Since we had to bring cats in for neuters yesterday, and would be hanging around until they were done, we took advantage of being in a city. We wanted to pick up a few things before the polar vortex hit, so there would be no need to go anywhere during the coldest days.
Of course, we got more than was on the list.
This is what $293.80 at Walmart looks like.
Except for the three boxes of tea. My daughter bought those separately.
Gosh, that added up fast.
Part of it was because I needed to pick up some supplements.
The “white cheddar” at the top is actually a popcorn seasoning. We still have plenty of lactose-free cheese.
The “mineral” is my potassium, which I got along with some magnesium and zinc.
My older daughter had sent some funds, and part of her list included more energy drinks. The cases of 4 were on sale, so we got two cases.
My husband let us know we were almost out of peanut butter and molasses, one of his favourite snacks since childhood.
Next is a 5 lb bag of carrots – a good price, there. The vinegar is 7% cleaning vinegar.
It took some searching, but I found a small bag of seed starting mix, since I finished what I had left from last year, when starting the onion seeds.
The “sticks” is pretzel sticks; my husband requested something crunchy.
Not on the list is something we spotted on clearance. 3×10 heat vent covers. We need to replace several.
Pizza pops at under $20 is a good price, these days. At least compared to other places.
Next on the list is a new sponge mop head. My daughter tells me our current one has started to disintegrate!
Then there’s a bag of brown sugar, followed by a case of XXL puppy pads, feminine hygiene product, and a liquid soap refill.
Normally, I’d get a flat of 30 eggs, but they don’t fit in the hard sided insulated bags, so we got an 18 of eggs, instead. Then there are four loves of rye bread, followed by a couple of chocolate bars, one of which became part of my “lunch” on the way home, several hours later!
I got a 4 pack of distilled water for my husband’s CPAP humidifier. He wasn’t out, but the prices are much better at Walmart, so he’s well stocked now for some times.
Next on the “multi discount” list: We got a couple of energy drinks for right away, rather than for home. There is also a couple of coffee creamers for the girls, and 4 boxes of water flavours for my husband.
And that’s it.
Even with larger stuff, we didn’t fill a shopping cart, and it cost almost $300.
We did end up getting more.
After a had a bit of a nap in the truck, waiting for a call back from the vet clinic, I ended up going to the Dollarama. I didn’t get a picture of what I got, though. I found some 10% acid cleaning vinegar, so I got that. I really ought to remember to go there first. Walmart only has up to 7% acid cleaning vinegar, and it costs almost twice as much. I also got a roll of clear, self adhesive plastic that will be used to protect things from cat. I finally found a particular small size of hair elastics I’ve been looking for, for ages. I also got a small cat bed/mat for the inside cats. Last of all, I grabbed a small bag of roasted, salted cashews, which became part of my lunch/supper during the drive home, after picking up the cats. In the end, the total was about $16 and change.
That done, I rejoined my daughter in the truck. We didn’t stay there for too long before we headed back into the Walmart so my daughter could use the facilities, and then we just looked around at other things.
To get to the bathrooms, we had to go through the shoe section, which is where I spotted something hilarious.
Yes, I did end up getting them.
I found slippers that perfectly matched the pattern on my new coat.
Different brands of product, but same brand in pattern!
I didn’t even try them on, because I didn’t want to fuss with my boots. When I had the chance at home, I spread out my coat and found the matching pattern sections for pictures.
I also found some underroos in one of the few brands that are actually comfortable, in stock for a change, so I got a package while I could. I “splurged” on some cheap yarn in graduated, rather than variegated, colours. My daughter picked up a sketch pad and drawing tools for herself, which is where I found a small spiral bound sketch pad for my mother. None of the drawing tools in that section were things my mother could manage, so we went to the stationary section, where I found some coloured pencils that don’t need to be sharpened.
Altogether, with the slippers and undies being the most expensive items, it came out to just pennies over $60.
It ended up being a long time before we got home but, thankfully, nothing we got was damaged by the cold while sitting in the truck box. The insulated bags made the difference, so we didn’t have to worry about frozen eggs.
The last thing I got, just before heading home, was $30 in gas. Gas is currently $1.249/L
As for my splurge on slippers, when I tried them on, they did fit – sort of. Something about the toe design doesn’t fit my feet right, which would have caused blistering.
My daughter now has new slippers. They don’t bother her feet the way they do, mine.
And that’s it. Our mini stock up trip of almost $300 at Walmart, plus a few unplanned extras that brought the total to just over $400.
Did quite a bit of running around today, which I’ll cover in another post. Since I was in town anyhow, I did a small grocery shopping trip that turned out to be bigger than originally planned. I was only there for bread, milk and cheese! 😄
This is what $121.25 looks like, but I got $20 off from my loyalty points.
Yeah, most of it fit into the one hard sided bag I brought.
One of my daughters mentioned we were running low on glass top stove cleaner, so I picked up a bottle of that. I also got a 12 pack each of Coke Zero and Fresca for the four of us, which were on sale.
There was actually ginger snap cookies in stock, so I got a box for my husband, along with two jugs of distilled water for his CPAP humidifier. I also got him some frozen tater tots as an each snack that he can prepare himself.
Then I got two packs of marble, two packs of white Old Cheddar, lactose free cheese, which were on sale. They didn’t have any 2L 3% milk in stock, so I got 2%.
I spotted hoagie sausages on sale, so I got two packages. The sale price is what used to be their regular price. The girls really like those. I also picked up a ring of garlic sausage, made by a local company.
Then, finally, I got the bread I was there for. Four loaves of regular white and whole wheat bread. The rye bread I normally get was on sale, and completely out of stock, so this was the substitute.
And that’s it. All that, with sale prices and discounts, came out to over $100.
*sigh*
On another note, our pantry just got a boost for canned soups and a few more cans of beans. With my mother still in the hospital and not going back to her apartment, I’m going to start clearing some things out, little by little. My brother and SIL had picked up a lot of canned soup and such for her, as it was a lot easier for her and something the home care staff could prepare for her. After talking to them about it, they told me to take them, since we have “more mouths to feed”. 😄 I certainly won’t say no to things to add to our pantry!
While shopping today, I saw the canned beans we used to get regularly were on sale as 2/$3 A sale price of $1.50 per can, that used to cost 97¢ a can, regular price, not that long ago.
What isn’t pictured is my stop at the pharmacy. I got ibuprofen for the girls. Two smaller bottles that were on sale, making them cheaper than getting one larger bottle. I got acetaminophen for myself, which is safe to take with my anti-inflammatories. I still have some prescription painkillers left, but I don’t want to be using those if I don’t have to. I also got a tube of Voltaren for myself, that was on sale, and lactaid for my husband, which was not on sale. That all came out to something like $98.
I did stop at the hardware store before going to visit my mother, trying to find some Roof Melt. Turns out, they don’t even carry it, though the website made it look like they did. The city stores carry it, not the small towns. The first staff I asked about it didn’t even know what it was. I ended up talking to a manager? I think? who has helped me before. They tried really hard to find something for me. One of the other staff came by and heard what I was asking for, and got all excited, because it’s a product she would be getting, too! In the end, the manager said he was going to try and order something in, but he wasn’t sure if it would work.
He did mention that you can get beet juice granules. Somewhere. He didn’t know. This would be sprinkled on the roof and in the eavestroughs in the fall, where they would keep things clear all winter, and are completely safe for the grass and water table the melt water would drain to.
Well, we finally made it to Costco! Not the new location I was planning to go back to, but to the one that we have been going to regularly, since it was near where we could meet up with someone from the cat rescue and deliver a furball for adoption.
We did do a bit of non-pictured shopping. After delivering the cat, we went in and had breakfast. I ordered a large meal of Chinese food, knowing I could only eat half of it, and brought the other half home for my husband. That, plus my daughter’s food, totaled just under $50. Then my daughter wanted to look for something. While going through the mall, we passed a store I’ve never seen before that specialized in warm things – leggings, touques, mittens, blankets, scarves, slippers, etc.
Boxing day sales were still going on, and everything in the store was a flat $10 each.
We went in and my daughter found a display of slipper socks. She got a couple for herself and her sister. I got a couple for myself and my husband, if they fit. I also got a blanket and some suede moccasin style slippers. Hopefully, either the slippers or the slipper socks will fit my husband. If not, they might fit me. If they don’t fit me, they’ll fit the girls.
Each of the items I selected was regular price, $40. My total after taxes was $44.80.
After that, my daughter found a store with what she was looking for, and then we went to the Costco. I had planned to get gas first, but it was so busy, we just parked in the first open spot we could find – way out in a distant corner of the parking lot! At least we didn’t have to go into the overflow parking.
Oddly, it didn’t seem that busy once we were inside.
This is what our $$722.57 looks like.
That… really isn’t a lot.
I folded up the receipt because it had been pulled up part way through, so there were a lot of empty space, with an item count in the middle. It was only after I unfolded it that I realized there was a single item listed with the item count, too. A container of Parmesan cheese at $17.49
Aside from that…
For the big stuff that stayed on the cart, there is a case of Monster energy drinks, which I will be reimbursed for by a daughter, and a case of Coke Zero for my husband and I. There is a case of kitchen garbage bags, toilet paper, a 9 pack of pasta, a small case of tomato soup, and a double flat of eggs.
For cat stuff, there is four 9.1kg bags of kibble, a case of wet cat food and a case of puppy pads.
For the frozen and refrigerator stuff, there is a pork loin, which will be cut up into roasts and chops, and a pork blade roast. There’s a wheel of brie that was on sale, 5 pounds of butter, a block of Old Cheddar cheese, two packages of panini sandwich meats, a case of Oat milk, two 2 packs of salad mixes and a case of frozen pierogi.
Then there is a 2 pack of Vitamin D3, and some goat milk soap my daughter will be reimbursing me for, and a 2 pack of Head and Shoulders, which both my daughter and my husband use as an anti-fungal body wash, at the doctor’s recommendation.
There is also a container of popcorn, two big jars of mayonnaise, two 2 packs of rye bread, two packs of tortilla wraps, a case of instant oatmeal, and a case of ramen noodles.
I just realized, my daughter accidentally grabbed unsalted butter instead of salted butter. Oh, well. The price is the same! 😁
And that’s it.
Total number of items, 42. Total discounts, $15.30, but about $40 in taxes.
We got hardly any meat. Which is okay. With doing so many heat and eats for our Christmas and New Year’s celebrations, we still have some in the freezer.
Then we had to get the flat cart all the way to the truck. With so much packed snow, it took both of us to push it, and we kept having to stop to grab things that were vibrating off the cart.
Once we were loaded up, we went to fill the gas tank. The Costco price for regular gas was $0.999/L! It’s been ages since I’ve seen gas at under a dollar, even it if is barely a penny. Filling the tank cost $27.13
On the way out, we did stop at a gas station just outside the city. Mostly for a bathroom break before the drive home, but also to pick up some drinks, which my daughter paid for.
So, everything together today, including purchases at the mall, we spent about $844 in total.
Thank God this is just a once a month thing!
The next big purchase for the month will be a trip to the feed store to get 40 pound bags of kibble for the outside cats.
Ugh.
I’m glad to have the Costco shopping over and done with for the month, that’s for sure.
Meanwhile, I need to get that pork loin divided up for the freezer.
Today, my daughter and I headed into the city to do our combination last shop before Christmas and first stock up shop for January. After this, we don’t plan to do our Costco stock up shop until after New Year’s.
Our original plans changed a bit, though.
We waited until a bit later to start heading out, since it was still -30C/-22F at the time we normally would have headed out. As we were part way to my mother’s town, the check engine light turned on.
*sigh*
When we reached town, we pulled over in a gas station parking lot, so I could hook up the OBDII scanner. The scan is done with the key in that half way position, when things are on, but the engine is not running.
Which is when my onboard computer suddenly popped up a message, saying the batter was low and to turn on the engine!
Which I did.
The scan, however, came up with a code for an air-fuel ratio imbalance. Checking the details, this turns out to be a common code for our vehicle. The top reported fix is to replace the O2 sensor.
Did that mean we could still head into the city??
I knew my brother was on his way to the farm and would have his hands free set up, so I ended up calling him. I told him what we were finding. For the sensor, he suggested it could even just be that snow got in, but we should be fine with driving it. As for the battery, the gauge showed it was charging, so we should be okay with driving to the city.
Our first stop was Canadian Tire anyway, and their garage would be open (being Sunday, no local garages would be open), so I could see if they could check it/work on it, depending on how busy they were.
Of course, that made me absolutely paranoid for the rest of the driving!
Once there, I headed in ahead of my daughter, who was a sweetheart and paused to get some ice off from around the wiper blades. It kept rattling during the drive, which made me even more paranoid, because where the sound was coming from made us think it was the engine until we spotted the moving ice.
After explaining to the guy at the counter what was going on, and showing him screen caps of my scan reading, he assured me the truck was safe to drive. They didn’t have a tech in that could work on it. Since I already scanned it and had the code, there was no need for them to scan it again, which would have cost me $125. But he could check the battery for me, if I could pull the truck up to the main bay door.
So I did that and he hooked up to the battery to test it. We did have to pause to I could move the truck out of the way of someone needing to get a vehicle into a bay, but it was still very quick. The battery was low, even after driving for about an hour, so he recommended I put it on a charger when I got home and to leave it overnight. Our charger has an auto shut off once the battery is fully charged, so that was a viable option. He assured me that the truck was okay to drive. As for the sensor, he told me he knew of people driving around for a year before replacing it, so we would be fine.
When he was done, I confirmed how I was to exit the bay area, then said I would go around to park, then come in to pay.
He don’t me, no charge!
That was so awesome of him! Granted, it was less than 5 minutes to check my battery, but he still could have charged me for it and I would have been okay with it!
My daughter, meanwhile, was in the store and had found the coat section. One of my goals for today was to get a replacement parka, now that my 30+ year old down filled parka is finally unwearable.
For a while there, I didn’t think I’d find one.
Their inventory only goes up to XXL, for starters. Even with men’s coats, I like extra room, so I would have preferred a larger size. Sizes, however are not standard, so that is another issue. Also, I’m a tank. A refrigerator. A block. Plus, I’m fat.
The first XXL parka she found, I couldn’t even finish getting my arms in, the shoulders were so tight. We went through the entire section and there were hardly any XXL at all, and none fit.
We were starting to head out, thinking I would try at the Walmart (I doubt I would have found anything there), when we spotted another coat section.
We had even less luck there.
Then we found a couple of display racks at the far end of the store.
I found all of one XL in there. The rest were smaller.
Then my daughter spotted coats in the hunting section.
Amazingly, we found several XXL!
The first one I tried did fit, though it was tight on the arms. Especially the biceps. I may be rotund, but I’ve also got guns, and this parka, warm as it was, barely fit over them.
So we kept looking. My daughter found one that was basically two jackets together, and you could separate them if you wanted a lighter jacket. That one was the worst designed coat I’ve ever tried! I had to get my daughter to help me take off one of the arms because the outside was trying to come off, while the inside layer was wanting to stick to my arm.
Finally, after much digging, we found one that fit. I bit more snug under the arms than I would have preferred, but that was just a matter of cut, not size.
Everything was mixed up, and there was no price on the tag, so I didn’t know if it was in budget. My daughter found someone that could scan the bar code, and it was only $100!
I was so happy!
We then headed to the checkout, where we also paid for the litter pellets we were there for. Those are stored in the vestibule on the way out, so my daughter went to start loading the cart, while I put on my new parka.
We got 4 bags of litter pellets, so the total was $145.55, but I only got a picture of my new parka, so this is what my $99.99 hunting jacket looks like.
My daughter was making all sorts of “where’s Mom? She’s hidden!” jokes.
Also, she requested I stick my arms out like a penguin for the picture. 😄
I had some concerns about how thin the coat was but, WOW, did that thing get warm, fast! I really appreciated how warm the hood was, even though it was really quite loose.
We did find it funny, though not really surprising, that the only coat I could find that fit was a hunting jacket.
Our original plan after Canadian Tire was to go to Walmart for kibble, then to a Superstore for the groceries, but with the truck concerns, I wanted to do as little starting and stopping at possible.
So, we did just the Walmart, instead.
We were originally going to go into the mall the Canadian Tire is part of for lunch, but completely forgot, so we did McRaunchies at Walmart for sustenance, instead.
That was $36 (with a donation to round it up to the nearest dollar). McRaunchies isn’t particularly cheap anymore! We didn’t get any sorts of extras, either. Just burgers, fries and drinks. *sigh*
Then, we finally got to shopping. Which was not fun at all. Granted, it wasn’t as crowed as I was afraid it would be, but it was busy enough and annoying enough that I completely forgot I was supposed to see if they had office/desk chairs in stock to replace my husband’s broken one. At least most people seemed pretty cheerful, and there were a lot of smiles to be shared.
My daughter had her own list and did her own shopping, so that’s not included. She finished and headed for the truck before I even got into line, where I found myself having a lovely chat with the elderly gentleman I let in front of me. He had just a few things in a hand basket, so I sure wasn’t going to make him get behind me in line!
This is what $442.24 looks like.
Most of that cart space is taken up with bags of kibble.
For our Christmas plans, we had decided on doing a lot of appetizers and finger foods, rather than our usual huge Christmas Eve wigilia (vigil) meal. I might still do a turkey for Christmas day, though, but we always do our main activities starting after sunset on Christmas Eve.
My daughter picked up some things for this on her budget, but this is what I got, along with regular stock up stuff.
Of course, there were the basics. They had toilet paper on sale, so I picked some up. We still have plenty, but since we’re not going to Costco until later than usual, better to have extra on hand! I also got a large package of paper towels and a package of facial tissues.
For the cat supplies, I got XXL puppy pads (I was out of that size), odor eliminating pet stain powder for carpets (for when the cats manage to get past the puppy pads!) and four 9.1kg bags of kibble. We have enough wet cat food to last until Costco, so I skipped that on this trip.
That made up the bulk or things.
For food, I got a bag of potatoes, some carrots, grapes and that was it for produce. For dairy, I got marble, Havarti and Old Cheddar cheeses. The “white cheddar” on the receipt is popcorn seasoning.
I picked up three loaves of rye bread for regular eating, and four baguettes for New Year’s Eve – those are now in the freezer.
For heat and eats and finger foods, most of which are for Christmas Eve, I got chicken nuggets, fish sticks, cream cheese wontons, a variety pack of Asian appetizers, and meatballs.
There’s also a jar of “Itty Bitty” pickles and a strawberry rhubarb pie. I even remembered to get my B100 vitamins that I was out of. There’s a pack of frozen, extra crispy, curly fries, mostly for my husband, and they had cross rib roasts on sale, so I actually got some beef! I also got a package of frozen salmon filets for my daughters. I’d forgotten about those and it took me the longest time to figure out what HL SIG WPS was. 😄 High Liner Signature Cuts Wild Pacific Salmon.
As we’re still pretty much in the middle of the month, we are still pretty well stocked from last month’s shopping, so a lot of things are “missing” from our usual first stock up trip. The kibble needs to last either until our Costco trip, or until I can get to a feed store. I got four 40 pound bags of kibble last month, and we were almost completely out, after this morning’s yard cat feeding! Three of the bags I got today should last for the outside cats until I can properly stock up, and one bag is more than enough for us to last with the inside cats, as we still have a fair bit.
So, there was have it. A grand total of $588.78. $624.78, if you count lunch.
After that, it was time to head home. Once out of the city, we stopped at a gas station to fill the tank, pick up some drinks and snacks for the ride home. As we were returning to the truck, my daughter ran back in to use the washroom for the long drive home, so I moved the truck away from the pumps to a parking spot to wait for her.
Which is when I noticed.
The check engine light was gone.
Yay!!! Maybe it was just snow in the sensor, after all!
Even the gauge for the battery was where it normally is.
Everything stayed as normal for the drive home, which was a relief for both of us.
After we got home, we pulled up to the house to unload (my brother got a LOT of snow blowing done, including enough in the inner yard that we could drive up to the house). Then I fed the outside cats before moving the truck into the garage. While my brother cleared a path to the door, he didn’t clear enough to turn around, so I’ll work on that tomorrow. Backing up through down path was a test of my reverse driving skills, that’s for sure!
Once in the garage, I got out the battery charger and hooked it up, plugging it into the shop power bar that I use to plug the truck’s block heater into. The charger showed full charge so, while I fussed with the power bar so I could plug in the block heater, I wasn’t surprised when the charger shut off. I was in the process of putting it away when I realized that, while moving the power bar around, with all the cords so stiff in the cold, it accidentally got unplugged. So I plugged it back in, then got the charger set up again.
In that very short length of time, the battery already lost charge.
The battery is only 2 years old, but we don’t have a battery warmer. The cold may have damaged it.
I now have the charger set up for the night. It’ll shut itself off when the battery is charged, but will turn itself back on again, if the charge drops.
Tomorrow is Monday, so our local garage will be open. I plan to give them a call to talk about bringing the truck in for a diagnostic. I’m not too worried about that code that triggered the check engine light to turn on, but I am concerned about the battery.
At this point, the only driving I plan to do between now and after New Year’s, is to visit my mother at the hospital on Christmas day. My sister will be visiting on Christmas Eve, and my brother saw her today, on his way home from our place. I just found out that he broke a sheer pin on the snow blower. Thankfully, he was able to scavenge one from their other snow blower that isn’t running. When he was done, he tried to find a replacement in town. There was none to be had, but it did give him a chance to see my mother.
Once I was settled in, I called the hospital to see how my mother was doing. She was responding to the IV Lasix to reduce the swelling so well, they are no longer going to continue that for a week. She will be back to taking it in pill form.
I spoke to the guy for a while and remembered to tell them about my mother’s macular degeneration, and that it was getting worse, but we couldn’t transport her to the clinic in the city for treatment anymore. He thought we had an appointment and said they could arrange transportation, but I told him, the last appointment she had, we had to cancel it, so we haven’t made another appointment since then. It was good to know that they could have transporter her, though.
As we were talking, and he was telling me how great my mother was doing, I brought up her pain and mobility issues, saying that after this, she couldn’t go home anymore. He said, “yes”. Like, it was a given that she couldn’t live independently anymore.
This is the first time anyone actually said that.
He brought up having her paneled for long term care, and I told him, she’s been paneled. Twice. Once, just a couple of months ago. He sounded shocked to hear that. I told him, we aren’t understanding why she hasn’t been accepted.
I didn’t mention it, due to how much time it’s been, but it’s not due to lack of beds. During her last panel interview, the home care coordinator said there were beds available. It’s just that she wasn’t “needing” that much home care. That was part of why we added meal assists, bathing and dress assists, to her care plan. My mom did actually need them, but had been refusing them. Just like she has refused things like having a hospital bed, which she really needed.
He told me that, now that she’s in the hospital, she will stay there until they can find a space for her. The people in charge of those decisions will be in, tomorrow, so that would be the time to call and ask about it.
Hearing that was such a relief!
After talking to him, I asked to be transferred to my mother’s room so I could talk to her.
I tried to tell her about what the nurse told me, but she made that very, very hard! I would say a bit, and she would cut me off with a tangential rant. I’d manage a bit more, and she would cut me off again and go off in another directions. I kept saying, let me finish, and she just ignored me. I had to actually raise my voice and talk over her, several times, saying “let me finish” before she finally stopped.
I finally was able to tell her that she will be in the hospital until they can find a place for her in a nursing home.
Her immediate reaction?
Where?
Over the next while, I had to deal with her doing what she always does: be her own worst enemy. She even started to say how, with home care taking such good care of her, with her medications and her meals, and my doing her grocery shopping for her, she can manage just fine. Her vision loss isn’t a problem, because it doesn’t hurt.
She doesn’t want to be a bother…
…
I had to stop her and tell her – again -that she needs to stop making light of things. She can NOT go home after this. It’s just not safe for her.
I’m just so frustrated. She’s the one who started the push to be placed into a nursing home. This is what she wants, and what she needs. We’ve been fighting for this for two years and, and now that she is SO close to actually getting into long term care, suddenly she’s talking about how she’s fine in her own apartment.
I told her (again), that this is the time to say MORE about her physical issues, not less, or make light of them, or not tell the hospital staff about them at all.
I don’t know that I got through to her. She finally stopped cutting me off, but when she goes silent like that, it often means she completely disagrees and is planning to do the opposite of what she should be doing.
Hopefully, she won’t this time but, gosh, she makes it hard for us to help her at times!
Anyhow.
Tomorrow, I’ll be giving my new winter coat a real test. I plan to expand some of the areas my brother has cleared out with his snow blower, and clear out more paths in the yard. Little Spewie is going to get another work out! Some of the areas will need to be shoveled, though, so I’ll be getting a workout, too! We are expecting more snow tomorrow, but now they’re saying it won’t start until 6pm, and it’s full dark before 5pm these days, so that’s not going to be an issue.
While catching up with my brother and SIL after visiting my mother yesterday, my brother gave me strict instructions to NOT have a heart attack, with all the shoveling I’m doing! 😄 I’ll be sure to follow his instructions.
The main thing is, we can get in and out easily, and we are stocked up. Anything beyond that is gravy!
Today, my daughter and I made it into the city for our Costco shop, where we checked out a new location.
First bonus about this location is that we don’t need to drive through the city to get to it. It’s actually outside the bypass highway around the city. No city traffic, no frequent stops at lights, etc.
First down side: it’s near some pretty major event infrastructure, as well as some new apartments that weren’t there the last time we drove by here, years ago, so it shares entry lanes. Which includes two roundabouts.
I really dislike roundabouts. Yes, I understand efficiency of the design. I just have no faith at all in other drivers. The city we lived in before moving here had several roundabouts we had to go through regularly, much larger than the ones we had to use today, and they sucked when traffic was high.
Thankfully, traffic was not high.
When we first drove in, the parking lot looked really full. Our first stop was the gas station, which had more pumps than the other locations we’ve gone to. That went really fast.
Also, gas there was $1.139/L, instead of the $1.299 everywhere else. It cost me “only” $46.47 to fill my tank from a little over half.
As for the crowded parking lot, that turned out to be just the area closest to the entry. Once we got past a certain point and could see the rest, we found there was plenty of space to park.
The location is somewhat bigger than the others we’ve been to and, while they matched the layout of other locations pretty well, a few things were changed up. One of them was where the cat supplies were set up! We finally found it, pretty much opposite of where they are typically kept.
The shop itself was… well… okay, I have to admit. I hate shopping and I hate crowds, not that it was particularly crowded today.
I really hate it when people with half empty carts expect me, with my flat cart, to stop on a time to avoid hitting them as they wander and weave, not paying any attention to what’s around them.
Having said that, I was ready to abandon my flat cart only twice this trip.
My daughter is a sanity saver.
One of the things they have that’s different is their sushi bar, which was added on to where they have their in store made heat and eats, like Shepard’s Pie and chicken pie. I wasn’t able to check it out too thoroughly, though, because there was a lot of cart traffic and looky-loos. When pushing a flat cart, I’m just not flexible enough to get around everyone, though I still couldn’t see much even when I left the cart with my daughter and tried looking again.
Their food court menu was also different. They had sushi on the menu, but they also had their Montreal Smokes Meat sandwiches, too. The other locations dropped those from their menu, years ago. I was really looking forward to doing lunch after we finished our shopping.
It didn’t happen.
This is what $563.72 looks like.
That really isn’t much on there at all.
So, this is what we got today, starting with the non-food (at least, not for humans) items. There’s two 9kg bags of kibble – we have a good supply, but this should ensure we don’t run short at the end of the month – one case of wet cat food, a case of puppy pads, toilet paper and a dish detergent refill jug.
For drinks, there’s a case of Monster – yay! Finally in stock again! – a case of Coke Zero and a 3 pack of Oat Milk.
For meats, I got two rotisserie chickens, because it was cheaper than buying any of the uncooked chicken options. The fresh made sausage section was bigger and had new varieties, so we picked up a pack of Greek sausage, and one of Gouda and Cranberry. I also got two panini packs for sandwiches. That was it for meat. Beef prices were heart stopping. I should know better than to even look!
For dairy, we got a 4 pack of cream cheese, sour cream, 5 pounds of butter and a 2 pack of goat cheese. My daughter also grabbed some grated Parmesan, which I’ll be paid back for. We normally get blocks of cooking cheeses, but we still have plenty. I was sorely tempted to try new cheeses, though, as their cheese selection in much larger and more varied! Not in today’s budget.
In the frozen stuff, we got a box of perogies and a bag of mixed vegetables.
In breads, we got two 2 packs of rye bread and two 2 packs of tortilla wraps.
In the odds and sots, we got two large containers of mayo, a box of mixed instant oatmeal, a double flat of eggs (60 eggs) and a sushi platter to be supper for the girls. I meant to get something for my husband and I as a quick, heat and eat supper but I couldn’t find anything that both my husband and I can eat. More and more foods make him feel sick after eating, as if he were having a lactose intolerance reaction, even if there’s no dairy in the food. So I ended up not getting anything. It’s getting much harder to get food for him.
I was still thinking of going to the food court but by the time we were heading for the check out line, not only did I not want to have refrigerator/freezer items sitting out so long while we ate, I had basically lost all patience with being around people. In fact, we didn’t even finish going through all the food aisles. Aside from the usual cart traffic issues, I kept getting stuck behind one older couple that kept weaving back and forth in the middle of the aisles, stop suddenly, or split up and be doing the same thing in two aisles at the same time. We even ended up blocked by them again, while trying to get the the checkouts. At least I was able to get past them, though someone else was blocking the aisle from the other direction that I had to get around. We weren’t any any hurry, but I get really tired of trying so hard to not be in the way with my big flat cart, only to have to deal with people who are oblivious about being in the way. Even as lightly loaded as ours was today, flat carts are not easy to maneuver!
So… yeah. That’s all we got today. A whole 35 items.
Once we were loaded up and heading out, things went smoothly. The only down side was my not eating yet. On the way out, we’d stopped to pick up some energy drinks and I got a bag of beef jerky. That was all I’d eaten all day, and it was about 1pm as we were leaving the city. On the way home, my daughter insisted we stop for food. I was thinking a quick stop at the gas station in my mother’s town that we had to pass through; the one that has the best fried chicken, but she was thinking an actual sit down restaurant. There’s a restaurant right on the highway that is under new ownership and completely redone that she hasn’t been to yet, so we ended up stopping there and she treated me to breakfa… lunc… an early supper?
By the time we were done, it was late enough for the post office to have reopened for the afternoon, so we made a quick stop there (my expected items have not arrived, including something that got mailed more than a month ago. Thanks, striking Canada Post.) before finally getting home. Just in time to feed the outside cats after unloading the truck!
No more softening the kibble. It’s just too cold. Some of the trays still had frozen kibble from yesterday stuck to them!
Today, we reached a high of -12C/10F. Which isn’t too bad, except even the slightest breeze made it feel much colder. Tomorrow is supposed to be slightly warmer, which is good, because I’m going to my mother’s do to her grocery shopping. Overnight lows over the next while are expected to drop below -20C/-4F Looking at the long range forecast for December is just an exercise in crazy. This morning, I was seeing some pretty nasty drops in temperature over the next couple of weeks – but then seeing expected highs of up to 5C/41F before Christmas! Looking at it again now, those days are now forecast as being below freezing, but warmer than -10C/14F Around and just after Christmas, they’re now saying we’re suppose to reach highs of -1C/30F
I highly doubt that will happen.
Anyhow. That is our Costco stock up shop for today!
Now it’s time to go through and look at what got missed, because we never finished going through the store, and what we’ll need to get locally.
For now, though, I just want to stay home and not be around people.
Before I start, I just want to say (an early) Happy Thanksgiving to all my visitors from the US. I hope you have a wonderful day of family, friends and lots of food!
Today’s stock up shop was intended to be a run on several stores conveniently down one major street in the city. Usually, it’s Walmart, Canadian Tire, the international grocery store or maybe a Superstore.
My first stop at Canadian Tire, I didn’t bother taking pictures of. I got our usual bags of stove pellets for the litter boxes, but today I was also looking for a kettle. Our glass kettle had started to leak. Knowing that kettle wasn’t going to last much longer (it actually lasted far longer than I expected), I took advantage of a clearance sale and picked up a spare glass kettle. The girls dug that out and set it up, but we immediately had issues.
It kept shutting itself off.
At first, they thought it was a wattage issue. We’d gone from a 1200w kettle to a 1500w kettle. With our old wiring, we already couldn’t, say, have the AC running in the summer, and boil a kettle of water, without tripping the breaker. Even the range hood, if it was on, would slow down while the kettle was on, then go back to normal speed when it shut itself off.
After a few days of this, though, I concluded it was not the wattage. It was the switch. The kettle itself had a temperamental switch. Once it got going and stayed going, it was fine. It was just that initial start that was a problem. Last night, my daughter tried to make herself some tea while she was working, and just couldn’t get the kettle to say on.
We do have a stove top kettle, but that’s a whistling kettle. Not something to use in the wee hours of the night, when everyone else is asleep!
While looking at the kettles available at Canadian Tire, I was blown away by some of the prices. Particularly for one kettle. A retro style Smeg brand kettle, for $280. !!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, it was a 2400w kettle, but that’s not worth paying almost $300 for! Crazier still was that it was sold out; there was only a display model on the shelf. Who is buying these things??
I’ll stick with my glass kettles, thanks.
It came down to two brands for what we wanted, and we ended up going with the exact same make and model as the one with the malfunctioning switch. At $45, it was the more expensive brand, but the design and the filter in the lid are easier to clean.
Since it’s not on clearance, we’re hanging on to the receipt, just in case it needs to be returned!
That done, my next stop was Walmart, with a brief side trip to a Domo gas station. Today is Thursday, which is when they have discounted prices. Prices had done down a bit, from $1.339/L to $1.279/L. With today’s discount, gas was $1.239/L, so my $40 almost filled the tank. I’ll do a fill at Costco and reset my trip meter for the month, later on.
I had been thinking of just getting some cat supplies at Walmart, then going to Superstore. I didn’t have any specific reason to go to the international grocery store on this trip. My Costco trip would normally be this Friday, but we’re taking cats to the vet on Friday, and I’ll be hanging around the area until they call me for pick up. I’m thinking of checking out a newly opened Costco location, but not on a weekend. So I figured I’d get more than usual at the Superstore.
I never made it.
I ended up doing a much larger shop at the Walmart, instead.
Though, really, it wasn’t that large.
It was almost noon when I got there, though, so I did stop for lunch before shopping. That cost about $15 or so.
This is what $382.00 (with a small donation rounding it up to the nearest dollar) looks like.
Yes, stuff is hidden underneath, but still… that’s not even a full cart.
The bulk of it was cat supplies.
I got two 32 packs of canned cat food; one for the inside cats, one for the outside cats. I’ll be more for the inside cats at Costco. I also got a package of XXL puppy pads and two larger bags of dry cat food. The item labelled “brown cat” is actually a Christmas stocking of cat toys – much cheaper than buying them individually! – plus I got a couple of $2 cat toys, one of them for the isolation shelter.
There’s a bottle of Murphy’s wood cleaning spray. We have the oil that needs to be diluted, but my daughter requested the pre-diluted spray for spot clean ups. I picked up a 2 pack of lavender scented spray, as we’re running low, and lavender is supposed to be calming, even for cats.
I found a 4 pack of Monster energy drinks that was on sale, but only one flavour, so I just got one box. I hope that Costco has the flats in stock again.
Next, there’s 4 loaves of rye bread. I’ll get more of that at Costco, too.
There’s a box of 3 cheese Pizza Pops in there. I had a request for heat and eats, so there’s also 4 bags of frozen chicken nuggets and fingers.
I picked up some toilet paper on sale, even though I’ll be getting more at Costco. Not something to run out of! There’s a 2L carton of Homo (3%) milk, and some dark coffee that was on sale, for my daughters. I can’t believe how expensive coffee has become! It’s cheap turkey season, though, so I picked up a medium frozen turkey. There’s also some Havarti cheese. I recently picked up some lactose free cheese for the family, so that’s mostly for me.
My husband requested turkey breast sandwich meat, but I was aghast at the price for that. I got a larger package of it, but for almost $12, it’s good for maybe 4 sandwiches, in total, and that’s if we skimp on the meat a bit. The Pepitas are pumpkin seeds, to powder as a supplement for the cats. Good for the digestive system.
I did splurge on a mug for myself. Sadly, one of my favourite mugs cracked in the sink. The kitchen isn’t heated and the stainless steel sink gets cold enough that glasses, jars and mugs sometimes crack when, say, a spoon gets dropped into the container. At least it was just a crack and not a shatter, this time. So now I have another larger mug, and this one has line drawings of cats all over it.
Because I really am a crazy cat lady, these days!
I also found some Aurora brand bouillon cubes. I like that brand – plus, it’s a better price! I do miss all the interesting flavours they used to have. There was a European grocery store in the city we last lived in that carried them all, but now they’re not even available from their website.
Last of all, I got an energy drink for the road.
By the time I got everything, my back and hips were giving out, so there was no way I was going to another store after this. Especially not for another largish shop. I was more than happy to go straight home after loading up the truck!
So there we have it. Just a Walmart trip this time. A whole 34 items. It was $356.80 before taxes. $166 of that was for cats, including the pumpkin seeds.
Counting the stuff at Canadian Tire, gas and lunch, today cost about $475 altogether.
Oh! I just heard from my daughter. The new kettle is working flawlessly!
At least there’s that!
Next trip will be the Costco run. We’ve got Christmas dinner to think about with this month’s stock up shopping. We will be having our own dinner on Christmas Eve, and I expect to be going to my mother’s with turkey dinners already made up, on Christmas Day, weather willing. December is an odd month for when my husband’s disability pay comes in. CPP Disability, which normally comes in on the third last business day of the month, always comes in before Christmas and, with all the holidays at the end of the month, his private insurance (the one that actually pays the bills), might come in before Christmas, too. That one normally comes in on the last business day of the month. New Year’s falls on a Wednesday, so it might show up the day before. Either way, it messes up my stock up shopping schedule! 😄
It’s going to be another quiet Christmas. No gift giving. At least nothing purchased. Who can afford that anymore, when on a fixed income? Just a special dinner, and time together. Which is the most important thing, in the end.
November sure is blowing by fast. I expect December is going to fly by, too!
Today’s main thing was getting the truck to the garage to get that leaking seal replaced, along with the tire sensor, which would also replace the valve with the slow leak that was getting worse. I didn’t need to get there until 10, so there wasn’t too much of a hurry.
I still left early, of course. I always try to leave early! I’d rather be half an hour early, than 5 minutes late, for anything.
When dropping off the keys and talking about the work that was scheduled to be done, I asked if they could give all the tires a check, too. I freely admit, I’m paranoid about tires! There is one more that has a slow leak in the valve, but both rear tires will need their sensors replaced. Even the one tire that has been rock solid the whole time. The last time I got a sensor replaced, they checked the other tires and couldn’t get any readings off them, which meant the batteries were likely dead, and it’s repair by replacement for that. They were fine with checking the rest, too.
After that, I headed across town (all 6 blocks or so), with a plan of stopping at various places on the way back to look for things. I did have to stop for breakfast first, though. I forgot to eat before I left and was starting to get dizzy.
My first stop after breakfast was not productive; I didn’t find anything I was hoping to. I had some things I wanted to pick up for my husband that I wasn’t able to get yesterday, while in my mother’s town. I found some of those at the next stop. My last stop was a hardware store, were I was able to find a couple more things I needed.
By then, it was almost an hour past my appointment time, so I headed to the garage. I could see the truck hadn’t been moved, though. They had a vehicle stuck on a lift, waiting for parts, so they weren’t able to get to it yet.
At that point, I needed to just sit down, as my hip was starting to give out on my. Which was good, because I got to talk to the mechanic that was working on my truck. He knew he was from our area, and that he knew my brother, and really felt I should have know who he was. I finally had a chance to ask his name.
Well, no wonder he seemed familiar! He was the guy that helped us out on the road, when the truck started screaming at us and we discovered all the problems we were having with the oil system! That was two years ago! After having to replace the MAF sensor – twice! – it took this long to find where and why we were slowly losing oil.
They were able to get the truck in soon after I got there. The seal was replaced, then they worked on the tire sensor. Once that was back on, they ran the truck for a bit, then raised it back up on the lift to make sure nothing was leaking anymore, and everything was nice and dry!
Once it was at floor level again, they started checking the other tires. I could see them through the office window as they went around with their device, checking each tire.
Then doing it again.
Then they topped up all the tires for me, and went around again!
When they came back to the office and I was settling the bill ($226 and change, after taxes), we chatted about the tires. The new sensor was programmed, but they were not able to connect properly to the back tires. I was told that, after driving about 15km at speed, the new sensor should get recognized by the onboard computer and it would reset itself. The “service tire monitoring system” notice should go away, along with that one dashboard light for the tires, by the time I got home. If it doesn’t go away, they’ll need to check the back tire sensors again.
I told him I didn’t expect the light and warning to go away, and fully expect to have to replace both sensors on the back tires. When it’s in budget again. The tires are fine. That’s the main thing.
The warnings were still there when I got home. We’ll see if they’re still there when I leave for my mother’s tomorrow. I expect they will be.
Everything went well, otherwise, and the truck was good to go. My next stop was across the street to the grocery store. I still had one more thing on my husband’s list, plus I wanted to get ingredients for the chicken stock I’ll be making for my mother, tomorrow. I want to get it started before I leave to get her groceries, and planned to do the prep tonight, first.
I ended up making a much larger shopping trip than planned! Normally, I wouldn’t do a mid month top up like this, so soon after doing a Costco trip, but there were some really good sales I wanted to take advantage of.
This is what $155.69 looks like.
Which is actually quite a bit more for the money that usual!
Here is what I got – sorry for the poor photo quality. I didn’t realize how bad it was until I uploaded the image!
From the top: there’s a case of Fresca, which was the one thing left my husband had requested. On sale, but that just put it back to the regular price it was a couple of months ago.
The large bag of cornmeal was not on sale. When we first started buying these large bags, they were under $4. Now, they’re over $7! But, we were running low, and I’d like to bake some cornbread.
I remembered to get some white wine vinegar, as we were out. We were also running low on pancake syrup and it was on sale, so I got a bottle. The tea I got is something new to try. It has chicory root in it and is “coffee inspired”. We have chicory seeds, so I figured trying some in a tea would be a good idea.
The Monster was for the drive home. We were out of apple cider vinegar, and I wanted to use some in my mother’s stock, so I picked some up. I also got freezer bags that were on sale. One of them will go to my mother’s, so I can pack up the cooked chicken in smaller bags to make it easier for home care to prep her meals.
Lactose free cheese, mostly for my husband. The digestive enzymes I got at Costco don’t seem to be helping him, he tells me.
We did not need more eggs, but the 18s were on sale, so I got a couple. We’ll be hard boiling a bunch of them to keep handy for snacks, or to make egg salad with, now that we have so many eggs on hand.
The cabbage is for ourselves, but the onions are for ourselves as well as to prep for my mother, tomorrow. Same with the ginger root, carrots and celery. The 3 pound bag of apples was for home, though – and a really good sale! Apples have been insanely expensive lately. I look forward to having our own, but it’ll be a few years yet!
The salad mixes where the big savings. I’d already picked up some at my mother’s town yesterday at an excellent sale price, but these were even better. These salad mixes are usually over $7 a bag, but with the sale, they were under $4 a bag! Plus, extra points. If I didn’t know we wouldn’t have the room in our fridge, I would have gotten more.
Another good sale was on whole chicken, so I got a larger one. Normally, it would have cost almost $20, instead of just under $12. The pork sirloin roast was Buy One Get One Free, so I picked up a couple of the largest ones that were left. There was bacon on sale, too, so I picked up a package. Last on the receipt was a chicken salad sandwich to eat during the drive home. It was well past lunch time by then.
Then, when it came time to pay, I had enough points on my loyalty card to get $10 off – but got enough points with all the promos that I once again have enough points to get $10 off the next time I use it!
So with all the sales and discounts, not counting the sales on items priced by weight, since that’s applied before they get to the checkout, I had a total of $54.34 off. Add on the loyalty points discount, I got a total of $64.34 taken off my bill.
Not too shabby.
After one more stop at a gas station, I finally headed home. After my daughter helped me unload the truck, it was late enough to feed the cats outside. I even remembered to call my mother to remind her to take the chicken out of her freezer for the stock I will be making her tomorrow. I made sure to tell her not to get her own little pot and frying pan out again, as I was going to be bringing a bigger pot to use this time.
I was out again, about an hour later, to do my evening rounds, cutting some fresh herbs to use in my mother’s stock, before commandeering the kitchen. I now have a bag ready with our smaller stock pot, a good, sharp kitchen knife, and various ingredients that don’t need to be refrigerated, set aside. In the morning, I just need to grab some prepped ingredients from the fridge and that’s it.
Normally, my mother doesn’t do much when she makes her chicken stock. Last time, I included carrots, celery and onion, and she told me she only just used onion. I know she normally would not be too keen on trying new and different ingredients, like the apple cider vinegar, ginger and turmeric I’m bringing. She can get very angry over the idea of trying new things. She has been talking about problems with her digestion, though, and I specifically looked up a recipe for “gut healthy” chicken stock. I think it might help her be willing to try something new, if I explain it that way.
Meanwhile, I found we still had two last packages of meaty beef bones hiding in the chest freezer, from our last beef share purchase. I’ve got those thawing out with plans to make bone broth in the slow cooker.
All in all, it turned out to be a more productive day than I originally expected!
Tomorrow, we’re expecting a high of 10C/50F, but I won’t be home to take advantage of it to get stuff done outside. The next couple of days will have highs of only 2C/36F, which is when I’m planning to do some final mulching and covering the septic tank for the winter. After that, our highs will stay below freezing for a few days, and then we’re supposed to warm up again, possibly reaching a high of 5C/41F by next weekend. Which means there’s still a possibility of getting more progress outside.
Once we get past the first week of December, the long range forecast is now predicting quite a drop in temperatures, including overnight lows of -28C/-18C, so the more I can get done before then, the better! It’s been harder to keep things stocked up, but I really want to have at least a month’s worth of supplies on hand, before the deep freeze hits. The hard part will be stocking up on cat food.
Oh, I just got a message from the renter. They do have a straw bale they can spare, and will hopefully be able to bring it over on the weekend. Perfect timing! We’ll have straw to cover the septic tank, instead of the insulated tarp, and it’ll be much better for mulch in the garden, too.
My first stop was at the post office to pick up my daughter’s new office chair that we couldn’t pick up yesterday, because I forgot they closed at noon on Wednesdays. I had another surprise package, but I’ll cover that in another post. I dropped those off at home, then headed out right away and stopped at my mother’s. She had a letter from the regional health authority she wasn’t understanding. I confirmed that it was indeed an appointment for an MRI she was on the waiting list for, for more than a year. There was a form with it I helped her fill out as well.
We talked about her new home care schedule and I asked if she was letting them help her with meals. There is one home care worker that she has a lot of issues with. When my mother asked if she could put water in the electric kettle my brother got for her, because she has a hard time doing it herself, she balked, saying she was only supposed to do her pills, nothing else. Mom told her, this is new stuff (the worker should have known). She did put the water in for my mother, but didn’t close the lid nor start the kettle. My mom pointed out that she didn’t finish. The worker said that my mother is the only person she has a problem with – and that she didn’t do it because my mother didn’t say please or thank you.
Now, my mother has her issues, but right now, with her cognitive decline, she has trouble finding the words to ask for help. Expecting her to remember to say please and thank you under her circumstances sounds awfully strange. They had what my mother called a bit of a disagreement. The worker then apparently took the little container her pills had been counted out into, which my mother had not taken yet, into the lock box, saying she would make a call about my mother, and left.
???
She locked my mother’s pills away.
After a while, she came back and my mother did get her pills. She also had a different attitude. My mother said she did apologize and they ended up hugging before the worker left.
So very strange.
I asked and apparently this one worker never looks at her sheets, never fills out the form inside the lock box and, unlike all the other workers, never asks if there is anything else she can do for my mother.
I think I need to send an email to the case coordinator about this. I’m sure she’s already heard the other side of the story by now.
I also need to let them know what day my mother’s MRI is. It’s an evening appointment, so she won’t be home for the bed time assist. My problem is, I don’t know if Mom can even get into my truck anymore! I’ll have to talk to my siblings about that.
Once done at my mother’s I could finally head into the city.
When I got to the Costco, I didn’t even try to get gas first, like I usually do. The parking lot was shockingly full. I lucked out, though. As I decided to cut through one of the lanes to go back to the overflow area, someone started backing out. There was another car waiting and I was going to let them have the spot, but then another vehicle backed out, right next to them! So we both got spots. 😊
The store, however, was much less crowded than expected.
I didn’t find everything I had on my list, but I did end up spending almost $800
*sigh*
This is what $791.01 looks like.
*double sigh*
Because it’s been so long, I did get more than had been on my original list, when I tried to do the shop last week and ended up getting new spark plugs on the truck, instead.
The reciept was long enough I ended up taking two pictures.
On this part of the receipt, for the meats, I got a 3 pack of dry sausages, a large pack of drumsticks and two pork loins. I also got 2 panini packs for sandwiches, and a pack of farmer’s sausages. The Kirkland canned chicken was on sale, so I grabbed two. It’s been a long time since we’ve picked those up! We used to get them regularly.
There is also a couple of packs of wraps, 5 pounds of butter, a block of mozza and a block of Old cheddar cheeses, and a bag of Basmati rice.
On the flat cart, there was a flat of Coke Zero for my husband and I, and a flat of cranberry and blackberry Ginger Ale for the girls. They didn’t have any Monster, so I got a case of Celsius energy drinks. There’s a 9 pack of pasta, two cases of canned cat food, toilet paper, two bags of kibble and a box of puppy pads.
On the rest of the receipt…
There is a 4 pack of Pronamel toothpaste and a bottle of Ibuprofen (for the girls; I can’t take them because they are contraindicated with my anti-inflammatories) and lactase digestive enzymes, plus AAA batteries among the non-food things.
Then there is a container of dehydrated onion, popcorn, a 3 pack of Spam for the pantry, peanut butter, a 2 pack of lemon juice, olive oil, a 3 pack of oat milk, a flat of ramen noodles, two 2 packs of rye bread and a double flat of eggs. Nice to see those under $20 again.
So this will last us a while, but there were a few things I didn’t get. My own vitamins didn’t get included. I was supposed to pick up their big 2 packs of Head and Shoulders, as my daughter and husband now both use it as an anti-fungal body wash (which our doctor recommended to my daughter rather than an expensive prescription anti-fungal cream). I couldn’t find them and even asked someone to look it up. According to their inventory, they had over 100 in stock. The guy went looking but couldn’t find them, either. Which means they were probably still on a flat somewhere, waiting to be put on the shelves. So that had to be skipped.
After everything was unloaded, I made sure the pork loins were not put in the freezer, as we usually would. Instead, I cut them up, first.
I split one of them into three roasts. The other was cut into chops about 1″ thick. I filled two bags with 8 chops, and the third had 8 chops, plus two wonky end bits.
Aside from the in store shopping, I did make sure to get gas before I left. Regular was $1.199/L at Costco, and I’m glad I filled my tank there! As I was driving in, I saw gas prices all over were $1.249/L As I was leaving, everywhere had gone up to $1.339/L! So it cost me $65.18 for just over a half a tank of gas, instead of what would have been almost $73.
Thankfully, I won’t need to do much driving around between now and when I’m back at the garage to get that oil seal replaced. A trip to the dump on Saturday is about it, though I’ll probably do a grocery shopping trip for my mother, too. Oh, I forgot. My daughter has a doctor’s appointment on Monday. Not in the city this time, though.
When we lived in the city, I used to drive around a lot more often. I drove my daughters to work most of the time, because there were no buses to where they worked, and it wasn’t unusual for me to be driving somewhere, two or three times a day. Now that we live out here, driving somewhere two or three times a weeks is more than I want to be doing! 😄 I would be such a hermit, if I had the choice! 😂
Stock up trips like this do help reduce how many times I have to head out. Enough to make it worth the trip and putting up with things I would much rather avoid – like being around people for so long! 😁 Of course, it also saves us a pretty penny, as a lot of this stuff is much more expensive locally, if we can even find some of it.
Though that really isn’t much for almost $800, compared to what we could get for the same amount of money, when we first moved out here.
Today was definitely a full day! I was able to both head into the city for the stock up shop, plus get winter sowing and garden clean up done. The garden stuff will be in its own post, though.
I headed out early, though I did wait until it was light out, first. The deer are very active right now. Sunrise is at about quarter past 8 now, and sunset at about quarter past 6, so I didn’t have a lot of daylight hours to work with!
My first stop for today was the Walmart. I did get breakfast there, which cost a whole $13.00 (I rounded up for the donation option). There wasn’t a lot I planned to get at Walmart, though. Basically, just cat food.
This is what $181.09 looks like.
That’s 7 items in that cart. There’s two cases of wet cat food.
The paper towels were on sale, so I got a package. I picked up some 30″x36″ puppy pads. The dry cat food actually went down in price. The wet cat food did not.
While driving in, I started getting notices on my truck’s onboard computer that my water fluid was low. It kept turning on, over and over. Very annoying! Anyhow, I picked up some all season washer fluid, rated to -40C/-40F.
That’s it. Seven items at almost $200, and that was taking advantage of cheaper prices!
My next stop was Canadian Tire. Yesterday, I noticed one of my headlights was out, so I picked up a new low beam headlight, along with a couple of bags of stove pellets for cat litter. That totaled $39.17, but I decided to use my Canadian Tire dollars, so it didn’t cost me anything. Instead, when I headed out, I stopped at a gas station and put in $50, until I can do a fill at Costco. That’s when I reset my trip meter, which is currently about 1900km since my last end of the month fill (we didn’t go to Costco last month).
I did have a weird thing happen with the truck. As I was leaving Walmart, I started getting an alarm dinging, the “slippery” icon showed up on my dash, and the onboard computer told me my stabilization system was turned off. Then it told me my traction system was off. Then it told me to service my stabilization, then traction, systems.
Then all the low washer fluid warning came on and all the other warnings went away.
Now, it could be a sensor thing again. GM vehicles are apparently notorious for sensor problems. How am I supposed to know if a warning is for real or not?
Meanwhile, we still need to replace the inner handle on the driver’s side door, replace three more tire sensors and, when I get the oil change we are due for, we need to find out where there is a slow leak happening. I’ve had to top up our oil a couple of times, since our last oil change, and that is WITH the leak-stop additive.
So before I headed into the Canadian Tire, I sent a text to our mechanic. I told him I was going to book an oil change soon, but then I got these warnings (which did not happen again for the rest of the trip). We simply can’t afford any more fixes, after the huge expenses we had this past month. I told him it might be time to talk about trading the truck in for another vehicle. It would have to be something that would give us lower monthly payments. We may end up getting a car instead of a truck.
*sigh*
We shall see. He got back to me and I now have an appointment next week for the oil change.
Fun stuff.
Which means that, while we won’t have to skip our Costco shopping trip again, it will have to be a bare bones trip. With that in mind, my next stop was Superstore.
I actually did all right there!
This is what $195.31 looks like.
I focused on somewhat on protein on this trip.
From the top, there’s a large no-name container of peanut butter; my husband has been going through the peanut butter a lot, lately. There’s a big bag of penne pasta, and a Monster energy drink for the drive home.
From dairy, I only got a giant block of Old Cheddar cheese. The Oat Milk I got for my daughters is in the natural foods section.
In the frozen section, there’s two bags of perogies and a bag of mixed vegetables.
Not much in produce. A bag of “ugly” avocados. There were 7 avocados in a $6 bag, so that is a really good deal these days. I also got a small back of seedless red grapes.
With meats, I got a box of frozen chicken nuggets and two boxes of brand name chicken nuggets and strips. Those are mostly for my husband. All were on sale. I spotted some bacon on sale and grabbed a packages.
Chicken drumsticks were an excellent price, and I ended up getting three packages. My husband won’t eat those, though. He can’t tolerate meat with bones in them anymore.
There’s a package of pork and beef breakfast sausages and a package of pork tenderloin. They weren’t on sale, but were some of the best meat prices I saw today. For the girls, I got a frozen pink salmon and a fresh whole trout, both on sale. I also grabbed a pack of sandwich meats, half turkey, half ham. There are two packs of the torpedo buns we love so much (Italian buns, on the receipt) and a loaf of sliced sourdough bread. Last of all, I remembered to grab a couple of bottles of distilled water for my husband’s CPAP humidifier.
I believe that came out to 27 items in total.
So the two grocery stops totaled $376.40. Add in the $13 for breakfast, plus $50 for gas, plus the $39.17 that was paid for with Canadian Tire dollars, I purchased $478.57 in goods today.
Oh! I almost forgot. On the way home, I stopped at the feed store and picked up two 40 pound bags of kibble for the outside cats. That cost $124.99 in total. That brings the total for the day to $603.56 Of that, about $275 was cat food, puppy pads and litter pellets.
Well, one thing will be different at Costco. Since I got the kibble already, I’ll just need to get more canned cat food and maybe more puppy pads. They have a very good price for puppy pads, but only have one size. I’ve found the XXL size to be much more useful. It sucks that we even had to buy the things, when we’ve got litter boxes all over the place.
Anyhow.
That’s the status of the shopping!
Time to enjoy the supper my daughters have made, and then do and update on how much got done in the garden today. I’m rather pleased!
I’m not sure why CPP Disability came in a day early, but I wasn’t about to complain. I just took advantage of it and made a run into the city.
With the work being done on the truck, plus the door replacement (still no word on the new, correct size, door that was ordered), it’s going to be a tight month, and we will be skipping Costco. Instead, I did the usual Walmart and Canadian Tire run, then his a Superstore along the same route.
My first stop was the Walmart. This is what $168.62 looks like.
Yeah. Not much.
The most expensive item was a box of 150 puppy pads. The Costco box is 100, but the pads are the same size.
Then there was the 9kg bag of kibble. I got just the one, for the inside cats, because I was planning to hit the feed store for 40 pounds bags for the outside cats.
Then there were two cases of 32 cans of wet cat food. One is for the outside cats, but I only use one can a day, mixes with hot water and powdered pumpkin seeds, which I then used to soften their morning kibble.
Last of all was a package of toilet paper that was on sale. Oh, and a $2 donation at the till.
So… five times (not counting the donation) was over $150.
*sigh*
My next stop was the Canadian Tire. This is what $0 looks like.
I looked all over but couldn’t find the sump pump hose I was looking for. I finally snagged someone and asked. It turned out they should have been in an empty shelf I’d walked past several times. Because the labels were so low to the ground, I never saw them. After looking it up, the guy said he would get one for me from their warehouse. When he came back, he had three, so he could restock the shelf.
I was just walking away with my one in the cart when I decided I’d better get a second one, just in case.
While going through the checkout, I paid for two bags of litter pellets, where were set up in the exit vestibule, so I picked those up on the way out.
I use my Canadian Tire dollars to pay for the entire thing, so what would have cost $53.72, cost me nothing.
After the Canadian Tire, I hit a Domo to fill the tank. The price of regular was $1.299, but it was Thursday, which was 4¢ off per liter day. Grand total to fill was $76.34
Last of all was the Superstore. This is what $284.73 looks like… sort of!
There’s actually more in there than it appears, as the bread is covering some things.
Under grocery, there’s a large jug of cooking oil, a giant bag of elbow macaroni, some mayo and a packet of rice noodles for the girls. The Monster was for me to drink during the drive home.
Under dairy, there’s a flat of eggs, and large blocks of Old Cheddar and Mozza cheese. We used to be able to get blocks that size at Costco, but they don’t seem to carry them anymore. I got 6 pounds of butter (they were on sale, but with a limit of one, so 5 of them were regular price). In the frozen section, I got two big bags of potato and cheese perogies and a back of mixed vegetables.
The bulk chocolate almonds were to snack on, on the way home. It was a very small bag.
The only produce I got on this trip was two bags of avocadoes that were at a very good price.
In meats and seafood, I got fish fillets for the girls, chicken thighs and drumsticks, a large ham, a frozen pork roast, a package of pork ribs and another of pork tenderloins. I don’t know why it’s under “meal replacement”, but I also got a hot rotisserie chicken.
I also picked up a frozen turkey that was free with a purchase over $300, so I wanted to make sure I reached that $300 mark, even though I tend to round up when I keep a tally in my head.
In the bakery, I got a couple of loaves of light rye bread and a back of torpedo buns. I don’t know what it is about their torpedo buns (labelled as “buns Italian” on the receipt) but the entire family absolutely loves them, and you get a LOT for the $5!
When I got to the till, though, I discovered I had rounded up too much, and the total was under $300! No free turkey. After finding out how much I was short, I went to a display I’d been standing next to while waiting in line and got two different tins of moon cakes; one with double yolks. That put me over, and I got my free turkey – and a rare treat for the family.
I did have things go a bit weird while I was in line, though. Because the lines were so long, I pushed my cart forward in line, then stood beside it, so I wouldn’t be blocking the aisle. I intended to step around when it came time to move forward and unload.
An older woman then got in line behind me, pushing her cart forward and forward and forward, until the end of her cart was under the handle of mine. Strange, but okay. We started chatting at one point, when she commented that she has to watch her cart. She forgets how long it is and has a habit of bumping into people. !! Okay.
Then things moved along and I was able to move my cart forward to the belt and start unloading.
She pushed her cart right up under my cart’s handle again.
Once the cart was empty and the customers ahead of me were done, I moved forward to the cashier, giving her my loyalty card.
I’ve been using that card for years, but it came up as not activated. I’ll have to phone them to find out what’s going on.
Once I had my card back, I pushed my cart to the end and started reloading it (I bag my stuff at my vehicle) as quickly and efficiently as I could, so it wouldn’t build up on the belt. When it came time for the total and to ring in my free turkey, she let me know I hadn’t reached the $300 mark. So I decided to grab the moon cakes.
No one in the line was willing to just pass them over to me, so I had to squeeze my way past the old lady’s cart to get through and get them, then squeeze back again.
She made zero effort to move her cart closer to the till. I’m no skinny minny, but even a thin person would have had a hard time getting by.
Whatever. I got them, the cashier rang them through while I continued to put things in my cart.
The old lady had moved forward and was standing right at where I needed to be to pay.
Both the cashier and I told her I needed to reach the PIN pad. She moved back…
But pushed her cart forward.
In the end, I had to first move my loaded cart forward, then move the old lady’s cart to the end of the belt, where my cart had been, just so I could get back in to use the PIN pad.
The thing that made it seem weirder is that I got no impression that she was someone dealing with cognitive issues or some such, and her comment about running into people showed she was aware. She may have been older than me, but probably not by all that much. Maybe 10 years or so? I don’t like to guess, since I have a mother who’s 94 but could easily pass as being in her 70’s. It just seemed… almost deliberate.
Maybe I’m just too used to dealing with my mother, who absolutely would do stuff like that, deliberately.
Anyhow.
So I got all that, it came to under $300 total, and I got my free turkey!
That cart looks pretty empty for that much, but most of the meat in there is covered, along with all the butters.
Once that was all loaded up, it was time to head home. I took the route that would take me through my mother’s town, instead of my usual route from this location, because I knew I’d have to make a pit stop at a gas station just outside the city. I was well on my way when my cell phone started to ring.
There’s pretty much only one place that calls my cell phone, so I pulled over to answer.
Yup. It was home care.
There was a cancellation and they did have my mother’s med assists covered by someone else, but that someone else wouldn’t be able to get to my mother’s until 9:45pm for her bed time med assist. The scheduler was concerned that would be too late for her.
I felt she was right – and since I was on my way home from the city and would be driving through my mother’s town anyhow, I decided I would stop by. Home care isn’t allowed to do this, but I can get her meds out and set them up for her in advance. Her supper med assist would come as usual, but no one would have to come for the bed time assist.
That worked out and she was able to cancel the super late bed time assist. I then phoned my mother and – making sure she knew I was pulled over on the side of he road and couldn’t talk long – let her know I’d be stopping by soon. I also made sure she knew I had groceries in the truck and couldn’t stay long.
Yeah, I’m really looking forward to having a cover on the truck box again. I had the frozen stuff and all the cold meats in covered insulated bags in the truck box. Heavy enough I had no worried that they’d blow around or slide around, but it would have been very easy for someone walking by to just reach in and grab a bag or two, heavy as they might be.
When I got to my mother’s, I made sure to bring a bag along. After getting her meds ready and we were chatting, I went into her kitchen and started taking down the stockpile of Pepto my brother got for her, that made her so very angry, into the bag I’d brought. She asked what I was doing and I told her, I’m taking them because they are bothering her. She asked if I was taking them here to the farm, and I said yes. She then pointed out the obvious, that it made no difference if they were at her place or our place and I just said, they’re bothering her.
She started going into her spiel about how these are medicine, they don’t last, they need to be kept cool, etc. I looked at the expiry date and told her, these are good for more than two years (it’s actually a best before date, not an expiry date, but I wasn’t about to try and explain the difference to her). They don’t need to go into the fridge, because they’re a mineral. My daughter even has a piece in her collection. That got her curious, so I looked up pictures of bismuth – the only active ingredient listed in Pepto – to show her. They are such gorgeous stones, too. I think that sort of mollified her, but who knows for how long!
She did ask me to leave one bottle in her cupboard; they came packed in pairs, and my brother had one pair unwrapped, with the open one now in her fridge. I took the time to show her that the only difference between what my brother got for her and what I’d picked up for her from the pharmacy (after checking the labels to confirm) is that I had picked up extra strength, and the ones my brother got were regular strength. That gave me the opportunity to remind her to use the cup they come with to get the proper dose, instead of just using a teaspoon, like she usually does. I’m kinda hoping it sunk in, but it’s hard to say.
Then I headed home, with six bottles of Pepto, and my brother no longer has to worry that my mother will follow through with her immediate idea of selling the “extra”.
I just quickly looked it up. The twin packs of Pepto at Superstore, where my brother found some in stock, cost about $25 each, before taxes, and that’s a much better price that buying them in singles. My brother spent over $100 on Pepto for my mother, so she wouldn’t run out. I think, if she knew that, she probably would have gotten even angrier.
*sigh*
Anyhow, that’s our stock up shopping trip for the month. Anything else we need will be smaller trips throughout the month for fresh stuff. It’s a shame the garden had so little production this year, as there’s little to supplement, and nothing to freeze or can. Ah, well. As I finish clearing up the beds, I’ll be harvesting both winter sown and spring sown carrots. It should be interesting to compare!
I’m still holding out hope for at least a couple of winter squash before the cold kills them. My daughter and I headed out to cover them again for the night while I was still writing this. It’s not supposed to get as cold as last night, so we didn’t cover the summer squash, peppers or remaining eggplant this time. We’re actually supposed to warm up again, and even get pretty hot, over the next week, so there’s hope for those winter squash, still!
But I digress.
We didn’t get a whole lot on this trip, compared to a typical Costco trip, but I did find quite a lot of prices seemed to be better at Superstore. They also have more selection and variety.’
Plus, they have torpedo buns. 😄
I wonder if it’s worthwhile to try going to their Wholesale Club location. The last time I went there, the prices didn’t really seem to be any better in general, and some of their meat was looking… questionable… but they do have things there that aren’t in their regular stores. It would mean an extra trip to the city, though, and I just don’t like doing those like I used to! Plus, if we make them too often, the trips are no longer worth the cost of gas to do them.
I do have a trip to the city on Oct. 1, though. That’s my appointment at the sports injury clinic to possibly get an injection for my left hip. Then there’s another trip, the week after, as my daughter finally gets to see an endocrinologist. Ah, well.
I’m really hoping to be able to hibernate as much as possible this winter!
The Re-Farmer
Addendum: I completely forgot! You may have noticed that I got no beef at all on this trip. This is an example of why.
That’s three chunks of Oxtail. OXTAIL. At over $30/kg. They did have other packages that were less per kg, but they had no meat on them. This used to be among the cheapest of cuts. Even cheaper than stew meat or ground beef. Now, it’s right up there with steak. Crazy!
The Re-Farmer 