The phone rang at 8:00am this morning. I was sure it was the temp agency. Darn it! I was hoping for a few more days off (lazy girl that I am). Fortunately, it was Eric’s sister, Ellen, calling to wish us a Happy New Year. I’m always happy to hear from Ellen, but today I was especially pleased! I called the agency at 9:00am and told them I’m ready, willing, and able to go to work, so I do hope I’ll hear from them soon.
Eric decided to go for a ride. He left the house with the PT at around noon and I was doing two loads of laundry. I expected to be home most of the day, because I wouldn’t have the car, so I decided to do some organizing in the apartment. Eric was going to LAKE POWAY and TWIN PEAKS, which is about 40 miles away. I expected him to be back after dark, and was surprised when he returned around 3:00pm. Unfortunately, the area was burned in the fires and all the trails are closed. Eric was really disappointed. He keeps trying different places in his San Diego Mountain Biking book, and they are bad for one reason or another. This one wasn’t bad – he just wasn’t able to ride it!
Since he came back with the car, I decided to go out and run some errands and he said he’d ride out from the apartment on his bicycle. First, I went to the post office to mail back our EZ-PASS. They don’t have EZ-PASS in California, so we don’t need it anymore. My next stop was right across the street in a big shopping center (this is all on Clairemont Drive, just a few miles down from the apartment).
That’s where the MICHAEL’S craft place is, along with Burlington Coat Factory, ACE Hardware, and many other stores. I never noticed how big it was before. It’s one shopping center, but there are 4 different parking lots, so you don’t realize how many stores there are. There’s also a movie theater and – a STARBUCKS! I didn’t realize there was one so close to the house. Eureka, Wow, Hooray and all that kind of stuff!
I stopped for an iced decaf venti nonfat sugar-free mocha latte. Yum! I went into the Burlington Coat Factory for the first time. Who knew they sold all kinds of bedding, towels, home accessories and furniture? I thought it was a COAT factory!
I went into Michaels to get the batting for my rhinestone pin display frame. I already had the brown crushed velvet, I just needed the batting and the frame. I saw a beautiful ornate gold frame in Michaels. It was $40. I didn’t really like it that much, because it’s brand new, just made to look old, but I thought I would keep it in mind if I couldn’t find anything better.
Next, I drove into Pacific Beach and went to the Salvation Army where I found a gorgeous ornate gold frame for $15 and a smaller silver one for $5. I was so happy. They were exactly what I was looking for. I’m going to use the big gold one for the colorful rhinestone pins, and the small silver one for earrings. I found some black fishnet type fabric which, when stretched over some other fabric, will hold the hooks for dangling earrings.
I drove back to Clairemont and went to RITE-AID to buy a Brita filter. Eric and I drank bottled water all across the country, but I feel guilty about it, because we use so many plastic bottles. I was watching THE BIGGEST LOSER – COUPLES and they said they were teaming up with BRITA to get people to stop using bottled water and start using refillable pitchers. We always used Brita pitchers in NY and our pitcher wouldn’t fit in the RV, so we got rid of it and started buying cases of bottled water. I just think it’s wasteful, because Eric has water bottles when he rides and he can just fill them up from the Brita.
Last, I went to KEILS for a few odds and ends we needed, including pecans, which Eric wants to add to our salads. They had them in a lot of salads we had on vacation and he always liked the taste. I also wanted to get dried cranberries, because they had them in a salad we had in South Carolina. Unfortunately, KEILS didn’t have any! I also bought more IZZE soda – this time Black Raspberry – because it has no caffeine and no refined sugar. It’s all natural and is just sparkling water sweetened with natural fruit juice!
When I got home, Eric still wasn’t back from his ride. I unpacked the groceries, got the Brita filter started (you need to soak the filter, then fill up the pitcher two times before using), and then watched some Dr. Phil I had taped from last week.
Eric got back and I made dinner. All I had to do was heat up some frozen MORNINGSTAR FARMS vegetarian chicken patties (hey, they taste really good) and some MORNINGSTAR FARMS veggie bites, plus some Four Cheese Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice. Nothing fancy, yet tasty and filling!
This morning I ordered NUTRISYSTEM for me and Eric – vegetarian for me; Chicken for Eric. We’re both into losing weight and believe portion control is part of our problem. We’ll see how this works for us. We should get our first meals in about a week. I’ll keep you all informed of our progress!
We watched the news at 11:00pm and there seems to be a cold snap through the whole country. We heard it was 17 degrees in NY, and freezing in Florida, too. I’m so sorry for my East Coast contingent! I thank my lucky stars that we are here in San Diego. It’s supposed to rain for a few days, but we really need it, so I won’t be complaining.
Well, there’s a new Letterman and Leno on tonight. I still don’t know how they managed it, because the strike is still on, but we're going to watch! Tomorrow, Eric and I will make my colorful rhinestone display frame. I’ll take pictures!