Days 3-5

I know, I know, I’ve let us all down the last couple of days, but really, not every day could be as spectacularly photographically exuberant as Day 1 and Day 2.

What have we been doing to keep ourselves occupied? Well, more laundry, more kitchen cleaning, and then more of the same, for the most part. (Jacob has been blowing my mind with how capable he is in the kitchen — I have seriously shortchanged him in the chore department! There’s going to be a major shake-up in labor distribution when the girls get home….) With some minecrafting thrown in for the boy, and some computer work for the mom. I am working on an extremely fun project that I will hope to announce in the next few days — it’s the sort of thing that keeps me awake into the night, and then when I sleep, I dream about it in great and minute detail. I love that sort of thing, yes I do.

Yesterday was a trifle different. (For those keeping track that was Day 4). I had not been out of the house since Sunday, if you can believe that… but finally I was moved to alter my happy homebound habit when my big bro needed someone to drive him to the doctor. He’d been home most of the week too, and I was glad he was able to be seen. So Jacob and I set off on a sojourn to Avondale, then ended up driving back home because I’d forgotten my phone and had no way of knowing how long Jeff would be in with the doc – anywhere from 30-90 minutes is a pretty big window. So we drove back home, then back to Avondale, and then back home again (during which, as usual, I enjoyed some quality conversation with my son), and by that time it was time for ordering pizza. I had Little Ceasar’s in mind, but Jeff’s tastes lean toward a more refined version of the Italian favorite, and since he was buying, we ended up with Palermo’s (and got a free order of wings in the bargain). That gracious contribution made supper simpler on the day before payday, when my cupboards were bare.

Today was that day, the day which brings either a thrill of hope, or a chill of dread to many homemakers such as myself. Today was shopping day. Today, was WAL-MART day. Now I will admit to you that I have often rather enjoyed shopping day over the years. We have fun as a family, usually do a fast-food supper, and there’s a lot of goofing off and silliness while everyone pitches in (literally and figuratively). We usually get the job done in roughly an hour + a smidge when all hands are on deck, and are home and have things put away in time to make popcorn, sit down and watch a movie.

However, things were different today. For one thing, all my shopping helpers are in Montana (except The Boy). For another, since Paul had both a dentist appointment and was planning to work at Saint Vincent de Paul tonight, I knew we couldn’t do our usual family supper+shopping routine this evening after he got home. So I determined that The Boy and I would simply have to do the superhuman job all on our own.

I meant to get started this morning, but I put it off because…. I kind of was tending toward the chill of dread end of the spectrum as I contemplated the enormous task. However, by noon I knew it was only going to become more and more of a madhouse the longer I waited. So I disciplined my mind to the task of list making, and had Jacob type while I dictated. We were out the door by 12:35, stopped for a beverage on the way, and then made straight for Stuff-Mart. I figure we were inside by 1pm, and when I finally looked at my phone while we were in the checkout lane, it was 3:40. It was QUITE the corker of a trip, I can tell you that, and for these simple reasons:

I normally have three young runners that I send to the far reaches of the store for this, that and the other thing, which means that it takes me roughly a third of the time to finish the job.
On this trip, after procrastinating far too long, I had to bite the bullet and buy The Boy some much needed shoes. It’s bad enough when you have to choose, and then fit, just one pair on a hard-to-fit kid — but he needed a complete shoe wardrobe! So we had to figure out what kind of dress shoe he would actually wear, that would actually fit… that was the hard one, but we managed to find one size 12 wide slip-on style shoe that contented him. The running shoes weren’t as difficult – Dr. Scholl’s velcro closures were apparently the comfiest shoes he’s ever had on his feet. And a pair of deck shoes were fairly easy to find. Major bonus: a long-handled shoe horn, which he now thinks is the coolest utensil ever. 😀
When that was finally done we could move on to the serious shopping, and here is another reason why it was such a time consuming trip. I wanted Jacob to write down the price on every item (and how many we got) on the list, and he did so with great care… but it was not a speedy process by any means. I didn’t feel at all stressed by that, the only thing that made it a little rough was the last hour my back began to hurt.
Going through the checkout lane without my belt-and-cart loaders was also amazingly more laborious than I remembered from the many years ago when I used to do all the shopping myself. Wow, am I out of shopping shape!! It would have been more than I could handle if I had not had Jacob with me every step of the way, pushing the extra cart, helping with the loading, etc.

Well, finally we were DONE!! Me, Jacob, and our two carts, out of Walmart into the hot summer sunshine, loading everything into the even hotter van… Got the carts put away, jumped in and turned the key — click-click-click. Nothing. Dead battery!! Ok NOT COOL! In so many ways… Whipped out the phone (it barely had any battery either, but just enough) and called the husband. He was actually just leaving work by then, and said he’d come straight away. Now, “straight-away” from Scottsdale all the way to Camelback and the 101? That’s a pretty long drive. I settled in thinking shoot, it’s gonna be 45 minutes. I sent Jake to the back end to retrieve a beverage for us to share to keep from dehydrating. (I highly recommend the Bolthouse Farms Mango Smoothie… SOO refreshing!) Hubby pulled up next to me 25 minutes after I phoned him. The man can drive, no question! That had to be an autobahn worthy effort if ever there was one.

So we, and the groceries, were saved from a terrible fate, and got home in time to get the fridgables put away. And after Jacob finished the entire unloading job all by himself, I have him his just reward: a yummy N/A Strawberry-Banana Daiquiri: Strawberry-Banana smoothie from Bolthouse Farms, ice, semi-frozen strawberries, and a touch of Lime-ade on the top, in a lovely sugar-rimmed glass. He was very deserving, and loved his fancy drink! 🙂

I am so thankful for my men, both of them saved my bacon today in many ways. I am truly blessed!!

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