By Margi Washburn
Most times when I’m grocery shopping, I’ll eye what I bought, and see if I might be able to manage getting everything into the house with one trip. It’s often worth some discomfort to avoid that second trip, but it can make for a hazardous journey from the car to the kitchen.
To get to the kitchen with two arms full of bags, I sometimes focus only on avoiding a fall, or not stepping into a hole that Sarah dug fresh that morning. It’s one thing to drive into that hole, and quite another to drop into it without warning.
I’ll also try to avoid asking hubby for help bringing in the groceries. If he’s busy, I get an eye-roll. If he’s not busy, I get an eye-roll. It’s best to make one haul and be done with it.
Turns out he was busy the other day when I lurched up the front steps to let myself into the porch. I was focused on having the key to the inside front door ready, hence I didn’t notice the ladder with hubby on the top of it until I smacked it with the door.
So many thoughts buzzed around inside my head as I took in the situation. First, neither of us was going to fall, so that was good. Second, I wondered if I’d hit the milk against the eggs when I fell back a step, pulling the door with me.
“Sorry,” I said, as I stepped inside, more carefully this time.
“I didn’t fall,” he said, pointing out the obvious. This time I gave the eye-roll.
It didn’t occur to me until I opened the inside door that Sarah was on the other side listening to us. It took all of me and every grocery bag to push her back inside so she wouldn’t bolt out the door and knock over the ladder. There was also a mysterious cord hanging down, and that would’ve been pulled outside, too.
Trips to the store can take the energy right out of a person. You have to haul the stuff into the house, put it away, then look down at the dog who’s wondering why you forgot once again to get her treats. I found a cracker, gave it to her and after she gulped it, she decided it was time for a potty break.
We have a heck of a time getting the dog’s leash on her unless she’s in a confined space, like the front porch. I may have mentioned that someone was on a ladder out there, improving our home, so there was no asking him to take the dog out. One eye-roll a day is plenty.
I chased Sarah around the foyer, got her collar attached, and that’s when hubby came through the front door and went straight through to the back room. I wasn’t about to navigate around the ladder, so I led Sarah toward the back door.
Before I got the door knob turned, I heard a voice on the other side. “Board!” he said, and that’s about when I banged into a long, white board laying across the workbench.
I bit back what I wanted to say, grabbed the leash closer to the dog’s collar and squeezed past the chest freezer to get to the outside door. I figured the rest of the way would be easy enough, until I turned the corner and tried to lead Sarah down the final three steps. Butted up against the bottom stair were two tables, making it nearly impossible to step off the deck.
I’m fairly certain I said something disrespectful at that point, and with no one to see me, I rolled my eyes all over the place while Sarah found the spot she was looking for. We came back inside, a bit wiser this time, and I finished putting away the rest of the groceries.
It’s easy to gripe about hot weather, grocery shopping, home improvement messes and dogs who never grow up. But it’s much more fun to find the humor in it all, laugh a little and hold back on the eye-rolls.
Most times when I’m grocery shopping, I’ll eye what I bought, and see if I might be able to manage getting everything into the house with one trip. It’s often worth some discomfort to avoid that second trip, but it can make for a hazardous journey from the car to the kitchen.
To get to the kitchen with two arms full of bags, I sometimes focus only on avoiding a fall, or not stepping into a hole that Sarah dug fresh that morning. It’s one thing to drive into that hole, and quite another to drop into it without warning.
I’ll also try to avoid asking hubby for help bringing in the groceries. If he’s busy, I get an eye-roll. If he’s not busy, I get an eye-roll. It’s best to make one haul and be done with it.
Turns out he was busy the other day when I lurched up the front steps to let myself into the porch. I was focused on having the key to the inside front door ready, hence I didn’t notice the ladder with hubby on the top of it until I smacked it with the door.
So many thoughts buzzed around inside my head as I took in the situation. First, neither of us was going to fall, so that was good. Second, I wondered if I’d hit the milk against the eggs when I fell back a step, pulling the door with me.
“Sorry,” I said, as I stepped inside, more carefully this time.
“I didn’t fall,” he said, pointing out the obvious. This time I gave the eye-roll.
It didn’t occur to me until I opened the inside door that Sarah was on the other side listening to us. It took all of me and every grocery bag to push her back inside so she wouldn’t bolt out the door and knock over the ladder. There was also a mysterious cord hanging down, and that would’ve been pulled outside, too.
Trips to the store can take the energy right out of a person. You have to haul the stuff into the house, put it away, then look down at the dog who’s wondering why you forgot once again to get her treats. I found a cracker, gave it to her and after she gulped it, she decided it was time for a potty break.
We have a heck of a time getting the dog’s leash on her unless she’s in a confined space, like the front porch. I may have mentioned that someone was on a ladder out there, improving our home, so there was no asking him to take the dog out. One eye-roll a day is plenty.
I chased Sarah around the foyer, got her collar attached, and that’s when hubby came through the front door and went straight through to the back room. I wasn’t about to navigate around the ladder, so I led Sarah toward the back door.
Before I got the door knob turned, I heard a voice on the other side. “Board!” he said, and that’s about when I banged into a long, white board laying across the workbench.
I bit back what I wanted to say, grabbed the leash closer to the dog’s collar and squeezed past the chest freezer to get to the outside door. I figured the rest of the way would be easy enough, until I turned the corner and tried to lead Sarah down the final three steps. Butted up against the bottom stair were two tables, making it nearly impossible to step off the deck.
I’m fairly certain I said something disrespectful at that point, and with no one to see me, I rolled my eyes all over the place while Sarah found the spot she was looking for. We came back inside, a bit wiser this time, and I finished putting away the rest of the groceries.
It’s easy to gripe about hot weather, grocery shopping, home improvement messes and dogs who never grow up. But it’s much more fun to find the humor in it all, laugh a little and hold back on the eye-rolls.
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