Walmart Super Center

I had every intention of going to the new Pullman Walmart Super center yesterday, but it was just a bad day. My kids are still sick, and are only capable of one outing a day before completely falling apart, and getting my Mother in law a birthday present was our trip yesterday.

I finally made it out to Walmart today. I am so glad we went. It's been tough these past few weeks with the former Moscow Walmart not re-stocking their shelves. I pretty much refuse to buy Ziploc bags, foil, plastic wrap, laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, and any personal or medical items anywhere else but Walmart. It costs SO much more everywhere else. It was a sad day when I had to buy Walgreen brand shaving foam. That's right, foam! I haven't bought foam in YEARS!! I'm a strict gel kinda gal. Anyways, back to the new Walmart.

It's big, it's beautiful. The bathroom in the front of the store has a nice short sink and soap dispenser for small children (YES!!!), plus a family bathroom in the back (we didn't make it back there to that one) It also has the wonderful 2 seat carts with a full size basket. It's well organized (not once did I feel like "oh crap!"), and the employees were smiling and greeting throughout the entire store. Yes, I know it's only the second day, but I recognized quite a few employees from the Moscow Walmart, and they were always friendly anyways.

I have been a loyal Winco customer for the past 5 years. I've always loved their low prices, and the fact that they show the price per ounce. It may appear cheaper, but in reality...you're paying  more. Walmart is doing that. Some of my favorite finds I've been getting for months, and even years. The Great Value 64oz 94oz No sugar added Apple Juice is only $1.98, and they've had select Malt O Meal 44oz packages of cereal for $2.50 for a while now (that's about 5.7 cents an ounce. Far cheaper than anything at Winco, even the bulk stuff!) I even noticed today that the Great Value cereals are right about the same price as the Winco bulk ones. You may not get the same choices, but that's fine by me! Plus, their 27% ground beef was only $1.98!!!!  Pretty much everything I saw was either the same price, or LESS than Winco. And with No grocery tax in Washington, I'll be doing most of my grocery shopping there. There are a few things I may get just at Winco, but over all I was very very pleased with the Walmart prices.

I love the idea of getting everything done at once. I've always hated getting house and personal supplies at Walmart, then having to make a second trip to Winco. Since Tim and I are sharing a car, it's not like I can up and go whenever I please. There are a few days a week where I just don't have transportation, and that's fine. Those are great laundry and cleaning days! But the few days I have the car, I'd like to be able to use at least one of them to take the girls to do something fun. Because errands, and fun trips just don't happen in the same day. We get way too tired (ok, I get too tired).

Moscow, you really lost out by not allowing a Super Walmart here. Otto's has already closed, Walmart had nothing to do with that. As a mother of 2 small kidlets, one shopping trip makes much more sense than two.

Dinner: Potato soup and Breadsticks.

I'm a big fan of buying those 10 lb bags of potatoes at Winco. You can't really get a better deal for 2 bucks (at least I think it's 2 bucks...my brain is a bit fuzzy this morning). The problem I've had in the past is finding ways to use them all up before they go bad. Well, thankfully Fall is here! Hooray for cool weather, the perfect excuse to make massive amounts of different types of soup with those potatoes. I haven't been using a recipe, mostly because I don't have everything on hand that I need for that particular recipe. So I've just been winging it. I do believe that last night was my greatest creation yet. I ended up with a yummy, cheesy, potato soup which I served with Breadsticks (also very yummy). The soup consisted of the following.

5 Potatoes, cut into a bit less than 1 inch chunks.
2 Carrots, cut up.
Just a bit of chopped onion
About 2 1/4 cup of Chicken broth.
Milk
Cheese
1-2 TBSP of flour.

I cooked my veggies in the chicken broth until tender, and grated the cheese and left it sitting out while the veggies were cooking. Letting your cheese get closer to Room temperature before adding it to your soup will get rid of that grainy texture a lot of cheese soups have. I probably had about a cup of cheese. Once the veggies were done cooking I added my milk. I honestly have no clue how much I added, just enough to make it soupy and the right color (for me). Then I added my cheese and stirred until it melted. Take a bit of the broth out after that, place it in a separate bowl, and whisk in the flour until smooth. Add that to the rest of the pot, it was a great thickness for me. And yes, I'm kinda guessing on the flour amount...like I said..I just wing it these days.

The breadsticks made me very happy.

1 recipe Pizza dough
Olive oil
Parmasan cheese
Oregano
Salt
Garlic Powder

Prepare pizza dough, and roll it out. Brush with Olive Oil, and top with your favorite toppings. Once again, I didn't measure. Just kinda sprinkled to my hearts delight :) I ended up cutting them in 1 in. strips with my pizza roller, and placing them on a greased cookie sheet. They stretched during the transfer from my counter to the sheet, then looking funky as I smooshed them to fit in my sheet. So I think next time I'll probably press the dough into the pan, or just roll it out on my pizza stone, and cut it while it's on there. Anyways, bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes. They looked funny, but tasted yummy!

I had pictures of all this, but my camera met a sad end last night after being dropped on the floor by a child. Oh well, I wanted a new one anyways ;)

Comfort Clothes

When I was 12, my parents moved out into the middle of nowhere. It took us 30 minutes to get to "town", and about 10 to get to the closest gas station (which happened to be our Saturday treat). Not long after we moved though, my Grandma built a house right next door to ours. I LOVED having Grandma next door. She dedicated the upstairs of her house to us kids. It had a TV and the nintendo system. A bunch of games, toys, a small air hockey table, and the COOLEST outfits from the 70's.


One of my favorite things though, was Grandmas closet. That's where she kept her jewelry boxes (she had a nice walk in closet), and I could sit there for hours just staring at her stuff. She had rings, earrings, necklaces, pins...they were all so pretty.

One day, when I was looking through her stuff Grandma was cleaning out her chest of drawers in her bedroom. She asked me to come in, she had something she wanted to show me. It was a purple, cable knit sweater that belonged to my Great Grandmother. Great Grandma passed away when I was 8, on Christmas day. I loved her so much, and the rest of my life has been spent loving anything that was connected to her. Grandma gave me that sweater, probably 11 years ago, and I pulled it out for the first time this year today.

 I've noticed over the years that this purple sweater has been a huge comfort item for me, and it gives a warm fuzzy feeling inside and out whenever I wear it. It reminds me of my Great Grandmother, and Grandmother who have been through so much and never lost their faith in Christ. As a young child it never occurred to me that my Great Grandmother was so ill, she still had a smile on her face and time to play Go-Fish with me.

There is a lot going on right now, and it's good for me to have this reminder. I'm not sure how old this sweater is, I can tell that it's thinned out a bit the past
 11 years, it's still thick enough that you can't see through it though. How many New sweaters can have that said about them? :)

So here we go....

I often find myself wanting to say more than just your average facebook status...and for some reason doing the notes annoys me. Can't explain it...just how it is. So, this will be my attempt to write whatever comes up in my head. Whether it be whats for dinner, a new cleaning strategy, or something crazy my kids are doing. Who knows, perhaps I'll have the occasional cool thought :) Anyway, bear with me...my blogs in the past have been total duds so I'm hoping maybe by now I've matured enough to make one worth reading.