Thursday 26 April - Trying not to shop in the land of shopping!

Woke up at about 4AM and laid in bed for a while before finally giving in and getting up.

Went downstairs and ate a punnet of strawberries that we had picked up the night before in Albertson's. Two large (454g) boxes for $3.00. Bargain! Then spent a good hour or so trying to figure out how to make coffee before I finally found a drip pot which led me to look for filters which I eventually found. Trying to be quiet so as not to disturb L&M who are having a lie in. Also rustled up a bagel I found in the fridge. Did some work on the website DB while they slept.

Later, had a ½ a melon with L&M when they awoke.

Lunch was ½ bag of broccoli slaw and a tomato dressed with some rice vinegar & soy sauce. Also ate a couple of string cheese packs which L&M use as dog training treats (!) and an couple nice wholemeal crackers and three fat dill pickles.

I had resolved to eat my favourite US snack food as well, so we had purchased a big bag of Cheetos's and I ate about ½ the pack with some hot pickled chili's I had also picked up in the supermarket.

Spent most of the day catching up and tooling around the various shops in the malls surrounding where L&M live. I am trying REALLY hard not to buy things. I will NOT buy anything that I have no need for, no matter what a bargain it appears. I have way to much stuff already.

Having said that, I am still on the lookout for things I "need" that I did not get in New York:

a laptop case
a swimsuit
some trainers (maybe)
a memory stick for Fiona (she was impressed w the price I paid for mine in NYC)

Looked at lots of stuff, but all I bought was the memory stick - 2GB for $25.00. It was, of course, made in China, too.

After a hard day of commerce , Mike cooked and we had sauteed sea scallops, brown rice & steamed asparagus on the patio by the pool, all washed down with way too much wine and loads of talk.

Here is the animal crew:

Monk


Cassie


Tommy


Sherry