It's bad enough that house prices and building prices are going through the roof and putting real stress on my dream of building my future retirement compound, but yesterday the reality of the shortages hit home.
The first mate is addicted to Costco Chocolate muffins. We buy the mix and match as match and match 2 pack every time we go there, which is way to often.
The admiral made the last run and said that she got to the store too early and they didn't have any chocolate muffins out.
My turn to buy was yesterday, and sure enough there were no chocolate muffins. When I asked at the checkout what the heck was with that, the checkout gal said due to the Chocolate shortage they aren't making them for the foreseeable future.

I KNow, I know first world problems, but ..................Oh the Humanity.

The things we have to put up with these days.

Whew, glad I stocked up on chocolate before having all my teeth pulled-- got 3 large bags of Ghirardelli squares, 3 big bags of Lindt Truffles, a 12-pak of Lindt Chili Dark bars.... A couple of granddaughters generally keep us stocked up on liquor-filled chocolates, but hmmm, it's been a while, time for a phone call....

Crazy times for sure. I am in the process of trying to purchase a new car (trying, and failing). OMG, car dealers act like they are doing you a favor just to speak with you. I have had two dealers who seem unwilling to take the time to order a new car for me. What happened to the good ole days when car dealers would hound you forever once they got your contact information? Not sure which is worse, being hounded or being ignored?

We have been thinking about vehicles but i refuse to pay the outrageous prices they are looking for right now. My brother paid 72k for an f150 hybrid. Nuts. Luckily everything we have is in good shape & we can wait for some deals to come back around.

You can gets cars now at MSRP (no discount, but not marked up). However, the issue is that I am running into is that the sales people are just about worthless. I am looking at a premium brand, where you would expect to get treated better. One sales person didn't even recognize the model that I was asking about. I have contacted about 5 dealers in the area, not a single person has actually been helpful. Nuts.

Think alot of the problem with dealers is all the sales people left over the last couple years during covid. Sales guy my brother bought his truck from was there less than a year & he had the most seniority.

With no inventory or need to make deals all the skilled sale people are gone.

Looking at trucks have been seeing some discounts now. Maybe 5k max .

That explains what I have been experiencing.

I usually purchase vehicles in the fall to get a good deal before the new models come out. This strategy is just not working out this year.

Makes me glad I bought my Forester back in 2019….bought her new.
Dealer called me a month ago and offered to buy it from me for damn near what I paid for it!!
I kindly said thanks but no thanks.

Good news, THings are finally turning around.
The admiral finally found Chocolate Muffins at Costco last night.
And there were still some Pumpkin Pies left as she was doing the last minute T-Day shopping.

Now if GM would start getting interiors on their Trucks to anything but Black I might start thinking about a new vehicle.



Happy Thanksgiving everyonel

I found Rotella oil today!

Ended up switching to Mobil1 Turbo-diesel truck formula last year when I couldn't find Rotella. Still have 5 gallons (or two oil changes) in reserve.
Best deal was found at Cal-Ranch, about $10 less per jug than I found at Autozone. Cleaned em both out, and glad I did.
Had to pay full price for the Camaro winterization Oil change this year when My youngest used up my stock of 5W30 for his truck.
Between the Cars, trucks and Boat I need to keep 6 different viscosities around.... 7 if I use high mileage blend for the Tahoe and his F150