Pay day again

And that means grocery shopping.  To amuse ourselves, we plan this carefully.  Sales at the grocery stores start on Friday, and the ads come out in the Thursday paper, which means running out of food on Wednesday becomes a problem.  I have the list I've been keeping all month, and it's a long one.  I go through it, and prepare another list of things we must buy today, when we head out to pay the bills.  Then we'll go through the ads tomorrow and prepare three shopping lists for the three grocery stores around here.  Then we'll head out Friday, and I'll have to fight off the other old women for a scooter at Superstore and WalMart.  Most people don't know about the one at Safeway, but we just "cherry pick" a bit there, so I don't often ask for it.  We have a couple of things to get a Home Depot this month, so that adds an extra flourish to the whole event. I sometimes think that this excursion is the highlight of our month.

I've arranged to visit my friend, Shirley, this afternoon after shopping and bill paying.  We've been trying to get together for over a month, and the problem is really mine, as she is somewhat confined to her apartment, with some serious visual problems.  It'll be nice to see her, as it's been awhile.

P.S.  3:30
David was a little "ants-y", so we did the bulk of the shopping today.  I get my little scooter, and David pushes the cart, so when I say "we" did the shopping, it really is almost a "Royal we".  There were a couple of things that had a limited number under the sale price, and I can get a share and then take them through the cashier's line on my own, but the bulk of the work falls on David--and it is hard physical work.  Our cart was so full and heavy that he couldn't push it out into the parking lot, but had to leave me at the door with it, while he got the car.  Then, when we got home he had to unload everything.

So, this sort of lead to a discussion about whether we should maybe shop twice a month instead of once.  I fully realize that no matter how often you go in the store, you spend more than you plan, but maybe we're getting too old for the labour involved.

When I phoned Shirley, at 2:55, to say I was on my way over, she said it was too late to visit as she would have to go down for supper by 4:00.  ( Say what!??) So here I sit enjoying my cold Dr.Pepper--probably much more than I might have enjoyed the hot tea she would have served me. 

Dare I say it out loud?

I don't think I have a commitment until September.  That is 6 weeks just for me (and the garden and the house......)  I only had a 2 hour shift at the antique sale today.  I worked with Chris Waddell (her husband is former mayor and owns the Neepawa Banner)  Much to my delight we had a wonderful conversation for the entire shift.  Together we solved most of the problems of the community :) .  We even had a number of secret pleasures in common (like being polite to people we don't like  or who don't like us)  It was an eye opening experience that I enjoyed.  Rrain had the entire day to work at the sale and then a meeting tonight.  She is taking tomorrow off work. It is so hot and muggy right now that I think supper will be cold ham and beans ( and the first tomato from the garden and a cucumber! mmmmmmmm!)  The forecast is for rain tomorrow instead of the thunderstorm watch that never develops.  We need the release from the humidity.  It will be early to bed for me tonight, mostly because I have no concerns anymore.  I will be able to sleep without being worried about tomorrow's commitment.  (It will be work and nothing else,  unless you count having to freeze more beans)  I was going to make cream of broccoli soup today but it is too hot.  I think I will freeze the broccoli and make it when it is cooler outside.  Yesterday's events went really well, even though the attendance wasn't great.  All the feedback was positive, so maybe we will do it again next year.  Loren and family stopped by on their way home, so I got to spend a bit of time with them, and I got to meet Sheila.  They bought 2 cherry pies to take home.  The Hutterites make them from fresh cherries and that is what Sheila remembered from her childhood.  Now is time to relax and enjoy the rest of the day.   Have a great week!

Something else I forgot.

Today was ATC trading day, so off we went to the Pony corral.  While I joined the ladies for lunch David went off to explore Grant Park Mall. It's always a bit of a challenge to select something off the menu.  The food is well priced for the location and ambiance, but not necessarily friendly to a fixed income.  The food is well prepared and the portions large.  So over the past 12 months I've tried several dishes.  All good but nothing that excited me--until today.  I ordered a Chicken Souvlaki appetizer.  OMG!  I had forgotten what real Chicken Souvlaki tasted like.  And the dipping sauce----o-o-o-h!

I know what I'm going to order next time.   And my little cards were well received, even if there were only 4 of us there.  And David discovered the McNally Robinson book store.  Another happy camper!  A day well spent.

Saturday!!? You say it's Saturday?

Loosing track of the days is one of the first signs, isn't it?  Oh Well, better one of the first signs than one of the last.  The crazy old lady hit a new low.  Her "Grannie" panties are big enough that she was able to get both legs into one space and not realize it until she stood up.  Not pretty!

Wednesday --as predicted--I was discharged from Physio.  She let me do my exercises, then put me through a thorough re-assessment, then put me through a revised exercise program.  Needless to say on Thursday I hurt all over and could barely walk.  We were up early and David took the car in for scheduled maintenance  and oil change.  Hard to believe it's been three years since we got it.  I've never forgotten getting the bank draft, and then showing up at the dealership the next day, each thinking the other had brought the money, and neither of us being able to remember where it was. Talk about panic!  But we found it, and Beth, you were able to observe us running around in a panic!

While he was gone, I processed all of the turkey for the freezer, including turning the stock into gravy.  Once the work started it never stopped, and by bedtime I was literally exhausted.  We were in bed before 10:00--about 2 hours early for us.  

As I'm slowly getting better, I'm finding little jobs that have been neglected for far too long.  I have women coming over for a meeting next Thursday, so started to tidy the basement today.  If you remember, over the bar, I have a little roof covered with cedar shingles.  Purely decorative.  But it attracts dust like nobody's business, so today I wanted to vacuum it.  I haven't had to do any vacuuming for a few years ( since I broke my shoulder tripping over the vacuum cleaner).  Well, I turned the beast on and only got a whine.  Sure enough, the bag was not only full, but full to the point of bursting.  Did we have any more bags?  Panic!  But luck--we didn't have to re-cycle the old bag.

Cathy, in some ways I envy you with your active social life.  You get out and spend time around people.  I miss that, and see our life getting more and more restrictive.  Make sure that doesn't happen to you.  but at the same time, you need some time to veg out.  Balance--I wish I could find it.  Is the antique sale a fund raiser?

Anniversary?

I will be working at JamFest all day.  I said I only wanted an early shift but Rrain has to go to her Gramma Prior's (Linda) memorial service today, so I guess I will be covering for her.  Tomorrow I work at the antique sale from 11 to 1.  A definite shift time.  This JamFest is an experiment, since the Lily Festival died.  There are drag races at the airport, Lilies at the Lily Nook, the antique sale tomorrow.  JamFest has musical entertainment all afternoon with open mic times and times to jam with the band.  There is a farmer's market and a jam tasting contest.  For a quarter you get a ballot and get to taste the jam entered and vote.  You can but as many ballots as you want.  there is an outdoor art show, kids events and an air conditioned building to take a break in.  We'll see how it goes.  As for anniversary?  We may have to put it off for a while :)

July 25

And Happy Anniversary to Cathy and Jim.  Any special plans?
Best wishes to you both.

Computer problems (again)

It appears that I am no longer able to access my internet. Harry still can so this entry was done by attaching myself to his internet (somehow? but it worked!) Yesterday our modem failed resulting in long calls with the Server Specialists - finally saying we had to get a new modem. So up to North Bay to pick it up and home again (home again jiggity jig) When I attached it nothing seemed to work. So another long (very long) call with Specialist ending up with Harry being able to access everything but I not able to access anything on internet. Funnily enough though I can use my email OK.  This saddens me because I loved to log onto both our blogs, and Not Afraid of Colour and the Quilt Show every morning to check each one for new and exciting news. I also used the Bell web site for receiving my telephone bills which may prove to be a problem now.
Anyway, if this way works for now, lets go with it. Its long and convoluted for me, but I will do anything just to keep the blog coming my way .The Specialist stated that he tried everything he knew to troubleshoot and if I knew someone who was "computer savvy" I should have that person come here to try to work it out on our computer .Ya, sure, like that's ever going to happen!
So that's all for now. (keep smiling Beth!) Take care.