Out and About

So many things - so little time...

I spent the better part of today out running various errands that I needed to get done before leaving town. I wanted to get most of it done on the off chance that we get some much needed rain tomorrow as the hurricane makes landfall in south Texas.

I have been trying to sell some things on Amazon in order to make a little extra money - so far it's been really nice because unlike Ebay... once you list something on Amazon it stays listed until it sells or you take it down. So, my first item sold last night, and I went to get it shipped off to California...

From there, I headed to a family friend's house... this is a long time friend of my Mom's that has gotten cancer in the last year or so, and is about to sell her house in order to move closer to her kids. My Mom had a few things at her house from back when they were roommates, so I drove over to pick those things up... and ended up spending a good hour or so just chatting with Joyce. She's like a third Mom to me in a lot of ways, and I've always enjoyed hanging out with her.

From there, I swung into Lane Bryant to see if I could find a bathing suit there for a cheaper price... well, come to find out - they don't even sell bathing suits at any of the LB stores in my area. They didn't carry them at all this year... weird. I tried on a bunch of different tops - as they were having a sale, but I really didn't find anything. I found one top that was really cute, but it was $50 as it is a new item for the fall - and I just couldn't justify paying that today. I'm going to have to spend some money on clothes here in a couple of weeks - or go to work naked... and I know that no one would appreciate that! Maybe I'll try my luck at TJ Maxx or Ross... or ask my frugal friend Renee for some ideas... since the clothes are hopefully only temporary purchases.

After my little shopping trip - I went to the nail salon... it's my one indulgence that I got to keep when the budget got tightened... and I really think it was more about me having nails in order to scratch John's back and head. He's basically a cat... so I spend a lot of time scratching his back... but at least I get to have nice looking hands as part of the trade off. Right?

Finally - I headed to Wal-Mart because I needed an ingredient for dinner (that's a story for later in the post), and wanted to look into a couple of things for the trip. I gave it one last effort to see if I could find a bathing suit, and I didn't see any adult bathing suits in the store - only juniors and kids... but I did find workout shorts and shirts/tank tops for $6 a piece! They had them in lots of different colors... so I bought two sets. I will wear them as I get back into working out, and on the trip - I'll use one set as a bathing suit. HA! It ought to be a funny sight, but it'll work - and again it's family.

Dinner - well, I'd planned on making a really nice dinner for John... chicken stroganoff. It's my lower fat version, and it's really good... but it involves layering ingredients, and it takes about an hour to make the sauce... well I got down to the second to last step in the recipe, and it called for me to put in beef broth... somehow I got some that had expired - and not only did it smell nasty, but John and I both sampled the mixture after I'd added it, and it was DISGUSTING! It tasted like some sort of weird chemical had been added to it. So I scrapped the mushroom sauce and ended up making spaghetti (low carb noodles) with homemade tomato sauce, and chicken on top... not exactly what I'd planned, but I ended up pulling out a nice dinner before John had to leave for worship team practice.

It's never dull around here...