Cookies

It’s Friday and it’s early. The rain seems to have stopped for awhile and that’s a good thing. A break in the weather will be appreciated by all; especially the merchants who are hoping to see a flood of last minute shoppers. Every day brings a news story about the Christmas economy and quotes from some experts who say it is good and from others who say it is a disaster. I’m glad I don’t have to worry about it.

And speaking of merchants; I was out among them yesterday as granddaughter Meghan and I went shopping for odds and ends. First we had to visit Barnes and Noble, the book sellers, to buy a book that Laurae was giving as a gift. That was easy as there were few shoppers around at 9 and the book was in stock. Then we headed to Food Maxx to see if we could find some chocolate Almond Bark. I was hoping to make some of those chocolate covered Ritz cracker/peanut butter cookies and that was the one ingredient I needed. I already had some white chocolate, but my plan was to try and make some multi-colored cookies. Like a lot of plans, it didn’t go well; Food Maxx had no Almond Bark.

Then we went over to the pet store to buy an I.D. tag for the collar of my cat. This store was also empty and we spent a few minutes checking out the mice, rats and hamsters…would a stocking full of white mice make a good present?

We still needed the Almond Bark, so I decided to go where I was certain to find it. It was against all of my principles, but I knew that the white chocolate bark had come from the Wal*Mart store in Susanville, and I was going to have to go to the local Wal*Mart if I were to have any chance of finding it. So much for principles…so in we went. And then I find that this Wal*Mart didn’t have bark of any kind, white or regular chocolate. What a waste!

It was time to move on and I vowed (anew) to never darken the doorway of Wal*Mart again. We went to the nearest Raley’s and searched all of the aisles for the bark, but found none at all. A clerk told us that they had been sold out for a week or so. We headed home to Orland. But…since there was one more Raley’s store along the way, I made another stop to see if we could find the elusive bark. Of course not. Now I have to make a new vow; along with the Wal*Mart vow, I have to promise to shop for cookie making supplies at least 3 weeks before next Christmas.