Ok guys! YESTERDAY!! Yesterday was HUGE! I’ll tell you all about it 🙂
Yesterday was our big shop for the season. Recently, we were gifted a stack of gift cards for Superstore and Coop by a loving friend who knew we were struggling financially ❤️ We took those, along with a forgotten Costco rebate cheque, an age-old Walmart gift card, and a cherished M&M gift card along with us. These gifts are what made it possible for us to get ALL the groceries we could need, plus a few yummy treats!! So, you know who you are. Our family REALLY appreciates your gift.
Because of those gifts, we headed into Saskatoon armed and ready for shopping! We were going to go super early but I was in some pretty big bad sleepless pain, and Brady let me sleep in a little. So we got a later start but we got moving in the mid-morning. We tried to pick a smart order of our big long list of things, and started at Carters.
Ugh. Carters. I messed up a gift I had bought for the kids and unfortunately, just discovered it now. Carters turned out to be a bust, which was sad. I called the other location and accepted the fact that I’m out of luck. I can work with what I have. At least I bought big rather than small.
Walmart was next. We only got groceries there that we couldn’t otherwise get at Superstore, like Pilsbury turnovers. Lots of things can be found at both places, but we had big Superstore gift cards so we opted for that. We also picked up curtains and curtain rods at Walmart for the basement! That felt successful!
We went to 8th St next. There were a lot of places to hit on 8th, it felt. Superstore was first, and it was HUGE. I really really dislike how they reorganized it. The sections are so mixed up and I couldn’t find anything. At one point, someone asked me what I was looking for. She said “I keep hearing you looking for something! Can I help you?” I was super embarrassed, but then she told me she knew where the item was, and another shopper said they were looking for it too! All in all, we had a successful Superstore shop. Aaaaall free, thanks to our gift cards!
From there, we hit M&M for appies. While I ran there, Brady grabbed some drive-thru with the kids. M&M was sold out of one item I was looking for, and another was discontinued, but I got a few things. And we all got lunch!
As we ate, we drove to the house of someone Brady had worked for recently and picked up a check, as well as we hit Wholesale Club in search of an item we did not find. However, I’ve gotta go wander that store sometime! It seems right up our alley!
We made our way to the north end of the city to another M&M location to get our much needed tempura shrimp. It was about 2:00. Nap time was already long past. So we decided to be suckers for punishment and *gasp* upgrade our phones!!!
Turns out, no matter how many ducks you have and what order they’re in, that still takes a LONG time!! We felt SO bad. Our kids did ok, at least for the first while. They started breaking down as we agreed on new plans, fees, extra products, trade-ins, etc. That all is a pretty long story, but we left a large group of people wishing us well on our way, haha! The kids had quite a fan base after that hour and a half. Brady and came out each with a new iPhone 11. Brady got a case and I got a screen protector (the caste I really want is on Amazon) We traded in our phones and had a shocking amount of credit we had to use that day, so we also purchased two charging pads, as well as AirPods for Brady and a FitBit for me. SO much good stuff!! We should’ve upgraded our phones long before we Christmas shopped for each other, haha!
The kids were OVER it by the end of it, but the day was not done! We still had Costco.
It was clear that they were not up for another store, and Brady was frustrated that his new phone hadn’t had a chance to start up at the mall on the wifi signal. So we decided I’d do the Costco shop and he would go drive to a nearby gas station and use their wifi to get his phone rolling.
Costco was nuts. I didn’t mind it, except that it was probably a day we should’ve had two carts, and I could only do one! It was SO heavy! Thank goodness we didn’t need diapers this time! I hauled it ALL in in terms of bakery stuff, fresh stuff, meat, and only a few things from the aisles. That always feels like a good successful shop 🙂 I got to the till way sooner than I would’ve thought and unpacked as fast as I could. It was disappointing to learn I couldn’t use our rebate cheque because it has Brady’s name on it, not mine 🙄 I get it, but, ugh. So I could’ve saved almost $200 but I guess we’ll use that next time.
Thank goodness Brady was back by the time I finished up. My poor shoulders and wrists were screaming and he was gracious enough to pack it all up. He gathered up the new full propane tank, too, and home we went.
Now everyone was pretty snippy at everyone else, and we decided, for ease, that all the kids would crawl into bed for a half hour or so, to rest a little. In the meantime, Brady offered to unload groceries and I took a bath.
It was a good, successful plan, but everyone was still pretty over the top once they got up. Supper was short lived and everyone went to bed early. And they were up for it!
The evening ended with finishing up the gift wrapping and watching some Christmas episodes of The Office with Jerilee.
Not gonna lie. My body was in crazy pain afterwards, and I actually didn’t sleep at all last night 😕 I’m working on getting all that body stuff in order, but hey. At least everything we need is bought and home!!