Gotta Love Safeway.com

Every time I tell Brandon that we need to go shopping he throws a mini fit. I know he's a homebody, but this is a little ridiculous. Today he actually told me "no, I don't want to go to the store, I want to stay home." That's all nice and good, but we aren't talking about elective mall shopping. We're talking groceries. Food. Other necessities. Sometimes it's shoes, but I consider cute shoes a necessity in my life. That's another post. Anyway, Brandon does not want to leave the house ever unless it involves riding his tricycle or seeing his friends (church and playgroup fall into that second category). He makes it very difficult for me to get out of the house in a reasonable amount of time. I start at 8:30 and am lucky if I can get out in less than 2 hours. I am pretty sure I'm doing something wrong, but might need Supernanny to take a look at the antics to tell me what it is.

When we do finally get out of the house, it's usually about time for Caitlin to take her morning nap. Fun. She can survive without a nap, but it means she gets cranky, hungry and tired around 11:30. And, as if Brandon's excessive whining about leaving the house isn't enough, Caitlin must whine at all times when we are in the store. Any store. All the time. Today we went to Target. Due to cheap prices, I do a lot of grocery shopping there as well. I've heard there are SuperTargets in Colorado, and that does brighten my day. Heck, I'd go to a Walmart SuperCenter if I could! I never thought I'd like something like that, but the thought of one-stop-shopping with my rugrats..... Wow! One stop. Really. Okay - back to Target ... The seats in the shopping carts are quite wide. You can fit a fairly large kid in that. Caitlin's pretty average - just over 21 pounds. I strap her in and, in typical Caitlin fashion, she turns herself all the way around in the cart (I can't find a 5-point harness cart strap), and then starts crying. Caitlin cries in every store. Every. Single. Store. I. Go. In. To. It gets old. My sympathy level has decreased quite a bit since I had a second kid. But then again, Brandon was pretty good in the stores and in strollers. Caitlin wants out out out! And that darned strap keeps her in! If I could guarantee that she wouldn't run away from me or drink Palmolive, I might let her go free. But this is Caitlin that I'm talking about. She's strapped in. So, there I am in Target. Brandon crying because I had the nerve to rip him from his cozy home life for an hour, and Caitlin crying because her baby radar told her that we entered a store. Me, a major grump because I don't really want to be here in the first place, but there is stuff I need.

Do I have a point to this story? Yes, yes I do. Every now and then Safeway sends me postcards for free shipping if I spend $50 or more shopping their online store. Since grocery shopping with coupons and sales is a game for me (can I save more than I spend? Yes! How much can I get for free? Well - I haven't paid for salad dressing in over a year...), I don't shop online very often. But I can do $50. I ordered last night. They delivered today at 2:00. The delivery guys are nice, and don't accept tips. I don't have to go to another store! My home life is now at peace! There you go. If you get that free shipping postcard, try it. The current free shipping code around here is SURPRISE. It expires on 2/15/07. Good luck! I need to go put everything away now.

Oh, and if you're interested in saving money while shopping without doing all the research yourself, check out The Grocery Game. You can try it out for a month for $1 and see if it saves you money. A couple of my friends really love it!