Restaurants

by

Scorcher

It’s been hot here the last few days! I haven’t really noticed because I’ve been working and my home has a little thing called AC. With heat has come massive swarms of bird-sized mosquitoes, so it really hasn’t been outdoor weather!

Today is the start of a four-day weekend for me. I’m burning out from a really long and unending transcription marathon, so it’s nice to have some time to just breathe. Of course, I utterly failed at sleeping in this morning, but I did take it slow. I waited for the post to come, then went to town to run some errands.

By the time I’d hit the post office, the bank, and the thrift store, it was only 11:10 and much too early for lunch, so I decided to go walk around the Shurniak Gallery. This gallery is a real gem for Assiniboia, featuring lots of beautiful art in different mediums. There’s mostly paintings, but also some sculptures and other things. I’ve been to the gallery once, in October of 2013 for a music concert, and I didn’t have time to view everything.

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The artwork on display would belong in any world-class museum. My favourite medium is oil, so I spent a lot of time admiring the colours and brushwork on a variety of paintings. You really have to go through the entire building because there’s artwork tucked into every corner.

The gallery now has a cafe serving soups, sandwiches, and coffee beverages at a reasonable price and is really a lovely place to wile away an hour. Admission is free and donations are welcome.

After visiting the gallery, I decided to check out the lunchtime buffet at the New Moon Cafe. I usually do the buffet at Andy’s, but a neighbour told me that New Moon has ‘more stuff.’ It did and it was tasty and the same price as Andy’s, but the ‘more stuff’ isn’t things that I enjoy, like breaded and fried mystery meat in a very sweet sauce (typical Canadian-Chinese offerings passed off as ginger beef or lemon chicken or sweet and sour pork). So I’ll probably to stick to Andy’s, which has really good pizza! But I’m glad I tried it out and I did enjoy my lunch very much, especially the chicken wings and broccoli!

After lunch, it was time to get groceries. The grocery store parking lot is absolutely chaos as the store renovations progress and I had to drive around the block to find a parking spot! It’s no wonder they are so adamant that baggers take out orders as I don’t think everyone would be bothered to walk their carts back several blocks!

They had some good deals today on everything on my list, so it was a fruitful expedition. Shopping in that store is such a chore because there’s no room and people for some reason don’t get that and just leave their carts in the middle of narrow aisles. I really hope that the expanded store will give us a little more room to move around. I really do appreciate the increased amount of selection in the store, though, especially when it comes to ‘ethnic’ foods and am optimistic that when I come home next May, I won’t feel a strong urge to go do a big Moose Jaw shop like I did this year.

Next thing on my list for today, make sure that I’m ready to move to my new computer, which should be here Monday but I suspect could surprise me tonight… I don’t think I’ve ever moved to a new machine running a newer OS before, so I’m not convinced that a ‘restore from last Time Machine backup’ will work.

It’ll be cooler over the next few days, so I’ll be able to start running some tests to determine where I’ll be installing the new booster antennas. There was a very justifiable delay in getting the booster out (which the Facebook followers know all about), so probably won’t get it till about this time next week. I can’t wait to write a report on that and give the awesome store and tech I dealt with some much deserved praise!

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Moose Jaw Heist

It’s probably obvious that I’ve had a bit more disposable income for several months, mostly thanks to the exchange rate. I’m living as frugally as ever, but it’s nice to be able to pounce on good deals when they come and not have to cut back on the food budget! Well, did I get a doozy of a deal today…

One of the things I knew I needed this summer was a skill/circular saw for building storage in my shed. That was going to be the best bang for my buck tool-wise because a miter saw wasn’t going to let me do long cuts, a table saw was out of my budget, and I didn’t want to keep having to ask Charles to borrow tools. So for July, I had $120 set aside for a skill saw and I was watching the fliers.

I was also watching Kijiji and I saw an ad for several types of saws at prices that were frankly astounding, ‘we need to move in a hurry and everything has to go!’-level prices, well worth going out of my way to go check them out. I made an appointment for today at 3PM.

The couple lives about 20KM west of Moose Jaw, so it made sense to actually go into town even though I really didn’t have any shopping to do (shocking, I know). I got in just before noon, minutes before DK Sushi opened. I had a yummy and leisurely lunch and then headed across town to do something I’d meant to do in May but didn’t because I didn’t think I could afford it. Silly Rae, making assumptions without doing her research first.

The stop was the piercing salon where I had my nose done last April. The ‘screw’ in my piercing (the end of the stud twisted into a corkscrew shape to keep it from coming out) was very large and loose and had been driving me nuts for months, enough that I actually considered doing something about it in Mexico if I could find a place I trusted!

I explained what I wanted and why to the gal at the counter and she showed me what they have, explaining all the different stud ending types and materials. I was really hoping to get something different than another tiny jewel, but that’s really all they had in steel with a much more discreet screw. It cost me $16.50 all in for the new stud, having it put in (didn’t feel a thing), and having the screw on the other one adjusted. It’s still huge so I doubt I’ll want to go back to it, but it’s nice to have the option. My original stud had a dark pink jewel, this one is dark green, like an emerald. The difference in comfort level is astounding.

Next stop was across the street, Canadian Tire, for truck engine oil and some weed killer. I only bought that stuff there than at Peavy Mart in Assiniboia because I had quite a bit of Canadian Tire money, which took care of most of the tax. I never thought I’d be the kind of person to buy weed killer, but they are coming up through parts of my gravel where it was spread too thin and pulling manually (a chore I actually enjoy) is very difficult because the gravel is like cement.

After, I had time to either go to the complete end of town to Bulk Barn, Walmart, and Dollar Tree or back to downtown to check out Safeway sales. I really didn’t need anything at the discount stores, so I went to Safeway and found there something I have literally been looking for for eight years:

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It’s a small glass pitcher with a lid that seals out odours. I haven’t been able to find anything in this sort of size for storing water in my RV fridge in all these years. I’ve used plastic bottles, Mason jars, metal carafes and other workarounds that didn’t pour well or keep the water from getting bad flavours from everything else in the fridge, so I usually just have tepid water. But my fridge in Mexico could accommodate a gallon-sized jug of water and so I got used to cold water in warm weather. Needless to say, that for $7.99, this pitcher was going in my basket!

Of course, it was made by those crazy Europeans with small fridges! I’m not sure if you can see this, but the instructions on the lid are in… Italian.

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After spending a very little amount of money at Safeway, it was time to head out for my appointment. I was probably going to be a little early, but I was going to an acreage and didn’t know if I’d find it easily. Well, the seller gave me excellent directions and I got there without any trouble. As it turns out, he and his wife are moving to New Brunswick for a job related to their church and they decided to do the ‘if it doesn’t fit in the truck, it’s not going’ method of relocation, so everything was priced to go.

First off, I checked out the skill saw that I was keen on buying:

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It’s quite a bit heavier than I would have liked, but for $20 with a recent blade, it was going home with me!

Then, I checked out the table saw that I hoped would look worth hauling home:

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Um, wow. What a nice table saw! All the bits and pieces were there, he’d just replaced the bearings on the motor, and it has a brand new never used blade on it. For $30, it was going in the truck!

Then, his wife offered me a free router table:

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Not sure what I’ll do with it, but it just seemed like something that will come in handy some day, so I took it.

Most of the rest of the stuff in the garage was unfortunately already spoken for, but I was glad to grab 40′ worth of lawn edging for $5:

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That will do the other side of my drive that doesn’t have the power pole to hold in the rocks!

The lady then asked if I’d be interested in a tub full of rollers, scrapers, sandpaper, and dry walling supplies:

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“How much?” I asked? “Five bucks!” Sold!

I thought I was done, but then I saw a really good dolly just like Charles and Caroline’s, something I could have used several times since I got home. I asked if it was for sale and they pondered that for a bit. When the pondering got a bit involved, I asked what they would sell it for if it was for sale. They asked how much it was worth to me and I checked to see what small bills I had left. I offered $10 and their eyes went round and they exclaimed, “SOLD!!!” at the same time!

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Oh, and I also looked at an air compressor, but for $100 it was too much for me today.

So for all those of you who didn’t pull out your calculators, I came out of there with all that stuff for just $70! I feel like I robbed them, but considering that the only thing where I set the price was the dolly and they were so happy about the price, I can’t feel bad!

I took highway 36 to get home, just for a change of scenery. Anyone who’s been through southern SK will laugh at the absurdity of that statement. Just different rolling olive green hills, bright yellow fields of canola, and periwinkle sky. What can I say, it’s still the landscape of my dreams… and of home.

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Double Town Day

I hadn’t planned to go to town today, but my second warranty replacement for my Western Digital drive was waiting for me at the post office and I needed some things at the home store, so I had ample reason to go.

I’ve had a Western Digital drive for five years now that has never failed me, but haven’t had any luck with the My Passport brand. My first one crapped out on me in Mexico and I got it replaced while I was traveling through the US last month. A month later, the replacement failed! I asked them to send me something different and they sent me a My Passport Air specifically formatted for Mac, a significant upgrade. If this one lasts, it will have been worth all the money I’ve spent in returning the old drives!

Since I’ve been craving a hamburger since I got home and have made some more weight loss progress, I decided to go to 121 Steakhouse for lunch. I went all out and ordered a bacon cheeseburger with sweet potato fries! The kitchen goofed and sent me curly fries instead, which are just as good, so I told the server not to send them back, but to please remove the substitution fee. That fee has jumped to $2! No more substitution, even to salad, for me! But because it was a mistake, they actually reimbursed me $2.79, not $2. So I picked a good day to have lunch there. 🙂 Their coffee is absolutely mindbogglingly amazing, so I pretty much had a huge pot of it, too. I need to remember that and get a to go coffee from there instead of at the gas station!

After lunch, I went to the home store to get some things for my cell phone booster antenna project (thanks, Croft!). More on that when I do the project on Sunday.

Then, it was off to the grocery store to get what was on sale this week. I really like that when they are having a good deal on avocados, they put the limes on sale, too!

I also stocked up on almond milk, which was surprisingly inexpensive ($2 regular price for a container that will last a week!). Friends in Mexico left me a bunch of almond milk that they didn’t want to bring on the plane and I’ve just finished using it up. I never thought that would be something I’d need or want in my diet, but it’s fabulous! It’s low calorie, tastes great, has protein, and is wonderful in smoothies. I’ve also been using it with a high protein cereal topped with a banana for breakfast, which is funny because I normally turn my nose at Western breakfast foods. But this really works for me. I can have it at 7AM and go all the way through to lunch (between 12:00 and 1:00) on just 300 calories! Wow!

No sooner had I arrived home than I got an email from a client regarding my Windows computer, which crapped out on me last weekend. They asked that I mail it back ASAP so that they can reinstall Windows and do other maintenance on it. Because of their holiday schedule and the fact that I will have a lot less flexibility in my own schedule due to new work commitments starting next week, we determined that I needed to get to the post office today. So I quickly packed my post office kit that has a marker, scissors, and packing tape, as well as the computer and power supply and headed back to town!

The gals at the post office were helpful and found me a box and free packing material! I packed the computer and sent it off (you do not want to know what it costs to send a well-insured and packaged laptop across Canada). I had missed the truck to Regina, so it actually won’t head out until Monday night. Bummer.

Today was our first really hot day in ages and I was burning up by the time I came out of the post office. I decided on just one last treat for the day and went to the Village Food Store to see if they had ice cream. Yes! I got a ‘small’ cone for $2.10, a fair price. That’s it for treats for me for the next little bit!

Off to do some plumbing. I found another leak under the sink. 🙁

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The Day That Time Stood Still

It’s been one of those days where I have no idea what time I got up, but it must have been early because every time I look at the clock it’s a full two hours earlier than I feel it rightly should be based on how much I’ve gotten done!

Today was a Town Day. There were a bunch of really good sales starting and a number of items that have been on my to buy list were heavily discounted. So the first thing I did this morning was revise my shopping lists and make sure I had everything in the truck that I needed to bring to town. This included a 5-gallon water jug and a couple of packages for the post office that I spent quite some time preparing.

I would have been ready to leave by about 7:45, but I wanted to wait for the post since I was expecting a cheque. Thankfully, the cheque was in my box at 9:30 and I was able to leave at 9:45.

I wanted to go to Assiniboia by way of Willow Bunch because my Co-Op equity cheque would be waiting for me there. It was obviously a detour (an extra 30KM), but the Assiniboia pick up date was on Wednesday, when I didn’t need to go to town. It was much cheaper fuel-wise to detour to Willow Bunch this morning than to just go to Assiniboia for the cheque and no other purpose on Wednesday. Plus, it would give me a chance to take highways 36 and 13, which I don’t often have an excuse to travel and they are scenic!

The detour was really worthwhile since there was a $101 cheque waiting for me! I get a refund based on the previous year’s purchases and I bought a lot of building materials (my roofs) as well as propane in the colder months.

I got to Assiniboia around 10:45 and my first stop was obviously the bank. Then, I went to Peavey Mart to pick up paint for the interior of my shed ($29.99 for 10L instead of $39.99), a paint tray ($0.99 instead of $1.49), a fluorescent light fixture ($19.99 instead of $29.99), and two cans of Rustoleum Leak Seal ($8.99 each instead of $12.99).

Next stop was for fuel so I wouldn’t get caught like last time! Fuel is at $1.08 right now, which is better than the $1.30 I was paying in the fall! We were apparently below a dollar while I was away!

After fuel, I popped into the Co-Op home store since they were advertising a 75′ 14-gauge extension cord for just $34.57, about 55% lower than the best price I’ve ever seen for that product! Small hiccup when I came in, their 14-gauge 75′ extension cords were marked at $54.57. They didn’t come up in the computer as being the product advertised on sale, even though they clearly were. No worries, we’re all part owners of the Co-Op, so the manager tends to rule in the customer’s favour. She figured that the one on the shelf was equivalent and gave me the discount after looking at a few other products on the shelf. She was very impressed that I could correctly identify all the cord gauges from 20′ away. 🙂

14-gauge is still a little light, but I can string two 75′ sections and have no voltage drop on a full 20A load, so that’s good enough for my needs. I don’t have power to my outbuildings yet, so I rely on extension cords. I have one running to the cabin for the freezer and washer and I need two to get to the shed and the front part of the property for the mower. So I’ve been needing an extra 14-gauge cord since I got the freezer and have been cautiously making do with a 16-gauge one.

Next, I dropped my truck between Home Hardware and the post office. I went to the latter to mail my packages and found the prices surprisingly reasonable, although it was twice as expensive to get a tracking number for a US parcel as it was to send it without one (I took a chance and opted for the cheaper option).

Home Hardware was my next stop for some self-sealing silicone tape for a plumbing repair. When I came out, it was only 11:40!!! I was ravenous by this point and decided to just go to Andy’s for the buffet. At $11.50, it’s really the best value in town and I knew I could get in and out quickly. I pretty much just had pizza and broccoli. The server remembered how much I love their broccoli and told me as I sat down that it would be right out. I can’t believe she remembered that! They put sesame oil on it. I should try that at home.

My final stop of the day was the food store since they were having their 10 for 10 canned good sales. Those are always super good value, but you have to buy 10 to get the deal. I have enough beans, chickpeas, ham, and spaghetti sauce to get me through the summer! I’m eating a lot of spaghetti sauce again now that I’m doing the zucchini ‘noodles’ I discovered last year. At $1 for a large tin (Hunt’s brand, which is excellent!), it’s just not worth making my own sauce anymore (something I used to spend a day slaving over the stove doing).

Groceries packed into the truck, I headed home, where I pulled in at just past 1:00, just a little over three hours since I left! I’m telling you, time stopped at some point today!

First project when I got home was to get on the roof and apply another very generous layer of Rustoleum. I used up the whole can and sprayed over a wider area. While I was up there, I trimmed back some branches that were rubbing against my front window last night and actually woke me up at one point.

The next project was to install the light fixture in the shed. This was really easy, to my immense surprise. I just had to install two eye hooks into the ceiling (thankfully, I had some), attach chains to them, insert the fluorescent bulbs in the fixture, and then hang the fixture from the chains.

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It’s so great to finally have a decent light source in that dank and mousy cave! My friend Charles is going to install a window for me in a bit, but I know that natural light won’t be enough. The fixture plugs into an extension cord and there is a string for turning it on and off that I can easily reach.

I knew that painting was going to be a huge job because of the rough wood and all the nooks and crannies, so I just wanted to start today. I don’t care about a nice well-feathered paint job and any runs.

I used EcoCoat paint, a recycled product made in Alberta. It’s a low VOC paint, so it doesn’t have strong fumes, but it smells terrible. I am very impressed with the coverage, however, although I don’t think I’m going to have enough! 🙁 The label says $34.99, but there was a sign saying that the price has increased to $39.99.

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I started with the roller to get as much on as fast as I could and then followed up with the brush until I ran out of steam.

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The difference is already phenomenal! They had several colours and I decided that lighter would be better than darker, but that I didn’t want white or an actual colour. So this beigey ‘birch’ was perfect. I have a lot of work to do this weekend, but I want to try to get in a couple of hours each day of painting in the late afternoon.

Then, it was time for one last project. I have a small leak in a shut off valve for my water heater that is turning into a dramatic issue (mould starting). Normally, I would try to fix the bad valve and if that failed, I would cut it out and replace it. But there is literally no room to work and the IDIOT who put it in did so backwards so there is no hope of getting at it to try to at least repair it!

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The valve is a bypass that separates the water heater from the rest of the water system. This way, you don’t have to fill the water heater with potable antifreeze in the winter. I blow out my lines now, so I decided that I didn’t care if I couldn’t use my valve and I wrapped the whole thing in a giant wodge of self sealing tape. Don’t try this at home folks, it was desperate measures!

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I have no idea if this will be enough. It was very hard to get the right tension on the tape. I have half of the roll left to add more if needed. We shall see.

Something I bought last year made this job a wee bit easier. I can’t believe I waited this long in my life to get one!

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Then, it was time for a shower, a beer, and a break. Now, I’m thinking about dinner. It’s Friday and so I may be having a hot dog… in a corn tortilla. 🙂

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Culture Shock at the Store

I really had my mind set on going to Moose Jaw today to do a big grocery stock up trip, but I was waiting on some payments, a cheque and a PayPal transfer to be able to do so. The cheque wasn’t in today’s mail and I only initiated the PayPal transfer on Friday, so I wasn’t expecting the funds till later this week. Desperately in need of food, I decided to run to Assiniboia for a few things to tide me over.

On the way there, I had a thought about how much it costs me to drive to Assiniboia round trip, $12, never mind the time that I really didn’t have to waste this week. Why was I being such a moron about this? Just go to Moose Jaw, stick to the budget, and use the credit card. It’s not like I’d have to pay interest on the purchases since they would be paid off in days. But most importantly, I still had work to do today, but I definitely had time to go to Moose Jaw and back. The rest of the week was looking iffy.

My decision made, I still made two stops in Assiniboia. The first was to fill up my five-gallon water jugs, which cost me almost $8. I miss my at home delivery for about 80 cents per five-gallon jug! But I do get the next one free… I made this stop in the morning for two reasons. 1) If the water machine was broken, I’d be able to get water in Moose Jaw and 2) I knew I’d be too tired to stop on the way home.

Last year, I was transferring the heavy jugs to a dispenser and actually did that in Mexico just for the exercise, but I treated myself to something on the way home that is crazy expensive, of poor quality, and hard to find here here and the complete opposite in Mexico:

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Next stop in Assiniboia was the Co-Op gas station for a coffee, which was really an excuse to get change for the parking metre in downtown Moose Jaw (can’t believe I thought of that!). The coffee at the gas station is actually quite good and they have hazelnut creamer, so it’s a nice road trip treat.

The trip to Moose Jaw was uneventful, just a scenic hour of rolling hills. Oh, I love this landscape!

First stop in Moose Jaw won’t come as a surprise, DK Sushi! The food was as good as ever and since the last few days have been extremely lean food wise, I didn’t worry too much about my waistline and ordered whatever I wanted within reason. 🙂 DK Sushi in Moose Jaw is in my top five of best sushi restaurants in the whole of the US and Canada, and I think I’ve been to enough sushi restaurants in the US and Canada for that statement to have some weight. 🙂 How lucky I am that they are the nearest sushi restaurant to me… even if they are 3 hours away round trip!

Then, it was time to spend beaucoup bucks. I’d like to share with you how I plan for big shopping runs like these. I use an app on my iPhone called Our Groceries. I have been using this app since I had an iPod Touch (six years) and can’t believe it’s still free. There are ads, but they’re not intrusive and you don’t see them if data is turned off.

I use the app to keep track of everything I need to buy regardless of if it’s to be bought in Assiniboia or Moose Jaw. I have a list for each store and categories that are not list (store) specific. When I lived in Yukon and was doing supply runs for my friends, I would use the categories to keep my friends sorted within each store. But now, I use the categories for things like produce, household, and meat.

Here are some screen shots of the app. First, the main screen, where you see my lists, which are by store. The numbers represent the number of items I need to buy at that store. As you can see, I didn’t get everything on my lists today!

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Inside each list is everything I want to buy at that store, sorted by categories:

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As you can see, I didn’t do too well with dairy and meat. A tub of yoghurt that is 2CAD in Mexico was 7CAD here (SAME BRAND)…

My first stop of the day was M&M Meat Shops to get chicken breasts. That was the most important thing on my list and would determine how much I had left to spend in the other stores. Chicken breasts wound up being $6 off per box, so I got four boxes, essentially getting a box free!

As I shop, I just tap on the items I’ve added to my shopping cart and they get removed from my lists and saved for the next time I want to build a list. But what if a store doesn’t have what I need?

I organized my shopping by likely least to most expensive. So after M&M, I went to Dollar Tree (yes, there’s a Dollar Tree in Moose Jaw!). There, I was able to get household things like freezer bags, plastic wrap, and bleach, for very cheap compared to even Walmart. But there were a few things I couldn’t find. What I would then do is tap the little (i) next to the item to bring up this screen:

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That would then let me select another list for this item. So what I didn’t find at Dollar Tree got moved to my second to next stop’s list, Walmart.

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Some stores don’t categorize things the same way, so I can also change the category of an item:

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What a great app! I would be lost without it when I have to do big shops like these. I just build my lists as I think of items. Over the years, my list of items in the app has grown and I rarely have to type out the entire name of an item before it pops up.

After Dollar Tree, I went next door to Bulk Barn, the most wonderful store on the planet. There, I could buy just as much as I wanted of everything from brown rice to nuts to flours (kamut and multigrain today) and spices. Instead of spending several dollars each for containers of cumin, tumeric, basil, garlic powder, and more, I could spend 30 cents or 80 cents or 50 cents on just the quantity I need to get me through the summer. I normally spend a lot on nuts in this store, but I was on a tight budget, so I restrained myself. I was pleased to be able to buy almond butter and tahini in bulk, too, for much cheaper than I pay through mail order.

By the time I came out of Bulk Barn, I had already spent a third of my budget for the day. On to Walmart, which is just a normal one in Moose Jaw, not a Super Center with a big grocery section. I got paper goods, found Rustoleum rubber coating for my roof (all appendages crossed), and got a bunch of canned goods.

Next stop was Super Store. I usually like to buy my groceries at Safeway, but after hearing so many people tell me how much more expensive they are than Super Store, I decided to try that first. I really don’t like Super Store, finding it overwhelming and the selection in some areas lacking, but grocery prices in Canada keep going up and I really need to start paying attention to my pennies at the grocery store.

My Super Store experience started off shakily since the produce quality and selection was dismal. There were no Brussels sprouts and the onions were worse than the ones in Assiniboia were last year (and that’s saying something). I almost abandoned my cart in the ‘Mexican’ aisle full of Old Paso crap, but persevered for a bit and was rewarded with an increasingly full cart as I started to be able to cross things off my list.

I only had about $130 left to spend at this point, so I tallied everything up as I put it in my cart, switching between the Our Groceries and calculator app on my phone. I stuck to my list, second guessed every decision, and skimped on meat and dairy to come in at $143. Whew. This was in no way a ‘stock up’ cart. I’ll need a top up on a lot of things quickly. But at least the pantry basics of vinegars, oils, sauces, and condiments were in the cart as well as enough dairy and meat (in combination with the M&M chicken) to last me a while. There really isn’t anything I can use to cook up a storm and make up a huge batch of anything. I’m going to watch the Co-Op fliers and get missing items, like ground bison, there. I actually found things at Super Store that are cheaper at the Co-Op. Co-Op does do sales very well and now that I have all my basics, I can look forward to a ‘ten for ten’ sale to get some really good deals on certain things.

My favourite bit of Super Store was their ethnic foods aisle. Tucked into a corner was a proper supply of true Mexican foods, including, almost out of sight, bags of Maseca corn flour for making tortillas! I was so pleased when I found this! The bag was about $5.50 and will make a lot of tortillas, a much better deal than the $5 bags of tortillas I was buying last year!

Next to the Mexican groceries was a Middle Eastern shelf with everything from za’atar to tahini to stuffed grape leaves and more. I was very impressed!

All that said, I won’t be going to Super Store again except to get specific items. I didn’t find their prices that much better than Safeway, their selection was much smaller, they didn’t have good deals on meat, and their produce was dismal. But at least I didn’t come out of there feeling that I got robbed (too badly) or that I had wasted my time.

It was getting really late when I came out of Super Store and I had spent my budget, so I postponed the trip to Canadian Tire and the visit to Safeway for more produce (I did find frozen Brussels sprouts at Super Store, which will tide me over). I stopped at McDonald’s for a black iced coffee, the one thing that is way cheaper in Canada than in the US (1.30CAD here for a medium versus about 2.50CAD for a small in the US!).

The drive home was lovely and I made one last stop in Assiniboia. I hadn’t had any luck at Dollar Tree or Walmart in finding containers for my spices, so I decided to try our dollar store, which is huge. I found suitable containers there at a good price, so the stop was worth my time.

I got in around 6:00 and spent a bit of time unloading and putting things away. I had plugged in the freezer before leaving, so I stashed some things in there even though it’s rather silly to pay the power to run it with so little inside it. I need to get cooking!

As a final note, I was really grateful for my iPhone today. It’s not only Monday, but the first of the month, so I got several client emails today about invoicing and availability, all of which I was able to respond to promptly thanks to the Mail app on my phone. A summer project will be to set up the ‘FileMaker Go’ app on my phone so that I can consult my invoices while out of the office. A client wanted to cut me a cheque today, but I couldn’t send her the invoice right away. She said she could send the cheque without the invoice if I could give her the invoice number, which I didn’t have. I made my best guess about the number, but when I got home, I realised I was two numbers off and gave her the number for an invoice I made for another client. Thankfully, that other invoice hadn’t been sent yet, so I was able to switch the two around. I’m starting to wish I had a PA to handle this kind of stuff for me. 🙂

That’s it for today. It’s been a very long one and I have heaps of work to do tomorrow and in the next few days. Whew!