Shopping Solo

* (note important asterisk)

I’ve already written about how I hate shopping alone, especially when it involves a trip to Chico, and how much I’ve enjoyed the last few shopping trips with Paula. This week, I really had to do some grocery shopping, and it had to be in Chico, and it had to be alone.

So I got a couple of CD’s for the trip,** got my reusable shopping bags,*** the cooler, my shopping list, made sure I was fully dressed**** and took off.

It was a beautiful, breezy day and the drive was lovely. Didn’t find everything I was looking for at Target, but got most of it PLUS a new game for Lia. Also found some new patterns of duct tape. GREAT for crafts!

Winco was next, and I got everything except the frozen veggies. Just plain forget ‘em. Obviously, having a list doesn’t do any good if I don’t look at it…

By this time, it was after 12 noon and I was getting a mite peckish***** so I thought I would get a half sandwich from the deli section and go over to Starbucks across the street and have my lunch there. But then I noticed the fried chicken wings. I LOVE FRIED CHICKEN WINGS. I got four of them for under $2 and a bottle of diet Dr. Pepper. I put the cold stuff in the cooler in the trunk and drove to the end of the parking lot facing 20^th. Sitting in the shade with the windows open for the breeze and eating my wings was THE• BEST• LUNCH• EVAR• ******

After that, I went to Trader Joe’s at the other end of town in search of cheese fondue. I wasn’t very hopeful, as that sort of thing tends to be seasonal ******* and I was right. There was none. So I assuaged my sorrow with a jar of cocoa almond spread and some frozen Crème brûlée. I’ll take the almond spread to Fresno with me and share the brûlée with Marv tonight for his birthday dinner.

End of trip. End of story. See ya next week.

*I’ll continue the story of the Virginia trip next week

**Savage Garden going to Chico, kd lang for the trip home

***Remember, you get FIVE WHOLE CENTS CREDIT for each bag!

****Not something to be taken for granted…

*****Spell check does NOT like the word ‘peckish.’ Kept trying to change it to ‘puckish.’

******Yes, I meant to spell it that way. Back off.

*******WHY, TRADER JOE’S? WHY??? Why not all year round?!?!?!?

Thankful/Positive (the end)

As I said  last Friday, this is the final Monday blog posting. The whole reason for it was to get me to focus on one positive thing from the previous week. I no longer need this prompt. I will try to incorporate more thankfulness in my Friday blogs.

So I will leave you with some of the words to my favorite Gaither hymn. Just yesterday we sang the chorus in church.

God sent His Son, they called Him Jesus

He came to love, heal and forgive

He lived and died to buy my pardon

An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives!

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow

Because He lives, all fear is gone

Because I know He holds the future

And life is worth the living

Just because He lives!

Back From Virginia part 1

Well, as you can see by the photo, my baby boy got married. This pic was taken by Marv. I don’t want to violate any copyright laws, so those will be the only pics I show over the next few weeks while recounting our trip. Unfortunately, that means there are NO pics of Marv and I together. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me to have someone take our pic with Marv’s camera, but there you go….The only pics of the two of us were taken by the wedding photographer. There were lots of people taking pics at the wedding, but none have Marv and I together. *sigh* Hindsight is indeed 20/20.

BUT…it was a great trip! Too much to do and see in too little time. And way too expensive to do again any time in the near future. I had a little notebook that I wrote in each day with the highlights of that day, and that’s what I will base these next blogs on. 

I’ve decided to drop the Monday posting, after the one on the 23^rd. The whole purpose of that was to get myself to focus on at least one positive during a week’s time. And I’ve done that now to the point where I don’t have to really talk about it each week. So unless I get a LOT of feedback on it, next Monday’s post will be the last. I intend to incorporate thankfulness in the Friday blogs. As the saying goes, “Each day is a gift from God…that’s why it’s called The Present.”

Now…about the trip:

Paula took us to the airport, which was a HUGE favor! Didn’t have to worry about leaving the car in long-term parking and paying big bucks when we got back. That also meant she could just drop us and our luggage off right in front of the terminal.

I was really not looking forward to going through security. I knew my knee would set off the alarms and I figured it was a forgone conclusion that I would be taken aside to have a female agent really check me out. I had worn pants that were loose enough that I could pull up the leg to show them my scar to prove the operation. Guess what? NO PROBLEM! I told the agent right away that I had a metal knee, I went through the x-ray machine, and that was it! After all that worry, the rest of the trip was a piece of cake!

When making the reservations online, there was a general “problem” box that we checked for me, which included difficulty with steps or stairs. We didn’t realize that meant there would be a wheelchair waiting for me at each plane change. That came in VERY handy in Atlanta, which is a HUGE airport. We would have been lost if it wasn’t for that. The gal who was wheeling me (at a very fast pace, I might add) knew exactly where the gate was and got us there after winding around all over, down an elevator, and included a ride in a tram train. I know we would have been able to find our way eventually, but the distance of that walk would have been very difficult for me.

Since we were flying a red-eye flight and knew this would be a LONG trip, we had specified aisle and window seats. Aisle for me and my tiny bladder (sigh) and window so Marv could lean against it and maybe sleep a bit. For some reason, known only to the airline, that was ignored and the long flight from LA to Atlanta had us both in middle seats in different rows. I hadn’t figured on getting any sleep anyway, but I REALLY hate being boxed in by people on either side. But we got through it. We started out for the airport on Tuesday at 3:30 pm California time (and this was after Marv had worked a full 8 hours) and arrived in Richmond on Wednesday at about 9am Virginia time. That’s almost a 15 hour trip any way you look at it.

But at the end of this tunnel was seeing my boy again, and getting to know my new daughter-in-law, and oh yes…IHOP!!

To be continued next week…♥

PS--when I went to post this, I discovered that Blogger had changed a few things. I HATE CHANGE. Just wanted you to know that...