Grocery Shopping

Amanda's 4th grade class is studying the Gold Rush era. Last week she was given the assignment of going to a grocery store to compare prices from that time in history to the present.

Here's something you need to know about me: I don't like grocery shopping.

It probably goes hand in hand with my dislike of cooking.

Anyway, if I have to shop for groceries, at least let me do it by myself so I can get in and out of there as fast as possible. I don't want to be accompanied by anyone whining for this or that, or having to explain to them for the umteenth time why you shouldn't hang on the cart, OR having them decide in the middle of the store that they have to go to the bathroom NOW or they'll wet their pants.

My husband is the opposite of me when it comes to grocery shopping (and cooking). Nothing makes him happier than to stroll leisurely up and down every aisle. Needless to say, we don't grocery shop together much. We do Costco together, and by "together", I mean we walk in together. I'm usually 10-15 feet ahead of him most of the time we're in there.

Okay, so back to Amanda's assignment. I usually do the week's grocery shopping on Sunday night, sans children. So around 5 PM this past Sunday night, I was trying to figure out a way for Amanda to get her assignment done without having to take her to the grocery store (Terrible, I know, but I was at the height of PMS, which is like walking around with a loaded gun. And why endanger yourself and others unless it's absolutely necessary? ) Anyway, Amanda said that some of her classmates had just Googled for current food prices instead of going to an actual store. Hmmmm. That didn't sound like a completely bad idea. But, the instructions were to go to a grocery store, so I felt we should do that.

Then the thought came to me that I could zip over to Save Mart real quick with Amanda, get her the prices, drop her back off at home, then go ALONE to do the weekly shopping. Yep, that's what I would do.

Amanda and I were almost out the door when Meg caught wind of our excursion. Now she wanted to go. Fine. She sat down to put her shoes on as Henry was walking by. Apparently my body language was shouting how much I was not looking forward to this little field trip ...

Henry: You could make this a real learning experience. Explain why things are laid out the way they are in the store, etc.

Me: Sounds like YOU should be the one taking them. (I gave birth to them, didn't I? Is that not enough? Do I really have to do this whole price comparison thing while my gut is at war with itself and my emotions are on the verge of reaching bi-polar levels?! Oh, AND on top of all that ... make it a LEARNING EXPERIENCE?!)

Henry: No, that's not what I'm saying.

Me: Ugh.

So, we went, and I'm pretty sure the only "learning experience" my girls got was how much Mom doesn't like to grocery shop, and how she really needs to work on her tolerance of 7 year olds who have to go to the bathroom mid-shop.

Pray for my girls, people. They deserve so much better, but they're stuck with me.