It's Friday! Yippee!!

Happy Friday to everyone. I actually get a "day off" today although I still have to start my day out with radiation therapy. That's fine, though. We've got this routine down pat. I get called into the room and asked if I would like a warm blanket ... well duh! Of COURSE I want a warm blanket - it's the best thing about clinic visits all around! LOL 

I totally agree with Linus. Happiness is indeed a warm 
blanket, and whenever a clinic offers me one, I'm totally 
on top of it! 

I pull off my clothing from the waist up and climb onto the very unyielding table (made that way for the sake of sanitizing the furniture between each client). Sometimes I think they hire the radiation techs for two purposes - people who can be precise enough to aim the radiation exactly where it is supposed to hit, and people who are willing to clean everything between patients. 

This is very similar to the position I have to take 
when I'm getting my radiation therapy. I hold upright 
posts with my hands above my head, and my knees are 
bent over a triangular form. I also have a head cavity, 
where I'm supposed to rest with my head facing one 
direction or the other, not straight upward. That 
folds my ear a bit and can get uncomfortable after 
a while. But, the sacrifices are minimal when 
compared to the benefits, and the staff is wonderful. 

I am worried about one of the patients I share the waiting room with, though. She is a small, slight, older woman who has had several people take her to her appointments. I think it's been a few friends, but also the free shuttle service that can be scheduled when needed. The past two days she's been there with her husband. Yesterday she wasn't doing well. She looked VERY tired and in pain, and was moving very slowly. When they called her name, she got up and shuffled toward the tech, who quickly asked if she would prefer a wheel chair. When she nodded, he quickly went and grabbed one (they keep several on hand for that purpose) and wheeled her into the left chamber (I usually am in the right chamber). 

After a short time, the tech came back out and said something quietly to her husband, who looked very concerned and quickly arose from his seat, accompanying the tech into the back rooms. I didn't see either of them again, and had my own session shortly afterward. I wonder if I will see her today. I've certainly been holding her in my thoughts and prayers. 

I love the produce section of my local grocery store, it's 
kept very well stocked, the veggies (and the fruits) are 
beautifully fresh, and I always feel pretty confident about 
the quality I'm purchasing. The variety is also excellent. 

So today is a day off, as I stated above, and I'll do some grocery shopping, but I don't actually need a lot. I'm starting to miss my alkagizers, and I might start making and drinking them again next week. I'll  give myself the remainder of this week without. I also need to call my treadmill people - I have a rail that has left its footing and needs to be reseated properly. I'll also remind them that they should have a new ON/OFF switch with cables for me. It seems that their repair service, although efficient when they are actually in the home, are a bit slow on the actual scheduling. They have a branch close to my home. I might just pay an in-store visit and see if things might go a bit faster. LOL Have a great Friday, I'll be back tomorrow to wrap up the week (and enjoy the first of two days without hospital visits - LOL). Slava Ukraini. 

It's A Busy "Day Off" Of Course - I Shop At The Original "Target" Store

It's my "day off" and I have a lot of running around to do today - shopping at Target and my local grocery store, as well as my co-op grocer. I won't be waiting for DH to leave for work today before returning to the garage and starting the rest of my day. I'll be home after he's already left for the shop. 

One of the two Target stores I stop at often is this one 
(although it's been upgraded many times since this photo). 
This is the original Target store, opened on May 1, 1962. 
It happens to be local for me, and on the way to work, so 
very convenient. 

Chickie isn't doing well. She's feeling awful with a sinus infection. She saw her doctor on Monday and got checked out, left with prescriptions for medications to help, and was at work on Tuesday. But she's coughing a lot, and generally not breathing well. I sent her home early last night - she might as well cough with her cats around (not that they're helping her by cuddling or purring in any fashion). But Chickie has to be able to work today - not duck into the back room when her breathing gets too bad. I'll try and tell DH to work out front as much as possible today, and that may even work with his schedule now that the taxes are complete, but that may not happen. 

I got the W2 and W3 forms typed last week 
and the final corrections done on Monday. 
They're ready to send to their respective 
addresses today, and the personal copies were 
distributed yesterday. 

I also have to be at the Post Office today to send off the Federal tax forms and state tax forms for the payroll reports for last year. These I send Certified - I need proof of delivery. But, that's one more line to stand in and one more errand to add to a crowded morning. I'll be relieved when I have all of this completed and can actually go home and argue with DH's website. I have to make a couple of financial decisions regarding his website today, and need a "clear head" to do it. 

I just need to pick up salad stuff at the grocery store 
today, so it'll be an easy day. But I do need my "ice 
cream" bars from the co-op (they are only carried 
at that store). 

I was worried that I also needed to cook for the next week, but today's a chicken day, and I already have my chicken in the refrigerator. So that, at least will be easy. Then I'll wrap up my afternoon by chatting with Aearwen, and finally call it a day - a very busy one. I hope your day goes well. I'll try to ignore the election results from yesterday and just concentrate on my small world instead of the larger one. Sometimes that's a necessary self-protection strategy. Enjoy your Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.

It's Back to Routine - A Wonderful Thing

Today is the first "standard" Day Off I've had in quite a while and I'm going to try to make the most of it, although I have a million things on my mental to-do list. I'm going to try to get DH's website pounded out and uploaded onto the Google domain he purchased months ago (that'll be a challenge - OY!), and I have the usual grocery shopping and making Ogre Juice on my agenda. I need some dinners made - I haven't decided what yet, but it's getting colder, so maybe meatballs or something else with more substance than a soup. Grocery shopping will be a must. 

I'm thinking I might make a quick batch of sheet-pan chicken 
fajitas for a good quick dinner to have on hand. It doesn't 
take a lot of effort to make, it's tasty, and it keeps well in 
the refrigerator. I might make meatballs instead, but the 
fajitas might just be the winners at the grocery store - LOL. 

I have a bunch of Tabasco peppers to harvest, and I need to research and find out the best way to use them. My preference would be to dry them and grind them, but my dehydrator is used for my jewelry making and I've resisted purchasing one for food use for more than two years, even though I've wanted one. I'm just not sure about how often I would use such an item, and hate having one more thing cluttering up things in my house. 

I'm thinking about ordering one of these - a Septree 
Food Dehydrator. The reason I'm focusing on this 
one is the wide range of temperatures that it works 
with. I need a dehydrator that will have the ability 
to work at least at 165F for jerky, and it's amazing 
how many dehydrators won't go above 160, or 
even 158 (160 is useable, barely). This one, however, 
goes well above that, so I'd get the versatility I'm looking 
for in the appliance. The question is where do I put 
it? If I don't have a place, I won't buy it. 

I did return to my normal shower routine this morning, though - scrubbing two of the four walls of the shower and a good portion of the floor. If I can keep that routine up, I'll have no problem when Sharon comes again next year. I was VERY grateful for this routine when I fell down the stairs a bit over two weeks ago. There is no way this house would have been ready for company if I hadn't been ahead of the cleaning with my shower. A quick scrub, four days a week (I'm in the pool the other three days) seems to be the perfect schedule. 

I thrive with routine. My daily chat with my on-line 
friends through my blog, my time frames for getting 
some alone time, and my hours of awake and sleep. 
Those things are important to me. But I'm NOT a planner 
person. I've tried that and it drove me crazy. My routine 
is structure, rhythm and quiet. Writing things down is 
NOT for me at all. 

I was finally able to return to the swimming pool on Wednesday and Thursday this week, and what a relief to get back. I just feel so much better when I'm able to swim. I got my exercise while at the State Fair - we were walking 10,000 steps and more every day we were there. But walking for me just isn't the same as swimming is. My year goes into reset after Sharon's visits, back to zero and counting down once again until she returns again next year. My annual cycle begins when she leaves for home, and concludes when we have dinner at Olive Garden after Renaissance Festival. It's an odd cycle, but it works well for me. 

So, have a wonderful Friday as I return to a routine once again. I look forward to a "restful" day in the kitchen - LOL. I'll be back tomorrow and Slava Ukraini. 

Yesterday Was An Adventure in Shopping and in the Kitchen

Yesterday's swim was marvelous, I lost track of time and swam for a full 45 minutes, about ten minutes more than usual. It was just such fun. I just lost myself in my audio book and moved in the water while the rain clouds thinned and the sun rose above the horizon. At this time of the year it's fairly dark when we start swimming, but the sun rises while we're in the water, and sunrise is my favorite time of the day - so all is totally wonderful. 

It was lovely to just swim - not worry about the time. I ran 
a bit over my usual, but that was fine. If I had people 
waiting for my lane, I would have left a bit earlier, but 
that wasn't a problem. 

I decided to make a meat loaf for my dinners, and it called for 1-1/2 pounds of ground meat. I had a pound of ground beef in the freezer, but decided to hop back to the store to get the amount I needed instead of defrosting what I had. There, I found a lovely pack of 1/2 pound each of ground beef, pork and veal. Hard to resist, so I grabbed that, knowing it would be tasty. 

I love Sooay's bread and bagels. I try to 
alternate them - a loaf of bread, followed by 
a pack of bagels, and back to bread again. 
I always toast them - grain-free breads aren't 
very tasty if not toasted. But their flavor 
profile is the best of the many brands 
I've tried. 

While at the store, I took a bit of time to talk to the Manager about some food items that I adore, that I wish they would carry. Whole Foods is clearing out my brand of bread and bagels, much to my disappointment. I've picked up about eight packages of bagels and my freezer is stocked, because although I've tried their other grain-free options, they all have tasted like sawdust to me. My local grocer, on the other hand, has been expanding its' specialty foods, so I talked to them about my bread and bagels, and also my Almond Flour tortillas - still available at Whole Foods, but it's silly to take a trip down there for a single product. 

I don't eat iced cream any more (no dairy), but 
I do eat chocolate and vanilla "Nada Moo" which 
uses agave syrup for their sweetener. It's very 
tasty and fits within WildFit parameters. 

My grocery store has been super good about expanding their unique selection. They've brought it a bunch of non-grain items throughout the store. They carry my "Nada Moo" iced dessert product which I adore, they also carry my Pam brand gluten-free brownie mix. They also carry Pam's bread mix, but I would need a mixer with a bread hook to deal with those, and my mixer is 50+ years old and doesn't have any fancy attachments. I would love a new mixer, but DH won't hear of it. *sigh*

I also like Pamela's Brownie Mix. When 
I can't get this brand, I use Bob's which is 
also good, but when Whole Foods discontinued 
carrying Pamela's products, my local grocery 
store added them. No problem! 

I returned home, made and baked my meat loaf, and got six portions from it. Absolutely perfect. I had one portion for dinner last night and yes - very tasty. One of the fun things I did for this was make my own Worcestershire sauce. That was a lot of fun - lots of ingredients all mixed up together, then mixed thoroughly and put into a small container in my refrigerator. I needed some of this for the meat loaf, so it made a simple recipe an adventure in the kitchen. I'm pretty happy with the flavor profile of my substitute sauce, so all things considered, it was a successful day in the kitchen. 

On that note, it's time to wrap this up. I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend. I'll be watching the first game of the Stanley Cup tonight, of course. We'll probably watch either an "Inspector Lewis" or a "Vera" tomorrow after spending the day in the garden. So, it'll be a predicable but hopefully lovely two days. I hope yours is equally good, and I'll be back on Monday. Slava Ukraini. 

An Expedition to a New Grocery Store (New To Me, At Least)

It's finally getting warmer again, so we're out of the deep freeze for at least another 7-10 days. We're above zero, so that's cause for celebration. It's currently 7 F (-13.8 C) and we'll be warming up to freezing (32 F/0 C) by late afternoon. From that point, we'll be in the 20's on average for the next week at least. I'm quite pleased about that. Going out and about my business yesterday in Arctic temperatures was NOT a fun thing to do. 

I was totally dressed for the cold yesterday in my boots, 
my long down-filled parka, my fake "fur" hat and my 
long "Dr Who" scarf double-wrapped around my neck and 
mouth. My split-finger gloves were the last part of my 
winter gear. I wasn't toasty warm, but I also wasn't freezing 
to death, and considering it was an average of -11 F (-23.8 C), 
I'll take not freezing to death as a real positive thing. 

I explored a new grocery store yesterday. It's been around for a long time, but I've never been in it. DH wanted a new bottle of a specific soy sauce that he uses, and I wasn't able to find it at any of my usual stores. So I went onto the manufacturer's website and found that it was  stocked at Dragon Star Oriental Foods. It's located several miles East of my shop, but not really too far - in between my house and my co-op. So I decided while I was out and about, I would take a stop by there and get the soy sauce. 

Obviously not my photo - it's a warm weather photo, but 
yeah - it's the entryway to the St Paul location of Dragon 
Star Oriental Foods (they apparently also have a Brooklyn 
Park location - that's a Minneapolis suburb). The actual 
entrance is unassuming, and I had no idea what to expect. 

It was quite the store. For one thing, it was really big. It had a smaller front section, and then a ramp or stair up to a much larger second building. It had foods I'd never seen in a store before - beef hearts packed in two-packs (they're astonishingly large), cleaned (but still with scales) tilapia fish, also packed in twos. A LOT of foods packaged with only Oriental labeling, so anyone's guess on what they were, but I had no clue. Two long aisles of kitchenware and dishes. When/if we break another soup bowl, at least I'll know a possible source for a replacement. 

The overhead signage isn't going to win any awards, 
but at least it was accurate and somewhat helpful. I was 
looking for one specific product, but I also wanted to see 
what they offered. They offered some fruits I had never 
seen in a grocery store before. I was starting to be impressed. 

I was on a mission, however, and still had my main shopping to do (minor compared to Wednesday, but still important), so I just took a guess on which aisle to check, and was actually able to find the soy sauce I needed relatively quickly. Apparently the store is well known for its' Mochi Donuts, but since I eat gluten free, no sugars and no dairy, I skipped trying them and just bought my soy sauce, returning to the cold and continuing my shopping expedition for the day. 

The most important thing is that they had the soy sauce I 
had traveled there to get. That's it - second shelf from the 
top, with the blue label on the left side. I quite happily 
bought my one item and headed to my next stop. I'll come 
back another day and spend some time walking all of the 
aisles. There's some interesting items at this store. 

Today I'm going to enjoy the "warm" temperatures (it's all relative in the winter, you know. At least we're above zero - LOL). I'm going to wrap this up and start my day. I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend. We might catch some of the flag football on Sunday. It should be amusing and quite fun to watch. And maybe we'll watch another episode or two of "Vera". We're enjoying diving back into the series once again. I'll be back on Monday. Slava Ukraini. 

Shopping, Shopping and Talking on the Phone - That's My Wednesday

Those who know me well, know my love of pictorial calendars. I have them all over my house - my ever-changing portable art show. This year I have a lot of waterfalls, my usual zen gardens to calm my soul, a lovely calendar of environmental artwork, and several others. One in the computer room is bothering me, however. As I flipped it to February on Tuesday night, I realized the hanging holes in the calendar were so small, and so close to the edge of the page, that the pages simply can't support the weight of the upcoming pages. It's rather like life, sometimes. The weight of what's to come can weigh you down, and sometimes break you. 

Sometimes the weight of life can get you down. That 
seems to happen to people more often in the winter - 
I guess we need that sunshine and the warm days to 
function better. We're in the deep of winter right now, 
so I'm I bit introspective today. 

This one will have a quick fix. I'll grab a hole puncher, either from the shop or I might have one in the craft room, and I'll punch a new hole. For now, though, I strengthened it by taping January to February at the hole, and that gave me two pages plus the tape to give it more strength. Again, it's rather like life. When you're tearing apart, you find whatever tape or glue is available to put yourself back together again. It's these many mends that make us the people that we are, and that strengthen us against those cracks that are bound to occur in our futures. 

I know I have some hole reinforcements at the shop 
as well, but this hole is cut so close to the edge 
that even a reinforcement won't fit properly. It's bad 
calendar design, to say the least. I may have to tape 
each page to make it sturdy enough for the month. 

Today will be a very busy "day off" with some cooking, lots of laundry, some computer work to reset passwords for several locations and clarify some other projects, and I'll end up with a lovely chat with Aearwen. Somewhere in between here, I'll also get my quarterly call from my broker (yes, I have one, but only because DH does and I'm an accessory to the crime - LOL). I don't need the monthly calls that DH has, quarterly is just fine for my investments, which aren't nearly as large nor as interesting as DH's are. But talking with Tom is just one more thing to fit into my schedule. I suspect, as usual, that I'll be in one or another grocery store when that call comes through. 

I need to go to both of my grocery stores today - Whole 
Foods and my local grocer. Of course, DH has taken over 
my little part of the freezer with some steaks for Super 
Bowl weekend, but I actually need my little space, so I'll 
be trying to re-arrange things today. I have to have my 
freezer space. I have things that have to go into it. 

So, it's going to be a busy day, and I'd better start it out by getting some gas. In our super cold temps (although it's actually 2 F today instead of sub-zero), my gas usage goes down quickly, and I don't want to be getting too low. So, I'll add getting gasoline to the errands of the day. Well, I'm getting exhausted just thinking about everything that needs to be done today, so I'm going to wish all of you a wonderful Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Today Is SOOOOO Busy and Tomorrow is Thanksgiving!!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving so tomorrow is my "Friday" and Friday will be a work day at the shop for the first day of our "Two-Day" Sale. As soon as I get into the shop on Friday I'll have to work with my staple gun and get my holiday garlands up and the two wreaths that I mount in the store at the front case and the front door. I should have done that yesterday, but was busy until the last minute with a shipment that we got in on Monday that had to be checked in and processed. Well, there's still processing to do, but at least everything is checked in, so it was a good day's work. 

DH and Chickie are tasked with putting up the 
store Christmas tree today. I'll do the garlands 
and the wreaths early Friday morning. I DON'T 
do trees. 

Today will be busy and hectic and not enough time - that's a guarantee. I start out in the pool, and then as soon as I'm home and have switched the first load of laundry from the washer to the dryer, I'm off to the grocery store. Yes - the grocery store on the DAY BEFORE THANKSGIVING!!! OY! I'm not looking forward to it, but it's the only day I can shop and my "cupboards" are bare. DH already bought all of the Turkey Day fixings he wanted, and I have a large bird defrosting in my refrigerator to be roasted tomorrow, but there's the daily stuff that has to be bought, and I'll be busy in the kitchen for the rest of the day. 

I normally love my Alkagizer. I have one four days a 
week for my lunch at the shop. But Monday's glass 
made me almost vomit - I don't know if it was slightly 
"off", or what? But it was NOT a good thing. I'm 
going to toss the rest of that batch and stay off for a 
week or so. Then I'll make a new batch and start 
fresh. 

I've decided I'm taking a couple of weeks off my Alkagizer. I love them, but Monday's got me very ill. I think I'm a bit overly sensitive to them right now, even though I only drink them four days a week. I also think I'm leaving them in the refrigerator too long, when I should actually freeze them instead. That's much harder - my freezer space is VERY limited. But I'm going to toss the batch I have already made into today's garbage and start fresh after the first of December. Maybe that will work out better for my health. I think it's well worth the try. 

What a crazy Thanksgiving Day balloon in this photo. But 
with the reflected lights on the belly, it almost looks like 
a demon pumpkin wearing a Native American headdress 
and a VERY angry expression. Don't you think? LOL 
In any case, have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with 
a good meal and the friends and family you choose to 
spend it with. 

So, since I'm VERY tight on time before hitting the grocery like EVERY other person out there on the day before Thanksgiving, I'm closing this and wishing all of you a wonderful Wednesday. Be good, be kind, have patience and I'll pop in quickly tomorrow to wish all of you a great Turkey Day. Slava Ukraini. 

My Days Off Are Busy Days - A Life of Intentional Movement

It's a "day off" today, so it's a busy day today. That's all to the good, however. I need to review and think clearly about what I need to accomplish today, though. It's all too easy to miss something that I then have to put off for another week, which can sometimes be a serious problem. 

I'll need to make a list today. There are 
some things we need from the store that 
I'll forget if I don't have them written down. 

I think we'll have a new writing prompt today, tomorrow at latest, and I'm looking forward to seeing what steps I'll need to dance this time. Apparently LJ Idol has been going on for 16 years now - I never knew. I'm just grateful to my on-line friend and fellow contestant for having talked me into joining last year for LJ Idol Light and then again for the regular LJ Idol. I'm having a blast writing to order. It's never drop-down easy, but it's always fun. 

I'm having fun with LJ Idol. It's always been a 
passion of mine to write to a theme or construct 
under pressure - time or format. I've loved doing 
that since Middle School, so for more than 
half a century. It's a kick being back to this 
format, but it's a great group of very talented 
writers so I'm honored to be among them. 

I'll have to phone the pharmacy. I put a refill prescription in for DH, and they were supposed to text when ready. But I haven't heard from them and it's been a couple of days. I thought they had it in stock, so I'm puzzled about the delay. If I'm in that general area today, I'll stop in quickly to check if it's ready to go. 

I know I purchased a 3-pack of glass screen 
protectors when I purchased my phone, but I 
couldn't find them, so I ordered a new set of 
three. I'll make some time to get the glass 
on my screen switched over today. It's not 
massively visible, but it annoys me when I 
can see cracks in sunlight. 

A couple of weeks ago I dropped my phone and cracked the flexible glass shield that I have protecting my screen. I have a new pack of three replacements, and if I get some time today, I'll switch the cracked one out for a new, unmarked one. It's not something that gets in my way, but it's annoying. It was a silly thing - just putting it down badly on my desk. It headed for the floor, but hit the metal leg of my chair on its' way down. It's a pretty new phone, and I don't want to start banging it around for a few more years - LOL. 

I try my best to live a life of intentional movement, and 
busy days are wonderful because I don't even need 
to think about it - I just do it. I'll still do my normal, 
however - go up and down every aisle in the grocery store 
for a bit more exercise, and maybe even visit a new 
grocery just to look around and see what they offer. 
The one I'm thinking about checking out is building 
a new store quite close to me. It's always nice to 
have options. 

I'm hoping today will be a bit more laid back, but I have computer work to get done, groceries to buy, and Ogre Juice to make, so I'll be busy, no matter what. Still, I think it's going to be sunny and beautiful outside, so I'm going to make the most of it. I hope you have a gorgeous day in turn, and I'll be back tomorrow! Slava Ukraini. 

Three Days Off Work Starts Today - Groceries Still Need to be Purchased, Though

I'm off work for the next three days, but I'm still up and getting ready to go swim this morning, and I'll take one last run through the grocery store because I need lettuce for my salads and a veggie to go with my turkey dinner. DH said he didn't care whether I made the turkey today or tomorrow, and I haven't made up my mind completely, but I have one more portion of chili left to eat, so I might do the turkey on Saturday instead of today. 

I'll have to be very conscious of calm today while I'm 
out at the grocery store. I fully expect it will be a bit 
of a zoo, and I just want to get in and out as quickly 
as I can. I need salad and veggies for my turkey dinner. 

I expect the grocery stores will be a total zoo today, so to make things easier, I'll go to Whole Foods instead of my local grocer. It's not that I can't get what I want at my local shop, it's that Whole Foods has self-checkout, and that speeds me up. I don't have to wait in a long line of people to buy my groceries, and I really don't need much, but what I need, I need. 

I'm thinking about getting some fresh green beans or 
some fresh Brussels sprouts. I enjoy both veggies, but 
the green beans might be an easier cook with the 
oven occupied by a large bird. 

I'll be on "radio silence" for the next few days, not returning to my blog until Monday. I'll read your posts and comment, because I don't like falling behind on that, and I'll probably post a "Happy Christmas" photo, but it's going to be minimal. Sharon's gift arrived at her house yesterday, so I'm totally on time, and I got quite a few prints backed and shrink wrapped for the shop. Our 4-day End of the Year Sale starts on Monday, so I'll be tied to the register for the four days. I'm happy with what I've gotten done, though. My art bins are filled with pretty things at excellent prices, and the store is as stocked as we could make it this year. Time to start selling down. 

Happy Holidays to all of my on-line friends. It's been 
a joy sharing this year with you. It's not over yet, but 
I'm already starting to look forward to sharing the next 
year with you too. Have a lovely Christmas Day and 
I'll be back on Monday. 

Have a glorious Holiday and be safe. Spend time with family if it's safe, or wish them a good holiday remotely if it's not. Stay healthy, be happy, and I'll be back on Monday morning. Namaste! 

I'll Be a Whirlwind Today - Too Much To Do!

Today is massively busy. It's my Wednesday - so the usual chores of laundry and housecleaning and picking up a chicken in the afternoon still exist (that chicken might be harder - I might have a VERY long line to purchase one chicken). Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and everything is closed. My local grocery store will also be closed on Friday - so yeah - the lines at the grocers today might be massive. 

I'm hoping to miss the worst of the crowds by shopping 
really early, but I know I'll hit some. I'm guaranteed 
to hit crowds when I return in the afternoon to get my 
chicken for dinner. That might be horrific. One chicken 
and a very long line. 

I'll swim first - it's Wednesday and I'm in the pool for my mile. That's one very good thing. But from there, my agenda shifts. I'm not even bothering to return home. I'm going straight to my local grocery store with my list. From there, no matter how long or short it takes, I'm off to my Co-op where I want to get some of the new yogurt I found and a couple of other things. The lines might be horrid there too, but I think they'll be far less in length. Finally, I'm off to Whole Foods for my non-grain bread and five pieces of fruit. Thank goodness, they have a self-checkout section there, so I'll probably use that. 

I usually use the self check-out at Whole Foods. I've gotten 
quite good at punching in the codes for my fruits. 

After I finally can return home and get everything into the house, I have a special three-hour Zoom call scheduled that I would like to catch, followed by a different one-hour Zoom call. I can glue card groupings together while I'm listening to these. Finally, around 2 pm, I'll breathe a bit. Of course laundry needs to be pigeonholed into all of this. I've already got one load in the washer, but I usually do three loads on Wednesday. At the end of the day I have my usual phone call with Aearwen, something I always look forward to. So, I'll be on the phone or computer a lot today after my expeditions into the grocery shops on the day before Thanksgiving. 

I suspect I'll sleep very well tonight - LOL. 

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I won't do a formal post, just a quick check-in to with all of you a good day. We've got 11:00 am reservations for a nice Thanksgiving meal, and if I have a chicken in the refrigerator from my Wednesday, DH will have the "carcass to pick at" that he requested. We're both hoping we'll have an oven by Christmas. *sigh* Shipping is so *-cked-up* right now. I'm not counting on anything, but I'm certainly hoping - a LOT. I'll catch up with all of your emails and responses late today, and I'll be reading through posts tomorrow, too. I should be back on even keel on Friday, when I go to the shop for the first day of our annual "2-Day After Thanksgiving Blow-Out Sale". 

Our Thanksgiving Day meal will not feature a full roasted 
turkey, but we'll have a nice meal at the restaurant too, I'm 
sure. If I have an oven by Christmas, I'll roast a turkey 
for us then. 

Have an excellent day, be kind, be generous with yourself or your time, and I'll be back for a quick post tomorrow. I treasure each of you - you have enriched my life more than you would ever believe. 

Toasters, Housecleaning and Conversations - It Was a Good Friday

Yesterday turned into a very busy day, but I did get quite a lot accomplished. I started out at Whole Foods - not my favorite grocery store, but the only one that supposedly carried the no-grain bagels I wanted to get. Why did I want bagels? DH broke down when he was at Target on Thursday and purchased a new toaster with wide slots so that he could toast bagels. That sounded lovely to me, so I decided to get some for myself. 

The new toaster that DH purchased is 
pretty snazzy. You need to hold the 
lever down for several seconds before 
it locks into place. For a bagel, you then 
push the left-hand button and it automatically 
senses and toasts the wider, denser bread. 

Of course, while I was looking for bagels, I also needed non-dairy cream cheese, non-dairy "butter", and a nice no-sugar jam. I already had some lovely raw honey that Chickie had given to me - friends of hers have hives and had given her some super tasty honey, but Chickie doesn't like honey so she passed them on to me. I've been enjoying them ever since. 

I ended up with this brand of non-dairy 
cream cheese. It's actually not too bad. Not 
as good as regular cream cheese, but I'll 
eat it, and since I don't do dairy any more, 
I'll manage just fine. 

I got the spreads and the bagels and some uncured lunch meat that I had run out of. I got stopped by three people who complimented my tattoo, and one very sweet guy on the autistic spectrum who said he'd never seen anything like it before, and asked what it was. I gave him the short version of what a Winged Scarab portrayed and he thought it beautiful. Made my morning, for sure. 

I also picked up a jar of this - 
no-sugar Apricot spread. It's 
absolutely lovely - very tasty! 

My main task for the day (aside from doing the laundry I couldn't do on Wednesday) was to put the micro-ban coverings on all of the pillows, the couch, and the queen-sized mattress. That was easier said than done, and the mattress would have been a LOT easier with a second person, but I prevailed. I got everything covered except the couch. I had been off on my measurements, and had to return the couch cover and order the next size up. So, I printed out the return slip to Amazon, repackaged the item, and headed to Kohl's which accepts Amazon returns at no charge. 

I have a guillotine-style cutter in the basement 
of the shop, but it's not accurate enough. I have 
a very inexpensive rotary cutter at home, but it's 
not up to the amount of pages and the weight of 
the cardstock. So, I decided to add one of these 
onto an Amazon order. It arrived earlier this 
week, so now I can proceed with the next stage 
in my holiday cards. I can already tell 
I'll be running very close to deadline for 
them this year. 

Today I'll start cutting down the fancy papers for my holiday cards. I have a lot of cutting to do. I received a new, more accurate cutter earlier in the week, and I took the time yesterday to go onto the manufacturer's website and order one of each of the custom blades they make for the machine. I should be getting those next week, and one of them is a scoring blade, which will get a lot of use for this year's cards. 

My friend, Shruti, is one of 19 artists chosen 
to be featured in this new book, just released 
on October 19th. I'll have to take a closer look 
at it, but I'm so proud of the recognition she's 
receiving from others on her journey. 

I also spent the day messaging back and forth with my dear friend Shruti, from India. For many years she has made a card for more than 500 friends, each one hand-made and highly decorated. A true work of love. I limit mine to 50 and can't imagine doing 500! Earlier this year she had said she was going to take this year off. She was feeling a little guilty about taking the year off and was bouncing things off me, so I told her she needed to take whatever time she needed to recharge her batteries and allow herself to get grounded once again. I told her to take the year off for herself - that she was entitled to it. We had a lovely conversation. It's always a joy to touch base with her. 

So have a wonderful Saturday, enjoy your weekend, and I'll be back on Monday morning. Please stay safe, be kind and do something unexpected over the weekend. It's always good to stretch your boundaries. 

My Clock is Ticking Down - Lots To Do Today, Not Just Laundry and Shopping

Today will be a super busy day. Sharon arrives tomorrow evening and with all of the household emergencies lately, I'm running behind schedule. Today, I know I need to be at Half-Price Books at 10:00 am this morning. The back of Minion is filled with three large boxes of books for re-purchase and recycling, and I don't have a lot of time to spare. So, being there when they open, and hopefully getting in and out quickly, is my goal. Anything I get is an improvement over finding room for three boxes of books I'm uninterested in keeping. I'll wave good-bye and allow them to handle all of the recycling for me. 

It's not that I get a lot of money from Half Price for 
my books. It's more that they'll take care of all of 
the recycling for me. I have a full recycling bin 
right now, and although I do take things to the shop 
to use the larger bin now and again, I don't want 
to put books into the bin. So I use Half-Price instead, 
and if they give me money, all the better. 

I have grocery shopping to do and Alkagizers (Ogre Juice) to make, rooms to vacuum and the bed in the guest room to make. I think the bureau in that room still has junk on top of it, so that needs clearing too, and late this afternoon, I'll have a nice, relaxing chat with my dear friend Aearwen. DH said he didn't care if his chicken was warm or cold, so if I go grocery shopping between noon and one o'clock, I can get my chicken for dinner then and just leave it in the fridge until time to eat. 

Maybe we'll only have another one or two weeks 
of rotisserie chickens for our Wednesday dinners. 
I'd love to get back to my usual Wednesday 
chicken breasts again. I miss them. 

Our oven has arrived at the appliance store. They phoned me yesterday. They are getting in touch with the installer and we'll try to get something scheduled for after Labor Day. It's quite possible that I will have a working wall oven again within a couple of weeks and that will be WONDERFUL! 

This is what the new wall oven will look like. 
It'll go well with the stainless steel refrigerator 
it's next to, and the black glass cooktop and 
stainless and black microwave  nearby. But, 
even more importantly, it will actually work! 
What a concept - LOL. 

But right now I'm focused on getting the house totally cleaned (a pipe dream, I know, but I'll do the best I can), enjoying the long weekend with my friends and DH, and reveling in six days off from work. (I just remembered to print out "We're Closed on Labor Day" signs for the shop, so I guess I'll be stopping by quickly first thing this morning to get them onto the door and windows before heading out on my errands. Just one more thing to do - LOL. 

I'll be back tomorrow and I hope you have a wonderful day ahead of you. Stay safe and please be kind.