MARIE WUJEK MORE COLUMNS Advertisement

There are things in life I am obviously not meant to understand.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away -- as they say. Last week I went to the market and bought five really nice big apples for $1.29 a pound, which cost me $3.55 according to my receipt. Now we are talking some really good apples here.

This week when I went to get five more of the same apples, I was somewhat amazed at the price of those apples (in the same display as the week before, more than likely part of the same delivery), now a whopping $2.99 a pound. So, five apples would end up costing me over $8.

At $5 more for five apples, I decided I would pass. After all, 20 apples would cover the co-pay for a doctor's visit and another five would cover a prescription, so I was willing to take the risk.

A few months ago a five-pound bag of flour was 99 cents, now it's $1.99. Now this is plain old flour, not magical or special flour. 'Splain it to me, Lucy. Why is it that when you buy bullion in the Hispanic food aisle you pay less and get two extra cubes per box than when you buy it in the soup aisle? None of this makes sense.

Are food growers, manufacturers and supermarket chains all in cahoots to fleece the American people? Will they be the next group posting record profits?

Gas prices came down months ago. They are slowly -- like we don't notice -- creeping back up a bit. Therefore, the transportation costs have gone down for food delivery, so why haven't the prices followed suit?

You have to eat and you have to buy fuel, it is as simple as that. So it seems we are at the beck and call, if we want or need it, we will have to come up with a way to buy it.

Forty-five years ago my grandma would say, "The world's going to hell in a hen basket." It sure appears to be that way now.

Fuel prices start to fall and grocery prices skyrocket. When are we going to get some balance in our economy?

I will say my last trip to the grocery store, everyone I saw shopping had a grocery list. I overheard a gal tell her husband he couldn't get peanuts this month because they weren't on the list or in the budget. He would have to wait until next month. What a sad state of affairs we are living in today.

I make a grocery list for several reasons: I shop sale items; I only buy what I need; and if I don't make a list, I will forget the item I went there for in the first place.

I am not an impulse buyer. I have tunnel vision and know which aisle has what I'm looking for, unless it's toothpicks.

Our current economic crisis has made us more aware of what we spend, where we spend it and what we buy.

I often wonder how people on fixed incomes or those raising a family manage to feed themselves or their families. It would be a full-time job figuring out exactly how to live within a budget. With the cost of everything else on the increase, groceries appear to be the only expense where they have some leverage. It appears, for so many, the month lasts a lot longer than their money does.

With only two adults and two dogs in my household, my food bill has doubled. I see a lot of ramen noodles and pasta and very few prepackaged foods and meat in most shopping carts. I guess you would call it getting back to basics, not because we want to but because we have to.

I made a trip to Walmart recently, and I witnessed an elderly lady in a motorized cart trying with all her might to reach a bottle of syrup. I offered to get it for her and in the sweetest voice she thanked me for assisting her.

She asked me if I was the lady that wrote for the paper and I told her, "Yes, I am." She thanked me for my past columns, for identifying and understanding the perils facing not just the middle class but also poor folk like her.

She finds inspiration in my columns and believes as I do that things will get better -- we just have to have faith. She told me she prays every morning and every night -- she had to write down her prayers so she wouldn't forget anyone she wanted to bless or anything she was thankful for. She told me the last thing on her prayer list was thanking her higher power for keeping her 12-year-old refrigerator running.

I fumbled through my wallet for my business card, my eyes tearing up a bit, as you seldom meet people so genuine and who ask for so little. I told her she could call me anytime. She smiled and gave me a hug and asked me to keep writing.

Mary is a great example of "make us more aware, dear God, of little daily graces that come to us with sweet surprise from never dreamed of places," by Helen Steiner Rice.

Thanks, Mary, for being my daily grace. I've added you and your refrigerator to my prayer list. It is hard to stay positive in a negative world. Try to remember everything is temporary -- another chapter in our book of life.

I'm pretty sure the next chapter will be better.