Aldi, return home, my sisters

Apparently, I think too much about Aldi.

I bring it up all the time (along with Southwest Airlines and investing your financials in useful technology for the future instead of yelling at people for not being recycling purists).

This week, I posted a note about "What's your favorite Aldi purchase?" on FB, and my lovely sister Beth hopped on and commented pretty quickly "You need to get a job".  And here I was looking for an extended social media conversation, with some pros and cons and real exchange of ideas around the topic of Aldi!

She's right---I've been home in Chicago for a week and I didn't work at all in the month of February when I was on my LA visit.  Instead, I made it my work to connect with someone everyday and to write.  But no cash job.

I'm lucky I get to spend my time gallivanting around (as many people remind me and they are right) but I also find that a bit insulting, sort of like when people say "I'm so busy" or "You can't understand love until you have a child."  What if you don't have a child? Can you not understand love?  Well fuck, I'm screwed!

Anyway, I was lucky enough to work hard in my day job/career for 20 years and save money and switch to a freelance life and be able to drive out to LA for a month.

But during that time leading up to it, and my time there, and since I've returned, I've become even more bargain basic than I normally am.  Like, I ordered some $8 oil from Amazon, and then I returned it because it didn't perform well for my skin.  Not to sound like Obama bitching about the price of arugula, but that is major bargain activity for me.

So, Aldi, my very favorite grocery store in the world, keeps coming up in conversation.  And I keep expanding my consideration set when I shop there (salads? cheeses?  the holy grail of meat?)

That, and cooking everything I can at home, and asking friends if we can meet out for a walk instead of a drink or a meal.

But, the thing I love about my sisters (and my family) is they LOVE to keep it real and call me on my bs.  It's frustrating at times but I do appreciate that quality, especially when I go on a flight of fancy, like spending a month in LA to "test it out".

Keeping it real Beth, keeping it real.