ain't it great . . .

retail therapy that is.

my little excursion into FitBit-ism sort of mushroomed as things in my life often do.  i have a friend who got the one i wanted for christmas but for finishing grad school, her parents have gifted her with an apple watch . . . no need for the FitBit so she sold to me at a much reduced cost.

now watch the snowball . . . i have been holding onto my old iPhone 4 for way too long.  it gets lousy reception at home.  it's slower than cold molasses running uphill.  it takes lousy photos.  ad nauseam.  the reason i have kept it?  my car's audio system is set up for the iPhone 4.  the real reason i've kept it?  there are three voice messages from the 9TS still on it.

unfortunately, it is not compatible with the FitBit Charge.  off to ATT for a looky loo.  but first, we whine to kidlet, who being very used to me, grabbed my phone, plied her magic and emailed me the three voicemails which are now safely on my computer.  YAY!  there being too many options.  too many.  i settle on the iPhone 6 rather than the iPhone 6+ . . . i mean really, there is a limit to my spending.  sort of.

still watching the snowball?  i have to run to Best Buy to get an adaptor so my new iPhone fits in my sound system.  and i need a new case.  and a glass protector . . . i ruined the last one in less than 24 hours.  so while i was at the mall, another snow storm brewed as i headed off to look at a pair of white crop NYDJ's.  can i help it if my body is not streamlined like a 12 year old?  do i even want a 12 year old body?  then stop making woman's jeans without curves and making me pay exorbitant prices for the only pair that does fit my bod.  a quick stop at the vet for chub reducing food for Ninja and Bear and the pet store for fattening food for Pip.  and then home to pick up kidlet who agreed to check out the sales at Loft with me.  i mean in for a penny, in for a pound.  who ordered the blizzard?

she found one dress she liked.  i found one i liked.  i found a dark gray dress i asked her to try on.  it fits her curves beautifully and will fill the ticket for a dress for the rehearsal dinner for jen and tim in december.  happy birthday present kidlet!!!  i tried to return one dress i am iffy about but karma was not blessing me today as the return policy was 45 days and this was day 46.  not to worry.  it will get worn.

lunch at panera's.  two happy campers.  one broken wallet.  thanks for the blessings of being able to afford the purchases.  namaste.

and then one friday . . .

got up early for a meditation class followed by yin/restorative yoga.  i think mother nature knew i was going to need the extra zen and who am i to mess with karma.

lee and i decided a couple of days ago we'd head to corky bell's for lunch.  for those not from the area, it is located in palatka, a laid back little burg on the st. john's river which spellcheck seems determined i type as palate.  sigh.

anyway, my little roadster, in it's 16th year, is not really spry enough to do the 120 mile round trip and since lee is not a fan of driving any distance further than her driveway, i got to captain her infinity convertible and i have a serious case of car envy.  that bugger can haul tush.

we decided to take a new route north but since my brain cells are on the downswing, i forgot which turn to make and we ended up in the woods . . . very gorgeous woods . . . but woods nonetheless.  miles out of our way.  not something that causes an issue when the top is down, the a/c is blasting, the music is good and . . . well, you get the idea.

corky bell's is a classic florida river joint but they have some seriously down-home good food.  while boring in my cuisine habits, i gulped down copious amounts of blackened shrimp, deep fried cod, fries, crunchy coleslaw and the best darn hush puppies under the sun . . . and i am not a pup fan.  slurp.  lee on the other hand was all about fried oysters and fried shrimp, broccoli cheese casserole and okra/tomatoes over rice.  dear lawd, let the bingeing begin.

since we were gone longer than expected due to my sagging inter cranial functions, i texted kidlet and asked her to play frisbee with dez for whom we have the pleasure of sitting.  she, who has a crush on that dog, went over to let her play and wee.  mission accomplished, she wandered back home only to discover the garage door was no longer functioning and she was locked out.  OUT!  OUT!  OUT!

we were about 20 minutes out when we got the call.  nothing to be done until we got there.  color her not to happy . . . she's been having a rough week.

my first thought was a bad battery in the door remote but remembering i had changed in less than three months prior, we ruled that out.  a call to the garage door company was less than helpful, none of us feeling the need to camp out until monday.  kidlet's suggestion was to open the #&$^% front door with my key but of course since i wasn't driving, it was hanging inside the house on the key hanger kidlet made in middle school. we had a key to the screen door of the pool but that wouldn't get us in the sliders.  finally lee asked if joanie didn't have a key.  BINGO!!!  we rushed over to joanie's and gathered up our key.  here's the deal:  it would have opened the front door if we hadn't locked the screen door.  it would have opened the side door into the garage if the deadbolt hadn't frozen from lack of use.  ditto the back door into the man cave.  back to step one.  short of calling a locksmith, lee and i toddled around to the corner store in search of a 9v battery.  ta-da!!!! worked like a charm.

after lee departed for a saner sanctuary, i tried to loosen the bolts with wd-40.  unfortunately if i can't fix it with that or duct tape, i am out of luck.  i'll need to call a locksmith before the battery runs out a second time.

did i mention while i remembered sunblock on my face, i forgot my arms.  7,952 new freckles and some dayglo pink later  . . .

it was a good.  good. day.

how a cat tells you something . . .

if you're only seven pounds and you're spitting mad that someone else is on your pool deck, you puff up to as big as you can get . . . even though you are tiny . . . and go on the attack even though your adversary weighs 22 pounds.  do you stop there?  no, you attack again and again and again.

if your food gatherers are mightily delayed because they are soaking up the evening shade on the pool deck instead of feeding you when you think you need to be fed??  you relieve yourself in the very spot your mama sits on her bed so she is sure to notice.

free cats.  one night only.

the not so itsy bitsy spider . . .

friday mornings, i have yoga.  no phones allowed.  out of habit, i check my phone as soon as i get in the car.  sure enough, there is a video from kidlet with much screeching and then something about having had to call my friend joanie who lives across the street.  between the glare and my sunglasses, there was no way i could actually see the video.

as i walked in the house, kidlet pounced.  "it was this big." she yelled holding her hands as wide as they would go.  "i had to get joanie.  she got it and took it across the street."  of course i'm assuming spider because they are the only things that bring her immediately into tears and hysterics.

and so i called joanie to thank her for rescuing my daughter from the hippopotamus sized spider which had dared to show his head in her bathroom.  she assured me it was not a problem but that she could neither kill the critter nor place it anywhere it might find its way home so she dumped it in her neighbors yard.  

that's the end of the story except that she has now moved her showering essentials upstairs into my bathroom.  gah.

i was coming down the stairs this morning on my way to lunch with nancy when i heard the two octave high howl emanating from my daughter.  she stood frozen in one spot pointing to her bedroom door.  and there sitting as nice as could be was mrs. spider.  a huge old gal.  not being as sweet as joanie, i grabbed a paper towel and anniliated the beastie in one quick grab followed by a death grip squeeze.

just because i like to share:

cheers!