Folding Shopping Carts

Greece Hack #1: Invest in a folding shopping cart immediately. 

I don't usually support idolatry, but I really, really love this cart.

I've been wanting one of these bad boys since we arrived. It's hard to haul around grocery bags by hand, and we're still going to be without a car for a while. It's been impossible for me to find one in the stores, which is weird, given that every single person in the whole entire country seems to have one. I briefly considered stealing a cart from one of the old Greek ladies, but those women are tough, and they scare me to death.

Behold, a miracle occurred. Phil's departing coworker came walking into work the other day with this cart, and offered to give it to me for free. I practically cried. We tested it out last night at the grocery store. It worked beautifully. I decided to take it for another spin today to pick up some housewares. 

Look at that fantastic cart holding all those things for me.

If you really want to stand out in Greece, take a walk in the middle of the day, in the middle of summer, in the middle of a heat wave, to the middle of an upscale mall, with a laiki grocery shopping cart, and buy a bunch of cheap coasters. I'm sure they were wondering who the idiot shoving a yoga mat into a laiki cart was, but the joke's on them because this cart is amazing.

Anyway, I went to a store called Jumbo. It reminds me a lot of the recurrent dreams I have where I'm in a store with lots of things that I want and everything is so, so cheap. See also: Big Lots. Here are the highlights:

Cabinet liners, place mats, and coasters, so I don't destroy this apartment.

P.S. Here are all my coasters, so far.
Phil brought back the ones on the right from his trip.
Maybe he should be the decorator. 

Party masks! They reminded me of that scene in Breakfast at Tiffany's,
when "Fred" and Holly spend the day doing things they've never done before.
That truly is the sole reason I bought these.

Here's that yoga mat. I want to start practicing again. Bella is dubious.
Have a little faith, Bella.

I also bought a hose and a rug and some medical tape, but those pictures weren't pretty. I'm going to watch Breakfast at Tiffany's, and see if there are more things I want to buy. Happy Tuesday!

jj