Maybe if You Spent Less on Soup

I frequently hear people complain that Starbucks is the reason people are broke. For the price of one cup of coffee a month, you could have *insert insane thing that costs considerably more money than a cup of freaking coffee.*

Well, here we have a soup that costs more money than my coffee.

So how about if we give the same rant to soup? I mean, really, this is just as "overpriced" as the coffee. And for the same basic reason- because it's "handcrafted." Someone made this soup. It wasn't canned at a factory or whatever. (I am assuming that, but technically I've never been in the back room of Wegman's, so I can't say for certain.) I could have got a can of higher-in-sodium Campbell's of the same variety for a much lower price.

3.29mg sodium per mL

2.60mg sodium per mL

So the reason I'm broke today (according to certain people, the ones who think one less cup of coffee a month can make you a millionaire) is that I bought a lower sodium soup. And before you blame that cup of Starbucks, I used a giftcard. So ha.

Once Upon a Today

Once upon a today...
I drove John to work.
Then went to Pretzel Factory for 20 for $5 pretzels.
Then went to ★$ (that's Starbucks for those who don't speak text), and had a scrumptious Salted Caramel Mocha Frappicino.
Stopped at the atm for some monies$ss.

Went to Katie's and chilled with her,  Eric, and ♡the kitties♡. Temporarily fixed my purse. Played DrawSomething.

Picked up Nicki. Went to E I E I O or whatever that I'm not dumb enough to say here with Pat F.

Then we went to Wegman's to aquire Spanish foods for her kid who needs them for school TOMORROW. 

And then we ran away to endless shrimp at Red Lobster.

But, of course, my phone died, so no texts or sexts from John. (The only downside of today. Though effort was made to charge,  and attempt to text via Nicki's phone was made. But, alas... )

And "Our Song" ( https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pHNSGv5oFzQ ) by Matchbox 20 came on. And I giggled and said,  "Hey, this can be our song!" Nicki will laugh more about this later when she reads the lyrics "this can be our song, this can be our song."

And then my favorite song of all time,  "Amazing" by Aerosmith,  came on the radio on the way home. Followed by "Slide" by the Goo Goo Dolls-- which is one of my fav bands.

I have leftover Red Lobster in my fridge. ♡

It was a pretty spectacular day. :)

Liebster Award

Thanks for thinking of me,  Nicki! ♥

http://offthebeatenplan.com/whatever/liebster-ed/

Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog in your post.
Display the award on your blog — by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a “widget” or a “gadget”.
Answer 11 questions about yourself, which will be provided to you by the person who nominated you.
Provide 11 random facts about yourself.
Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have a less than 1000 followers.
Create a new list of 11 questions for the nominees to answer
List these rules in your post (copy and paste).
Once you have written and published it, you then have to:
Inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster Award and provide a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it!)

11 Questions Nicki asked:

1- Whatchya doin’? (Besides answering these questions.)

Watching Stargate. Hoping to go to sleep soon. I'd like to leave for Knoebels in 5 hours. (Which won't apply when you read this, because I'll finish this post later.)

2-Do you find these types of awards to be genuine, or just another “chain mail of the Internet” kind of thing?

In a world where "world's greatest (whatever)" is mass produced on mugs, shirts, etc... This award at least makes no such claim. It just says you're here, you blog, and someone recognized that effort. It isn't Writer's Digest top 100 or something, but not everyone blogs to such a purpose.

3- Why do you blog? (Or if you haven’t been for a while, why not?)

For fun, to vent, to express myself.

4- Over or under? (toilet paper)

Nope! Okay, it'd be over, but my apartment is set up in such a way that I wouldn't be able to reach the tp while on the toilet. So I set it on the towel rack. Thereby it is neither over or under.

5- Name one thing that other people do that drives you nuts (doesn’t have to be the worst thing).

There are those who believe they have the only right way. "Cups should go in that cabinet, not this one." You know what? It's my damn house. I'll put my cups wherever I damn well please. So when they try to change things that are, seriously, of no real consequence, that drives me nuts. Genuine improvement, okay. Minor nitpick crap, shut the hell up.

6- Which of the following would you prefer:
To be rich, but lonely and without friends.
To be poor, but to have lots of friends who love you.
Or to assign the person who thought you could only have one or the other to write “I will not live in absolutes” on the blackboard 1,000 times?

I already am the second one!  I'm still lonely some days, but not rich. I like the third choice because it adds to Nicki's word count, and that'll make her happy.

7- What’s your favorite quote?

Don't be afraid to take a big step. You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps.

8- Do you get your energy from solitude, by having other people around you, or a mix of both?

Solitude gives me no energy, it's just what I survive in because that's what there is. People... Seriously depends on the peoples. I ♡ Tuesday.

9- Have you ever learned to use chopsticks?

Yup. When I was in Canada. But I only use them once in a great while, when social situations that I care about for a logical reason dictate it appropriate.

10- Are you living your dream right now?

No. With the exception of a great husband, basically everything else has gone wrong. Every fix I work on makes it worse. I know it can be even more worse than it is, but that doesn't help because it actually does keep on declining. I've also tried reducing the dream, being more realistic, aiming lower. Didn't help. Now I can't even manage a tiny dream. I tried just reach little goals for 1 hour one day... The power went out and I couldn't breathe, I ran out of gas, and my credit card went over the limit trying to fix that. 1 HOUR. Raise your hand if you know what a curse is.

11- What is your preferred writing implement?

Pilot Easy Touch pen, especially fine size.

11 random facts about me:

1- I'm writing these facts 24 hours after I started the above stuff.
2- I drove past Centralia twice in that time period. It's been on fire since 1962. I think that's fascinating.
3- I hate rollercoasters. Most of my family loves them.
4- I love to ride the Ferris Wheel. Most of my family hates that ride.

 

5- I love toffee, but am frequently disappointed by toffee flavored items (especially coffee).
6- My mom HATES dinosaurs. Which wouldn't be about me, but I took this picture:

7- I love me some Starbucks.

 8- DrawSomething is my favorite Android App Game.

 9- I made a friend (Dori) playing app games on MySpace a dozen years ago. Still friends! <3
10- I started a mini journal on Tues, May 3rd. This is largely because of Nicki.
11- My husband and I have the same initials. (So does his uncle, grandfather RIP, some cousins, etc.)

I'm nominating these 11 (without regard to number of followers) :

1. http://thenovelorange.com/
2. http://brandysbustlings.blogspot.ca/
3. https://franklparker.com/
4. http://mommyrnblog.com/
5. http://stephaniesstuff84.blogspot.com/
6. http://pensivepenspost.blogspot.com/
7. https://nananettie1969.com/
8. http://n8ltg.blogspot.com/
9. https://mhsusannematthews.wordpress.com/
10. http://mjfifield.blogspot.com/
11. http://obliqview.blogspot.in/

Your 11 Questions:

1- What's your favorite book with a strong female protagonist? 

2- Have you ever been dead in this lifetime?

3- How many books do you own, approximately? 

4- Would you rather see (as recorded footage) 1500 years in the past or the future and why?

5- Have you ever genuinely tried to USE THE FORCE? (Telekinesis)

6- Would you want your face to be depicted on money?

7- What's the best drink recipe? 

8- Can you contribute answers to any of these: https://www.quora.com/profile/Jamie-Dorner/questions

9- What books, if any, have you read where the protagonist has a close relative in prison?

10- What color pen ink do you prefer?

11- Any exciting plans for the next few months?

Starbucks Mobile Order - Three Experiences

I have the Starbucks Mobile App. The "order with app" is in the Beta stage. There were bonus stars for using the ordering feature,  which is why I tried it. Here is a summary of those attempts:

1- October 31, 2015- $14.47- Went inside,  stood in line. The woman ahead of me in line had never been to a Starbucks. And the person waiting on her was a trainee. So customer asked a question,  trainee had to flag down an employee to get an answer. Five minutes later I get to the register and say I'm here for my order pick up. After a consultation... "Oh,  you're supposed to go to the pick-up area for that." Okay,  I go over there. After first-time-customer gets her drink,  someone finally acknowledges me. I repeat that I'm here for my order. The person finds it.
Cold.
I've been here for 15 minutes now. I just take it and go.
I miss the drive-thru.

2-November 5, 2015- $9.22- Ordered. It didn't have the latest drinks listed. Could have had something better!  Whatever. Go to pick up my order. This time I skip the register line and go straight to the pick-up area,  since I know the protocol. This location doesn't have a drive-thru. It does have the friendliest barista I've ever encountered. He's awesome. But he's waiting on folks who are in line. "All by myself" by Eric Carmen plays in my head. Super Barista finally sees me. He asks if he can help. I tell him why I'm there. He reheats my sandwich and makes my drink fresh because- SURPRISE- THEY WERE BOTH COLD. But he fixes that without my having to ask. Still,  let me point out that I have saved no time,  and actually spent extra time standing here waiting to be noticed. This is not an improvement,  or better,  or faster. It's a way to get ignored and get hot food served cold (unless a great employee won't serve crap and thus intervenes.)

I learned that, to get the latest "seasonal" items, I had to uninstall the app, reboot my phone,  reinstall the app,  and log back in. 

3- November 7, 2015- $10.28- Ordered at the same location as in the first one. Went in,  went straight to pick-up. Watched FIVE drive-thru people get served.  When the girl brought a drink over for someone who had ordered at the register,  I finally get acknowledged. "Oh,  here," she says as she pulls it out. "The whipped cream is deflated. I can add more if you want." I had ordered an iced Chestnut Praline Latte.  The whipped cream isn't the biggest issue. Nearly all the ice melted. This tastes like slightly flavored water with cream. Gross.  And my sandwich?  If you just hold it for a minute instead of using a stove,  microwave,  or fire- that's how "warm" it is.
I long for the drive-thru.
The bonus stars, which lead to free drinks, do not feel worth it. It isn't like at Panera where you can mobile order and the stuff is on a reachable shelf so you can just get it. This isn't McDonald's with a heat lamp to keep your breakfast sandwich warm.
I loved Starbucks. But I really hate the pick up portion of mobile ordering.

Those are my experiences. What about you?