Sunday, September 16, 2018

And Then The Lights Went Out



Mom and I were grocery shopping on Friday at a major grocery store (Loblaws/Superstore) and the power went out.  That's never happened to me before.  It looks deserted but isn't, was full of people shopping for the busy weekend.  Most of them went immediately to the tills.  Mom and I decided to continue shopping and by the time we got to the tills they had 3 of the 15 tills on auxiliary power.  They could take cash only at first, then realized they could take cc - only those with chips (no idea why).  It only set us back an extra half hour and I really did not want to go to a different store or come back the next day so we waited.  Kudos to the staff who kept the crowd organized and calm.  A few people left without paying immediately, what a  mess to put back those carts of groceries.  It turns out 3000 people were without power as I got home and we had none - it came on within minutes though.  Apparently a bird and a transformer had a bang up.  It was a bit surreal though, think zombie apocalypse.  In the end it reminded me that I always need to carry at least $100 cash at all times.  Usually I have between $20-60 cash but will ensure I have more from here on out.  And in the end I used my credit card.  I felt sorry for all those people trying to get into the store that had walked there or gotten rides there as it was raining and they wouldn't let any new people in until the power was restored.


This week I've been working on a major project to change web hosting with our company website.  Thank goodness we have a really good friend who is a computer tech to hire as our old web hosting company is shutting down with only 30 days notice.  I don't ever want that to happen again so we are going to be doing our own web hosting and just hiring techs(our friend for now) to help me fix/build it.  A real pain in the butt in our busy season.  Not very much time and the old site had a ton of issues I knew nothing about with poor security and outdated plugins.  Once we get the hosting transferred this week we will be rebuilding it again with many improvements.  We are just lucky that our friend is so knowledgable and trustworthy and that I worked with him before in my part-time job so know his skill level.

On the upside we are going away next weekend for 2 nights to Ucluelet with Buddy - it will be our 13th Wedding Anniversary on the 24th so we decided to go away for the weekend to celebrate.  We both need it.  I don't care if it rains the whole time, we can read, watch boats from the cabin deck, barbeque and if it doesn't rain do some hiking along the coast.

This week I was gifted a huge bag of overripe pears.  Mom and I made 14 jars of pear butter (like apple sauce then add pectin and can making it thicker) with cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  It tastes pretty amazing.  I have a bunch of blackberries in the freezer, I need to make some jam out of them asap so I have room in my freezer for a thanksgiving turkey.

I blew the grocery budget this summer so starting in September was over ytd by $180.16 so this month the budget is $575-$180.16 = $394.84 to try and catch up.  I am already at $349.99 so am hoping at least the reduce part of the overage by months end.  Our fridge and freezer are full but I need to buy a couple of things for our weekend away.

Hubby was away in Toronto this week so I managed to clean our entire house, wash carpets in the 3 rooms that still have carpets and then do the same at Mom's house.  I love having a clean house but it rarely stays that way.

And food for thought:  seen at Walmart last week near the checkout

If you are going to try and entice me to buy chocolate while waiting in the line to check out, do you really think you should be tagging it as an impulse category for me to see?  No, I didn't buy it :)

20 comments:

  1. I remember when a squirrel met a transformer and blacked out a huge section of Calgary!

    Impulse buys? I don't need encouragement, lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't need encouragement either, but usually my impulse buys include meat on sale, gee I know how to live it up, don't I?

      Delete
  2. Yum on the pear butter/sauce. Great gifts perhaps. I rarely have cash, but your story is a reminder of why I should.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I normally keep cash at home for a big emergency but don't think to take it out of the house - that has been corrected, now there is $100 emergency money in my purse that I am not to touch (except in emergency of course lol)

      Delete
  3. We had a transformer that was a favorite of squirrels. It sounded like a bomb going off. One day, I asked the guys why someone could not make a more secure transformer since we could put a man on the moon. We had much squirrel-transformer dust ups after that question.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't think they make transformers animal proof at all frankly

      Delete
  4. I would think that most malls and large stores would have back up generators, but I'm not sure how that works with the credit cards either.

    The pear butter looks yummy! I haven't had apple butter in years.

    You're a braver woman than I with the computer website. It's all beyond me.

    Enjoy your trip to Ucluelet!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This particular store has low level backup generators, a few emergency lights came on although there was still good light in the store due to skylights, thank goodness or there would have been more panic. As for the computer website, I have no choice, it is the lifeline of our company :(

      Delete
  5. Ooh, KitKats. We don't have those here. AND apple butter. We don't THAT here either. Power outages? Sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kit kats are pretty good but I don't need it staring me in the face that I need to impulse shop lol

      Delete
  6. The power went out at a Walmart I was in in Edmonton a few yeers ago. It took hours for the transformer to be repaired. They were only accepting cash at check out. We both carry between $100.00 to $150.00 cash with us just in case and I have a usually have more at home jut in case the banks shut done for whatever reason. Cash is king.
    Good job on the clean house but ouch on having all of that computer headache. Hmm I will be looking for someone next July to update my blog and plug ins etc. Do you think he might be interested?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He really doesn't do it normally on the side as has a pretty intense full time job - he is doing it as a huge favor to us, we are ever so appreciative as would have been paying through the nose as well as under the gun on time if we had gotten anyone else to do it.

      Delete
  7. Our transformer blows all the time. I am pretty sure one squirrel is the designated "Taps" player for his fallen comrades.
    I am taking your advice and will put a hundred in a secret compartment in my purse.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Squirrels, little rascals lol. Kind of like the Jim Carrey of rodents

      Delete
  8. As far as I'm concerned cash is king. I use the envelope system (embarrassing but true) and it has saved me a fortune. If it's in the bank account it risks being "borrowed", but if it's in an envelope you would probably have to break my fingers before I would touch it. My friend laughed and said "you have a Swiss bank account and you keep money in envelopes under the bed". Sad but true!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey, the envelope system works! Don't fix it if it isn't broken. That is funny about the Swiss bank account though lol

      Delete
  9. Too funny, but truth in advertising. They put all that tasty stuff there for impulse buying. But it doesn't feel good to have it broadcast for everyone to see. Actually has the opposite effect than desired by the marketing department. - Margy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I actually think that sticker was meant to be removed before the rest is added to the shelf but someone was a bit lazy lol. I only buy chocolate when I mean to buy chocolate......bakery items on the other hand are my impulse buy

      Delete
  10. A famous British TV chef did a series exploring why the Brits are getting so fat citing these chocolate displays by the counter being a large contributor - many shops have been shamed into doing away with them not that it bothers me, i hate the stuff!
    Your pears sound delicious!
    Have a fab trip. xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Canada just banned transfat (in things like margarine, will take a couple of years to be in effect) to help with the nutrition and diets...but if people just cared a bit more about their health it would make all the difference.

      Delete