This was an interesting week for me, Costco-wise. I bought a bunch of stuff that I don’t normally get including a prescription and some contact lenses. Plus, I helped my mom get a new phone and cell service from AT&T through Costco, but that’s a whole other post (coming soon). So, here’s the run-down on what I bought this week at Costco.

• Landscape Fabric – We’ve decided to do a few landscaping projects around our yard and one of them is to add a pathway to our backyard. To do this right we know we need some of this landscape fabric to keep the gravel from sinking into the ground and also to keep the weeds from growing through our lovely new path. We were really excited to see a jumbo roll of this stuff at Costco because we realized that it would be enough to allow us to put it down in the other beds in our yard that need this, including a new one that we are thinking of adding this year. This is quite a roll, so you’ll want to have a big project that you’re undertaking. The roll is 4′x 220′ (880 Sq. Ft) with 60 fabric staples for $31.99.
• Rosemary Bushes – As part of our great landscaping project we are buying some plants, and have actually been wanting to get some herbs in our flower beds. So, we felt really fortunate to find these rosemary bushes at Costco. They were in great shape (much better than at the local plant buying places) and they smell so incredible! It’s amazing how fragrant they really are. The nice thing is that they can be trimmed up just like a regular bush and keep their foliage year round. They aren’t so great with cold from what I’ve read, so they might end up in containers, which would allow us to move them inside during the winter. But hopefully we’ll have fresh rosemary year round now. 1.5 gallon pot for $15.99.
• Welch’s Black Cherry Concord Grape Juice – Rarely do we get something from Costco that we wish we hadn’t. Unfortunately, this is one of those items. I’m not really a fan of grape juice, so this was mainly for Dave who likes the tart juices. Alas, this is both too tart and too sweet for him or me. No one enjoyed this. It’s almost like a tart cough syrup to me…with that cloying sickeningly sweet after-taste. In any case, I’m glad we had a $2.00 off Coupon for this because it is going to be sitting around for a while I’m guessing. 2, 96 ounce bottles for $4.99 ($6.99 with $2.00 off).
• Emmi Cave Aged Gruyere – If you’ve read my blog for very long you’ll know that I really love cheese (I’m not even from Wisconsin). This week Costco was totally playing to that by having a cheese demo, which is just more incentive than I probably need to buy a hunk of cheese. In any case, we tried a little piece of this Gruyere and it made us both want some. It’s a really nice Grueyere. Since it is aged for 12 months, it has a nice kind of earthy taste that is a little tangy but not too overpowering. It does make great fondue, obviously, but is also nice with some great fresh bread and olives. We actually went to a dairy this summer where they make this cheese when we were in Gruyeres, Switzerland (yes, it was like a little piece of heaven for me), so it’s like having a piece of our summer vacation. 0.69 pounds for $8.27 (that’s $11.99 per pound).
• 60 Hikes in 60 Miles: San Antonio and Austin by Tom Taylor and Johnny Molloy - This is a great guide book that we found while browsing around the large book selection at our Costco. We love to hike but sometimes have a hard time figuring out where the good hikes are close to us, and all of the details or even finding a good map of the hiking trails. This book seems to cover all of our needs with great descriptions and maps, including lots of information such as traffic amount on the trail, hike time, trail surface, and whether it’s a shady hike or not. All great things to know that I often find missing from other guide books. $10.49.
• Prescription Medications – This week I’ve been battling with strep throat (that’s why I haven’t been posting more). After having a sore throat and feeling like hell for a week thinking I just had some wicked allergies, I finally went to the doctor on Monday and got some antibiotics for what turned out to be strep, not allergies. Anyway, Costco is one of the most convenient pharmacies between my doctor and my house, so I figured I’d give it a try. It was really just like going to a regular pharmacy, only I think they were more busy than the place I normally go to. But while you’re waiting you have a great excuse to shop around for other things that you might need while convalescing. The biggest shock to me was that they take insurance, just like a regular pharmacy. For some reason this surprised me because I thought that they didn’t deal with insurance, unless you were enrolled in their Costco prescription drug plan (only for those that do not have prescription coverage with their regular insurance). So, at this point I’m thinking that I’ll be moving all of my prescriptions there since I go there once a week anyway, might as well combine my trips.
• Disposable Contact Lenses – I’ve been meaning to get some new contact lenses for a while now. I was on my last pair from my box and had been wearing them so long they were getting that dry, annoying scratchy feeling. All I had to do was give them my contact lens prescription from my ophthalmologist and after my information was all typed into their computer, the nice optician grabbed my 2 boxes and I was all good to go. What’s really nice is that next time I’m running low and in there shopping I can just swing by the optical department since they’ve already got my prescription on file. Couldn’t be easier. It’s also about $5 per box cheaper than my regular ophthalmologist’s price. Accuvue Oasys disposable lenses, 6 per box for $25.85 (there was a rebate of $30 for a purchase of 8 or more boxes).