Puppy Preparations

After we left the animal shelter last night, we went on a date at Graze, a restaurant on the ped mall in Iowa City. I had bought a $25 gift certificate to Graze on Restaurants.com for $4, so it was a pretty decent deal. We had the Pesto Veggie Pizza, Spinach and Three Cheese, and the unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on who you are) named Half-Ass Ice Cream Pie. We were a little too distracted by the prospect of spending Wednesday night with Gustav to enjoy much time looking into each other's eyes, but that was just fine.

Afterwards, we picked up Keriann and went to PetCo, Gordman's, and Target to get our puppy supplies, which are shown above. (I'd noticed when I went to Gordman's last week looking for something else that they had a decent puppy section.) Some of our favorite purchases were the Bear Biscuits (which are apparently also fed to bears in zoos), blueberry, yogurt, and almond flavored bite-sized treats (which may taste a little too girly), and the "tire" frisbee. We read that he doesn't get super excited about toys when they're just laying around, but we saw him bring a tennis ball in from outside last night and heard he likes fetch, so we had to get tennis balls and some other toys too, just in case.

We're going to pick him up today at 4:30, but still haven't decided on a name. Pictures of Gustav at home to come!

Frustration

I shopped at ALDI once after we first got married. I'd never been there before and didn't know any of the rules. Dexter and I walked around, picked out a few things (because where were the carts?!--on the side of the building I didn't see from where I parked) and then the lady at the checkout was rude to us when I touched the cart she'd put our stuff into. It was a really uncomfortable experience, and I was more than willing to sacrifice the few pennies I'd save by shopping there to show them that I wouldn't put up with that attitude.

Today, I decided to conquer my pride and try again. I came, armed with a quarter, figured out how to get my cart, and got inside. Just inside the door, I found a great deal on V8 Splash, then on spices, and was looking forward to buying some beautiful yellow bananas for $.45/lb. I was a little disappointed by the rest of the selection because it seemed like about everything I picked up was PHO-filled. And the bananas were neither beautiful nor yellow, but I put them in my cart because I assumed that the inside was still banana-y. I headed for the registers and got in line behind 9 other people at the one register they had open. Finally, someone else came out to help the poor lone woman at the open register. My items were rung up and I was just about to celebrate a triumphant trip. I swiped my Discover card, and was dismayed when it asked for my PIN. The cashier (who was at least polite this time) cancelled my order and I went over to the side to dig through my purse for my debit card, a little flustered and irritated. I couldn't find it and realized that I hadn't put it back in my purse after getting cash (which I did not have with me either) earlier in the day. I walked out of the store, frustrated and disappointed that my maturity in overcoming my ALDIsdain was not more rewarded.

So, I feel like being done with ALDI for another couple of years--or just telling myself that I don't have to try again even then. Are you a faithful ALDI shopper? Were your first attempts their as irritating as mine? And, most importantly, do you think you find great enough deals to make the trip to ALDI worthwhile?