Pickin' and Gatherin'

It's Friday, and as he usually does at the end of his work week, the husband/lover/best friend asks me what I did today.  I want to say, "Oh honey, I went to the gym and had a fabulous workout, then I took myself out to lunch at a new little bistro and  sat out on their patio reading a good book while waiting for my lunch.  Then I had several treatments at the spa, and now I've been eating bon-bons and watching a bit of TV with the good company of the puppy, waiting for you to get home and join me.  Where would you like to go for dinner, lover?"

Of course that would only be wishful thinking a lie, so I decided to tell it like it is.  "I went pickin' and gatherin.'  You know that Friday is my pickin' and gatherin' day."  We have this same conversation EVERY Friday.

I suppose this business of pickin' and gatherin' goes back to the era of the cave people.  Experts tell us that there were pretty fairly defined roles for the cavewomen and the cavemen.  Here's how I understand it:  The cavewomen were responsible for the children at all times.  Their job outside the cave was to go and forage and gather bits of food and other necessary items for home decor, meals, and entertainment.  All cleaning, childcare, food preparation, decoration, invention, gossip, romance and healthcare were the business of the women.

The cavemen were responsible for hunting, killing, and dragging big game back to the homestead, then sitting around the fire and bragging about it with the other cavemen.

So jump to modern times, and I see how my chores are lined up before me.  It's the end of the week, and I will follow through the age-old tradition of what we women just do.

I will go pickin' and gatherin.'

1.  I will write up my menu of meals for the coming week ------->write up my grocery list --------> go to the food store / market and purchase what I need.  A big thank you goes to friend Erin Wagner for some of the following pictures from our local market.

2.  Next, with great trepidation, I will stop at Wal-mart.  Wal-mart is a dangerous place on Fridays, see my blog about it here.  

Just another eccentric Wal-mart shopper

Is that man shopping for condoms?

On my Wal-mart list are things like soap, shampoo, detergents, and any other items that are generally cheaper there than purchasing them at the grocery store.  Unfortunately, I live in a small town, and I do not have a better option than Wal-mart.

3.  I will buy my meats at the meat market, rush home, put away the cold food, and by then it will probably be time for a hurried lunch.

4.  My next stop (every other Friday) is to my nail guy Johnn, for a manicure or pedicure, whichever is scheduled.  All this pickin' and gatherin' wears down a gal, and we need to stay on top of things and keep ourselves looking good.  

5.  I will pick up a small amount of cash at the bank drive thru window.  I don't carry much cash any more.  Like most people these days, using a bank card or credit card seems much easier.  Sometimes though, tipping requires cash.

6.  A stop at the post office is usually on my Friday run, to mail off a big pile of paid bills and sometimes to buy stamps.  (Changing over to automatic bill paying is on my list of things to do, for sure.)

7.  I may stop at the local health store if I need something there, or just if I want to find some new healthy item to incorporate into our diet.  (Couscous, quinoa, and other weird stuff.)

8.  I will stop at my local coffee store if I am low on ground coffee, but mainly because I love opening a new bag of coffee and sniffing in there.  

Who am I kidding, I usually get a donut too.

9.  If I know I have company coming in during the weekend, it is not unusual for me to stop in our local bakery shop and pick up some goodies.  Sometimes I eat my lunch there too, and so I am actually killing two birds with one stone.  Wait, the man does the killing.  Ok, I'm just gatherin.'

10.  Fill up the car with gas.  If I am lucky, I will have enough "gas points" from the grocery store to save 20 or 30 cents a gallon.  I love that.

I'm sure there are some other stops on some Fridays, but this is my basic pickin' and gatherin' routine.  Sometimes it takes up just about the whole day, but I enjoy the ritual.  Truly I do.

How about you?  Do you have pickin' and gatherin' routes?