Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Food

I wish I ate better. I really do. I wish I could cook. I wish I cared enough to even try to cook. I wish I had time to care. I wish it was a priority to me. I wish I had the money to buy food to cook.

Yesterday, I was at WinCo, buying my weekly box of chocolate chip muffins. That's all I have one box of six muffins. Big spender of $4 and some change--and healthy eater, to boot.

The lady in front of me caught my attention. She had this bag on her shoulder:

I noticed because this is the very bag I've been coveting since I walked away from its pricetag in Portland back in November. I can walk away from the pricetag, but I don't know if I can walk away from the bag.
The woman seemed to fit the kind of person I'd LOVE to be. Casual, but put together ... dark framed glasses (she probably plays the guitar, too) and a grocery cart full of this:

And a whole lot of other similar, healthy, organic, yummy foods. Over $200 dollars of it, to be exact. And, as the checker was ringing her up, bike bag lady pulls out a few of these:

... and one of these ...

and several of these:

I don't think hers had these names on them ...

And she proceded to load all $200 dollars worth of organic cheeses and all natural ice cream into these bags. Wow. This woman ROCKS! I bought this EXACT bag in November with every intention of using it:

Clever AND economical. Why don't I use it? I have good intentions. I just don't often follow through. I found myself idolizing this woman. I coveted her food, her canvas bag with buttons sewn on, and her bicycle purse. As I stood there with my muffins, wondering if I should leave the line to snatch a bag of Cheetos from the shelf, I realized I needed to be just like her.

And then ... she proved me wrong. As the cashier handed her the receipt, the following exchange occurred:

bicycle bag woman: "You didn't get me the discount for bringing my own bags."

Kind cashier: "Oh, we don't do that anymore. We haven't done that for a couple of months now."

bicycle bag woman: "That's a ridiculous policy! What? There's no incentive for saving plastic?!"

Kind cashier: "I'm sorry."

bicycle bag woman: "Is there someone I can talk to about this?"

Kind cashier: "Umm ... I can call a manager, but he's--"

bicycle bag woman: "--Yes. Call your manager. I'd LOVE to talk to him about this."

Umm ... ugh, lady! Isn't saving the planet enough reward for your efforts? There has to be monetary incentive, too?

I paid for my muffins, and as I was pulling out of the parking lot, bicycle bag lady was loading her canvas bags into her Subaru Outback with the ski rack on top, accompanied by flustered young manager who apparently had more business to discuss than could happen inside the store.

I no longer want to be just like her. She's mean!

Here's another quick "coveting food" dilemma. I hate the food network. Seriously. Hate it. I can understand why people like it, though. It gives great ideas to the people who are likely to implement them. I am not likely--neither is mom. But mom still likes to watch it. Rachel Ray was on last night while mom and I were eating microwaved potatoes. I asked, "Why do we watch this?!! Rachel ALWAYS has better food than we do!" She changed the channel.