Ahhh...sleep! Isn't it funny how we spend our childhoods trying to get away from naps, and when you become an adult sleep is the thing you crave the most? Frankly, I had a hard time getting to sleep last night, so the extra time was welcome; the acid reflux was doing a dance in my throat and when I finally got settled, it smelled like someone had made a fire. A fire! In 60°F weather! I had to wander around the house until I confirmed the smell was coming from outside.

This morning I had to pick up a prescription, then had an errand across town: I mentioned James had a new C-PAP machine because his old one was not working properly anymore. Well, it also came with a new water tank (to add moisture to the pressurized air), but because James got a replacement water tank just recently, we would have to pay for it in full. I figured there's no reason we can't have the whole package; the tax refund can finance the tank. So I went to the sleep center to get it. I was heading in that direction anyway because a month has passed and it was time for the new "Best of British."

It headed up to 82 eventually today, and it was already warm at 10:38 when I got to the sleep center. I particularly paid attention to the time because if I got out in 20 minutes or less it was free to park. And I made it by one minute! A funny: when I got on the elevator, the woman already on with her daughter said "Women's lingerie, 3rd floor," and we started reminiscing about elevator operators and the cage doors they had to close and all that. She says they still have elevator operators at Bergdorf's in New York.

From there I went to Borders where I picked up "Best of British" and the newest British "Country Living," along with a new mystery (in paperback) about Nellie Bly solving a mystery in Paris with the help of Jules Verne and Louis Pasteur.

At this point I made a frustrating detour to go back to the Container Store for a couple more narrow bins. This meant going past the twin traffic traps of Phipps Plaza and Lenox Mall, then having to make a U-turn because I missed the only left turn. But did pick up the bins, then decided to get out of Buckhead posthaste. I cut through Piedmont Road, which is considerably more clogged now than when I used to go that route during lunch hour at work to get to the original Borders Atlanta store, and was dismayed to discover that Pearl Arts and Crafts has closed. I always loved this store; it smelled of tempera paints, pencil leads, and sweet paper.

So I came home through Chastain Park. Everyone seemed to be out, even though it was a workday.

Just as I pulled in the driveway, my cell phone rang. It was James, saying happily, "I'm on my way home; you want to do something?" Turns out they were overstaffed and sending folks home. I told him I was heading inside to eat my lunch! So I did that, and he arrived home, and then went out to Lowes so he could get a new Swiss Army knife.

Well, we stopped at the Austell Borders...

Yeah, I was bad, but they had good stuff left: a steampunk/magic novel, Court of the Air; a cute-sounding fantasy romance, Trolls in the Hamptons; two of Titan Books' Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, one with Theodore Roosevelt and the other about Jack the Ripper (I believe this is one of the books Louis Robinson talked about); Death and the Running Patterer, an Australian mystery; what looked like a fun biography (biographies were 60 percent off) about a guy who grew up as a Star Wars fan; and two scrumptious-looking history books, A Renegade History of the United States and Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression. Also grabbed a Jill Oxton cross-stitch magazine at half price, the first season of Shaun the Sheep on DVD, and the DVD of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown—this last for five dollars!

So we came home, had pizza for supper, and tried to stay cool. It was so warm that the air conditioner finally turned on. Plus I made arrangements for Willow's and Schuyler's yearly checkups, so there goes the rest of the tax refund...it's time for Wil's three-year shots.

Labels: books, DVDs, errands, traffic, weather

----------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 7:24:00 PM

Comments: Post a Comment