Out and About; Holiday Decorations

Since Monday I've felt tired and slighly achy. Which no doubt denotes some type of upper respiratory bug. I managed to stay home one day, Tuesday, without going out, which was very therapeutic. But events have conspired to prevent this from happening since then.

Wednesday, I made a quick trip to check on mother and to pick up her laundry. In her stay at the initial convalescent home, they did the laundry, and she was constantly upset because a piece would go missing. So I've learned to do the laundry myself.

Thursday I went to the doctor about the panic attacks, had lunch, visited the secondhand paperback book store and made another trip to check on momsy. We talked about waiting until Monday to make a decision as to her coming home. I think she may need a few more days of therapy.

I didn't really feel like going out today, but I did. I had lunch and ordered two "to go" meals to cover the next few days. That way I won't have to worry about meals until at least Monday. Every place I've been in the last few weeks has listed different times for being open during the holidays. So I could see myself waking up sick on Christmas day and not knowing what to eat. Which has happened in the past.

On my way to the restaurant today, I was almost hit by a speeding car that ran a red light. I was on the outside of a dual turn lane, turning from north bound to west bound. On the inside lane was a SUV, so I could not see the east bound traffic. The light changes and as I moved forward, a car zoomed by within inches of my Toyota. If I'd pulled ahead a couple of seconds earlier, the driver would have plowed into me. I was so shaken that I literally sat there for 30 seconds or so. I wanted to swerve my car around, chase down the idiot and inflict blows with a tire iron.

After lunch, I went shopping at WalMart. I was out of cat food, and I'd not bought any gifts for mother. One year I was sick at Christmas and didn't have a chance to buy her a gift, and I thought I'd never hear the end of it. Fortunately, I was able to quickly grab some nonsensical gifts, pick up the cat food, and troll around for a few other items.

Although the interface of the self-check out registers has recently changed, I can not say the system works any better. There is a real problem with the system recognizing that you've bagged an item. I know the system keeps track of the weight of the bags to prevent someone from placing an item in the bag without scanning it. It must be programed in such a way that for every scan, there has to be an adjustment to the weight of the bag.

The most impressive decorations to me have always been luminarias - rows of candles in bags to light the way for the Christ child. That's all that needs to be said.

PAX!