The Cozy Mystery List Blog

I read rather slowly these days. I just find myself doing other things during the times of day that I used to spend reading.

I used to get a lot of reading done during the late hours of the night. I use a small flashlight and lay on my side— and quietly turn the pages of my mystery books. I guess I should use the past tense on that, since I am on a medication that pretty much zonks me out at night after reading just two pages.

It is for that reason that I already started my Halloween mystery books. When I told my daughter I hoped to finish the Halloween mystery book that I started a week ago, her response was “I should hope so!”

Well, thanks to four sleepless/restless nights before and after my air travel days, I was able to read my first Halloween mystery, finish my audio mystery book, and get through the first half of a new audio book. (I had only packed one “real” book for my six day visit to Colorado Springs… Surely, I thought, that would be enough!) Instead of “reading” in bed, once I finished my one “real” book, I lay in bed and listened to my audio books. Unfortunately, this meant that my audio book continued to play while I was zonked out… which meant that I did a lot of rewinding every time I woke up… which was several times a night. Not the most conducive way to get your ZZZZs!)

I love that I’m reading more these days, but I’m not sure I like that I’m sleeping less!

My husband has been holding down the fort for me – and that includes taking care of our 14 1/2 year old puppy (who happens to get special medications three times a day) and keeping the ol’ homestead in shape. It has also included taking care of my computer’s comings and goings.

This has meant that he doled out Sprite’s medications on the way to and from work and ALSO listened to her complain about the injustices of life. Her complaints are much louder and more frequent when her favorite person isn’t present. And that would be me!

My husband and I talked several times a day (thank goodness for cell phone family plans!) and he tried to describe what was happening on the site. From what I gather, there are other people who aren’t crazy about grocery store monopolies, AND he told me that when I think I’m recycling my grocery bags… well, quite frankly… I’m not! (Hmmm… I might just have to break down and buy some of the reusable shopping bags… When I do though, they won’t be from my grocery store! All of their over-packing-to-the-point-of-ripping has left me thinking that there are a whole lot of other places to buy those bags!)

I am so tired right now. Rather than spending one restless night contemplating a day of air travel, I am now up to two nights of worrying. Good grief! At this rate, I’ll have to go for much longer visits so that the two restless/sleepless nights before the air travel (each way!) actually pay off.

I had dated some entries so that they would “magically” appear while I was away visiting my brother, mother, and her beau, and since my husband already posted your comments, I’ll go ahead and read them right now. I just wanted to check in and say hello!

OK, here comes another not-mystery book rant! (I don’t even want to know how often these rants are appearing… but I’m pretty sure it’s more and more often!)

Here in San Antonio, we pretty much have a grocery store monopoly. When we first arrived in Texas fifteen years ago, there were several competing grocery stores. H.E.B. managed to strong-arm the other grocery stores by always undercutting their prices by a few pennies. I was guilty of comparison shopping – so my husband now blames me for H.E.B.’s current monopoly status.

It seemed like the day the last grocery store “hold-out” left town (I miss you so much, Albertson’s!!!) H.E.B. hiked all of their prices and started placing name brand items on the very bottom shelves, while they featured all of their store items in the choice shelves. Since they have several different store labels, that’s a lot of H.E.B. prime space devoted to their H.E.B., Hill Country, Central Market, (just to name a few of their labels) ETC hierarchy of “generic” brands at not-so-generic prices!

All of this has annoyed me – but not to the point of grocery shopping at department stores like Target and Walmart. (I enjoy these stores… but don’t think of them as grocery stores, and their selection in groceries is rather limited…)

Recently, however, I am more than just a little annoyed at my H.E.B. monopoly. My H.E.B. has gone green! And, in doing this, they have told their baggers to jam-pack as much as they can into the free bags, while pushing their cloth bags, which of course are NOT free. And they do this with a smile on their faces, touting saving the planet and minimizing our carbon footprint, ETC.

I recycle (almost) all of the cardboard boxes, plastic, cans, glass, and paper that comes into our house. I am, what some might call, obsessive about recycling. So, I appreciate the steps that H.E.B. is taking to try to get people to use the re-usable cloth bags. HOWEVER!!!!! I think that my grocery store taking the high road for environmental purposes would make more sense if they offered these reusable bags FREE of charge. (We even use the reusable Klean Kanteen Stainless Steel Water Bottles rather than the plastic water bottles you buy at the grocery store!)

That’s right… If they are going green, then great! But don’t tell your baggers to jam-pack my free, non reusable bags, while charging me to buy your environmental, save-the-planet bags. Give me the “green” bags, and I’ll use them. And, as for my grocery store deciding what is re-usable and what is not: I recycle the bags that are free. (I told you I’m obsessive about recycling!) I’m very concerned about the environment, and certainly don’t need to be guided by my grocery store… especially when they benefit financially by their “subtle” guidance!

You may wonder what I mean when I say “subtle” guidance >>> It seems that my H.E.B. baggers have now been instructed to follow the “jam-all-you-can-into-the-free-bag” approach >>> This of course has caused the flimsy plastic bags to rip, which means that I have had to clean a jar of jelly off of my garage floor this past month, not to mention having to take things out of the jammed-to-the-top bags, so that they don’t tear before placing them in my car.

Thanks H.E.B. for caring!