Healthier Habits and Freakshow Frogs...

Zo's second favorite frog, Prince Fielder, practices safe shopping.

High blood pressure and the urge to live to be 137 years old has me embracing the notion of living a little better. For the most part we've been a much healthier bunch since Zoey got dropped off by that drunken stork. We've chilled a bit on all the careless eating out, and we've certainly stocked the fridge a lot better. We hardly drink alcohol anymore, which is a sad and depressing thing, but our bodies are happier, and Friday nights are cheaper. There are still a lot of changes that we could make but we've made some good ones already.

Today we hit the grocery store and everyone stood back while Dad took charge of the cart, filling it with good food and practicing a safer kind of shopping all around by buckling Zo's plush frog in for the ride. What's most interesting about this shopping spree, aside from that whole buckled in frog thing, is that Dad is the suckiest cook ever and watching him by food is an exercise in confusion. It's a disconnected, spontaneous effort at best, often hilarious.

The cart looked like a farmers market and it's surprising how good you feel just shopping good. There were veggies galore...egg plant, zucchini, carrots, lettuce, celery, peppers, onions, and some peppercorn squash. There was plenty of President's Choice newest Blue Menu items along with a greater attention to organic and additive free foods. Our biggest priority was low sodium but we were pretty attentive to making the jump to a more natural diet.

We're cutting back on meat which was already a pretty small part of our diets. We could never get rid of the stuff completely because we grew up in the midwest and we'd be punched out and then kicked out of the middle of the country if we did that...plus we like it. What we are noticing however is that less is better. We're treating meat in almost the same manner as we're treating booze, and our bodies are breathing sighs of relief. Now if we could only give up caffeine.

We wished we had a great market near us but we don't, at least not in the winter. The Great Canadian Superstore is a nice option but it's one of those giant box stores which kind of bums us out. Zoey loves it though, as she wanders through a wonderland of unnecessary goods for hours upon hours. They've got a pretty great clothing line for kids and Zedder gets a legit kick out of shopping these days.



She actually shops...thirteen months and and she's shopping. She pulls out the things that she likes and even signs "please, when she wants things. That kind of deal would set us back on our heals except she's a pretty disciplined kid and doesn't really want or ask for much. It's just cool to see her communicating. She went diving for tights today in a sale bin with her Mom life-guarding from a safe distance above.



By the time it was all said and done we had a cart full of goodness and a daughter with an audience. It wasn't the most ambitious of Sundays but it ended up a nice one. We sometimes get frustrated at the lack of winter distractions here. In the summer there are a billion and a half options but in the middle of a midwest winter you're typically stuck with midwest options...eating, drinking, and spectator sports...to generalize. We're kind of done with most of that junk. It's surprising how fun and affirming it feels to do something as simple as shop for groceries, if you're doing it right. We're eager to get gone on most weekends and we're getting uncomfortably used to the feeling of frustrated restlessness, the kind that sends you driving great distances to do nearly anything. Grocery shopping is a sad replacement for actual adventuring but today it was kind of fun. Until I typed it I didn't realize how lame that sounded. Wow, we need to find some fun.