Have you ever wondered what it would be like to order your groceries online?  Well, let me tell you!

Back in February due to my broken foot, I was not able to do the grocery shopping, or walk, or drive, or do much of anything for that matter.  Thankfully, Josh was Super Husband and stepped up to the plate beautifully.  However, he realized that it would be worth his time (the 4+ hours it takes him to go grocery shopping) and money (the store's $13 gathering/delivery fee) for us to try online grocery shopping.

Little things to note: Strange but true, I am not a big fan of shopping on the internet.  I actually enjoy going to the store to buy things and I especially like grocery shopping.  Strange but true, I am not a coupon goddess, or a drive-around-forever-and-find-the-best-deal kind of goddess, but I am a hardcore Fareway girl (an economical food store here in our area) and I love staying in budget with my groceries.  The only grocery store with online shopping in our area is the more expensive grocery store and shopping there I inevitably spend one and a half to two times as much.

"Me" preferences aside, this is how it really went...

Negatives:

- Not every item in the store was on the website.
They tell you this before you get started so you are prepared.  For the most part everything major is there in some brand.  More specific brands / items were missing to varying degrees: various organic aisle items, fresh bakery items, fresh meats / fish, as well as random on sale items and larger varieties of different items like cereals or breads, etc.

- You have to know your ingredients.
Because you can't very easily check the "Nutrition Facts" on the back, you have to be very familiar with the items you purchase.  It is easy when you stick with your regular meals, but if you want to add in an item you don't buy that often or never, you just have to hope for the best at the nutritional content.

- You are at the mercy of the store employee & their thoughtfulness.
Even though the list is fairly detailed, mistakes were made every week, generally 3 each time.  Not that they were bad mistakes simply inconvenient, like 2 - 32oz bags of shredded cheese instead of 2 - 16oz blocks of cheese that were on sale.  (Disclaimer: I was just so happy to have groceries & Josh was so happy not to have gone grocery shopping, that we didn't mind.)  Some weeks items would be out and this is where the thoughtfulness of the store employee would determine your fate: either they would just skip it and you'd have to live without your half gallon of Organic Valley milk OR they would actually call you and suggest a substitute 1/2 gallon of another brand of milk.  (The ones who called were definitely a positive!)

- The website is painful.
It only runs on a painful browser and it chunk-chunk-chunks along.  So slow and so painful, so mixed up and so painful.  (Probably more for me since building websites is our business and oh, how I wanted to send them an email and ask them if they would hire us to rebuild their site!)

Positives:

- Saved grocery list
The website actually saves your info from week to week, so the items you regularly buy are already on your previous week's list and you can simply click on them to add again.  This also made using their website faster as you didn't have to always refind an item on their (painfully slow) in site search engine.

- No missed items on my end
Employee mistakes aside, I would come back to my order throughout the morning and make sure I didn't forget anything before the 11AM deadline.  Coming back to my order on the computer was much easier than shuffling the kids back and forth between aisles.

- Online ads from participating store
One big perk to the more expensive grocery store, was they always had their ad online.  While doing my shopping I could switch between websites and specifically buy things on sale (as long as I could find them on the shopping website).  Even if the price was not correct online, it always rung up correct in the store.

- The thoughtful employees
I used this system for about 4 months total, or 16 weeks.  About a third of the time I had the employee call to ask about a substitute or actually offer an on sale item as a substitute (generally the item that I had initially wanted to buy but it did not show up on their website).  And every week, the delivery person was incredibly kind!

- Paying by check
Instead of paying online, I would always pay by check.  I was not sure about trusting the chunk-chunk-chunk site with my credit card info and while I am sure it would've worked out, it was always nice for me to see that the total was always $15-20 less than expected (yet another reason why I didn't mind the mistakes as much).

- Soooooo great when needed!
All the negatives aside, it was so nice to be able to still do "something."  It was also so nice to simply do it when convenient for me, have it ordered by 11AM and at 4PM have a friendly clerk bring the groceries in my house and straight to the kitchen table.  Seriously worth the $13 gather/delivery fee!

Overall, I would say it was a good experience (for us) shopping online, one that I would recommend to someone if asked (tho' I would warn of the negatives).  However, because of the initial mentioned "me" preferences, I have not gone back to shopping online since I was given permission to walk and drive.  I know it is there if I need it but for now I am happy to enjoy walking the aisles again, even the back and forth... and back and forth... and back...

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.

"He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

"If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?

"And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?

"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."  Matthew 5:43-48

Truthful Thursday inspired by Loved Like The Chuch (I love you too, Sarah!!)

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."  Matthew 6:19-24

Truthful Thursday inspired by Loved Like The Chuch (I love you too, Sarah!!)

Was your gardening adventure this year a successful one?  Did you get an abundance of harvest and could store up good measure for winter?  Are you already dreaming for next year? 

Me?  Well, let's just say this year wasn't what I was expecting...

Tending a large garden located 3 miles from home while in a cast for the majority of the summer, with only one foot usable, mandatory crutches, and having the inability to drive due to said broken foot was a bit more challenging than I imagined. 

Mind you, I do have amazing friends who had put a lot of hard work into my garden, providing, planting and watering!  And, they were amazing and always harvesting my garden's produce AND delivering it straight to my doorstep, about every other day!  And, I had amazing Leslie keeping an eye on my zucchini plants that, thanks to her, produced more zucchini then we could keep up with!  (Wow, did I mention I have amazing friends?)  

I did get dropped off at the garden every two weeks to weed, but it was never enough.  Crawling around on my hands and knees through the weeds was a chore, the crutches were always getting stuck in something causing me stumble, and the weeds were merciless, they never stopped growing.  For my part, in all honesty, I did squat.

BUT I did get a harvest!  We ate amazing green salads, juicy sweet peas, crisp beans, and mounds of cauliflower and broccoli.  We made salsa, salsa, and more salsa, and ratatouie and breads and lasagnas and zucchini, zucchini and more zucchini and now have a huge stash of onions and 5 adorable winter squash to boot.  And that doesn't even count the produce that was eaten by the bunnies or taken by others!  

Was it "worth" it to have a garden this summer?  Keeping the garden with a broken foot may not have been one of my brightest ideas ever.  Looking back to my first year gardening, I was continually seeing the relationships between God and man through all the organic growth around me.  Now looking back on my recent summer of gardening, I can see anew God's grace in action not only in that I did squat and yet reaped a harvest, but also in that I can never repay my friends for their loving sacrifices to me this summer, I simply have the choice to accept it or ignore it.

However, I think my husband is right in saying that if I break my foot again, I can't have an off site garden.  (I am also praying I never break my foot again.)

What do you consider a vacation?  Are there specific components you must have in order for it to be a legit vacation?

I do not sit still well for very long, I never have, ask my mom, and not even on vacation, ask my husband.  One of the things I have finally learned after 33 years, and over these last 6 months, is the value of sitting and knowing when to sit.  And yes, this old dog has learned a new trick.

It was only 5 days before we left when I was officially told by my doctor, "I think it's healed."  Those 4 little words not only meant I could ditch the boot and crutches but I could go on a vacation without them(!).  Thanks to my new trick of sitting, I was realistic and understood that since I had literally just learned to walk without crutches, planning the trip that involved backpacking around an island was way out of the question (for now).  Plan B, and the miracle of the internet, brought me to find this great little cabin we had stayed at years ago that would be perfect for my current skill level.

5 years ago, when we just had two boys and I was 7 mo. prego with Miriam, we drove around the entire shoreline of Lake Superior.  We had barely started our journey when we decided to stick around the area of Grand Marais, MN. Josh, specifically, thought it would be fun to just sit, read and relax there for a while.  It was difficult at first for me but I read an actual book, keeping one eye on the boys, but also letting them get sucked into throwing rocks for hours on end.  The cabin was tiny and technically nothing spectacular other than it is right on Lake Superior, had this amazing sound of waves crashing on the rocks, smelled like my Grandma's house and had an endless rocky covered shoreline.  Since that first time, we have always wanted to go back but we could not remember the sweet old woman's name who ran it that the cabins were named after. Until now.

For the first time when people would ask what we were going to do on vacation, I happily replied with, "A whole lotta nuthin.'"  Since the shoreline of Lake Superior is only rocks of varying sizes, our plan was for The Three to throw rocks in the lake all day and the adults sit on the shore, sit and read.  Did that plan work?  Yes.  That is exactly what we did.  For 3 days straight.  The Three threw rocks, rocks and more rocks.  Did they ever get bored?  No.  Could a kid get bored of throwing rocks?  Yes.  The 6-8 yr old kid in the cabin next to us threw in literally 10 rocks and then turned to his dad and said, "I'm bored." 

Our kids, however, threw in rocks until they couldn't stand up.  At which point they sat down and continued throwing.  And when they couldn't sit any more, they laid back on their elbows and continued throwing.  And when they couldn't recline anymore, they laid completely down on the rocks and continued throwing.  Once they regained their strength, they stood up again.

New trick in hand, I thouroughly enjoyed a relaxing vacation of just sitting.  I read a wonderful book, tended a fire, and was more relaxed than any other vacation.  Totally uncharacteristic for me but totally amazing.