I was reminded today of that day Dan and I were looking for rat poison in Wal-Mart, and asked an employee where we could find it, because it was not with other pest control products, such as insects, etc. The employee said to us, “It’s back there with the FOOD! It’s just CRAZY, MAN!!” He was right! It seems crazy that rat (and mouse) poison is not with insect and ant and bug repellent (especially those creepy palmetto bugs!) and instead it is with the food! (Although to be honest, it was with detergents, etc. Still..why? Who would look for it there?) So now whenever something makes no sense, or is fairly incredible, we tend to say to each other, “It’s just CRAZY, MAN!” Of course, you have to say it with a southern accent for full effect.

Today Dan and I were running errands. To Walgreens, to spend $25 so we could get 7000 in points via a coupon which amounts to a $7 credit. As it turned out, we bought $100 in toiletries because they were all buy one or two, get one for 50% off, and get 3000 extra points, or 5000 extra points, or something. Anyway, at the end I had earned 38,000 extra points for a total of 68,000 points and now have more than enough for a $50 credit next time I shop there! I have enough shampoo, deodorant and bath gel for about a year, lol! Crazy, man!

After an uneventful trip to Harbor Freight to get some stuff for the boat, we decided to go to the grand opening of a brand new Lucky’s Market. It was their grand opening, first day. It was MORE than CRAZY Man! Lordy Lordy! The parking lot was full. Though we did manage to get a spot not that far away, that someone was vacating. But the store….Ay Yi Yi.

In case you don’t have Lucky’s around you,, it’s a combination of Trader Joes and Fresh Market. Unusual stuff, but priced very competitively. And some unusual stuff. It’s a big store, like a regular supermarket.

We made the mistake of getting a cart, thinking, erroneously, that we would shop there for a few things we needed. We were quickly disabused of that notion, when we walked in and saw the line at each register went to the back of the store, literally. Trying to get down an aisle with the cart was like rush-hour traffic on the Beltway in DC, so we finally found a place to ditch the cart, and decided to walk through the store, just to see what they had, but would actually come back another day to shop. Their prepared foods looked so good, and the meat and fish counters had some good sales going on. It was tempting but nothing that was worth what looked to be a two hour wait in line to pay.

We decided to peruse their wines. As we turned to walk down that aisle, we saw two older gentlemen shucking fresh oysters and putting them on ice on a table. Little bowls of cocktail sauce and lemons sat with the oysters and they were giving them away free. I slurped one down, and asked Dan if he wanted to try one. He’d never tried one before, but somehow shrugged off his squeamishness and tried one, and really liked it! Well, of course, it’s a fresh oyster on the half shell, lol. Who wouldn’t like it?! He began a conversation, which he loves to do with everyone, with one of the shuckers, who, it turned out, owned the oyster farm up by Tallahassee, and the other shucker owned the distribution company. I told them I might just stand by their table and have lunch. They laughed but had no problem when we had seconds! They sell for $1.29 each, unshucked. Damn, it’s been a long time since I had a fresh oyster. CRAZY, Man. Crazy.

As we turned back to the wine, finally realizing we couldn’t just stand there snarfing up all the oysters, someone asked if we needed help with the wines. Again, a conversation started, we found one of our very favorite red zinfandel wines, which we’ve only been able to buy by having a store order it for us previously.  As she talked to us about their selection and pricing, she told us we could go to the cafe, and taste their store brand wine. We headed for the cafe where we saw the signs “Shop and Sip.” REALLY! A pint of beer (store brand) or a glass of wine, $2 and $3 respectively, and you can put it in your cart and shop. CRAZY Man! We bought a glass of wine each, but sat in the cafe drinking it, wondering how the “shop and sip” thing would actually work out. The wine is served in real glass glasses…we had visions of broken glasses in the aisles, and people maybe keeling over? At any rate, we thought it might be fun to shop and sip a glass of wine even once. I think though that on a regular basis it might be dangerous to have my defenses down when I walk by the bakery section, or prepared foods. The whole idea seems a little CRAZY, Man!

Our last stop was at the grocery store, since we didn’t buy anything at Lucky’s but the glass of wine. We were again perusing the wines there, because they often have buy one, get one specials. A young woman, well younger than us, walked by us. As Dan was talking to me from farther down the aisles, she said to him, “You guys are so cute! I said a prayer for you!”

Imagine that?! Someone we don’t even know saying a prayer for us!!

CRAZY, MAN. Just crazy. And blessed….very blessed.

Been a fun day so far. Hope that’s true for you too! As ever, love and light to all.