Plans

 Tommy saw two small birds swoop in and sit together on one end of the porch. One bird flew away from the house. The other bird flew to the direction of the birds in the flowerpot. He said she had food in her mouth. So, the little birdies are still there and doing well. I will get a bird house before next spring that will suit her for more babies. 

We left this noon to go and get the ads. It only sprinkled a bit, but we did not shop, just came back home. Tommy immediately looked over the ads and made a list. 

I have been using a bottle of Italian Dressing, Kraft, I believe. It has been too tangy for me, so it has been eaten slowly. Yesterday, it was almost empty. Today, I poured olive oil in it to break the tanginess that chokes me. It was still too tangy. I think the time has come to make my own dressing! Maybe tomorrow. 

I have felt well today, not shaky, getting my own food, and making plans instead of just sitting and trying to exist. Last night, I went to bed around 9:30, woke at about 2 am, went back to bed at 4am, and woke aat 9:30 am. It is amazing what a good night's sleep will do for mind and body. 

Tonight, I made a salad of the rest of the bagged salad, put a bit of grated cheese, and olive oil on it, plus a little bit of turkey, and a whole tomato. My eyes were bigger than my stomach. I also have strawberries to eat afterwards. I suppose what I cannot consume will the a snack later. 

I finally contacted the cleaner. She has not answered the phone. Well, she had surgery on her thumb. She had a trigger thumb. She might be here Saturday. I promised her light work and she can just not do anything that will bother her. I need her to dust and not pick things up, just dust around things I would normally have her pick up to dust underneath, get something down from tall cabinet. She is 5'11". 

Install my printer, show me how to send picture from phone and my camera to computer. Put a thing under the bulb by the door so it comes on automatically at night. Remember, she is tall. Straighten top of my dresser. There is two hours of stuff to do here that will not hurt her hand, hopefully. Oh, stuff needs to be moved from table in dining room so that electrician can get to the light fixture. 

I have installed every printer I have ever had, but this is in a location where I cannot stand and bend to do so. I do need a stool on wheels with a lock for the wheels. 

This tomato is delicious. Tommy cannot stand the seeds and the membrane around them. To me, that is the best part! That is why I like home-canned tomatoes.

He stays in the kitchen four or five hours a day. Tonight, I missed him and asked what he was doing. He was checking to see if some dark rolls were out of date. They were frozen. I took them, smelled to see if they smelled fresh--no moldy smell. Then, I checked each roll for signs of mold. He is cooking them. Then, I will put most of them in freezer bags. When I buy a loaf of bread. I put two slices in freezer bags. It is good to have frozen buns or rolls, or slices of bread. It saves a trip to the store. The Aldi rolls were delicious!

Someone in a comment asked me how much cheese I eat in a week. I finally know. I ate three pounds in eight weeks. I ate 6 ounces each week. Is that a lot? I just finished the three pounds, and just in time, the regular pack is on sale. We may shop tomorrow. I eat more cheese when I make pimiento and cheese. 

I forgot to make squash casserole or freeze squash!  Maybe tomorrow. I will slice one to put in the leftover salad I finally put in the refrigerator. I like raw squash in a salad.

Dogs are still here. Tomorrow, I will call humane society. The city is only removing them to mow the grass. I am afraid they will just put them back.

Maybe we will have a BLT tomorrow. Right now, I need to make a list from the three stores' ads.

Do you like raw squash in a salad? 

Do you like the seeds and squishy membrane around the seeds? 

Is six ounces of cheese too much to eat in one week?

Thanksgiving Black Friday at WalMart

After the church Thanksgiving dinner, exbf dropped me off at my house. I went to bathroom and sat a minute, then decided I needed Cream Cheese. I headed to WM. They were setting up for Black Friday. I got and paid for the cream cheese.

I wandered for an hour, watching people put up displays as I tried to move on and get out of their way. Finally, an employee told me there was a flyer at the front of the store with all the deals listed and it had been there for a few days. Well, that just shows you how uninterested I am in all this hullaballoo.

After I looked over the ad, I went around and looked at some of the items. Before that, I had looked at the small electronics and found interesting items. That proved useful as frantic people were looking for the Google version of Alexis. I gave lots of directions...lol.

As it was nearing 4 pm, I saw a printer and was talking to a teen waiting by it. She said there was a $19 printer down a few feet. She asked me to get one for her, too, in case she did not make it down to the one I wanted.  So, from about 4:10 until 6 pm, I sat in the electric cart in front of the stack of printers, waiting, waiting, waiting. I needed to go to the bathroom as I had drunk a bottle of water and a Coke. I was to the desperate point where I get chills on my arms and face because I have to go so badly.

I really wanted this printer!

Near 3 pm a woman who was a WM driver started talking as we both looked at things. We would cross paths often. She saw me stalking the printers and came at the right time to make sure I got one since I was in the electric cart and was saying I hoped no one walked on me and it got one. Well, until about 6 pm, not a soul was interested except me. Okay, this was on an end of a display out in the aisle, so I could only see my side and the end, not the other side.

She rushed back and helped me along with another woman to get my printer and the one for the teen. The whole place let out a uniform roar as the getting ensued.  The WM driver was going to go with me to bathroom and guard my printer while I went to family bathroom. She thought I was going to leave it outside. However, I had already decided to drive the cart in the bathroom or haul in the printer. She waited with my purse and printer.

Instead of trying to get into the regular register lines or the temporary lines, I headed to electronics, the nearest cash register, and found one person ahead of me. At 6:11, my job was done. The whole store was in chaos with people not able to move at all for the crush of grocery buggies and people. I must say, all the little children were at home or contained in the buggies.

The only way I got out whole was my plan that worked perfectly. I drove along the walls of WM. I never met anyone that caused me to cut the power to wait or slow down. NO ONE was at the wall aisles. I got out of there easily and looked at the sea of people and carts. The only place that slowed me was getting into the area to enter and exit the store. No one was entering.

So, that was my first Black Friday sale. I could never have made it by standing at the door and trying to endure the mad dash. Everyone, mostly, was stationed by what they wanted. Couples and friends were dividing up and getting items both wanted. The printers were stacked over 6 feet high in about 6 stacks. Before I could leave with my two, they were waist high all around.

I left with a printer (HP) and the cream cheese that had been in my cart for over five hours. I have not opened it, but I hope it is good still.

Well, this is out of order, but.... The woman trucker was determined to protect me and my stuff. When the teen came to me and got the printer, thanking me, the woman yelled at her and tried to take it back before I could intervene and say I was getting one for her.

Still, I have never camped out for a Black Friday Sale anywhere. I don't see one in my future.

Did you shop in a store on Friday or Saturday for BFS?

Free Printer+advice

 

Yes, you guessed it. I love FREE! My current printer, an HP, was given to me.  That is another story of my frugality and my friend's waste. Finally, the print heads wore out, I think. Actually, I could not get down far enough for long enough to clean them. I suspect from its behavior that the print heads would have to be replaced. It will still fax and copy and send to my computer if I plug it into my computer. I need to print!

Office Max had Kodak Hero 4-in-1 on sale for $99 on Black Friday and the Saturday afterwards. I had $63 in store credit from returning the cartridges that did not work. A $10 coupon further lowered the price:
$99-$73= $26+ tax~$36. My cartridge recycling credits for more than that have not kicked in. A friend lent me the money I lacked and he will use my credits in January when they become available. So, my need was for ~$36, still covered by recycled cartridge credit that will be available in January. That makes a free 4-in-1 for me! (Yes, I had spent money on cartridges 6 weeks ago, but since I did not have the receipt, it was store credit only.)

I have never had a wireless printer. So, this will be interesting. I cannot get it into the house, so I am at the mercy of waiting for the next person who comes by. Maybe Mark will come tomorrow. Charlie won't because he is going to put the chicken defense in place and will not work in the rain, naturally. Exbf will be here on Wednesday. sigh....sigh....

HP printers have served me well over the years. I bought my first in 1993 for grad school, black ink only. Then, when it played out in 2000, I bought another, color. In 2005 my friend who worked for an attorney called me and said she knew I could fix printers and computers and did I want the office 4-in-1 that quit after a year. I said sure and grabbed current beau and his truck. He was sooooo annoyed at me. He was annoyed he had to carry it to his truck. He was annoyed he had to carry it in the house.

Once it was inside, I plugged it up, turned it on and slapped a colored ad on the bed and printed---a color copy. I called her and asked her exactly what was wrong with the printer. "Well, when I turn it on, nothing happens, absolutely nothing, no lights come on.  (Attorney) could not get it to work, either."

When I informed her ten minutes after we picked it up that it worked perfectly so far and had power, and lights came on, she was flabbergasted, wanting to know what I did to make it work. "Plugged connection into printer and the power cord into an outlet." She gasped and told me NOT to ever tell the attorney.

When I questioned her about books or paper ever falling behind the printer, she recalled that a bunch of papers, a whole stack fell off the back. Yup, the plug was knocked out of the machine, just as I expected. The machine was only a year old. Lucky me. This is the same friend for whom I "worked on" her computer to bring it back to life. Can you guess what was the problem and how I fixed her computer? Exactly. I plugged in all cords into the back of the computer. I still don't know which connection was loose.

Oh, annoyed beau? He was soooo grateful for it when he decided to attend school. Yes, I reminded him of his extreme annoyance when I got the printer and insisted he carry it. He laughed at himself and told me he was angrier than he showed because he thought I was dragging home junk. 

Yesterday, At Office Max I could have bought an HP for the same price. I have no intention of printing photos, but I just made a decision after I hurt too much from walking about the store. The front has nice white, easy-to-see buttons!  HP did not. I hope I don't regret not purchasing another HP.

Fate of current 4-in1? A friend needs a fax machine to fax resumes. So, this will be his.

Advice? Make sure things are plugged into an outlet before you declare them broken.

Your turn
Have you ever replaced a printer or another item because it was not plugged in properly? Did anyone get a great printer deal in the Black Friday sales? Has anyone used a Kodak printer?