Sunday, September 22, 2013

It's a Wild World

I slept in, as I usually do on a Sunday. Got up at 9:30 and read The Wizard of Oz for a little while before switching on Brunch With the Beatles. "Songs from the original 13 British records" was the simple, broad theme today. Good. I like it when they do broad themes. That meant they could pretty much play anything from "She Loves You" to "Let It Be" as long as it was originally on one of the 13 records the Beatles put out in England.

I kept breakfast simple, too. Used the English toasting bread I bought from Acme last week to make French toast. Not bad, but it came out a little mushy. I probably should have cooked it longer. At least it tasted nice drizzled with honey. (Maple syrup is too expensive, and I'm not using that fake pancake syrup stuff anymore - that's all chemicals.)

After the show ended, I threw on my old blue sweater, grabbed Miss Ellie's old push cart, and headed back to East Clinton Avenue for the second day of their street-wide yard sale. It was a beautiful day for it, too. The sky was blue, with some thick, fat clouds that weren't as threatening as yesterday's. There was a chilly wind that kept it from feeling as warm as yesterday did, and the rain got rid of the humidity.

I was a little disappointed that there were only a few yard sales out on East Clinton, despite the nice weather. I did buy a candy-making book and a cookie cookbook from the two ladies I picked up the teddy bear book from yesterday. I ducked back around to Cuthbert to see if the man who was selling all those records was there again. Nope. Cuthbert was surprisingly quiet for a Sunday.

Stopped at Family Dollar on my way home. I normally avoid the Family Dollar on the White Horse Pike, but I needed a new dish pan (I had my old one at least since I moved here, and it was disgusting) and a plastic bin for all the yarn I've collected over the past year or so. It took me a few minutes to decide, but I eventually found a big plastic bin with a lime-green lock top and a brick-red dish pan that hopefully won't show as much grime as the old white one.

The moment I got home, I put the dish pan in the kitchen sink, and took the bin in the back room. Score! The yarn fit perfectly, even the little bags of scrap yarn Mom sent me. I lay the thick plastic bag on top to keep moths out, then stacked the bin on top of the one with my seasonal clothes.

After a quick lunch of leftover soup, I grabbed my sweater and a cloth bag and headed over to the Acme. I needed to get my schedule for next week and restock a few things, mainly milk, buttermilk, and eggs (the Acme's 12-pack is on sale for $1.99 this week). I was out of applesauce and almost out of peanut butter.

My schedule for this week is not good. I only have 15 hours! My vacation officially ends tomorrow, but I also have Thursday and Saturday off. I'm not as upset as I would have been with such hours this time last year. For one thing, I do have some money saved and haven't had to use it pay my rent all summer. For another, the holidays are coming. I'm hoping this is the same deal as mid-January, which would have been the last time I had hours like that. Once people start buying things for sports parties (hockey and basketball start next month) and fall festivals and Christmas bazaars and Halloween parties, the hours should shoot back up again.

On the other hand, I could use the rest. I feel like I've been going non-stop since February! I had far more hours during the summer and late spring than I usually do. That's been a big help to replenish my bank accounts, which took big hits when I was off of work last fall, but I've felt stressed and sore for weeks.

When I got home, I briefly called Mom. She was trying to organize things in the garage so she could lay new floor down there and couldn't talk long. I told her about my busy couple of days. She said she'd send the package with the fall decorations and my pajamas (I left them there - oops) sometime this week. Oh, and she finally heard from my brother Keefe, who's in the Navy in North Carolina. She didn't say much else, so I'm going to assume he's fine and still busy working.

I spent a lovely, quiet half-hour or so finishing The Wizard of Oz. That's our old copy of the original book that's been around since I was a kid. It was Rose's, but I ended up reading it more than she did, so Mom gave it to me when I moved to Wildwood. (Mom still has my Grimm's Fairy Tales in a similar edition.)

Spent the rest of the evening listening to football and cooking. I had the end of the Packers-Bengals game on when I was talking to Mom. The Bengals just squeaked by the Packers even as we chatted, 34-30. I heard most of the second half of the Dolphins-Falcons game as I made a Peach Foldover Pie and had Spinach Pancakes (eggs, spinach, cheese, and in this case, mushrooms - an old quick recipe from when I lived in Wildwood and needed a lot of cheap, fast dinners) for dinner. The Falcons were winning after the first half, but the Dolphins came back to tie the game by the 3rd quarter, getting a touchdown in the last minutes that won them the game, 27-23. 

No comments: