I have become THAT Lady at Wal-Mart....

you know, the lady at Wal-Mart you don't like to be behind at the register?

The one with 20 little items in the 20 or less checkout lane?

Well, I'm not THAT lady, I'm the other lady.

After the ice storm last week, we were needing some groceries. I hadn't gone out in a week and even if I wanted to drive in the ice, the boys were not getting in the car with me.

I went grocery shopping on Saturday. I had to go to the dreadful Wal-Mart only because they carry some things that the other store I like to go to doesn't. But I still ended up going to the other store as well.

I was dreading going to WM but I was excited because I was alone. No kids to tell me they needed to go to the bathroom. No kids to put powdered donuts in my basket when I'm not looking. No boys to be fighting down on aisle 9 over who gets to ride the basket.

Did I mention no kids?

I had forgotten that it was Superbowl weekend along with payday first of the month. So the lines were long and people were jam packed in every aisle.

I had gone through all the sale ads and had written down stuff that I was going to ad match.

So I am THAT woman. The woman who has lots to ad match and you don't like being behind because it takes lots of time.

But I didn't care. I was alone and could concentrate on saving money.

I did have a long list that saved me about 10 bucks at the end. I also had coupons. (vicious laugh here)

And the cashier knew of some items that I hadn't said were ad matched, but she remembered.

So, anyone THAT woman like me?

Being tricked by my two boys

Let me just start off by saying that we have found a wallet. Woo Hoo!!! We can all go back to our daily lives.

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We were grocery shopping yesterday. Only because I was out of what seemed like everything in my house. The only option for dinner was shrimp and a can of ranch style beans. Doesn't even sound remotely good.

I had avoided the 'snack' aisle because I told the boys that all they eat is snacks. Goldfish, whales, cheez-its, nilla wafers. You get the picture. I told them they were going to eat healthy food instead. They don't eat vegetables (that they know of) and they hadn't been eating fruit. So we stocked up on fruit. We found these neat little packages from Dole I believe, that is fruit to go. It is sliced apples and grapes in individual packages. Now, I normally slice my own apples and get my own grapes, but since it was snack time during our grocery trip, I bought them. And I was nice enough to let them eat them (outside of my car in the cold) while I loaded the groceries in the car.
Just the right amount of sweet fruit and it satisfied them for the moment.

I can honestly tell you that the boys were not happy with my decision to not buy their favorite snacks. Maybe later I will buy some, but AB had gotten to where he only wanted to eat cheez-its. For breakfast. For lunch. For dinner.

When we went down the cereal aisle, they were looking at me wondering if they were going to get their kind of cereal. I don't really have to worry much there because yes, WE like Apple Jacks and Frosted Flakes, but the boys do eat Honey Nut Cheerios or AB's and Hubster's favorite, Kashi blueberry cereal.

UB wanted Lucky Charms. I grabbed the big box so that it could last a little longer. UB took it out of the basket and said we needed to get the smaller box because it contained a toy. The big box didn't have anything but cereal. I grabbed the box again and put it back in the basket. That's the last of that conversation because I am the mom you know.

When we arrive home and I start unloading the groceries. The boys are actually helping putting things away. Probably because they wanted some apples and I told them they couldn't have some until all the groceries were put away.

I look in the pantry for the food that belongs in there. Making sure that no cold stuff is put on the shelf somewhere. I look over to where the cereal is and I find a SMALL box of Lucky Charms. I remember being distracted by AB when the cereal talk about the boxes was happening with UB. Those two ganged up on me. So much for being the mom.

Hubster chuckled when I told him the story and he said "Don't you remember when you were little? You pick the cereal box according to the toy."

I guess I forgot. But in grown up life, we still do that. We pick out things according to what is offered. And we usually pick the one with the prize. Just like when God is offering us a certain thing that has no reward for us. We say no because we want to get the thing that is not being offered to us that has a reward that will benefit us.

The chicken that tried to escape

I went to the store -alone- last Saturday. I've said before, how I enjoy going to the store ALONE because that means I don't have to break up fights. I just go and walk through every single aisle at the store. And I do it because, well just because I want to OK?

Even if I don't have to get anything from that aisle, I like to walk the aisle. Sounds like I'm getting married on aisle 3 or something. Anyway, I saw things that were new and then I saw things that were just strange. Like artichoke hearts. Have you ever really looked at the jar? They look gross. But I do enjoy a hot spinach artichoke dip with some crusty, but soft bread. Yum!

After walking the aisles for over an hour and not really buying much, I decided to hurry up a little. I almost buggy bumped some people, and then almost dropped a sidekick in my hastiness, but all was well. Until some man said "Excuse me, but I think you dropped something" he pointed down on the floor. Wouldn't you know, that family pack of chicken breast was trying to make a flying escape. I pick it up and say "thank you" because stuff falls out of my basket every time I go shopping. Only it's usually the boys that do stuff like that and never when I'm alone. Can you believe that chicken was trying to escape from me?

So I hurry up and finish shopping, check out and start heading out the door. I'm practically running because it's past noon and I knew the natives would be hungry. I'm rushing to my car when I run over what I believe is a speed bump. But then I remember that this store doesn't have speed bumps. And I didn't have any kids that I ran over, so I look down and what do you think I see?

THE CHICKEN. Trying to get away again. Only this time I ran over it with the shopping cart, so it really is dead again. It's a good thing that it was double bagged. It wasn't dirty and it wasn't wasted.

I need to remember to tell the other chickens at the store that their brothers didn't get away and neither will they. I'm gonna eat them in chicken tostadas, grilled chicken, southwest chicken sandwiches, chicken quisada (chicken with gravy mexican style) and other chickeny ways. ~evil laugh~

Queen for a moment

"Children are a gift from God"

Psalm 127:3

Most of the times I have to remember this verse to be nice to my kids when they do something they are not supposed to. Or when they break things that aren't theirs. But yesterday I saw it for what it was.

The boys were playing very well with each other. I thought some aliens had replaced them with these nice, caring and sharing boys, but they were actually the real boys that I gave birth to. They were playing walk the dog. Noah has a stuffed dog named Juneo who is a small beanie dog. Isaac has a stuffed boxer dog that is of medium size. They had "collars" made of string and whatever they could make into strings and these "collars" were tied to the dogs and they were "walking" or dragging these dogs around the house. Of course, it also had to do with what they were dressed up as and what they were using as dog houses, but at least they were using their imagination and being nice during the process. Anyway, I just wanted to bottle up their innocence at that time.

I always thank God for my children, but I guess I don't do it enough. I know I don't do it for the right reasons but I know that God knows my true feelings. So whether your kids do the right thing all the time or mess up every now and then, just remember that they are God's gift to us.
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I like to go grocery shopping by myself. Not that I don't love my children, but they pick at each other and use the merchandise at the store as a weapon. Doesn't matter if it's a can of green beans or a bag of rice, it's a weapon. I also don't want Noah to use the bags of chips as a trampoline. So I'd rather go alone.

The only time I can go alone is in the wee hours of the morning or late at night. I prefer the wee hours of the morning, that way I can treat myself to a bacon egg and cheese biscuit from Braum's afterwards. Yum!!!!

So yesterday morning I went to my favorite place in the world. Wally world. It's the only place in town open at 6am. It wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. Of course, I'm just excited that I'm alone. I know, that's sad when you can be excited to go grocery shopping, but you've got to take it when you can get it. I got all my shopping done quickly and even had a little time to look at some of the Halloween stuff they were marking down.

But the best part was when I went down the frozen food aisles. If you ever want to feel "special", go down the frozen food aisles. Start at the end that has cases on either side of you, but make sure there is no one else down that aisle because that will just ruin the whole effect. Anyway, walk slow and pretend you are the queen and the food in the cases are the people cheering you on. As you walk ever so slowly (because you are the queen and you don't want to fall and make a fool of yourself) the lights in the cases turn on as you walk in front of them. Keep doing that up and down the aisle and wave from side to side as you walk or prance, or even dance. "Special" you will feel, but the clerks will think you need some serious help.

And if you are really lucky, you won't run into anyone that knows you and will once and for all truly believe that you are psycho.