Today was the kind of day I love. We got stuff accomplished and mostly had fun doing it.

After sleeping late and breakfast and dog walking, we headed out to the Cobb Parkway area. I know Best Buy takes electronic recycling, so we threaded our way through the traffic that surrounds the IHOP and Scalini's Italian Restaurant and I hopped out of the truck and disposed of the bad batteries and the CFL bulbs in the bins at the front of the store. Finally! Gone!

We had some Bed, Bath & Beyond coupons and a real need for more Plinks (deodorizers) for the garbage disposal) and also two hand towels for the hall bath: the towels currently there are getting see-through in the middle. Got the Plinks, and found two very nice aqua-colored towels to match the seashore theme going in that bathroom which will not get confused with the two different shades of blue towels in the master bath. I also finally picked up some sachet for the blanket chest and the "toy" chest, something I've had on the "to do" list for over six months. I picked lavender because they say it helps you sleep.

James also found something he wanted: Forged in Fire chefs' knives! Now he can say, like Doug Marcaida, "It weeell cut!"

James moved the truck over to the other side of the parking lot while I drove the power chair over there. It was broiling hot and it would have taken the same time to load the chair, drive the two minutes across the lot, and lowered the chair again. Actually, having it on the highest speed, I got a nice breeze!

So we strolled around in Hobby Lobby, reveling in the autumn decorations. I wish I could lasso fall and pull it closer! There are trees "berrying" out there, and leaves turning yellow; nature knows summer is dying (and let the bloody summer die, dammit) and the sun won't believe it. They also have lots of rows of Christmas things out now, including at least four Grinch-themed pieces of art!

I picked up a set of three plastic containers (a little bigger than cup size) and two items on clearance: adhesive dots and dowels. James got two clearance model kits.

Got home in time for a late lunch, but kept quite busy. I took the three packets of lavender sachet and put one each into a plastic container from Hobby Lobby, and one pair went in each chest and one in the master bedroom closet. (I wanted the sachets in a hard container because sometimes the oils in them leak and I didn't want that on the blankets or afghans.) I unloaded the dishwasher, started loading it again, put a new garbage bag in the trash can.

Then went into the craft room. I painted two "flashies" to put over the front door of my car, both a bright blue. Have you ever tried to find a white Kia in a supermarket parking lot? There are something like four million of the silly things. I have magnets all over the car, but it still doesn't help me pick it out. I tried copper ones up there, but they weren't bright enough. Hence the bright blue is being tried this time.

Now it was time for a big change. I mentioned a furniture replacement in the foyer in my last post. This is the piece that was replaced. I should call this the "Cat" table, as it has lived many lives. It's 68 years old and was in our house growing up as long as I can remember. Mom probably used it as a side table until the encyclopedia came along (1962). Later when we got something large enough for the World Book it went into any corner it was needed. It was my night table for a while until I bought an unfinished unit at Ann & Hope and stained/varnished my own. We were going to leave it behind as there was no room for it in the old house, but James took a fancy to it and we moved it along with the few other pieces of furniture we took out of my folks' house. It's been down in the foyer for 13 years holding the flag and other odds and ends, but but then I decided to let the table from Vine replace it. (Bennett is posing for you on top. He was Schuyler's stuffed animal, and you can see the mark in the middle of his nose where she used to nibble on him.)

Now it's in my craft room to hold the Cricut-like gadget I got from Vine and only used once (will need to read how to use it all over again, as I never had time to mess with it while I was working—this goes for my label maker, too). I was hoping to put a larger number of craft books at the bottom, but these are all that would fit (I don't think it was meant to take anything larger than hardback books or maybe a large Bible.) The table the gadget was on was a tray table and has now been folded up and put back with the other tray tables.

Labels: autumn, crafts, cross-stitch, decluttering, errands, fall, furniture, shopping, summer, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:21:00 PM

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Okay, it was this morning James couldn't sleep. I tried to, but nature screamed, and that ended that.

So when you're dressed by nine o'clock on a Sunday morning, what's the best thing to do? Yep: go to Kroger. Lots of handicapped parking before ten o'clock! We found out they also carry the Boar's Head no-salt turkey breast lunchmeat and reduced sodium ham, at the same price as Publix. Bought bread for work lunches, yogurt, milk, and a couple of other things. There were good BOGOs at Publix, so we went there, too.

There was an unpleasant, invisible little man beating on my temples as we completed the grocery shopping, so I took two Tylenol and "rested my eyes" for about an hour. At one, James and I went to the La-Z-Boy store to check out their Black Friday sales. The poor recliner has been, to put it mildly, "rode hard and put away wet." We got it before we moved, so it is probably about thirteen years old. I keep it vacuumed, but nevertheless it's full of dog hair (Willow's and Tucker's), saggy, fluff is coming out under one arm, and it's torn a little where the top meets the room divider. (The room divider is in even worse shape.) James has slept in it when he's sick, it was Willow's favorite bed, and it got banged about when we moved. Also, we got the cheapest chair that they had way back then, which was a really icky tobacco color. (We remember bringing it home on the truck. It rocked so much we had to pull over and turn it around.)

We gravitated to the cheapest of the sale recliners, in a nice grey, and then we found one for a little more that had more back support, still in grey. I could get behind that. And then, of course, ended up with one a teeny bit more that that one, because it was even more supportive. (I daresay if we had the cash we would have come home with the power one. There was a point where James' knees were so bad he couldn't get out of the chair.) This one was red. That one we bought; it matched the autumn theme of the house.

The last time La-Z-Boy had the one we bought in stock, and, as I said, we got it home on the truck. We can go get this one, too, except we'd have to drive up to Buford. Are you kidding me? And then we'd still have to get it up the stairs! So we are having it delivered at a price that merely makes me squeal. It is $80 more [eyes goggle] for them to take the old one away! Sheesh! The appliance stores will deliver the new one and get rid of the old one for a lower price than that! So we will find another way. Maybe Terry and Aubrey can help us. The "new broom" is coming Saturday.

Stopped by Bed, Bath & Beyond with two coupons. If we'd had plans for them, we changed them: we bought a big bath towel and two big washcloths, to use on the new recliner.

Finally, for a bit of fun, we stopped at Starbuck's and had peppermint hot chocolate.

It was still midafternoon when we got home, so I put on some working clothes, had a hunk of the French bread, and got to work: took down the Thanksgiving decorations on the porch and also the mailbox cover, and put up the Christmas mailbox cover, the Christmas banner (oh, my poor Father Christmas; he's looking a bit threadbare, and I'll never find another one like him), the Christmas wreath, and the set of net lights we bought at Lowes yesterday (which means I had to program that meshuggeneh timer). I also put up all the door wreaths and the candles in the dining room windows and in the front bedroom windows.

There was some drama with the front room candles this year. We have been doing all blue lights in the candoliers for years, but since we have the multicolor net lights, it looks mismatched. Last year I grabbed the last three sets of five, rather than four, color C7 bulbs they had at Kmart. They were unusual because they were red, orange, green, blue, and a rare yellow (usually if you get a five-set, the fifth color is white). My original two sets of five-each candoliers came from my mother, but one year one of the end candles quit illuminating the bulb put in it. So I ordered a second set of two from the Vermont Country Store, and I've been using this pair since then. I actually had an idea for the older set. Unfortunately as I began to screw bulbs into the candoliers I discovered trouble in the offing. One green bulb didn't work out of the package. I had an odd green bulb and put that in. The other set of bulbs worked perfectly. Got the candles put in each window. Check! When I went back to look at the spare room set, the blue bulb was out! I gave it a little twist, it lit—and the fuse blew on the whole candolier. Sigh. I'll see if I can find some at Ace Hardware. So I had to substitute the one of Mom's old ones that worked on all five candles. Then when I took Tucker out I noticed the central yellow candle in the craft room set was out. I said a naughty word.

The candle came back on.

I can see this is going to be a fun year with the lights...

Anyway, more of "Monty" the turkey for supper, hot in gravy with roasted potatoes and a bit of stuffing. Turkey made me feel like watching Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol tonight, and so we did (and I cried through "All Alone in the World"), with an Alaska: the Last Frontier chaser. What a shock about Shane's accident! He fell off a ladder and has broken his back!

Labels: Christmas, decorations, food, furniture, shopping, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:28:00 PM

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James had to go to work today, but we still got to sleep late, as he didn't have to be in until noon. I slept marginally better than the night before, but still tossed and turned. Did manage to get the vaporizer aimed directly at me this time, which may have helped. Funny how the stupid cold showed up the moment it got warm again!

I had breakfast and walked Tucker about 11 a.m., and the temperatures were already up in the high 60s. The weather is loathsome; who wants the wretched air conditioner on when it's nearly January? They keep being slaphappy about it on the news programs. "Oh, the weather is wonderful!" If you're perspiring profusely in December and you don't live in the southern hemisphere, it is not.

I wasn't feeling all that well, but wanted to use a couple of coupons, and my car badly needed a fill-up. So I went to Kroger for the gasoline first, then drove to Barnes & Noble to check on the clearance tables. Even at half price, the nice stuff is still too expensive, so I passed on it. I went into Office Max for a few minutes to see if I can find a new printer stand; ours is broken. There is a three-shelf wire shelf there that might do if our printers aren't too heavy. There's a more expensive one, but I think it's too wide; I'd have to measure.

Finally I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond to use two of the three coupons I had. I bought Tucker a new dog blanket for the living room and restocked on "Plinks" (deodorizers for the garbage disposal). I also stopped at the newer Office Depot on Cobb Parkway to look at furniture; this store recently downsized and is now useless. All they have is chairs.

Cost Plus World Market was absolutely stripped of Christmas except for one or two things here and there. I've never seen it that clean; they must have put stuff away for next year rather than discounting it. And I checked out Michaels. Did find a couple of gifts there to put away. On the way home stopped at Love Street to see how they have remodeled. They've moved the front door and blocked off the former front entrance and the back entrance (the original front and back doors when it was a small home), and knocked down a wall. Some of the same gift merchandise as previously (jewelry, knicknacks, "name" purses and scarves, twee baby things, trays and candy dishes, that sort of thing), but it seems to be uniformly more upscale (and expensive). The Christmas items were half price, so I did get something for a gift, and another non-Christmas item that was more reasonably priced. Behind their sister store Heart and Sole in another former house next door they have opened "The Garden Shed," where they keep all the garden decorations that used to be in the "back yard" of Love Street, plus they had some upscale Christmas decor. Too rich for my blood!

Pretty much stopped when I got home; this cold has just sapped all my energy. I feel like I have the flu, but have no fever or aching bones, plus I am now barking like a seal when I cough. I put all the Christmas gifts from yesterday up, but that was about it. For supper I had the small portion of ziti and pork that was left over from Christmas Eve dinner; there was enough gravy, so I cooked a few more ziti to have a fuller meal. Discovered the Christmas episode of Vicious on the DVR and watched that, walking the dog at 6 p.m. and again just as James got home at 9:30.

Labels: Christmas, furniture, pets, shopping, sickness, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:21:00 PM

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As we get deeper into fourth quarter spending, the more I need a compressed Friday, and boy, was I looking forward to this one! Slept in until 9:30, then walked Tucker and had breakfast. Finished up the morning by doing some corrections on my Doctor Simon Locke web page, then tackled an ongoing problem.

When we bought the "pickled" finish cabinet a few years back at the Georgia Apple Festival, we used it to replace a microwave cart, which became a television stand in the spare bedroom. The microwave cart that was currently doing duty in that space went downstairs for James to reuse it in his "man cave." But he really hasn't any room for it, so it got pushed back between the bay of his books in the library. He was looking for something down there before Timegate and pushed the cart out of his way. It's been taking up room in the middle of the floor for months.

I don't really want to just toss it out, but it's a bit battered to be donating. For now I have put it into the hallway, but it's too bulky for there, too. It's going to have to go somewhere sometime.

Anyway, there were a good three months' of already read books piled up down there, ready for shelving. So that's what I did, shelved books for over an hour, acutely aware that the history books are running over. Need more Billy bookcases. I put at least a half dozen in the box for McKay's, and tossed out all the Amazon Vine ARCs that I'm not permitted to donate. And finally I vacuumed down there. There were still bits of Christmas detritus in the rug: tinsel, "pine needles," artificial snow, glitter. I didn't shelve the Christmas books, but they have to be added to the Christmas book list when i do that.

Also cleaned out the hall bath and tidied up,

We ate in tonight because I was recording a Doctor Simon Locke I missed on the last go-around, but once that was over, we went to Publix to take advantage of the twofers and other sale items, then hit Sprouts for fresh produce and meat and bulk nuts.

Finally it was early to bed because we were off to the Farmer's Market tomorrow. We haven't been in weeks!

Labels: books, chores, dogs, food, furniture, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:45:00 PM

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When I moved up to Atlanta from Warner Robins in 1988, I needed another chair for "the Cubbyhole," as I called my studio apartment. Our friend Ann was getting rid of a big papasan chair (James has always jokingly called it "the satellite dish," it was so big) so I took that.

It's been with us through thick and thin. At the apartment Leia used to sleep on it (we flipped it over for company). When we moved to the old house we bought a new cushion for it, and when James was working horrendous hours at Wang, sometimes I used to sleep in it, next to Bandit's cage. In the new house it went down into the library, and has cuddled innumerable kids escaping the partying adults upstairs at Twelfth Night and on game nights.

But the passage of years has taken its toll: the wood is scratched and won't take much of a polish anymore. At 34 and even 44 we were still comfortable in it; in our 50s it is getting difficult to get in and out of and doesn't support our backs any longer. Plus it's really too big for the space in front of the window. So we have made the tough decision to get rid of the old chair. Tomorrow we'll dust it off and take it to Goodwill. Someone may be able to put some spit and polish into the old girl and use her in a den or comfy room where they don't care much about the scratches.

We've replaced it with this. I'd have loved a library-like wing-back armchair, but the budget couldn't swing it.

As for the rest of the day, well, it included assemblies and lights, but that's all told in Holiday Harbour.

Labels: furniture

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

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Friday proper was involved in tasks that are covered in Holiday Harbour. I worked until James got home from work, then we went to dinner at Fresh2Order, since we had a twofer coupon for our anniversary. They had not had my favorite, the Creamy Chicken Vegetable Soup, during the summer, so I happily enjoyed a bowl with dinner. This is a thick, delicious soup full of chicken, carrots, and other veggies, very filling, so I ended up taking 3/4 of my dinner home.

We also went into Buckhead to the big Borders, cutting through the "ritzy" homes on Mt. Paran Road and the others north of Chastain Park. "Mr. Inflatable," the guy with the myriad inflatable seasonable decorations, must have gotten read the riot act by his neighborhood association, because while he had his yard and house strung everywhere with Christmas lights and also had an illuminated Santa Claus, there wasn't an inflatable in sight. (I don't like the things anyway; they look cheap.) James had some $10 credits and wanted to go to the largest store where they had the most choice in the history section. Alas, the history section has been denuded; the book James wanted was not there. I fared better: two magazines, a Windham Hill Christmas CD, and two books, one about philosophical discussions about Christmas (such as telling children about Santa) and the other S.J. Rozan's newest Lydia Chin mystery. (I don't usually buy a book without a coupon, but Rozan's books are so hard to find I wouldn't leave that behind, and the Christmas book was nothing I'd ever seen before, so I got both, plus the newest Entertainment Book. We may need the Atlanta History Center coupon for the Candlelight Nights, anyway.)

Had dessert at Bruster's—James had peppermint stick ice cream, which tastes like a soft candy cane, but I would like it better if the base was chocolate instead of vanilla!—and came on home.

Saturday morning started early because it was not only the last Farmer's Market of the season, but it was Hair Day to boot. We got salad veggies and some green pepper, stocked upon homemade dog biscuits for Willow, bought jalapeno pimento cheese to take to Hair Day along with the sun goat pesto and crackers, got some chocolate chip cookies for dessert and a turkey pot pie for Monday supper, and James stocked up on boiled peanuts. We got stuck waiting for the train, but did get out of downtown eventually.

When we go to Ron and Lin's house from the Farmer's Market, we cut cross-country behind Whitlock Road via Polk to Dallas Highway, then go diagonally through Villa Rica Road. Most of Villa Rica is country-like, with horse farms or acreage, and it was like an autumn impressionist painting come to life, all soft edges and lovely colors. You would never think it looking at the Bradford pears in the spring, when they're all fluffy with white blossoms, but they turn extraordinary colors in the fall, from green to saffron to orange to scarlet shading all the way to maroon on one tree. Some of the maples are like molten butter in the sun.

We had a great time at Hair Day. Ron had told everyone Juanita was bringing lunch, but actually Andrew was bringing it, with a birthday cake for his wife, Shannon, and she was coming along later. There were birthday banners strung all over the house, and when she walked in the door and we yelled "Surprise!" she clapped hands to her face in a reproduction of Kevin in Home Alone. LOL.

A little after one we moseyed along home to put up the spoils of our final trip of the season, then went out to the hobby shop. I suggested to James that perhaps the Borders at Perimeter Mall might have the book he wanted, as they have always had a good history section, so we headed in that direction after our visit. We enjoyed our ride through the "ritzy" part of town, then stopped at the Container Store on the way there to buy a few organizational odds and ends.

Alas, when we got to the story there were big yellow banners outside screaming "Store Closing." Son of a bitch! You never see any of those wretched endless shoe stores closing. Looked around, then came home.

Glory be! Jen was on chat! She found a spot in her barracks that accessed the wi-fi in the galley and sat talking with us until very late. (The watch passed her twice without reprimanding her, so I guess it was okay.) She thought she would have a late school start, but there was a sudden opening, so her A-School begins on Monday! So needless to say we were up rather late and didn't get up until ten this morning. Had to go to Publix (good twofers this weekend) and Kroger, then came home to put the perishables up and went to Ikea for the afternoon. We hadn't been in...ages. I can't even remember the last time we went. Had lunch in their restaurant, then walked around. I am looking for a comfy chair to replace the old papasan downstairs. It's been a good old chair, but it's too bulky and it creaks and crackles when you sit in it anymore. I'd love a wing-back, but those are terribly expensive. I just want a comfy, sturdy chair, one you could sit in to read.

I also would love to replace that totty old microwave cart in the dining room. It's doing china cabinet/cup duty and I've always wanted something prettier. But the only thing small enough would be the buffet, which doesn't have a top half. We'd have to put up some shelves or a small cabinet. Not sure I want to mark up the wall like that.

On the way home, checked out the Brookwood Borders. James found a historical book he wanted, and also a collection of short stories, but we had to go out of our way back to the Buckhead store to get the book I wanted, the newest of the Bryant and May books. I'm really loving these, especially the little esoteric details about various London things like the courses of the river or the Underground.

And of course we enjoyed the splendid autumn color in all the older neighborhoods like North Druid Hills Road.

Listend to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" on the way home, and a couple of "Splendid Table" installments, including a Thanksgiving edition where they talked about turducken. Later we had turkey soup for supper with whole-wheat egg noodles and watched this week's This Old House and two R5Sons Alaska episodes.

Labels: autumn, books, friends, furniture, gatherings, Holiday Harbour, seasons, shopping, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:42:00 PM

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Bibliochaise.

Clever, actually. If you click "Gallery" there are more photos of both colors and, if you scroll down, there's a photo of the chair with a matching ottoman.

Thanks for the link, Rodney!

Labels: books, furniture

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:18:00 PM

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