Yargh! I keep forgetting to post my grocery store results. Ah well, better late than never, as the saying goes.

Before I discuss the latest, let's take a moment to recap where I've been. This last weekend marked my eighth non-plastic-sack shopping trip; so only for the last eight weeks have I kept track of my totals. I never paid that much attention to grocery bills when I didn't limit myself to five cloth bags. There must be something inherent in plastic bags - they make you want to spend money. At any rate...

Week 1 - $88
Week 2 - $70
Week 3 - $143.12
Week 4 - $124.10
Week 5 - $181.64
Week 6 - $100.26
Week 7 - $203.00

This week, after SOB mentioned it awhile back, I decided to venture to Fareway, which is the locals' local grocery store. Usually, things here tend to run cheaper, the meat department dudes wear those old-fashioned paper hats, and the selection is fairly run-of-the-mill (natural when the clientele is mostly conservative older folks). However, I will just say that Fareway is indeed making strides in the healthy, organic arena. And, it's known for its quality. I wonder know why I waited so long to go here. Hmmm...

Again, I went five for five in shopping bags. I haven't needed any more than that yet, although I will admit that I do carry items like milk, laundry detergent, etc. outside of the cloth sacks. Maybe a little cheating. So sue me.

Anyway, my total this week: $113.00. Yeah! This was for a full week's of meals! The big-ticket item winner was five tortilla-crusted tilapia fillets...$14.95 altogether. But, you know, they're really good, and worth the money. Fourteen ninety-five couldn't get me a single tortilla-crusted tilapia fillet at Red Lobster. Other than that, I also had a $10 package of chicken breasts. You know what, though? I don't mind spending the money on meat.

On the flip side, a one pound chub of ground turkey only cost me $1.39. I wish I'd loaded up, filled my deep freeze. You know how versatile turkey is? It's like the khaki pants of my current wardrobe...except way tastier. I did not purchase any HoneyCrisp apples, tho' my fingers itched. Instead, I went for the bag of red apples from Pella ($3.00), a town about twenty minutes from here...so yay local produce!

Head-scratching items include: bag of shredded cheddar cheese - $3.19. Why am I paying so much for a processed milk product? Probably because I'm buying Kraft's fat-free version. Ahhhh yes... Chicken broth: a 32 oz container cost $3.89. Note to self - make and freeze own chicken stock. Obviously. Then, $2.50 for a small jar of dried cilantro leaves...duh. Grow it in the garden next year.

Non-negotiable items include: Cookie Crisp cereal - $3.69. Really, though, Fastco should think about making a generic brand of this stuff. All parties involved would appreciate it. Pretzel rings - $2.50 a bag. Sweet potatoes: 1.78 pounds at fifty-nine cents a pound. See, we've chipped around with SPs for years, but some friends of ours actually grow their own and have made them a mainstay in their diets. And us...well, we're just trying to keep up with the Joneses (not their real names). Of course, the Diet Pepsi is still with us. We can't go totally primal yet.

All in all, a very satisfying shopping trip. Will have to do Fareway again soon. Like next weekend.

I'm reading the nonfiction book "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer, and the main character is a young man who forgoes his privileged background to live off the land in the wilds of Alaska. He burns his money, abandons his car, cuts himself off from his parents and tramps across the American West before deciding to head way up North.

The author spends some time in the book discussing and describing other young men in this century who have done the exact same thing - shrug off the norms of society for the untamed, often cruel, wilds of nature. A common thread in all these adventures (besides the fact they usually result in death or disappearance) is that each of the men were middle class, somewhat privileged, young, and completely disillusioned with the human experience. They all came to the conclusion people lied, cheated, stole, and were generally oppressive. There was nothing redeeming about being part of the human race. However, nature was none of those things...she was heartless, yes, but at least that was known up front. No illusions.

The author then goes on to explain that these young men have been lauded as brave and spiritually superior; they were willing to dig past the capitalist trappings of current society to pursue truth. Others have criticized them for stupidly underestimating and disrespecting nature. It is not my goal here to dispute any of this, but I will say that I do not understand the ideas of the former.

To me, people are one of the main reasons we exist on this planet. I know I wake up each day because of people. I wake up to see my husband first thing in the morning, my children at the breakfast table, my colleagues in the workplace, my students in their desks, my parents at a restaurant (or wherever), and my friends everywhere.

Just about everything I do revolves around others. Maybe writing is the closest solo activity I can think of. I do enjoy solitude...no doubt that...but I know I would feel emotionally adrift if I were not connected to people in some way every day of my life.

One of the best children's books I have ever read is Jon J Muth's "The Three Questions." It's an adaptation of a Leo Tolstoy short story, in which the protagonist, a young boy, is attempting to find answers to his three most important questions:

1. When is the best time to do things?
2. Who is the most important one?
3. What is the right thing to do?

After visiting with a wise, old turtle (hey, it's a parable), the boy eventually discovers the answers:

1. The most important time is now.
2. The most important one is the one right beside you.
3. The right thing to do is whatever's best for the person/people around you.

Two of these three answers have to do with people and taking responsibility for their well-being. I think about the Dungeons and Dragons get-together last night...good food, good friends, good times. I don't need the Alaska mountains or Arizona desert to find meaning in life - it was in my kitchen.

Oh yeah, folks, it reached a high of fifty-one degrees today. People were outside, hanging up Christmas decorations, playing with their children, enjoying the sunshine...where was I?

In my state's capital, battling it out on the epic battlefield of The Mall.

For the first time ever, I arose VERY early and trekked with my mother-in-law an hour to Des Moines to shop for Christmas. Let's just say I was unprepared for the scene of mass chaos at our first stop, Target. Cars streamed in and out of the parking lot, and for every spot that opened, five cars edged each other's noses out in an effort to overtake it. It was like trying to cut off the head of the mythical Hydra. This was at 6:15 in the morning, when most normal people are just scraping the crusties out of their eyes and scratching their privates.

We started in the bedding section, which was relatively quiet. The clamoring din emanated from the Toy and Electronic departments. As we inched closer, the aisles were clogged like cholesterol-sodden arteries with carts, strollers, and women (mostly) wielding big ass cups of Starbucks. I danced on the edge of a sharp knife as I circled the toy aisles, following my mother-in-law. I parked my cart at an endcap, and threaded my way through the Wii game aisle. Shelves were empty, and every now and then, a lone video game would stand, like a bereft orphan. Every checkout line was dozens of people deep. My cashier was a young, petite thing who said "I'm having a great time." She then confessed this was the first time she'd worked this shift.

Oh, my young, green, virginal slave of retail.

After this was a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond for new room linens, an educational toy store, and then, to the big mall to Limited Too, CJ Banks (for the MIL), Children's Place, Scheels, Claire's, and Younkers.

I'm convinced Black Friday is thusly named for two reasons. One, the insane spending puts businesses back in the black. The slightly less known but much less positive reason is that this frenetic day of consuming brings out the black side of humans. Tempers run much higher. Caffeine strings people out more. Random objects (like a Nintendo DS) become the golden idol of our capitalist society, thus turning average, ordinary, nice people into rage-driven, physical beasts of desire and distress.

Fortunately, I witnessed no bloodshed, and I remained in a optimistic mood myself. However, I saw lots of grimaces, bloodshot eyes, whitened knuckles gripping handles of shopping carts, and wayward strollers knock over innocent boxes of Massengill and M&Ms, their operators filled with no remorse at the demise of these vital products.

On a serious note, this shopping day fills people with a mad tortuous desperation that I do not understand. There is nothing tangible on this planet I want so badly that I would shamelessly maul people at five-thirty in the morning.

Except sex with my husband. My desire for that, I'm afraid, would lead me to commit many, many heinous crimes.

I am my father's daughter.

As a youngster (like in my early 20s), I laughed right in my dad's face every time he told me rising early was GOOD, because then I had "a whole day to do everything I wanted". He chided me for "sleeping my life away." And I would laugh with the arrogance of youth at him, and his old-fashioned notions.

"You're not a farmer, Dad," I'd say. "You don't have to get up with the cows, man."

It was always a spirited bone of contention. "Early to bed, early to rise," was my dad's credo. So was "The early bird catches the worm." So was "Early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." Me, I didn't understand that. I WAS NOT going to bed at eight o'clock. And I'd get up when I freakin' felt like it.

But, you know, Mother Nature and her lover, Time, have a way of ruining a perfectly good young person.

As I rose through the ranks of the college-educated and career-searching, I became accustomed to waking early. In fact, I *needed* to wake up early...to feel like I'd gotten off on the right step. Pretty soon, six-thirty was no big deal. Then I had children, and time was precious, and the more of it I had, the better. So, when I could, five forty-five marked the beginning of my day.

Slowly, but surely, I have morphed into a female, less cantakerous version of my dad.

I arose from my bed this morning at 3:51 am. My mind was ready to go and start the day's tasks, but my body refused to comply. So I lay there in the cloud-like warmth of my down comforter, lounging, I guess you would say. That's when my father's words drifted into the consciousness of my mind. "...early to rise, greet the day, get some things done..."

*Mental Groan*

As it turns out, I only achieved two of the above three. I did rise early, but I did not get some things done. I flipped on the TV, and laid on the couch. I surfed...and learned there is nothing on television at four o'clock in the morning. After forty-five minutes of mind-numbing programming, I felt tired enough to go back to my bed.

So, there it was. The thumb-my-nose gesture back into the face of my upbreeding...I "wasted" three hours in bed after my paternal DNA had jolted me into a senseless early-rising.

Well, while I'm thinking about it, I might as well update on this week's trip.

It was off to WalMart again. I know I should give Hy-Vee or even Fareway a try, but I was in the mood for Self-Check, so off I toddled to WallyWorld.

I actually need to buy a few Thanksgiving items later on this week and will probably do Fareway for that, where things are way cheaper, even though the selection is less.

This week's total proved higher than usual. But, there were some aberrations in the list. First of all, there was a sale on bath towels, so I stocked up since we've had our old ones since we got married and they are now smelling fairly manky. Then, there were several once-a-month or more items like: hand soap refill, dishwashing detergent, weekly contact cleaner, hair gel, body wash, ziploc bags, and so forth. I also purchased a new curtain rod for my living room, so that was an extra-special purchase.

However, ground turkey was on sale for the low price of $2 a pound! Whooooo! So I loaded up...six pounds' worth. I also purchased a pork tenderloin for dinner with my parents tomorrow - $10.13.

The shocker was a bunch of asparagus...$3.88. Then again, it's not in season, so it probably shouldn't be a shocker.

Here's the pattern I've noticed. One week high, one week low. Last weekend's total barely scratched $100. This week's put me over $200.

Just like a fun little fiscal roller coaster. Except without the whiplash.