Shopping Finds & Deal of the Week, Returning Items, Persistence

How’s everybody’s weekend going so far?  We just went on a nice long power walk through Balboa Park as a family and there’s still the whole afternoon to take advantage of.  I love weekends!   I’m actually planning on getting together with a friend of mine who I haven’t seen in 10 months as soon as I publish this post.  Back in the day, she and I used to get into some major trouble fun together!  She still gets into major shenanigans and even though I am a mom, I’d like to try my hand at having more shenanigan type things in my life.  No reason moms have to be boring, right! 

Sunday morning I need to go to the Farmer’s Market.  I have drained my produce supply down to nothing, and I wish the market was today, but I can hold out one more day.  Barely.

Remember a few days ago when I said I was on errand mania this week?
Well here are a few highlights of my deals, loot, and good news:

1. Target
I’ve posted before about my love for their $16.99 Champion Sports bras.
Brand new color:  Purple Tie-Dye was a Must have!

I got Skylar some Crocs knockoffs.  They are a little big but will be perfect in 3 months when it’s still hot as hades out but all the sandals and summer shoes have been replaced with boots.  You know for that “cold fall weather” In Southern California.  Happens every year but I am ready this time and am stocked up with sandals for rapidly growing little feet!

It was time to replace my leave-in conditioner that I’ve been partial to: Giovanni Organic Hair Detangler & Leave-In Conditioner.   See This Post

I just wanted a change.  A woman’s prerogative, of course.  So I picked these up

2. Next Stop: Trader Joe’s to replenish my coffee stash!

I can vouch for both the Dark Sumatra and the Ethiopian as both being great!  The French Roast in a bag is new for me and the price was right.  Like $2.99 or something super cheap for a 12 oz bag.

The coffee I bought and mentioned Here…

Love bananas at 19 cents each

Blueberries are finally coming into season!  2.50 per pint, yay!

Organic Salad mix $1.99

And huge Fuji apples were 59 cents each.  Couldn’t resist a few good men Fuji’s!

3. Regular grocery store.  Nothing too glamorous was purchased.  But grapes were 77 cents per pound!   For those of you who shop on your parents dime or who don’t pay attention to produce deals like I do because I get “cheap thrills” from finding deals on produce.  Hey, what can I say…haha!   But “Cheap” grapes would be considered 1.99/pound.  Most times of the year, they’re $3.99/pound or more.   77 cents/pound?  Score!

4. Back to Target again yesterday

You can see that the kombucha I started making immediately once I had my Scoby is in the largest glass jar I owned (because I couldn’t bear to wait, gasp, 18 hours to get to Target to buy bigger ones) pales in size comparison.  It’s about 1/2 Gallon and since this stuff takes 2+ weeks to brew, may as well brew in quantity!  Thus, the bigger jars.  Plus, it’s good to have batches in various states of fermentation and ready-ness

5. I scored a Scoby!

6. Power of Fruit sent me 3 Boxes of their frozen bars.  Free from additives, corn syrup, and preservatives.  Whole Fruit and nothing else.  See Here to Read more about them

 

7. Tattoo News!   Remember how I said there’s a certain amazing tattoo artist who I really want to do my tattoo, but he has 2 year wait? 

I emailed him on a whim, thinking there’s no possible way, but…may as well try?  Well, nearly a week later he emailed me back and mentioned an option called Fast Track whereby for a higher hourly rate, when he has openings and random slots to fill in his schedule, the people on Fast Track are given priority.  Yes, it will cost me more, but frankly, it’s going to be on my body forever so really, you cannot put a price tag on that!  I have a consult appointment set up with him for July 7th to talk about my tattoo and people on fast track get their tattoos in 3-6 months, not two years.  I can handle that!  I am sooo excited about this!  I still have another artist as backup but hopefully my Main Squeeze First Choice will work out!

To Recap the Medical Marijuana post…

The overwhelming majority said legalize it.  Some people said have governmental control and tax revunue while others said legalize it, de-criminalize it, and keep the government out of it.

 

Nearly unanimously, people said Medical Marijuana should be legalized 

 

Most of the commenters don’t currently smoke, but I would say at least 75% have said they’ve tried it at some point

 

A good 10-20% are regular Smokers  (major shoutout to those honest readers!)

 

The people who do smoke said it helps them to be less inhibited, more creative, happier, and in general, just better off

 

For the people who don’t smoke, most don’t care if others do it, so long as those smoking are not harming others, i.e. driving, babysitting a child, etc.

There was also Kombucha Making & Drinking.
Thanks to everyone who has contacted me on email or left comments regarding your own kombucha making tips and recipes.  It’s been so fun to read!  It’s like making cookies; everyone’s got a different recipe and way of doing things but the final product seems to turn out well for everyone no matter how they got to it!

And From Yesterday,  it was fun to hear who gardens and what you like to grow!

 And thanks for telling me if you like your driver’s license picture or not.

Dessert:  Great time to make Mango Banana Softserve!

Gym & Weights Workout Today From This Tab: Back/Abs

Questions
1.  Favorite Target, Grocery Store, or Trader Joe’s Find lately?  What things to do you purchase over and over that are staples for you?
Me = TJ’s coffees and I am a body spray junkie and love trying new ones! Of course, fresh produce goes without saying, too.

2.  Do you return things that don’t work out for you or that you have no intention of using?
When I was younger, I would have never dreamed of returning something, especially food!  But, the older I have gotten, I frankly don’t care!  If the product doesn’t work for me, I return it.  I don’t use the whole can or tube or wear clothes and then return them, but things like $8 cans of coffee and $13 hair items, if I use them once and don’t like them, they’re getting returned.  I’d rather have the cash in my wallet to re-spend on something I will use than suffer with something I don’t want.  How about you?

3. Best Thing You’ve Ate or Done This Weekend So Far?
Me = Family power walk, stalk and stare at my kombucha that I have brewing on my countertop.  Kind of like watching paint dry…haha, and my coffee date with my friend I am going on, now!

4.  Are you persistent?  
As I said about getting an appointment with a tattoo artist that I was told would be a two year wait and I got an appointment in mere weeks…I attribute that to persistence.  In my former life I used to sell things.  Everything from real estate to timeshare to overnight transportation to eyeglasses to pharmaceuticals.  I can sell snow to an eskimo, actually. 

Much of life, much of sales, I believe is about being persistent.  Consistency, follow through, staying the course, but balancing that carefully without being pushy, over the top, or like a bull in a China shop.   There’s definitely an art to knowing when to turn up the crank and be more persisitent versus feeling out a situation and knowing to back off and scale back your efforts a bit. 

Are you persistent?  Do you know when to turn it up in order to make things happen and when to tone it down? 

5. What made you smile today?
Me = fresh blueberries!

I’m off to have fun with my friend!  Have a great weekend Everyone!!!!

Stay Tuned For A Wrap & Sauce Recipe…