Today was one of those horribly frustrating days! My daughter was sick yesterday, so I never made it to the grocery store as planned. Well, today she woke up feeling well, and the sale on her almond milk ends today, so I had to go to the store! I rushed around trying to pull together a decent grocery list since today was also pay day, and we could get some meat while we were out.
First, I tore up my house, my car, my coupon folder, everything trying to find my rainchecks from a Publix sale two weeks ago. I found them in the first place I'd looked my third time through the pile! grrr! So, I loaded the girls into the car to head to Sam's just in time for their open-shopping hours (not the special member hours). The overall goal was to hit a few stores and be home in time for lunch.
Halfway to Sam's I realized that I'd forgotten to go to the bank, and there was now no convenient location to go to. No problem, I'll just swing out of the way on my way home. I'll just use a debit card at the grocery stores and take out the remaining cash later.
We got to Sam's, found a dry cart...ok, so the lady at the door handed me some paper towels so I could dry off the girls' seats, and headed for the first of the three items on my list. We got our oatmeal, our chicken broth, and our two packs of chicken. Check, check, check. We watched the fire cook the rotisserie chickens (as required an activity at Sam's as stopping to say "hi" to the lobsters at Publix). Then we headed to the lines...the most dreaded part of Sam's. For what I think may be the first time ever there was a cashier standing at the top of her line waiting for a customer to check out. How exciting! I still had two more places to go, and this just cut down some time for me! She scanned all of my items, and I reached in my wallet for....where's my debit card!? grrrr!! I had no idea where my card was, but it wasn't in my wallet. So I had to do one of those embarrassing moments and tell the lady I couldn't pay. I was so frustrated, because although this was a "quick" trip to Sam's, our total time just wasted was about 40 minutes.
I called my husband once in the car to figure out where my card could be. He told me I could swing by his work and pick up his card. That was still more convenient than going to a bank! So we drove to his work, picked up his card, and went back to Sam's. When I returned to Sam's I spent easily 10 minutes trying to find a cart with straps to buckle my escape artist into the shopping cart. This time we got in and out of the store with our goods! Still frustrated with myself for wasting time, I hurried on to Publix, as we were no approaching lunch time and were nowhere near home.
I got the girls into their "car" cart at Publix and hit the aisles. I wasn't in my regular Publix, so it took me a few moments to find what I needed. I got everything in my cart, totaling right at $30, and realized that in my treasure hunt earlier this morning for my rain check, I had pulled out my Winn-Dixie ads from my coupon folder. My Winn-Dixie ads had a $5/$30 coupon that I had planned to bundle into my transaction. Now I was really hopping mad. I wanted to blame everyone in the world, as if they could have some part in my stupidity. My husband tried to offer comfort by saying I was distracted by my daughter being sick. But I knew better. No matter how organized I try to be, and no matter how un-distracted I could make myself, I still mess up...and usually royally...and I just get so frustrated when I'm so stupid! So, now what could be $10 worth of groceries was getting ready to cost me $15. My husband said just put everything back, and we'd go back tonight with the coupon to save the $5. So, once again, I just wasted another 40+ minutes in another store! This is not turning into a very productive day!
While on the phone with my husband, he said I could come eat lunch with him since I had to return his debit card anyway. There are two cafeterias on the campus where he works, and we usually eat at the smaller one because they serve chicken and french fries...an easy-please with kids! But today we decided to eat at the the other because that is my husband's preference. Well! That was $2 more, and the food selection was terrible in my opinion! Nothing was very kid-friendly, the chicken pot pie did not look appetizing, and it was much harder to get something allergen-free for Emma. I ended up being disappointed and frustrated that something that should have been a special treat ended up seeming like another waste of time and money. My husband ended up showing up to lunch 25 minutes after we settled down, so we really didn't get to spend much time with him either.
Isn't it amazing that once something starts the ball rolling down hill on a given day, that the whole rest of the day seems to just roll down hill with it? I'm hopeful that nap time will allow me to relax enough to take my focus off of my frustrations and problems, and place the focus back on the blessing God has given me and on my children and their needs.
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