Okay, it dipped below freezing and we’re getting flurries. But who knows? By morning, we may have a significant snow fall. I’d rather it held off a day or two. We’ve got people traveling tomorrow who must get where they’re going.
It’s turning out to be quite the eventful Yuletide. Margy’s bunch are flying in to spend the Holiday with us for the first time in close to a decade and Joe’s bunch have unexpectedly been called to celebrate in Boston. You know what that means; Party at Joe’s House!!
I spent yesterday afternoon with Joe (and Vince, who’s got finals this week). They’re doing very well and their spirits are high. Woody having cancer has thrown everyone for a loop but Joe is confident in Woody’s strength and he trusts the Doctor. That’s really saying a lot: When Joe was 11, he was hit by a car. He spent months in the hospital, in traction, then several more months in a body cast and wheelchair. That ordeal taught him to despise the entire medical profession. Since then, the only Doctor he’s thought was worth a damn is Margy’s husband Jeff, who actually is a very brilliant doctor but not an oncologist. Woody’s doctor has impressed the unimpressible, so she must really be something!
I woke up at 5:30 this morning. This only happens to me when I’ve got so many fun things on my plate that I pop awake with a brain that is already cycling through plans for accomplishing everything. If I didn’t celebrate Christmas, I’d probably sleep right through December. I mean, it’s only light out for about eight hours, it’s cold, snowy and hard to get around and I work at home. Even if I did get out of bed, why would I ever get out of my pajamas?
It’s not even 4:30 yet and I’m watching a spectacular sunset out my front window. Yeah, the flurries stopped.
I mixed up Devil cookies on Sunday and didn’t get a chance to bake them until yesterday evening. I’d also mixed up another batch of ginger snaps because we ate the first two batches but I couldn’t bake those because I had a lettering project that had to be finished ASAP, so I was at work on that right after breakfast.
I had lists made up of all the things I needed to get and I plotted my course in my head. First stop, the Blick art supply store. I had a coupon and a few things that I need before the end of the year. I figured I may as well lay in some more paint while I could get it for 20% less. Blick isn’t far from me but it’s on a very busy street and the parking lot is woefully inadequate. I can’t tell you how often I try to go there only to be rejected due to lack of parking. There’s a Michael’s less than a mile away with a much bigger parking lot. But sometimes, like today, I need things I know Michael’s won’t have. Michael’s is great if I need a specific brand of paint but if I need a high end brush or framing supplies, it’s a good place to buy silk flowers if you know what I mean.
I found everything I needed and it was far less expensive than I’d feared. I even found a place to park but the traffic in and out was horrible. I spent more time trying to get from the parking lot back out to the street than I did inside the store. But I didn’t mind: I was listening to the greatest Christmas Album EVER. And I was totally pumped to have found exactly what I was looking for, which I hadn’t even been sure existed.
Next stop, Sam’s club for all the things I need every week plus a tank of gas.
There’s a Sam’s two miles from my house but I rarely go there. It’s nice but there’s always a long line of cars at the pumps. I go to one that’s about six miles from my house but I’ve never had to wait in line at the pump, plus there’s a post office I can get into and out of very quickly, a Goodwill I love and a Target all within a half mile of the place, so I can get a lot done by choosing that Sam’s club. There’s also a AAA right by that club and renewing a membership was one of my errands today.
Done!
Since I was in the neighborhood, I ducked into the Burlington Coat Factory, too, just to see if they had anything I couldn’t live without. They didn’t. Good to know. They had some nice things but the line at the checkout was fifteen people long and I didn’t need anything bad enough to stand in that line.
I got home, put away my groceries, had lunch and realized my to-do list continued onto the back of the paper.
It had started to snow by then but I donned my coat and boots and headed out, figuring it would only get worse if I waited.
I had to get to Menards for a bunch of little things and one big thing: shrink wrap for my porch windows.
I was finished with everything and home again by 2:30.
Now I’m home, warm, got everything done I had to do and the house smells like ginger snaps.
Life is good, bumps and all.