My favorite part of the week is Wednesday morning because it is the day David if off and I can do things then. This Wednesday started like most mornings around here — not quiet, not slow, and definitely not organized in the way people imagine when they think about home life.
David was already talking about lawnmower jobs before I had fully woken up. Then he threw in I have to go get my Social Security Card today. Gerald was moving through the house like he had a schedule he didn’t feel like sharing. Which we all know he doesn’t have.
Charlie, Bear and Pheobie are all sleeping. And I was standing in the kitchen trying to remember if I had decided what I wanted to drink or just thought about it. That’s how the day begins most days. Not with a plan, but with motion. Never the same.
In our home were at that stage of life where everything overlaps. Meals, errands, work, family schedules — it all blends together. Nothing happens in clean lines anymore. Today is one of those Aldi days. The kind where I walk in thinking I only need a few things and come out realizing I’ve basically planned the next several meals without meaning to.
Aldi is still where I do most of my real-life budgeting. Not apps. Not spreadsheets. Just standing in aisles making decisions based on what we’ll actually eat, not what sounds good in theory. Or what Charlie can use for lunch and David to.
This week felt like early summer showing up in every corner of the store. Fresh fruit, quick snacks, freezer meals for nights when nobody wants to cook, and those little convenience foods that somehow disappear the moment they hit the house.
I don’t shop the way I used to. I don’t over-plan it anymore. I just try to make sure we get through the week without stress and without wasting money on things nobody touches. That feels like success these days. With groceries being as high as they are.
By the time I got home, the house was already moving again. Bags on the counter, questions being asked, someone asking about lunch like I hadn’t just walked through the door. That’s life right now. Always something next. While work is waiting in the background because everyone else needs things now like I don’t work.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
