Today was grocery shopping day. I brought out the stroller and we headed off toward the store.
In just a few more weeks the trees will have their leaves back, and it'll be the most gorgeous walk I've ever taken. Even now it causes me to smile.
Once we got to the grocery store I realized that I was going to have to stick to the list and not buy any tasty extras. My list, after all, included some very heavy items. Apples, oranges, and various other fruits and vegetables were things I needed, and produce can be very heavy. Everything got loaded into the cargo area of the stoller so that I could be sure it all fit securely.
I had a very nice surprise when I got to the cash register. My total grocery bill was a full twenty dollars less expensive than usual. This wasn't, as you would think, because I normally buy so many extra items (although I do buy a few). Rather, it was because I paid more attention to just how much of a given item I really needed to get by, thereby decreasing weight. Rather than buying a full container of tomatoes (or tomatoes on a vine, which I love), for example, I bought three tomatoes in total. Just enough to get through a week's worth of dinners without any of them going bad.
Once everything was paid for, we headed back out to walk home. The bread I bought fell onto the ground, then I kicked it because I couldn't break my stride in time, but other than that there were no grocery mishaps. Success!
But then...
I got to The Hill.
This picture does it absolutely no justice. The Hill is steep. The majority of it is probably only at a grade of about 30 to 35 degrees, but there's one section at the top that's at a 45 degree incline (that's the shaded part of the sidewalk in the picture). This is no problem when you're simply taking a walk, but today I was pushing a stroller full of groceries, as well as a tired three year old. I'm guessing I was pushing somewhere around sixty pounds.
Up The Hill.
Have you ever noticed that when you push something heavy your body angles so that your legs seem like they're sticking out behind you, and you're no longer standing straight? Yep. That was me today.
Upon completeion of that climb I stopped for a minute or two to relax my aching calf muscles. The good news is that once we finished climbing The Hill all we had to do was cross the street and pass two houses. Then we were home.
Today was definitely a success. The entire shopping trip took only an hour from start to finish, we spent less money on groceries than usual, and I got one heck of a workout.
I would definitely recommend walking to the grocery store, rather than driving. Now, being my first time it was definitely hard work...
but I enjoyed it.
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