Category: Retail Experiences

4th of July Weekend (07/03-07/05)

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Joe had Friday (07/03) off for the holiday. Since it was so hot and humid we decided it would be a perfect day to run errands, like dropping off an Amazon return at FedEx and hitting up Trader Joe’s since it had been awhile since our last visit.

Afterwards we stopped at Paris Baguette for some delicious pastries and Korean Iced Milk Coffee. It’s a good thing they aren’t closer because I’ve gained enough weight this year since I’ve been stuffing my face without discipline; I’m just so happy to be able to eat after what I went through last year. I do need to reel it in though.

We had Culver’s for dinner as our little holiday celebration since Joe had to eat light on Saturday in preparation for a medical procedure on Sunday.

Saturday (07/04) we hid in the house all day and didn’t do anything to celebrate. Not sure what is worth celebrating right now anyway. This current administration is fucking up anything and everything it can get its hands on. That’s what happens when you put a bunch of narcissistic, unempathetic, rich, brainless cretins in office. Not saying the other side are angels, but this group of people takes the cake.

I temporarily unfroze our credit at all three bureaus so we could apply for Amazon’s Prime VISA. They sent an invitation in the mail and we had just been talking about how annoying it is that Costco only takes VISA or debit and how much we hate using debit, so they caught us at the right time. Plus we got $200 just for signing up!

Now we have all the frickin cards – AMEX, Discover, Mastercard, Target, and VISA. I literally had to put together a cheat sheet for both of us so we know which card to use where to maximize the cash back benefits on each.

Obviously the VISA will be used at Amazon, as well as Costco. We have no choice but to use Discover at Woodman’s since they do not accept any other card, and we’ve been using the AMEX at Aldi since we get more cash back for groceries on it vs the other cards. Frankly the Mastercard offers the least incentives lately so it barely gets used. Target doesn’t get used a ton, although with having to get our prescriptions at the CVS inside, I have been using it more this year than previous years.

Surprisingly I was able to fall asleep before midnight and wasn’t woken up by fireworks even though I know they were popping off.

Sunday (07/05) after grocery shopping, my B12 injection, and Joe’s procedure we headed to REI so I could look at binoculars. I do not understand how an outdoor store has so few binoculars on display to try.

In fact, it doesn’t seem like ANY store really offers the ability to try most of the binoculars they sell, although to be fair the variety is always lacking. Are people really buying them without trying them first? This seems like yet another example of the patriarchy at work – chances are most binoculars are perfectly suitable for men, but for women, and petite ones with small heads, close-set eyes, and glasses like myself, it’s not that easy. I can’t even see through most of them because either the minimum distance between barrels is too wide, or the eye relief isn’t high enough. In fact, I tried two different Nikon models and I was able to see through the mid-range ones with my glasses on, which is the goal, but couldn’t with the higher end pair.

I’m a buy it for life gal so it’s frustrating that I might have to resort to ordering thousands of dollars of binoculars off Amazon just to see if I like any of them. That makes me feel icky and I’m trying to avoid that, but none of these retailers are making it easy.

We even stopped in Best Buy briefly because they sell binoculars but we couldn’t find them. It’s amazing how much I used to love that store and now abhor it.

We stopped in Disc Replay to look around but didn’t buy anything, then picked up Potbelly since we were starving by this point.

We made it home just in time to watch The Cure playing a festival show in Belgium. Since it was being streamed on YouTube we watched on the TV which was especially nice.

Too Good To Go

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Too Good To Go is a service that was created to suddenly prevent food waste. Restaurants and gas stations offer surprise bags – for a pre-paid price you get items nearing expiration (but not yet expired). Usually at places like gas stations it will specify whether it’s a general surprise bag which can contain any consumable they sell or a baked goods surprise bag which could include muffins, cookies, croissants, etc.

All that to say we got a general surprise bag from a gas station recently that was actually very good for $4. Inside was a yogurt parfait, fresh fruit, two muffins, a stuffed croissant, and some Kraft mac and cheese.

This morning we stopped at Speedway to pick up a baked goods surprise bag for $4. First off, it wasn’t ready so we had to wait while they put it together. When it was handed to me I could see through the bag it had a can of Pringles and some candy in it. I pointed out it was supposed to be a baked goods surprise bag and the lady started arguing with me, saying it can include anything. I replied, “no, that would be the regular surprise bag”. I could tell the guy working the counter was looking at her sideways. She was treating ME like I didn’t know what I was talking about when that was HER. I even pointed out in the app it said “baked goods” and she told me they don’t sell cooking items, as if I was asking her for flour and sugar to bake a cake or something! Finally she threw in two packages of mini donuts off a nearby rack to get me to leave.

I got home and opened the bag.

None of the stuff was expiring anytime soon except one of the peanut butter cups which was over a month past expiration. What that means to me is they aren’t following the spirit of the app and are merely trying to pawn off their poor selling items.

Those egg shaped items are bath bombs, by the way. The lady who I dealt with didn’t seem too bright so I wouldn’t be surprised if she thought they were candy due to their shape.

When I got home I looked closer at the baked goods description and it literally said it would include donuts. Wish I had been able to pull that up to show them in store but I was frazzled from being admonished by that stupid woman.

Needless to say I gave them a 1 star rating in the app and explained why. I won’t ever be going inside that Speedway again anyway – it was very dirty and disorganized. Their entire hot food area was completely empty except for some old slices of pizza. No wonder we were the only customers.

March 2026 Recap

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03/05 (Thu)
Sofi Tukker did a surprise livestream which we haven’t had in a long time. It seriously made me weep with happiness because it reminded me of 2020 when I was recovering from my mysterious health issues and they were streaming daily. I had missed them so much!

03/06 (Fri)
Switched our hosting plan to something a little more affordable. I want to archive two of the sites I’m paying for but no longer using so that maybe I can move this blog to a less expensive service. Trying to self-host doesn’t sound like something I really want to deal with but I’m tired of spending in excess of $100 annually just to have an easily accessible records of my life. Hardly anyone reads this so I write mostly for myself but having this blog to look up past events or just reminisce has proven invaluable so I don’t want to get rid of it.

03/09 (Mon)
Ran errands by myself for the first time since May of last year! It was nice gaining some independence back but I also missed having Joe with me. He makes shopping easier since he handles the driving of both the cart and the car.

Later went to Costco with Joe where we picked up these awesome vanilla Biscoff cookies. They will come in handy when we start birding hardcore soon.

03/10 (Tue)
Finally watched a couple of episodes of the Scrubs reboot on the heels of a complete re-watch of the original series. Not loving it thus far, but it might take time for it to hit its groove.

03/13 (Fri)
Joe took the day off work so we ran a bunch of errands and did some shopping.

We also tried a new place called Fry n Wings which was pretty decent.

03/14 (Sat)
Visited my parents and helped my brother look for a new car.

03/15 (Sun)
Ordered a cell phone for my brother. My mom finally agreed it would be good to have one in the house and for when my brother runs errands for our parents.

Was annoyed to find out that the Illinois Tollway charged us $1.50 for not having our transponder up when we went through one of the tolls when visiting my parents. They knew that I had an account because they added the fee to it, so why couldn’t they have just charged me the regular toll price of 75 cents instead of doubling it and marketing it as unpaid, thus forcing for me to pay it manually when there were funds on the account? I hate them.

03/17 (Tue)
Made corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick’s Day. Bought the very expensive and delicious Vienna Beef corned beef like we did last year. It was nearly $30 but so worth it.

03/19 (Thu)
Decorated for Easter and went to the marsh to look for birds where we saw two Brown Creepers.

I still think they should rename that bird since it moves so fast the name just doesn’t fit.

03/21 (Sat)
Had my annual eye exam at LensCrafters. I didn’t end up having to get my eyes dilated like I expected because they offer a digital retinal scan/photo that can detect most issues. Insurance doesn’t cover it so it’s $39 but it’s well worth the price not to be light sensitive and or see clearly for hours. We were able to run some errands and go birding afterwards as a result. We saw so many Sandhill Cranes migrating overhead.

This is actually a small group compared to many we spotted.

03/22 (Sun)
We went to my parents’ house to give my brother his new cell phone and show him how to use it.

Let me tell you, if you’re trying to find a low-cost carrier, skip Mint Mobile. Their website stinks! I had issues getting it to even let me set up service because the phone I bought wasn’t in their drop-down box where they require you confirm the eSim (which I knew it had) before letting you choose a plan. Even the page where you can enter the IMEI to confirm the phone is compatible with their service re-routes you to the page with the infuriating drop-down box which hasn’t been updated in several months. My brother’s phone was released in October of last year! Whomever designed that website needs a swift kick in the ass.

I got so fed up, I found a different carrier called Tello. Not only is it cheaper ($10 monthly for unlimited calls/texts and 2 GB of data, which is more than enough for my brother who will rarely use the phone), but setting up service couldn’t have been easier. It was five minutes, if that, to enter all the info, choose the plan, and get the phone working.

I feel like Mint Mobile owes me money for dealing with their bullshit.

On the way home from my parents house Sofi Tukker announced another live stream and we got home just in time to watch it. What a great way to end the weekend!

03/23 (Mon)
Dropped our microwave off at the only repair center in the tri-state area authorized to repair it under warranty.

We were driving around the area afterwards when Joe let out a gasp – there was a KFC Long John Silver’s. Needless to say, we grabbed an order to go and reheated it in the air fryer when we got home. I grew up eating LJS and love their chicken planks, but even the fish was pretty good. I could do without the fries and hushpuppies, though. We might grab more LJS when we go back to get our microwave in a couple of weeks.

03/29 (Sun)
While walking into the grocery store there were two Canada geese flying low overhead. The one in the rear nipped the other one’s butt and also stuck its feet out like it was going to land on its backside. They were squawking at each other as if they were arguing, while still flying. It was pretty funny.

Visited Whalon Lake and had a poor lunch experience after.

03/30 (Mon)
Went back to LensCrafters to order new lenses for my existing frames since they said they send the blanks with the prescription in them to the store and then cut them to fit my frame right there, thus only taking my frames for 30 minutes. That’s much better than having my frames sent somewhere for a week or two, especially since I need them to see! I would happily buy new frames if it was easier to find some that fit my small face/head. I always have so much trouble since most adult frames are too big and kids’ frames are too small. I am the Goldilocks of glasses and it sucks.

Afterwards we went to a nearby lake where we looked for Common Loons but didn’t see any. We went to Beef Shack for dinner and also grabbed some rice balls from Atlas Chicken in the same strip mall area. We end up eating our food in the Atlas Chicken patio area since it’s so nice. Someone from Atlas came to our table to let us know the seating was for their restaurant only but Joe showed them the bag from their restaurant and they backed down. I felt pretty uncomfortable about it though since we had more food from Beef Shack than Atlas (the BS logo is more prominent than Atlas on their respective bags), so next time we’ll just eat over by Beef Shack instead.

Baskin Robbins is Wild

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We went to Baskin Robbins today so I could get my free birthday scoop.

In case you didn’t know, they charge different prices per location just like McDonald’s and other franchises. A single scoop is $3.09 at one location and $4.49 at the other. But what’s really crazy is their “fresh-packed quarts” a) aren’t quart-sized at all but 24 oz and b) cost $9 at one location and $14.99 at the one that charges more for the single scoops.

Needless to say, we decided to order from the cheaper location, and since my scoop was free, also ordered a fresh-packed quart of Old-Fashioned Butter Pecan since there was a coupon for $2 off in the app.

When we arrived, I went inside to pick up the order. No workers were in sight. Finally, after a minute or so two employees came out from the back – one male and one female. Queue the insinuations…

The guy told me they didn’t have the pistachio almond I selected for the single scoop, but I could choose another flavor. I guess it was taking me a bit to decide because he said he could let me sample a flavor, and then offered to refund me, but I pointed out it was free anyway. It felt like he just wanted me to leave so he could get back to chatting up his female coworker.

After I picked my flavor he asked if I wanted a bag, but instead of packing it for me, just gave me the paper bag so I had to struggle to get the quart inside. Also, he gave me a pre-packed quart, not a fresh-packed one. I can’t remember if they had the Butter Pecan in the display case, so I don’t know if they were being lazy about having to create the fresh pack or what. Normally the fresh-packed quarts are more expensive than the pre-packed ones, so if I hadn’t used a coupons making it cheaper by 50 cents, I would have questioned it, but it didn’t seem worth mentioning in this case.

It’s worth noting that the music inside was quite loud, and to my surprise they were playing rap music complete with the N-word UNBLEEPED. Can’t imagine management would approve such a thing, but then again that location has always been chaotic, plus never seems to have all the flavors listed in the app.

That being said, nothing about my experience made me want to get Baskin Robbins again anytime soon.

iPad Saga

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I never thought purchasing an iPad would be so fraught with drama, but thanks to Costco I will never order another Apple product from their website again.

My 7 year old iPad Pro 10.5 from 2017 has seen better days. Operationally speaking, it’s still running fine, but there are bright spots appearing on the screen in multiple places and according to what I’ve read, indicate the screen is basically coming apart and will fail at some point. In addition, the battery inside is original which means it has to be charged daily just to have enough juice for me to watch YouTube while walking on the treadmill and play Tsum Tsum and browse Reddit in the evenings.

Much like with the reasoning for buying a new TV before our current one fully kicked the bucket, I decided now would be a good time to replace the iPad and save a little money. I was originally looking at the most recent iPad which was discounted to $500 from the original price of $600. Then Joe pointed out that the iPad 10.9 10th generation from 2022 was on sale at Costco for only $250. Considering what I use my iPad for, did I really need the latest and greatest for twice as much money? No.

They were offering the iPad in two colors – blue and silver. The blue was available in our local warehouse, but the silver was not. I looked into it, and unlike with iPhones, you can in fact see the color of the iPad even with a case on it, so I definitely wanted the silver one as it would look better with a purple case. I ordered it from Costco’s website with a promise I’d have it in a week.

Cue the nonsense… aka the timeline of how everything went down:

Ordered the iPad on 11/22 with an estimated delivery date of 11/29.

Chatted with Costco through their app on 11/30 when the iPad was still showing as scanned by the carrier with no further movement. Was told they’d escalate the issue and I’d hear back in 48 hours.

Called Costco on 12/02 when I did not in fact hear back in 48 hours. They claimed they were still working on the issue and someone could call me in 48 hours.

Called Costco again on 12/06 after not hearing back from them. Guy who answered was super rude and didn’t want to help, telling me the only thing he could do was issue a refund. When I pushed the issue, he said he could issue an exchange order. I asked him what that was, and he literally replied, “it’s an exchange order”. Like WTF? I said to him, “can you explain to me what an exchange order actually involves?” and then he finally explained that it marks the original order as not received and a new order is issued.

Costco called me on 12/07 and the very nice and helpful lady explained to me that they could not issue the exchange order until the silver iPad came back in stock. She said they could keep checking the status on their end, but I would have better results if I kept checking myself and called them as soon as it was back in stock. I wasn’t happy about having to monitor their website for them, but at least the woman was trying to help the best she could.

Called Costco 12/10 when I saw the silver iPad was back in stock and was told they would issue the exchange order right away. The woman I spoke to was quite friendly, but I should have been wary when she remarked “I cannot seem to do my job right today”.

Called Costco 12/13 when I still hadn’t received a new order number. The agent (Kendall) wanted to argue with me when I said I don’t understand why Costco is making this my problem. She wanted to know how they were making the issue my problem and I had to explain to her everything I had gone through up until that point and how I had to keep an eye on their site and call them to get anything to happen. She then agreed that they were in fact making this my problem.

She put me on hold to talk to someone else and came back claiming they were going to “push the exchange order through”, as if they were doing me a favor shipping me the item they already charged me for weeks prior. I think they screwed up and didn’t want to admit it.

One of the things the agent mentioned prior to putting me on hold was that Apple requires them to do certain things before issuing a replacement iPad. But that’s Costco’s issue and the carrier who supposedly picked it up but lost it, not the customer’s!

Furthermore, I could maybe understand that stance if the iPad had actually shipped and showed as having been delivered. Then it would make sense that Apple (and Costco) would not want to send a replacement before doing an investigation to make sure I wasn’t committing fraud, but everyone could see it either didn’t move from the warehouse at all, or the carrier picked it up but never scanned it into their system (which is what the agent who called me on 12/07 claimed). From my perspective, there was zero movement on the item because it showed a tracking number issued and nothing further. So given that information, they should have shipped out a replacement immediately instead of playing games and making me jump through hoops.

Luckily the next day I did actually get an email with a new order number and finally received my new iPad on 12/18.

Never again, Costco, never again!

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When it came time to unbox and set up the new iPad, I ran into an issue.

I used a new to me method where I placed the old and new iPads next to one another to transfer data over which I thought was much easier than plugging it into my computer, loading iTunes, and having to choose between starting from scratch or restoring from backup (of which there was none as I guess I had never backed up my old iPad in iTunes, whoops).

A few days later I decided I really should back up the new iPad, but when I plugged it in and fired up iTunes, I was presented with this screen.

I was so confused. Did this mean I had no choice but to reset everything anyway? Or just never be able to back my iPad up? I was upset over the prospect. I cancelled out of the screen to see if iTunes would recognize the device since it was registered to my account, but it would not.

After some internet research, I learned choosing “set up as new iPad” simply allows iTunes to interact with it. The language on that screen is so misleading and they should fix it, or at the very least explain what it will do.

I was a bit anxious choosing that option, even though the internet assured me it would be fine, but they were correct, and I was then able to create a backup. Whew!

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I would like to also point out it took some getting used to the new iPad because it’s thicker and the aspect ratio, coupled with the difference in border around all the edges, makes a lot of things appear larger on the screen.

Old iPad vs new iPad