More than I could chew

So I finally bit off more than I could chew with the xtracycle. At least I didn't choke.

Yesterday I had grand plans to go buy a pair of half wine barrels to use for flowers and herbs in the front and back yard. I found someone selling some on craigslist who was only 25 blocks or so away from us and figured I could just strap one to each side of the xtracycle. My plans got a little more complicated when Jula literally begged me to let her go with me. She was so excited about going and I figured that her 30 extra pounds wouldn't matter that much.

I when I finally made it out to the sellers house and picked up one of the barrels I quickly realized that I was in for more than I bargained for. Not only were the barrels a bit heavier than I had anticipated but they were much larger than I had imagined. The FreeLoader bags wouldnt actually wrap around them at all and I only had one compression strap with me to compliment my pile of bungee cords. My first thought was that I was worried that it would be a bit dangerous to have Jula on the back, especially if one of them fell off or something dramatic. To complicate things further I only have one WideLoader for the xtracycle so only one of the barrels would actually be well supported. If I had two WideLoaders and Jula wasn't with me I probably would have been more adventurous and given it a go.

In the end it was really meant to be. These barrels were going to be $30 each and my mother told me later that she can get them for $10 each so it all worked out well. Additionally the route that I took across the Sunset district was quite hilly and I got a pretty good workout and enjoyed a few pretty nice downhill runs so the trip wasn't a total failure. :)

Grocery Shopping Epiphany

Last night we were expecting a guest over for dinner and at the last minute decided that we'd make some pizza. Last minute decisions like that mean that we're not going to be making our own dough of course so I headed out for a solo trip to the grocery store. When you have two little kids sometimes a solo errand trip is a well-appreciated break. Even better when that errand involves a short ride and hauling some cargo home! I hopped on the xtracycle and headed over to Safeway, mostly because none of our small local markets carry pre-made pizza crust. I managed to make the whole run even more worthwhile by picking up a bunch of other necessities.

While shopping and carefully examining product ingredient lists I had a small epiphany. Here I am being hyper-picky about the quality and origin of the ingredients and produce that I'm shopping for but we don't have any qualms about eating out when we're feeling too lazy to cook at home. The epiphany was that with very few exceptions, none of the places we tend to eat out are making their food with organic or locally grown ingredients. Yet another motivation for cooking at home! File this under the "Duh!" catagory.