Compared with yesterday, which was a dead loss of a day because of a severe lack of sleep (nothing serious, just...a pain in the neck), today was sunny within, if not sunny without. It was another day of grey, mist, rain, fog...well, name something wet that doesn't involve snow or ice and we had it today.

James went off to a model contest, and I took advantage of some good coupons. JoAnn had 40 percent off your entire regular price purchase, and I bought little things including laminating sheets and a nice piece of Aida cloth. Since I was at Town Center, Michaels was right next door. They had a 20 percent off even sale items, and a single 40 percent, so I picked up some little things including chalk labels for use in the kitchen.

Next I cut through the back to go to Barnes & Noble. This was a profitable trip because all the clearance items were at 75 percent off, so I was able to pick up some really nice gifts for 3/4 off the price as well as another nice set of Christmas cards. Plus they had the Victoria tie-in book on the remainder shelf and I got it for $7. The only fly in the ointment to the bookstore portion of the day was the inconsiderate lout with the ginormous SUV who parked over the line and so close to me that I had to get in the car via the passenger door and crawl over the steering column to be able to back out.

I had less luck at Publix across from the bookstore: I was picking up Toufeyan wraps and ground meat for James and they had no low-sodium low-carb wraps at all. So I skipped the ground meat as well and went home via the Macland store instead. They had at least three packages of wraps, so I got them and ground turkey, which was the least expensive.

Came home from there and watched a very strange movie called Arthur and Merlin. In this version, Arthur and Merlin meet as boys; Merlin is a strange child who is born with marks on his face that mark him as a member of an ancient race that knows magic. Arthur saves Merlin from being sacrificed by King Vortigern's chief Druid. Fifteen years later Arthur is still fighting for the King, who has become forgetful. While helping a Christian woman avoid becoming a sacrifice, Arthur finds a magic sword which gives him visions. He saves the king because one of these visions, but is banished because he offends the Druid, who is using Dark Magic for his own ends. Another vision shows him the Druid is working against the King, and he realizes he needs magic to fight magic, remembering the Druid was afraid of young Merlin. He goes looking for the boy to find he has grown up in solitude learning magic. Socially Merlin's on the Sheldon Cooper level. Anyway, they do defeat the Druid, but very strange Arthurian story. Its main positive point is that it actually takes place during when the mythical Arthur would have lived, and not in medieval times as so often portrayed. A definite "eh!"

James had arranged a little retirement party at Keegan's tonight, so we left at five, picked up the cake (chocolate, chocolate, and chocolate) from Publix (bagging three more packages of wraps), and proceeded to the restaurant. We had some no-shows due to the miserable weather, but very understandable, and they were missed. The service was a bit iffy tonight, due to one of the waitstaff not being used to a crowd, but we had a good time. James actually found me the sweetest gift at the model show: it's a bracelet with multicolored crystal beads and one single cross bead. Terica also gave me an African violet. Poor thing. I will try to remember to care for it, but plants usually have a hard life with me.

Then came home to watch Olympics: snowboarding, biathalon, women's skating, and finally curling!

Labels: books, friends, movies, Olympics, parties, shopping, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:53:00 PM

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