*This is a long and potentially boring post about grocery shopping, but since this is my diary for the kids, I wanted them to have an account of it. Please feel free to skip this post. I will be posting more rewind posts tomorrow!
**I started this post on Monday night, but Tuesday was so stressful (top 10 bad days of parenting) that I couldn't write Tuesday night and Wednesday night I went to bed immediately after the kids went to bed. I will try to change the dates below and finish up this post today (Thursday).
On Monday (March 30th) I went grocery shopping for the first time in over 4 weeks! Sunday marked two weeks since we arrived home from Mexico. We were in Mexico for a week. I went shopping a week before we went to Mexico... that brings us to 4 weeks without errands.
As a side note, we left for Mexico three weeks ago Monday. While sitting in the Dallas airport I saw the headlines that there were now over 300 cases of COVID-19 in America... crazy what a difference three weeks makes. This Monday we passed 160,000 and we continue to climb.
Anyway, we knew that a big shopping trip was needed and with things predicted to get worse and even much worse before they get better we decided to stock up. I was committed to not hoarding which means I was willing to go to several locations to not overwhelm a store with my list.
As I said in the last post, I spent a lot of time figuring out what we would need and where to get it, knowing that they might be out of things one place but not at another. We also prepped the van by folding down all the seats and creating a huge space for me to sort the items once home. The plan was to keep all non perishable items and produce in the van in the garage for a full 72 hours so that any Coronavirus on it would die.
I started my journey at Walmart. I prayed all the way there. As the parking lot came into view I started crying. I was really going to go and be with the people. I have been so immune to all of this during the self isolation time and the Mexico time. The last time I was shopping there were like 20 cases in the whole US, people sent home from China and living on military bases while recovering.
Once I finished praying and dried my tears I made sure that I had just what I needed and put on a thin pair of winter gloves (so I wouldn't accidentally touch my face) and a mask which was given to me by a friend. I kept the mask and gloves on during my entire shopping trip. I also had my hair in a tight pony tail and then a bun so that if the bun fell (it didn't) then my hair would still be up.
The start of the actual errand time was so sad, seven of the first ten items on my list were sold out or I couldn't get close to the amount I wanted. For example, we were totally out of chicken at our house and Walmart had a limit of one chicken package. I took one breast and one thigh as they were different brands and different places. At the checkout I was informed I could only have one total. I could also only have one package of eggs, they were totally out of OJ, totally out of any ice cream Brandon might want etc etc. Honestly, when I got to an item they had plenty of (honey) I cried again. While I only needed one honey, I thanked God for His provision of this item and moved throughout the store. Overall, I was able to find many of the items on my list. Sure there were things that were sold out, and sadly things I forgot to buy (like diced tomatoes and curry paste) but overall things were going well. For weeks I had been praying that they would have cat food. Buttercup has such a sensitive tummy and we have found only one kind of food that he can tolerate well.
Tangent: We bought some very expensive foods for him and nothing seemed to help. After lots of google searching we read about Purina Sensitive Stomach and how it worked for so many cats. It was a fraction of what we were trying so we gave it a go and have had the best success with it. Yay!
Anyway, they had it and again I cried. I also realized that my cart was now too full to also get cat litter. The only thing I could do was check out and bring my cart to the van and unload it and then come back and shop again. Checking out was quite an experience. I had way too many items to do self checkout, so I had to go to the one line that was open with an actual cashier. She was young (high school age) and wins the award for most time taken at a check out. There was one person ahead of me in line, but I was in line between 30-45 minutes. I made a very firm decision that I would use self checkout my second time through. The second round at Walmart was much faster and self check out what faster too. By the time I got back to the car I learned my first errand had taken almost 90 minutes!
Errand two was a quick trip into Pet Smart. Again, because I didn't want to deplete anyones pet food stock I decided to go to more stores to get more food. I grabbed a bag of the cat's food at Pet Smart and was quickly on my way.
Next up was Aldi. At Aldi about 1/2 the people were wearing masks (more than Walmart). I was able to find what I needed, but with limits on things like veggies and eggs I knew I would need more stock from other stores to complete my list. I always stock up at Aldi, no matter what the situation is, so my cart looked pretty much like it always does. I could tell the young high schooler (who told me he had been working there a week and a half) thought I had a lot. I asked another worker to vouch for me that I always buy this much. She laughed and agreed. I loaded the bags and boxes in the parking lot to have less time with people and more time in the open air. I began to realize how huge of a task I would have once home and got a little emotional... again.
After Aldi I headed to Meijer. Meijer sells the cheese that my kids eat and I was still on a quest to get ice cream for Brandon, diced tomatoes, eggs, chicken and other things I couldn't find at other stores. Meijer was a breath of fresh air. Usually it isn't my favorite store, but on Monday it had many of the items on my list. Sure the ice cream is much fancier than we usually get and the diced tomatoes are not what I would usually get for probably twice the price, but they did have it and I rejoiced. I was able to get lots of eggs and of course one bag of cat food there too! I took a chance on the person check out as the self checkout had really long lines. No lines in the person checkout and the young worker was super speedy.
After Meijer I headed to Piggly Wiggly number one. Brandon and T both think that the generic honey nut cheerio brand there is the best there is, better than the real thing which is what M eats and they won't touch it... not joking! Anyway, I went to the cereal section and got several bags.
I decided to go to Piggly Wiggly number two to get some cereal there too. They only had one bag left. I am glad I got several at store one. Of course they had a large supply of cheaper ice cream, but I didn't have room or need for it haha.
After Piggly Wiggly I decided to run into Dollar Tree for some stir fry veggies. I really love a worker there (Lori) and I just wanted to go and encourage her as well. I spotted her and smiled. When it came time to check out, she wasn't working the checkout. Another worker scanned one item and her register died. She called Lori over and I moved my things to Lori's aisle. It was so cool to be able to chat a bit with her and to encourage her during this tricky season.
My final (8th) location was the gas station. I decided that it would be good to have a full tank of gas in case we needed to drive to a hospital somewhere.
In one sense it was a huge relief to be home, in another I knew that my work was far from complete. Once home I planned to honk on the horn so they would know I was home. Brandon came to the door and waved then he and the kids and the cats went upstairs into closed rooms. I had my peroxide and vinegar in two different bottles ready to go in a sanitizing zone. Brandon closed the blinds so I could strip down and wash the clothes immediately. I left everything from my pockets in the garage and then sorted through all the bags for things that needed to be refrigerated or frozen. Finally I carried items inside and began to sterilize them. Once everything was wiped down I wiped down the area and hollered for Brandon to put the things into the fridge while I showered. He was able to get things put away while I showered and then I was able to eat lunch (at 3:30 pm or later) and begin homeschooling. The kids had to school until almost 6:00, but we got it done and somehow got dinner made too.
It was a long long long day, but I was so thankful to have all that we needed for several weeks (or possibly for months if needed).
Tonight (Thursday) I will need to unload all the produce and non-perishable items. I will also wipe things down in the van and get the seats ready for tomorrow. Tomorrow we head back to the Dr for another try for Brandon's eye follow up. Apparently this appointment is important and we need to keep it. I am hoping to find several school things the kids will be able to do with paper so that we are not too far behind tomorrow afternoon.
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