Random Answers - Fall Edition

It's back...this is the Fall '08 installment of RK's famous Random questions series...now you must let me know what your habits are in these areas too, cause I just think this kind of quirky stuff is fun to read. It helps us to get to know each other a little better. The theme of this installment is shopping!

1. How do you shop for groceries? Is it a family event? Always the lady of the house? Or is it the guy's job?

I shop for groceries when I am missing something - it's that simple. I don't have a scheduled day to do it, I don't have a particular store I'm loyal to. I don't really have a method to the process once I'm in there. I just know what I need and depending how many kids I have in tow, I just fly through - get the stuff - pay for it and get it home. If I only have a couple of kids or fewer I tend to slow down and impulse buy a little more. There are times that Steven goes shopping for me. He likes Aldi, but I just never think of going there cause its too far out of the way. I want to go somewhere close, get in and get out. Steven and I never go shopping together. We used to when it was just us...but now one person usually has kid duty while the other has shopping duty, although the shopper usually takes one kid with them and it becomes kind of a parent date with that child. Steven does a pretty good job with the shopping but he does usually come back with a few things that make me stop and question when in the world we plan to eat that.

2. Women, does your guy go clothing shopping with you? Guys, what's your feeling about it?

I can not stand clothes shopping with Steven. I don't want him to comment on what I am wearing, I don't want him to see the price of what I'm purchasing (not necessarily because its high - the problem is most any price is too high to Steven, and to him, most any clothes item is something you can do without). I don't want to be with Steven when he is clothes shopping for himself. It is such a painfully slow process. Each garment must be masterly inspected, tried on for a considerable length of time while he practices reaching into the pocket, stretching his arms out, bending over, etc. He must look in the mirror from every point of view and come out to show me. I just say buy it, take it home - if you don't like it, take it back! See, he must insure that the garment is of good quality because the man is planning to wear it for the next decade or longer. I myself would rather find something cheap and then if its ruined by kids or I plain grow tired of it - who cares - I've gotten my money out of it.

3. Does Daddy have any preference about what the kid(s) wear? Hairstyles/hair length?

Steven doesn't have a preference about what the kids wear usually....really none at all. The older it looks, the most mismatched or strange the outfit is - the better. He has not really ever chosen an outfit for Lillie yet....that's a good thing. He wants the boys' haircuts short in the summer and long in the winter, and would prefer them to be cut at home cause anywhere else is too pricey. See, Steven is kind of a cheap old man trapped in a 30-something year old body.

4. When you get home from the grocery store, do you rotate your canned items or others that you have duplicates of? (Like if you bought green beans but you still have a can in the pantry, do you take the oldest can out to put in the front to be used first?)

I don't rotate the cans - I have no idea what the date is on any of them. I am assuming that I am getting them eaten under the 3 year time span that canned goods usually are good for. No one has gotten botchalism yet anyway. Hopefully that trend continues.

5. What about your parents? How do they shop? Do you see a generation difference?

I can't really shop with my mom much either, dad doesn't shop. Mom and I usually drive each other crazy. Mom will suggest something for the kids and most of the time its not a style that I would go for...and I'll hold up something that I like and she will not look that enthused about what I've chosen either. Every once in awhile we hit on something that we both like. If we are shopping for ourselves I fade out a lot sooner than she does usually. I am ready to go when she is still contemplating on whether to try something on. Mom's style is a bit more conservative than my own - I think that's natural - but we aren't so totally different that we never agree.

So anyway that's the story of shopping in the Spellman household - the young hip mom constantly battling the old man dad :o) Ok, it's not really that bad - but kind of close.