Friday, Oct. 12

Up around 7 a.m. to get ready for a trip a couple of hours east to take the trailer hitch for repair...one of the bolts sheared off. We left home about 8:30, and arrived in the other town just before 10:30. Encountered a strong storm just as we left...booming thunder, lightning, pouring rain that slowed traffic to a snail's pace. It was very cool today, too, despite predictions that the temp would rise to nearly 80 degrees.

Stopped at the repair shop first, and then went by Hubbie's daughter's house to deliver a 40 lb. box of sweet potatoes. She and her husband are off on a trip right now, but the potatoes will be fine on the carport until she returns.

From there, we went to the hobby shop. I actually didn't think we'd have time today to shop there, so I didn't bother to print coupons from the store's website. Mother enjoyed visiting the store, though, and we picked up several items already marked 40 and 50% off. I was particularly interested in her choosing papers she liked for creating an autumn page featuring a photo of her at the pumpkin patch we visited a few days ago. She spent several happy minutes choosing just the right papers.

Besides the papers, we found an inexpensive rubber stamp in the clearance bin. Paid full price, though, for glues and mounting squares.

From the hobby shop, we went to a favorite Italian restaurant, where we met Hubbie's two sisters for lunch. We all ordered the soup, salad, and breadsticks, as usual, along with a carafe of coffee for Mother.

When she couldn't drink it all, we asked for an extra cup for Hubbie. The waitress brought it, but she announced that she'd have to charge for an extra cup of coffee. Hubbie told her to take the cup back. Since his sister had ordered tea, she let him use her cup for coffee.

Hubbie then presented the waitress with a lunch coupon, which she later informed us was not valid on the soup, salad, breadsticks lunch. No extra cup, no discount. Irritating. "Well, this isn't the only restaurant in town," I commented. The waitress apologized, and I told her it wasn't her fault...she isn't in charge of the policies of the restaurant.

But I figure she'll relay my displeasure to the powers that be. The extra cup thing is a real gouging tactic of the restaurant. After all, we were paying for the coffee, not the cup. They'd have had to throw away the unused coffee, anyway. Not a very good way of building customer goodwill, seems to me.

Hubbie treated his sisters today, since one of them is celebrating a birthday. He also presented the "birthday girl" with a card and gift card from her favorite bookstore.

After lunch, we visited the mall, where I used a coupon for a free lingerie item from a popular lingerie shop. Also had a coupon for free sample bottle of cologne. The $10 coupon I received at the same time as the free ones, I gave to my sister-in-law, who said her daughter could use it.

Stopped by the mall bookstore, hoping to find a little congratulations gift for my ESL student, but nothing caught my eye.

So we left the mall and went to the warehouse store. Mother, who had stayed in the van while we in the mall, agreed to shop with us in the warehouse store. At this store, when Hubbie tried to get the wheelchair out of the van, one of the footrests came off, and he was unable to put it back on. So Mother had to ride with both feet on one footrest.

We picked up a lot of things at this store, many of which were ordered by Sis. We were fortunate here, that the store agreed to let us exchange large packages of printer ink cartridges that are the wrong number for our new printer, for packages of cartridges we are able to use. We feared that since it had been more than 30 days since we purchased the ink, they might not agree to the exchange.

It was about 2:30 when we headed back home. As soon as we got back, I accompanied Mother to her house. When I walked in the door at home, Hubbie uttered an expletive. "What!" I asked. He repeated the expletive. "What is wrong!" I asked.

"I forgot to pick up the trailer hitch," he said. Omigosh! The hitch was the whole purpose of the trip! Now we'd have to go back for it. I went to Mother's house to alert her to be ready for another trip tomorrow.

While I was there, Hubbie came in to say he'd called the shop, and found out they hadn't been able to fix the hitch with the bolt they had and would need to find another bolt. They'll call us Monday about when to go pick up the hitch.

It was just as well, since Hubbie is supposed to help the Master Gardeners with a bulb sale downtown in the morning. There's also an antiques and crafts event going on downtown that I might like to browse.

I thought I might also make a congratulations card for my student, and go to the greeting card shop to see if I can find a little gift for her. Plenty to do tomorrow without making an extra trip.

Later, I mulled over ideas about what to have for supper, and while reading the evening newspaper, noticed a little announcement that a local school was having their annual fall festival tonight that included barbecue sandwiches, slaw, chips, and cookies. the festival also featured a silent auction.

We've attended this festival each year for several years, so decided to take it in again tonight. The festival started at 5 p.m. and ran until 8 p.m., but it was nearly 7 p.m. before we arrived.

The barbecue sandwiches were very generous. I had the sandwich with slaw, and gave my chips and cookies to Hubbie.

When we finished our meal, we visited the silent auction. We had only 30 minutes to bid on items, but by closing time at 7:30, I think I won a few bids...on a cutting board, a bicycle helmet, a Santa Christmas figurine with votive candle, and a candle in a jar. Winners will be notified on Monday.

Back home, we watched TV for a while, including the 1992 movie, "Bram Stoker's Dracula," Dracula, starring Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, and Keanu Reeves.