let the wild rumpus begin!

so today . . . i am alone in my new house, all by myself, for three whole days :-)

i love my family. they are my favorite people on the planet. so i'm not quite sure why, but i occasionally need some extended solitude in my own house.

when we lived in oregon, rollie used to leave me fairly regularly. he would make short out-of-town trips every few months. but since we have moved to southern california, it almost never happens. because all of his meetings are now less than an hour away. unless traffic is bad. but traffic is never bad enough that he has to stay overnight somewhere...

this has been a craaaazy summer. between packing and moving and unpacking and going on vacation and starting school three weeks later than i normally do, i have completely lost track of time. which is how i find myself sitting here tonight all by myself...

...because several weeks ago, rollie was asked to speak at a retreat this weekend. he said yes. the retreat is for the church where my school is, so i thought it would be fun to go for at least part of it. but we are leaving on tuesday for a business trip and won't be back until saturday. which isn't a big deal, except my mom and dad are coming to visit NEXT FRIDAY. before we get home. so i have a lot to do...

and then, as i mentioned, i am not going to start working until the end of september. a perfectly capable substitute will be teaching my class. my wonderful assistant will be there to assist her. so i decided i was not going to even try to whip my classroom into shape. i decided i would just leave it alone and deal with it at the end of the month, and instead use the time to finish unpacking. and then, i got the class list...

for the first time, i will have more pre-k kids than kindergarteners. i am not thrilled about this, but that's the way it goes. at least i still have a job! but this change in enrollment is going to be a problem unless i make some changes in the classroom. so i spent almost five hours cleaning and rearranging furniture this afternoon. and i'm still not done. i'll be going back for a short (i hope!) time tomorrow morning. because i am almost done. i think.

and then, rollie asked me if i wanted to teach one of the sessions at the retreat. he asked me this about a month ago, and since it would help him and it's easy for me, i said, "sure!" i said this a month ago when i thought i was almost done unpacking (which clearly i wasn't!) so now i have to make some notes about what i am going to say tomorrow night. i know what i am going to say, and i don't get nervous about speaking, but if i don't have notes i tend to get off track--which can be entertaining, but sometimes i forget to say what i had planned to say...

...which is exactly what is happening on my blog tonight!! this was supposed to be about being home alone, and look what i've written so far! sheesh...

ok, so i'm home alone. i worked at school until almost 8:00 tonight, and then went to target. at 8:00 at night!! probably not a good idea. but i knew since i would be home alone, i was going to need snacks. and new nail polish. and while i was there, of course i wandered about. i found a perfect lamp to put on my piano, and it was on sale for only $13! but then as i looked at it, i realized that i was going to need to buy a shade. so i looked at shades, but the shades cost more than the base! the base!! the part with all the electrical parts (and a bonus free light bulb,) was cheaper than the part consisting of a wire and a bit of fabric. which was bad enough, but then i couldn't figure out how to attach the shade to the lamp. i thought maybe that was why it was on sale, but there were lots of lamps with no visible way to attach a shade, so i don't know...

and then i saw these.pillow pets of the anaheim angels rally monkey!! (ok, i know they are now the los angeles angels, but really, i don't know how anyone who calls themselves a fan can refer to them that way! los angeles has a team--the dodgers. angels stadium is in anaheim. they are, and always will be, the anaheim angels. it isn't rocket science, people. it's marketing.) i love pillow pets! i have loved them since i went on a hunt to find one for my nephew at christmas. they are cute and soft and cushy. the main reason i don't already have one, is that i haven't been able choose just one. but i think now i have--this is the pillow pet for me. sadly, it didn't get to come home with me today, because i was already carrying nail polish, cheetos, a shade-less lamp, and a bag of chocolate chip cookies. (oh, did i forget to mention the cookies? they weren't my first choice, but i couldn't find the devil donuts.)

i wandered back to the lawn and garden section by way of the school supplies. thankfully my hands were too full to pick up any pens or markers, but there was a giant CLEARANCE sign above the outdoor stuff. i don't know what there is about clearance signs that make me suddenly feel the need to purchase something. i was looking at gardening tools (even though we have a gardener who takes care of our yard,) decorative pots in all sizes and colors (even though we have all these empty plant beds around the edges of our yard just screaming for me to plant something in them,) and grilling accessories (even though we don't have a bar-be-que yet.) i managed to talk some sense into myself and headed for the cash registers. without any clearance merchandise.

and then a miracle happened (other than making it out of the store without buying any clearance merchandise)...

...because i have a track record at target. it doesn't matter what line i get into, the people ahead of me in line inevitably have problems with their transactions. my line is always, ALWAYS the slowest line in the store. always. but tonight i found a cash register with no line at all! the cashier was just standing there, probably counting the minutes until the store would close and she could go home.

it was pretty exciting for me.

i got home, pillow petless, but with snacks and new nail polish. i let the dogs out, watched some tivo and ate my sourdough jack. i was home alone. in my new house. and feeling pretty good.

and then i needed to go upstairs...

i don't normally get weird about being home alone. but i started up the stairs, and then realized that the back door was open. the back door was open, because we don't have a doggie door installed yet. so when we are home, we just leave the back door open so the pups can go in and out whenever they want. but it suddenly occurred to me that if i went upstairs, and the dogs followed me, then someone could come in the back door unnoticed. and i watch enough tv to know that when someone sneaks in your back door, it never ends well.

i turned around and closed and locked the door. i started to set the alarm, but then remembered that i can't set the alarm if the upstairs windows are open. since we have a big covered patio, our upstairs windows are apparently vulnerable to intrusions. although, it seems to me that by the time a crazed criminal could scramble up onto our tiled roof and get through a window, the dogs would have alerted the whole neighborhood and mia would be waiting to eat him. or her. but who am i to argue with the security company...

so here i sit. all alone. by myself in my new house.

for three more days :-)

a forgotton blog...

so today . . . i wanted to blog. i really did. but it was a very average monday. my school kids were wild. i was tired. (why am i always more tired on monday after my weekend, than on friday after my work week?) so i looked in my "blogs i started, but for some reason never finished" file to see if there was anything in there worth salvaging. and there was. in fact, i found a complete blog that i had never posted.

that is unusual. there are times when i start a blog, and then it just doesn't work out. so i start over. or i give it up and go to bed, blogless. in fact, my "blogs i started, but for some reason never finished" file has 53 unfinished blogs in it...

...and one totally, completely finished one.

why didn't i post it? because it happened on august 2, 2010, which is also my mom's birthday, and i wanted to write a birthday blog about my mom. and then i wrote about how the cosmos hates me. and somehow, as i wrote blog after blog, i sort of forgot about this one. so here it is--a brand new old blog...

so today . . . i had a lunch meeting. with my daughter.

i love lunch meetings, mostly because it means i get to go out to lunch. diandra is the youth pastor at our church, and since i lead worship in the alternative service (which is her responsibility) we occasionally need to get together and work stuff out.

we met at chick-fil-a. i love chick-fil-a. you know why . . . we ate, we discussed important issues, and then . . .

"i need to go to target before i go home," i said. diandra perked right up. she loves target! "want me to come with you?" she graciously offered. that had kind of been my evil plan--i've never known her to turn down a trip to target. "yes," i said. "we can take my car and then come back for yours." chick-fil-a is conveniently located between our house and target.

so off we went. my mission? scissors and folders on sale at back-to-school prices. diandra's mission? keep me company--at least that was her obvious mission. you and i both know that the odds of her leaving target without any money leaving her wallet were slim.

we waded into enemy territory and were immediately met with temptation. why oh why do they put the cute dresses right inside the front door?!?! we looked, but we didn't touch. for at least a minute and a half. diandra kept saying, "why are we here?" oh yeah . . . school supplies. then we would head in that direction, until we got sidetracked once again. by the time we found the scissors and folders, diandra was holding two cute tops. to which i added 12 pairs of school scissors, because i couldn't hold the scissors and pick through the folders with only two hands. and we didn't have a cart, in order to discourage unplanned purchases (which was clearly not working all that well.) i was finding that the cheap 10 cent folders were not in great shape. i wanted unbent ones in a variety of colors, so it took some sorting. diandra kept saying, "why don't you just buy the packages of 10?" it was pure economics--the folders in the package were 15 cents each instead of 10 cents! she stood there trying to keep 12 pairs of scissors from falling out of her arms while i looked for perfect 10 cent folders. but there weren't a lot of color choices, so after several minutes of searching, i just grabbed two packages of the slightly more expensive (but also more colorful) folders and moved on. i ignored the daughterly eye roll . . .

we moved on to the shoe department--not because we were going to actually buy shoes, but because we were in target and you just never know... diandra was moving purposefully toward a pair of boots. i was preparing my motherly speech about how many pairs of boots does one girl really need, when i saw someone with a handbag exactly like mine in the next row! i found this somewhat surprising, in light of the provenance of my bag. i stepped back to get a better look . . . and realized i was looking into a mirror. (ok, in my defense we were in the shoe department and the mirror was short, so my face wasn't visible.)

we escaped from the shoe department and moved on to plastics. can i tell you how much i love plastic containers?!?!?! i have a very specific storage problem i am trying to solve, and i thought ice cube trays and plastic drawers might just do the trick temporarily. i found the plastic drawers, but didn't know if ice cube trays would fit inside. so we went in search of ice cube trays.

target does not appear to stock ice cube trays.

i find this odd. i think it is a little arrogant to assume that everyone has an automatic ice cube maker in their refrigerator. not everyone does, you know. and besides, ice cube trays can be used for many things, not the least of which is making flavored ice cubes!

i decided to take my chances and get the plastic drawers anyway. i already have ice cube trays at home, and if they don't fit, i am sure i can find another use for the drawers.

before checking out, we made a quick trip through the $1 section--or at least, what used to be the $1 section. now it is apparently the $2.50 section, which was somewhat disappointing. especially when you consider that $1 would be a much better price for most of the stuff found there.

we paid for our purchases and drove home. we both had projects we were anxious to begin. i pulled my car into the driveway, and thought, "oh, diandra isn't home . . . " except she was. she was sitting right next to me in my car. which was odd, because her jeep was no where to be seen . . .

. . . because it was still sitting in the chick-fil-a parking lot.

an identity crisis--no, not mine!

so today . . . i got this email from payless shoes:

Introducing the Payless bath & beauty collections by Unforgettable Moments and zoe&zac!‏

yes, you read that right. payless shoes will now be selling beauty and skin care products.

i am somewhat perplexed by this. i thought this was a shoe store. typically shoe stores sell... well... shoes. when they started selling socks and handbags, i thought, ok, i can kind of see the connection between socks and handbags and shoes. but then they started selling jewelry. and now, beauty products!

i admit that i have occasionally looked at the jewelry. i can't help it. it sparkles. but none of it has come home with me. and if i need beauty products, i am either going to go to shopping tv or ulta--payless shoes will never be able to compete with their selection. besides, there is just something wrong about buying beauty products in a shoe store!

i think some stores may be experiencing an identity crisis. maybe our current economic situation is fueling this diversification. a few months ago i got a flyer in the mail announcing that target would now be selling food. and not the kind of food they have always had--the snack foods, or the "oh no, we are out of milk" foods, or the"aaaggghhhhh! i'm on my way home from work and need something in a box that i can microwave for dinner and i have to stop at target anyway" kinds of foods. apparently now they are going to carry real food, just like the grocery store.

i know that some wal-marts have been doing this for a while--combining a grocery store with an all-purpose type store. but target?? no! leave my target alone!!

i love target. it is kind of my "go to" store. sadly, it is a well known fact that a person cannot go into a target and come out with only what was on their list. it is impossible! there are just too many choices. and they are genius at store layout. the most direct route from the door to the m&m's leads you right past the clothes. looking for toothpaste? better keep your blinders on or you will end up in cosmetics. socks and underwear? located just across the aisle from shoes--which are temptingly displayed on the ends of the rows. and just when you think you have successfully completed the gauntlet and emerged victorious with only those items on your list, you have to go to a cash register--the purgatory of impulse purchases. dvds, magazines, individual serving sized bags of chips (just sitting there taunting you with their crunchy, salty goodness... "don't feel guilty. just get one bag. your clothes will still fit--yes, those clothes you are buying that you didn't come in here to buy. they will still fit. i promise...") not to mention items from the $1 section, all clamor for a spot on the conveyor belt...

so real grocery store type food in target is going to be a problem for me.

first of all, i am concerned with what will be eliminated from their inventory to make room for this new section. personally, i think they could get rid of all kitchen items--except for toasters. and maybe the men's clothing section. i mean, really. do you know any men who shop at target?? the only men i ever see in there are... ok, i never see any men in there. i think target is sort of a 'girl's only' type store. men are going to buy their electronics online, their clothes at the mall (if you can get them to go!) and, well, do they buy anything else?!?

i guess as long as they don't decrease the electronics department, or women's clothes, shoes, and accessories, i will cope...

one afternoon diandra and i were headed to target for something (i don't know what we were going to get, and it doesn't even matter, because we were going to end up buying different stuff anyway,) and we discovered that those geniuses of store layout had struck again--because the food section was right in front of the doors and across the aisle from the clothes. and it looked pretty good! i thought the food would be priced at convenience store prices, but we were surprised to see that it was about the same as at the grocery store. we wandered through and bought quite a few things that we needed... no really, they were things we needed. unlike some of our target purchases. we got bananas, and hot pockets, and yogurt, and raisins, and lunchables.

ok, mostly diandra bought food. but i looked at what they had and found that i could buy most of my non-costco food items at target now...

...which is going to be an issue. because while it is very convenient for me to go to target, it holds so many more shopping traps than food 4 less.

but who knows. it may be just a matter of time before i can stop off at payless shoes for my groceries. they could make room, by eliminating the jewelry and beauty sections...

so much for "flee from temptation!"

so today . . . target failed me. and yet, also did not.

i want to dye my duvet cover. it started out kind of a nice taupe color, but then i spilled something on it that wouldn't come out. so i bleached it. but that turned it a kind of golden color. which was ok, but it wasn't even--it was splotchy. so now i am going to attempt to dye it dark green, which i hope will be pretty and also even out the splotchiness. if not, i guess i will have to buy a new one. so, win-win!

but the dye package says to add a cup of salt, and i don't have a cup of salt. i went to the grocery store after work without a list, because i only needed a few things and thought i could remember them all. i got everything on my list, and even a few extra things. and i was thinking about blogging my grocery shopping trip, because as i looked into my cart i realized that it looked much different than it would have a few years ago. it had apples and cucumbers and carrots and tiny tomatoes and whole grain bagels instead of potato chips and frozen pizzas and devil donuts. and i was thinking i could make a blog out of that, but then i realized it wasn't really funny--just interesting. and maybe not even interesting to anyone but me . . .

i drove home, took the groceries into the house, and went back out to the garage to dust and spot clean my car--because that is how i keep it looking all sleek and shiny--and that is when i saw the duvet cover by the washing machine and realized that i had forgotten to get salt!

i guess i needed a list.

about that time rollie called to see if i wanted to meet him for dinner, which of course i did, and on the way home i saw target looming in the distance.

i have a sort of love/hate relationship with target. i love it because there is such a variety of stuff--i can always find something that i "need." which is where the hate part comes in. because no matter what i go in to target to get, i almost always come out with something else too. it is nearly impossible for me to stick to my list in target! there is temptation everywhere--there are shoes and tops and sweaters and snacks and burt's bee chap sticks (oh shoot! i was going to get that while i was there today too! i have got to start keeping these lists in my phone!!) and hair clips and handbags and soft blankets and cds and dvds and magazines and all sorts of stuff that you can buy for $1!

i detoured into the parking lot and entered the store. i went to the food area to get the salt, only to find that target doesn't carry salt! this was a problem, because i was now in enemy territory and both of my hands were empty. so i took the only route i could--through the clothes and past the sales racks . . .

my brain had already conceded that i was going to exit through the check out line with something in my hand. it was now just a question of what. i had thought that it was going to be a container of salt. was it my fault that there was no salt? no. but i had made the extra stop and hated to waste the trip. and as i perused the sale racks i was rewarded--a light weight cardigan sweater printed in blues and greens in my size and on sale for only $6.98! how could i resist?

apparently i couldn't, because it now resides in my dresser drawer--with the 15 other light weight cardigan sweaters in various colors that i own. but that is a blog for another day . . .