Granny's secret Kool aid habit and free food for me?

On Saturday at the hy-vee- Yes, this IS where many odd and interesting things happen...got in line behind this granny who was buying about $50 worth of Kool aid, all in individual little packets. Who knows why...Unfortunately the cashier was ringing up each one individually, although I'm sure there is some way to ring up multiples of the same flavor at once. That's one of those times you get in line thinking the person before you only has a few items and it will be quicker than scanning all the items yourself. Whoops. I think the packets were on some mega-sale, b/c they looked to be about 12 cents each, although I have no idea how much Kool aid is normally. She spent quite a bit of money on her total purchase though, and a lot of that on the kool aid....
Before when i stopped to buy a bagel, the guy working there gave it to me for free! I'd like to say it was due to my incredible charm or nice smile but I think he was just disgruntled, since he said, just take it, I don't feel like taking my gloves off to ring you up. But free bagel for me, so it's win-win.

Aliens on the bus and other things

Yesterday noticed there is a strange series of signs on the bus- this is under the "what you cannot do on the bus"- there are these little pictures to try to illustrate for you, or maybe for people who don't know English. 3 of the symbols make some sense: no eating, no music, no skateboards and then the last, is literally of a hot air balloon. Can't figure that one out. I will try to get a picture of it though.

mysteries of the universe, part 1.

You can't buy parsnips if you try to go through the self-check out line at the grocery store-

they don't have one of those little pictures on the select your produce screen- weird?! You can of course purchase parsnips, I suppose we have always gone through the checker check-out lines and the cashier types in the code for it. But if you are trying to do the self-check out, we found out they don't have a listing for it. Does no one buy parsnips?

They're probably looking at us like we're such troublemakers...freaks... buying parsnips, bringing their own bags, crazy...

Also I tried these unsulphured dried mangoes I got at the co-op and they were gross! :( How sad...they smelled fairly gross, oddly like cheese, and didn't taste good at all! I love mangoes and I used to buy these delicious dried mangoes at the co-op in Pgh, they sold them in the bulk bin. I bought these unsulphured ones at the co-op here in a package and they really were awful. Anyone know why? I don't know anything about the fruit-drying process but why were these so yucky? They didn't even taste remotely like mangoes... Sigh I guess eating FRESH mangoes right off the tree last summer in Tobago really spoils you.

signs

Follow-up:
The pawn shop took that sign down!
There is still a smaller one in the window that says the same thing.

Weird...

a common dilemma

What to do with your extra textbooks and guns:

iowa pride

This is nice to see-

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/fashion/weddings/04VOWS.html?ref=weddings

(you have to go down about 3/4 of the page) and see the wedding ceremony details.

cupcakes and combobulating

Well in an effort to try to support local, independent business, I did get a cupcake from the new cupcake place. I really hope the rest of her cafe/deli brings in a lot of business b/c I wasn't all that impressed and for $1.79 per cupcake, well I'd hope they'd be some serious cupcakes! Instead it was about the size of the palm of my hand!! C'mon, really? My hands aren't that big so you know that is a pretty bad deal!
In the Milwaukee airport after you pass the security screening, there is a "Recombobulation" Area.
I'm serious, this is really what it's called. Makes sense, right, after getting all your things in a disarray and un-shoeing, etc. you may very well be discombobulated and thus need to
re-combobulate. Except I'm pretty sure recombobulate is not an actual word, at least not per the
Merriam Webster collegiate dictionary, both 11th edition and online. B/c well, combobulate is not a verb? Or is it? If anyone wants to shed light here, please feel free. I'm not trying to question the
grammatical sense of the T S A or anything, I swear.

bats candy

The other night on our walk downtown, saw what appears to be a baby bat on the ground.

I tried to take a picture but it didn't come out very well.

In the apartment complex two over from ours, which faces the actual street, in their parking lot, there are some guys who just hang out in their car a lot. The other night one was actually sitting in the car window, like on the ledge of it, like something out of Dukes of Hazard. Meanwhile...

There is a new "upscale" cupcake place opening in downtown... let's see how long it lasts. Somehow I'm not seeing skeleton-like Main Street with it's odd combination of pawn shops, the VFW, karate studio, bars, and tax prep place, as the best place for $2.00 cupcakes. But we'll see. Downtown is strange. It has, I think, 4 jewelry stores, which seems a lot for such a small place, several places to get a hair cut, and I think 2 or 3 shoe stores.

Sorry this is sort of random. Oh but the proprietor of the new cupcake place is a girl who has not ever run a business or done commercial baking. She does have a degree in welding though. We'll see.