For our family, that target day of giving our local merchants a rest is Sunday.
So how'd we do?
Bottom line: we did great. But it wasn't without some angst.
On Saturday morning, we were getting ready to head to Knoxville for the big game. "I need to run to the grocery store before we go," I announced. Mr. Official replied, "For what?" (In the south, we don't just ask "why?" We ask "for what?" which means the same thing as "what for?" but avoids that pesky dangling preposition.)
I said that I needed some items for the next day's menu. He assured me we would be back in time to hit the grocery store before bedtime. As luck would have it, he was overly optimistic - it was 10 pm before we rolled back into town.
I confess my first thought was I could slip to the store at the crack of dawn. Ugh.
Or I could go after lunch. Or we could just break down and eat out. More ugh.
Then I began to consider what I thought I "needed" from the store, and if I could rearrange our menu plans a little and avoid the trip.
I could and we did.
We'll have yesterday's pork chops tonight. And the chicken that was waiting to be cooked has been cooked and eaten in the form of chicken chile verde and cornmeal dumplings. (Recipe is coming soon, but I won't recommend cooking it in the crockpot.)
So what did we do instead of eating out? For starters, we had leftovers for lunch, which was a nice way to use up a lot of odds and ends hanging out in the fridge. And then - since I was feeling so virtuous (downright smug even), I plunged into multi-tasking: laundry, cooking, and floor maintenance. You know - vacuuming and mopping. All the things I didn't get done on Saturday. For some strange reason, the laundry and cleaning fairies don't show up unless I'm around to make sure they get their jobs done.
I then put dinner in the crockpot before we headed off to evening services.
And so we get to start the work week with a rotated and flipped mattress, fresh linens, and a fairly clean house. And a clear conscience, since I successfully dodged the clutches of consumerism for the day. Mission accomplished, plus some lagniappe.
I did have to hit up the grocery store bright and early, right after this morning's run. Because I don't do mornings without coffee, and I don't do coffee without cream. Hopefully I also got everything else I need for this week (I am also working on cutting down on multiple trips to the store during the week, since a quick dash for a few items often turns into a bigger and more-expensive trip than I planned.)
Happy Monday!
