Pbenjay's Blog

It’s a weekend house (read relax on weekend), it’s in a vacation area. BUT it is a house, not an apartment with a Super, Handymen, an elevator and a laundry room.  In Manhattan, that means someone else shovels the sidewalk, you don’t have to make 8 trips from the car to the house carrying bags of groceries and I don’t have to transport the dirty linens and clothes from NJ to NY and then back again.

Friday: Breakfast at Nagle’s because there is no milk or orange juice in the house (we arrived last night). Go to hardware store to buy more salt -they are ALL OUT.  Bought a shovel to chip the ice away and a shovel for the car because next time if we arrive after a snow storm, we might even be able to dig our way out of the car and onto the sidewalk and up the stairs and to the backyard where the snow shovel is stored! There was also this handy little gadget up at the counter that I thought was ingenious – an extension magnet. It looks like a pen and instead of a point has a small round magnet on the end and you can telescope the pen-like case out.  So next time I drop and earring back or hair clip down between my dressing table and the bookcase,  I won’t have to ask Peter to move the heavy furniture so I can retrieve it.  There is another upside to this – I don’t have to acknowledge all the dust bunnies underneath the dressing table!!

Next we need to go to the storage area so we can put away the Mardi Gras beads, bring back a bin of stuff from our now defunct antique booth so I can photograph it all and put it up on eBay.  Also we need to check the oil in the Metro because it does leak a bit.

A quick stop at Habitats for Humanity to see if we need or must have some treasure we find there and we always do.  Down the road apiece and the next stop is the liquor store to buy wine as there is a dire need of red wine in Manhattan as well as gin for the shore house.

Next two stops: buy my Grande Americano at Starbucks today so I can have it tomorrow morning and not have to go out – again, this just isn’t New York City where I need only to walk a block to get to a Starbucks.  And while we are in that plaza,  might as well stop at Harmon Discount Beauty Supplies and get Peter the gooey stuff he puts in his hair and some hair clips for me.

Costco is next, gas is $2.45 per gallon – should we fill up here and now or wait till tomorrow or Sunday and hope that Citgo is the same price? We opt to wait, because unfortunately this is not the last stop.  Costco is a trip in itself.  You can never just go in and say you are only going to buy one thing. It doesn’t happen that way.   I went to pick up a prescription and if you don’t know, you should – Costco has the best prices ever on drugs.  And while we are here, we need to buy seltzer, blueberries and bananas.  We’re not done yet, the Costco ladies are hawking their food wares and who can resist having a nibble here and a bite there.  There was pizza, yogurt, dried blueberries, your choice of shrimp, salmon or crab salad, veggie chips, protein drink and salmon and cream cheese on cracker.  Sampling works on us – we left with some canned salmon and the yogurt as well as sardines and cranberry-grape juice.

I am already tired and can’t believe I still have to do grocery shopping at Wegman’s.  Both households need the essentials which are so much more reasonably priced in New Jersey so shopping is a weekly errand.  I LOVE Wegman’s and even if I didn’t LOVE it, I would still shop here in NJ because I totally detest and freak out in Gristede’s at home in NY.  Having lived most of my life in Connecticut where the grocery stores are CLEAN, bright and the shelves filled with multiple choices, I find grocery shopping in Manhattan almost impossible unless of course you to Agata and Valentina or Eli’s and there you will definitely pay for the quality.

Back in the car and on our way home, I remember that we need to go to Michael’s so I can buy some yarn.  Susan has promise to design a pattern for me so I can make something for Miss Finny, hopefully a sweater.  Susan has been very encouraging and helpful in getting me back to knitting, something I haven’t done in years!  Peter offered a comment about the knitting idea and said between the blog, Mah Jongg and now knitting, there would be no time left for him, lol lol – although I don’t think he was kidding.  Anyway, he has told me he does NOT want to be in the blog – that’s pretty difficult to do since so much of what we do is done together and I can’t always write in the first person singular when clearly there is another person involved.

Home Depot was on the errand list for today and we forgot to stop at the tile store also to check on finding tiles that match some we bought in South Africa two years ago.  As you can see, most projects take a very long time in our house.  He who shall not be named ( I love Harry Potter) and who does not want his name in this blog has to get some half inch round molding for yet another little project I have planned for our apartment in Manhattan.  I strongly suggest Home Depot and the tile store be put off till tomorrow.  Believe it or not, it is already past 5pm and I still have tons of stuff to put away when we get home.

Finally home, 6 trips from the car to the house, 45 minutes to put away the groceries, trying to sort what stays and what goes to New York and repacking the freezer so I can fit some frozen food I want to take back to Manhattan.   My freezer is something like Fibber McGee’s closet so anytime you want to put something in you literally have to take many somethings out.  I found a way – I took out a at least packages of left-over hamburger buns,  hot dog rolls (yes from last summer) and a few dinner rolls hanging around since Thanksgiving!! I tore them all up and threw the bread out for the birds and squirrels and now the snow in the backyard looks like it has freckles!  Seriously, I had a little talk with myself and likened my keeping fifty cents worth of rolls in precious freezer space to the argument I often pose to you know who about how much expensive New York City real estate certain videos, old magazines and lots of record albums occupy in our den.

I LOVE Wegman’s and even if I didn’t love it, I will still shop here at the Super Shop-Rite or Foodtown because I absolutely hate going into Gristede’s at home.  Having lived most of my life in Connecticut, I am used to large CLEAN, bright stores with shelves stocked with multiple choices.  Actually I won’t buy anything at Gristede’s unless it is prepackaged or non edible.  I know that sounds terrible and snobbish but I think the store smells bad.  I would rather go to Agata and Valentina or Eli’s and pay more but know I am getting great quality.

So, do you think I’m having fun?