2004-02-06 - 12:03 a.m.

And then there's groceries. Normally I go the grocery store once in a while for staples, and then stop on the way home at the small markets in the neighborhood and buy whatever I'm going to make for dinner. I usually enjoy being able to do this, but in this cold, wet, grey? Not so much. So I finally broke down and had my groceries delivered. Even though I had to indulge my food shopping lust in a second rate, small-aisled city supermarket, quite the step down from those shiny spacious shrines to groceries that I so love near my Mom's. I will be having groceries delivered weekly, for the rest of the winter.

My usual grocery shopping routine is this: take the little plastic basket that goes over my arm, get the necessities for that day and possibly the next, and maybe a few extras.I stand in the crowded, dark aisles debating between a can of chickpeas and some Coke, because once the basket gets too heavy I have to stop. Because after the shopping, and the checkout, I have to carry those bags home four blocks, which doesn't seem like a lot unless you're carrying four heavy shopping bags of laundry detergent and coffee, their plastic handles cutting off the circulation in my hand.

But this time, my friends, I could take a cart, a whole cart, and fill it up with abandon. Laundry detergent, AND a six pack of Coke, AND the chickpeas . Jewelry cleaner? Sure, I could use that. And a new baking pan. Cans of tuna. Dishwashing soap. It was bliss, my friends. And you know how much it cost me? $3. That the boyfriend paid. And the bonus is that I didn't have to go to the store all week, except to the bakery for bread, cutting my normal weekly grocery bill in half, at least. So there you have it. I'm now officially a fat lazy New Yorker.

I'll go back to daily shopping when it warms up. If that ever happens.

It's almost Friday, and I have dinner with the girls on Saturday night and wedding invitation shopping with my Mom on Sunday, and another cart-filling trip to look forward to. My wild city life.

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