Because I Said So!!! Mom Knows Best!

Date: 12/09/09
Stress Level: Why I Oughtta!!!!
New Grey Hairs Added: 6

  
       It was one of those dayshere! You know the kind I mean. You have to drag
yourself out of bed and by the time the first hour goes by you know you should have
put the covers back over your head and went back to sleep. Every single thing goes
wrong and by Noon you just want to throw your purse on the ground and walk up to
next person you see, start shadow boxing and scream,
"You want a piece of me?"
   Today the baby was already awake by the time I got up and I have to stop right
here and let you know she is the only person who made me smile all day long. Well,
when I woke up she already up and happy as a clam. She always wakes up that way
and for the first hour or so every day you can sit her in her bouncy seat and she will
laugh and smile and giggle and entertain herself. Every single time you glance at her
she will reward you with a smile and you can't help but to grin back. I woke up thinking
a smile like that is the perfect way to start the day.
   Then it went bad. Real bad. Real fast. It started with the Coffee. Our good pot broke
about 8 months ago and since I was pregnant I could not drink any so I was not
all excited to get another one. I just sent John to the store and told him to grab a
cheap one for now and I would pick out a good one at a later time. When I said cheap
I thought it might at least be able to make Coffee but this machine has a mind of its
own. If you do not place the filter just so and spread the Coffee out just right the machine
will reward you with leaking all over the place and flood your counter or worse. Today
I set it up then went back upstairs to get the baby dressed and by the time I came
down again to grab a cup of Joe it was all over my counter and dripping down the
front of the cupboards and all over the floor.
Great.
    If this was the second pot of the day I would have just cleaned it up and moved
on but this was pot number one and I have yet to get my morning fix so I was already
frazzeled. I made another pot, then cleaned up the mess and went back to a now
crying Rowan and then had to wake the boy. This was also a pain. After the last
two weeks of him getting better he took a backward slide in a major way. I yelled,
he yelled back and it got louder and louder.
"Get up!"
"I am up!"
    I told him I was going back upstairs and if I didn't hear him in the shower soon
there would be hell to pay. 10 minutes later I repeated the process. This went on
to he was just about late for school before he finally got into the shower. I will
never understand why he is so hard to get moving in the morning. Why bother
trying to figure it out. Next thing I know Rowan is knee deep into her baby cereal
for I made the mistake of leaving the bowl to close to her and turning my back.
Why she feels the need to place Oatmean and Apple sauce up her nose I will
never know.
    After I faced all the morning crises with some reserve ( hey, at least I didn't
pull a Linda Blair and spin my head) I had to figure out how to tackle the day. I had
a planned grocery trip and a Doctors appointment on the docket. I wanted to go back
to sleep but decided I could stop at the grocery store on the way to the Doctors and
be home by 2PM and have the rest of the day free. Sounded simple and easy with
no possibility of error or drama! Boy was I wrong.
   Let me start out by telling you I can't stand the Grocery store. I suffer from mild
panic attacks due to crowds and have medication to take for crowded places
but I also hate feeling sedated and seldom take the medication. I really wish I would
have taken it this time. Who would have thought that at 9 AM on a Wednesday the
grocery store would have been a mad house. The next thing I have to tell you before
I share is that I buy an entire months worth of grocerys other then milk and bread
that we contantly buy all at one time. I have my whole house set up for this with
storage items and even a chest freezer in the basement. I end up with two carts
for a light trip and three for a big one. It also takes me about 3 hours to put it all
away. The bright spot here is then I do not have to face the store again for another
month. The last thing I need to tell you is I use coupons. I use them and match them
with sales whenever I can. I follow the rules of etiquette and give them to the
cashier before she starts to ring and even go so far as to keep all the items I have
a coupon for in order for her.
     Now today's trip turned into a nightmear. I gave myself 4 hours for the stores and
should have even had enough time to stop at home and have John unload before the
Doctors. What should and IS are seldom the same. It must have been senior day
at the store for being a daytime shopper I know several senior centers have these
days where they load everyone up on a bus and drop them off and then pick them
up a few hours later.I try to avoid this at all costs for it is like a Lava Stream ( me)
flowing through a Glacier that covers an inch a decade. The Seniors also don't follow
grocery store rules ( you think after 50 years they would get it right ) and leave their
buggy's all over the place. Normally when I shop I hit the outside of the store first
and then go up and down the isles. But Grandma and Grandpa's are like a plague of
Locusts and are everywhere so I can't. Two and a half hours later I had my two
carts and 90 minutes left to get through the line.
     You would think it wouldn't matter to a worker when a person comes through
with a large order. It keeps them working doesn't it? They have to be there all
day anyways so what is the differance between one large order and 42 little loads?
Every time they see me walk up they get all bug eyed and start to panic. When I
hand them a stack of goupons it gets even worse. Never, though, until Yesterday
have I had someone be out-right rude. I was humiliated and at a few points wanted
to walk right out. I made it through the senior Jungle only to get thrown in the pit
with a Lion. She called for an extra bag person and yelled at me twice to not put
anything on the belt until she rang up what I had already. Then she yelled because
I did not have enough items on the belt for her to ring. HUH?
Make up your mind already. She also informed me that she didn't have time to do
price checks she I had better not ask for with my order she knew she was already
going to miss her break. To make it even worse she rudely told every person who
stepped in line behind me that they needed to go to anther line for I am a project
and then she pointed to me and said I will have the line tied up all day with
the crazy amount of food I was buying. Again, I wanted to fade into the floor
under my feet and almost left. Once the whole order was rang she grabbed the stack
of coupons and started flipping through them. She never touched them until this
point and started shaking her head.
  "You didn't tell me you had coupons for free items?"
  I was like a Deer caught in the headlights
  "You really should have told me for this is going to be a problem."
  What do you say here? It wouldn't have mattered anyway for she was already
screaming to another lady that she needed even more help for me. Again I wanted
to die! They printed out the receipt and her and the other girl started going through
the items. I told her I could help and tried to explain how I had all the coupon items
together and last on the belt but she hushed me and told me to just wait. As she was
looking through the coupons she was making comments to the other lady like I was
not even there.
"Did she even buy the Jello?"
 "I think I saw it, I will look."
 "Why bother I am sure she just slipped in the coupon."
 "No, I am pretty sure I..................."
"Just fine it then!"
   Even the second lady was embarrassed for me at this point and could not even
look me in the eyes. I was now on the phone with John telling him to call my Doctor
and let them know I was going to be late. By the time I walked out I had been there
over 4 hours and had my pride and self respect shattered.
Now what store was this at?
    Oh, my favorite one. The one I swore I would never go back to after
the last time I revieved bad service and called to complain and they never did a
thing. I thought since it was on the way to the Doctors I would save time
by giving it one last try. My local Neighborhood Kroger's. You would have thought
I would have learned my lesson last time. And I know calling them isn't going to
help for they already proved they drop the ball on that point. I guess I learned the
lesson that when you quit something it is for a good reason and don't ever
change you mind. When I said never again I should have meant never again.
Now I swear, never again!

Moral of the Day: Look for a Grocery store that Delivers, you will save
stress and hours of valuable time!