My Real Life

A big storm was brewing for this weekend.

At one point, they were predicting 10-13 inches.

My original plan, this weekend, was to be in the city with Kim, Erin, and Michaela, celebrating my birthday at Sleep No More NYC.

Then the weather reports started rolling in and those of us who lived outside of the city started getting nervous. If they shut down mass transit, would be we able to get home? Would we have to pull over and sleep in our car on the way from the train stations home?

For people that needed to be home on Sunday night, it just was a little risky given the forecast.

So, we sold the tickets and cancelled our plans.

Not happily, but things happen.

So, I shifted my brain and started looking forward to a weekend snuggled in with Monkey Girl, Baby Monkey and Tiny, as Real Man and Monkey in the Middle were going to be out of town for a hockey tournament.

Snowed in with most of my babies, board games, fire in the fireplace, books, movies.

Okay, yes. I was starting to look forward to this.

So, Saturday rolled around and I went to work for a few hours, with the stage crew for our school musical. When we finished, Baby Monkey and I went to the store to pick up Smartfood.

You know, the cheesy popcorn?

It’s what he decided he wanted to have in the house to ride out the storm.

No problem, little guy. Smartfood we can do.

When we got to the store, we headed immediately to the popcorn aisle. But, when we got there, Baby Monkey decided that he was more in the mood for microwave popcorn, Extra Butter flavor.

I wasn’t quite as on board with that, but, eh, it’s a storm. Why not?

So, we grab that.

Then Baby Monkey says “Actually, can we also get some more grapes?”

If the kids ask for fruits or vegetables, it’s an automatic yes, so we moved to the produce aisle.

He grabbed the grapes, and then as we walked, I saw a container of snap peas.

I love snap peas.

Baby Monkey is allergic, but man do I love them.

So, I grabbed those, too.

Suddenly, I remembered we needed batteries, and the batteries were all the way across the store, so Baby Monkey and I started to make our way there.

And on the way, we passed the cookie aisle.

I keep seeing ads for the new “Oreo: The Most Stuf” and have been wanting to try them out.

They didn’t have those, but they did have Double Stuf, so I picked up a package of those, too.

By now, Baby Monkey and I had too much to carry and I wasn’t sure where we would find the batteries, so I sent him to the parking lot to get a cart.

And I kept walking.

And, oh, there was some hot apple cider in K-cups!

See, my vision of us all snuggled in front of the fire included a lot of food and hot beverages.

Despite my Danish roots, there’s an Italian grandmother in me somewhere, and I show love by trying to feed people.

I grabbed the K-cups, and then saw the Spaghettios.

Yeah, we need those for a snowstorm.

Ooh, and soup. We needed soup. Definitely soup.

And look what’s next to the soup!

It’s the crackers! Triscuits. Soup and Triscuits for a storm. Yes.

Oh, and you know what’s so good after playing the snow?

Peanut butter and jelly on toast.

But, I couldn’t remember if we had enough peanut butter or jelly in the house.

Or bread, for that matter.

Luckily, at this point, Baby Monkey had come back with a cart, which was a good thing because I couldn’t carry another thing.

Or, maybe it wasn’t a good thing.

Because I then laid eyes on the Pepperoni Pizza rolls.

Oh, how I love thee Totino’s Pizza Rolls.

To make a long story short, I checked out 30 minutes and $145 later.

I always roll my eyes at people who go crazy at the whisper of snow.

The Facebook memes of empty shelves before an impending storm make me laugh out loud.

Yet, I fell prey to the madness more easily than I would have imagined.

Now, I wasn’t panicking, thinking we’d starve without bread, milk and eggs.

But I certainly went overboard in the anticipation.

This post may seem like a contrast to my minimalism post, but, I know that everything I bought will be eaten.

Maybe not this weekend, but mark my words, it will be eaten.

Just don’t be surprised if Tiny winds up taking a frozen burrito to school for a snack next week.