Grocery Cards, Grocery, Gas, & Sundries

So, first to catch up -- yesterday was a long, tiring day.  I volunteered to help drive The Son's freshman high school class on a Geology field trip.  I took the same trip with The Daughter's class three years ago.  It was fun and informative (we live just down the road from some extraordinary geologic curiosities) but it was also exhausting.

The "only" money I spent was $300's worth of grocery cards from the school.  The school gets 5% of all grocery card sales; it's such an easy way to donate to the kids' school and this year they've made it easier than ever to buy them.  I placed a standing monthly order for $300 split evenly between Kroger and Natural Grocers that will be charged to my credit card.  I'll still receive my cash rewards for the purchase, the school will benefit, and I'll still buy groceries -- whenever I have a car, that is.

~ ~ o o O o o ~ ~

Today definitely did not go as planned.  I'd planned to stay at home and do some housework -- namely the kitchen and laundry.  But I was due to go get a blood test to check my thyroid levels over two weeks ago and I really needed to get it done.  Since I'm driving on another field trip tomorrow and Monday is Labor Day, The Husband called from work and offered to run by the house and take me to the lab.  I didn't want to go but say okay anyway.  I needed to make a deposit for The Son (the $100 cash he got for his birthday last month) and I needed to have the blood draw done.

Dork that I am, we got all the way up to the lab only to realize that I'd left the test order form clipped to the calendar on the side of the 'fridge.  Argh!  So we stopped by The Son's bank and the post office before he dropped me off at home.

I'd been home just long enough to eat some brunch and take a quick look at my website design project when The Husband called again.  He had more errands to do and offered to take me back up to the labs.  He was afraid that the kids might decide to hang out with friends before coming home from school leaving me without enough time to get back to the lab before they closed.  So he came back, again, and picked me up.  After the lab, we stopped at his bank, Whole Foods, and the cleaners before heading back to the house.  Now it was almost time for the kids to come home at which point I'd have a car and had a few other errands to run.

The kids arrived home at 3:30.  As I was putting together a grocery list The Son informed me that he was completely out of soap in his bathroom -- the shower and the sink.  Now a two years ago I could have waited a month before replenishing the soap; a year ago I could have gotten away with a week.  But now he's showering every single morning before school.  And washing his hands on a regular basis too.

So no soap meant I needed soap right away.  I did consider stealing a bar from my own bathroom sink or shower but I always forget to take the bar into the shower with me and then have to open the door and get water everywhere.  Or have to step into a wet shower stall to bring the bar back to the sink.  It's a pain.  So I bit the bullet and decided that a trip to the mall was necessary.  I consoled myself by realizing that we were out of chocolate milk and Natural Grocers only carries quarts, not half-gallons.  Target, on the other hand, carries half-gallons and is in the same mall as the Crabtree & Evelyn store.

Of course, I needed other groceries they don't have at Super Target and I'm not willing to pay for at Whole Foods (especially since Whole Foods discontinued their participation in the grocery card program at the school two years ago), so I had to stop at Natural Grocers too.  And the gas station.  Tomorrow's field trip is a 4-hour round trip drive so the Silver Bullet's less-than-half-a-tank wasn't going to cut it.

And by then, the whole day was gone.  I got home and The Son helped unpack and put away the groceries.  The Daughter, grudgingly, helped me load up the dishwasher, and I got to work making dinner.  Right after dinner I got to work making a batch of brownies (Dr. Oekter's. Yummy!) and a single batch of my famous hot-pocket sandwiches.  Tomorrow's field trip is not only ridiculously far away, it's also in a ridiculously remote area.  Lunches need to be packed (not that I could eat if there were a restaurant there anyway) and The Son consumed the last two sandwiches from my last double batch for lunch today.

By the time all of that was done, I was ready to crash.  So the question begs, why am I still up talking to myself?

Okay, quickly, here are all the particulars:

Whole Foods -- $30.07

• 4 boxes of Kashi Cinnamon Harvest cereal -- $3.00/ea. (nice sale!)
• house-brand elbow noodles -- $1.19
• house-brand fusilli pasta -- $1.19
• 2# ground beef -- $9.98
• 1.26# tomatoes -- $5.03
• bag credits -- ($0.20)

*I'd told myself I'd start buying the grass-fed beef but when I got there it looked like it had been in the case for the better part of the day and I just couldn't bring myself to spend an extra $1/lb for it.

Crabtree & Evelyn -- $43.60

• 6 bars of Aloe Vera milled soap @ $3.33/ea.
• 6 bars of La Source soap @ $3.33/ea.

Target -- $4.02

• one half-gallon carton of Horizon chocolate milk -- $3.94

Natural Grocers -- $89.37 (gift card balance)

• Applegate Farm roast beef -- $5.19
• 2 pkgs Applegate Farm smoked turkey -- $3.99/ea.
• 2 pkgs Applegate Farm roast turkey -- $3.99/ea.
• bottle of Probiotic capsules -- $13.99
• bottle of fiber capsules -- $20.25
• 2 Brown Cow cream-top yogurt cups -- $0.79/ea.
• Willow River colby/jack cheese -- $4.25
• Willow River muenster cheese -- $5.59
• 4 cans Muir Glen tomato sauce -- $1.59/ea.
• 4 cans Muir Glen no-salt tomato sauce -- $1.59/ea.
• dozen Nest Fresh eggs -- $1.79
• gallon of Horizon 2% milk -- $5.19

Safeway Gas -- $21.54

Tanked up the Outback with 8.978 gallons at $2.399/gallon.  The Silver Bullet now has 16,912 miles on it.

And, that, my friends is that.  Now it is way past time for me to go to bed.

Related posts:

1. Day 17
2. $$: Meat and Potatoes
3. $$: Gas, Juice, & Small Loan
4. The First Day…
5. Day 89: Grocery Store Triple Whammy