Bringing Out My Inner Caffeine Addict...

Otherwise known as... Breaking Down and Going to the Dreaded Big Box Store of Pain...

I will admit it... for political reasons I don't like to shop at Wal-mart.  I believe their employees have the right to a forty-hour work week and health insurance.  Believing this, I am aware that I have the right not to shop there, and vote my conscience with my feet.  That said, I find myself at My Small Town's Wal-mart at least twice a month.

I am ashamed.... and truthful. 

The frozen blackberries at Wal-mart are cheaper than Publix's frozen blackberries, and recently Stonyfield Yogurt was bought by Dannon, creating a miserable void in my four-pack of organic Greek vanilla yogurt. 

It's killing me.

Okay, I'm exaggerating, just a wee bit, but it really is bothersome not being able to buy something that I had become accustomed to having for my morning breakfast.  I am a creature of habit, and eating the same thing for breakfast every weekday morning is comforting. 

I like not having to think about what's for breakfast at six a.m.  Doesn't everybody?  At least, everybody forced to eat breakfast at six because they report to work before seven? 

The counselor formerly known as Jenchan never drank coffee on weekday mornings, but having to be at work at seven in the morning has brought out my inner caffeine addict.  I am sure that My Small Town High School colleagues feel my pain.  (That said, I can technically leave work at 2:45!  I love that!  Do you know any teachers who actually leave when they can?  I attempt this feat at least once a week...)

Anyway... back to the yogurt void.  I knew that Wal-mart also carries Stonyfield products, so I was hoping that they might still carry the Greek vanilla four-pack.

They do not. 

I did, however, come away with a couple containers of Key Lime Greek yogurt, which has been raved about on the Stonyfield Facebook page.  (Yes, I am that much of a geek.  I freely admit it.)

That's enough yogurt talk, don't you think?

I had a great day at work today, seeing a project I've been working on come to fruition.  I get a great sense of accomplishment when an idea that had come to me in the shower actually happens.  After work, I came home, changed, and took my run at My Small Town Lakefront.  Today I was prescribed three miles by the training plan I am using for the half-marathon to be run in January.  It was a great three miles, and I finished strong.

I had run (no pun intended) into a friend from My Small Town Elementary School at the start of my afternoon jaunt.  He ran four miles and finished long before I ended my third.  Nothing makes a girl feel slower than running three miles in more time that it takes a guy run four.  Then again, he is a P.E. coach, with muscular legs, and very little body fat to be found.  Like my boot camp instructor, Chad, Three-Letter- Last-Named P.E. Coach is a machine. 

I will never be a machine.

That said, I envy those who are.

At the completion of my run, I drove to the dreaded Wal-mart.  You know, I still disagree with their business practices, but I was fortunate to run into two former colleages (one of which told me how much she enjoys reading Single, further enlarging the size of my ever-growing cranium) and start out in second place at the checkout line.  Wal-mart may not be where shopping is a pleasure, but it doesn't seem to be as painful as it used to be.

Or maybe I just got lucky.  What do you think?