Pumpkin was up at 5:30 this morning, so consequently, The Princess was as well. And of course, I was. You know what this means? It means there are three extremely tired females in this house right now, and NONE OF US CAN (or will, in the case of the little ones) NAP!
Because of the weird holiday weekend, Hubby didn’t grocery shop on Friday night as he usually does. He ran to the store Monday evening to get me some cereal, but it wasn’t until last night that we sat down and planned our meals for the remainder of the week and made a grocery list so I could grocery shop today.
I don’t normally do the shopping. I’m sorta not “allowed” to go. The main reason I’m a crappy grocery shopper is that I impulse shop. A lot. It’s so bad that I typically spend about $20 – 30 more per trip than Hubby would! Also, taking the two girls to the store is an adventure in and of itself, even more so now because Meijer has purchased all new shopping carts, and Pumpkin’s carseat won’t fit on them anymore! I have to put her infant seat in the back of the cart where groceries go — therefore, can’t really fit much in the way of groceries in there. It’s a pretty miserable experience.
I had a fairly short grocery list today and could have gone to a mom & pop store closer to home. That is what I should’ve done, because I really do not enjoy grocery shopping, or making it a prolonged 90 minute experience. Buuuuuuuuut, The Princess needed new sneakers, and I figured that I could get her shoes and groceries in one stop, and then be done with it. Have I mentioned, I’m not functioning well today?
We get to the store, and The Princess insists that she MUST have Dora the Explorer shoes. They didn’t have her size. Oh, okay, how about Barbie? They didn’t have her size. We settled for a pair of cute pink and white velcro shoes that light up – $19! I never spend that much on kid shoes. But I didn’t feel like walking out empty handed, because she was so tired, I knew that not getting shoes would have resulted in a pretty ugly meltdown.
New shoes on (and dirty snowboots in the cart), we proceeded to start grocery shopping. We hit the dairy/egg aisle and had a meltdown immediately. The Princess started chanting, “Chocolate milk! We need to buy chocolate milk!” Knowing that we have a full can of Nestle powder at home, I told her no. She shut the door to the cooler, beaning her noggin in the process and started sobbing. I thought she was crying about smacking her head, and was instantly hugging her and reassuring her, until she wailed, “I waaaaaaaaaant chocolate milk!” You have GOT to be kidding me! All that noise for chocolate milk – but I held my ground and we kept walking.
Our grocery list had ten items on it, and I bulldozed through the store ticking off the items on the list. We got to the checkout, paid for the groceries and shoes, and I went to dig in my purse for my car keys and…
THEY WERE GONE.
Immediately, I started that horrid nervous sweat, elevated temperature, panic feeling. I thought, “I’m going to have to call hubby and tell him I was stupid and lost my freakin’ car keys and he’s going to have to come get us.” Searched my purse twice, no luck. Searched my pockets. No luck.
Fortunately, some kind soul had turned them in to Guest Services, and I was able to grab the keys and get the girls into the car and on the way home. We were all tired, all cranky, and all ready to be home. I can’t believe I did something so unbelievably stupid!
I haven’t called Hubby to tell him, and probably won’t mention it. I’m sure he’d get a lovely laugh, at my expense, over that one!
The other moms and grandmas at the library and I had a discussion about the grocery shopping dilema, and we decided that some smart person sometime, somewhere, would come up with a drive-through window for people who cannot shop unless their kids are with them. Something where they give you a print out of staples and sales for the week and you can call in your list, and then just go pick it up at the window without having to unbuckle the kids at all.
All of us hate grocery shopping with the kids. We all end up going to the deli first for the free cookie. Then when that’s eaten up we have to contend with the “stay with mommy, don’t wander, no, we don’t need five boxes of yogurt, I can’t carry you blues.”
There’s got to be a better way.
Oh my goodness, I so know the battle. I’m sorry you lost your keys in the process. I’m sure my head just would have popped right off. When you’re hanging on your mom screaming for chocolate milk and her head pops off, do you continue to hang on her body or do you follow the head, since that’s the part with the ears?
I can so relate to this experience too! I liked the first comment that suggested a drive-thru grocery store 🙂 I wish they had those around here for just like MILK! What a pain if we only need MILK! Pack the kids, unpack them at the store, go in, get a cart, walk to the back of the store, pay, get back in the car (with 2 carseats to mess with) and get home only to have to carry them inside and all for what? A gallon of MILK!!?!
And when it’s snowing out? Ten million times worse!