Well, I tried to accomplish a lot today and I would have, had I not taken a couple of hours to simply ride around town and do nothing. I started out with good intentions. I even planned ahead. I finished the painting on an order I want to ship tomorrow and then set out to obtain a specific wooden chair to paint for another order.
My local store has been out of these items for several months. They do actually have one but it is not in good shape. Obviously, it slipped past the quality control folks at the factory. The Big Guy says it can be brought up to snuff with a little effort but I thought I'd bypass it and go for a ready to use item from that store's next nearest location. This one is about 22 miles away so I called ahead to verify that they had the item in stock. I was assured they had several. Forty five minutes later, I found they did not have any. The salesgirl had mistaken another chair for the one I wanted. She smiled sweetly, shrugged and said, "Sorry." Glad gas prices have come down a bit!
I decided to go ahead and stop off at the local store, use my 50% off coupon and buy the defective one. I must have missed the sign announcing a super-sale or something. The place was mobbed, not a cart to be had! All eight registers were open and backed up. The shortest line had at least 20 people in it! I found my poor defective chair on the top shelf where it has sat since at least mid-July and then went in search of a sales associate who could get it down for me. (In my next life, I swear. I'm coming back taller!) I searched the entire sales floor and could not find one employee. I went up to the register and asked for assistance. The cashier replied, very curtly, someone would help "when they become available." It didn't look promising. I waited awhile and finally gave up and left. Altogether, it was a 64 mile joy ride!
The Big Guy and I went out to dinner and a movie tonight at that same shopping center. After the movie, he suggested we try to get that chair again. (He's able to reach that 7' high shelf.) We breezed right in and grabbed it, defects and all. I commented to the cashier about the crowd this afternoon and she advised that the place was so overcrowded the registers had all gone on the blitz, too, causing mass confusion. I'm glad I chose to escape that frenzy!!
By the way, we saw Four Christmases with Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn. It won't win any Oscars but we liked it. It made us laugh - a lot. It also made us realize that our 5-stop Christmas Day tour that encompases at least 175 miles of driving over the course of the day isn't bad at all. There's rarely a fist-fight, screaming match or even a spat. Thinking your family is a little dysfunctional? Check this film out. You'll feel a lot better. (Oh, and if they aren't worse than your family - try writing about it and selling it as a screenplay.)
Craft/Gift of the Day:
Doggie Wreath
Using a 9" wire wreath frame, a spool of curling ribbon, various colored small milk bones and other dog snacks, make a goodie wreath for your favorite Fido. Cut 10" lengths of ribbon and tie them around the bones, leaving the ribbon tails hanging. Proceed to tie the bones to the metal wreath frame, placing them as close together as you can. As you tie each bone to the wreath form, curl the ribbon ends using the flat side of a scissors blade. Once the wreath is full of bones and you cannot see any of the frame showing between them, wrap the other treats in small bags formed from a square of plastic wrap and tied with another piece of ribbon. Add these here and there around the wreath as a highlight of sorts. Curl the ribbon ends. Add a large ribbon bow and a rubber puppy toy (also tied on with curling ribbon) and you have a perfect gift for your favorite Grand-Dog, Niece Dog or just a Good Buddy Dog. **Warning: If you make these ahead of time and have a dog of your own, do not leave the finished wreath laying around or your four-legged friend may attempt to give it a test-run. You should be able to slide the wreath into a large zip-lock bag for safe keeping.
