Strange Weekend

And I'm beginning to wonder if all our future weekends will be strange.  It's been some time since we saw a movie, and some time since we've seen a movie I've liked.  I'm a tad tired of science fiction / fantasy. Maybe I'll just load up the TIVO with Hallmark movies and call it good.  (Yes, I'm that old and sappy.)

Since we haven't had any movies to see on Saturdays we've kind of been at loose ends.  We've ended up running errands.  Wow, isn't that fun? Well, actually it pretty much is fun when we're together.  But not quite the fun we've had in mind.  We're mostly done with Christmas shopping.  And I've been mentally done with spending money for a while, though I still seem to be doing a fair amount of that.

Saturday we decided to get a new battery for the John Deere (lawn mower / snow pusher).  The Husband has had quite a time the last few years with it stopping at inconvenient times requiring subsequent human muscle power for pushing the tractor back into the shop-garage. The thing is 15 years old, so it probably really needs to be replaced, but neither one of us is anxious to do that until we absolutely have to.  (Along with my washer and dryer, my Prius, and the refrigerator.)

7 a.m. looking east

Battery buying is tricky.  There's the recycling thing (so you don't just toss it in to the trash to contaminate the landfill) which includes a refundable "core charge" to make sure you bring in the old one.  After standing in line at Home Depot's help desk, being directed to a register, being re-directed to the help desk and then finally pointed toward the returns desk, we thought maybe we had a chance of getting out to the car in a reasonable amount of time.  Does 15-20 more minutes constitute "reasonable amount of time"?  (And that particular segment of our buying experience required 3 people.)

After stopping for a sandwich we arrived home to discover (wait for it):  it was the wrong battery. So back went The Husband to exchange it.  This time he was armed with experience from our earlier visit and it took a fraction of the time.  So far the John Deere is running just fine (our fingers are crossed).

My foot seems a bit better, wearing my Dansko shoes every day all day has helped.  They're a more rigid shoe that seems to act like a boot but is way more comfortable.  It's hard to be diligent about this when I'm way happier in stocking feet inside.  I really dislike wearing shoes in the house, but I'm determined to conquer the foot issue.  I'm trying to drink more milk to help my bones; I have a sense that more natural kinds of calcium are better for me than the supplements.

This morning's walk was wonderful.  Once again I had the trail to myself.  I walked a bit farther and turned the iPod to an all-Christmas-music station and loved being out.  The picture doesn't do the park justice, for some reason the lights don't photograph well on my phone camera.  But it was a lovely morning and a lovely walk. (And yeah, after completing this and looking at that picture, it's pretty much an embarrassment.)

I'm grateful for good shoes for my cantankerous feet.  For special glass that enable me to better see the music at the piano.  For thoughtful invitations to dinner (loved seeing those grandchildren), for quiet drives with The Husband and for morning walks that feed my soul.