It was a sleepy morning. Our natural sleep cycles run late, so we are always chronically short of sleep during the week, and Sunday is a blessing. As I peer nearsightedly out the bathroom window, I smile; even with all the edges smoothed off, I can still see more and more yellow leaves every day. The arrival of autumn fills me with anticipation, both for the coolness and for the autumn activities. We have a lull until October, and then it will be the Georgia Apple Festival and the Fall Jonquil Festival—not to mention the Friends of the Library Book Sale and the Mistletoe Market (if I go this year) and next week's Hallmark October ornament premiere.

We ate a sketchy breakfast, then went to Kroger for the weekly shopping. James got stuck with a recalcitrant scooter which would just stop in the middle of aisles. And they had yellow bananas this morning, instead of green, which is a rarity.

After we put the groceries up, we decided to check out Ollie's Outlet, a new store off Mableton Parkway and Veterans Memorial Highway, in the same shopping center with the only Kmart left in the area. We hadn't had lunch, so first we went through the drive-through at Krystal.

Ollie's is like a Big Lots/Odd Lots/Job Lots store, a bunch of remainder items, a lot of it from Canada. They had a small book section, but most of them were large print or inspirational. James found some "Combos" snacks, and we got bungee cords, tie-downs, and a small tarp for the Rollator. I also picked up two storage ottomans for the library. Their Christmas decorations were cheap, and there were odd, interesting things like a camouflage metal dog crate. I did like some of their inexpensive shelves, including one with a drawer in it. There were a lot of people there, as the store just opened on Wednesday, and, as James puts it, "the new hasn't worn off yet." A lot of the stuff wasn't tagged, either, like the storage ottomans, so it took us forever to check out.

James waited in the car while I went into Kmart. I'd noticed when we went by that they had their Christmas trees out. Last year they had the nicest looking trees and I wanted to check them out. Well, they had them out of the boxes, but not fluffed up or plugged in (all appear to be pre-lighted), so it was hard to judge. I was fond of a six-foot tree. It doesn't look as "plush" as the old one, but then I thought the old one was a but too plush—I like to put ornaments on the inside so you can see them sparkle. I'm not sure about a pre-lighted tree; I hear arguments for and against: that they are so easy, but also that the lights do not last. I supposed if the lights die you can just cut them off! I'm looking at the tree.

It was heavily overcast all day and a bit humid, but cut by a breeze, and had only sprinkled earlier. Thankfully it didn't precipitate while we were bringing the ottomans home.

I really want to make some changes here. I want to get rid of the VCR case in the hallway. These are James' videotapes, none of which he's watched since we moved, since he usually watches his old stuff downstairs. If I can put the videotapes in the ottomans downstairs where he can access them, I can replace the VCR case with a bookcase. The cookbooks and the games are overcrowded. I'd like to shift the history cookbooks to the hallway, and some of the smaller games. I also want to get rid of the server downstairs, which James got free when they discarded it at work. James used to use it when he got on chat, but since chat has whittled down to just three people, he doesn't participate often. It's only running Windows 2000 and has a miniscule hard drive. I also want to get rid of the old computer desk, since the fix we tried on it didn't work. We can keep the 10-year-old monitor for an emergency. Perhaps we can fit in another bookcase downstairs.

Have spent the late afternoon watching the birds at the feeder. Tucker loves to go out on the deck and just sniff and look around. Today there was a gang of goldfinches at the feeder, and I did not see one male. I am wondering if they have already moulted into their winter coat and I just can't tell them from the females. There is one young goldfinch who is still pestering his parents to feed him, although he's perfectly capable of perching on the feeder—I've seen him!—and eating on his own. You could hear his little "feeeeeeed meeeeee" cries all afternoon.

Had some delicious stew beef we found at Sprouts for supper, cooked with onions and mushrooms, with a pasta side. We have the cake from Sprouts for dessert.

Labels: birds, Christmas, computers, decluttering, decorating, food, shopping, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 6:49:00 PM

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