Winter Rant

Well, here we are. Approaching mid-January and the winter doldrums have hit. Is this sign not simply perfect for me?

Aunt Judy gave it to me for Christmas and you know, I've never felt more seen. She gets me. Thank you Aunt Judy, love it!

And with that, I bring you my first winter induced rant of the new year!

Before I start, let me just acknowledge I am deeply aware of my privilege and security. All of our needs are met. We are grateful. This is simply me voicing annoyances that I feel most people can relate to right now and sometimes just acknowledging current challenges releases some of the power they have over us. Right? 

Well, if you'd don't care to hear it, re-see my Sweet Scenes post from Monday and come back later. But if you're game for my rage, here we go.

First of all, how is anyone able to afford groceries right now?? Serious question. Every month Mandy and I make a meal plan for the month and then once a week we make a grocery list and go to the store together. We trade off who buys. When we first moved here we averaged $200/$250 for a weeks worth of groceries (for a family of 5 dining exclusively at home) now we can almost never get it under $300 and most weeks if we aren't super rigid with sticking to the list, we are close to $500. We are NOT buying anything new, different, or special. We're talking basic produce, bread, cheese, etc. On top of the mind-blowing cost increase in the last year, stuff is still missing from the shelves. On Saturday night, about halfway through our shopping, I decided to start taking photos of the signs all over the place.

Cold cuts. Pickles. Cream cheese. Frozen french fries. It's so random and this doesn't even cover anything on the shelf stable aisles. Juice boxes are still bizarrely missing. Several weeks ago gallon water was completely gone. Find something you love? It won't exist in a month and you won't ever see it again. Frozen onions are the most mind boggling missing item. Where are the frozen onions??? Evidently eggs are worth the price of gold right now and the cost of frozen pizza will always astound me.

Mandy and I have a term we use often which is "Covid quality" and it means basically everything made post pandemic is more expensive and crappy, extra crappy. Paying more for less, that is life in 2022...well, now, 2023.

The last real economic crisis in 2008 happened just as I was about to graduate college. It didn't really affect my life choices too much, I simply opted to head to graduate school and entered the workforce a few years later when things were rebounding. I wasn't even really an adult at the time and I wasn't financially responsible for anyone but myself. I didn't get it.

Now it's real.

Mandy and I complain constantly about how hard stuff is right now. Not, hard hard, like we're fine but just all these teeny tiny microaggressions that pile up and up and really weigh you down. Oh all the kids are sick right now? Let's just make it really hard to find children's Tylenol and then if you do find it, let's charge double for a smaller bottle. Treat yourself to a new sweater? One wear and there's a hole in it. Buy a household item to replace an old one and it arrives in the mail broken. These are all real examples and it doesn't end there.

I know none of this is any new phenomenon. It's always been there, I'm just genuinely experiencing the real burdens of life. Adulthood. Parenthood. Grief. And all of it with that extra post-pandemic flavor on top. 

In the middle of winter. 

Aren't you exhausted?