The Horrors of Grocery Shopping

I hate grocery shopping. It's one of the worst jobs that need to be done in the home. It's right up there with emptying the dishwasher, and folding/putting away clean clothes. Since it is a horrendous job, and no fun, my girlfriend and I usually try to make our every-other-weekly trip together.

This week, I made the trek alone.

I dread each time I look at the empty fridge, and realize it's about that time. I dread the drive there. I hate trying to find a parking spot in the overly crowded parking lot. And, it's a drab trying to park successfully: that is parking without hitting the insane amount of shoppers trying to maneuver their overly-full carts.

But, once I finally make it to the inside of the store, the thought, "this isn't so bad..." always enters my mind. And, it never really is. Sahara now sits in the front of the cart and smiles at everyone; thus making new friends every time we go. Everyone stops to wave, smile, and tell me that 'she is just beautiful. Look at that smile!' etc... I say thanks, smile and move forward.

It takes about an hour for me to do all the shopping. If I'm lucky, Sahara is content to sit there the whole time and look around. But, occasionally, she wants nothing to do with sitting the whole hour, and I end up trying to push the cart, grab items off the shelves, put items back on the shelf that Sahara decided she would try this week, and hold the little one. At that time, I can think of 23 different places I would rather be.

But, out of everything, the WORST part of the shopping is the check out. As I make my way to the register, I can already feel my blood pressure go up and heart start pounding. I begin to pray that no one will come up behind me. I start putting my items up on the belt as fast as I can. Today, I thought I was doing extremely well. The lady in front of me grabbed the wrong item for the coupon she wanted to use, so I got almost all my stuff on the belt while the check-out gal tried to explain this to the lady. But, my excitement did not last for long. People began piling up behind me. I rushed over to the other end of the belt and began to bag all the food as quickly as I knew how. This was not easy with the five children in the next isle playing and getting in my way. Nor, was it easy when the man waiting behind me kept looking at me and then at all the food that needed to be bagged. And, it got even more frustrating when the lady finally came back with the correct item for the coupon and took her precious time bagging her 12 things, and made friends with the woman with the 5 children. As I finished up, I made myself look as pitiful as I could and turned to the man waiting behind me and said, "I'm so sorry. Thanks."

I had finished putting the groceries in the car, the baby buckled in, and had my seat belt on when out of the corner of my eye I saw the coupon lady just coming upon her car! 'Ugphh,' I thought and drove off, so happy it would be another 2 weeks before I would be back!