In a blaze of PG glory

Once again, I find my latest post referring back to topics previously brought to light, but I find that my mind is pretty well fixed on pregnancy related discomforts these days.  After the baby shower held at my momma's house a week ago last Sunday, I had this revelation that I wouldn't be 100% effective at work as my wandering mind was preoccupied with 'nesting' related ideas, plus I've found the less I have to drive, the less my blood pressure tends to rise, so I decided that last Thursday would be my last day for a while.  I realize that seems like an odd choice, but my appointments for whatever reason have now been switched to Fridays.  I must admit that I sort of feel like a failure as my intention has been to work up to my delivery date, but now that I've been at home for the past few days, without the worry of having to be at work...  I think the choice was a good one.  NOW if I can just get something done.

Perhaps the most useful thing I've managed to do these first couple of days was to go grocery shopping.  For the past year or so, I've been trying to keep these trips down to once every couple weeks.  Generally, this approach has worked out quite well, but as of late, I've found myself shopping for two weeks and attempting to eat off that food stuff for three+ weeks.  Two leading contributions to this trend - 1) it's harder to know when I'll actually be up on Saturday morning; 2) Brad is quite nervous about my shopping alone so early in the morning, so he'd prefer to go with me (perhaps to prevent me from going into the self-checkout aisles with ~70 items and thereby giving me a COMPLETE workout).  At any rate, Monday morn was decidedly the day to restock our shelves, and I must say it went a bit smoother than I anticipated.  I mean it was a reasonable hour (perhaps 8AM when I arrived), and I wasn't constantly surrounded by people.  Shopping went without a hitch (even though my iPhone was about dead so I couldn't keep track of my spending like I normally do).  Heck, I even managed to pick up almost everything on my list - makes it a bit more challenging when I attempt to do such things primarily from memory only referring to the actual list once every couple of aisles to conserve battery life.  Even when I came upon my check-out line of choice, I only had to wait behind one dude who probably had about half as many items as I did.  How incredibly lucky could one girl be?!?!

But then...  I was faced with the challenge of unloading my finds onto the belt.  To you non-pregnant people (or at least those a bit earlier on in your pregnancy), it might sound laughable that I would equate this rather simple task to a 10-mile run, but just laugh away - no doubt, it will come back to bite you - HARD.  Normally, my buggy is really quite organized with the cold stuff up front, the cereals lined up neatly behind the cold items, the cans and other boxes behind the cereals, with the toiletries and cleaning supplies at the back, making it quite easy to unload in an orderly fashion.  Of course, Monday, I was a bit lax in my organization - always anticipating the crowd that never appeared I suppose, so lining my items up on the belt proved to a bit more challenging than usual... 

Order aside - the sheer act of unloading became a labor of love.  I thought I would pass out from the heat.  Brad had speculated on an earlier trip that the ventilation wasn't set up to provide adequate cooling while in line for reasons unknown, but I can't help wonder if it's not to make you believe you really NEED that cold refreshing Sprite or Dasani from the refrigerators that surround you...  I am not a Wal-mart hater by any stretch, but this is something that has bugged the stew out of me for the past couple months...  Of course, carrying my own personal heater, I seemed to be the only one effected by this 'massive conspiracy', so I let it ride....  that is until Monday...  Either I just put off that much heat or the cashier was feeling it too...  I don't reckon I've ever noticed a checker have to stop 4 or 5 times while checking me out to fan herself before, but I certainly have now.  I felt so bad for her - couldn't help but wonder why they hadn't seen fit to surround the check-out area with a display of all those nifty fans they stock instead of candy and chips.  (I should interject that I was sort of glad that the candy was still there though - I'd completely forgotten to pick up any other additions for our ice cream while 'on the hunt'.)  Once the last bag had been placed in my buggy and my payment had been made, she confirmed that she was indeed alright and I wished her a good day.

I had been concerned that I'd been hearing the distinctive crash of thunder outside as I'd walked in without an umbrella, but as I walked out into the parking lot, I was greeted with bright sunshine, which had become something of a rarity in these parts as of late.  A smile made its way unto my lips as I would have been quite happy to bask in it, but the novelty quickly wore off and I was once again consumed by the fact that it was sweltering outside as well.  Ahh, to have the groceries loaded into the back of my little SUV with my A/C blowing on me with its full force...  that was as close to heaven as I came that day...