Buying Local

That's what we did today...and a lot of it! It was our big grocery shopping venture - the first of the month.

Ran by Frick's Drugs in Sequim to see if they might be a viable alternative to Rite Aide for make-up. They had a few items I like (Physician's Choice and Jane - both animal friendly with several mineral options, but nothing paraben-free). Made a note-to-self to check Jim's Pharmacy in Port Angeles and, in keeping with our attempt to buy local, vowed to move our prescriptions there before the next refill.

Of course, I mentioned that I'm weaning myself off of Costco gradually this year (remember, this is about small steps). So, I'll be looking for local places to buy some of the items that are the best deals at Costco (i.e. pet food, t.p., laundry soap). Today, we bought bread (we love the Costco bakery bread), baby wipes, diapers (grimace of shame), laundry detergent, tortillas, organic/fair trade/shade grown coffee (good for Costco for offering so many of these types of items), batteries, energy saving light bulbs, and *hangs head in shame* an $8 CD (Lynyrd Skynyrd) - "Freebird!!!". See, this is exactly why I want to avoid that store, because neither of us has any willpower. It was, however, our only impulse buy.

Then, we headed to a local wine store (Damiana's Best Cellars) to find a bottle of inexpensive red wine to have with dinner. That wasn't such a successful venture. I'm not a wine snob, but I'm also not into Thunderbird. We found a few Italian varieties under $12, so we went with one of those. Unfortunately, it was disappointing (Colosi Sicilia Rosso 2007). It's going to be tougher to find our indulgences locally and still fit them inside our tiny budget. Thankfully, we have a case of 3 Buck Chuck coming soon (Yay for Trader Joe's...even though it's in Seattle). I will say, the store was very nice and had a cozy little wine bar in the back. We definitely plan to visit in the future.

I also visited a linen store downtown, but still have yet to find the elusive organic cotton sheets. Does anyone have a clue where I might go?

Finally, it was off to Sunny Farms for the rest: spices, cheeses and hormone-free, antibiotic-free, nitrate-free meats for dinner, shampoo/conditioner (I went back to my staple - Nature's Gate is great and pretty inexpensive - made in CA....If I could afford it, I'd by Sensaria, which is made in Shelton, WA, or Loma, which is made in Seattle....I was thoroughly unimpressed with the Burt's Bees - too runny...D. is sticking with Grandpa's Pine Tar shampoo and soap). We also picked up a few non-carb loaded snacks for the kiddo. He has developed a rather alarming addiction to pretzels and crackers, so we are starting to switch him over to a few other items. Knowing his love for crunchy snacks, we bought banana chips (but, he doesn't seem impressed). The raisins, however, appear to be a win for now. He didn't used to like them, but tastes change, so we are rolling with it.

The milk, pickles, and butter were much more expensive at Sunny Farms than at Safeway, so I'll be looking for a better place to buy those items. The herbs were crazy-cheap, though, so that sort of made up for it.

We also...drum roll, please...remembered to bring our own bags!!!! Yay! I always seem to leave them in my car, but this time, we remembered *beams with pride*!!!

Being starved by our shopping venture, at this point, and growing meaner by the second, we dropped by a Mexican restaurant and then headed home for a nap! Yes, a nap. On a Saturday. With one more day of rest before heading back to work. Bliss.

And I'm not doing the dishes. So there.

Instead...I'm going to sit down and watch the rest of last season's "Grey's Anatomy" via computer - thank goodness for instant play and Netflix.