We live in a rural area, it takes us thirty minutes to get most anywhere "in town". That's fine with us, we love where we live but trips into town are consolidated as a result. On Thursday mornings I have Quilt Ministry at church until noon, after that I ordinarily make my numerous errand stops along the way home, including groceries. This isn't usually a problem, I don't have a big car but I don't normally buy bulky things! I did today. I stopped at a discount department store and they had large, standing ferns (Kimberly Queen) outside the entrance door for $9.97 each, a good price. I picked up two for the patio. As I was cruising to the checkout I ran across a great deal on a large area rug for the downstairs basement/workshop bathroom, it was the perfect color and size, we've been looking for one for a long time. I was barely able to manage wedging it's 5'X7' rolled size into the cart along with all the other necessities I'd already accumulated, but I did! I paid for my purchases and, luckily, was able to get everything BACK into the cart for the short walk across the parking lot to the car. Whoops... I'd forgotten how small the trunk was... the floors behind the front seat, the back seat and every other surface was full when I still had two bags and the rug in the cart! I was determined... where there's a will there's a way. I had plenty of will (even if I was short on space). After a few minutes of repacking, crawling in and out, and basically 'sizing things up' I was able to slip the rug inside the car on an angle and put the ferns on either side of the floor in the back. I was proud of my accomplishment. I happily wheeled the cart to the return "corral" when I noticed an SUV parked near my car with two men in it laughing and pointing... at me! Huh? Apparently I had put on quite a show with all my shoving and cramming and rearranging; they seemed to appreciate the free parking lot entertainment! Glad I could amuse them. An offer of help would have been nice, but no; they were laughing too hard! How did I react? I smiled broadly and curtsied for their benefit. They saluted me then and off I drove, back to our rural retreat. I'm very thankful that I was able to get everything inside the car, now that I know I was being observed, but then, I've had experience.After all, I am a quilter... I'm used to trouble-shooting and making things fit!
Life is Good!
9 comments:
Aren't you glad you don't have to do a lot of shopping every week! I think you handled yourself very well! A curtsey and everything!
By the way, I'm having trouble replying to your comments by e-mail. They keep coming back. About my Japanese words, they say "stickler" and "hard-working". See. I told you in English they aren't particularly flattering! That's why I decided to do them in Japanese where they are words of praise.
Hope this goes through. (It didn't so,rats, I'm putting it in your comments.)
What a hilarious post! I can just see you now! And you did handle yourself very gracefully. We go through this somewhat every week when I come back from grocery shopping - trying to fit all the frozen food into the freezer. Sometimes we have to resort to eating some of it, and a couple of times, we had to give it away to my sister or my mother.
One time I went to an auction, and was asked if I wanted everything on two tables for $1. I said ok, figuring I could sell it at a yard sale. Then I was offered another two tables for $1. Yikes! I think I even got some furniture there. Yeah, I had to hustle to get transportation for all my loot. My sister came to the rescue, and got some of my loot for free as a reward.
I enjoyed your post, had a good chuckle, having been there & done that! And how graceful of you to curtsey! I might not have thought of that!
This one really made me laugh!! I can just imagine little you wrestling with that rug! You must have felt so accomplished to fit it all into your car....and to curtsy at the end. Perfect!!
I remember those days - or something similar. My dad got paid monthly, so we went to the grocery store monthly to stock up on non-perishables (we froze bread and milk - too) We too lived a good 30 closer to 1 hr from the store... My dad would get up at the crack of dawn & if you were not ready when he was you were out of luck!
BTW the dogwood cornflakes comment made me snort coffe out of my nose!
Ahh, but the last laugh was yours. What a great story and the curtsy was inspired *s*
I once brought home a dining room table and six chair set (it's the one Kyle saw when he visited) in my Saturn station wagon. Table up on the roof, and six chairs INSIDE the car. I was pretty proud of myself, and similarly had made quite the spectacle of myself getting it all in there in front of all the pickup trucks, SUV's and vans surrounding me.
Curiously, like you, not a single offer of assistance. But I don't really blame them. I must have looked like a wildman trying to get it all to fit.
It was a bit of a long drive home...
What a great story! CarGuy & I used to live way up in the Rocky Mountains. In the winter it was a 45 minute drive down to the Front Range (depending on the weather). In the summer it was almost 2 hours. Why? Think RVs. I used to load up the Subaru wagon with the kid, the laundry and the cooler. Laundry was done one night after work and shopping another night after work. The cooler kept things from getting too warm. Never bought ice cream in the summer. Thanks for the memory!
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