A productive day...

To begin with, I must mention that I stayed up until 2 am putting stuff away and organizing it in my underground lair.  I won't be returning to my mom's house until Thursday night at the earliest, so it was kind of essential that I make it as neat as possible in there.  My mom has this "thing" about messes.  It's hard enough to try to fit everything I treasure into a single room without dealing with mama drama as well. 

She has twice stated now, "You have too many dolls."  I figure that is quite ironic, considering there are angels everywhere you look in her house.  I have eliminated many of my Barbie collection already, and I will be sweeping through it again.  But I will not get rid of all of them.  Next time I haul a load, I am planning on bringing a suitcase full of fabric.  I have one tote in the closet where I have been putting the fabric I've already brought in a little piece at a time. 

In my unemployment, I need to keep busy--and sewing is one of those things that just calms my mind and spirit.

Anyhow--I got almost everything dealt with.  There were still a few things that were lying around, but for the most part, it looked okay.

I was up again at 6:30 to continue putting stuff away.  I worked at that pretty steadily until about 8:30 when I went upstairs to have a cup of tea with mom.  At 9:40 or so, I set off for Owatonna to take my car in for a once over.  DeAnn picked me up at Wholesale Tires, and we went to breakfast at Perkins.  After that we went to Walmart.  I picked up some kitty treats, onions, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, apples, a loaf of bread, and 4 rolls of toilet paper. (I didn't want to buy a ton of it since I don't think i will be in this house much longer, and toilet paper lasts a long time for me.) 

While I was in Walmart I went to the Vision Center and had them straighten and tighten my glasses. 

DeAnn wanted to stop at the Sterling Drug Store and look at their 40% off plants.  I was content to wait in the car.  Normally I would sew or something, but this time, I just sat there and watched the world go by.  Dandelion fluff or some other fluffy substance was floating all around in the breeze and it was surreally beautiful watching the swirling bits of fluff amongst all the beautiful blooming plants.  It was sort of like being inside a snow globe.

While she was shopping, the guy from the shop called me and told me my car was ready.  It cost me $90.84 today.  They replaced the fuse for the cigarette lighter--it wouldn't matter to me except that it is handy to recharge my phone with the car charger.  They fixed the rear driver's side window which has been joggling down when I'm driving by propping it shut with a little chunk of wood.  To actually repair it would have been ridiculously expensive, and I don't care if that window doesn't roll down.  If it were the driver's window, then we would have had a problem, as I do a lot of drive up stuff--I never go inside the bank or the drug store because they have drive up windows.  If the post office had a drive up window, I would be ecstatic.  (Speaking of the post office, I need a roll of stamps.)

They changed the oil and the filters and what not.  They looked at the gas gauge issue--the gas gauge hasn't worked in months--but that would be an $800 repair as they would have to get deep into the guts of the car.  I said, "Screw it; I'll just try to remember to fill up every Wednesday or something."

They also did a thorough check, and it seems my car needs about $1,200 more work done on it.  The tie rod ends are worn and are causing the tires to joggle--which is causing excessive wear on my tires.  Also, the rear breaks need replacing.  And when all that is done, I will have to replace all four tires as they have been eaten up on the outside.  I figured that would need to be done, but I was hoping the cause was alignment.  Ah, well. 

From there, I went to Owatonna Shoe and bought myself a new pair of New Balance shoes.  They fit my feet well and are very comfortable.  The shoes Mom got me for Christmas are very nice--I like them--but they are at least a half-size too big.  I keep catching the toes on stuff and tripping.  The New Balance shoes are expensive at $125, but they last forever.  I really wanted to get a new pair of decent shoes before entering into my banishment to the underworld.

From there, I went through the drive through at Culvers where I bought an iced tea to drink while I took my car through the car wash.  I gave it the ultra-delux wash as it was filthy and needed a good scrubbing.  On my way home, I realized that DeAnn had driven off with my groceries, so I called her and told her about it.  I swung by her house on my way home and picked up my stuff.  She had forgotten about her own groceries as well, so it was a good thing I called--she actually had some meat in her bag.  I didn't have anything too hazardous in mine.

She showed me their new chickens and we chatted a bit.  Bear was lounging around, rolling in the dirt and showing off his fuzzy tummy.  He is a very good-looking cat.  I got to pet him and rub his ears quite a lot.  Usually he doesn't tolerate such things very long.  Apparently he was in the mood for some affection today.

When I got home, I put my groceries away, refilled the cats' water dish and food dishes, and went upstairs for a nap.  I only got about four hours of sleep last night and I was tired out.

I played a little bit of Frontierville on Facebook, snuggled my kitties and gave them treats, and dozed. 

Late in the afternoon, I went downstairs, made myself a grilled cheese sandwich, ate some walnuts, and watched an episode of American Pickers and one of Pawn Stars.  The guys on American Pickers bought an airstream trailer--one of the earliest ones--and it was all still original.  I was entranced with it.  It'd love to have one of those to haul around and live in while I travel.  I think they are far beyond my price range, however. 

Now I am upstairs in my bedroom, getting ready to go down for the night.  I have blood tests at 8:10 am, so I have to get myself up and out fairly early.

I exchanged several texts with Tammy who on her way home from the horse shows in Tulsa.  She said she feigned sleep, then let a silent-but-deadly slip to torment her spouse and off-spring.  She said they had been arguing incessently about politics, so they deserved it.  LOL.

I guess that's it for me.  I didn't get anything productive done at home, but I'm hoping I can get more ambitious tomorrow.