In Walmart By Myself

Yesterday after church I got to go to Walmart by myself.  Ava and Owen are up at my parents, and Chris and all of the babies decided to stay home and take a nap.  While a nap sounded really good, getting shopping done without any kids with sounded even better.  Pathetic?  Yes.  Did I want a nap?  Oh yeah.  But I want to get in and out of a shopping store without kids screaming and taking much longer than necessary more than a nap.  I am so sad.

People probably would have thought that I had never been in a superstore before.  I took a long time in each aisle I needed to go just because I could.  I swear to you, I spent 15 minutes in the band-aid aisle alone looking at all the different options.  Usually I just grab the cheap band aids with pretty pictures on them and call it done.  But this time I looked at things like butterfly band aids, and liquid skin, and the ginormous bottles of iodine which I had never noticed before, all of the above which would probably be good to have in our family.

I leisurely walked through the shampoo aisles and moved casually through the store.  Earlier this year I decided I wanted to try canning.  We make a ton of freezer jam every year, so I figure I should move into canning territory even though it kind of intimidates me.  Our Walmart has a canning section, so I looked at all of that glass stuff and didn't have to worry my kids' grubby hands would pull something off the shelf and create a mini emergency.  Plus, whoever designs Walmart must kind of be a moron, because I looked and looked for a pressure cooker which is needed to can meat and certain things.  I went up and down the canning aisle and the next aisles adjacent on either side and found nothing.  Eventually I found them over by the pots and pans.  What a dumb place to put them, put them with the rest of the canning items!  I never would have spent the time looking for it with all the kids.  I can just hear Owen asking if we're done yet.

When I realized that I had forgotten to get something on my list on the other side of the store, I just went back for it.  That is something I almost never do with the kids in tow unless it is vital for our survival.  Usually, I let it go until next time because it's just not worth it!

When I finally got home about 2 hours later, everyone was still napping so I had a few spare minutes to just chill.  Awesome.