In Praise of Joe. Trader Joe.
I fell in love with Trader Joe’s the second I moved out west. When we lived in the suburbs, we had a giant Trader Joe’s store right at our fingertips, with an easy-to-maneuver parking lot to boot.
When we moved to the city, I just fell out of the practice of making Trader Joe’s a priority. Even though our apartment is about 10 blocks away from one, I got frustrated by the cramped parking ramp. And, unlike my other grocery pit stops, I didn’t drive/walk past it every single day, reminding me of its glory.
But, today I went there. Because a friend reminded me how superbly cheap everything is there, and another reminded me that most stuff is organic, super healthy yet yummy and another friend reminded me that it’s a 5 minute drive from my house. And the cramped lot? Not so during the week.
OH MY LORD.
I got over half of my shopping list checked off for $65. In San Francisco, this is a flipping miracle.
So, needless to say, there’s a new stop in my grocery shopping routine! I am so tickled pink, I can hardly express it. This also comes at a time when saving moola is of the utmost importance, so I’m relieved as well.
Thanks friends for reminding me of this beautiful gem.
Public Service Announcement
For an assignment, I happened to stumble on a news site where people were weighing in on the mandatory composting that went into effect recently here in San Francisco. There was a poll, I voted. I was astounded to see that 76% of the voters thought it meant that the government was intruding on our lives in a disruptive way. Then? I read the comments.
It was remarkable. From the woman on the East Coast who was very much upset about a policy in a city 3000 miles away from her to the man in Middle America who chalked it up to allowing liberal pot head hippies to run their own city.
I’m not going to pretend I didn’t have some kind of idea of what the people of San Francisco were like before I moved here, but I will say, it wasn’t that.
So, I want to get a few things straight. And I apologize for speaking for others, but really, it needs to be said.
The citizens of San Francisco would like you to know:
We’re not all gay.
We’re not all hippies.
We don’t all drive hybrids.
We don’t even all drive tiny, fuel-efficient wonder cars.
We don’t all work in the computer industry.
We don’t all hire nannies when we have kids.
We aren’t trying to convert the entire country to our liberal ways.
We’re not even all liberals.
We don’t all have pot plants growing in our basements.
We don’t even all smoke pot.
We’re not all on an organic, free-range, gluten-free vegan diet.
We aren’t all atheists.
Sometimes we even shower and wear shoes.
Full Contact Parenthood
Bowie has reached the I-can’t-believe-this-is-normal aggression phase of his toddlerdom. Everything, good or bad, warrants a slap, a punch, a head-butt or a bite. And there’s no waving a white flag here, until they learn to talk, this is how they communicate anger, sadness and frustration. And mine also for some reason expresses his extreme happiness in this way?
I’m trying to be as calm about things as possible. But, when you’re at the kids’ museum, and a complete stranger’s kid just accidentally bumps into your kid, and then your kid comes over and proceeds to beat the shit out of you, it’s hard to stay calm.
At home, I have taken to putting him in his crib so he can have a good freak out, and then I get to pick him up and assure him I love him and all of that. But, in public, what do I do? Putting him in his stroller exacerbates the problem. I don’t want to resort to physical punishment, or yelling, or any of the many things we’re often reduced to as parents when we have just reached the end of our rope. ESPECIALLY when I am in public. With all those other judgy mom eyes watching my every move.
The only sure-fire way I have found to make it stop is a treat. It’s usually a healthy treat, but a treat. I can’t keep throwing food at my son to make him behave!
What is everyone’s experience with this? I know there’s got to be something we can do besides investing in a face mask and shoulder pads and just rolling over and taking it.
C’mon Weather, Cut Me Some Slack
So according to the Weather Channel, the rain is coming back. And that link probably won’t be working tomorrow so, sorry if you don’t get the visual. But it’s kinda like this:
Monday night RAIN
Tuesday RAIN
Wednesday RAIN
Thursday RAIN
Friday HELLA RAIN
Saturday RAIN
Sunday RAIN
Monday some sun
Tuesday CLOUDS
Wednesday RAIN
Gee, doncha just wanna visit us in SF right now?!
But, I didn’t really want to complain about the rain so much as tell you all not to take anything that I say in the next 10 days seriously, because I’m fairly certain I’m going to freaking lose my shit. If the previous 14 day rain spell we just got out of didn’t do it, this just might.
Though, at least the kiddo is not sick anymore. Last time, he was sick the entire time. There are places in our fair city to go and play and burn energy and generally just not get too cabin fevery, but when there’s a hacking snot-fest accompanying you, people tend to scowl. This time around, we’ll take advantage of some museums and play spaces. If we don’t we would risk clawing each other’s eyes out.
My New Foot!
Guess what peeps:
I have been going on long walks and wearing real shoes and the whole bit, and I have NO PAIN IN MY RIGHT FOOT! I haven’t been able to say that for about 4 years now, so it’s pretty freaking exciting.
I have also been able to pull out cool shoes I could never wear, and I’m WEARING THEM! Oh the joy. You have no idea.
Thanks for all the well wishes and support during my surgery and recovery. It was a long road, but I am so glad I did it!
Happy Birthday Very Bloggy
As of tomorrow, January 30, Very Bloggy is a whole year old! Considering how much I dragged my feet starting a blog, a YEAR is a huge milestone!
Thanks for reading, hopefully you’ll stick around, and best wishes to all! And, MY how things change:
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- What my kiddo looked like when we started
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- kiddo now
The Snot Saga
I thought we were in the clear. Kiddo ran a fever for a few days, then he had a little cough, then he was raspy for a few days, and about two days ago, everything was looking up! We were symptom free and I didn’t feel guilty dragging him on errands anymore.
But, yesterday, he started having this runny nose. I mean, really, super, extremely runny. This thing does not stop. It’s like a sticky, boogery faucet!
So we have spent the last 36 hours covered in snot, and there just NEVER seems to be a tissue close at hand when I need one. Like this morning at the cafe when he sneezed and when I looked at him, there was a trail of snot leading from his nose to the table. A snot bridge. Lovely. I could not scramble fast enough for napkins while all the people waiting in line to order food stared, horrified.
Cleaning House
We have a lot of stuff. And by a lot, I mean we may singlehandedly be keeping the California economy from total collapse. We consume. But, we also live in a small place. Miniscule. Microscopic. So, lately it’s been MASS EXODUS around our place, mostly out of necessity. It’s pretty much impossible to keep a toddler out of your stuff when said stuff is strewn about your apartment in random baskets and piles.
So lately I find myself asking the same questions over and over again, all day long. Do I love it? Yes. Do I use it? Not really. So do I need it? No.
I’m generally pretty good about getting rid of clutter. But, I still have the tendency to keep things around that I don’t really need. Mainly clothing items.
There are those items that were the height of fashion when I purchased them, and I wore it and wore it and wore it and wore it and wore it and don’t wear it any more because it either doesn’t fit or is not so much the height of fashion anymore. I get a little sentimental about these items. Not on a crazy Hoarders level, but just like, I remember where I was, what I was doing, how old I was, what boyfriend I was with when I wore that item. And the fact that at the time, I LOVED the item so much that I had to force myself not to wear it every single day. Why would I get rid of something so wonderful? Well, let’s see. I don’t wear it, and it’s gathering dust in my closet. Okay, some lucky hipster can find it at the Salvation Army and wear it ironically.
Then there are the items I foolishly paid and arm and a leg for, and then wore once or shudder never. There they sit, neatly hanging in the back of my closet with the price tags and extra buttons still firmly attached. I could have returned it at one point, but the denial stretches much further than the return policy. I will wear this someday. Every time I look at it I wonder, what was I on that day? But, I can’t return it, and I can’t bear just giving it away when I haven’t even gotten so much as a skin cell on it. I consider having a garage sale or selling some items on eBay. Yeah, that’s it, I’ll sell it. But…that never happens. So, five years later I finally feel comfortable giving the item back to the universe and just chalking the monetary loss up to experience. At this point, I’m very experienced.
Oh and then there are those special items you keep because you have the ultimate outfit pictured in your head, and this item is the central piece. If you were to get rid of it, you’d never be able to wear that superbly chic outfit. Only? Generally you never wear it anyway. There actually are other pieces of this outfit missing. You have not yet purchased them and/or there is no guarantee that they actually exist. In the meantime, that special piece sits in your drawer, lifeless. But you just know, the second you give it away, you will find other pieces and a reason to wear it.
The kid stuff might possibly be worse. So much of it was worn or used so very little or is just so flipping adorable that I don’t want to give it away, but instead to keep it for future children. Future children, I might add, that we have not actually decided to have yet. If ever. So, not only am I stuck deciding when to give an item up, but then I’m all of a sudden in an existential debate with myself over whether or not to have another child. It’s ridiculous.
Thankfully my husband is better at this than I am. He rationalizes with me. You don’t need this because A, B, C. Okay, yes, that makes sense. And he offers livable solutions. Get rid of some clothes and you can buy more! That doesn’t really help with our space issue, but you get the drift.
What about you? Any secrets to loosening the ties with your stuff?
My Addiction
People have been telling me the evils of Diet Coke since I cracked open the first bright, shiny silver can in my sophomore year of high school. But, I never took any of it to heart. I felt like keeping things in moderation would make it all okay.
Problem is, I’m not so good at the moderation thing. I have, for the last 15 years of my life, had at least one per day, except for maybe about 10 days of that time. I’m serious. Sick? Diet Coke. Not sleeping? Diet Coke. Pregnant? Diet Coke. Awful. But I Could. Not. Help. It. For some reason.
Even in college, when I stupidly drank an entire 20 oz. bottle at the beginning of a long lecture, and couldn’t leave to go to the bathroom because a) it was a really important lecture and b) he was one of those professors that makes a stink if you leave to go to the bathroom. Even then, when holding it in gave me a nasty bladder infection that took two rounds of antibiotics to kick, I still kept drinking.
Today, I read the tiniest, seemingly innocuous blurb about soda in a random parenting magazine I picked up off a table. I don’t even remember which magazine. And it said that drinking soda every day ups your chances for renal issues later in life. But not so later in life. Like, retirement age.
THIS freaked me out. It wasn’t even new information. I know that soda is bad for your urinary tract. And I have had bladder infections since I was knee high to a grasshopper. But, I still drank the stuff. But, this little blurb shook me differently than any other information that ever came to me before.
I don’t know why, but I suspect it’s because I’m 30. About to be 31. Those days of your body turning on you and falling apart have already begun for me. Now when they talk about health issues in your 50s, that doesn’t seem so far away to me. And if I behave myself at this age, maybe I can feel good at that age.
One of the main reasons I drank so much soda was that it was the perfect complementary beverage to any and all foods. Well, at least in my mouth’s opinion. I couldn’t find anything else I really enjoyed drinking with my food. Well, there’s wine or beer, but of course they have their own issues that I’ll discuss in another post sometime.
I’ve managed in my latest trips to Whole Foods to find some good alternative beverages that are not too sweet and very refreshing but won’t rot out my insides like Diet Coke. My new favorite is Hint.
I’m Diet Coke free one day and counting.
Pardon Me While I Get a Little Political
I don’t normally like to get political. It just gets people all heated and angry and such. But, something today is really bugging me and I’m not sure where else to vent.
So, I grew up in a really conservative area of the country. With really religious and conservative relatives. And I knew from a pretty early age that I was…not like them. I don’t have any idea why, I can’t explain it. My dad is on par with the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly. Yet, I turned out super liberal. Shrug.
Anyway, the thing is, I like to just let things lie. So, they feel differently about the issues than I do, so what? We all go to the polling places and put in our votes and majority wins (well, sometimes, ahem). I would rather just keep the peace.
But, they? Don’t like to let things lie. They like to go on and on (and on and on and on) about how they feel about things. More to the point, they like to argue. And if you try to present your side, they will scream at you and get all red-faced and tell you you’re going to hell. And I’m sorry, I’m not calling anyone dumb, but the things they say tend to reveal that they are misinformed and/or have done zero research on the topic at hand.
Today on Facebook, a relative posted something I just can’t get out of my mind. Their status read:
“Saw on the internet that Haiti is without a government…. To help out, I am donating one Obama, one Pelosi, one Reid, one Frank, one Coakley and two Clintons! They may keep them permanently! I’d give them a constitution since we’re not using ours right now!!”
Okay. So, let’s stroll past the irony of broadcasting publicly that you think we’re not using our Constitution whilst you are exercising your First Amendment rights.
But, let’s talk for a sec about how we would provide Haiti with a Constitution. Hellooooooo, they already have one! I mean, seriously.
And secondly, if all of those politicians are so horrible and inept, why on earth would you want to send them to a country that’s struggling to recover from a major natural disaster? Do you hate Haiti too? I don’t get it.
Sorry, that’s it. Just don’t say stupid shit on Facebook, it irritates me to no end.