the trip report

1. I needed a day off and a day out. I feel a lot better now.

2. Despite that, I will say I think eventually I will need to try to acquire a friend/friendly acquaintance/significant other/someone I can bribe with the offer of buying their lunch to come out shopping with me to serve as an insulator from the rude, pushy, self centered people:

           a. Couple at the gas station having an ugly, loud argument, using language I would never use around anyone ever in front of their four or five year old kid. Cause: apparently, was that the guy was nearly out of cigs and his wife/girlfriend didn't want him to buy more.

          b. Someone who pushed in front of me in line at a store. (I am not much better than Fluttershy at asserting myself in these cases; I tend to sigh and go, "Well, okay, fine, if it really matters to you to get out of here two minutes faster than you might otherwise")

         c. Someone who did a very risky, between-two-close-cars pass, immediately cut me off.....and then got off at the very next exit, which came up less than 30 seconds after they pulled that maneuver. If they had just stayed behind me (& I was going almost the speed limit), they would have got where they were going very nearly as soon.  


Is everyone else becoming super grumpy and impatient or am I just noticing it more?


3. Treehugger has jumped into the next slot in the Ponies To Be Made line. (I will use the good old Elisabeth Doherty "Friends Forever Fawn" pattern with mods to make it a pony). I found just the right shade of green, and even better, it's Vanna's Choice, which is my absolute favorite yarn for amigurumi, because it's 100% acrylic so it's sturdy and holds its shape, but it's nicer on the hands than some other 100% acrylics. (I got a tiny blister on my tensioning finger from the RHSS for Dr. Whooves). I also found the best possible "dreadlocks" yarn - a dark burgundy-ish red that is a twist/ombre with orange and brown - so it will look enough like her hair without my having to change colors, which can be a pain with i-cord.

4. Found yet another "house" teapot - this one a British made "mill" shape - sold as part of a set with a cream and sugar that were NOT from the same line, those were Japanese-made (knockoffs of the British version?) Interestingly, they are subtly different from the Japanese ones I found earlier, different paint job and the lid on the sugar fits better.


5. Also found a couple books:

This first one is a book of "southern Country Living" and some recipes (there's one for squirrel pie) but some of you will guess the REAL reason I bought it. (It was cheap enough, and anyway, some of the recipes look interesting. Just not the one for squirrel pie)

I also bought a nice old copy of Magnificent Obsession, which, yes, I know was a movie, but I read a few pages of the book trying to decide whether to buy it and decided I want to read it (I think it's a little different from the movie).

And then this:

It's called "One Thousand Beautiful Things" and is a nice older (1947) compilation volume of poetry, abridged short stories, quotations, passages from religious writings, etc. that are designed to be uplifting or inspiring. I like things like that where you can kind of dip into it when you need something short to read but can also play the game of "how many of these passages have I read before"? Also I think it will be interesting to see "what did people value some 65 years ago, how is it different from what we would value today?"

I paid $8 for the book; when originally published it was $5, which is sort of interesting.  An online inflation calculator I found claims: "$5.00 in 1947 had the same buying power as $54.61 in 2015."

I....don't know about that. That seems AWFULLY high. Would someone REALLY have paid that much for a fairly simple book in 1947? I pay $55 or more for the occasional Folio Society book but they are very, very special books. (Another online converter said about 42 dollars. Man..... Or maybe I just really am a cheap wench)

This is surprising to me because my mother's family was pretty much working-class when she was growing up and yet they had a lot of books around, judging from what we inherited,  and she talks about how they would occasionally buy books when they went into one of the bigger towns or order them from the catalogs. I suppose you spend money on what you value. (And it's amazing to me that $5 - which is really practically petty change to me - would have been worth that much that long ago. I guess back then things like knitting your own sweaters and sewing your own clothes really DID save money)

6. I had a good coupon at JoAnn's (saved about $70 total with all I bought, well over 2/3of what I spent) and got a backing for the Far Far Away quilt - a fabric in a stylized floral design but it's similar enough in style and in color to some of the patterns that it will be good, and it's one from the line of nice-quality American-made fabrics they've begun carrying. I also bought a backing for a quilt I've had hanging around as a top for a long, long time - it's made out of fabrics inspired by Texas wildflowers and the fabric I bought for the backing has big bluebonnets on it and declares it's the state flower of Texas - and it has a really nice "retro" feel to it, like some of the old souvenir pillows or towels you sometimes see. I should wash that up and seam it up and think about getting that one in to have it quilted. (I also got Treehugger's yarn there. And I bought a tiny "tree of life" charm - I was looking for a peace sign but could not find one, but this will be just as good - and a bit of hemp cord (of COURSE Treehugger would wear a necklace with hemp cord) so she can have a pendant to wear. That kind of little detail pleases me inordinately much. And no, Treehugger didn't wear a pendant in the show but I don't care)