Waiting for the Snow

I awoke to see absolutely nothing on my porch this morning but a few sticker balls and a squirrel. It was cloudy, but there was no snow, sleet, or even rain. On one hand, after all that fuss yesterday, it was a little disappointing. On the other hand, I really had errands I wanted to run today, and I've had enough of wandering around in lousy weather of late.

I didn't have much luck with shopping in the stores today. Wal Mart did have a CD/Cassette player, but it was $49.95, and I was hoping to find one for more like 20 or 30. They didn't have any bike baskets or brakes, either. FYE had nothing of interest. I debated getting cheap sneakers and snow boots at Payless and the Shoe Dept, but decided it could wait until my finances are better. I did mildly better at the Acme, where I picked up grapefruit, a large bag of apples, bananas, light yogurt, deodorant, shampoo, peanut butter, and a few other necessary items.

Though the bank was closed by the time I went home, I still needed to deposit my paycheck. I used the ATM machine at the PNC Bank down the street from me in the White Horse Pike, then ran to Family Dollar to check out their end-of-the-season sales. I wish I hadn't. I really don't like the Family Dollar on the White Horse Pike. The clerks are nasty, the customer service non-existent, and the shelves are never stocked. I heard the clerks yelling at each other and customers across the store, including using profanity with a half-dozen customers in ear-shot. There was a long line and only one slow and rude cashier to handle them. One fellow bought a cartful of sodas. I don't know why the cashier didn't question this; he was likely buying them for chop shops. He actually pulled his car right up to the front door to load them, nearly knocking a woman over in the process! I was going to buy those new, energy-saving florescent bulbs, but needless to say, I didn't end up buying anything. I don't think I'll be returning to that Family Dollar anymore. I'll just go farther afield and use Dollar Tree or Dollar General Plus when I need things really, really cheap.

Went across the street to WaWa for a Pumpkin Spice Latte after that. I was going to stop at Doria's Deli for brown sugar, but it was closed by the time I got over there. I just went home instead. I spent the rest of the evening using the Vermont Country Store and Barnes and Noble gift cards Lauren sent me for Christmas. It was so hard to decide on something I could get that I really wanted AND needed. I finally bought a pint of maple syrup from the Vermont Country Store and three books from Barnes and Noble, the other two Melendy Series books I didn't have and the Ethan Mordden Broadway musical history Beautiful Mornin' - The Broadway Musical in the 40s. Mordden's opinions and writing style can be insufferably snobbish sometimes, but his grasp of the history of the theater in general and musicals in particular is invaluable.

It finally started to snow as I did my online shopping. The snow was fairly heavy but, as I suspected, didn't last for long. There was a little rain after that, but it didn't last long, either. Right now, it's once again not doing anything. There's still a bit of snow on my porch, but it'll likely be gone by the time I go to work tomorrow.