Helping Out

Awoke to the second unannounced spring shower in less than a week. Mother Nature's really getting a work-out. It lasted longer than the one on Tuesday, but not long enough to impede my errands today. By the time I rode over to the Friends In Deed Thrift Shop in Collingswood, the rain was long gone. It remained cloudy and windy but warmer than the last time we had a cloudy day, and the wind felt really nice.

Erica called last night and asked me if I wanted to help her sort through six boxes of a late aunt's clothes. I told her I would. My only plans today were to volunteer at the library. We ended up keeping about half the clothes. There were some lovely blouses, a nice denim jacket with a flower-and-bead design, and several nylon lace nightgowns that looked like they were never used. We did toss a lot of pilled sweaters and stretched out and stained sweatpants and sweatshirts and several blouses with stains on them. I spent another half-hour after that clearing the racks of any clothes that weren't in good shape - stained, pilled, or full of holes - before I headed out for lunch.

It had supposedly rained while I was in the thrift shop, but I hadn't seen it. The weather remained windy and relatively warm. I wasn't sure where to go for lunch. I didn't want fast-food, and I didn't want to double back to Saladworks, just in case the weather got worse than clouds. I rode down Haddon Avenue and finally ended up at a small bagel shop in Westmont, two blocks from the Walgreens. I had a tasty turkey club sandwich on a whole wheat bagel. Made a quick stop at Walgreens to see if they had any different WebKinz; nothing interesting.

Headed for the Haddon Township Library today. Not much to do there. There weren't even any books to put away. I put away DVDs and organized the adult DVDs to make sure all the letters were in the right slots. Though I still have two books I haven't read, I ended up taking out a book on good eating habits called Body Clutter and another mystery, the newest Maisie Dobbs book An Incomplete Revenge.

Had a nice ride home across the length of Newton River Park, then spent the rest of the evening baking and watching the first X-Man movie. Lauren gave me a great recipe for applesauce cake that had apparently been in her family for years, and I thought I'd try slimming it down. I don't think I cut quite enough sugar out. Even with 3/4 cup sugar instead of the full cup and more molasses, it's still too sweet. I was more successful substituting 4 tablespoons of Smart Balance Butter Blend and low-fat buttermilk for the original 1 stick of butter and adding mashed bananas and chopped apples to the applesauce. It came out dark and too sweet, but very moist and flavorful.