You know me and how I like my walks. In the past couple of years, more inspiration and wholehearted prayer has taken place as I've pounded the pavement listening to my Bible on iPod than I could have imagined. It's also a perfect way to get the exercise I need.

I had the bright idea recently to walk all the way to the grocery store and then take the long way home, carrying my bags so that it would be sort of like weightlifting on the move...reminiscent of the cross-fit training classes my kids attend. They come home with stories of swinging barrels and climbing ropes and doing all sorts of odd, difficult, weight-bearing exercises. Why not groceries? I'll definitely burn more calories.

When I got to the store I began to calculate how much I could actually carry for the next 30 minutes as I walked. I was planning to babysit the next day for my granddaughter and decided to make a turkey - an extra one I'd purchased around Christmas time. Since I'd be home all day, during her nap I thought I'd throw together all the fixings and recreate Thanksgiving dinner to some extent.

I decided to make my job easier and use boxed stuffing, so I bought a few boxes, then I needed potatoes - that would be the heaviest part of my load - but a 5 pounder won't be too bad, right? You can't have turkey dinner without corn, so in went a 2 pound bag of frozen corn and oh, yeah, those homemade-tasting yeast rolls that everyone loves are in the freezer section so I'll grab those...aww 3 pounds isn't too bad. I checked out and stuffed my umbrella in one of the bags-double bagged everything and I was off.

A mile down the road those plastic bags were digging into my hand a bit. Hmm. I set the bags down and took a break. Picked them back up and went another few blocks, whew, I underestimated how hard this would be. I lifted the bags up over my head to shift the weight, pondering whether or not I'd give my son a ring to pick me up!

Then a big, black SUV pulled up, backed in the alley and sat there, looking a little suspicious and since it was almost dusk, I picked up my pace a bit...then a bit more...then I was almost jogging-plastic digging deeper into my palms. I turned a corner, looked around and set my burdens down for another pause.

What was I thinking for goodness sakes?! These things weigh a ton and I'm tired. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...I got home at last and tallied everything up and decided that the next time I thought about carrying 12 pounds of stuff on my walk in plastic bags, I'd take a stroller with me and push it instead! A day in the life...of a blonde.