Week? What Week? Must have missed it! (long)

And that is my feeling about things this morning.  I have experienced three late nights in a row, and am fairly "punch-y" today.  Wednesday evening was my Fibre Art Divas meeting.  It was held at a newly built house very close to the West Perimeter and Wilkes Ave.  Never having been there, I "Googled" the address for directions--big mistake!  Google always gives the directions for the shortest route, not always the fastest or simplest.  What's more the directions were given for Metro route numbers and compass readings in hours, minutes and seconds, not streets.  So I messaged other group members and asked for help.  Finally I got something that made sense from the hostess. It was still 45 minutes around the Perimeter, in the dark coming home when I was tired.  Bonus, coming home, I made it into Starbucks 10 minutes before closing to make my second purchase of the day.  More about that below.

Then yesterday was a comedy of mis-communication.  Maybe I should have titled this post as "Starbucks and Gail's mother".  We had agreed that Gail would pick me up and we would travel together.  She even cleared space in her van to accommodate my little suitcase of goods.  Gail's Mother is 98 years old and in a personal care home.  A few of weeks ago she drove her electric wheelchair into the elevator wall and broke her leg. Wednesday, Gail let me know that they believed she had developed a pressure sore under the cast and that Thursday the doctor and a specialist would be visiting to perhaps remove the cast, modify the treatment plan, and that family should be in attendance.  Family in this case usually means Gail, as she is the only daughter.  No time frame for this.  Gail might not make it in time for the sale that started at 5:00, with set up at 4:00.  Contingency plans made for David to travel with me. Gail and I  had a very short, confused phone conversation Thursday morning, while she was with her Mother, but confirming that she would be here on time--3:15.

Now, I'm in a "Dash" with Starbucks, which requires me to make 9 purchases over 7 consecutive days, for a big reward of free food and drink.  But I have to do this after 2:00 pm.  And there has to be a reasonable time gap between two purchases in one day.  So I had given up any expectation of making a second purchase yesterday, knowing that the sale ended at 9:00, and we would still have to pack up and drive back to Winnipeg.  Anyway, at about 2:01, as I was ordering my coffee--quick to go coffee, my phone rings.  For the very first time in my life, I am carrying the phone in my pant pocket.  Never have I done that before!!  It was Gail, at our house, wondering if we had mis-communicated, and if David and I were heading for Selkirk, thinking she couldn't make it.  She had seen us turning onto Monroe as we left for Starbucks. I just asked her to relax and wait there, and that I would get my coffee and be home asap.  In my surprise and confusion, I didn't mention that David had headed to Lowe's to pick up soil, and I would have to wait for him to come back to get me.  Got my coffee, sat down, and no sign of David.  so I called her and told her what was going on, and she decided to join me at Starbucks.  We still had to wait a bit for David, but finally headed back to the house.  Since she was almost an hour early, thinking she had said 2:15, we had a bit of time, and he was willing to let her help him move two very heavy bags of soil out of the car trunk.  She of course is in her good clothes in preparation for the sale.

Anyway, we made it to the sale.  I hadn't wanted to bother with my very heavy purse, so had moved the essential cards and ID etc to the smaller one.  Once we were set up, and there were a few minutes before the sale, I decided to go over to Safeway and buy a bottle of water to see me through the evening.  I'm paying for my water and looked just beyond the till, and there was an in-store Starbucks kiosk.  Hurray!  I can make a second purchase and help fulfill my commitment.  But wait.  No Starbucks card.  It was the one card that I hadn't moved over the the small purse.  And the evening more or less went downhill from there.  Not a good sale.  Neither of us even made gas money.  So poor that they refunded our table cost.  But I got an excellent response to my little beaded silk tree ornaments, from people who count.

Yesterday morning I got an e-mail announcing a surprise "tent" sale at Penningtons, with an additional 30% off merchandise already marked down 70%.  Almost sounds like free to me, but evidently not so.  However I did  find a very nice pair of dusty green jeans, regular price $69.98, marked down price $13.99.  They fit well, but will need shortening.  At that price, bought two pair.  Once home I discovered two green t-shirts that match.  I also got a pair of black dress pants with a white design.  They are meant to be ankle length but the length is perfect for  short little me.  As well there is a very nice white denim jacket, a light weight blue, white and black jacket, a good quality long sleeved white t-shirt, and 6 pair of panties.  The total bill including tax was $150.04.  That was plastic money, of course.

Now I can relax for a few days.  I think it might take most of the day to unpack and sort out my sale stock and then clean up the studio, which is a disaster.  The kitchen isn't much better, and today is the day we change the bed linen-not an easy job with my sore hands.  Have a relaxing weekend ladies.  There aren't many summer weekends left.