Grocery Store Diaries

For quite some time Scott has done most if not all of the grocery shopping in our home. I can’t even remember how this task went from being solely mine, to solely his. I just know somewhere it changed and he started going to the grocery store, normally late at night because he had a theory that this was the best time and they were restocking the shelves. When our youngest son was a baby, he started coming home with random baby items that one of the checkers swore we needed to try. I would laugh at him, this was baby number 6 and we had a pretty good grip on what “good” baby items we needed and used. He enjoyed it though and it was one less thing on my plate, but with his new found hobby also came most of the cooking. I don’t like to dig, for anything! I don’t like clothing stores I have to dig in, I like the ones where the outfits are put together and you walk in and grab the entire thing and go. So if Scott shops, he puts the groceries up. Rarely does it go in all the correct places so I have no clue what he has purchased and in order for me to cook, I have to dig. No thank you! So the cooking has now been slowly taken away from me as well. Oddly enough, there was a part of me that sort of resented the fact that he did all the shopping, and now the cooking. These were my responsibilities for so long, I struggled with relinquishing the control. I felt like he was telling me I wasn’t good enough. Yes, I know, probably should be jumping with joy that grocery shopping and cooking are a thing of the past. I get it! But as a Mom, don’t you feel we often find our value lies inside our homes in the most mundane tasks? It quickly can become your identity, and how you feel you are valuable to those around you. You keep a clean house, the laundry is done, you make “amazing” dinners, you shuttle your children from sport to sport and sweetly tuck them in at bedtime YAY you, you are quite accomplished in motherhood. LOL We all know all of those things rarely happen in the same 24 hour time frame, but it sounds good on paper… and as mothers we feel good about ourselves when we can accomplish any of the above. Add a working mom to that list and whoa, now you are really an overachiever. So when this task of shopping and cooking slowly slipped away I did feel a little tinge in my soul that maybe I didn’t do it good enough, when in fact he was just trying to help. But I have come to realize there was probably method to his madness. Exposing all my weaknesses… LOL First, I didn’t stick to a list and I would just buy whatever me or the kids wanted. Second, what is it about those sweet ladies cooking those samples that makes me not able to say no to them? Most of the time I don’t need what they are selling, but I take it personal for them if I choose to not eat what they have asked me to try and then BUY it. Third, I find items I absolutely don’t need but think maybe I should try. I can spend a solid 30 minutes in the laundry isle looking at the latest greatest stain remover, smelling the laundry fabric softeners only to walk out with the same one I have used for years. I can linger at the “gluten free” organic items and decide maybe today is the day, I change our entire eating habits. This is all just at a grocery store, this pales in comparison to the time and money I can spend in a Super Target. How is it you can walk in there for a birthday card and leave with a few outfits for the kids, a book you MUST read, one of each of the $3 decorations for an upcoming holiday that you don’t normally decorate for, an entirely new bedroom set with towels, a new water bottle because you don’t have enough, the cutest office decor, a gallon of milk and let’s not forget a Starbucks as a reward for the $500 you just spent when all you needed was a birthday card!! Am I the only one? Please tell me I am not! So over the years, I have relinquished my control over being super shopper and cook to my husband and now we partner in it, he still shops, I reorganized the pantry so he can put the items up “my way” and the whole process seems to work for our family. Then this…. Just when I think we have a good system in place, I visit our new neighborhood HEB for 3 items and walk out with 6 bags of sampled food, snacks that will be gone in a day and specialty ice cream we “must try.” WHY HEB, WHY? And the sign, Texas Backyard… it is literally in our neighborhood, I can’t get home without passing it. It gives moms all the “feels,” even my kids were giddy with excitement over this store opening. Yet, it is my weakness! I think it’s best to recognize it as such and go back to letting Mr. List follower do his job. So if you see my sweet husband at the store just know he actually enjoys it, I have come to the realization he is better at it, and the money it’s saving our family by keeping me out of there is tucked safely in our account!

Until next time, Courtney