Snowbank Anyone?

Soooo... I just remembered that I haven't told you my "snowbank story". (Yeah, I haven't been feeling all that "chipper" this week, so I haven't been in the "writing" mood.)

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am trying to "plan" at least two outings each week while J is working in order to keep myself from becoming stir-crazy. And thus, my Monday outing to the grocery store.

I'd never been to Aldi's before. Many people had "raved" about the great prices and ease of shopping, but for some reason I'd avoided it. (And it's the closest grocery store to my house - literally just around the corner!) But, trying to save more money and shop smart, I decided that Monday was going to be the day that I went to Aldi's.

I had done my research on the internet. I read everything there was to read on Aldi's website. I knew how their stores worked. I knew I needed to bring cash to pay for my groceries. I knew I wasn't going to find any national brands in the store. I knew to bring a quarter for a cart deposit. And I knew to bring my own bags.

So, Monday morning, I got myself and the kids around, and headed out the door around 10am. I headed to the bank to get some cash (my monthly cash allowance for grocery and other discretionary spending). Thankfully, there is a Lake City branch just the other side of Aldi's, so I didn't have to drive into town to get money.

When we got to Aldi's, I strapped David in the Snugli - LOVE the Snugli!! - and put Jenny in the cart with my quarter I had saved from the duck (Jenny's piggy bank is a LARGE goose/duck and she LOVES to feed it!) especially for this occasion. As I was walking through the store, checking items off my monthly shopping list (yes, I shop for the entire month in one shot - it saves money on all the "little extras" I might make each trip), it dawned on me... I FORGOT TO BRING BAGS!! Not having been to Aldi's before, I didn't know what this might mean - would I have to pay for bags (as I knew they offered them for $.05/each) or could I get by without having any bags at all?? I started to watch the checkout lane to see how it worked - as the groceries went across the scanner... YES!! the cashier just put them back in the cart - if you wanted to sack your groceries, there was a long counter on which to do so AFTER you checked out and paid. I was safe - no added expense for grocery bags (which I have an INSANE SURPLUS of in my pantry!!). So, after I paid for my groceries - which cost WAY less than I had anticipated - I wheeled my cart out to my van and loaded the loose groceries into the trunk.

We stopped at the bread store (just around the other corner from our house) to get bread for the month. Monday's are $.59 days - so I stocked up on 3 loaves of white bread, a bag of bagels, a bag of mini sub buns, and a bag of cinnamon raisin bread (this was $1.49) for Jason. Then we headed home with our month's worth of groceries.

When I approached my driveway, I first stopped to check the mail. Nope - nothing yet. Then I went to pull in, but thought: "What if I back in? Maybe that would make unloading the groceries easier." So, in an awkward fashion, I pulled past the driveway on the wrong side of the road, and started to back in - I think there may have been a car coming on the other side of the road, I don't remember, but I'm going to claim that there was in order to make the end of this story slightly less embarrasing. As I backed in to my snowy/icy driveway, I realize that I'm not in the driveway, but decided that my van could make it through the pile of snow/ice on the side without a problem - I'd just gun it. Ummm... not so much. Up and over the snowbank I went... and then... nothing... just spinning tires. I got out of the van to see if I could "kick" the snow out of the way. I cleared the front tire and tried again to no avail. At this point, I decided to make sure I wasn't in the road and just leave it there til Jason got home. I was clear from the road, so I shut the van off and started up the driveway to unlock the house.

A car stopped across the street and a guy got out of his car - "Are you stuck? Would you like some help?" I welcomed his assistance and went to get the shovel from the house. He shoveled out my back tire and after a few tries, he pushed me out of the snowbank. I thanked him and managed to back the rest of the way down the driveway without any trouble. As I watched him leave, I realized that he wasn't "passing by" our house. He had seen me getting myself stuck from the corner and decided to go out of his way to come help me!

I unloaded the kids and put them in the house, found an empty Stampin' Up! box that I could use to bring the groceries in the house with, and proceeded to bring the groceries inside.

When J got home from work that night, I told him what had happened. He just shook his head, glad that he hadn't needed to push the van out in the dark!