Friday, February 29, 2008
Time Travel and Other Stuff
Here we go...headed into the weekend again!
Since I do my grocery shopping on Thursday's I am usually ready for hubby's request for food on Friday mornings. This morning I baked some biscuits and cooked some eggs with cheese on top to make biscuit sandwiches.
His lunch and coffee were ready. The children kissed him and we waved him off to work with smiles.
Ahhh! I love it when a plan comes together!
Yesterday was grocery day. I admit that grocery shopping is not a favorite activity of mine. I have read some blogs where they give the feeling that if they had no other obligations in life they would stand around in the grocery aisles calculating their savings until they were forced to go home and sleep.
I have no such desire. Don't get me wrong. I love to help my husband save money. l love to feed my family. I love to plan my menus. I just don't relish the time spent in the grocery store; especially if I have to go to Stuff Mart for some reason. When I emerge from Stuff Mart I feel like a mole coming out of the ground. My eyes hurt in the sunlight and I have to squint and scurry to the car. My brain gets on some sort of short circuit where I can't hear anything but loud white noise...the mix of unpleasant music, babies crying, registers clicking and hundreds of people talking. I also feel like I've been gone from regular society for an unknown amount of time. Like a time traveler that no one knows was gone. The crackling noise in my head has to die down before I can understand normal people talking again. It's very disconcerting to be on the sidewalk in front of the mammoth store that just stole a large chunk of my life and then have my phone ring....
Ring!
Me: Uh, Uhm...He..He...Heellllooo?
Daughter: Mom, when are you coming home? I mean, I hope you aren't coming home yet. I'm having fun doing crafts and I don't want to clean it up yet. The babies took their diapers off and broke some stuff....but it's fine..." Her voice trails off.
I try to answer with English but my mind is running on some kind of holding pattern and it takes a few words to get into gear.
Me: "Uhhh... I just... coming... out store... I can't...uhhhmmm... remember where I parked.... How long have I been gone anyway?"
It usually takes me 15 minutes or so to shake the side effects.
I am very pleased to say, however, that yesterday I did not have to visit Stuff Mart! I went to Kroger, which is a notch or 2 better. They were having one of their regularly scheduled 10 for 10 sales. I can do those. I can stock up on essentials and basics while the prices are low. In fact I absolutely love to do that. I have shopped for this family for more than 19 years. So I pretty much know what we need, I use a list to remind me of what is on the menu but for essentials I already know the list in my head. Yesterday, my cart was loaded with bags of onions (3 lbs for a dollar isn't too bad) and other basics. You gotta watch those sales though! They try to trick you into buying something for a dollar a can -just because it has a bright yellow sticker declaring 10 FOR 10 DOLLARS-!!!...when the brand right next to it is only 75 cents per can at regular price!
I made it out of there with all the groceries for this week plus lots of stuff for the coming month and I spent less than my budgeted grocery amount! Hurray! That means I have a teensy bit of money to use on something else. Like, add to my envelope of savings for a few new school books that I hope to purchase.
Late last night Osprey called. He has to call late because he's so busy right now that he has no other time slots available....I remember being young...
Anyway, we were up late talking about stuff...you know...plans for life and next year --college? no college? ...jobs, classes and grades and also, he's planning to go on a school organized mission trip to Peru this summer for which he has to raise his own support. I'm just getting used to him being in another state and now he wants to go out of the country for more than a month ...somebody help me breathe...my baby isn't a baby anymore...
Since I do my grocery shopping on Thursday's I am usually ready for hubby's request for food on Friday mornings. This morning I baked some biscuits and cooked some eggs with cheese on top to make biscuit sandwiches.
His lunch and coffee were ready. The children kissed him and we waved him off to work with smiles.
Ahhh! I love it when a plan comes together!
Yesterday was grocery day. I admit that grocery shopping is not a favorite activity of mine. I have read some blogs where they give the feeling that if they had no other obligations in life they would stand around in the grocery aisles calculating their savings until they were forced to go home and sleep.
I have no such desire. Don't get me wrong. I love to help my husband save money. l love to feed my family. I love to plan my menus. I just don't relish the time spent in the grocery store; especially if I have to go to Stuff Mart for some reason. When I emerge from Stuff Mart I feel like a mole coming out of the ground. My eyes hurt in the sunlight and I have to squint and scurry to the car. My brain gets on some sort of short circuit where I can't hear anything but loud white noise...the mix of unpleasant music, babies crying, registers clicking and hundreds of people talking. I also feel like I've been gone from regular society for an unknown amount of time. Like a time traveler that no one knows was gone. The crackling noise in my head has to die down before I can understand normal people talking again. It's very disconcerting to be on the sidewalk in front of the mammoth store that just stole a large chunk of my life and then have my phone ring....
Ring!
Me: Uh, Uhm...He..He...Heellllooo?
Daughter: Mom, when are you coming home? I mean, I hope you aren't coming home yet. I'm having fun doing crafts and I don't want to clean it up yet. The babies took their diapers off and broke some stuff....but it's fine..." Her voice trails off.
I try to answer with English but my mind is running on some kind of holding pattern and it takes a few words to get into gear.
Me: "Uhhh... I just... coming... out store... I can't...uhhhmmm... remember where I parked.... How long have I been gone anyway?"
It usually takes me 15 minutes or so to shake the side effects.
I am very pleased to say, however, that yesterday I did not have to visit Stuff Mart! I went to Kroger, which is a notch or 2 better. They were having one of their regularly scheduled 10 for 10 sales. I can do those. I can stock up on essentials and basics while the prices are low. In fact I absolutely love to do that. I have shopped for this family for more than 19 years. So I pretty much know what we need, I use a list to remind me of what is on the menu but for essentials I already know the list in my head. Yesterday, my cart was loaded with bags of onions (3 lbs for a dollar isn't too bad) and other basics. You gotta watch those sales though! They try to trick you into buying something for a dollar a can -just because it has a bright yellow sticker declaring 10 FOR 10 DOLLARS-!!!...when the brand right next to it is only 75 cents per can at regular price!
I made it out of there with all the groceries for this week plus lots of stuff for the coming month and I spent less than my budgeted grocery amount! Hurray! That means I have a teensy bit of money to use on something else. Like, add to my envelope of savings for a few new school books that I hope to purchase.
Late last night Osprey called. He has to call late because he's so busy right now that he has no other time slots available....I remember being young...
Anyway, we were up late talking about stuff...you know...plans for life and next year --college? no college? ...jobs, classes and grades and also, he's planning to go on a school organized mission trip to Peru this summer for which he has to raise his own support. I'm just getting used to him being in another state and now he wants to go out of the country for more than a month ...somebody help me breathe...my baby isn't a baby anymore...
Labels: Another Day, Family
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2 Comments:
I love it when a plan comes together too! I also love those grocery sales, but you are so right, you do have to be careful to still compare prices.
I would be having a hard time breathing over a month long trip out of the country too. Many prayers for you both!
I had gotten away from shopping at StuffMart when we moved to Memphis because the one closest to us is just awful. And now with dealing with celiac disease, I have to spend more money on food than before...StuffMart has come back into my life.
I know what you mean about coming back into the light. Seems I get dehydrated shopping there & can not get through it without bottled water, LOL. And it takes me forever it seems to shop. BUT it does save me money & I find that store brands usually kick name brands butt for price. One reason I was never a big coupon user, I could still find store brand cheaper.
I love it when I get to the check out line & find out I spent less than budgeted, feels like I did something BIG for my family, which I did. And now with our gluten free diet, I have actually squealed out loud when I find a new gluten free item in the store!! Geeky huh?
Isn't it funny how our lives are so different than what we may have thought they'd be when we were teenagers? If anyone would've told me I'd get giddy over a new food item at StuffMart, I would've urged them to seek psychiatric assistance. But such is life, I love it, love my family and it's all worth it.
Nice blog!
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