Thursday, February 21, 2008

SHOPPING DAY

Wednesday (yesterday) was shopping day. Now that we live out of town, I manage shopping differently than I did when shops were within a mile or two of my house. Now, instead of running to one or two stores per outing, I try to do as much as I can in one trip. That means – organize!

First, I’m finishing a baby afghan, so I devoted considerable thought to the next project on my schedule -- an afghan for grandson Jack (see photo right). It’s not a surprise – I told him he would be next. He said his favorite color is blue. I chose a ripple pattern from my new “Vanna’s Choice – Color It Beautiful” book. Using the color chart in the front of the book, I made a basic plan of the colors I would need, choosing two shades of blue but adding other colors for a warmer, more youthful look.

Next I made a grocery list and attached coupons, then rounded out my list according to household needs. I also made a list of everything I needed to take with me – trash for recycling, a cooler and ice, shopping bags -- and another list ordering my stops. If I don’t plan my route, I will head off according to habit instead of plan. Even so, I drove right past my first stop, the recycling bins, and had to turn around and go back.

I left home at 9:30 and was back before 12:30. I still had energy, so I cleared, cleaned, and rearranged another shelf in the pantry and crocheted on the baby afghan.

Here’s a picture of the yarn I bought for Jack’s afghan. I can hardly wait to start it. The gray piece is a shrug I made in January. You can also see the baby afghan, and the off-white piece underneath is a lap throw I made from some of Mother's leftover yarn.

2 comments:

Hallie said...

Jack sure is growing! I try to organize my shopping and end up forgetting, too. I needed some sugar to roll my PB Kiss cookies and went to the store for that very reason. I ended up with dinner supplies for the next 3 days but NO SUGAR! :(

Very, very busy this week!

Kathy said...

"What you don't have in your head, you have to have in your heels," my Grandma Portfors used to say. Mother said if she didn't make a grocery list, even if it just had two items on it, she would come home from the store with everything but what she went for. We'll leave for the farm about 9:00. We'll be back fairly early if everything is okay.