Shopping and Final Thoughts on Foolish Folks
Yesterday was primarily given up to shopping for folks here still under quarantine for exposure to Covid. Thankfully I think the quarantine lifts late this week. Shopping here is quite a task. I was explaining it earlier to a Stateside friend.
In the States it wasn't unusual to have to hit Aldis, Trader Joes and then Wegmans to fill your list at a good price. Here it can be more complex, here, like there, you can break down and buy everything, well, mostly everything, at one place. But like the States some items are only at certain stores and if you want the best price you have to divide up the list.
Meats - This is one I will not cheap. There are much cheaper meat places, but only the heavenlies know for sure what's in their meats. I use only the USDA inspected places here, getting all my meat at either Auto Mercado (expensive place with foods from around the world), or over at the wholesale meat market in Liberia near the airport. They have all grass fed beef from Nicaragua without any additives or preservatives. The meat from there is so good!
Fruits and Vegetables - Come Frutas, or the fruit stand in Huacas. In a pinch I'll sometimes get a few things at the grocery stores Maxi Pali or Mega Super. The fruit stands are so much cheaper and fresher with a huge selection, while you take you chances as to what is available here in the grocery store. I rarely buy any produce at Auto Mercado because of things like their 5 pound bags of potatoes are imported from the States and run something like 12 bucks a bag! Their produce is beautiful and beautifully polished up, but so pricey. When they have fresh Bing cherries they were 27 dollars a pound. I managed to find Bings at Mega Super on a special buy for 4 bucks for a small container.
Dairy - Dos Pinos is king here, and the prices for their items, milk, yogurt, Tico cheese, ice cream and queso crema (not quite sour cream, not quite cream cheese, more like a blend). Anything not American cheese or Tico bland white cheese can be very expensive. Auto Mercado has the lowest priced cheddars and other cheese, and good old American cream cheese and cottage cheese.
Bread - That one is easy. It's cheap and easily available everywhere here, from warm and freshly baked loaves of french breads and local Tico breads like fresh tortillas, to your standard bakery loaves of sliced white or wheat, to hot dog and hamburger buns, and an incredible variety of sweet breads, rolls, queque (cakes, pronounced Kaykay) and tarts. Even at the tiniest convenience stores, and the fruit stands. There's even a guy who drives his bike by the house daily around 9 am with hot fresh tortillas.
All the rest of it - It really depends. If you need something as exotic as polenta or parchment paper, or canned soups it's only at the Auto Mercado. Everything else can usually be found, but sometimes not at the same place. Example. I had requests on Sunday for baked chicken, Oreos, Yipis, real maple syrup, and Cotuba (Brazillian soft drink made from Guanrana) which meant, Maxi Pali for the roasted chicken and Oreos, Mega Super for the Yipis and Cotuba, and off to Auto Mercado for the real maple syrup. Knowing where to find things, and who has what lowest is a skill that takes time to develop.
There, so see why the shopping morphed into an entire afternoon? It didn't help I brought Jim along who proceeded to shoot my budget for us all to hell by adding a frozen Great Value pizza and multiple jars of Jif peanut butter along with 7 cartons of apple juice and 3 things of Pringles just at one place, Maxi Pali, and started adding more things at other places before having the nerve to moan over the total bill. I budget for what I will spend and none of that stuff was on the list I had to gently remind him. You cannot sabotage the list and then complain when the bill goes up.
Today was more of the unpleasant that huge multiple grocery runs. Today I had to scrub the lanai of dirt from last Thursday's flood waters. Jim makes me laugh so many times when I tell him how I do things, he ignores it and does it his way and I end up going behind him to redo it my way. Example, he got up and power washed the lanai. Didn't get much dirt off. When we have floodwaters on the porch to get rid of the dirt is hot water, a copious pouring out of Fabulouso and scrubbing the tiles before rinsing with a little vinegar and water. So this morning I scrubbed.
We're still trying to finish up our paperwork with our lawyer. The last task is the every five year reevaluation of the taxes on the house with the canton. Our lawyer suggested it, the canton says the house is worth more than double what we paid almost 3 years ago. Undoubtedly it is worth more than what we paid for it, we've remodeled, repainted, put in a pool, a hot tub, new master bath, hot water, and a few other things including a state of the art security system and cameras. But I'm not sure I buy their numbers. We're requesting them to do an onsite appraisal with their people, and we're hiring a private appraisal and hopefully can come to an agreement. Property taxes are dirt cheap here, but the numbers they are bandying about put us in the luxury home tax bracket. I would rather not pay that level of taxes if avoidable, even if it's pennies compared to what we were paying.
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And now, some unpleasant housekeeping. Last night I did a video about Katie Joy of Without a Crystal Ball. I got tired of everyone pming me, asking details again and again, and figured I'd just tell all and shut that down. I am done with her now, except for those times when she misunderstands the Quiverfull folks. I will continue to correct that.
Most people commenting and viewing were so nice to this old lady. The few Katie supporters are what I must address here now.
No, I don't have a used car business or any other car business. We saw a possible opportunity to buy a pal's car, clean and fix and resell it. We're not doing that now because neither of us want the hassle or the responsibility. The car is the owner's problem, even if we have found people interested in buying it for the owner. Please knock it off with that dumb rumor!
Second, I am so damn bored with Katie, and likely would not even still be talking about her at all had she not done that drunken video where she said stupid stuff like I was selling rumors to tabloids. She's actually pathetically boring with repeating the same mistakes and patterns all the time, a garden variety liar who still owes me an apology. I know I'll never get that apology.
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