Saturday, Sept. 17

Slept late, until 8 a.m. It was a glorious morning, so after breakfast, Hubbie and I suited up to ride bicycles. We rode up and down hills, past a manure-scented pasture of cows; past a pasture with a sign on a post warning folks to watch out for children at play, near which stood a horse that was obviously curious about us; past a house with a yard sale sign out front (we decided to visit the sale on our trip back); past a ditch full of wild morning glories, their dewy blooms turned up to the sun; past an equestrian school, where a helmeted young girl on horseback was intently listening to her instructor; past a house where a large black dog ran barking out to the road, yapping at Hubbie just inches from his leg; and past another house with a pair of small yapping dogs that decided it was too much trouble to race all the way out to the road.

At the yard sale, we found an artificial Christmas tree that I felt would work in our living room...the tree we have now is many years old and the worse for wear. Neither of us had any money on us, but the older couple at the sale agreed to reserve the tree until we could go back to pay for it.

As soon as we got back home, Hubbie returned to pay for the tree, asking the couple to hang on to it, while we continued visiting yard sales around town. Mother joined us in our excursion.

We stopped first at a church fellowship hall downtown. I found a paperback classic book there, and Hubbie found new bottles of his favorite brand of hand lotion, at twenty-five cents each, and a roll of weed eater line, also for a quarter.

Mother didn't find anything, but we were all given "goodie bags" that contained treat bags of salted peanuts/candy corn, or homemade cookies, plus little paperback copies of the New Testament, and brochures about the church. Members of the congregation also offered donuts, with a choice of regular or decaf coffee, orange juice, or water. We all enjoyed the sinfully delicious chocolate covered donuts. Very nice of the church to do this for its customers.

From there, we visited several other yard sales. Since it was already around 11 a.m., things were pretty picked over, but I did find a China dessert plate that will go with my collection, and a silk-like mandarin jacket, black with red and gold paisley design. The jacket is actually polyester, but it feels very silky. It was only $3.

Back home, while Hubbie went after the Christmas tree, I heated the tomato soup for lunch. Mother and I had slices of toast with cheese melted on them with our soup, and Hubbie had a ham sandwich with his. For dessert, we each had two of the half dozen cookies that Mother got in her goodie bag. I had the chocolate chip ones, and Mother and Hubbie had the raisin spice ones. After having not only donuts, but also cookies today, Hubbie and I had better settle for fruit or popcorn as a snack later!

In exchange for the cookies, Mother agreed to take a bag of candy corn (the candy has yellow dye, so I can't eat it). Hubbie will eat all the salted peanuts.

After lunch, Mother and I planned the menu for next week, and then Hubbie and I went shopping. We started at a grocery store to pick up bread and cottage cheese, then went to another grocery store for lasagna noodles. From there, we stopped at Walgreen to get the buy-one-get-one-for-50%-off nail polish.

Disappointed again with Walgreen. The clerk had a coupon for $1 off of the nail polish, but when she tried to do the buy-one-get-one, the register wouldn't accept it. She said it was because the base coat of polish I wanted was not considered nail polish. That store finds endless ways to rip off its customers!

On we went to the WDCS to buy the rest of the groceries we needed. Our last stop was the gas station.

Back home, Mother struggled with the 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle she chose, but only managed to complete the border. I convinced her to abandon that puzzle and let me help her choose something less challenging. She's now working on a 300 piece puzzle.

While she did that, and Hubbie watched a football game on TV, I went up to my office computer and downloaded snapshots of Hubbie's new great-granddaughters, which I then uploaded to his social network site.

By the time I finished that, it was time to start supper. Tonight, we had leftover beef hash, with fried eggs, and toast with either peach preserves or raspberry preserves, and hot coffee. Very satisfying.

Mother went home afterward, and Hubbie and I settled in to watch our favorite college football team play to a win.