Today was a rainy day...all day. That isn't the kind of day you like when you have three big dogs. I kept waiting for the rain to stop so I could go to the grocery store but by three realized we would starve if I waited for the rain to stop. I used to love Publix, never shopped anywhere but. When our life hit the skids a few years back I switched to Kroger. I would have done the Walmart route but when you go there for groceries suddenly you think of a million other things you need and wander off from the grocery aisles and end up over in the hardware, auto or garden dept. Kroger is cheaper and I like saving gas points but have found me an even cheaper option. Food Depot.
You shouldn't go there the day food stamps come out, the place is a mad house but at least peeps living off the govt. are stretching OUR dollars. I'm not dissing them, at one time a few short years ago I was one of them and my own family received govt assistance. We wouldn't have made it without it.
I only had to use it for a couple of months but made me a true believer in the system. Yes it has flaws but what govt system doesn't?
So anyway, I go into Food Depot to pick up the bare minimum. Paid a couple of bills and had forty bucks for gas and groceries. Here's what I like about Food Depot, poor peeps are pretty much the friendliest peeps you'll meet. They aren't in any kind of hurry. They are just going back home to depressing squalor. They all seem to know each other, unlike Publix, Kroger or even Walmart. I was rounding the first aisle in produce when an old man started chatting me up. "Beep beep, here I come" he said. I smiled and let him pass. We met up again in the meat section. He asked me where something was and for the life of me couldn't understand him. He had no teeth. He looked clean and his tattered clothes looked clean but simply couldn't understand him. I finally figured out he was looking for Jimmy Dean sausage, the patties. I pointed back to the bacon when he said "Don't leave me hanging, come show me where they is" so I did. He thanked me and said "I oughta take you home wit me."
I took absolutely no offense but some people would. He meant it as a compliment and I took it that way. He waved as we parted ways in frozen foods.
I meandered up the dog food aisle and found Charlie a new nylon collar for $1.19.
I got ground chuck, a pork tenderloin, several boxes of Uncle Ben's rice, frozen veggies, fresh produce and a dog collar for under twenty bucks.
As I was bagging my own groceries (just to help out) a worker there came up to help and asked me where I got my shoes? I had on what Massey calls my Tater shoes. I love them, bought them about sixteen years ago when we first moved here. Ziggy had pulled the leather laces out and chewed them up but I bought more and are my favorite shoes, wide at the toe and the most comfortable shoes I've ever owned. We chatted a bit about my shoes then I loaded up my bags and left.
Here's the thing I've discovered (first hand) Poor people seem to be friendlier than people with money. How sad is that?
Yes I am one of the friendly ones, I'm not ashamed...I'm proud to be a survivor.
Came home with my treasures and cooked me some fish sticks. My momma used to work at a Day Nursery and every Friday had fish sticks, french fries and pork and beans, my fave meal of the week.
Blogged for a while, actually got the vacuum out and cleaned house for a bit. I waited for someone to knock on the door wanting to pin a gold medal on me but didn't happen so I just made some grilled cheese sandwiches and threw in another load of laundry.
Being a momma has its perks and has its downfalls. They love me when I cook and seem to love me more when I don't and beg me to make them anything.
Tonight Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches were almost as big a hit as the Turkey on Thanksgiving Day.
"You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime you might get what you need."
Til next time...COTTON
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