Shop Til You Sleep

Was ambivalent about this morning. Woke up at 3:30, turned off my alarm clock, which was set to 5:30. Woke up again at 5:42. Oh, well.

I uncovered Schuyler and she seemed to be okay, but still doing the kicking. She has eliminated several times. What I'm most worried about is something called "egg binding." It's very bad for the bird. But usually they present with other symptoms, too, and she has none of them.

I remembered when this happened in Owensboro I gave her a grape and the problem went away.

Well.

So I went to Kohl's and got what we really needed: a mattress pad. This is one of those memory-foam jobs. James says the egg-crate foam we have just isn't softening the mattress for him. It's perfect for me, not for him.

There was something else there I was going to buy for James, but it's a good thing it was out. It turned out it wasn't what I thought it was.

However, I did go somewhere else later and get James' gift. In the meantime I went to Staples and got a USB stick. I keep reading so many things about having multiple backups of your digital photos. I got a large one this time.

And then I was done. I had to get grapes for Schuyler, so I went to Kroger and did the rest of the shopping. I wasn't even sure the store was open; they had carts in front of the main door. Heck, I even beat the armored car there.

By that time I was so sleepy of course I forgot the grapes. But at least I was still in the parking lot at the time.

Schuyler attacked the grape immediately. I put the milk and fruit/vegetables away and attacked the sofa soon after. I woke after eleven feeling refreshed but cold.

Been sitting here keeping an eye on Schuyler. She is doing all her usual things and is hungry. Sick birds usually don't eat, never mind being hungry. Still, I'm feeling nervous enough to call the vet. But my avian vet isn't in the office until Monday. The technician seemed familiar enough with egg binding to think we might wait until then. I'm to keep in touch and go to the emergency vet if things change.

In the meantime I'm dubbing off Castle episodes; I can do them all but the season premiere, which has a bunch of weather alerts.

A Happy Thanksgiving...and What Came of It

It was a nice quiet fore- and early afternoon. James had "paused" the pre-Macy's parade show so I could see the White Christmas Broadway cast performance while eating a nice bowl of hot oatmeal, and it was a jolly parade (except why can't Al Roker interview real people watching the parade rather than second-rate actors promoting their programs?). My favorite was the briefcase drill team sponsored by a men's clothing store! And I was right, the action did look spectacular on this television. I loved the wonderful zinnia/pumpkin/autumn leaf fall bouquets/garlands around Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer in the broadcast booth.

The National Dog Show followed. About one o'clock I had a sandwich to tide me over until dinner. I should have guessed something was up when the sandwich made me queasy. I took some Pepto Bismol and lay down for a half hour, but I was still not feeling well and developing a headache when we headed to the Butlers.

I thought the headache was simply from being hungry and had a few of Lin's little piecrust-and-cinnamon treats as well as the wonderful little appetizers brought by Leigh's friend Tony and his sister. A luscious turkey, some "roast beast," Ron's great mashed potatoes, and other goodies followed for dinner, with additional goodies of conversation.

Despite the food, I developed an annoying sinus headache and we headed home around nine o'clock. I sorted out my sale flyer clippings for tomorrow, got my clothes ready, and finally we gathered the trash for the pickup tomorrow and went to bed.

I set the alarm for 5:50, as my first stopping place was only a fifteen minutes' drive from the house. However, it was lucky today was trash collection day, as the alarm never did go off. (I checked it later; it's a seven-day clock and it turned out it thought today was Saturday.) I was fit to be tied as I got dressed; it was only thirteen minutes from the time I leaped up to the time I got out the door, munching a breakfast meal bar.

I wasn't out for a lot today and I was glad of it, as I could still taste dinner from last night—sigh...the next time I zero in on a pair of turkey wings, someone remind me, okay? my stomach just can't handle it anymore. I was looking for a larger memory card for my camera at Staples and did find it. Next I was going to Target with the idea of buying a broom vac. I was feeling so rotten when I saw the lines I said the heck with it. Instead I went up to the Town Center Office Depot and picked up something else.

Well, I had in my hot little hand a Barnes & Noble coupon for 40 percent off any one book if I used my MasterCard. I have a MasterCard that I don't often use, but I won't cancel it because it's my Sears card and that took me years to qualify for. Arrgh! When I got there it was only 8 a.m. and they weren't opening early. I did get some pumpkin loaf at the attached, open Starbucks for dessert, then went back to Costco (which wasn't open, but the gas station was), stopped at Borders for a few minutes, then went to Michaels.

I have to note that none of the places I went to were crowded. Staples was next door to Marshalls and there wasn't even a minor crowd there. Target had a lot of people, but it wasn't a ravening crowd as I'd seen in previous years. Not even Michaels was that all crowded. I didn't get much there; just some snowflakes for winter decorating and some "bling" for a gift.

By this time B&N was open. I had my eyes on Christmas Through a Child's Eyes, but almost bought Eden's Outcasts. But by this time all I wanted to do was get home, so I grabbed the Christmas book and made tracks home.

I have a part of my nose that was fractured 28 years ago, just before my birthday. Sometimes when it's going to rain (like tonight and this weekend), it starts to hurt. And now it was hurting to the point where I couldn't think of anything else but the pain. So when I got home I took some ibuprofin and did what I usually do after shopping on Black Friday—took a nap!

I was up at 1:30 to watch Rick Steves Europe and have my lunch, but the moment I put my glasses on, the pain started to return and the queasiness returned. Nevertheless, I went to Barnes & Noble at Akers Mill to get Eden's Outcasts (it's a biography of Louisa May Alcott and her father Bronson), stopped at Bed, Bath & Beyond to use a really good coupon ($10 off a $30 purchase) on a saddle stool, and then finally stopped at Michaels with my 50 percent off coupon for more rechargeable batteries.

This time when I got home I took some Tylenol. It took care of the nasal pain but not the queasiness, so I had James bring me home a plain baked potato for supper and we had the pumpkin loaf for dessert. Even the latter aggravated my stomach. Ugh.

Can't wait for this front to go through. In the meantime I'm going to finish this and take my glasses off, since my stupid nose is hurting again.

Yawwwwwwwwwwwn

I'm back. Ohboy. Mostly bought storage stuff (ended up at JoAnn twice because I was sleepy enough that I didn't realize that 50 percent off those large clear storage boxes with another 20 percent off was a Real Deal, so I only got 10 percent off extra on most of them). Bought strings of blue lights at Lowe's.

Was bad and bought Christmas books; one is funny and one is a collection of excerpts from Victorian magazines. I did look through a volume about Christmas in the South and was convulsed by the chapter where the author talked about how designing magazines published in the north talked about decorating your Christmas tree with candy canes, cookies, and other food goodies—since obviously they didn't live in the land of palmetto bugs and ants nearly all year round!

I didn't run into any really big crowds because I didn't go within even winking distance of a mall, or anyplace that sold clothes {shudder} or shoes {double shudder}. Just went to JoAnn, Lowe's, Media Play, Costco (for gas), Barnes & Noble, and Eckerd's.

I did buy one totally stupid thing: the November 28 issue of People.

But the picture of Hugh Laurie is soooooo nice. :-)

Well, I'm Off...

...which is probably what most people think I am after getting up at this hour. I'm off to JoAnn...or maybe just to Lowe's...