There are times when having an engineer for a father provides entertainment that other kids can only dream of: a velcro GPS holder on our car’s steering wheel, water bottle yokes fashioned out of rope, geocaching. (To be fair, this latter one was suggested by my sister.) As I have written before, my father is a man of adorable quirks.
As per tradition, my dad cooks for me whenever I am back in Minnesota; he is an artful griller. Last night we decided to have lemon-infused salmon and asparagus with a bottle of Vouvray–every bit as good as it sounds. When my dad walked in on my mom drawing up a grocery list he interjected dramatically: “No!! We have to pull up The List!”
The List?
“Oooh, you’re going to love The List,” my mom assured me.
They walk me over to the computer and proudly show me a spreadsheet that my dad has created to streamline grocery shopping. The List includes every item my parents would possibly want from our local grocery store. In a column next to the desired item (English Muffins, for example) is its location (Aisle 4). There’s also a column for them to write down the quantity. Once my parents go through selecting which items they want, they print off their list, which is reduced down to only the groceries they selected.
I am told that this has shaved minutes off their grocery runs. My dad marvels at how inefficient and haphazard my mom’s approach to grocery shopping once was. She was a real maverick with the grocery cart, let me tell you. I didn’t think anyone could tame her wild wanderings through the aisles of Cub Foods…
It’s nice to be home with my mild-mannered eccentrics.
1 Comment
May 21, 2008 at 9:45 pm
i love the exchange, and that your mom knew you would love your dad’s newest quirk.
luckily they don’t shop at trader joe’s, otherwise any attempt at efficiency or expediency would be futile.