Friday, May 15, 2020

Close Encounters of the Sore Kind

Began my day with breakfast and Sale of the Century. The woman champ blew the competition away, coming way ahead of everyone else, finding a money card, and getting twice as much money on the speed round. She even got the Irish vacation she'd had her eye on. She made a few bobbles in the "guess the six-word puzzle" bonus round, but ultimately won the money with two seconds to spare. Headed off to work at Supermarket Sweep began.

Once again, I started off the day with gathering carts. It was the perfect weather for it. It was sunny, bright, breezy, and the hottest it's been since September, probably in the mid-80's. I did get called in later to do cleaning and sweeping after the head bagger ended up in a register, but I only worked four hours today. I didn't have to clean and run errands for that long.

Went straight into grocery shopping after work. I really needed vegetables. Bagged spinach and cherries were on a good sale, and I had online coupons. Blueberries were on sale too; we'd finally gotten the first US crop of the year. Cucumbers were also surprisingly cheap. Saw turkey bacon on sale and thought I'd have bacon spinach salad for dinner sometime this week. I also had online coupons for yogurt and Friendly's ice cream. The Duncan Hines premium cake mix flavors were on a rare good sale; thought I'd try making red velvet cookies. Restocked mushrooms, bananas, broccoli, minced garlic, brown and white sugar, lentils, and cereal. Found four pencil boxes on clearance. They weren't much nicer than dollar-store versions, but I thought they'd be useful for stray art supplies at home.

My schedule next week is a lot busier. Once again, I mostly work in the early morning...except for one random late afternoon-early evening day next Friday. Monday and Tuesday off. While I appreciate the money, it's also tiring, especially at a time when most people are supposed to be staying at home. At least I'm not sick, and I have no one sick at my apartment, plus I have the move to focus on.

I was so concentrating on all that, I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going as I rode down the sidewalk on the Black Horse Pike. I didn't see the white car turning into Audubon Park until it was too late and I'd already hit the side. Cherries went flying across the road, one cup of yogurt ended up in the grassy meridian, and I landed hard on the street on my left side.

A young woman in blue came flying out in horror and immediately offered to help. I told her it was my fault; she said it was hers. (Looking back later, I think we were both probably not paying attention.) She did put on a mask and helped me round up the cherries (at the proper distance), which I planned on washing when I got home anyway. The yogurt cup was in good shape, not a scratch or crack on it. Only two cherries got squashed, and that because we stepped on them while trying to gather them. I walked the bike until I got into Oaklyn, then rode the rest of the way home.

By the time I made it back to Manor, it was very clear that while the bike was running fine, I was not. My left knee had scrapes and a nasty bruise, but it otherwise moved normally. The left elbow was so sore, I couldn't bend it all the way, and it hurt to move it.  I had to carry my grocery bag upstairs and open the door with one hand.

As soon as I got in, I started putting everything away. My colored pencils and glitter fabric pens were kept in an old plastic cup and an extra-large coffee mug. The colored pencils, along with spare pens and mechanical pencils in the bedroom desk, went into the pencil boxes. The glitter fabric pens fit nicely into one of the plastic ice cream pint containers that are so thick, they can double as holders for small items.

Changed, then went online. First order of business was checking to see if Cooper Urgent Care in Audubon, which did a great job checking out my arthritic thumb in 2018, was open and accepting non-virus-related patients. They were, with the usual social distancing restrictions. I'll walk there first thing tomorrow. Audubon isn't far, and other than the scraped-up knee, my legs feel well enough to walk.

Second was ordering dinner. I intended to treat myself to a delivered meal anyway. I figured I needed it, after the last few weeks! Now, I really wasn't up to cooking. While it costs 2 dollars extra, Phillies Phatties does do at-home drop-off. I ordered fries, a chicken gyro, and a can of Pepsi.

Managed a little writing after that. Jo Ann (Pflug), the flower fairy, reveals that she and the other fairies can transform the women's outfits into gowns that will get them into the ball at Password Palace. Trouble is, the only way to get there is through the village of Holly Woods, and the town is heavily guarded by Ira and his men. Big Orson the troll has his own ways of dealing with them...

Went downstairs to pick up my dinner at five minutes of 7. I usually avoid ordering takeout. My apartment is in the back of a house, on the end of a dead-end street, and is next-door to a park. No one can ever find it! I decided to save the poor guy the trouble and waited on the curb for him instead. He was only five or so minutes late; I gave him the money right in his car, and he plesantly handed me the change and food.

Yum! It was worth the wait. The gyro was huge and filled with big, juicy, perfectly seasoned chicken slices and lots of onion, tomato, and Tzatziki sauce. The fries were crispy and salty, but I didn't realize the gyro came with fries, too. I'll see if I can re-heat the larger order tomorrow.

Watched more Sale of the Century before going online to chat with Lauren. For the second day in a row, it was a neck-and-neck race, this time between two men, that came down to a tie after the speed round. The guy who won decided he wanted to wait on other prizes and opted to return the next day.

And...I'm walking to Cooper Urgent Care first thing tomorrow morning. My lower left arm hurts like hell, even after taking aspirin. I even called out of work on Sunday because I knew darn well I wasn't going to be able to clean or push carts with a bum arm.

At the very least, I'm in a better position than I was when I chipped my ankle and had to stay home for two months in the fall of 2012. I have streaming shows and movies to watch and review along with DVDs and plenty of books to read and records and CDs to listen to. I'll finally have the time to build up my courage to look into work-from-home options. At the moment, I have more food stamps than I can use in a month. I just found out tonight that food stamp renewals from the first half of the year were granted six-month extensions, which means I won't have to worry about renewing mine until December.

But most of all...I have money in the bank, and I can walk. And not only that, with the pandemic going on, there aren't too many places I could go anyway. I'll have enough money to pay my rent and bills at least for next month. Plus, I haven't used any of my vacation time yet. I was going to save at least one week for moving in late June-early July, but maybe I'll use it sooner...

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