I would have rather slept late, but I was up early this morning so I could get the car for an oil change. It only took a half hour, so I sat there reading The Serpent's Daughter (the third Jade del Cameron mystery) while they worked. Since my battery is five years old, I asked if they'd check the charge on it, and see if all the belts and fluids were okay and the tires were at proper inflation. Was quite chuffed by the results: the battery is operating at 93 percent (after five years!), and everything is okay, although he does recommend doing the 60,000 mile checkup, especially for the transmission fluid. He said he wished all the cars he saw were in such good repair. Way to go, Twilight!

Stopped at Hobby Lobby with a coupon to get a new timer for the outdoor Christmas lights. The one we have works...erratically. From there I stopped at Borders to use this week's coupons on the new Christmas Ideals. I have searched all over the book sites and do not see that the Ideals folks did a Thanksgiving edition this year. :-( They always had the most lovely poetry of late, and some nice fall photos, too. Found the new "Early American Life" and the November/December "Yankee" (wow, a "Yankee" two days before the month's issue starts—I haven't done that in years).

The last stop was at BJs. Had coupons, so did a big stock up: "Leisure" peas, canned corn, Dinty Moore beef stew, Progresso soup, Classico tomato and basil sauce (which has no sugar, like it's supposed to), Progresso chicken broth for cooking, and Campbell's chunky soup. We are trying to keep a stock of food inhouse for emergencies. Plus got the usual stuff for lunches—Chex and granola bars—some Breathe-Right strips, something for a Christmas gift, some Lean Cuisine chicken meals, some beef bits for suppers, and the November "Country Living." Unfortunately, while I was there, it began to rain. Good thing it wasn't hard or everything would have gotten drenched. I tucked the magazine and gift under my shirt and just trundled the rest to the car.

This afternoon I started working on a project: I have a bunch of magazines downstairs, like "Country" and other regionals, that I just bought for autumn, Christmas, and winter photos. I am going to cut the photos out and toss the rest. It's really silly to keep them. I started out by putting neatly in organizers what I'm going to keep whole: all my "Best of British" magazines, for example, and "Early American Life" and "Reminisce," and the Christmas issues of "Victorian Homes" and "Early American Life." This has left the ones I need to "chop," and also ones I have to decide about...do I want to keep all the "Yankee" issues, for example, or just the Christmas ones and ones I really liked, like the issue featuring lilacs?

Right now I have just finished with a break and watched The Worst Witch. This is a goofy, British-made special starring Fairuza Balk as Mildred Hubble, a well-meaning but clumsy little girl at Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches. Charlotte Rae, of all people, plays Miss Cackle (and her evil twin sister, Agatha, who has pink hair, and, for reasons known only to the production staff, a Deep South accent) and Diana Rigg is the potions teacher who acts like she has a broomstick stuck up her...uh, Miss Harbottle. Maud Warlock is Mildred's best friend and Ethel Hallow the evil Draco Malfoy-ish classmate. The guest star is Tim Curry as the Grand Wizard, who has a mind-blowing psychedelic music video smack in the middle of the piece. Everything was filmed with really bad special and process effects, and the dialog is really strange sometimes, but it's a fun little Hallowe'en piece. (Oh, and for Doctor Who fans, the title tune is sung by Melanie Bush herself, Bonnie Langford.)

Labels: cars, errands, magazines, shopping, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 2:28:00 PM

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