My Friendly Neighborhood Grocery Store

Around the corner and down the street from my house is a little neighborhood market. When we first moved here, it was just a convenient pit stop to get a jug of milk or to buy an onion when I needed one for dinner. It is still convenient for those things, however, I soon realized that the market isn't just a pit stop. It is the neighborhood market. If a person can have love for a grocery store, then that's what I have. Love. I know I am not alone here. It is the place to go Saturday night an half-hour before closing. You might see your bishop or neighbor or old high-school friend there. You are certain to see some women in the ward getting their last minute items for Sunday dinner. It is a venue for neighborhood shopping and last minute socializing.

They have a little bakery, post office, copy machine, groceries, produce and many specialty items for each holiday. Whenever David doesn't "feel safe" (the feeling he gets whenever we are out of milk) I'll run around the corner. When David looks around the kitchen at 10:36 p.m. and realizes we are "out of cookies" he'll ask me to run to the store for Chocolate Chunk Scratch Cookies. These cookies are the main reason I run to the store at night right before they close at 11 p.m. They are really good (especially if they are warmed up for 12 seconds) but sometimes I wish the bakery never made them because they will probably kill me some day.

• $3.99- how much Chocolate Chunk Scratch Cookies cost

• $399- how much we probably spend on Chocolate Chunk Scratch Cookies each year

• 399- my blood sugar level (most likely) after eating them

• 399- how many calories are in each cookie

• 399- hours I spend at the gym each year as a consequence

• 39.9- my waistline if we don't stop the late night cookie runs