I Just Spent $44 on Baking Soda.

OK, maybe not just baking soda. But therein lies the problem! I found a recipe for orange cake and only noticed the missing baking soda after I had everything prepped. Figures. So, I packed up the boys and headed off to Trader Joe's for some baking soda.

Ready to go shopping with me? Here we go.

I walked in, and remembered we were also out of granola bars.

I'll get those once we get to the snack aisle. Mikey won't let me forget.

It went downhill from here.

OK. I think I'll make my grandmother's recipe for panqueques* tonight. I need ground beef, but I think I have everything else. [*similar to crepes. These are stuffed with a ground beef mixture and baked in sauce, like cannelloni] Ah, here we are. Ground Beef. Should I use turkey? It would be healthier... Meh. Screw it.

Oh, with The Mister home today I should pick up some extra sandwich meat. Well, if we're having sandwiches I better get bread, too. Oh. Look at that! Hamburger buns. I do have some hamburgers in the freezer for emergency meals. Maybe I'll just pick up some buns, too. Let's take a quick look at the ingredients. Hmm. Sweetened with honey. That's not too bad. How much are they? WHAT?! Wait a minute. Don't I have a recipe for hamburger buns in that one book? How hard can it be to make buns? Back you go, buns. Hah! I just saved $5. God, I hope I make those buns. Otherwise my ass will have to come back and get those stupid things.

Would you looks at that! Trader Joe's has that green casserole onion topping stuff that Frenchs' sells and it's not even the holiday's! I should make that chicken-rice-casserole thing for dinner this week. Let's look at the ingredients. Palm Oil?! Forget it.

OK. What did I need again? I have the meat. I have bread, sandwich fixings... I know there's something I'm forgetting. I'll just walk around the store and maybe it will come to me.

Oh, look! Here's that Trader Joe's Mandarin Orange Chicken everyone raves about. I should buy one in case I don't feel like cooking this week. Don't look at the ingredients. Don't look at the ingredients. Don't look at the ingredients.

Frozen vegetables. Well, I could buy these if I were making that chicken-rice casserole thing, but then I would have to use the green-bean-casserole-onion-topping-things and they have palm oil. It is a fast meal and Mikey eats it every time. But the palm oil is so bad. I wonder how much better the Trader Joe's version is than the Frenchs version? I never looked at the ingredients on the Frenchs can. So why be so hard on Trader Joe's for a little palm oil? Oh, alright. Just this one time.

What am I forgetting?!

Oh, crap! If I'm going to make that chicken-rice-casserole thing I need to buy chicken!

OK. Here we go. Fresh chicken. Where are the bags? They were over here just last week. This stupid store! They're always out of bags! Oh, bother. I'll just pick some up and hope none of the packages are pierced.

GAH! Chicken juice! Chicken juice! Oh gross! Crap. This is just perfect. Is there a God damned paper towel in the house?! No? Oh, that's ok! I'll just use MY JEANS. Disgusting. Sigh. Back to frozen foods. I'll get that big bag of frozen chicken.

One bag of frozen chicken. Check.

OK. Seriously what am I forgetting?

...

...

...

BAKING SODA! I NEED BAKING SODA! Whew. I almost forgot.

Rolling up to an empty check out line and what do I spy next to the register?

Oh, look! Granola bars. Whew. Almost forgot that, too.

And this, friends, is how I spent $44 on baking soda. Note, I didn't even have said baking soda until the very end and could have very well left the store without it. Lists? Child's play. I like to live on the edge. This is why I was so excited to read about Carrie's 5 dinner challenge. Five dinners we haven't made in a while to break us of our ruts and discover new recipes. Sounds fun, no? We'll see how I do. Tonight might not go so well. I'm a little tuckered out from juicing 264 oranges over the last 3 days. And my heartburn is so bad--from the aforementioned oranges--that I wouldn't be surprised if I opened my mouth and a red-hot stream of flames shot out like a fire breathing dragon.

Maybe I'll just make hamburgers tonight. Crap. I don't have any buns.

(The orange cake I made with the $44 baking soda)