Thursday, February 22, 2007

A Little Wrench in the Plan


Today was grocery day. For some reason it always makes for an interesting day. However, it seems that the challenges change from week to week.

Somehow I was running behind this morning and left to take Charlotte to school about ten minutes late - this put me off for the whole day. Of course that meant we got to the grocery store later than usual and then shopping ran later than usual as well. The shopping itself was uneventful and the girls were very cooperative. Ruby was even nice enough to nap for most of the trip. The employees were as nice and helpful as always, but it is a little disconcerting as they are all starting to recognize me and I think are becoming even more helpful.

I left the store at 11:30 which is typically when Ruby and Eliza Claire have their bottle. No
big deal, in fifteen minutes we'll be home, I'll unload groceries, get them set up with their bottles (yes, I prop bottles) and put everything away.

Well...I get home, open the garage door and it gets almost all the way open and stops - we've been having ongoing problems with it. Michael keeps working on it, it gets better for a few weeks then gets weird again. So no big deal. I close the door to try again.

Oops, this time it won't open at all! I get out of the van and can hear the motor running but the door isn't budging. Again, no big deal I can just go in the front door.

Oops! I don't have my house key. I let my in-laws borrow it a few weeks ago when the garage door wasn't working and it never got back on my ring.

So lets recap. I have two hungry babies, a car full of groceries, a bunch of which needs to be refrigerated and I can't get in the house!

What to do? I call Michael's cell, I get his voice mail.

I call Michael's office, I get his voice mail. What to do?

I decide I can take the groceries to my in laws (12 miles away) and hope they have room for the refrigerated stuff (this is definitely a gamble). Then I can stop at the store, buy a can a formula and feed it to the girls in their sippy cups. Oh joy!

I start driving. Michael calls. I tell him I need a key and will come pick it up.

Get the key. Get home. It is now 12:45 - gotta leave in 20 minutes to pick up Charlotte from school. Get the groceries in. Get Eliza Claire in. Lay her down to start feeding her. Something stinks! What is it? Smells like cat pee! Where is it? On the blanket for the girls to play on the floor. Can't move the blanket. Eliza is laying on part of the blanket to eat! Stupid cat! Get Ruby in. Get her set up to eat. Unload the refrigerated items. Change diapers. Clean up cat pee. Start a load of laundry. Make a sandwich. Back in the car to get Charlotte.

The day didn't improve. I was just behind all day! Of course the dishes didn't get put in the dishwasher. It was 3:00 pm before the rest of the groceries got put away. I didn't get the soup started for dinner! We ended up having hot dogs and mac and cheese instead - Rehm wanted mac and cheese. This is where my mother would say you aren't supposed to eat hot dogs and mac and cheese at the same meal because mac and cheese is a meat substitute! Oh well, at my house mac and cheese is a side dish :)

The good news is the grocery shopping is done until Tuesday (I have to change my schedule to accommodate the grocery game), no one got lost or left at school, we didn't eat out for dinner, and no animals were harmed in the process -though for the cat it was a very close call!

Off to indulge in some mindless TV
Jenn

2 comments:

Karen said...

Mac and cheese is a side dish in our house as well. ;) What a day!

I'm having a Jonah day of sorts here myself. Poor Adam has a stomach bug... the washing machine has been running since early this morning.

Beautiful cat by the way. :)

Brenna and Molly said...

Oh gosh - in my house there are nights when mac and cheese can be the whole meal! I I can't say it's because I have twins under 1 in addition to the "big" kids! But I can relate to those days when you start out behind and never quite catch up. I'm at the point now where we have days where we leave at 8am and don't come home until 6pm. To see us leave with all the paraphanelia needed for school, errands, activities, etc. is quite a sight. One day when I had to make multiple trips to get it all in the car I had a neighbor jokingly ask if I was leaving my husband! Again, that's with 2 kids - I wish you luck doubling that. Just remember taht it will be twice as much fun too!