I heard the usual clanking of the blender this morning, which didn't wake me, usually doesn't, but even if it does, I can usually go back to sleep if I want to. S was making his smoothie for school. I could smell the toaster oven, which sometimes puts off interesting smells (once, not long ago, after my toast was done, a small fire erupted to burn away a crumb that was sitting on the heating element). The smell of toast always means it's morning. For now. I guess as I get even older I'll have to start worrying that that smell might be signaling a stroke.I had awakened several minutes early to my cat kneading the covers. I think the fuzzy covers are his favorite part about the cool weather. He seems to like it when I lie on my side while he's kneading; he also often manages to get a little cone worked up in the covers and sucks it like a teat, gets it pretty wet, which is mildly disturbing. A little more disturbing than that is the fact that he sees me as his mother and this ritual as his morning meal. I guess he imagines himself the size he was as a newborn, and I'm probably about the size his mother would be in that scenario, though I doubt I even vaguely resemble her, even with the covers pulled up to my neck. But, ah, there's the nature of neuroses.
I walked through the kitchen to pee and S was washing out the blender. He gave me a cheery "Happy Birthday," which was a little out of character for him so early in the morning, but he'd already been up for a couple of hours, so I didn't give it much thought. When I passed back through the room, he said, "Are you hungry?" As a matter of fact I was. He had made biscuits and TVP "sausage" gravy, which he stuck a candle in when he served it to me. We also had poached eggs and coffee. What a delightful way to start my big day.
And it has been a big day. So big, in fact, that I felt the need to report on it right now before much more happens, otherwise I might never get it all in. I considered doing a "wake-and-bake," but remembered I was planning on voting first thing, and figured I should do that sober. (Could you imagine the horror of somehow mis-voting? Yikes!)
I did it right. And I felt a flood of joy when I got back to my truck after my noble act. I know what I was doing, I have studied for this test like never before; I know the consequences otherwise, and I know I made the best choice for everyone.
I had worn my COMPASSION FOR A CHANGE T-shirt and my zip-up hoodie over it because I didn't want to get sent away for "campaigning" too close to the voting site. But I still got called on it. The lady behind the desk asked me to zip my hoodie up a little more because "K OBAM" was showing through the V at my neck. She was a black lady so I don't think she was just yanking my chain for the joy of it; I think people are being very careful. There's a lot of crazy shit going on out there; I read somewhere that bogus fliers have being passed out in Virginia reminding people to "Vote On November 5th."
Next stop on my list of joyful things to do today was Blue Dahlia Bistro, where I'm continuing my birthday season celebration on Thursday night with about a dozen people, friends from the Dance (those kooky new-agey hippie folks who love me and I can't help but love back). I stopped in to make a reservation.
Stop #3 was the Gas Pipe. That's when the real fun began. I recently broke a metal cleaning rod off in my brass bat, and couldn't get it out, so I put that on my list of things to get for myself today. But I wanted a glass pipe, and found a beautiful one. I got a replacement bat as well, a smaller one, only about an inch-and-a-half long, so cute that I had to try it out as soon as I got back to the truck. But before I got back to the truck, I had to pay. Next to the cash register was a black plastic Halloween caldron with different colored starlight mints in it (as well as a few packing peanuts, which seems kind of weird). The cashier said, "We're giving away prizes; would you like to pick a piece of candy and play the game?"
I picked a purple starlight mint (even though I really wanted an orange one). He said, "Oh, you win a pint glass or an ashtray!" I took the pint glass and asked him, "Is that the best prize?" He said, "I think so." (I didn't think to ask him what the people who picked the foam peanuts won, if anything.) I said, "That's cool, because it's my birthday." And he said, "Oh, in that case, you get a lighter, too!" I walked out with my arms overflowing with goodies. I felt like I was leaving the state fair a winner, and I didn't even have a stomach ache because I hadn't had too much cotton candy, caramel apples, turkey legs, sodas and such.
I tried out the cute little bat then made my way to Thrift Town just for the hell of it, because it's my favorite thrift store, and because my VIP card was full, so I was promised $10 off any purchase over $20, and I can always spend 20 bucks at Thrift Town.
I was a little buzzed, so I had a nice leisurely shopping experience, being very thoughtful about each item I might want. The yellow tag items were 50% off. I found a nice Ralph Lauren shirt and a pair of slacks with yellow tags, and another pair of slacks that were still only $3.99. I came across a beautiful sage comforter with gold trim and an orange stripe down the middle. The tag on it was white, but oddly it had "YELLOW" printed on it. I found the floor manager and asked her if the tag was white or if it was actually yellow since it said "yellow" on it. I wasn't trying to get away with anything; I checked the other tags and the rest of them had the corresponding proper color printed on them.
She said it was white, and I said no problem. The cashier standing next to the manager said, "That's curzy! I ain't never seen nothing like that." The manager agreed that it was strange. I was okay with not buying it. Not at $69.99.
Later, I was still shopping; I found a coffee thermos with a glass interior -- made in Japan; they're hard to find in good shape, and keep coffee hot a lot longer. It was marked $2.99 on a YELLOW STICKER! So, what the hell, I threw it in the basket. And I found a pink horse with a long blonde mane and tail marked 99 cents on a blue sticker. I know my friend little P loves horses and loves pink, so how could I refuse that, even at full price!
The manager tracked me down and said, "Where's the comforter?" I told her I put it back. She said, "You know what? I'm gonna give that to you at the half price. We have to honor the tag." After I got home, I realized it might have had something to do with my Obama shirt and the "I Voted" sticker on my chest.
At another point in my shopping experience a black lady shopper asked me where I got the shirt and how much it cost. She said, "'Compassion For a Change,' I like that." I said, "Hey, that's what it's all about." She said, "I heard that," and high-fived me! Joy to my world!
From there I dropped by the mall to exchange a recalled charger plug for my iPhone, then took MoPac to 35th and drove east to the Relax the Back Store to get myself a neck-saving pillow. I also stopped in the In-Step store to look at house slippers (my feet are always cold). I didn't like the choices/prices at the shoe store; had the shoes fit wonderfully, the price would have been justified. Crocs now make wool-lined shoes, but they're Made in China, which is very annoying. Maybe I'll go to the Crocs website and see if they sell just the wool liners because I would put that in my old Crocs which I rarely wear anymore (certainly not out because they're way too trendy). Of the three styles they had at In-Step, the Crocs were the most comfortable and the least expensive.
Next I spent the big bucks on the pillow. $140. But after lying down on the sample bed and putting my head on the sample pillow, the price was completely justified; I had to have that pillow. I've been dreaming about it for awhile, and naturally I'll be dreaming about it a lot more. The fact that I didn't buy $60 slippers made the purchase a little easier to swallow.
After all of that, I still had cotton socks on my list, so I went a few blocks out of the way on my drive home to Whole Earth Provisions for socks and slippers, neither of which I got. I did leave the store with a fantastic hat, a Raiders of the Lost Ark or old reporter style, whatever that's called, but made of wool. Oh, well... I'm pleased.
In about an hour, I'm having birthday (proper) dinner with another of my favorite people in the world, P (not little P, but this one isn't really all that big either!). We're going to Blue Star Cafeteria, going kind of late so that we can pick S up after he gets out of school (9 p.m.) and take him with us for dessert, which I think will be at Woodlands. But we'll see.
It seems like I've only just begun!
And it has been a big day. So big, in fact, that I felt the need to report on it right now before much more happens, otherwise I might never get it all in. I considered doing a "wake-and-bake," but remembered I was planning on voting first thing, and figured I should do that sober. (Could you imagine the horror of somehow mis-voting? Yikes!)
I did it right. And I felt a flood of joy when I got back to my truck after my noble act. I know what I was doing, I have studied for this test like never before; I know the consequences otherwise, and I know I made the best choice for everyone.
I had worn my COMPASSION FOR A CHANGE T-shirt and my zip-up hoodie over it because I didn't want to get sent away for "campaigning" too close to the voting site. But I still got called on it. The lady behind the desk asked me to zip my hoodie up a little more because "K OBAM" was showing through the V at my neck. She was a black lady so I don't think she was just yanking my chain for the joy of it; I think people are being very careful. There's a lot of crazy shit going on out there; I read somewhere that bogus fliers have being passed out in Virginia reminding people to "Vote On November 5th."
Next stop on my list of joyful things to do today was Blue Dahlia Bistro, where I'm continuing my birthday season celebration on Thursday night with about a dozen people, friends from the Dance (those kooky new-agey hippie folks who love me and I can't help but love back). I stopped in to make a reservation.
Stop #3 was the Gas Pipe. That's when the real fun began. I recently broke a metal cleaning rod off in my brass bat, and couldn't get it out, so I put that on my list of things to get for myself today. But I wanted a glass pipe, and found a beautiful one. I got a replacement bat as well, a smaller one, only about an inch-and-a-half long, so cute that I had to try it out as soon as I got back to the truck. But before I got back to the truck, I had to pay. Next to the cash register was a black plastic Halloween caldron with different colored starlight mints in it (as well as a few packing peanuts, which seems kind of weird). The cashier said, "We're giving away prizes; would you like to pick a piece of candy and play the game?"
I picked a purple starlight mint (even though I really wanted an orange one). He said, "Oh, you win a pint glass or an ashtray!" I took the pint glass and asked him, "Is that the best prize?" He said, "I think so." (I didn't think to ask him what the people who picked the foam peanuts won, if anything.) I said, "That's cool, because it's my birthday." And he said, "Oh, in that case, you get a lighter, too!" I walked out with my arms overflowing with goodies. I felt like I was leaving the state fair a winner, and I didn't even have a stomach ache because I hadn't had too much cotton candy, caramel apples, turkey legs, sodas and such.
I tried out the cute little bat then made my way to Thrift Town just for the hell of it, because it's my favorite thrift store, and because my VIP card was full, so I was promised $10 off any purchase over $20, and I can always spend 20 bucks at Thrift Town.
I was a little buzzed, so I had a nice leisurely shopping experience, being very thoughtful about each item I might want. The yellow tag items were 50% off. I found a nice Ralph Lauren shirt and a pair of slacks with yellow tags, and another pair of slacks that were still only $3.99. I came across a beautiful sage comforter with gold trim and an orange stripe down the middle. The tag on it was white, but oddly it had "YELLOW" printed on it. I found the floor manager and asked her if the tag was white or if it was actually yellow since it said "yellow" on it. I wasn't trying to get away with anything; I checked the other tags and the rest of them had the corresponding proper color printed on them.
She said it was white, and I said no problem. The cashier standing next to the manager said, "That's curzy! I ain't never seen nothing like that." The manager agreed that it was strange. I was okay with not buying it. Not at $69.99.
Later, I was still shopping; I found a coffee thermos with a glass interior -- made in Japan; they're hard to find in good shape, and keep coffee hot a lot longer. It was marked $2.99 on a YELLOW STICKER! So, what the hell, I threw it in the basket. And I found a pink horse with a long blonde mane and tail marked 99 cents on a blue sticker. I know my friend little P loves horses and loves pink, so how could I refuse that, even at full price!
The manager tracked me down and said, "Where's the comforter?" I told her I put it back. She said, "You know what? I'm gonna give that to you at the half price. We have to honor the tag." After I got home, I realized it might have had something to do with my Obama shirt and the "I Voted" sticker on my chest.
At another point in my shopping experience a black lady shopper asked me where I got the shirt and how much it cost. She said, "'Compassion For a Change,' I like that." I said, "Hey, that's what it's all about." She said, "I heard that," and high-fived me! Joy to my world!
From there I dropped by the mall to exchange a recalled charger plug for my iPhone, then took MoPac to 35th and drove east to the Relax the Back Store to get myself a neck-saving pillow. I also stopped in the In-Step store to look at house slippers (my feet are always cold). I didn't like the choices/prices at the shoe store; had the shoes fit wonderfully, the price would have been justified. Crocs now make wool-lined shoes, but they're Made in China, which is very annoying. Maybe I'll go to the Crocs website and see if they sell just the wool liners because I would put that in my old Crocs which I rarely wear anymore (certainly not out because they're way too trendy). Of the three styles they had at In-Step, the Crocs were the most comfortable and the least expensive.
Next I spent the big bucks on the pillow. $140. But after lying down on the sample bed and putting my head on the sample pillow, the price was completely justified; I had to have that pillow. I've been dreaming about it for awhile, and naturally I'll be dreaming about it a lot more. The fact that I didn't buy $60 slippers made the purchase a little easier to swallow.
After all of that, I still had cotton socks on my list, so I went a few blocks out of the way on my drive home to Whole Earth Provisions for socks and slippers, neither of which I got. I did leave the store with a fantastic hat, a Raiders of the Lost Ark or old reporter style, whatever that's called, but made of wool. Oh, well... I'm pleased.
In about an hour, I'm having birthday (proper) dinner with another of my favorite people in the world, P (not little P, but this one isn't really all that big either!). We're going to Blue Star Cafeteria, going kind of late so that we can pick S up after he gets out of school (9 p.m.) and take him with us for dessert, which I think will be at Woodlands. But we'll see.
It seems like I've only just begun!
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