The purge (and preparing for a birthday dinner)

[ar_wahan]

A busy and productive day!   I did end up buying the $119 pressure washer yesterday, but haven't used it yet. Tomorrow, tomorrow...

Instead, today I ...

I pulled out the underbed plastic storage bins with my warm-weather clothes and swapped them out with the winter ones.

I have waaaay too many clothes. Many of them were sent to me by my mother, who loved to find bargains on Senior Citizen Discount Day (first Wednesday of the month!) at the Portland, OR, Junior League Thrift Shop. Then, when I cleaned out her home after her death, I brought some of her own duds back with me, partly for sentimental reasons, and partly because some of them were really nice.

So now I have too much stuff. I did the ol' "have I worn it in the last year?" and, especially in regards to my mom's stuff, "have I *ever* worn it?" closet purge and filled a big contractor's size trash bag, which is now in my car to donate. I'm not sure which place to take it too, though. Some of the stuff is rather vintage, and Salvation Army here has a "vintage" section. But if I took it to the Amherst Survival Center, no one would have to pay for the clothes. There is also a new thrift shop that just opened up here to raise funds for a local (residential) hospice. That's probably what I should do. What they don't want, I'll take to the Survival Center.

I exchanged some emails with clients, wrote up and sent off my notes from a two-hour stained glass committee meeting (open to any church member) with the restoration consultant that we had yesterday, made sure I had hearing protection for when I do use the pressure washer (found where my husband keeps the ones he wears when mowing the lawn), and considered washing the deck. But when my husband (who had taken the day off, it being his birthday) said he'd probably come back from fishing around 8 p.m., I realized it would be too dark (and chilly) to grill on the deck, even if it was sparkling clean.

So... I made a run to Trader Joe's. Passed spouse's truck parked near a stream along the way. He likes oriental fried shrimp, so I bought some tempura shrimp (frozen), a low-fat chicken-vegetable stirfry (frozen), and a tiny chocolate cake, which he might eat a tiny piece of... since it's his birthday, we MUST have a cake, yes? It's been a tradition since Samurai was little! (I remember how devastated she was when once on my birthday -- and this was in pre-insulin-pump diabetes days -- I didn't have a cake!)  Since he likes jelly beans, I also picked up a little box of those.

Heading home, I peered across the freshly planted field in the stream's floodplain to see if I could spot him fishing. I've never been able to do so from the road before (once, when she was little, Samurai and I surprised him by following the stream downstream from his parked truck).

I could actually make him out (his back to me, and his net hanging down his back from a strap on his fishing vest), at a place where the fringe of woods along the stream bank had a little break.

""They look so peaceful when they're sleeping fishing..."

I thought of putting the jelly beans on his car seat as a surprise, but then realized I didn't have the keys. Then thought of sticking them under his windshield wiper. But as I approached the part of the road where he'd parked, a car was tailgating me, so I just kept going.

(FYI, Samurai got him a Bender (from Futurama) Bobble-head Doll. I got him the just-out-on-DVD film The Queen, which we'd all wanted to see in the theater, but never got to.)

At home, I talked to Samurai about revising the car payment schedule because of the new(er) car, which cost more. (Some of you were privy to a filtered post about this, in which I asked for help figuring things out, since I was soooo confused....:P ) After her insurance payments, even  with the surcharge, she definitely has enough for the car payments, but I want her to have some money to play with, too. Depending on the monthly payment she chooses, she can pay the car off in 36 months, 42 months or 50 months. Or she could shorten the time by making additional payments, which she was in fact planning to do this month anyway. Now if I added in interest (which I am not charging her), she'd really get a lesson in why financial advisers suggest that people make additional payments towards principal whenever they can!

Actually, the suggested payments are based on her current monthly wages, which could go up this summer if she works longer or additional days; minimum wage will also go up next January. Or, she could get a better-paying job. This is just the place where we're at now.

We have warnings of scattered frost tonight, so I will bring my herbs and the Brandywine tomato inside, and then start some rice to go with The Honorable Trader Joe's Previously Cooked Frozen Chinese Birthday Dinner.

Comments

Scattered frost?

[be4u.livejournal.com]

This late in the season? Wow!

Re: Scattered frost?

[ar-wahan.livejournal.com]

Yep, Memorial Day is the traditional safe-from-frost planting day here.

[gngr.livejournal.com]

Oopsie, I assumed in the latter entry that you were going out to dinner. Nevermiiiiiind. :P

[ar-wahan.livejournal.com]

No, Trader Joe's is an unusual grocery store that has unusual things at pretty good prices. You'd like it, If you end up in your studio in NW Portland near the Stadium, there is one on the bus line, maybe even within walking distance, just off NW 21 or 23rd on, um, maybe Flanders?

But since my husband does the dishes... eventually (may take a few days), they will be done, so yes, I don't have to do dishes.

[gngr.livejournal.com]

I didn't catch the name of the store in the rantish entry. There's a Trader Joe's in Beaverton, too. YUM! THEY GIVE GOOD BRIE!

[teal-cuttlefish.livejournal.com]

I'd love to have access to a Trader Joe's here, but until Colorado repeals the blue law that prevents grocery stores from selling alcohol, it isn't going to happen. It's a shame; they're a neat store, and generally affordable too.

[ar-wahan.livejournal.com]

Strange... Massachusetts also has that same blue law, but Trader Joe's seems just fine with not selling alcohol here! Selective corporate complaining seems to be going on.

[teal-cuttlefish.livejournal.com]

Interesting. That's the reason they give on their corporate website. Ah well, I just have to live with it, whatever the reason.

Now youi've got me wondering

[ar-wahan.livejournal.com]

I did a search to see if there were other Trader Joe's in MA. There are.
And two of the four in the Boston area sell alcohol!

There was a ballot measure a while ago to allow wine and beer to be sold in grocery stores with the permission of the city fathers. I thought it failed... Maybe it just failed locally.

Re: Now youi've got me wondering

[teal-cuttlefish.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Now that you mention it, I do think it's the wine restriction that is keeping TJ's out. I think that in CO, one store of a chain can sell wine, if it isn't a grocery store. We have Cost Plus Imports, and only one of their stores sell wine. I know it's an odd maze of legislation.

[missmelysse.livejournal.com]

One of the things I miss most about California is Trader Joe's - there isn't one in Texas (we have Cost Plus World Market though, so there's hope).

[starlitemoon.livejournal.com]

Wow--you're energy amazes me! I know I tell you that alot but I really mean it! I'm always impressed by how many things you're doing at the same time. You're my hero! The birthday dinner sounds delicious, and I hope it goes well. (I'm sure it will) :-)