a good rain

I awoke this AM to find rain pouring down, but no wind. That's a good thing, as it means my flowering plum tree is still upright! It was dark and gloomy at 6:30 and when I went out to get the newspaper, it was lying in a puddle and very wet. They even had two plastic bags on it, but when it's in a puddle, what can you do? So, here's what I do: I have all the pages of the sections I read (omitting sports and obituaries) spread on the dining room/kitchen floor. They will be dry by the time I return home from my stint at the hospital gift shop. However, I may just buy another paper at the hospital, if there are any in the machine. I'm such a creature of habit - I really want to read the AM paper in the AM! Silly me!

Anyway, with no paper to read and an hour to kill before heading off, I thought it was a good time to blog. Yesterday was a good day for me, although perhaps not as good a day for my pocketbook. First thing, I went to a book sale being held at a nearby senior center. They had LOTS OF BOOKS and their prices were sooooo cheap! I ended up with 10 paperbacks for just $2, a real bargain. However, the best thing was that there were many home and garden books on sale for only $3 each. You know the kind - oversize and with many photographs. I bought six, including one quilt book. The home decor books are fun to read and I will pass them on to my friend Patty and then probably to a thrift shop, so that someone else can enjoy a bargain.

My shopping experience did not stop after the book sale. I had an interesting coupon from Borders with many different offerings. Did I mention that book stores are a particular weakness of mine? Maybe you already figured that out! I actually did very well - only bought one book, one CD, and a magazine. Coupons reduced the prices on all of these. Oh yes, I forgot - I also used a coupon that gave me a free beverage (Seattle Coffee) when I bought a pastry. So I had a delicious oatmeal and cranberry cookie and a decaf latte. My daughter orders lattes whenever we are at a coffee shop, so I thought I'd try one. I think they are ok, but would be better with syrup. (Yeah, I have a sweet tooth.)

After Borders, I walked to the next store which is JoAnn's. It's so convenient, having them side-by-side. I managed to resist buying any fabric, despite the huge sale going on there. Truth is that I cannot remember what fabric I already have, so am not buying any more at JoAnn's for a while. There is wonderful fabric store that I will be visiting next week when I'm in western New York State. I'm sure I'll find irresistible fabric there.

My last stop was Michaels. I've been looking, unsuccessfully, for two little flat songbirds to put on the birdhouse door hanging I bought at a yard sale recently. I finally did find some at Michaels (in Columbia). My local store didn't have any - it's not nearly as good as the one in Columbia. (Probably because Columbia is up-scale, so all the chain stores are better there.)

So - a very successful day, all in all. Among other 'accomplishments' this week is this: I cleared all the junk off the dining table!! Those of you who are inherently neat, won't understand why this is an accomplishment. However, those of us who struggle with stuff everywhere understand how good it feels. Of course this only lasted one day, but there are only a couple of items on the table now and I have hopes of keeping it pretty clear. LOL