You might have noticed that I haven’t been around much in the past few days.
Didn’t notice? Well, it’s a good thing I don’t get some sick self-esteem boost from having your approval, or I’d be REALLY bummed.
{sniff}
Anyway, I have been a little AWOL. I’ve had to skip personal responses to my blog comment section. I haven’t done many blog visits. (And I’m about to cry “uncle” with my Google Reader and its 998-no-it’s-become-1000+-while-I-wrote-this unread posts.)
I was actually totally OFFLINE from early afternoon yesterday until this morning.
So if you HAVE missed me, I’m sorry about that. Let’s just say that if blogging has an ebb and flow, then this past week the tide on my blog has been out.
Now you’re probably dying to know what that has to do with paper towels in the title.
Well, yesterday my sister Suzy and I had this conversation while they were at our house for her birthday dinner:
Me: Hold on. Gotta refill the napkin drawer and paper towel rack. (opens paper product cupboard in laundry room) What? I’m totally out of napkins and paper towels! How is this possible?
Suzy: You’re totally out of both?
Me: Yes! (on my knees peering to back of cupboard past 4 extra boxes of Kleenex) I don’t have ANY backups!
Suzy: You do know you have two extra bottles of Hershey’s syrup, right?
Me: Shut up.
I know it’s gonna shock you, but this happens here ALL the time.
It really shouldn’t, because grocery shopping is one of the most organized parts of my life.
I have SYSTEMS in place:
- I keep a complete and updated inventory list on the fridge.
- It’s neatly formatted and corresponding to the aisles at our local store and everything.
- I use it every time I shop.
I also attempt to keep backups of things we use a lot on hand. Like napkins. And paper towels.
And yet Charlie and I are still wiping our hands on dishrags and Kleenex until I go to the store today.
Last week, we came THIS CLOSE to running out of toilet paper. Other grocery items were not so lucky.
- Sunday: All out of Hershey’s syrup? How is this possible?
- Monday: No more macaroni and cheese when that’s the only thing the Queen of the Universe wants for lunch? How is this possible?
- Tuesday: Out of baked beans when LC finally decides on beanie weenie for dinner? How is this possible?
- Wednesday: Go to store. Stock up on mac n cheese, baked beans, and chocolate syrup. Phew. Caught up on list.
- Thursday: Out of plastic sandwich bags? How is this possible?
- Friday: Out of green beans? How is this possible?
- Saturday: Out of mayo? How is this possible?
- Sunday after church: Charlie goes to store for ingredients for dinner. Picks up green beans for me. I figure I can wait till Monday for the other stuff.
- Sunday afternoon: Out of napkins, paper towels, and brown sugar? How is this possible?
Do you know that I used to be a perfectionist? Yeah, this grocery stuff drove me CRAZY. Charlie, too. Because when I couldn’t remember not writing an item on the list, I of course blamed him.
You can only do that for so long before it becomes painfully obvious that the problem is YOU.
Me: I’m all out of Oreos? How did this happen? YOU must’ve eaten the last ones and forgotten to write it down.
Charlie: I don’t eat Oreos. And you hid them too well from the kids. AND I saw you throw the package away last Thursday at 9 pm. (Charlie is nothing if not detail-conscious.)
Me: Oh.
So off to Publix I go. Where I will buy everything on my very organized list. And then I’ll come home to realize that something I REALLY NEED is all gone.
C’est la vie. It’s either laugh at myself or spend my grocery budget on therapy.
17 responses so far ↓
1 Joyce // Mar 9, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Well, I might feel sorry for you except I cannot even get Hershey’s syrup or mac and cheese here so I don’t think I’m gonna : )
I have an assortment of freezer/frig apparatus in my house. I have one frig in my utility room which is the size of a dorm frig. I have a slightly larger frig in my kitchen which has a microscopic freezer compartment that holds only ice trays which I have to crack every day like it’s 1950. And, I have a three drawer freezer, again about dorm sized, in my pantry. I say all this to explain why daily shopping is part of my life. At least if I do forget stuff I know I’ll be back there tomorrow.
Happy Monday-I hope your Publix shopping included some oreos!
Joyce’s last blog post..You want to do what???
2 katdish // Mar 9, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Is Publix like Sam’s Club in the alternate universe? Must be, I’m going to Sam’s today – for napkins, paper towels and toilet paper. I’ve got 3 bottles of Hershey’s chocolate syrup in my pantry. That’s just scary.
katdish’s last blog post..I ? Dave!
3 Steph at the Red Clay Diaries // Mar 9, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Joyce- You’re right. You win. I remember the tiny appliances I saw in the UK.
And yes, Oreos were on the list. Although we also have half a bday cake in the fridge.
Katdish- Very very very scary. I even would’ve gone to Sam’s if I lived close enough to one.
4 Jo@Mylestones // Mar 9, 2009 at 2:31 pm
I confess I’ve been to the grocery store three days in a row. Not on purpose of course. I was always just missing one thing that I needed for dinner. I am not nearly as organized as you are, but apparently that doesn’t matter anyway. We will still run out of things we MUST have.
And thanks for nothing for making me hungry for Oreos, and then not having any on hand to share!!
Jo@Mylestones’s last blog post..Mom in the Middle
5 BeckeyZ // Mar 9, 2009 at 3:36 pm
I am ALWAYS forgetting something important. That, or I have it on my list and the store will be out.
I think my brain cells are dying at a faster rate the older I get.
BeckeyZ’s last blog post..beautiful purpleness!!!
6 Helen // Mar 9, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Oooo, no paper towels. Bad. I like paper towels…..
Yes I missed you, but I imagined you were having fun with your kids, playing scrabble.
Helen’s last blog post..The Top Five List of Things I Love About My Church
7 Beth // Mar 9, 2009 at 8:06 pm
Well, I’ve been sick, Frank’s been sick, but he managed to make to the store today so we could at least have dinner tonight. Lately we’ve constantly been out of baby food. You’d think I’d buy enough for at least a week, but no, it’s always GONE at the worst possible times. Good thing the store is a block away.
My sister actually keeps a list of things NOT to buy on their fridge because her husband always does the grocery shopping and he tends to keep buying the same things they already have 3 or 4 of. Like chili powder. They could make chili every day for a year.
Beth’s last blog post..Little is Much
8 Christy Klein // Mar 9, 2009 at 8:33 pm
This is too funny!
Have I told you lately that I love you?
I still think you’re the sister that somehow got away. You’d totally fit in here.
XOXO’s
Christy Klein’s last blog post..In A Rush
9 Amy Warden // Mar 9, 2009 at 8:36 pm
I’m a little bit anal about the groceries too, I have to admit. I don’t always have back-ups on everything, but when something is starting to run out, I have to get more. God forbid that we should ever run out of milk.
Amy Warden’s last blog post..I Did It!
10 the domestic fringe // Mar 9, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Sounds like my house. I’m not even a list person, so you can only imagine my problems. I rely soley on my memory. I can’t even remember how many kids I have half the time. Ya, I’ve got problems, but no juice boxes for school lunches tomorrow.
-FringeGirl
the domestic fringe’s last blog post..Unemployment Soars as Butt Roots Grow
11 Charlie // Mar 9, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Back when I was a chef, I always knew all of what I had at home and would shop from memory using my mental inventory. (Back then I could also mentally total what the cost would be when I got to the check out and guess it to within a dollar.) Now–my brain is mush, and even with a list I go back and forth from end to end of the store getting things I missed. It’s just sad!
12 Annie K // Mar 10, 2009 at 8:22 am
Steph, I have been out of Mayo for 2 weeks now and have gone to the store like 11 times to get it and forget every time. You’d think I’d make a list. I’ve had to settle for Miracle Whip. ICK!
Obviously I am a lame list maker and like to do the ‘memory shop’. Keeps me on my toes and the memory sharp as a tack except when it comes to remembering Mayo.
Annie K’s last blog post..I Was Relent(less)
13 Annie K // Mar 10, 2009 at 8:22 am
Oh yeah, missed you too.
14 Rachel@Grasping... // Mar 10, 2009 at 4:38 pm
A THOUSAND?!?!?!?!?
I thought I was in despair when I reached 100.
Thanks for making me feel so much better about myself in both of your posts today. I needed that.
15 sherri // Mar 10, 2009 at 11:06 pm
I’m jealous that Charlie comments on your blog. Just sayin’.
sherri’s last blog post..When Irish Eyes Are Smilin’….
16 rachel@justanotherdayinparadise // Mar 11, 2009 at 4:31 pm
it’s amazing how we change as we get further along on this whole parenting adventure, huh? (Wondered where you were, but unfortunately, we’re on the same ebb/flow schedule. . .which has everything to do with my children’s and work schedule. . .hmmm)
rachel@justanotherdayinparadise’s last blog post..bubble for sale? (and bathroom humor)
17 faemom // Mar 13, 2009 at 12:09 am
Wow. You know my pain. Of course, my running out of things is do to my husband using the last and leaving the empty container there for me to believe there is something still there. And to think I never used to use lists. Aren’t they wonderful?
faemom’s last blog post..P2: The New Prologue
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