Diet Diary - Day 16

May 10, 2002
     Day 16 Wednesday May 1, 2002 Adventures in Costco

      I was up early, for me. The kid sleeps. I checked email. I had coffee and a slice of toast with multigrain bread and raspberry. Dog out, cat let out of bathroom (he needs his claws trimmed, he's damaging the door), Chinchilla fed. I dress in sweats and little makeup, just the essentials. I get to Long's and order the refills (four of them) which is necessitated by my running out of Asthma medication. Breathing always helps. I shop while waiting. Scott's toilet paper at nearly 1/2 price - so I grab two packages. I hunt for vitamins. Get Ammodium AD and GasX supplies. New Sinex nasal spray. New large bar of special dark chocolate.
     
      From Long's I went to Office Express and got some desktop organizers. Two are small and will go on the dresser since I have found that these things are great for jewelry. I couldn't find the big drawer units that I now use for underwear, nightgowns, scarves and other squishable clothes. I am still using a cardboard box in the bottom of the closet for sweats.
     
      Then it's off to the AAA and no line. I get the NOV sticker for the truck and renew the registration for the van.
     
      12:00 PM Once home, I try to get the kid to make his sandwich. I put everything out for him. Everything. He still won't try. "You make it better." He mopes. "You put love in it." I relent and make the sandwich. He comes and nuzzles my neck. "Thank you." Little stinker had better learn not to cozen me if he's to leave home in a year and be on his own! My kids have all my buttons.
     
      I scarf down the last of the little oatmeal muffins (time bombs) and the rest of the tomato left from his sandwich. I tried hosing down an ice chest - which, if I tried and had the inclination, I could scrub clean. It's dirty-ugly. The other one is missing part of its lid. So much for that.
     
      We are off to get patio folding chairs (ours are dead) and probably a small ice chest, followed by his blood test and my quest for a lottery ticket. That latter is just for fun. We have a race to attend to support our team.
     
      I have not written on any of my books for two weeks (frustrating!) and there is a pile of bills that MUST be done today. This evening. Open, write check, mail. Must remember to check on my balance. May move checks to the CMA account since that is where the stock deposit went. Else must make a cross-deposit.
     
      Sigh. Paperwork, paperwork. It just never ends. And now the kitchen floor is a mess (again?) and the family room where the exercise equipment is located is a mess and my bedroom now has three-four loads of laundry that need folding. I run the washer and the dishwasher every day it seems. Housework rots my mind.
     
      I am going shopping in oversized sweatpants, and a purple cardigan over a purple striped tank. I look like a pathetic frump. My preferred mode of shopping. That and my 9 /1/2 sneakers will do me just fine. My son is dressed in spiffy new clothes and strutting around. Ah well.
     
      They should be calling today to schedule when to deliver the treadmill, which will move me to clean up the area it is to be placed into. Always something! But then, I do housework by crisis. Clean it when it moves.
     
      5:00 PM We are back. First we went to Costco and I updated my membership. This required two photos and two cards. Great. I have little make up and rowdy hair. Then we shopped. My son is a grabber. He found a new bathmat for his room (fluffy) so I got two, talking him out of white and into blue. I found a package of eight dishtowels. Then we went into the camping area, grabbing a tube of batteries on the way. We looked at coolers and found a collapsible one in blue that has a handle and is on wheels. Fine, because I can clean up the solid one. And then we hunted for chairs. For under $30, we found a two-seater fold-up (no lightweight) with arms and cup holders. He loved it. I found a set of tarps, 12x16, for the back deck cover. We replace annually. I will put one on the dome frame and duck-tape it in place. Temporary solution. Looks good to me!
     
      We exit and they have a promotion. My son, weary, left and went to the car. For $55 more, I can have an executive membership, 2% more off everything (annual refund), get in at 10 AM ahead of people and a new card. I went out, unloaded, and dragged the kid back in, since he wanted a tube of size D batteries. OK. We get our photos and new black cards.
     
      And along the way, I spot what I had missed coming in before. A covered lawn swing, frame, cushion, and all for $114. It will not fit in the van, which I am driving. This is not a problem. We buy it. We tell them what we want to do - namely go home, get the truck. OK - it is on a sledge and parked for us. We ran to the van, and drove for his blood test. From there we went home and my son put on sneakers, I grabbed a piece of chocolate and a can of diet soda (great for my diet). We race back and they help us stick it in the truck.
     
      No way it is being lifted by me. Instead, after stopping at Ernie's Liquors new location for a Loto ticket (at $35Million, I have to buy just to say I did), I get home and cut the box open right in the bed of the truck. My son cannot carry much, so he takes one little piece and goes in the house - and does not come back out. Part of the problem is that the temperature has hit about 80 degrees, Costco was hot, and the van has no airconditioner. (The truck does.) I carried the swing piece by piece to the back deck where I will assemble it, some other time. I now have a lot of cardboard to cut up for recycle.
     
      First thing in the house, I get out of the sweatpants! Egad! It was cool this morning!
     
      I set fans running and pop doors open to cool the house. The heat sort of snuck up on me.
     
      I am tired, very tired. All that running around. All those errands. But the to-do and to-get list is now shrinking at long last. Now I must cook dinner. How did I do all this stuff and work too? I didn't sleep much!
     
      6:00 PM My son decided that the spa was in order and of course, I had leaned things, bits of the unassembled porch swing, on the spa. So I put myself into a swimsuit and padded outside to free up the spa. I was in it and realized that my son had not appeared. I got out, stepped out to his window, dodging rocks of concrete left by the guy who fixed the fence, and knocked. I then ran back to the warm water, because the temperature had now dropped like a rock into the "a little too cool to be outside in a wet swim suit" vacinity.
     
      He came out and we bobbed around in the bubble. Of course, while I was in the spa, the rat had made an appearance, running down the wall and under the deck, where it lives. The population had been decimated (I put out bait) but we evidently have not yet got them all. My son thinks this is "cute". Once I felt like a prune from all the hot water I went back in the house to shower and start supper. Not a lot of choice there as I had accidentally defrosted meat before we went out to dinner last night.
     
      7:30 PM Having burned the dinner - well, the vegetables (onions, pepper), I regrouped and made the salmon dinner I had really wanted in the first place. Salmon fillet baked in the electric skillet, potatoes cooked in the microwave (can't burn them in there - you can make them explode however) and frozen vegetable mix. I had a glass of wine and three cans of soda. The soda drinking was bad and I should have had Crystal Light instead. I was being lazy. The dinner I left cooking in the skillet and walked out of the room. Not a good idea to get distracted while cooking. I do that a lot lately. I run to check email, tend to things and forget to go back to the kitchen. Probably because I hate my kitchen.
     
      12:00 AM Updated my website - moved non-tech stuff off to another page. Updated resume. Should start serious job hunting now (not that I haven't been). Industry has a long recovery period ahead. I am with one placement service, had it hand-carried in two companies and am skirting temporary work as well.
     
      Noticed the three unemployment forms arrived in the mail. (That was fast!) Noticed I forgot to write the mortgage checks and other bills. (That was slow!) Fast and furious tomorrow I guess.
     
      I hate sitting and writing out checks! I still want everything auto-billed to a credit card! I like that view of the future. One-stop shop.