Oh, trust me, this morning I was going to write about the House's 'thumbs down' on Bush's bailout, and will maybe tomorrow. But I awoke to my own issues, a serious jolt of Reality in it's own right.
Zip. Nada. Zilch.
Back up the bus to when I was a pre-kindergartner...and had my first sips of coffee with cream and sugar while spending quality early-morning alone time with my visiting grandmother. We all have our little 'security blankets' that manifest as something we do or look forward to each day, or each week...and mine is not only my early natural awakening, but the grabbing of my thermos coffee pot and pre-loading it with Splenda and Half and Half. I am then free to take the pot with me to the computer, or sofa, or flute room and not have to make trips back and forth.
I'm temporarily involved with a great deal of manual labor all day long, and after having a fairly good night's sleep, I got up naturally at 4:30a. Sore as I was, I smiled when I smelled the coffee that just brewed, and with a relative lightness of step headed towards my pre-sunrise routine.
Only then did the dimmest of light bulbs go off in my head as I stared into the sparsely populated refrigerator: I had finished the Half and Half yesterday.
Now, in the past, say, 5 years, I've encountered the lack of liquid dairy maybe 10 times. Maybe there was a little skim milk left one time...maybe there was some leftover powdered creamer I use to try to keep on hand for emergencies (I've obviously not tended to that garden)...I've used vanilla ice cream/yogurt ice cream and let it melt in the coffee...I once used a can of vanilla Slim Fast...desperate times call for desperate measures.
Alas, this morning, there were no options except to: forego creamer and drink it black (GASP!), or freak Mercy out and take her for an 0'dark-thirty ride to the 24-hour grocery store about 2 miles away. A no brainer for me, I chose the latter.
And so amidst the chaos within our country and world, I present to you my impromptu "Top 10" list of advantages to shopping at 4:45am...
10. I don't have to be cautious of neighborhood kids waiting for the school bus as they loosely gather out in the road like Guinea Fowl (you can appreciate that statement if you've ever been around 'em...Guinea Fowl, that is).
9. There are no delays from road crews continuing to significantly disrupt traffic while they work on the major thoroughfare in front of my subdivision.
8. For that matter, I have the road to myself with virtually no traffic.
7. I can park close the front door of the store.
6. I can navigate the aisles and not deal with a family of four waddling side by side, oblivious to my polite "excuse me, passing through, please" pleas.
5. I also don't have to glare at the parent who exercises no control over their out-of-control 5-year old running and screaming through the store.
4. I get great customer service if I have a question.
3. There's no waiting in line at the checkout.
2. I can walk Mercy in nearby grassy areas and clean up after her in shadowy anonymity.
...and one of best advantages of shopping well before sunrise is...
1. I don't have to wait in line at the gas pump...oh, wait a minute, my local stations STILL have no gas.
May your cup runneth over today!
Zip. Nada. Zilch.
Back up the bus to when I was a pre-kindergartner...and had my first sips of coffee with cream and sugar while spending quality early-morning alone time with my visiting grandmother. We all have our little 'security blankets' that manifest as something we do or look forward to each day, or each week...and mine is not only my early natural awakening, but the grabbing of my thermos coffee pot and pre-loading it with Splenda and Half and Half. I am then free to take the pot with me to the computer, or sofa, or flute room and not have to make trips back and forth.
I'm temporarily involved with a great deal of manual labor all day long, and after having a fairly good night's sleep, I got up naturally at 4:30a. Sore as I was, I smiled when I smelled the coffee that just brewed, and with a relative lightness of step headed towards my pre-sunrise routine.
Only then did the dimmest of light bulbs go off in my head as I stared into the sparsely populated refrigerator: I had finished the Half and Half yesterday.
Now, in the past, say, 5 years, I've encountered the lack of liquid dairy maybe 10 times. Maybe there was a little skim milk left one time...maybe there was some leftover powdered creamer I use to try to keep on hand for emergencies (I've obviously not tended to that garden)...I've used vanilla ice cream/yogurt ice cream and let it melt in the coffee...I once used a can of vanilla Slim Fast...desperate times call for desperate measures.
Alas, this morning, there were no options except to: forego creamer and drink it black (GASP!), or freak Mercy out and take her for an 0'dark-thirty ride to the 24-hour grocery store about 2 miles away. A no brainer for me, I chose the latter.
And so amidst the chaos within our country and world, I present to you my impromptu "Top 10" list of advantages to shopping at 4:45am...
10. I don't have to be cautious of neighborhood kids waiting for the school bus as they loosely gather out in the road like Guinea Fowl (you can appreciate that statement if you've ever been around 'em...Guinea Fowl, that is).
9. There are no delays from road crews continuing to significantly disrupt traffic while they work on the major thoroughfare in front of my subdivision.
8. For that matter, I have the road to myself with virtually no traffic.
7. I can park close the front door of the store.
6. I can navigate the aisles and not deal with a family of four waddling side by side, oblivious to my polite "excuse me, passing through, please" pleas.
5. I also don't have to glare at the parent who exercises no control over their out-of-control 5-year old running and screaming through the store.
4. I get great customer service if I have a question.
3. There's no waiting in line at the checkout.
2. I can walk Mercy in nearby grassy areas and clean up after her in shadowy anonymity.
...and one of best advantages of shopping well before sunrise is...
1. I don't have to wait in line at the gas pump...oh, wait a minute, my local stations STILL have no gas.
May your cup runneth over today!
4 comments:
While driving along the Garden Route in South Africa last September (I was on business, honestly) enjoying the scenery, which is georgous, very green and looking a lot like England there in the southern Cape region, not bothered by any traffic only meeting about one vehicle every 20 minutes or so, totally unconcerned when - WHAP!!! A guinea fowl flew into our windshield (windscreen there) creating a huge star, on the rider's side fortunately. Where had that bird come from? About 30 or 40 feet from us in a ditch were a flock of about 10 guinea fowl totally unconcerned that one of their fellows had met his maker at the hands (or windscreens) of American tourists. And, what is worse, I am totally familiar with guinea fowl - we have always referred to them as feathered squirrels for their lack of ability to make up their minds and their inability to fly more than 10 to 12 feet in the air. Fortunately the car rental agency seemed to take this injury in stride and mentioned that they get two or three a month.
Abigail
Ah, you DO know Guinea Fowl!!! Thanks for the 'appropo' story!
bob
Slim Fast in coffee.....really? You are such a trend setter!
Ah, Lorinda, MORE than a trend setter - I am the one who carves a new path so others may look upon it and never choose to repeat it!!!! SlimFast is LOW on that totem pole for creamer substitute! ;-)
bob
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