Rita's, Furloughs and other recession anecdotes

RITA'S TOUR 2K9:

In celebration of the first day of spring, all Rita's franchises give away a free small ice to every customer. And our posse saddled up to tour the Ritas of Middlesex county to claim what was rightfully ours-free ice.

We hit four in total: Edison, Middlesex, South Plainfield and Bridgewater. The Edison location had the longest line and we waited about 20 minutes before getting our ices. Some teenager working there handed out samples to the line, but ran out as he came to us and didn't come back. Punk. I got a vanilla chip creme ice, while everyone else got Georgia peach. The vanilla one was OK. Kind of milky.

The Middlesex Ritas had no line at all, but all they had left was Pina Colada. We took it, but I wish I hadn't. It was overly sweet and the pineapple flavor made me sick to my stomach. I ate maybe 3/4 and started wondering if I could continue on with the trip.

At the South Plainfield Ritas, the line was again long, filled with kids and soccer moms. I got a cherry ice at this location. It was a standard cherry ice. I only ate about half of it.

The final stop was Bridgewater, and we got to the line like 10 minutes before closing. Basil finished his previous ice while standing in line for a new one. My final ice was a mint chocolate chip creme ice and it was really good. I again only ate about half. Everyone else got sweet tea flavored ice and said how amazing it was, which quickly changed over to saying that it tasted like sweetened pool water.

We all congratulated ourselves for actually sticking to our guns and seeing this plan through, but we didn't count on how sick we'd feel afterward. We all were on a sugar high after the first ice, but by the time we got back to Highland Park, we were all in a sluggish coma. Next year we're going to stagger the locations, one every two hours or so. Next year's free ice day also falls on a Saturday, I believe, so we can start way earlier than 8 p.m.

Before you start saying we took advantage of a good thing, keep in mind all Rita's are franchise owned so we're not taking more than our fair share from each location. Also, every location budgeted out a certain amount of ice to be given free, so we didn't cut into their weekly reserve: At the first location, the kid in front of us got the last of the passion fruit, which we were going to order. At the fourth location, I got the last of the mint chocolate chip. Also, we're in a recession and I got my furlough paycheck yesterday. I'm going to be looking for promotional food giveaways more often!

Other upcoming free food days of note include:
Free slurpee day at 7/11: July 11
(Dunkin Donuts, Burger King and Wendy's all have annual free promotion days too, but I'm not seeing them advertised yet.)

Also: The Reverend also blogged the Rita's adventure. Read all about it here.

Furlough, Day 2

I'm trying to plan my furlough days, so I keep myself as entertained as possible this week, while spending the least amount of money possible.



Yesterday, Lewis and I woke up and had brunch with his parents, followed by a walk around Highland Park. In the toy store, I was struck with the idea to go to IKEA to look at picture frames and root around the discount room so off we went. And in what I consider to be an attempt at circumventing a day of shopping, Lewis suggested we go to the next Turnpike exit and take the Path into NYC. So we did that.



It was starting to rain as we got out of the 23rd st. station, but it was nice and warm, so it didn't bother us. We walked to Fish's Eddy on Broadway and 19th, where I was overcome with joy at handling hundreds of glass and porcelain housewares. I walked outta there with a salt cellar in the shape of a duck, and a serving platter in the shape of a piece of green notebook paper, marked down to $6 from $24. See?



The little blue cow is a gift for Lewis's mother, because she likes blue glass.

After Fish's Eddy, we continued downtown and stumbled upon a Pinkberry, where we both indulged in cups of frozen goodness. I had mine with shaved white chocolate, which adds a snappy crunch. I love the texture of crispy food.

Today, I cleaned. I finally finished getting all of my stuff properly put away, wheareas a lot of it was just thrown in closets to get it out of the way. I finally set up my bookshelf, took all my shoes out of their boxes (and discovered a cute pair that I haven't worn in two years. Love when that happens.) vaccumed, put up a new shower curtain, scrubbed the kitchen, and threw out a ton of shit that should never had made it here in the first place. I have a rule-If I bring new things in here, some of the old things have to go. This may be boring to whoever is reading, but I love throwing things away. It's a small thrill to have that space back again so I can cram it full of newer, shinier things.

Tommorow, I go to Middletown for the day, and Wednesday, I am going to Costco with Rebecca (I think). Friday should entail another movie marathon at Casa de Gapin con Leela, because it's Friday the 13th!

So, if anyone wants to hang out this week, give a holla. I am around and looking for adventures.