Monday, August 30

Awoke to a rainy morning. It has been a long while since we got rain, so we are grateful for it. Had trouble getting my day started, though, and I was a little later arriving at the college for water aerobics.

The parking lot was nearly full, and I began to think I wouldn't find a space. But there were a few open at the very top of the hill, near the student union. Fortunately, it had quit raining by the time I had to hike the distance to gym.

The pool was a bit cool, but felt good once I was in it for a few minutes. I only had about fifteen minutes to swim in the deep end, though, before aerobics started. There was a nice crowd on hand today...twenty-four of us. More than that and the pool would be too crowded.

Back home, once I was ready for the day, I worked again at purging my office...lots more books went to the tote for storage until we can donate them to a fundraising event. And another pile of "stuff" went to a trash bag.

After lunch, Hubbie and I ran errands...to a grocery store for cottage cheese, to a pharmacy to pick up prescriptions for both Mother and me, to the bank, to a health store for multi-vitamins, and to the WDCS for a few items.

As usual at that store, we had trouble finding what we wanted, because they have rearranged everything in their remodeling efforts.

As we were proceeding down an aisle, a store associate said, "Don't you just love these wide aisles?"

"Yes," I agreed, "but I can't find anything."

"What are you looking for?" she asked, helpfully.

"Jelly," I said.

The associate got a very puzzled look on her face. "I know we have jelly," she said, "because I remember stocking it."

"See," I said, "even you don't know where anything is in this store, and you work here."

"I think it's on that aisle," she said, pointing and laughing, and set off in search of it. When she hadn't returned in a few minutes, we searched for it ourselves, and eventually located it....not in the direction the associate, who must have gotten lost in very bowels of the store, had pointed.

On the way home, we noticed that the other discount store was having a going-out-of-business sale. A big sign declared that items were on sale for up to 40% off. Since we had perishable groceries in the van, we came home and unloaded, and then went back to the store.

Aisle after aisle in that store had 10% off signs, one or two had 20% off signs, and I only saw one with a 30% off sign...no 40% off. But I guess 30% is considered "up to" 40%.

I bought a stack of word search puzzle books, originally marked one dollar each, so I got them for 80 cents. The cover price on the books was $3.95 each.

While I was browsing through the books, a reporter from our local newspaper asked if he could interview me, because the store wouldn't let him bring a camera or any sort of recording equipment into the store.

He wanted to know if I was surprised the store was closing, and I said I was not, adding that anytime Hubbie and I drove past, only two or three cars were on the parking lot. I'd frequently commented that I didn't know how the store stayed in business.

The reporter wanted to know what I thought the reason is for the store's lack of business. I remarked that I thought the store was hoping to catch the overflow from the WDCS, but that the everything's a dollar store had snatched that business away from them. All three stores are located within spitting distance of each other (figuratively speaking).

After we got home, Hubbie and I continued our office cleaning project. Again, I discarded a bunch of books, and Hubbie washed the shelves. Now, I have a dozen more neatly organized or empty shelves. That completes the book shelves. But there are two cabinets, and six file drawers that still need attention, as well as a jumbled closet.

Mother stayed at our house most of the day. For supper, she heated the leftover autumn stew from last night, and boiled a few more noodles to go with. We had this with canned biscuits and apple butter. Earlier in the afternoon, I made a batch of tapioca to have with our supper.