A Productive Week - Sort of
Sun., February 27, 05:09 PM
I guess it was a pretty productive week for me, in spite of being snowed in twice on days when I could have gone out. I worked two days (well, half days). On Wednesday, the only “free” day, I managed to go to the supermarket in the morning, before the weather turned super cold. Got everything into the garage and brought it upstairs a little at a time. (Broke the project into manageable blocks.) And every morning, I made coffee, went outside to pick up the newspapers (ours and Miss Neighbor-Next-Door’s), fed the cat, and washed dishes. Though U.D. is willing to prepare supper for me whenever I ask, I also prepared a few meals myself – not that Husband really cares.
Starting on Friday, I washed two loads of laundry and dried/sorted three loads. (U.D. left a load in the washer; she tries…) Remember, the washer and dryer are in the basement; these require a little exercise up and down the stairs. And vacuumed and carried trash downstairs, those little tasks that no one else ever does around here.
My friend Gloria (now either seventy-nine or eighty-three, depending on which story she’s telling) informs me that she hasn’t been out of the house since December fifth. I sympathize, feeling locked in myself. But, y’know, had she taken my advice fifteen years ago, she would not now be imprisoned in an upstairs apartment without an elevator. She recently found the information about senior housing I sent to her at that time and concedes that I was right. Too late now. Still, what-if in the past is only fiction. She is where she wants to be, and she will undoubtedly be in that apartment until they take her out feet first.
But she can’t shop for the holiday she looks forward to more than any other – St. Patrick’s Day. As you know, I don’t do St. Patrick’s Day – except for Gloria, who is my friend and who doesn’t understand my politics. If it gives her a little pleasure, it’s the least I can do. And so, every February I start looking in the stores for shamrock stickers. For some reason, they never seem to have them in our larger shops.
The little shops I used to depend upon have closed, and I was thinking I would have to go to the dreaded Christmas Tree Shop. I know that several of you like Christmas Tree Shops, but the one here is not only crowded and dirty, it’s usually full of really rude people – a truly unpleasant experience. Nevertheless, U.D. agreed to go with me – until she had a better idea.
In the same plaza, there is an A.C. Moore. Surely they would have what I was looking for, and she wanted something in there anyhow. If we really couldn’t find shamrocks in A.C. Moore, we could still go to the Christmas Tree Shop.
Brilliant! No only did they have the kind of stickers Gloria would want, they even had green pens – “not too fine, but not too thick to write with.” (I wasn’t expecting that, but we walked the whole store for the exercise, which is how I find surprises.) Gloria will get a little package this week. For less than $10 – even with the postage and confirmation – it will really make her week. It’s well worth it.
Yeah, a productive week.
