Back and Forth and Back Once Again - Yesterday Was Frustrating

Yesterday was a day of fits and starts, retracing steps, and unavoidable delays. All told, when I finally was able to get to my sewing cabinet to continue my cleaning, it was already mid-afternoon. The schedule was the usual - laundry, shopping, and cleaning. The reality had unexpected bumps in the road. 

Target is originally a Minnesota company. I have
one ten minutes north of me, and a smaller one
(the original Target store in the world) seven
minutes south of me. I usually go to the northern
one - it's larger with a bigger selection. 

The first stop was Target. I needed a new set of earbuds for my laptop, and DH needed a new calculator - "one with larger buttons". I got what I needed, wandered through the office supply and the school supply parts of the store (no calculators available except super-duper ones - like buying a hydrogn bomb instead of a July 4th sparkler), so I left Target without the calculator. 

"Oh," I thought, as I unloaded the car from Target (is it even possible to walk out of there without several bags of stuff?). "The office supply company is in the same shopping center as the grocer. After I get this next load into the washer, I'll get a calculator there." The best ideas ... yeah. 

Office Depot is a mile from my home in the same shopping
center as my local grocery. Unfortunately, every shop in
the center was out of power. There is construction occurring
to the west, and I suspect an electrical line was cut by
mistake. 

Driving up, I parked and walked to the door of Office Depot, only to see a sign that they were closed due to a power outage. Back in the car to go to the grocer at the other end of the complex, and they were turning people away at the door - no power there either. Home again instead. 

Putting the Target purchases away, I realized I had forgotten one item that I needed before next week, so it was off, again, to Target where I purchased my single item and headed back home. I decided to take one more look at the grocer, but no - power was still out. 

By the time I was able to clean up some more, I only had an hour of
so of time available. I ended up cleaning the pedal portion of my
sewing machine, which now looks MUCH better than it has for
years. 

I settled down and tried to relax at home for a bit, finally phoning the grocer around 12:30 pm. The gentleman I spoke with said they thankfully finally had power once again, so off I went, for the third time. I found an inexpensive calculator at Office Depot that fit DH's criteria, and headed over to buy groceries for the week, buying a lot of wonderful fruit which always makes me happy at this time of the year. 

I added two more exquisite pieces of wool fabric to my "Wool" bag on
the far left of the upper shelf, and more calico to my calico pile in the
center. I did a bit more rearranging. I'm still not 100% happy with it,
but it's getting there and I'm thrilled with the idea of being able to work
with fiber and fabric once again. 

Finally, when I got to my sewing cabinet, I had approximately an hour to spend, so I couldn't tackle the bottom shelf. That'll require a greater time span. I hit the rest of the floor instead, clearing out the pedal portion of my old pedal Singer machine. I found several more large pieces of wool fabric which I added to the bag on the top shelf, some more calico for that pile, and some beautifully dyed merino which moved over to the spinning pile. The patterns were stacked neatly, and the books that I pulled out of there ended up combining with last week's odd books and magazines to make Box #3 of books on textiles, weaving, knitting, spinning, dying, etc. So I didn't get a lot done, but what I did was good. 

I spent the evening listening to my Colorado Avalanche get their victory over the Dallas Stars, pushing their game into a one-game playoff for who moves on in the Stanley Cup, and watching many You-Tube videos on how to use an Inkle Loom. I know I have one of these in Sewing Cabinet #3 - the one I haven't even started work on yet. I hope to get to that by next year - LOL. Still - baby steps. I'm happy with where I'm at right now. Next week - Shelf #1 - a total mess of small parts and things that I need smaller boxes from the shop to be able to consolidate effectively. 

Today we have a hilly ride up to a second mountain-top finish. We're
getting closer to the Pyrenees, and today's finish is on a mountain
that hasn't been part of Le Tour for more than 30 years. It'll be
new territory for almost all of the riders. 

Today's stage of Tour de France piles three climbs at the end with a mountaintop finish. The last 8 km of the ride are a grind up Mt Aigoual, after the riders have already pushed up through a Cat 3 and a Cat 1. Strong legs will take the day today. 

Have a glorious Thursday and be kind to each other. I'll be back tomorrow.