I managed to get out of this house yesterday. It was probably a not so smart thing to do, but my back was starting to really kill me from all the laying and half-sitting with my feet up for close to 10 days straight. My friend Mindy and I were talking about taking a small shopping trip and we had scheduled it for yesterday. I had cancelled it the Friday before.. but ended up calling her Saturday night to see if she still had the day open. Thank gawd she did. Although I paid for it last night (I was miserable) I think I would have went insane had I spent one more day in this house. Today I am going to work, whether I feel like it or not (and no, I do not feel like it - at all), as we have not won the lottery (news flash!) and the bills are piling up due to my taking a week off, unpaid. Unfortunately (fortunately?) there was no way I was going to be able to do much walking without trying to ease the pain first, so since I wasn't driving, I took my pain meds before I went. Advice? Don't go shopping on a Sunday during the hours that local churches let out. If you must go at these times, DO NOT attempt this while higher than a kite. Mindy loves the Trader Joe's, which shocked me, as I had never heard of it before starting to read these food blogs. So hearing a close friend who I've known for many, many years say she loves it, well, I was kinda blown away. How did she know about it all these years and I didn't? hehe Some of you might remember, Hubbs and I took a trip there a few months ago and I wasn't really all that impressed at all. I kinda chalked it up to the possibility that our local Trader Joe's was pretty small with not that great of a selection of things not found in my regular grocery store. But after Mindy talked it up so much I thought maybe it was because we pretty much breezed in and out and I didn't look hard enough.. so I agreed to go. Eh? Same opinion for me. She's been going for a while, so she's tried more Trader Joe brand products and she knows what's good and what's not. I ended up only purchasing a few items (honey, a block of some cheese I'd never heard of, gelato and a locally grown organic sour cream). Thankfully she had a long list of items she needed because it took me close to an hour to decide on those 4 items while living the highly hazy life of a pseudo-crack addict. The only thing I tried last night was the gelato and lemme tell you this.. I am kicking myself in the ass for choosing Trader Joe brand for my first taste of gelato. What a fool I am. This stuff was not creamy in the least and tasted more like ice milk. I know right now my tasters are way off due to the drugs I'm on and I haven't ate much of anything in 10 days because nothing at all sounds good, but seriously.. I doubt using my illness as an excuse is the true reason why it tasted like crap. blechhh. We still had some time to kill so I asked her if she wanted to witness the glory of Miles Farm Market and she did. So off we went. Now get this. Miles wasn't even fun to me. I was too disoriented to make a list in my mind of what I'd like to purchase, let alone battle all the little old ladies and little old men. They were pushing me! I about put one lil old man in a head lock but I couldn't figure out how to get my arm back around his neck as the thought was so fleeting.. you see, before I could figure out how to do some serious damage to this 90 year old devil-man, I had spotted olives. Oh! Olives! So I went to the olive table and then stood there because I was bedazzled at the selection. Kids? Their selection is pretty damn good, but I've never had a problem figuring out how to spoon a few of each variety into a lil plastic tub before. The rest of the time spent there was pretty much the same thing. I did find out, however, that my most favorite Italian bread is only made seeded there and I can no longer have seeds. Again, if I could think straight I should have still bought a couple loaves (I don't get out there that often) and just pulled the seeded top off of the slices. I'm such a loon. I purchased a few fruits/vegetables and a bar of Sharffen Berger Mocha chocolate. That was it for me.. oh, and the olives that Mindy helped me find a lid for and placed in our cart. You'd think this would be enough of an adventure for this high lil dork, but noooo.. on the way home she asked me where it was that I got my good italian meats and I squealed "Alesci's"! and then I wouldn't shut up about their proscuitto - so she took me there as well. I kinda stood near the walls while she investigated the store. I got my ham and a loaf of their "so-so" italian and then said to her that I really thought it would be wise for me to get my ass home. hehe Hubbs was still packing up the truck for his trip to Arkansas and I did my best to act upset that he was leaving, but in all honesty? All I could focus on was a hot bath and napping. Poor guy. I'm so grateful he understood the state I was in and didn't take it personally. Because I am truly upset he's gone again. Did someone mention a hot bath? To not repeat yesterday's haze, I've decided to not take pain meds today so I can be semi-productive at work. A hot bath seems to be the only other temporary fix. So without further ado.. Calgon! Take me away!