Dropping one more post in the line up today because it’s Halloween… and some of my friends are disturbed clever.
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Creepiest costume award goes to a woman the husband used to work with. She and her wife go all out for the holiday and seeing her dressed as Pennywise will probably give me nightmares for a week.
I hate clowns!
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In keeping with the Stephen King theme, another friend had a party… and the happy couple from the Shining showed up.
Food is always important…
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As is presentation.
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Here’s hoping your Halloween is equally as creepy creative.
I went grocery shopping yesterday…. and while I usually just buy what I want regardless of the cost, gazing down at the pot roast in my hand made me audibly gasp.
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A quite small, unimpressive rump roast had a $36 price tag… and damned if I didn’t leave it right there.
May I just say, what the utter f*ck?
I paid $17 for a pound of 80/20 hamburger and almost fainted when I saw this…
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Yes, it’s a rib roast. But so small I doubt you’d get 4 good slices. And while I used to cook them quite often… if I’m paying $25 per plate? I’ll go out to a restaurant, let someone else cook it and be served thank you very much.
Beef prices are certifiably insane right now.
And if you think it’s any better in the seafood department, think again.
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Picked lobster meat is $53 a pound. Throw in a little mayonnaise and it’s $60.
I’m not a fan of Wal Mart, but in my neck of the woods it’s the best and cheapest place to buy the hundreds of pounds of bird seed our greedy avian friends devour.
On this trip I needed milk and bread… which meant I had to traverse the entire store from left front corner to right rear corner because Wal Mart is nothing if not an evil marketer.
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Sandwich meat?
Not today.
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Breadless breading?
No thank you.
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And while I never, ever buy meat at Wally World…
This package of “premium pork steak” ensured I’ll never even be tempted.
I lobbied hard for this cute little piggy joining the Casa River family ( for pure blog fodder alone, he’s golden ) but was met with a resounding no from the husband.
The husband has been trying to talk me into trading in my 2014 Subaru Forester for years now. But I love Ethel, and she only has 64,000 gentle miles, so I keep saying no.
Determined to prove that now is the perfect time to upgrade, I allowed him to drag me to a dealership to check out the 2022 models. There was only one problem.
There aren’t any 2022 models.
We checked 4 dealerships, but due to chip shortages and shipping backlogs the closest they could show me was a 2021 loaner of an entirely different grade.
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The husband insisted we test drive it, which we did. And while I admit it was newer and a bit peppier than mine, I was less than thrilled with the new energy conserving process that shuts off the engine every time you idle at a stop light. While the actual shutting down was smooth, the restart was jarring and bound to be annoying over time. They told us we could disable the feature, but it would have to be done every single time we drove as it resets to default.
For $38,000 plus? I said no thanks. But the husband was pushing me to order a new one and wait God knows how many months to get it….
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So he dragged me into the salesman’s office and had them appraise Ethel for a trade.
My Ethel.
I understand she’s 7 years old.. but she has low mileage and is loaded (with heated leather seats, back up camera, Nav and panoramic moon roof). My absolutely perfect Ethel… who Kelly Blue Book says has a trade in value of $16,500 and a private sale value of $17,800?
They offered us $10,000.
And that was all it took for my husband to be insulted, leave and stop badgering me to trade my vehicle.
Thank you Covid 19. Your virus induced shortages actually benefitted me this time around.
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After that fiasco, it was time for lunch at one of our favorite waterfront restaurants.
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A raspberry lime gin Ricky…
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And a scrumptious crab cake appetizer later, I was on my way to happy.
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Add a Campari Sangria and a fresh panko breaded haddock sandwich… and I was there.
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The husband started with clam chowder and moved on to a blood rare filet with grilled asparagus which, while quite satisfying….
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Set our wallet back a cool $53.
So yeah, thanks Covid 19 for driving food prices up so high our favorite place for lunch now makes my debit card shudder.
River's world..... 