I needed more/other groceries already by yesterday, so I decided that since I already had a massage therapy appointment, I'd make the most out of actually getting dressed and being out of the house. So, I texted Jenna to see if she was available again to help me at the store.
I showered, got dressed and thought I'd at least try to make myself presentable. I brushed my hair and put on some mascara and a little lip gloss.
However, the dark, puffy circles around my eyes, the paleness in my skin, the puffiness in my face, the ever deepening grooves between my eyebrows and my increasingly longer/deeper "laugh lines" around my eyes and throughout my face, as well as the dark-brown-no-longer-blonde hair - made my face look like death warmed over.
What a difference a pair of silver hoop earrings made. Seriously. My eyes seemed to brighten. The whites were whiter and blue was bluer. I'm not kidding. OK! Ready to face the world!
** A little background on how I came to my decision to get out to grocery shop (by myself - see below) and get through the entire experience:
Last year, when I decided to be more regular with working out/exercise (even though I HATE exercise), and was ABLE do exercise, some self-discovery came about.
Realizing that I may never find exercising "fun" or compelling to do, I decided to just say to myself, over and over again whilst at the gym, "I can get through this, I can do hard things"! Just getting that into my head, I was able to finish the last, boring minutes of each type of exercise - be it stationary bike, rowing machine, treadmill, weight resistance circuit or whatever. I can do hard things. If I just put my mind to it, I CAN do hard things!
As the yesterday progressed, I came across some other obstacles during my grocery shopping experience. Here's the low-down on how I "put Silver Hoop Earrings on" and did hard things:
Problem:
Need more groceries but Jenna unavailable to take me and assist (I get really exhausted from walking through a large grocery store).
Solution:
Go by myself, use a electric seated shopping cart.
Problem:
Get a parking spot close enough to get in to the store unassisted since I don't have a handicap parking plaque.
Solution: Drive around for 10 minutes until something comes open.
Problem:
Get dizzy going down the aisle looking at the products on the shelves.
Solution:
Go V.E.R.Y. slooowwww
Problem:
Nausea from the movement of going up and down the aisles, looking around, getting up and down in chair to reach higher items off shelf. (I'm dizzy most of the time when I'm moving around).
Solution:
Peppermint Oil Beadlets.
Problem:
Fatigued and exhausted from sitting up for a sustained amount of time, reaching, steering and only half way through my short list.
Solution:
Found a quiet corner in the back of the store between the wine and fresh fish counter to lay my head on the steering wheel and "take 5".
Problem:
Right arm going limp and can't hold it up to depress the "go" handle on the cart with right hand.
Soluntion: Put feet up on steering column and hold grocery list in lap, use Left hand to reach across and hold down the "go" handle.
Problem:
Forgot reusable grocery bags in car
Solution:
Well, this one has nothing to do with problem solving, I just paid the 5 cents per paper bag. LOL
Problem:
Getting groceries into car since cashier packed them too heavy.
Solution:
Unload each bag half way into reusable bags that I had forgot to bring in the store anyway, then load into car.
Problem:
Get electric shopping cart back to inside of store.
Solution:
Leave it there. Not all hard things are safe to try to accomplish. I might have passed out on the way back to my car. Now, just a large car cannot park in that spot with the cart in the way.
Problem:
Getting groceries into house
Solution:
Only bring in what has to go in freezer. It's so cold outside, the food that has to be refrigerated will fine for a few hours. I WAS able to go back out after a 1 hour rest to get the refrigerator stuff. (Modified version of accomplishing something hard).
Problem:
Getting non refrigerated groceries put away
Solution:
Leave them on counter. I will need them eventually so why bother putting them all away? It will be so much handier to have them right where I will need them! (It's getting harder to do the hard things at this point).
Problem:
Too exhausted to take the groceries and make dinner with them.
Solution:
Have Jeff bring home Take-Out. I can hard things, but I don't HAVE to do ALL hard things!
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