A few days ago I was talking on my cell phone to daughter, Sarah. She asked where I was, I told her I was just picking up "a few essentials". I went on to tell her we were out of toilet paper and coffee, two of the items we 'couldn't live without'. She told me that information was in the category of TMI, and I proceeded to argue with her, since they both are. In that category. For everyone.

Seriously, what can you use to replace either? My grandmother used to have the Sears Roebuck catalogue in her two-seater, behind her house, but it's been years since I resorted to that. I know tea drinkers will argue with me on the merits of tea versus coffee; I'm all about tea, in the afternoon or at bedtime, but when I come down the stairs every morning, and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee hits me, there's nothing like it in my book. Besides that, how many cups of tea do you have to drink to equal one good cup of coffee, and I'm all about efficiency. I don't have time to drink six cups of tea, just to get my heart going. Nor do I have time for all the resulting potty stops, which would just lead to running out of the previously mentioned item.

All this TMI 'just the essentials' got me to thinking. What is on that list that we really can't live without, speaking from a purely consumer level? I'm not talking Salvation or World Peace, but rather my favorite cereal. Deep stuff.

So my list of the truly essentials - what is always on hand in our house/refrigerator and if we run out I make a special trip to the store to replace it?

#1 TP, Cottontelle Double Rolls. Unless we have company coming and I switch to the cheaper stuff so we don't have to call the plumber. I learned this the hard way.

#2 Coffee, Folgers. Starbucks is too strong / acidic for me. I love it, but my stomach does not.

#3 Creamer. Vanilla caramel for my husband, something girly for me. I drank my coffee black for the past 30-something years, til this past Christmas. A girlfriend brought a bottle of Peppermint Chocolate and I was an immediate convert. Now I have to have creamer, flavored. Not even just half and half, but flavored creamer. Don't bother to tell me it's not good for me. I don't care a whit.

#4 That carton of organic milk that has cow spots on it. For some weird reason it lasts forever. (Does anyone know why?) Since it costs twice as much as the stuff that goes bad in a week, it should last a long time. We buy the lowest fat one they make and try not to look at how thin it is. It makes up in part for the creamer being bad for us.

#5 Ice cream in some form. Not particular really. My very favorite, being all exotic, is vanilla. Husband adores Rocky Road, but anything chocolate will keep him happy.

I can get by for a few days without almost anything else. As much as I love Diet Coke, I can make do with sweet tea; granola bars can be replaced very nicely with cinnamon toast. Notice - no bread on my list. That reminds me "man does not live by bread alone", but on every word that proceedeth from the mouth of the Lord. (Deut. 8:3). I cannot remember the last time a day went by without some time spent talking to the Lord. There's just no substitute for that.

How 'bout you? What makes you jump in the car and head to the grocery? If it's in the category of TMI, you can leave the comment anonymous or live dangerously and leave your name.