Dripping dry

It is so damned easy in this life to take things for granted. As Americans especially, there are just some things that we expect to always be there for us. We've gotten so accustomed to having certain luxuries that we are beginning to depend on them, which could very well put us in a world of hurt.

Think about the last time you were let down by something you've come to take for granted....

Did you come home from a hard days work, grab a soda, plop down on the couch and flip the TV on, only to find your cable/dish/sattelite network is having technical difficulties?

Did you wake up in the morning, pour yourself a cup of coffee and sit down at your computer to discover that your internet server is down?

Maybe you were out shopping, and you decided to call your spouse to ask one last time if there was anything you needed that did not get put on the shopping list. You reach into your purse or pocket, and then you remember that your cell phone was left on it's charger at home.

Or, maybe you're like me... I have no one at home to call to remind me of any items I need that I may have forgotten about. I don't usually make a physical shopping list because I tend not to stick to it, anyways. I keep track of the basics in my head, and hope my memory doesn't fail me.

Don't ask me how that method of shopping is working out for me.

I did my shopping late Saturday night. It was kind of a last minute decision to go at the time, so although i did have an idea of the basic things I needed, I didn't have a lot of time to think about it.

I got to the store and grabbed the obvious things, milk, bread, and some quick simple things to feed a finicky toddler (chicken nuggets and fish sticks). I also spent plenty of time looking around at things I didn't need - but that's a given.

I went home, put things away and really couldn't think of anything I might have missed. I thought I made out fairly well. Satisfied with my trip, I went to bed.

I woke up Sunday morning and did the general lazy morning routine... Brush hair, brush teeth, relieve bladder...

As I sat there on the stool, there it was, staring me in the face.

A few tiny little scraps clinging to a cardboard roll.

You have got to be kidding me.....

Guess I'll drip dry....

I generally buy toilet paper in bulk. It's just one of those items you don't like to be seen pushing around in your cart at the local Wal-mart. I'm not really sure why I think it's so embarassing to be buying toilet paper, because everybody uses it. But my point is, I buy it in bulk so I don't have to be seen making that purchase very often.

Because I go so long without buying it, I've come to just always count on it to be there. It's not something I expect not to have.

I plan to not let this happen again.

TV, internet, cell phone... that type of thing I can survive without (in fact, I have no tv service at all). Toilet paper, however, is kind of on the essentials list. I'm thinking it's a good thing I have plenty of storage room in the bathroom, because I imagine toilet paper is going to become a "ketchup" item to me....
You know.... you end up with 5 unopened bottles of ketchup in your kitchen cabinet because you buy it everytime you go shopping because you can't remember if you actually need it or not, but don't want to find yourself without it...

I have learned my lesson though. There is no toilet paper fairy... Tinkerbell doesn't just wiggle her tiny little tushy and magically re-fill an empty roll.

And pushing toilet paper around in a cart at Wal-mart is a lot less embarassing than calling up mom and dad and asking to borrow a roll of toilet paper.