Self went shopping with hubby. At McWhorter’s, the Christmas stuff was 50% off, and of course self headed straight for the Christmas cards, where she was so happy to find a box of Crane’s (Dearest Mum always told self that Crane’s cards were the best kind) that was going for $9.95. Then self bought a couple of gel window stick-ons in the shape of holly and Nutcracker figures (Self does tend to go overboard over Christmas doo-dads. You would think by now her house would look like some explosion of Christmas cornucopia, but strangely enough, these decorations have the annoying habit of walking off and disappearing, in the intervening year, so that when Christmas rolls around again self always ends up having to buy a new cache).
Next, Draeger’s, where hubby professed extreme craving for prosciutto — alas, no one was behind the deli counter, and after waiting for 15 minutes hubby began to get extremely annoyed. As this would be a very very bad development (as annoyance leads to black mood leads to who-knows-what), self directed him upstairs, where there were tables and tables of Christmas ornaments on display, and self was able to buy four “dog” Christmas tree ornaments (last year, she bought four “dog” ones as well), each one different. Joy! Hubby bought a small table-top Christmas tree for $10.
Then, to Wells Fargo, where self made the amazing discovery that she had left her ATM card back at McWhorter’s. Hubby was in conniptions but a quick call to McWhorter’s confirmed that they had it. (Anyhoo, self thought to herself: this is a sign from God that she must not spend any more!)
And, right after that, when hubby and self were at Border’s in Palo Alto, it’s true that self bought only two books: one for dear cuz called 1001 Books For Every Mood (for instance, if you were in the mood “to misbehave,” you would be advised to read Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying or Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders or Augusten Burroughs’ Running with Scissors — how very, very fab!), and for niece in Manila, who is 14, what self considers Stephenie Meyers’ best-written book (which isn’t part of the “Twilight” series, self only discovered at check-out), The Host.
And then it was off to Orchard Supply Hardware, where hubby bought a gasoline storage container (spent half an hour waiting while hubby stood in the middle of the aisle, just trying to figure out how it worked: self, extremely exasperated, kept saying, “Don’t you just give the nozzle a little twist, here?” But hubby insisted on reading all the directions, even down to the microscopic print that said, “Made in China”).
And then, finally, home, where self got to watch her Netflix movie (because son was in Santa Cruz with friends), “The Battle for Algiers.” Which was shocking. Moving. Amazing.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.
