of imported high-alcohol beer in fun bottles along with all the other regular liquor store stuff that I didn't even bother to price this time. I'll be back.

After that I went to the Costco on the other side of town which I hadn't been to before. It was packed- I sort of forgot that the Superbowl is tomorrow so people were there for FOOD and lots of it. Well so was I. I got 2 huge loaves of bread for $3.69, 6 monster bell peppers for $7, a flat of over 1 pound of blackberries for $4 (and they are huge and delicious), a pack of 12 fuji apples for $7, and almost 5 pounds of sirloin steak for $15.69. As soon as I got home I marinated some of the steak, but most of it I cut up into strips or cubes and froze. That has worked out really well with the chicken I got last week- I don't even thaw it, I just throw it in a pan and cook it for a little longer than usual. It is making meals and lunches really easy. I put a new link in my Blogroll over there ------> for Poor Girl Eats Well, which has a lot of great advice about cooking and eating on a budget. I think eating on a budget involves staying out of Costco. But I guess it's one of this examples of how a big payout turns out to mean spending less money in the long run? That's how it's worked so far. All I need to get at the grocery store tomorrow is onions (I can't get through a 10 lb. bag before they go bad), baking potatoes (ditto) soy milk (ummm, again, can't use up 3 cartons in a month), and yogurt. Because Costco doesn't sell my brand.

I also picked up 165 bandaids for $12. I did something dumb the other night- I was using the PedEgg (foot exfoliator thingy) and was vigorously (but, um, gently) (yeah right, who am I kidding?) going at my feet. Somehow the thing slipped and caught my middle fingernail in a blade and ripped a good chunk of it right off. OWWWWWWWWW. That thing hurt for 2 days straight. Anyway, why am I talking about this? Oh yes, because I had 2 bandaids left and thought that I really need to get better about keeping first aid supplies on hand. So I started with waaaaayyyy more bandaids than a single-person household will EVER need. (I am just tempting fate, aren't I?)

There will be more adventure this weekend! Tomorrow I'm heading over to the used bookstore that I've never been to, and I'm hoping they'll buy a lot of my old books and DVDs for a decent price. We shall see....

**Let me just stop right here and say, yes, it really isn't a mystery why I might put on some weight when I'm eating Mexican Brownies and pizza- I know my mom is laughing at me again. Last week she was laughing at me because I was whining about how I gained weight and then I was going to go have pizza. WELL I'd like to point out that it was a whole wheat crust with peppers, onions, mushrooms, olives, and hardly any cheese. Geez Heather- defensive much? Anyway, almost all of that weight was hormonal. Such a relief.

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