Plastic Bags and Chewing Gum

On Monday we went to the co-op.  The Iowa City one.  Definitely not the one in Coralville.  Still can't bring myself to re-visit the scene of that crime.  Well, they also don't carry what I was planning on buying.  It was a pretty enjoyable trip on the whole, kids were good, found what we needed, etc.  Oh, and I got a Blue Sky soda.  I know I've mentioned my Blue Sky love before.  Unfortunately I committed one of the larger co-op faux pas.  I forgot to bring my own bag.

I'm really not a wasteful, terrible person who wants to paper our earth with little plastic bags of death or anything.  I did have a nice reusable bag with me that I intended to use.  I just forgot it in the car because I spent so much time trying to get everything else all NewPi ready, which is quite a process with three kids in tow.

First, I rearranged the clothes on the two younger ones so that a good chunk of cloth diaper was sticking out.  That way everyone would know that I totally love earth and am trying not to overflow our landfills.  Then I made sure to put not one, but two children into carriers, one on back, one on front.  No stroller for me in the co-op, I made that mistake once.  Nobody likes a NAV* in the co-op, somewhat understandably as it does have small aisles. I then talked Molly out of bringing a Disney Princess Barbie with us.  Too bad I don't have any Waldorf dolls to use as props.  And lastly, I pulled my faux leather wallet out of my real leather purse so as not to offend any wandering Vegans.  And then I forgot the reusable bag.

I was so ashamed at the check-out counter when he asked if I needed to purchase a plastic bag.  When I told him that I had forgotten mine in the car he so didn't believe me!  There was a bit of an eyeroll.  But he wasn't so bad.  It was the older woman behind me.  She totally gave me a 'bitch, I know you club baby seals while shamelessly spraying Aqua Net' look.  It's just a bag.  One bag.  That I've reused already.  Twice (well, the last use was as a garbage bag--does that count?).  Besides, I have two kids in cloth diapers.  I've built up some environmental karma (that I totally squander by being a terrible recycler--I plan on changing that, really, I do).

Then we skulked out of there with our plastic bag of shame.  Somewhere between the door of the co-op and our car (about 30 feet) my daughter found a prize.  She tucked it away in her hand and waited until I was on the other side of the car, getting her brother into his car seat to pull it out.  Pretty clever plan on the whole.  Except for the I have a sense of smell part.  Because even though the gum she found was already chewed, it was still quite fragrant having sat in the hot sun for who the hell knows how long.  That was awesome.

*NAV = Natal Assault Vehicle