Busy Day

With my new schedule my only day "off" is Friday - three day weekend for the win! - and after getting up at 6:45 on Thursday I luxuriated in bed until 10:30 today. When I finally got up and had breakfast I made my to-do list and was mildly appalled at how much I had to do today.

My email provided the first shock of the day because I found that I'd won tickets to a local show (it's the kind of show you can't buy tickets for, you can only win them) for tomorrow night. I wasn't sure if I was going or not so I emailed my two LA friends and asked them about the venue.

Just before I left, there was a knock on my door and it was a Fed Ex lady with one of my textbooks. I opened it eagerly, hoping my hand lens had somehow been shoved into the package, but it had not. I ordered the hand lens on Tuesday along with my books, but ordered the lens separately and paid $15 to get it here by today so I could take it along on my geology field trip this weekend.

I started off my errands by a quick trip to Big Lots (it's rapidly becoming my favorite discount store, since the Wal-Mart here is SO sketchy) and found a great aluminum water bottle for $4 and a pretty insulated lunch bag for $5 - I needed them for the field trip. I took some time over the lunch bag because the options were: pink with gray handles, black-and-white cow pattern with pink handles, and green, pink, orange and blue stripes with gray handles. I eventually picked the stripes, but it was a very difficult decision.

After Big Lots I went to Albertsons, wanting to get my weekly grocery shopping done now since I have a field trip on Saturday and another one on Sunday, both from 8 am to about 5 pm. Albertsons had a lot of lovely sales on, and it was pretty amazing I escaped with a tab of $29.88, although I really should've gotten a candy bar or something since they're doing that sticker promotion again. For every $10 you spend you get a sticker, and when you collect enough stickers you can get a pot or pan of your choice for free or a dollar or something. I decided I might as well collect the stickers in case I earn enough for a large pot and then I wouldn't have to buy one.

After Albertsons I went home and found two huge Amazon.com boxes outside my front door. I dumped the groceries and ripped open the boxes to find every single book I ordered with free shipping AND my rock hammer, but no hand lens. When I realized the lens wasn't there I knew I had to either laugh or cry and decided to laugh. Oh, the irony...the expensive, expensive irony.

I unpacked my groceries, and had the mega brainwave of having a cheese and onion sandwich for lunch. Now, I NEVER buy bread. I gave it up years ago and only eat it on very special occasions - mostly at Mom and Dad's house. But since I'm going on the field trip I thought sandwiches were the best way to go, so I bought a bag of Albertsons rolls. There were a lot more than I'll need for the weekend so I used the last of my cheese and some freshly cut onion and had an absolutely fantastic lunch. I'm still deciding how to make the sandwiches, but I'm leaning towards one barbecue chicken and bacon sandwich, and another sandwich involving goat cheese and onions. Then I can decide how I want to make my sandwiches for Sunday...yum!

After the groceries I went out again, first to Bank of America to make a withdrawal, then to the cheapest gas station in town, which is conveniently located down the road from me ($2.79, as opposed to $2.99 everywhere else - and it was $3.17 everywhere else two weeks ago, the gas prices in this town seem to have a serious case of schizophrenia), and then finally went to a farmers' market downtown that I've never been to before. I like it, and it's so easy to get to I think I might go every week, especially since it's on Fridays. The prices weren't as good as the Cerritos farmers' markets in some respects (berries were the same price as grocery stores) but the parsley is 50 cents instead of 89 cents, and the cut flowers are nice, and they do have some nicely priced squash and veggies. The best deal there (and the only thing I bought) was EIGHT POUNDS of pink grapefruit for $2.25. Yes, two dollars and twenty-five cents. So...guess what I'm having for dessert tonight?!

Then I came home again and I made a cardboard sheath for the steak knife I broke earlier this week and duct taped it up and tossed it out, washed the dishes, set the grapefruit out in bowls (I had to use BOTH of my big plastic bowls!) and sent off some emails.
Now I have to go send off a couple more and then I can finally settle down to a quiet evening...I hope!