Costco Is A Black Hole

Really. It is. You walk in there, and by the time you manage to suck yourself out of there, everything in your wallet has been left behind.

I swear, they must pump something in to the air when you walk in that lowers your inhibitions and opens your wallet. That or maybe I need to not go there after my belly dancing class, considering I'm usually pretty hungry by that point.

Today I went there for one thing. I should know better. Who goes to Costco for just one thing? Unfortunately, Little Miss had a string of streak accidents yesterday while at my parents' house and was out of underwear (and when I mean out of underwear, I mean she was wearing a pair of Mister Man's).

Raise your hand if you think I succeeded in my mission (meaning purchasing toddler girl underwear and only that)? No one? Really? Ok, fine. Who thinks I succeeded in at least part of my mission (getting the toddler underwear but maybe having a few other things sneak in)? You all are awfully trusting.

*sigh*

I succeeded in none of it. As I got near the section where they stock the underwear, I passed an endcap that had educational books. (Not that I didn't just buy a ton of books from Usborne last week or anything.) They teach skills from Pre-K through (I assume) elementary school. I saw grade 4 in there, but really didn't pay attention except to kindergarten and grade 1. The books concentrate on handwriting (letters and numbers) and telling time, etc., which is something that Mister Man loves to practice. So those two books went into my cart.

As I searched where the underwear should be, I saw some really cute socks. Little Miss could use some new socks, as she's starting to outgrow her old ones. So yeah, they went into the cart, too.

I didn't see any underwear there, so I searched the clothing stacks thinking maybe, just maybe, they'd moved it rather than stopped carrying it. No such luck, but I did find a cute little dress for me. And I need some new summer dresses. Ok, maybe I don't need it, but I could really use it. Or so I convinced myself. Item number three entered the cart.

I gave up on the underwear at that point, and the smart thing to do would be to walk out then. But it was a Saturday morning, and they had samples. And I was hungry. So I meandered up near the samples. Actually, they had some really good ones. The croissants were so soft and pillowy. The peaches unfortunately weren't very ripe. The gouda was incredible, but I talked myself out of it knowing that I already had a bunch of cheese at home (yay, me!).

The rest wasn't as memorable, probably because I was busy filling my cart. The blueberries looked lovely, so I bought the two and a half pound container (granted, I'll eat the majority of those in the next two days -- I love blueberries).

And the cherries were relatively inexpensive, so the three pound container was an easy sell.

Ditto with the bananas, as they actually had ones that were fairly green. Yes, I'm unusual in that I like bananas only before they're fully ripe.

On Wednesday, I had grilled some pineapple for supper swapping but didn't have enough for my family. My husband was jealous that the other two families were getting it, so I had to buy more pineapple for us, right? Tomorrow night's dessert.

Last night, we ate at a neapolitan pizza, which was fantastic. I honestly thought about getting a second pizza for dessert. (I didn't btw -- but I'd had only oatmeal and one of the small cup of rice soups before that and I was starving!) I realized that I had yet to make pizza on the grill this year, so I have to do that soon. I have pretty much everything I need to make the adult pizzas, but I was out of mozzarella for the kid pizzas. Yep, the two pound block of mozzarella came home with me.

I searched for Nutella then, as I'd recently discovered that they had stopped carrying that, too (BOO!). I didn't find it, but I passed the dried fruit and realized that we were out of my dried cherries for my granola. Guess what happened.

Then I remembered a friend of mine telling me about a Morningstar product that was made from spinach and a great treat and had been sold at Costco. I searched and searched and found no spinach treats. I did, however, find an item that appears to be in the process of being discontinued -- chicken and vegetable risotto. I love risotto. I make it myself, and it's relatively easy to do. But I never make it in the summer, as I hate having my stove on for that long heating up the house. This product was precooked and just needed to be heated. At the about-to-be-discontinued price, I had to try it.

Darn Costco. Tell me I'm at least not the only person this happens to. Granted, nothing I bought will go to waste, but I went in there for one thing and one thing only!

Of course, I also saw the rotisserie chickens at Costco. I didn't buy one, as I knew that Caputo's had them on sale for $3.98 per (as opposed to Costco's still relatively decent $6.99). At Caputo's, I did well. I bought only the chicken and the butter on sale for $1.98. Even though they have incredible produce, I managed to restrain myself.

Then I had to go to Target to look for some laceup gym shoes for Little Miss for her soccer camp for next week. I eventually found some, but not before I found a few other things. Fortunately, girls' toddler underwear is still carried by Target, so I was able to cross that one off my list.

See what Costco caused? Fortunately, I think the effects have worn off, and I no longer feel the need to find things that I could use but don't need. Well, at least for the moment!

Edited to add: After all that shopping, would you believe that when I went to make a three cherry cobbler type dessert (I didn't use a recipe, so it doesn't have a name yet) dessert, I was out of cornstarch and had to send my husband back to the store? Oops.