Groceries

I'm soaked.

But I have an umbrella now. You see, I just got back from the grocery store. I have to go alone, in the middle of the workday, because it's getting too hard to take James by myself, and J won't have any chance to go today. She's watching Hayden and Liam today all day, then teaching pretty much straight through from 4-8:30. It's her busy day. It's her VERY busy day.

But I don't have a lot going on, because all the kids are gone from school, although I still have to be here. Ostensibly I'm here to correct finals and clean my room. I don't have any final exams to correct, so that leaves the cleaning, which is going slowly. So far I've unearthed most of my desk. I found six old tupperware containers, none of which I want to smell the inside of. I've also thrown away an entire wastebasket worth of old copies of music, and found about 25 lesson books that probably should have been home with students.

Mostly I've been practicing and catching up on reading. So when J told me that we needed some things from the grocery store, I told her I'd take my lunch break to run out and get what we needed.

"A lot of it will need to be refrigerated...do you have room for that?"

I do have room to refrigerate our cold items. Among the luxuries in my room are a Keurig coffeemaker (thanks, Pax), a hot pot (thanks, Calvus) and a mini-fridge. If I didn't have a mini-fridge three feet from my desk, I'd have to go down to the teacher's lounge to retrieve my food. I find my co-workers pleasant and engaging on a one-to-one basis, but when they sit together they tend to talk about menopause and dieting. So I'm thankful for the mini-fridge.

I went outside to my car, and the rain was coming down in sheets. I love rainy weather--especially the sound of a good heavy rain on the roof--but this sort of day is no fun to be driving around in. Once I got to the store, I parked far away. I would have parked closer and tried to stay dry, but I have to park remotely whenever I can. If I go anywhere with J, it's a point of honor to her to park as closely as possible. She'll insist that I pass by open parking spots that involve a moderate walk in order to risk multiple circles for a closer spot. Once we get parked, she'll be disappointed if we pass by an open spot that's closer to the store, and she'll often remind me that my choice in parking location is the distance of some Olympic events when we return to the car from the store. Needless to say, I park in comfortable isolation whenever I go to the store alone. But on days like today, I do get quite wet.

I don't have an umbrella, because my old one broke. It lasted almost a year, but it was manufactured in some place that wasn't Rochester, where "weather" is something that happens maybe two or three times a year. A few months ago I was walking downtown with it, and the wind completely ripped the plastic off the metal brackets. It went straight into the trash can after that.

Anyhow, I got a cart, and started going through the grocery aisle. Here's what I got and why:

12 Grain Bread-Mostly to be used for PB&Js
Yotoddler Yogurt-I was supposed to get two different varieties, but they only had strawberry/banana. I don't know if James will mind this or not, because I did manage to find cups with all different pictures on the front. (Each yogurt container has a picture of a mother and a baby, or just a baby, or two babies. All the babies are smiling and clean, and none of them has ever spit out a mouthful of yogurt down the front of its shirt.)
Bananas-Two bunches of bananas, many of which will go into smoothies, but most of which will be cut up into quarter sized pieces and slimed into James' hair
Avocado-I only bought three, because they pretty expensive today. Once James sees them, they will be all he wants to eat until they are gone. If you offer him anything else, he will shake his head no, point at the avocado, and rub his chest (please) until you give up trying to open his mouth up for banana.
Hummus and Salsa-This is a new favorite food, but it isn't the tidiest dish to serve or to clean up afterwards. James will eat it all day, but it gets everywhere.
Cheddar Cheese-To be cut into slices and put on his tray. He eats about every third piece, and then throws the rest on his floor. His arm is getting stronger...I regularly discover cubes under the refrigerator now
Sour Cream-The only item on the grocery list that isn't for the bear.

All this food is working, though. He's definitely getting bigger.

I also picked up a bicycle pump (to inflate the sad-looking tires on his jogging stroller), ant traps (for the kitchen counter), and a birthday present for J. What did I get her, you ask? I can't say, because she's a known reader of this blog. But I can say that I think she'll like it even more than a third-row parking spot.

And I bought an umbrella...because it was a long walk back to the car.