We've had cloud cover from the tropical storm south of us most of the day and only now is the sun seriously trying to break through. It was a very nice day for some short traveling; I could drive with the sunroof open and be cool and collected.

The day started with a refreshing sleep-in. I had a SlimFast bar and milk for breakfast and then drove out for my monthly visit to Books-a-Million. I take the back way, up Macland Road to Lost Mountain Road, which crosses Dallas Highway and eventually turns into Mars Hill Road. Stopped at their Michael's first and—surprise! at least for me—used one of the 50 percent off coupons to buy a Hallowe'en tree. (I guess I'm tired of being "pumpkin Scrooge.") There were two types, a thick trunk with a spooky face and short branches at the top and a black, gnarled ancient type tree (the closest I can find on Michael's website is this, but that's actually a tree for one of the Lemax villages; this is a lot larger, gnarled, and stand-alone). I got the gnarled tree and four packets of four ornaments each (one is a purple bird in a witch hat and another is an owl) and a packet of balls in black, a bright gloss orange, and a matte darker orange.

Also found some small autumn wildlife figures for the display on the mantel (a squirrel and cardinal at the woodpile) and a display of snow shovels and salt that will go perfectly in front of my Woolworth's Christmas building.

At the Dollar Tree two doors down I found two "potions bottles" and bought some new Colgate toothbrushes. DT is the only place that has these toothbrushes at a reasonable price. This is a great DT, incidentally: has a lot of stock including good brand-name things and always looks clean and neat.

Picked up some aviation magazines in Books-a-Million for James and got myself a copy of Country Woman.

On the way down US41 stopped at the Acworth WalMart. The WallyWorld near us does not stock SlimFast bars and I wanted the brownie ones. They had them and I also got a few groceries and the Prilosec that enables me to eat. On the way out I realized I'd forgotten my yogurt. The elderly lady checking receipts at the front let me put my bags on a bench nearby and she watched them for me while I went back for the yogurt. That was nice of her.

I stopped at JoAnn and found the prettiest Thanksgiving resin table decoration. It is a "board" about a foot long and 2 inches deep. On this "board" are two pumpkins, the first with a turkey sitting on it, a bushel of corn, a bushel of apples, a sheaf of wheat, and another pumpkin with a crow on it. The turkey holds a sign that says "Give" and the pumpkins, bushels, and sheaf each have a letter on them, spelling out "Thanks."

It was still cool enough when I got home to leave the car in the driveway with the windows open—XM Radio Classics was playing a Bob Hope Show with guest star Al Jolson—and sweep out the garage. The floor was dusty with lots of dead millipedes all over the place and scattered paper; I brushed it all clean and disposed of the paper. That's better.

Labels: autumn, crafts, decorating, Hallowe'en, housework, shopping, Thanksgiving

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 4:57:00 PM

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