Jun18

Miscellaneous pictures and a tragic sale

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The anatomy of a Star Wars AT-AT Walker t-shirt

A man in a parking lot complimented Hubby on this t-shirt. I stepped back out of the car to say, “I got him that shirt!”

The man looked at Hubby and said, “Hold her close.”

Sparring gear in my trunk. It just makes me happy.

Dragon fruit at the store. They’re so cool looking. I’m definitely not in Ohio any more.
I dig old vehicles and have the pleasure of seeing them semi-frequently. That’s not rain through the car window, btw, it’s smudges from my son’s fingers.
I went to a fundraising event where Hubby’s coworker wore this lovely green wrap. I expressed my admiration, telling her sage green is one of my favorite colors. Also, I enjoy soft fuzzy things. The next day, Hubby brought it home from work with a note from her in Spanish. I sent her this pic.

Also, the banner in the background is the perennial “Happy Mother’s Day, Mom” banner that lives in my nightstand, of all places, the rest of the year.

And now, some sad news. The grocery store where I met the blog-famous Chex Mix Guy is closing. There was a big Closing Sale, so I checked it out two days after the sale began. It was depressing as all get out.

This was the meat department. I wonder what kind of elbows were thrown grabbing the 75% off meat when the sale began.
Aisles that were completely empty were blocked off by more empty shelves.

My heart was kind of breaking. I made the most of it by buying a bunch of stuff. I was doing my part to help them clear out, I guess.

My bill would’ve been $277.45. Instead it was $74.14. So, yeah, that was kind of awesome. Still…

The CMG messaged me in advance to break the news, which was nice. It would’ve been harder to bear without the warning. I got to bid farewell to my favorite checker. She was the one who seemed extra kind to me the night I stopped in after Jiu-Jitsu, my hair an absolute mess and eyeliner smeared around my face. When I got home, I understood why she was being so nice.

There was another checker I’d become friendly with. I considered backtracking to say goodbye to her, too, but then thought, “Eh, she probably doesn’t care.” Now I regret that.

I did learn that the employees are being reassigned to new stores, so that’s good news, at least. They’re not simply losing their jobs.

And since CMG was nice enough to reach out, I had the opportunity to ask who at his new store called him E-Dog. If your money was on the produce guy, you win! 🙂 CMG said he was confused at first, but, given that he’d seen me in the store earlier, he quickly put it together.

Which pic do you like the most? Have any random pics on your phone currently?

84 responses »

    • I don’t believe closing due to not enough foot traffic is one of the good reasons. I’m curious to know what conveniently located establishment will go up in its place. I hope it will be something I like!

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  3. Excellent T-shirt, for reasons having nothing to do with Starwars. Though a native westerner, I’ve lived in California the same amount of time as you and still have yet to ever see a dragonfruit with my own eyes. I, too, love sage green – what a lovely woman to be so sweet to you. Finally, have you ever met a cool car that you weren’t interested in photographing? 😉

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    • Oh, AT, you are so delightful! Honored that you read this. How did I not know you also love sage green? This grocery store has all sorts of interesting things, like giant cactus leaves, and other foods I’ve never heard of and that look questionably edible. And I very much laughed out loud at the car comment. How do you always seem to land upon my posts that involve cars? Heehee.

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  5. Hey now! I’ll have you know I can buy dragonfruit at Heinen’s. And I know my daughter can find it in Medina County because she served me some last month. Of course, it’s very pricey! And without flavor.

    Empty grocery store shelves trigger me. In the height of the pandemic, I remember being freaked out that the shelves were empty. I hope you have other good shopping options near you. Like a Trader Joe’s!

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    • No flavor? What’s the point then? It looks so exotic. I don’t know why I didn’t buy one. Maybe next time, just so I can try it.

      A Trader Joe’s right there would be pretty cool. I hope Mark sees this comment. Oooh, would he be jealous! It’s like a 5-minute drive there.

      Sorry about the trigger. Now that you mention it, yes. That is very pandemicy, but I never saw stores that bad in 2020.

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  6. So sad when stores We like close
    –
    There is that life cycle feeling to it – businesses have births – growth – maturity – decline – and death”
    And I once learned that what happens during maturity is key – because once decline starts it is too late – if that makes sense
    –
    The sage green wrap is awesome and fits well – also has that love feeling with it because it was a gift

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      • That sage green is one of my colors – you know how they do the charts for colors that go better with your eyes and skin tone?
        Well earth tones came up for me with muted greens, maroon – and browns
        But not orange – not blues etc –

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      • It took me a
        Long time to accept that I could not wear certain colors and prints – partly because of how I feel
        In them – even if someone said they were my color – if we don’t feel the vibe then off it goes – —
        Like most of the orange colored items I tried would get tossed or donated –

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      • Haha. Not many can see my swagger. The only ones who did were at the store on my way home–the store that is now closed. 😦
        (But I didn’t wear the gi top or belt inside the store. Maybe I should have to give a better explanation for my appearance. Ha!)

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      • Oh I still smile at how the make up was like that and the store clerk seeing it
        A while back- I tried a cheap mascara and went to church (I don’t go all the time because I feel like we are the church and we bring the sanctuary with us – ) anyhow – long morning there and I was wearing a fun little art t-shirt with lines and shapes and slick black pants – felt kind of simple and I was so comfy!
        Chatted with so many folks and then in the car – I looked in the mirror and had raccoon eyes
        What?
        The cheap mascara had not held up even a few hours and Betsy- why would nobody say anything? Did they think I was going for the smoky look?
        Omg
        And I asked my hubs why he didn’t say anything and he said it was dark where were chatting (and it was)
        But two lessons learned
        1) toss the cheap mascara and don’t cut corners there if you are going to wear that crap – lol
        And
        2) always double check your face
        Hahaha
        Anyhow
        Sorry about your store closing

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      • Let’s hope your hubby was right about it being too dark for people to really notice. Maybe, if they did, they thought it looked good? Definitely toss the cheap stuff. And I totally should’ve checked the mirror before I went into the store.

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  7. No, don’t panic – I did a check and if you really, really need it, you can order Chex Mix on-line. I saw one ad where you could buy the stuff by the case.

    Hopefully a new store will open soon that has both high quality tee-shirts and Chex Mix that is always on sale for 1/2 price.

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  8. That is kind of sad that a grocery store is closing. Weird happenings with the weather, the economy, shortages, and now grocery store closings. It feels ominous, Betsy. I need a fun post next time, Betsy. More Ju-Jitsu jokes and maybe a beauty-bruise. And Nice Wrap! That made me smile. 🙂

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  9. We can buy dragon fruit here but I never have since I figured the taste wouldn’t live up to the dragon fruit I had in Hawaii. I do love the looks of the inside (white with tiny black specks), though. It is so nice of that women to give you her wrap! I like sage green as a color but it doesn’t like me if I wear it. I’m voting for a TJs.

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    • A TJ’s would be welcome. That’s my neighbor’s fave store–where we would go together on the same trip as where we last saw the CMG. Bit of drive to get there, so one closer would be great!

      I may have to buy some dragon fruit next time.

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  10. There is so much fodder here! Wow – $200 off groceries. Holy smokes! And the empty aisles are so sad but I’m glad you found the workers are being reassigned. At least there’s that.

    A Happy Mother’s Day year-round banner, a beautiful green wrap, Star wars t-shirts and more. I’m wonder if an alternative title could be “Miscellaneous pictures and a tragic sale!” 😦

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  13. My favorite pic was the sparring gear because I love sparring gear and we haven’t sparred at krav in a WHILE. I miss it. LOVE the t-shirt, I’m a HUGE Star Wars fan. Also what a sad loss, r.i.p.

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  16. I love your fun gracias photo and the dragon fruit photo. Have you ever eaten one of those? I wouldn’t know what to do with it!

    So sorry about the store. It sounds like you managed some great buys but closings of favorite places always hurt. 😢

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  18. Oh, no! So sad to hear about the store closing, but it will live forever in your blog 🙂 I love the picture of the dragon fruit. I once took a picture of a bunch of Brussel sprouts at the store–they were so green, I just had to capture that color!

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  19. Dragon fruit is one of my favourites! Particularly the red-flesh variety and not the white-fleshed ones. The proper ones tastes super sweet, almost as sweet as sugar, with the consistency of kiwi, almost. Hard to describe, now that I think of it. The joys of living in a tropical country!

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  22. Oh man! I would be heart-broken … I don’t do well at all at the shutting down of favourite haunts. At least you got to help clear stock …

    And the conclusion to the CMG story … excellent!!!

    P/S Love the vignettes at the start of your post … and the At-At Tee (yes, he should hold you very close!), and oh my goodness! the surprise & delight of the shawl (nice!)

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    • Ju-Lyn! Thank you so much for being excited by the conclusion of the CMG story. I was so excited to report on that, but no one else commented. I guess too many people are new or else they’d forgotten, lost interest… It was disappointing, so THANK YOU for enjoying that along with me. And the other items you kindly mentioned. Yes, very sad about my store. There could’ve at least been one lonely bag of Chex Mix hiding in the back of the bottom shelf–how perfect would that have been? Like it was just waiting for me to rescue it, but no. Of course those would’ve been snatched up in the first wave of bargain shoppers. 😉 But also 😦

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      • If you had scored a bag of Chex Mix, it would really have been the ultimate conclusion to the story! Having said this, you know where CMG is now, so there could be a Season 2!

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      • Finding a bag of CM truly would’ve been an epic conclusion, as I believe that fateful night I met CMG to buy CM was the first night I’d gone to that store. Alas, his new store is too far for me to likely go. :/

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  25. The pic of you in the lovely green fuzzy smock was the best! 🙂 I laughed out loud at “hold her close.” I don’t know why that made me chuckle so hard lol… and yes, store closings always make me feel all kinds of depressed!! So glad all those workers are being transferred and not losing their jobs!

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    • I’m relieved about the workers too. I’m glad I thought to ask. I can hardly wait for an occasion to wear the wrap. Maybe I should just wear it around the house! (If it was cold enough.) The guy’s “hold her close” comment was awfully funny. His wife/girlfriend/sister was there too. Maybe she got a clue about what to get him for his birthday. 😛

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