So here we are, a whole weekend with no obligations! We can shop as we like and play as we like!

As long as we wanted to do it in the rain, that is.

It rained all weekend. It drizzled and it poured, it rained tiny misty droplets and it rained pea-sized drops, and the only difference between Saturday and Sunday is that the temperature dropped 20 degrees Saturday night and made Sunday not only damp and miserable, but cold and damp and miserable. Oh, and it's supposed to rain on Monday, too. We weren't sure if we should start building an Ark or buy water wings and a snorkel for the truck. And of course there was the additional problem of keeping the power chair dry.

Saturday we had a nice plan that was scuttled a bit from the beginning: we had $10 worth of Hallmark coupons and a 30 percent off for Betsy's Hallmark. So our original plan was to go to the Michael's at East Cobb and also Trader Joe's and Betsy's, all in close proximity to one another. Except there was no parking at all outside the Hallmark store; the handicapped spots were taken and no spaces close, and we're not supposed to get the chair too wet. So we skipped Hallmark; just went to Michael's where I bought a few things for craft projects, and then to Trader Joe's where we stocked up on a few things for the Thanksgiving/Christmas seasons: peppermint JoJos, peppermint bark, and peppermint creams. (We'll actually buy more of those a few more times so we can have JoJos—they're like Oreos—or bark during the spring and summer as alternative desserts.) Got James more edamame crackers and fruit bars (sadly, the pumpkin ones have already been pulled and the cranberry not out yet).

James was fed up with the horrible cover he bought for so much money to cover the power chair, so we didn't even put it on today. Instead we used the two smaller tarps we had, one horizontally, one vertically, and it covered the chair pretty well, especially when we folded the seat-back down, but we needed a bigger one. We had a 15 percent off coupon to Ollie's Bargain Outlet, so we headed cross town, hitting the Krystal for something to eat before going to the store. We got an 8x10 tarp and also some rope to tie it down with, plus found a cute gift and I picked up two bargain books of Sherlock Holmes short stories.

We also stopped at the used book store on Mableton Parkway. I found a gift for someone and decided to try to read Two Crowns for America again. I couldn't get into it when it was first released.

By the time we got home, we were damp and tired. We kinda zoned for a while, then ordered Chinese food for supper. Honey teriyaki wings were quite satisfactory. I wasn't interested in watching television because the rain was driving my sinuses berserk and I needed to take my glasses off. So I put on yesterday's surprise—Dish has the Christmas music channels on and "Holly" has started on SiriusXM—and read until bedtime.

This morning we slept very late, even though we were in bed early for a Saturday night, ate breakfast quickly, and then about our very damp errands. It wasn't misting today, nor were there breaks in the rain; it was just steady rain and miserably damp. First we needed to hit Kroger for milk and bread for my work sandwiches; they didn't have the latter and I had to get Kaiser rolls. Also got some cucumbers, egg rolls on sale so we could have an "egg roll mania" for supper one night, and some sale cube steak which James will cook tomorrow.  I went in while James filled up the truck, so we didn't have to take down the power chair. Then we stopped at Walmart to return the pants we bought last month. The 8x10 tarp we got at Ollie's is working fine, but is too big, so we got a 6x8 one there and more bungee cords.

Next we went to Bed, Bath & Beyond to use two coupons that are expiring tomorrow. This time we did take the power chair inside, and it was a wet job getting it "unwrapped" as the wind just scudded across the big parking lot at Akers Mill and belled that tarp out like a sail. Between the rain and the wind—we hadn't reckoned it would be windy and were chilly in a light jacket and a flannel shirt, respectively—we were glad to head across the street to get inside Barnes & Noble, where we'd planned to have a hot chocolate at the cafe. Instead, we were good and had chicken soup instead. The store was packed. There were high school/college kids all over the store, including sprawled in front of the magazine racks, doing their homework, a Maker Fair going on upstairs, and older people just taking refuge in the warmth. We just managed to get a table.

This time James found more than I: David Weber had a new tome out and he also got a Larry Correia book. I was looking for one of the two cozy mysteries I'd seen on Friday, one about a year-round Christmas town named Rudolph, the other a Christmas mystery taking place in a small town where the main character is the postmistress. I couldn't find either of them in this store! However, I did pick up The Humbug Murders, a Christmas mystery about Ebenezer Scrooge (in his younger days) solving a crime.

There's a great anniversary book out about the making of the Back to the Future films, but, yow, the price!

So we wouldn't have to mess with the chair, just I went inside. Cumberland Mall's food court was crammed with people and filled with the delectable scents of Chinese, Japanese, and Cajun fast food. I just went downstairs to Hallmark and picked out Thanksgiving cards to use my coupons on, but this cute Jim Shore turkey/pumpkin/apple bushel figure caught my eye and I couldn't resist him. Look at that smug face! He looks like he was a budgie in a previous life! (I did not pay that much for him, either. Sometimes online isn't cheaper!)

By the time we got home and dragged everything in the house (yes, the milk was fine after being in the back of the truck all afternoon; that's how cold it was!), we were pretty beat. James used some of the kaiser rolls to make grilled cheese sandwiches and we had that and hot Italian wedding soup for supper. Then it was time for The Librarians and Alaska: the Last Frontier.

Labels: books, shopping, television, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:55:00 PM

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