The other week, Jared wanted me to get him some Goo-Gone for his bike. Since I was planning on going to Michaels for picture frames (and if you show your teacher ID you get 15% off–Woohoo!), and  Michaels is next door to Target, I thought I’d kill two birds with one driving trip.

After buying before-mentioned picture frames (and a few other things that distracted me while I was at Michaels), I dropped the purchases off in my car and went into Target. And naturally, since I didn’t know where the Goo Gone was to be located, I went in the entrance furthest away from where I wanted to be and walked through most of the store before I found it. And on the way to finding the Goo Gone, I came across THE CUTEST maxi-style deep purple dress. Then the following thought process ensued:

Well, it can’t hurt to try it on. Oh, wow! It actually fits! Oh… $29.99. But I have lost 10 lbs recently… and my school colors are black and purple- this is totally showing school spirit. And I haven’t gotten myself a dress in a really long time… Okay. Now, where’s that thing I came here to buy?

Don’t even pretend that doesn’t happen to you when you go into the store. Moments like that are part of the human experience.

So I was standing in line with a dress and Goo Gone. There were only two lines open because apparently 6:00 PM on a Friday evening is not a hot shopping time. I got in the shorter line with two people ahead of me (that only turned out to be shorter because a woman had a million coupons that they were scanning). While we were waiting, the lady in front of me turned around, looked at what I had put on the check out stand, and said “Well, I’m glad I’m not the only one with totally random purchases!”

Touché.

I never really think too much what other people think about my grocery list (except maybe for those awkward buys like girly time of month sort of things). But I’ve started noticing other people’s purchases more. Like the people tonight that bought about 10 lean cuisine meals and a couple packs of off-brand Coke. Or the time when I saw somebody in the “Express: 10 Items or Less” line buy two items, wine and something from the meat counter, which cost about $127.00. Gourmet, anyone?

So, this was tonight’s list:

Produce: strawberries, mangos/pears/pink lady apples (all of which we couldn’t find, even though the store ad said they were on sale?), red bell peppers, zucchini, squash, salad, cabbage, kale, mushrooms, thyme, basil, asparagus, green onions, red onion, guacamole, and bananas

Dairy: Mozzarella cheese, yogurt–plain, vanilla, strawberry, and cups (all light/fat-free kinds), eggs, fat free half-and-half (isn’t that a little ironic?) and pudding

Grains/baking/cereal: whole wheat flour, whole wheat couscous, steel cut oats, and bittersweet (65% cocoa or more) chocolate.

And the rest: sugar free jam, garbanzo beans, Excedrin for tension headaches, frozen fruit, frozen brocoli, whole wheat filo dough, and saffron.

So what does that say about me? No idea. But the wallet hurts because all that produce. SO NOT CHEAP. With all those complaints going on about rising obesity rates and how our generation isn’t expected to live as long as our parents, you’d think the answer is obvious. We could start fighting against obesity by making it a little more affordable to eat healthy, universe!

Oh, and by the way, those of you who are expert homemakers probably already knew this, but SAFFRON? O. M. G. It was $15.89 for .01 oz of saffron filaments. For those of us who struggle with math, that’s $1,589 PER OUNCE. You. Are. Kidding. Me. We made an educated decision and didn’t get it. When we got home, I decided to do some research. And now I get it, but I am still buying my saffron online from now on. Got it here, instead.

Lesson learned, universe. And I got to learn some new, useless trivia to add to the clutter that’s spread throughout the recesses of my brain.