To Town Finally
.......grocery shopping day

Monday is hardly ever my shopping day either in town or locally. But my usual shopping day last Thursday didn't work out----I believe I was iced in the driveway with no way to get to my car. Friday, my husband moved my car in front of the rock walkway, away from the ice so I could do the shopping. I was heading out when my husband called to suggest that we run down south of here to see our daughter with her husband and 8 children at a trade fair advertising their business. So I went back in the house and waited for my husband who was on his way home from a job site near here. We had a good time seeing the kids and talking to people. We all went out for pizza near here afterwards and had a great time, then we went to the grocery store across the highway and did my what's-on-sale shopping and went home.

I considered shopping Saturday and decided against it since by the time I finished the things I had to do it was getting pretty late. Our daughter called just as I was about to force myself to leave. I decided that visiting with her and hearing our granddaughter's new toddler words and noises was far more important than going to town. I was relieved not to be able to go on this particular Saturday anyway. I was sure that being the day before the Super Bowl that everyone and their football-loving mothers would fill the roads, aisles and parking lots shopping for snack-y food, beer and decorated cakes. I do not like crowds.

Sunday was out because we never shop on the Lord's Day unless it is an emergency---which it hardly ever is!  We had a marvelous Sunday.

So, the lot fell, so to speak, on today. I got a late start but didn't end up spending as much time as I thought I would have. I have some birthday gifts to buy, a few things for the kitchen and myself so decided it would be best to go in again at the end of the week to do those things  and just do grocery shopping today.

It was pleasant in town, not too crowded.It had gotten more cloudy but was around 50 degrees. I even opened my window when I stopped at signals. Costco was my second stop. I ran into a family from church there and the wife and I visited which is always nice!

I had a sort of disaster at Costco. I picked up one of those heavy bags of organic cane sugar not knowing it had a six inch gash in the back. I was stopped down the aisle by a young couple who told me I had a leak in something. I looked down to see sugar pouring over the floor. I looked back and saw that everywhere I had stopped on that aisle was a pile of sugar. Where I had walked the sugar had trickled out----what a mess! I was afraid someone would slip on the sugar crystals. A kind woman said she'd grab an employee to tell them about it while I watched and warned those coming down the aisle so no one would fall. I told the young men who came to clean up where I had put the ripped bag of sugar and that someone had left a deli salad on that aisle. I was going out to report the un-refrigerated Caesar Chicken salad when the couple told me I was leaking!

After that I went to our natural foods store where I ran into a long-time friend and her husband whom it was a blessing to see again. When I was done there I stopped to get gas and headed home.

The soup wasn't quite done but sure smelled good when I walked in. My husband noticed that too he said, when he got home. It was nice to come home to a cozy house with my husband waiting on the porch to carry in the groceries and  with the fire going and the wonderful aroma of homemade soup wafting through the house. I had purchased stuff to make sandwiches at the natural food store. I let the soup continue to cook, it is cooling now and will be put in the fridge for tomorrow night instead.

I compared what was on sale with what I have on hand still and formed a new meal thread of leftovers. I hope to accomplish many things this week so am going to use up a few of my "freebies" in the freezer.

Today as I cleaned and organized the refrigerator I pulled things out to add to my Monday soup. There is a med-sized piece of round steak that was on sale that I thawed last night, new mushrooms, frozen sliced onions from our garden, organic tomato paste, back-of-the-refrigerator frozen carrots, last of the bag of broccoli, my favorite go-to spice from Costco and the last of the kale from the week before last.

Tomorrow we will have the soup and I'll make some rolls or drop biscuits. My husband tolerates soup just fine as long as I have some kind of delicious bread with it. And since we had  lemon chicken basil sandwiches and broccoli salad tonight we won't have soup and sandwiches Tuesday as we usually do.

I'll post the new meal thread tomorrow. Right now I am very tired, the still-dirty dinner dishes are calling me from the kitchen where they are soaking. I have put all perishables away in the refrigerator but the rest is going to wait until tomorrow! Don't tell anyone----I'm sure NO one else ever does this!

Wink, wink.............

I hope you all had a great Monday. I did.

Goodnight,
Kathi