Grocery Shopping... Ugh.

I have been spoiled for several years now with a husband who loves to cook. And he's pretty damn good at it! And because he is the Foodie in the house, he usually does the grocery shopping too! What a catch, right? I know, I totally hit the jackpot! It's not that I'm lazy, I'm just not a good cook. I have a few specialties that my husband will request every once in a while, but it's really best for everyone if I just stay out of the kitchen. I'll help do the grocery shopping every once in a while too, but half the time I come home with the wrong type of olive oil, or forget the fennel because I have no idea what the fuck that is or where to find it. Plus, I haaaaate it. I don't have enough patience to wait for my number to be called at the Deli line, and I have zero will power when I get to the snack aisle. But now that I'm a temporary stay-at-home mom, I figured I need to up my game a bit in the kitchen so we can have good quality family time when Hubby comes home from work. (By "upping my game," I mean learn a few easy crock pot recipes. I know my limitations).

To do that, I was going to have to conquer my fear and take the little peanut grocery shopping. So that's what I did this morning. The grocery store is right down the road and my list was pretty short, so I figured what the heck, let's do this! I got a parking spot right next to the shopping carts. Score! Then came my first obstacle: where does the baby go? She's too small to sit in the seat in the cart, and I needed to buy too many things to pile on top of the stroller, so I just put her car seat right in the basket of the cart, facing me. That's what you're supposed to do, right? Baby girl gave me a look as if to say "why are you putting me in this cage? What have I ever done to you besides the 23 hour labor, 3 1/2 hours of pushing, hemorrhoids, stitches, stretch marks... Ok, maybe I deserve to be in this cage for a few minutes." She must have felt pretty guilty, because she was quiet and content the whole time. I, on the other hand, was faced with another dilemma: where do the groceries go? The car seat takes up the whole damn cart! I was able to put some stuff in the front seat area of the cart, shoved a box of cereal and a few boxes of granola bars down in front of the car seat, 2 quarts of milk in the undercarriage, and I let the baby hold onto a pack of sponges and soap. What?! She owes me one!

We made it through the checkout, no problem. I feel kind of stupid for even writing about it. I know moms and dads do this all the time, and they are probably laughing at me right now for being such a spaz about it.  But this time my list was short and it was easy. What do people do when they need a week's worth of groceries? Seriously, I want to know! I'm a pretty good multi-tasker, but there is no way I can push a stroller AND a shopping cart! Especially not mid-week, in the middle of the day, when all the senior citizens do their shopping in their Hoverounds with a total disregard for common sense traffic rules! How do parents of multiples do it? How do single parents do it? Good God, how do single parents WITH multiples do it??? It will be easier when she is old enough to sit in the cart, but what am I supposed to do until then? Balance a gallon of OJ on my head and stuff the lunch meat in my bra?

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Is this another one of those secrets experienced moms don't want to share? Come on! Help a sista out!