Tuesday, August 13, 2013

East of the Sun and West of the Storm

BOOM! I awoke to a massive thunderstorm. It was really noisy. The thunder shook the apartment. The rain was coming down in torrents. It was a great morning to read Stitches In Time and write in my journal. The noise continued as I ate oatmeal and a peach for breakfast. Thankfully, it was gone by the time I headed out for today's errand run.

The Oaklyn Library was my first stop. While the rain was gone by 10:30, it was still cloudy, warm, and very humid. The substitute librarian (the regular one was worried about flooding and called out) had ABC on their new wall TV. Needless to say, they were all about the weather, though they were mostly discussing tornado warnings up in the North Shore. I did a little DVD organizing and fixed the Easy Readers, but with the place empty, there wasn't much else to do.

Made a quick stop back at my apartment next. I realized at the library that I left my cell phone in the living room. If the weather got bad again, I might need it. I pumped my tires while I was there as well.

When I went back out, I dodged traffic on Cuthbert Road and hit the Westmont Bagel Shop for lunch. Since it was a little early and I wasn't all that hungry, I had breakfast for lunch. I kept it to two scrambled eggs with cheese, fried potatoes, and an apple-cinnamon bagel. After lunch, I made a really quick stop at Dollar Tree for vinegar.

The Haddon Township Library was much busier than the Oaklyn Library had been. I had plenty of DVDs to shelve and organize. Had to weed adult titles out of the kids' section as well. (You'd think people would be able to figure out what's a kid movie and what's a grown-up movie, especially when they aren't animated.) I wanted to weed out the adult section, but there were too many people around. A librarian told me that a paid worker would shelve the children's books later. I just left after that. Didn't take anything out in either library, though I did find a book in the sale section on letting go of perfectionism, The Gifts of Imperfection.

Went straight to counseling after leaving the library. I just made it on time. We discussed the possibility of Mom and Dad-Bill coming up here, my trip to Stockton, and my shyness and difficulty with people. I haven't heard from the counselor at Stockton since I e-mailed her. I'm hoping her e-mail didn't accidentally end up in the spam and I deleted it. I'll have to call her tomorrow. I hope she wasn't upset about the e-mail being late.

My problems with meeting people are harder to solve. I've had anxiety issues since childhood. Mrs. Stahl pretty much said the same things Mom did. I need to try to connect with people who do the same things I love. This is hard when you don't love the same things as most people. The few local doll clubs are in Philadelphia. I'm not great at dealing with older people and don't know how I'd handle a nursing home. I feel awkward around organized religion and don't know much about churches.

Mrs. Stahl finally hit on volunteering the local community theaters when we talked about how I found Studio LuLoo. Not a bad idea. I do love performing, especially singing and dancing. The Ritz Theater's next musical will be the burlesque revue Sugar Babies in October. I'd love to see that. Mrs. Stahl mentioned a community theater in Haddonfield, and I think there's one in Collingswood as well.

By the time I made it out of counseling, it was a beautiful day. While still a bit hot and humid, the sun was shining and the breeze felt great. You'd never know there was a storm this morning if it wasn't for the puddles. I stopped at Primo Water Ice on the way home for a small mint chocolate chip ice. Whew! Was that strong stuff! Very tasty, but very minty! I loved it, being the mint fan I am. It felt bracing going down.

I looked in Walgreens and the Haddonfield CVS, but I couldn't find those hanging pocket containers I picked up last week. I wanted a few more for the dolls. Oh well. I just stopped at the CVS in Oaklyn after dodging joggers and a family biking in Newton River Park. I also picked up Palmolive dish washing liquid (which was on sale) and two soft-sided cloth containers.

Spent an hour when I got home going through the American Girls dolls' things. All of their remaining shoes and accessories fit in two hanging organizers. Some of their clothes stay in boxes in the large plastic containers. Their hats and extra linens went in the cloth containers. I don't have a lot of little accessories for them. Each doll gets her basic accessories package, and maybe one other that's necessary to her stories or an outfit. I don't have the room for tons of little doll items and dishes or furniture. The only piece of furniture they have is the bed that was for Jessa's dolls. The Sailor Moon dolls' things stayed in the yellow plastic crate.

Spent another blissful hour in the bath. I kept the water tepid, and it felt great. I really needed it. I've felt so stressed lately. While it's nice to get far more hours than I did at this time last year, I'm also not used to working so much or it being so busy in the summer. My feet are killing me, and I've been so depressed lately. I read The Gifts of Imperfection, listened to my Rodgers and Hart CD, and just kicked back and relaxed. After I finished, I had leftover burgers and a salad for dinner.

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