04-12-03 @ 2:00 am EDT

On the plus side, our bathroom floor is considerably cleaner (although I wouldn't eat food off of it) and now smells like citrus juice.

We went to Wal-Mart, ostensibly to take pictures of the Very Big Cow. Ma insisted there was a Very Big Cow standing in the parking lot although Dad missed it, and we took the camera for proof. We found said Very Big Cow standing at the far end of the lot with a dairy sign next to it...her. Next to her. She had very odd metallic midnight blue eyes. (When I described this later to Dad he said, "That's not a real cow." Well, that, and the gigantic size, rather tipped me off...) I took a few pictures of the Very Big Cow (to quote me to Ma: "I feel like such the hick, taking pictures of a giant cow") and we went inside because the new Super-Hyper-Ultra-Mega-Gonzo-Lalapaloozaplex Wal-Mart opened the other day and I wanted to see if they had big bags of pizza rolls. And bird seed, for Dad has refused to buy more to keep the pet chipmunk at work fed when he got the thing hooked in the first place--it climbs up on his lap and glares at him because it has no food now. Poor thing. I must keep it fed so he can tell me more goofy stories about it.

Well, they did not have big bags of pizza rolls or bags of just sunflower seeds...nor did they have my chicken teriyaki Rice-A-Roni or bakery brownies, the other two things I wanted to get...but they did have the regular stuff...and a lot more...a flavor of Jakada I never knew existed...and instant mashed potatoes with GRAVY packets included...and wonderful, wonderful canned juice drinks, two for a dollar...and this new stuff called Voodoo Rain juice...and ice creams I didn't know existed...like four or five aisles of frozen goods alone...and potato skin chips, which I had just remarked the other day I missed buying at Glen's...needless to say we ended up doing our regular shopping at Wal-Mart rather than at Glen's. And the total came to $111--about as much as it comes out to at Glen's, BUT, Ma had also gotten a stuffed duck and a $14 outfit for my niece Rayne, and I did get a lot of drinks I never got before, so if we had bought just stuff we normally get at Glen's it would have been lower. We were skeptical, but crap, they really ARE cheaper. O_O

Needless to say I feel guilty for having "betrayed" Glen's...I really DO fear they are going to go under now if this is what Wal-Mart has to offer (as Dad said, the only thing Wal-Mart DOESN'T have is liquor--that's all Glen's has going for them now, I guess, that and Spartan foods, and Spartan has been having money trouble for a while now)...and I feel even worse for poor Checkout Lady. I missed seeing her this week, as she works at Glen's. I like Checkout Lady. The checkout person at Wal-Mart even looked similar to her, but of course she couldn't ask us, "What books are you buying this week!" like Checkout Lady always does, because she knows my buying habits so well. *sigh*

If Glen's goes under I hope Checkout Lady gets a good job at Wal-Mart. Then if they get a liquor license and chicken teriyaki rice and bakery brownies--and pizza rolls--they'll have everything that Glen's had. I could live with that.

You know what I just remember I forgot to get? Videocassettes. DAMN IT!