Garden State Summer

The day began with a ringing phone, never a good sign. Yes, it was the Acme. Could I come in at 10AM? No. It was quarter of 8, and not had I only been awake for about 10 minutes, but I really wanted to get to the bank and the Farm Market.

Even if my day had already begun on a bad foot, at least Mother Nature was finally making up for it. Today was gorgeous, sunny and breezy, as hot as it's supposed to be at this time of year without yesterday's stifling humidity. Unlike last week, I had no problems quickly running to the bank and the Farm Market.

The bank was dead as a doornail when I got in, but that's probably because they'd just opened the doors. The Farm Market, on the other hand, was hopping. People who will be out of town next week or just too busy on the Fourth to shop (like me) were probably stocking up on fresh summer produce. The strawberries, leeks, and asparagus were gone, but there were plenty of new items out. I ended up with Colby cheese, wildflower honey, turnips, carrots, white onions with the tops still on, mushrooms, bananas from the wholesaler, cherries, blueberries, and the first New Jersey peaches of the season. (Saw the first blackberries, too.)

It's probably just as well that I only saw one yard sale on my way home, and it wasn't very interesting. I had just enough time to put everything away, change into my work clothes, make lunch, and arrive right at 11AM.

Work was on-and-off the whole day. Most people were pretty cool, probably because of the re-emergence of the sun, but there were a few obnoxious idiots. And of course, the second-to-last customer was one of those darn chop shoppers, the people who buys a cart-full of sale items, complete with a tall stack of coupons for each item...and then returns ten minutes later, pushing a second cart-full through another check-out line. I hate those people. What they're doing is buying items to sell to stores in Camden and Philadelphia that re-sell them for twice the amount. They're doing something illegal, they're taking inventory that should be used by legitimate customers, and they hold up the line. If they want to be in business, they should get their items from a warehouse. If they can't afford to be in business, they shouldn't be in business.

I was still annoyed about the chop-shop guy when I got out of work. (Thankfully, it was in an "off" period. My relief was the guy who is always late, but I was able to leave with no fuss.) My annoyance wasn't relieved by the Hispanic men who worked in Tu Se Bella, the pizzeria in the mall behind the Acme. The guy taking my order didn't hear me when I tried to tell them I wanted a second slice. He was cool about it, but it was frustrating, especially after what I'd just been through in the Acme.

It remained "off" enough that my own grocery shopping was painless. I didn't need much, anyway. Mostly a major yogurt restock (needed plain yogurt as well as the flavored), along with shampoo, granola bars, salad dressing (decided to try the Light Asian Toasted Sesame; the Kraft brands were on a good sale), tea, and things to make a pudding pie.

I made a Lemon Blueberry Pudding Pie right when I got home. I wanted to get rid of last week's blueberries. I used sugar-free Lemon Pudding mix, so it came out a tad metallic-tasting, but not bad.