A few months ago, I started a “flow of consciousness” journal. I had heard about it, thought it was kinda stupid but it kept popping into my head so I thought I’d try it and honestly, I think it clears my head and I feel more focused. I get out of bed, brush my teeth, come into the living room. I’m alone! I set my phone timer for 5 minutes and I write whatever pops into my head. Sometimes I don’t write the full 5 minutes. If the thoughts stop flowing, I stop writing. I don’t sit and tap my pen and say “what else can I write?” Usually they start flowing faster than I can write. I never go more than 5 minutes.
It isn’t writings to be published or even to go back and read, though I may some day. It’s just . . get these thoughts out of my head writing.
This morning, it was about 5:00 when I was writing. Several hours later I went out to put a bag of trash in the can and I cracked up thinking about what I had written.
Background: Two weeks ago, we had ice and I wasn’t going to risk pushing the trash can out to the road. It was just a little over half full so I figured it would be fine til the next week. The next week, there was so much snow, the truck never made it.
With unpacking, organizing and orders arriving, I have a LOT of trash and my can is almost overflowing.
This morning, the first thing I wrote was something like this: I feel trashy and lazy! 🙂
I went to to say . . missed 2 weeks of trash pickup; signing up for WM+ so I can have groceries delivered.
I am not trashy, nor am I lazy . . maybe a little unorganized and my priorities might not be in the right order. I can cross stitch while the clothes need to be folded and the bathrooms need to be scrubbed.
As far as WM+, they’ve added our address to their delivery route. For about $9.10 per month if I pay annually, I can place as many orders as I want, just to they meet the $35 minimum, and they’ll bring them to my front door. I get 5 cents off each gallon of gas and we buy almost all our gas at WM. I get free orders online with no minimum, though I believe there are some exceptions, along with mobile scan & go where you scan the items with your phone as you put them in your cart, then go to the self-check, scan the QR code on the phone, finalize the payment (on the phone) and you’re outta there. No taking everything out of the car, scanning, putting it back in the cart.
I laugh every time someone says “I’m not using self-chekout. That’s taking a person’s job by checking out myself. They don’t pay me to do that.” I wonder if these people remember when we used to pump our own gas. My time is worth something. I can check myself out, bag the things the way I want them bagged, and be out of WM in the amount of time I’d be standing in line waiting for a checker.
I had mentioned to Vince a couple of times that I might want to pay the $98/year and have groceries delivered and he squawked about it. After going almost three weeks without getting any groceries, and having good fresh salads and tomatoes and bananas this week, I told him this morning “I’m doing it! I’m paying for grocery delivery.” He said “ok”. Done. My first grocery deliver will happen between 1 and 2 p.m. today.
Donna Williams says
I’ve signed up for it too, and haven’t looked back. I love it and I hope you do to.
Judy Laquidara says
My biggest obstacle is going to be Vince but when he gets here, we’re having a “how the cow ate the cabbage” discussion about grocery shopping.
ruth says
Wait!! Is that what those “Scan and Go” signs mean at the Walmart? I never knew I was supposed to be scanning items with my phone as I put them into my cart!! i just use it like a regular checkout. I shall have to watch other people use those lanes and ask about them. It would be nice not to have to remove all the stuff from my cart and reload it in bags into my cart…
Judy Laquidara says
Yes! You can do that at Sam’s Club too. The WM+ acts like Scan & Go is a perk of membership but I think everyone who has the app on their phone can do it.
Helen says
I have been toying with the idea of WM+, too. I didn’t realize you still need the $35 minimum.
I go hardly anywhere, but the other day I needed to go into Lowe’s for 2 items. I was so upset by the time I left. Several of the employees wore their mask beneath their noses, one customer not wearing a mask at all, and my cashier’s mask was gaping at the sides, but at least there was a plexiglass shield between us.
We get our 2nd dose of Moderna this Saturday. I am excited! I will still be as careful as I have been, but I am craving to see my kids, grandkids and my siblings.
Judy Laquidara says
Everything I’ve read says there’s a minimum o $35 for grocery delivery but not for online ordering at walmart.com.
Yes, it’s easier to stay home than get upset because of people not wearing masks or improperly wearing them. When I was at Aldi, I was at my car putting groceries in and I took my mask of and then I had to walk the cart back to the side of the building and forgot to put my mask on. I was outside and no one else was near but I felt naked.
Good luck with the second vaccine. I hear some people have a few more aches and pains with the second one but I haven’t had anyone tell me it was truly bad.
yayatrudy says
Just a quick comment on vaccine, my husband and I got our second one two weeks ago and we had no problems. Good luck.
Billie says
Walmart+, best thing ever!
Sara F says
Curbside pickup and home delivery are sure wonderful services. Wonder if those services will continue once this pandemic is over.
Donna Williams says
I sure hope so. For me it’s a time saver, but for disabled people it’s been a godsend. I do, on the odd occasion, miss traveling the aisles, but not so much really. I don’t miss crowded stores at all. My youngest is disabled and it’s given him a great feeling of independence.
Judy Laquidara says
Oh, goodness, I can only imagine! So glad he is able to take advantage of that service and that gives him one more way to feel independent.
Judy Laquidara says
I would hope but who knows. I think they had it before the pandemic but not as widespread. My friend in Louisiana was using it I believe but I’m not sure. I’ll ask her and post about it.
cindy says
Walmart will deliver non grocery items too. The kids ordered towels and sheets at some point. I am not always fond of the choices of stuff from Walmart, but it is convenient. With 6 people here it doesn’t take much to get to the $35 minimum — cokes, sprites, milk, bottled water can always be included. I haven’t tried the scan and go, but i know i don’t like the self check. It seems that every time i go through there, something doesn’t ring up and creates an issue for me — especially things like embroidery floss. The scan and go might work for things like that.
I took the 13 year old and the 5 year old grandgirlies with me today to walmart and target as the older one needed some khaki colored pants for choir for school. we got into target and the little one realized she had left her mask in the car and i told her to come on and not worry about it. she couldn’t stop worrying so i ended up buying her a package of new masks. i will be so glad when this mask thing is over — i can’t breathe with them on. i need to get to a doctor and get a note to wear the shields.
vivoaks says
Walmart delivery and pickup here are getting worse as time goes by. A friend went to pick up an order yesterday and waited in the parking lot for more than an hour! Delivery times are so hard to come by that you sometimes have to wait more than a week for a delivery. Don’t think I’ll be spending the money for that kind of service. Guess it all depends on where you live.
Judy Laquidara says
I’ve been so lucky here. I ordered this morning about 8:30 and was able to get a 1 – 2 p.m. delivery. I’ve never had to wait more than 5 minutes for pickup but I think there are 7 walmarts within 20 minutes o me.
Rebecca says
This “flow of consciousness” journal sounds like Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages from “The Artist’s Way.” I have known people to feel that was helpful to them. Do you find it to be like clearing the way to face the day?
Judy Laquidara says
It is a lot like the Morning Pages. It’s been at least five years since I did those so I may not be remembering correctly or I’ve changed the way I think in five yeas but I do feel like it clears my head for the day. Even things like “you’re lazy and trashy” . . they don’t really reside in my head and take up my thoughts but every time I’d look at the overflowing trash can, I was frustrated not just with myself but that we had two weeks in a row with ice and snow. It seems like writing it down causes me to let it go, or, maybe once it’s on paper, I see how useless those thoughts are. I like doing and do feel like it removes some of the clutter from my brain. I’ll do it as long as I feel it’s beneficial and I enjoy doing it . . not committing to doing it forever.
montanaclarks says
If only! As we were discussing the other day–I live in the middle of nowhere on both ends of the country and no grocery delivery is happening!
Judy Laquidara says
I told Vince yesterday . . or $98 a year, I’m going to take advantage of every convenience I can, after having spent 10 years where there were no services . . not even trash pickup!
Val says
I wish that there was grocery delivery here, I would certainly take advantage of it. We have to pump our own gas here now tho, I don’t think that there is a station that has a person pumping gas anymore. Walmart has curbside pickup but our wifi is slow and times out on the website. It’s faster for me to drive in. I am hopeful we will be able to get a true high speed connection within a few years. Living in the country like i do is challenging. I would really like to Facetime with my grandsons. They are 3500 miles away and I miss them a lot.
Judy Laquidara says
Oh, yes, I remember the first 8 years in Texas and we had those same internet issues. If one of us wanted to download something, the other would have to get offline. I do appreciate high speed internet, though even what we have in MO isn’t high speed compared to some but we’re thrilled with it. And . . it isn’t unlimited! With Vince not here streaming TV, I don’t worry about it but once he’s here, I’ll have to be more careful about how many floss tubes I watch.