Song of the day:...hmmm, there was none, for a change. Wow, hadn’t realized until now, wonder what that is about. Oh wait, it was grocery day, of course that was no song in my head. Ah well…
Well, it’s a miserable day, weather wise. We’re surrounded by clouds and right this instant I’m sitting at my desk looking down into the valley, and can’t see further than our closest neighbors down. The air is gray, wet, windy, and downright chilly. Brrr.
The eucalyptus in front of my window is swaying back and forth like made, so is the copse of reed, of which the stems are doing their very best to bend all the way down to the ground. Quite impressive. Hah.
I woke up with the rain, which was a somewhat novel experience, what with the beautiful weather we’ve been experiencing these past few days. Really, it was beautiful! The air was warm, the breeze fresh but not cold, and being outside was…well, it felt almost like spring. It couldn’t last, of course, it is winter after all; I was hoping, though.
Hmmm, okay, let’s get this blog going, shall we? I really should try to get some writing done this morning, before starting on the day’s chores.
There was laundry, of course; yes the fun never stops, and though I managed to have the baskets empty the other day (I was absolutely thrilled, I promise you) they have backlogged pretty damn fast once more. Weird how that works. No worries, though. The new machine is spinning enthusiastically even as I write. Hah.
So grocery day: Yes, you are chomping at the bit to hear all about it, I’m sure (dontcha just love sarcasm, hah) so I won’t let you wait any longer.
First chore up, naturally, was emptying the car of the thousand pounds of sand we picked up yesterday. Uh-huh, I hear you thinking, “why on earth leave that ‘till the next morning when you know that you have to go ou?” Excellent thought that deserves a matching answer…which is something I don’t have, so…pooeh. Hah.
You’d think that this was a tedious chore by any means, not to mention uncomfortable since one can hardly manage to get the shovel into the load without twisting and turning (quite agilely, I might ad) and…well, it is, tedious, I mean…but not all bad, considering that it is also an excellent exercise.
While big brother finished up with the sand, and grandpa started cleaning the cab (it was a friggin’ mess) I spent some time with our tenant who informed me that her left hand is still being “lazy” but that, when she woke up that morning, she had managed to straighten her index finger. Well, that is just excellent news from where I’m sitting. I find it amazing what the ol’ bod can do. Just look at how she is recovering from a massive stroke from which the docs said no one is likely to recover. Just her own perseverance and all our positive attitudes have managed to get her back to her feet and though it might seem to go slow from day to day, I am astounded at the progress we’ve made these past few months.
Crap, I’m friggin’ cold and looking up from my computer just now, I see that it is an affliction the dogs share. There is literally a dog pile on the couch across from me. I can count five of them on top of each other without actually going over there to see if there are any underneath. Hah.
But I get distracted, where was I before my mind wandered off? Ah yes, grocery shopping day…darn it, I just managed to suppress that, thank you very much. Well, there’s no helping it, I guess.
First off, I take the wrong direction when we depart about two hours early, since the vet phoned and asked if I could come and pick up Shamira a little later, because they wanted to give her an extra dose of medicine. This meant that we had to leave early in order to get to the vet’s before nine in the afternoon while managing all the groceries still. So, yeah, I drove into the wrong direction…what can I say, I was a mite distracted.
Once I’d turned the car back ‘round, we started on our way to town. After hitting the first store, it is right on the way into town, with three carts filled to full capacity (normal for half a month of groceries, I assure you) and piled in the back of the car in a hopefully organized (it wasn’t of course) fashion, we head for the only store in town where they have affordable peanut butter and ketjap. I did tell we are all suffering from the sweet soy sauce addiction, didn’t I? Well, in case I didn’t, or you haven’t read that particular post (s?): I’m a sweet soy sauce addict and admit it! Hah.
That done, we head for Iceland, to get this trip’s necessary amount of frozen goods. Now, we could of course buy all that at the supermarket, but since the quality is better at this speciality shop from the UK, while still being affordable, it’s worth the extra store detour.
Considering we had twelve stores to visit this time, we did several split ups through the course of the long, long day. While little brother, mom and I headed into the frozen food sections, big brother headed across the massive parking area to roam through the hardware store, in search of an affordable welding machine.
We were done first, of course, as is usual with the hardware store it takes an eternity to drag one’s butt past the beautiful machinery that is just begging for a petting (I know, I’m nuts, but I love power tools: I drool, I mutter baby talk and I pet…sue me!) so little brother and I went in search of big brother because he had the receipt for the TV gadget we have to return.
I waste time standing in line at the next store, waiting for my turn to return the non-functioning tdt gadget (what with the Spanish TV going digital, new antennas and a TDT machine are a necessity for everyone, darn it). It takes a solid half hour, and of course I had to go to the bathroom all the while, but in the end I got our fifty bucks back and got my butt to the “facilities” asap.
Next is the sports store, right beside the other one. Little sister is in dire need of new sneakers, so we literally roam through the massive offerings until finally finding a sturdy pair that turns out be even cheaper than the sign said. Success! Yay. Seeing as this store even has size 50, we’ll probably be visiting again. Finding shoes, for big brother elsewhere is practically impossible, after all.
Right, next store…I know, you’re thrilled with this recount; I know I am. Hah.
Pet store…mini pets, that is. The sand the chinchillas need for personal hygiene, (for some reason normal sand just doesn’t do the trick, darn it) and a calcium block for Tika (parrot). Seeing as I’m already in the massive mall that sports the only pet store in the area who hold products for chinchilla’s I run into the supermarket to get two huge boxes of washing detergent (on sale, mind you) that should see us through another three months or so. Has anyone noticed that the washing detergent is getting more expensive? I swear, it’s gone up at least a buck of two per box.
Another supermarket…gotta hunt for the sales, you understand…leads to the second split up. Little brother, a definite gamer goes to the computer game store (ends up disappointed because he can’t exchange due to a computer glitch there), big brother heads for the Chinese bazaar (we need an axe, hah) and mom and I finish up at the supermarket.
The car is a little fuller, we’re all a little more tired and we still need to head into town to find the sewing machine store to get some supplies at a place we do not know the location of just yet. There is a faulty direction taken, me asking a storeowner for directions (which I get in unintelligible Spanish, mind you) and then finding it at last without too much trouble. Phew.
Last store, a German supermarket chain (sales hunting, remember?) where we get the last of the day’s groceries before we need to head on up the mountain—almost crash into a car that stopped suddenly to make a left turn, by the way—to the village so we can pick up Shamira.
The poor thing is looking pretty darn miserable when we arrive, but perks right up when little brother comes into the cage area and calls her name. Seeing as I hardly ever see Shamira, who’s attached to little sister’s hip most of the time, my voice really does very little for the cocker spaniel.
The operation was massive by the way (set us back another 400 bucks at least, *sigh*). They had to remove all her nipples except two; they then removed her uterus and repaired the gland in her eye. Poor Shamira has been under the morphine oblivion for the past day and a half, and as it turned out, they tried calling me again, because she had started to cry and wouldn’t quit. Strangely enough I didn’t get that second call, so the iffy connection to the outside world rule supreme once more.
I would like to report that I got some serious writing done yesterday, but since that would be an atrocious lie (I was near vegetative status by the time we got home and stored everything seven hours after departure) I will be honest and say I did nothing; absolutely nothing about writing.
And that, basically concludes today’s blog; aren’t you happy you stuck around after all? Not particularly? Well that’s okay too. I’m going elsewhere, battle a bit with vampires and pixie heroines, if you don’t mind.
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