12.01.2008

deals, delight, discovery

All good things must come to an end...

Going to my mother's house is always a delight. The kids wake up, I send them out to Grandma and I stay in bed. I have good intentions of helping with the mealtime dishes, but she always has them done before I even get up out of my chair. All of the classic, perfect meals from my youth were laid before me, for seven straight days. Two nights in a row, I went out without my usual accessories of 3 small children. The first night, I called, checked on the kids, thought of them throughout dinner and hurried back to Grandma's house.
Night number two involved some shopping.....for myself! I was slowly, methodically looking through each and every rack of clothes. My husband, exasperated with my leisurely perusing, asked what was taking me so long.........
Do you know how long it had been since I entered a store without a child in tow? I don't know either, but a very, very long time. I didn't have to stay near the center of the aisles, to ensure little sticky hands did not grasp things they shouldn't. No one needed to go potty, right now! No one forgot to tell me they needed to go potty before it was too late.
Of course, there was a down side too. My usual shopping adventures include a constant dialogue regarding everything around us. This keeps the kids from getting too distracted and delays the inevitable "she's squishing meeeee!" "he won't scoot oooooverrrr!" from inside the shopping carts. I found myself creating constant pre-school dialogue with my husband. I think he thinks I'm nuts. Oh-well. After 8 years of being married to me, I don't think he was too surprised. Oh look! I see Cinderella shoes over there. Look at all the colors of shirts. How many colors do you see?
He has commented recently that I talk to him like a child..... I have strongly disagreed. I am afraid that this post solidifies his correctness and my need for daily adult interaction. I digress.
My once-forgotten shopping skills were re-discovered. I found these jeans for $8.75 and these jeans for $14.99. Thank you. That is right. Camille is back. All thanks to this store.

Shopping without my children. I was giddy. Dare I say I almost skipped down the aisles? It was heaven. Yes, I do in fact imagine heaven to include my children whom I adore and can't handle being away from, but interspersed with mini-shopping trips while Grandma tucks the children safely into their beds.

We arrived back to our own home last night. For once, we had left it spotless. Coming home was so nice. The kids tried to figure out who had painted our walls and cleaned while we were gone. We should clean more often. Along with our bare counter tops and floors, the cupboards and fridge are also empty.
How much nutrition have my children received from their 3 meals they have had since returning? Peanut butter and apricot jelly, meal 1.
Peanut butter and raspberry jam, meal 2.
Peanut butter and honey, meal 3.
I am all about variety.
I think we have to go to the grocery store this afternoon. Back to reality, shopping with 3 children and playing a competitive round of "I spy with my little eye...." in the produce aisle.

What is on your "back to reality" schedule today?

9 comments:

  1. Unpacking. Lots and lots of unpacking. We moved on the day after Thanksgiving, so we've spent the past few days unpacking, and crawling over,around, and through boxes of varying sizes.

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  2. Back to being a single mom while the hubby is on minor deployment. *sigh* I miss having someplace to warm my toes in the middle of the night.

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  3. I was a bit sad sending Isaac to school today. I liked having everyone home :(

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  4. Now that my parents are gone and my hubby is back to work I just realized that our place is a mess and unorganized... Ugh! for a Monday.

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  5. My back to reality goes like this. I had surgery on my foot last Tuesday, and so hubby took the week off. I've had everyone pretty much catering to my every need...house has been cleaned, laundry and dishes done, ice packs brought to me while I laid around with my foot up and high on Vidodin. Today though, kids went back to school, hubby went back to work, and I had to figure out how to manage everyday life while hobbling around on a gimpy foot. Sigh.

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  6. My dad and his girlfriend left for the airport last night and when I got home I actually had to DO my dishes!! I mean really!!!!!! (My dad's girlfriend's favorite thing to do is dishes. Who am I to stand in her way?!)

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  7. Shopping without my baby is the best treat!

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  8. I love grandma's house too! I agree about shopping with kids. I would rather go late at night when they are all asleep and leave them with Dad! Thank goodness Wal-Mart is open 24 hours!

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