during in a lull in the rainstorm i biked down to the galleria mall. my mission: to pick up a spare fruit juicer from macy's for my parents. the one they use at the cafe (for making things like carrot juice) is the jack lalanne's JLPJB power juicer. it retails for $140, on sale for $100, but this morning it was further discounted down to just $60. although their juicer works fine, they wanted a backup just in case, and this was a real bargain given the price.

unbeknownst to me, the galleria macy's is split into two stores, one for clothes and cosmetics, the other for home and kitchen goods. it confused me at first before i finally figured it out. all the kitchen tools and gadgets and appliances were piled in the middle of the store. there was so much inventory there was hardly any room between the aisles. besides the juicer, i also grabbed a 10-piece set of pyrex dishes - also on sale this morning for $13.99.

while paying for my things the clerk asked if i wanted to sign up for a macy's card. i didn't think my already heavily discounted merchandises were eligible, but the cashier told me everything i bought would receive an additional 20% discount. how could i say no? with just one other person behind me in line, i figured i wouldn't cause too much inconvenience. there was no forms to fill out, i just answered a few questions on the LCD keypad screen and i was all set. unfortunately by then the line behind me had grown to 6 people because the backup cashier was taking care of a customer with a crying baby and coupon issues. i was sweating profusely and not really paying attention while the clerk explained to me how the card works and my new membership savings.

outside the mall i called my mother to let her know i bought the juicer. she seemed disappointed when i told her i signed up for a macy's card. "you did what?" it wasn't the fact that i signed up, but in order to maximize the use of the new membership, i had a 48 hour grace period to get a 20% discount on everything i bought. she told me we'd come to the mall tomorrow morning to do some serious shopping.

with everything tied up to my rear rack with bungie cords, i slowly bicycled back. almost home, i decided to keep on going and go to the cafe instead, which i'd need to go later anyway.

the rain wouldn't continue until a few more hours later, so i had enough time to visit the porter square shaw's to see if they had my frozen lasagnas. somebody else must be a stouffer's fan because the lasagna shelf was ransacked. all that was left was five cheese and meat sauce; i was looking for italiano, the best of the bunch. i bought a meat lasagna anyway, just so my trip wouldn't be in vain. i also picked up a box of clementines ($5).

my mother told me this news last week and i only half-believed her, but a customer told her there'd be a michael's craft store opening in porter square in the near future. i was able to verify this fact today when i saw the "coming soon" sign hanging from where burlington coat factory used to be. if this is really true then no more lengthy runs to the assembly square mall to score some yarn! there will be a golden age of local craftiness! my only concern is the small yarn store across the street from star market. i'd imagine a michael's would only cut into their profit.

the rest of the day i stayed indoors, especially when it began raining. it was just some intermittent light rain, not even enough to pitter patter on the windows. it kept the temperature up though, and today we reached 57°F.

for dinner i boiled some meat tortellini and heated up some vodka tomato sauce.