Yay!

When we went to Food Lion over the weekend it was a bit of a shock. It's small with less options and a really tiny deli counter with maybe 20 different types of lunch meat. However, it did have a lobster tank which was pretty cool since I haven't saw one of those since the early 90's.  I guess I've just been spoiled with my new remodeled Giant with brightly lit aisles, pre-cut packages of apples and green beans and tons and tons options for just about anything you could think of. While Food Lion would serve the purpose for the basic and necessary items, I'm not sure if I could find the more unusual stuff there like Schezuan sauce, Arborio rice and Chipotle chili powder.

So when I got home today I decided to google and look for other grocery store options. I found an Acme store, which I've never been to before but I wasn't overly impressed with their circular. Yes, I admit it, I am a food snob. Then Redner's popped into my head. There is one that is near where I work and the place where I get all of the great deals on meats. I knew from their website that they are popular in PA, northern MD and northern DE so I figured it was worth a shot. I searched for a store location on their website and found out that there is one in Elkton, less than 10 miles away!

Typically what I would do when the freezer was low on meats was use my lunch time to go to Redners and stock up again. I had to lug them from the car into the fridge at work and then back out to my car when I left for the day. Now since there is one so close I'll be able to go there, find my unusual ingredients and even stock up on meats! And I won't need to lug them back and forth anymore. I'll even have Tom to bring them into the apartment for me!

Yeah, I know, I'm way too excited about this, but apparently that's just what happens when your spend your entire teenage and adult life in the same town and get used to everything being easily accessible.

Which leads me to something else that I realized on the drive home today. I like looking at things while I drive. Not like reading a magazine or something, but I like there being buildings, stores, gas stations and all of that stuff. I'm not sure why. I think its because almost every job that I had, I was able to avoid the major roads and take routes where there was more than just road. Which explains why I think driving on 95 is the most boring thing ever. There is nothing to look at but trees, exit signs and the other cars around you. At a previous job I had to drive on 97 which is like 95, there is nothing around. My one amusement for the trip there in the morning is that I passed by the airport and every morning I would watch a Southwest plane fly overhead. Even when I would drive to Ocean City, I would ignore the route to take 50 because 50 is boring to me. You just drive and drive and occasionally you'll see a corn field. Followed by a corn field and then sometimes a broken down house. Blah. I need more amusement than that.

On my drive home I tend to get really bored about half way in between work and home. Its the part of 95 where there is basically nothing there at all. So to keep myself amused and make the drive seem shorter I counted down the exits and tried to remember the names and exit numbers of each of them. Yes, I do completely realize how pathetic that is but there was nothing on the radio. Now I know that once I pass the stadium I'm really close to the bridge and once I get over the bridge I'm practically home.

Today I debated giving up my Dunkin Donuts habit. If I could just move the Dunkin Donuts about 5 miles south of where it is, it would be perfect, but I'm pretty sure I don't have the capabilities to do that. If I take the exit that the GPS suggests, I have to head in the opposite direction of work to get to Dunkin Donuts then turn around and go the other way to work. This morning I tried taking the exit before the one I'm supposed to because it puts me before the Dunkin Donuts. Unfortunately they are doing construction there and you have to come off the exit, come to a complete stop in a no merge area and then floor it to 60 or so while switching lanes in traffic that doesn't have a light or anything to slow it down and ever give you a chance to get out. That's just too much effort before 8 AM. I can handle hot coffee from just about anywhere so that has me covered until it starts to get warm enough out and I would switch over to iced coffee. None of the stores I pass offer iced coffee. Sheetz offers frozen and iced lattes, but sometimes I just want coffee, ya know?

So I'm debating on going to Sheetz for coffee until its warm enough out to switch to iced and then figuring out how to make my own iced coffee. DD has directions on their website so I might just give it a shot. But I'd feel a bit bad with no longer being a DD customer. Hell, they've probably collected more than few paychecks of mine in the amount of coffee that I buy from them in a year.

I know I'm just babbling since I'm exhausted so I'm going to get in the shower to experience my new super powered shower head.

Oh and I promise to be back next week with a weeks full of cheap dinners and posting some new recipes soon!