Abigail M. Schilling

Today was a big day for me.

Drum roll please.

I went grocery shopping.

This is no small feat since I haven't bought groceries since the beginning of March. But I said that I was going to take the victories as they came and I said that I had to conquer food back before I could conquer the store and I HAVE.

So I went to Trader Joe's and bought fruit and vegetables and chicken and flirted with the really hot checkout guy who was a total SMARM ALARM but who's counting? (Seriously, Carolyn turned to me and said, "I LOVE orange-peel chocolate," and I turned to her and said, "I LOVE orange-peel chocolate TOO," and then he turned to me and said, "awww, and I LOVE YOU TOO.") (Oh, and he totally didn't card me. I don't look less than 35. In fact, I am only 10 months in the green. And I had my hair in pigtails. SMARM ALARM.)

And THEN when Carolyn and I came home, I (we) put away all my groceries and then I (we) unpacked two boxes of kitchen stuff. And we unloaded the dishwasher and I felt ALIVE.

Swimming in my latest victory, we made some lemonade and enjoyed some orange-peel chocolate. And then, just as Carolyn picked up her book to try to finish a chapter before I recruited her into more of my self-improvement, I realized now that I was moved I could really truly buy the punching bag I've been dreaming about since March.

And even though it was 10 o'clock I knew that Wal-Mart was still open and you can always rely on Wal-Mart. Now I've never actually explored the Sports & Fitness section of Wal-Mart before but that is a good time. They have guns and tae-bo videos and yoga mats and fishing gear all very close together and all very cheap.

And they had a punching bag. So I bought it and Carolyn, Kathy, and I spent the rest of evening assembling our new best friend. Turns out, we all have rage. But we're going to deal with it properly.

Pictures (and videos) pending.