Last night, I had a dream that was so real, it was almost really real. I had things to tell my sister, so I brought the phone into my room, sat on my bed, and called her. She listened and she talked and we laughed and had a good old time, then I remembered....it was like a sock right in the stomach...and I said, but you're dead! Then the line went silent...she was gone again. It seemed so real. In the dream, I told my kids that I had talked to Cheryl! I told her girls, too. They all thought I was crazy.
I miss her so much.
This fine day, I woke up with the thought: I have to pack for camping! I had to make my shopping list, the meal plans are done, but I needed to go to the store. I had my dentist appointment, and thought I'd go afterwards. Then Kathryn texted about something she had to do in the same city, and I could help her with the kids, so we decided to add in a trip to a play-space.
Ellis pushed a shopping cart, he's so good natured and happy. Achilles was happy too, romping around and playing and being silly. Rhys and Jamie were put on the construction vests and helmets, then played in the truck, the grocery store, with the baby dolls in the play-house corner. We were going to all go to the store afterwards, but they had enough fun and were falling apart, as children tend to do sometimes. So Kathryn brought them home:)
I went to Walmart. It was not exactly a nightmare, but it was a slightly bad dream. They've been reorganizing it, putting up strange new walls and making it hard to find things. I couldn't make heads or tails of it. I bought: one green plaid blanket, for fall and Christmas: $7. One really cool rattan vase, marked down to $6. I bought pancake mix, gluten free pancake mix, and a bag of Jimmy Dean frozen sausage links. I went to the self checkout line, and the lady behind me suggested I go up to the front-most register, there was no one there, did it work? I scanned one item, it did work. But. There was something already scanned! Butter Rum, it said...I looked into a cooler bag sitting there, and there was a big bag of Butter Rum Lifesavers! What?! Next thing I know, an angry man was asking what I was doing with his stuff! He had to go back to the deli because his ham didn't have the proper sticker on it, and the worker had told him just to go....I didn't know that register was in the middle of a transaction! He yelled at me! I apologized, said I didn't realize. I was very nice, he backed down and then ended up thanking me for being patient. It was a whole ordeal though...
The dentist. Raise your hand if you love going to the dentist! Not I! I don't hate it, but don't love it either. Although shh, when the kids were little, I kind of liked sitting there getting a cleaning, with them all in the waiting room playing and watching each other, knowing that it was my break.
Anyways, our family dentist has moved in with a group of dentists in a big huge old house of an office. He actually did my cleaning today. He remembered my tooth and it's history. But, he suggested we wait, as the x-rays show it's not that bad inside. We decided that if I need an antibiotic once or twice a year, we can wait to pull it, because he suspects a wisdom tooth behind it may be the culprit...I'm okay with waiting...I know if it bothers me I can go in and get it pulled pretty quickly. I didn't have any cavities, so yay!
After that, I went to Aldi to get the food on my list. Well, they didn't have ANY boneless chicken breast, and one of our meals is grilled chicken fajitas! So. I got what I could, then went over to BJ's. Pepperoni, chicken, cream, Starbucks Cold Brew, and a bag of Reeses' Peanut Butter Pumpkins ALREADY!
In Aldi though, there was a mom with a few kids, one a young teenaged girl...they were down the aisle from me when I heard yelling: I TOLD you to get BEHIND me!!! The poor girl! Her face was beat red and she had a boo-boo lip, so embarrassed so I looked away quickly. ugh.
Later, as I was putting my cart away, the lady was coming to put hers away too. I said a prayer for her, and wanted to say something kind to her, here's what came out: It sure is hot out here today...and I smiled big at her. She did smile back. What I wanted to do was give her a big hug and tell her she's doing all right, and to be patient with her kids...it's so hard to do sometimes!
You can't just tell someone not to yell at their kids though, they might take it out on them more if they get embarrassed. If they think their impatience is the fault of their children, they won't be hearing what you're saying anyway. It does grieve me. There is so much suffering in this world.
Ah well. Home....I tried to put the cold things right into the camper refrigerator, but it wasn't working...Paul was fixing it though. Being married to Mr. Fix-It is handy! Cam helped me put things away in the camper and bring the rest of the stuff in the house. I bought a bag of frozen Tyson chicken strips, and a cauliflower crust pizza for an easy dinner.
Our camping meals besides the fajitas (and Jasmine rice) are BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, which Ben and Ashley are bringing, and hamburgers and hot dogs with salt potatoes. We packed peanut butter and jam, and fresh Italian bread, and croissants, and the s'mores stuff, crackers, pepperoni and cheese, arugula (it's so good with lime juice and a splash of avocado oil and some craisins, cucumbers, maybe blueberries).
I plan to get up and go to the pool, then come home, pack up, and leave for the Adirondacks.
You all have a good day tomorrow, and a nice weekend...we will not have electricity so I won't be bringing the Macbook. We will turn on the generator each day to charge our phones and grind our coffee beans...:). (I never said we were roughing it!)
