"THE AMAZING RACE: WALNUT RELAY"

The 'Frugal Fashionista's' feeling a little 'nutty' lately and is taking her show on the road in search of what else? The perfect 'nut' at the perfect 'price'. And at '99 cents a pound' what a steal! Yes folks, I've gone where no fashionista has ever gone before...*cue theme from Rocky here*...to Highland Farms to do some 'walnut hunting'.

For this adventure in shopping I needed the expertise of my trusty partner in 'daily specials' crime. The Frugal Fashionista Sr. extraordinaire herself (also known as my Mom) by my side. We entered the store bright and early on Saturday morning which is reminiscent of the DVP at rush hour both in and out of the parking lot. The reason? The flyer indicated it was a only a weekend sale so we had to make sure we didn't leave the store empty handed no matter what the cost.

After popping in a quarter to release the cart from its confines, the beast within me was unleashed as I pushed the getaway buggy through a crowded produce section like I was hell on wheels. We had our sensible shoes on and nothing was going to stop us. Nothing and no one. As we made our way to the back of the store we noticed a flurry of activity. This is how we knew we'd located our target. We then assessed the situation looking for a possible opening on how to approach the green bin. It had garnered so much activity it looked like a rock star surrounded by hundreds of groupies looking for an article of clothing to strip off and take home as a souvenirs. They're animals I say! Animals!

I park the buggy alongside shelves of assorted nuts and watch in awe from the sidelines. By this time the Master (my Mom) puts on her glasses and is making her way into this chaotic mess. She casually slips herself with ease between a fortress of people carefully guarding the legumes like their life depended on it. Armed with several plastic bags in hand she's only one step away from getting her hands on the prize. Walnuts!

A multicultural mosaic of various dialects (Italian being the most prominent) could be heard echoing around us, all of which have the same goal in mind. A tiny opening in the crowd provided mom the window of opportunity to slip her fingers into the bin allowing her to fill her bag. This prompts the bargain hunters to step aside as she takes her rightful place at the display. Handful by handful she successfully executes filling not one, but four bags of walnuts before our nutty adventure comes to an end. Yes, my mom's truly an inspiration to watch cause she's a supermarket pro and it sure shows. I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy!

So in the end, it only took two trips to the car and four separate check-outs (it was one bag per person) so that we wouldn't get scolded by the cashier (like the couple in the check-out next to us which was embarrassing to say the least) but being they're always $2.99 a pound it was well worth it.

This is one of those moments taken right out of the Mr. T handbook of bargain hunting. He'd say, 'I pity the fool' who pays regular price! Grrrrrrrrr!