The General is a list maker. She begins her day by making a written outline of what she plans to accomplish. In addition, she never goes to the grocery store without making a list. After we moved to the golf course, the General figured out she could have more time to devote to cross-stitch if she sent me to the grocery store.
Invariably, on almost every list, she includes two cases of Dasani water and three gallons of Ozarka water. That always frustrates me to no end. With that much water in the basket, there is little room for anything else.
The last time I went to the grocery store, she had the water and two full columns with abbreviations written on a small notepad. I'm at least smart enough to know that I must start with the water. Otherwise, it won't all fit.
I was actually picking up some ingredients the General needed for items she plans to take to the pot-luck dinner at church on Sunday. The church is celebrating our 110th anniversary. That was reason enough to go to the grocery store. But there was a host of extras and didn't include food.
The extras are the signature series for her grocery lists. It is the extras that always puzzle me. You can't get out of the grocery store without spending at least $200 and when you head home, there is almost nothing you've bought that includes food.
The list included SF Raspberry with syrup written immediately underneath. She didn't have to tell me that she wanted sugar-free. I already knew that. The General apologized in advance that the list wasn't organized for easy finding.
She also wanted tea. Again, I knew the brand and I knew she wanted sugar free. Until about ten years ago, the General always made tea by using tea bags. Now we buy the tea and spend a 100-to-200 times more simply because it's convenient.
Actually, sugar-free tea isn't always convenient. More often than not, the grocery store is out of it. We obviously live in an environment where most folks drink tea with sugar. You can always find lots of tea with sugar on the shelves.
Of course, it is also standard to have "white choc frappe" on the list. I didn't have to be told that it is made by Starbucks and how she discovered it is beyond me. Personally, I've never tried it.
The list included "TP." Seriously, I have no idea what brand of toothpaste she uses. Off the top of my head, I couldn't tell you what brand of toothpaste I use. I simply know it when I see it at the grocery store.
I did call home to ask what brand toothpaste she uses. She wanted to know why I was asking? She didn't put toothpaste on the list. She connected the dots for me. "TP" was her abbreviation for toilet paper.
As she put up the groceries when I got home, she wanted to know why I bought syrup? It was an easy answer. I bought it because syrup was on the list. Even though it was written underneath, the syrup was tied to the SF Raspberry.
I guess you could say, you could have fooled me.
All My Best
Don
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