I figured that it was probably the colder conditions, but, having had that flat driving to the station LAST Christmas, I figured it was prudent to check (I had not checked the tire pressure within the past couple weeks - it's a chore I tend to forget). Yeah, both rear tires were low, so I dragged out the little pump I keep (it's one of those you can run off the cigarette lighter, it is a very convenient thing to have) and pumped them up. That shut off the light and I guess I was safe for the rest of the drive. But it did slow me down. (And I was slightly surprised no one checked to see if I was okay; usually around here someone does if they see you fussing around your car. I HAD pulled off at an exit and was in a parking lot so it wasn't like I was on the side of the interstate).
I didn't spend much time in Denison, as I was getting hungry for lunch. I did go to a new-to-me store called Kaboodles. I *think* they are in the old shop that used to be Epiphanies Used Books; there was still a tiny corner in one end of the store devoted to that. (I miss Epiphanies. There's another used-book store in Denison now, but Epiphanies had more "scholarly" type books and also just had a more interesting vibe - one of the owners was involved with the local Orthodox church and I often saw the Orthodox priest in there).
But anyway. They do have some cool local or semi-local things:
The yarn is from an alpaca farm that is in Gainesville (not terribly far away from Denison - west on 82). The soap is from the monastery where a former Denison resident that the shop owner knows is now a monk. (One of those is "St. Theresa's Roses." I don't like most flowery scents but I do like plain rose scent, and this is pretty good rose).
Here's a close-up of the vintage costume jewelry pin I bought. I thought it would be fun to put on my coat for Christmas:
After lunch, I ran over to the Sherman shop (I tend to find more things I like there, and also, unlike the big antiques mall in Denison, they don't have a radio blaring)
I bought a couple more vintage-y ornaments:
A white reindeer. He is the match to the teal alicorn I bought a month or so back. Of course, I had to buy him because they match now. (I am too good at these kinds of imaginings but now I think of them as childhood friends who got separated for a long time and are now back together. And yes, the reindeer and the alicorn came from different sellers, so....)
And another reindeer:
I think next year I'm going to need to break down and buy a larger tree. If I can find a six-foot tall "slim" tree, that would be ideal - I could put it in the curve of my piano. (I looked around a bit this Christmas but all the trees I saw were either fat or were very tall, taller than I would want - I don't want to have to climb on a stool to put the top decorations on)
And a couple of books. The children's book - it's from the late 60s - is a cute story and I am going to send it to my niece because it is relevant to her interests. (Short thumbnail: a boy donates his pet spider to the zoo when his family moves away. The spider makes webs and gets rid of the flies that have been plaguing the animals. Someone complains about the untidiness of the webs and the spider is chased away, but the flies come back and the decision is made she should be allowed to be there to help the animals. At the end she makes an egg sac and there are baby spiders. (But it's not QUITE Charlotte's Web because the original spider is still alive....)
Sort of a nice, simple, "Predators aren't just killing machines" story. I kind of like the little ecological message there. (The book is from 1967 but it's in good shape....)
The other one is a mystery/romance type thing. It looks interesting and it has illustrations and I admit I tend to be attracted to novels that have at least a few illustrations in it.
I also found some cheap socks at Five Below to cut up and repurpose into socks for Minty, and I got the felt I needed to finish her.
I came home and checked my campus e-mail. In among the begs for "is there anything I can do" (about grades) and the person asking to hand in stuff late, there was a note from the uni president - we are all getting a Christmas bonus as a token appreciation for the way we weathered the problems of the past year (Well, not a "Christmas" bonus as we are a state school, but that's what it amounts to). It's $100, which is small, but I wasn't expecting ANYTHING.
(And another interesting thing - before setting off this morning, as I paid the few bills that had accumulated, I sent off a $100 check to the American Indian College Fund, a group I've given to occasionally in the past - they have a pretty good rating from Charity Navigator. I didn't know about the bonus when I wrote the check....I find that often happens to me, though, that when I decide, "I can afford to be generous here" it comes back to me in some way.)
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