Hot Summer Cold

The flu I've had all week has downgraded to a summer cold, but it's still not fun. At the very least, my headache and neck ache are gone and I don't feel (abnormally) hot, but I've been sneezing and coughing all day, and now my throat is sore again from coughing so much!

Other than my cold, today went somewhat well. I did my usual farm-market/yard sale/bank run this morning. I'll be making the Farm Market errands run every morning that I work early enough until late November, when the Farm Market closes for the year. I picked up cherries, celery, blueberry butter, a block of cheddar cheese, mushrooms, string beans, and the first New Jersey blueberries of the season from the Farm Market.

I bought two WebKinz, the just-released Siamese Cat and the Pet-of-the-Month Elephant, from the Collingswood Variety Store after leaving the Farm Market. (I was lucky to find the Elephant. One of the stock people had to go in the back and look for it, and it was apparently one of the last they had left.) I stopped in the thrift shop to say "hi" to Erica. She thanked me profusely for the card and pumpkin butter I gave her last week.

I made a few yard sale finds today, though I didn't do quite as good as last week. I bought a Beanie Baby Turkey and a Wolf with odd ruby-red eyes for fall decorations (Thanksgiving and Halloween respectively - that wolf looks more like the were variety). I found a Sailor Moon Trapper-Keeper at one sale and a stack of records at another. Picked up Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run, the original 1972 Broadway cast of Grease, more George Benson (Breezin'), Madonna's True Blue, the soundtrack for the 1969 movie version of Oliver, and Alternatives, a collection of non-hit B-sides of popular folk and rock performers of the late 60s and early 70s, including Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, Joni Mitchell, and the Mothers Of Invention.

I got in around noon and had lunch and hung out until it was time to go to work. Despite leaving on time, I was almost late. The chain on my bike came loose about half-way to the Acme. I ended up having to walk part-way. I wasn't happy, but I was (just barely) on time and no one was angry but me...and even I calmed down when I realized everyone was in a fairly good mood, customers and employees alike, and there were no problems. (And one of the teen boys was able to fix my bike, so I did ride home.)

Oh, and meet Louis, my WebKinz Elephant! Louis is a jazz-playing, joke-loving pachyderm who lives in a loft above the KinzBeach and Boardwalk. Louis' Pet-of-the-Month gift, the Sparkle-Making Machine, inspired me to finally set up a room I've wanted to make for a long time - the KinzBeach Boardwalk! I made my WebKinz their own Wildwood Boardwalk, complete with two "rides" (I finally figured out what to do with my flying saucer and two airplanes, and Louis' Big Top Cart fit in nicely, too), a food booth, and two "games" (knock-the-baseball-off-the-can and balloon darts). I'd gotten a lot of random toys lately that made for perfect game prizes. Finally found a spot for a lot of the balloons that I've gathered, too.