So James had to go off to work this morning. I wanted to get eight hours sleep, but my body decided that a bathroom break was more important. Gee, thanks. I couldn't get back to sleep, so I got up instead, muttering imprecations against body parts, and did my Sunday chores (putting the towels in the hamper, sorting my pills for the week, getting my clothes ready for work; I would put things up in my bag later, after I finished my chores). Then I had breakfast first before walking Tucker, because by then my stomach hurt from being hungry. It wasn't as blustery as yesterday, but the cold air still felt great.

Then it was time for the grocery store run. I wanted to rinse off the front porch first so I could put the Thanksgiving things up on a clean area; there was still pine pollen encrusting the glass table, but we had never turned the faucet on outside when spring came. So I had to find a stepstool, take it out in the garage, move things in the closet, then climb up to turn on the water (James can just reach it on his tiptoes), swill off the porch, and then do everything in reverse before I could put up the Thanksgiving wreath and flag, and replace the American flag. Then I could go to Kroger. Got gasoline, then went inside for the usuals—those damn bananas, milk, yogurt that was thankfully there, onions, mushrooms, a sale steak for dinner tomorrow, a few other things. They did not have another Hartz rubber bone, and Tucker's is torn. Hmn.

I put the perishables in the insulated bag. I had checked my coupons and found I had four BreatheRight coupons expiring on Tuesday. BreatheRights are about $12 at Kroger; I knew they were only $10 at Walmart. So I drove down to the one on Powder Springs and the Connector and bought them there, plus a little fox-shaped bowl that's part of their fall line which was on sale. I had a second reason for wanting to go: I'm still Christmas-tree hunting. Predictably, the Walmart trees were cheap. I'll pass.

Then I worked my way down the connector. Bought Tucker another bag of dog food and a new antler to chew on at Petsmart. Bought padded envelopes at Office Max. And then, weary by then, stopped at Lowe's to look at their Christmas tree. That's when It happened. I found the perfect tree. It's pre-lit, six and a half feet tall, and has these realistic-looking branches like those of a spruce tree (it has the other kind, too, but just as filler), and it's not that expensive, just over $100. We paid nearly $200 for the other tree, after Christmas, and I never liked it.

There's only one problem: it has white lights. I don't like white lights. I've always had a multicolor tree. But this is such a nice tree...

Bother.

Brought the groceries home and put them up, and, then, because I'm a sap, went to an abominably crowded Smyrna Kroger (by now it was 1 p.m. and the place looked like Times Square six hours before midnight on New Year's Eve) just to buy Tucker a new rubber bone. I was passing the frozen dinners and picked up a Lean Cuisine sesame chicken for a lunch. I should have stuck with an Annie Chung noodle dinner: the chicken, in "nuggets," was mealy and disgusting, and the sauce came up on me the rest of the afternoon. I finished recording The Roosevelts (with an annoying interruption from a bad DVD-R) and cleaned the stairs and took Tucker off for another walk, where he appeared to finally make friends with the little Peke-type dog down the street. Snowy chattered happily behind us, uttering "Good bird!" repeatedly.

Soup for supper, yesterday's This Old House and tonight's Alaska, the Last Frontier for entertainment. I had to take Tucker's blankets out and shake them before we put out the trash: his crate is full of shredded paper!

Labels: chores, Christmas, dogs, food, shopping, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:48:00 PM

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