Friday, April 6

Today is Good Friday. It is also Great-Granddaughter's birthday. Happy Birthday Great-Granddaughter!

We slept late this morning, until 8 a.m. We spent a leisurely morning, sipping coffee and watching the morning TV show. After breakfast, I did a treadmill session and resistance exercises.

Once I was ready for the day, I went to Mother's house to accompany her to our house, where I located a 300-piece jigsaw puzzle she hasn't worked for awhile, and she happily began work on it right away.

Before lunch, a Master Gardener, the organization's president, dropped by to leave a truckload of potted plants for the plant sale. She'd called earlier to say that due to a previously planned trip, she couldn't attend the sale, and she asked if Hubbie could take the plants to the sale along with his.

It was around 12:30 before we had lunch. Afterward, Hubbie worked in the yard, Mother continued working her puzzle, and I went shopping.

I was looking for a pair of white crop pants. Tried on several pairs. Some were so lightweight that they showed my underwear. Some hugged my figure in all the wrong places, like across the hips, where they emphasized my saddlebags.

I liked the looks of a pair of denim-like pants, but they didn't have them in my size. A helpful staff person went to the back to see if there was another pair. No dice. No problem, she declared. The store could order a pair, so we hurried to the back of the store.

Reaching the order desk, I mentioned that I wanted them for an event next Thursday. "Oh, sorry," she commented, "it could take seven to ten days for them to arrive."

"Well, that won't do," I said. "Okay," she said, panting a little from her two hurried trips to the back of the store, and directed me to another department, where there were also white crop pants.

After trying on several pairs, I found one with stove pipe legs that flatter my figure better. I also found a cute blouse on the $5 sale rack, but which actually cost $4 at checkout.

This store is the one that used to have a sale every weekend, but now displays racks with "low," and "best," prices, etc. The sales clerks are beyond eager to help customers, too. If you even remotely look like you're having problems locating something, they are right there with suggestions.

While I was waiting for a dressing room, a clerk hurried up to me and suggested that I go back to the lingerie department, where there was an open room. "We know you are busy," she said, "so we don't want you to have to stand around and wait for a dressing room."

Funny: the clerks routinely roam through the dressing room area scouting for clothing to return to racks. At one point, a woman came out of a dressing room wearing tagged clothing. She was on her way to a rack to look for a different size, or color, or something. The clerk, eager to be helpful, asked if it would be okay for her to clear the dressing room of unwanted clothing. The customer agreed.

A few minutes later, the clerk, carrying a pair of jeans and a shirt, stopped in her tracks on her way to a rack. "Oh, my gosh," she exclaimed, "these are the customer's personal clothes!"

From that store, I went to the other store that still has a sale every weekend. The only thing I found there was a cotton blouse on the sale rack. A tag on the blouse states that the garment was handwoven in India, so it features uneven patterns and colors. It's interesting, and since it was so inexpensive, even before I applied a 20% discount coupon, I decided to buy it. It's 100% cotton, but if it shrinks in washing, I won't feel like I've lost much.

Almost saw a collision on the parking lot as two vehicles in opposite parking lanes tried to back out at the same time. They were within inches of each other before loud honking from one of the vehicles stopped them from crashing.

My last stop was at the WDCS, where I hoped to find a bag for juicing veggies and fruits. Nope. Nothing in the canning department. An associate suggested I look for cheesecloth in the fabric department. No dice.

So I picked up yogurt for Mother and came back home. By now, it was around 4 p.m. Fifteen minutes later, I put frozen whole wheat pancakes in the oven, heated regular and raspberry syrups, and coffee, and we were ready to sit down to supper by 5 p.m.

Afterward, I accompanied Mother back to her house. Then Hubbie and I watched TV for the evening.