Recycle this, 10% Tuesday

Today was recycling day in my own little part of the city and I'm not going to lie, I was worried. Dragging the recycling to the back lane in the throes of winter is not my strong suit. Most of it went out last week, but not all, in part because I think there was 3 weeks worth to go out last week. So I've been making the effort over the last week to drag the random cardboard boxes full of recyclables to the back lane. I'm lucky in that the garage next to mine isn't being used right now, so I was able to start stockpiling my boxes there, eagerly awaiting Recycling Day 4.

It arrived. Well, actually, first last night arrived. I pulled into the garage, looked next door, was please that the local scavenger guys have learned that there are no beer cans in my recyclables, thus there is no need to empty the boxes all over the ground, and then I remembered that the actual blue box itself was still inside. I don't know if you were out last night, but it was freaking cold. There was no hope of me going into the warmth of the house and then coming back out again. Fast forward to this morning. I'm pulling out of the garage and see the big pile of recycling. Craptastic. Well, I'm certainly not pulling back in the garage, turning off the car, unlocking the garage door, unlocking the house and then dragging the blue box out to the back lane. So, I figured that it would just have to sit there another week.

*sound the angels* Well, miracle of miracles, they still took it all away!! Hooray!!  I was fairly certain that there was some bizzare rule that involved the colour blue and if the blue box or a blue bag wasn't also out there, they wouldn't touch it. You know, in case the multiple cardboard boxes full of plastic and cans  and more cardboard weren't actually meant for them.

Sadly, I am one of only about 4 people in my back lane that recycles (we'll save the "is recycling really worth it when you factor in how far they ship it all etc etc" discussion for another time) and I give absolute credit to the guys in the truck for remembering that I'm one of them and possibly breaking protocol to pick up my stuff. A genuine thank you. Now who wants to bring my blue box out for me next week?

Today was Customer Appreciation Day at Safeway - now, since I have a steady diet of mostly cereal, this isn't a day that normally does much for me. However, today was an exception; I even remembered to bring my reusable bags.  I won't bother to tell you what I bought because it just makes me look like a crazy single woman who lives with her cat* but I will tell you that in an effort to not frustrate others I used the self-checkout so that I could be obsessive and pack everything into my bags and not hold up the line behind me. Of course my plan backfired somewhat.  You see, this is because I also had coupons, 10% Tuesday just wasn't good enough for me (I am a Winnipegger after all!) and if you have coupons you need the self-checkout monitor.

The employee who had the thankless job of monitoring all of us self-checkout folks (which really isn't self-checkout by the way, bloody machine rejects you every time you use one of your own bags and you have to wait for them to override it) claimed she had never seen so many. She clearly needs to watch that extreme couponing show. I only had 16 coupons, and 13 of them were the same. I did get 40 bonus airmiles (coupon), and saved an extra $15 off my 10% Tuesday shopping trip.

*I really do only have one cat and no rocking chair.