Because I review so many books on Amazon, and use reviews as a way to maintain my own memory of things I ordered online, Amazon invited me to be a product reviewer several years ago.
I do my best to take my work seriously, and today I wrote a review I enjoyed reading.
(If you are here looking for more information on the writer’s conference that concluded yesterday, that’s what I’ve been trying to write when I got hungry and sidetracked by adjwa dates.)
Hard to believe that a small fruit can travel halfway around the world into my mouth… I love dates, and a good medjool date is my favorite. Or so I thought. So as someone who occasionally suffers from anemia, I love incorporating dates into my diet for the iron. As someone who loves sugary candy, dates are the perfect food to compensate for those sweet cravings. I had never had an ajwa date. At first, the small size intimidated me. The pit-to-date ratio was more pit than fruit, but once I tried the date, the sweetness and texture surprised me in the best way. They were chewy and firm enough to have a great mouth feel, and also properly giving and moist. Each one turned out to be the perfect bite-sized treat. The package is gorgeous and provides information about the type of date itself, the nutritional information and the company information. These are highly specialty dates cultivated in a certain region of Saudi Arabia (Medina), so it’s more like buying a specialty imported cheese or wine than a simple fruit. In that way, the price seems reasonable. (Think of it like “champagne” technically only refers to sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France or the cheese from the caves of Roquefort.)
So, The Teenager’s (now College Student’s) car won’t start and today I needed my car for a 10 a.m. chiropractor appointment. I’ve noticed over the last couple days some of my random hip/leg issues have stopped causing discomfort so that is awesome. The chiropractor is less than a block from The Teenager’s college campus, so I headed out a little early and did the last touches on this week’s Parisian Phoenix Substack newsletter. Are you interested in my little publishing company’s newsletter? If so, click here. Today I talked a bit about technology and privacy.
The Teenager’s first class was at nine, and my appointment was at ten, so that left me the dilemma of how to organize my day into pieces that fit our combined schedule. I completed the computer work I wanted to finish before 9:30 and I even got to watch the street sweeper comb the neighborhood. I read some of Stephanie Parents gothic D/s (of the impact play, not the sexual kind) mystery in the reception area. I found my favorite passage of the book so far:
“The trouble with this sort of exorcism was that when it ended, when Jack stopped spanking her, nothing had changed. She hadn’t split open, and nothing had spilled out from inside of her…”
The Briars, Chapter Nine (Claire)
I left the chiropractor at about 10:15 a.m., and I needed to use the restroom. I also thought I could swing out to the Forks Township Dollar Tree because I need some items, and I’m trying to stock my kitchen on an extreme budget. I have $74 left in my wallet in cash, and anything in my checkbook is for the bills these days.
It’s free coffee with any purchase Monday at Dunkin, but I wasn’t in the mood for iced coffee and that particular Dunkin requires a key for the bathroom. I usually get three munchkins for $1.29 and feed them to the dog. But today, I opted for a Diet Coke from McDonalds. I could just go in the backdoor and use the restroom and leave, but I try not to be that person.
I opened my app and ordered a large Diet Coke for $1.49 plus tax and redeemed some of my reward points from those previous Diet Cokes for a hashbrown. Then I used my “Apple Cash” to pay the $1.58. I didn’t realize that I’ve never stepped inside that McDonald’s– it’s all reclaimed wood with a stone look and oversized cushioned stools at the table.
I headed over to the next plaza to visit The Dollar Tree and discovered they don’t have refrigerated cases. Perhaps because it’s so close to a Giant Food Store and/or because it’s a more upscale neighborhood. I spent $13.08 from my cash and got some staples, some candy and the cornerstone of one meal.
Guacamole Flavored Tortilla Chips
Potato Gnocchi
Hunts Garlic and Herb Sauce
10 flour tortilla
Sandwich slice pickles
Self rising white corn meal blend on clearance for 50 cents
Yoohoo for The Teenager to surprise her
Canned Peas
Canned Diced Potatoes
Black Licorice
Wallably Hot Cinnamon Licorice
(Which reminds me that I made the turkey hot dogs I bought at Dollar Tree last week. Eight hot dogs for $1.25. I fried them in the skillet until they were crisp and seasoned them with garlic pepper, crushed red pepper and smoked paprika. Even the Teenager had to say, “How did you manage to make these taste so good?”)
From there, back to campus to retrieve the Teen. We also stopped at CVS for our medicine ($1). The Teenager made wanting eyes at the Jelly Belly Candy Canes that I thought were $3.99. I picked them up because I had a $3 off coupon I knew would expire before we set foot in CVS again. It turned out they were $5.19! For candy canes! But after my coupons, they were $1.96.
Then we came home and I opened the package from Amazon, of my own books from my own publishing house because Amazon has them on sale so cheap right now I can get them cheaper from there versus shipped from the distributor.
I cleaned up the kitchen, tried to declutter, and then ate the rest of the hot dogs for lunch. After some correspondence with friends, I came out to the sunporch to finish my Diet Coke and let the dog enjoy the porchy porch.
Angel Ackerman 