Carpe Piggem

It's happened again. I saw a piggy bank I liked, and even told my hubby about it (a perfect, cheap Valentine's Day gift!) and he even went to buy it yesterday... only to find out that they no longer had them, and what's more, the store was going out of business. Technically, it's being replaced. They're replacing my Dillons with a Price Chopper.

I hate Price Choppers. I've never shopped at one regularly. I think they have a cheap warehouse feel, and then turn around and charge you out the wahzoo for their stuff. Price Chopper was the first to up their regular price of 2-liter sodas to $1.69 - some stores still aren't there! So now I'm on a quest for a new 'regular' grocery store. I'm not going to lie, for emergencies I'll still run to that Price Chopper - it's less than a mile from my house. But I plan on doing my big shopping trips elsewhere.

On the up side I am now an official Wooter. That's right, I finally took the plunge and Wooted. Woot! Whether I'm happy about it remains to be seen...

I'm also torn between going downstairs and working out on the treadmill at lunch (like I should) or going shopping (including grocery shopping). It's only supposed to be about 30 today, so even frozen food would keep in my trunk. I really should work out, but it makes me so tired. :P It's rather like they show it the movies, an angel duck on one shoulder ("work out, you know you should!") and a devil duck on the other ("go shopping, spend money, feel better!").

No, I won't get over it

And here's why - it's like I'm being backed into a corner, left with no choice. And below I present a totally geeky visual representation of the facts...

( Map picture cut to spare your f-list )

The Dillons/Price Chopper is the one, obviously, that is changing. It is a scant mile from my house, and conveniently on the way home, regardless of the route I take (my 'usual' routes are the red and green lines - more often I take the green line). Those big blocks are right about a mile apart, so, yes, they are putting a Price Chopper one mile north and two miles south of existing Price Choppers. The south one is brank-spanking new, the north one... let's just say I'm not fond of that part of town (no offense to anyone who lives there, but... it's a bit run-down, especially with those apartments right behind there, the ones next to the pawn broker...).

The Target to the west is, sadly, not a SuperTarget, so it might be good for the odd gallon of milk, but not a lot else. The Hen House and Super Wal-Mart just north both suck - I hate the feel of the Hen House and the Wal-Mart is both hard to get into (stupid parking lot) and, well, it's a Wal-Mart. It does have the plus of being open 24-hours a day, though. So that leave us with the Hy-Vee just to the north, which is where we'll probably try next. I've never been in it, but in HyVee's favor they don't have those stupid 'loyalty cards' - they just put things on sale. So it might work out, but it's much more of a drive (I know, it's only a few miles but the traffic lights and the traffic make it take forever!).

Further north is the SuperTarget we shopped at when we lived in the townhouse, which I just found out was not really all the 'fulfilling' for my hubby. I didn't mind, but evidently some of their products were not as up to snuff as he'd liked. But we also had that Hen House right there, which is pretty decent (and, *ahem*, located right by where he works. *ahem*).

Moving on to my work day, the regular Wal-Mart will do well for pop, because it's always cheaper there, but that's about it. The Hen House is fine (a bit pricey, perhaps, but it has a lot of things you won't find elsewhere) except for the fact that the base clientèle is about 9 million years old, walks at a quarter of a mile per hour (and drives slower - I swear to dog that today I stopped by after work, and I had to pull around an old woman in a Caddy that was basically stopped in the road (not just a lane, but the road that runs in front of the store). I run in, grab a dozen items - walking the length of the store - pay, and get back in my car and she's still trying to maneuver into a parking space!), and they never seem to have more than one cashier. Thank goodness for the self-checkout, though it only works for small trips. The SuperTarget is okay for a stop on the way home, too, I guess, and I could try that Hen House that's sort of on my way home.

But really, nothing is even close to convenient compared to that Dillons. And maybe the new Proce Chopper will be okay, though I seriously doubt it. And why oh why is this bothering me - the person who grew up moving every two to four years - so very much? You don't hear me complaining that we don't have Safeways...