Bread

Walking down the grocery aisle in hot pursuit of a loaf of bread I encountered a bag of hot dog buns. Ten buns. As I pressed on to the desired bread variety, my mind stuck on the number 10. Ten buns. How many hot dogs in a package? Eight I thought. So I made a detour to the meat section.

Sure enough, 8 dogs in a package. Then why 10 buns in a package?

Well I pondered this a few moments and then noted how fresh the pork chops looked. Six thin ones in a pack. Above them were four thicker ones; just about the same price. We could freeze two and eat two right away. The six-pack didn't work; too thin, and doesn't lend to convenient freezing of the inventory. Skimpy, don’t you know!

Well, four pork chops in hand (the thicker ones) I wandered toward the front of the store. I scooted around by the dairy case and spotted the butter display. Easter’s soon upon us and butter is $3.69 a pound. Wasn't it $2.89 at Christmas? Hmm. I’ll have to look into what’s causing the price shift.  Picked up four yogurts; good price and handy as snacks.

Continuing on my way to the cashier I noted toilet paper on sale and grabbed a 6-pack. By now my arms were getting full and I needed a cart. Why didn't I have a cart already? I recalled I came in for one item. But what was it?

As I rounded the aisle’s end I ran into a neighbor, one who had been gone for over two months; Florida tan fresh on her face, I realized she had told me she would return in spring. So April is spring; yep. Despite the cold temps and rain, it’s not snow so it is spring and she was due her return, the neighbor, that is. In our quick chat of glad welcome, she showed off her purchase of a frozen pizza for dinner. They had just returned within the half hour and the fridge was bare. So pizza was the menu this night.

That reminded me of pizza dough, pizza bread, and tomato sauce. Ketchup! We were nearly out of ketchup. Waving goodbye to the tanned traveler I jogged over to the condiment section and picked up a bottle of ketchup. Or is that catsup? I think the ‘k’ word is better, more American. Slangy, don’t you know? Which brand? Oh Heinz will do. What other is there?

Once in the cart, ketchup reminded me of mustard, so a little of that as well. Then relish was the natural next item. Pretty soon I had a taste for hot dogs so back to meat to get the dogs. Then back to bread to pick up the buns.

Nagging sensation. What was I missing? Butter? No. yogurt? No. Cheese? Maybe. What had I come to the store for in the first place? No list to refer to. Phone left in the car. Hmm.

In my quandary I spotted my tanned neighbor checking through the cashier, pizza in hand. Pizza? No. Ahhh! Pizza bread. Bread. Back to that aisle for the final item.

Got it. Now to the cashier. Can’t use the express checkout; instead of a handful of items I now had 23. How did that happen? Oh well.

Now to the car with a few sacks. Got behind the wheel and the phone rang. Rocky calling. Could I bring home a bag of cookies and a pound of bacon? Sure. But why wasn't that on the list?  What list, he says.

And that’s why I came home with 25 items instead of a loaf of bread.

Just a reminder to make a list and stick to it. And focus. Focus is good. Maybe the express line next time?

April 9, 2014