Saturday, September 6, 2014

Relaxing vs Taxing

No. That's not a song title. But it's illustrative of what's been going on over the last couple of days and probably offers insight into my dislike for the Hershey trip, which is looming and hanging over my head as I type.

The annual city-wide garage sale for a neighboring town was this weekend.  Mr. L lives for this. I have to admit, we've found a few treasures, so I can't really blame him.  He gets the newspaper with the addresses in it.  He curses at his computer for two hours while he maps all the addresses into his mapping software to print out.  Then we go on a treasure hunt.  He's animated and chattering the whole time.  I am dreading it, and I've just figured out why, and he's been saying it all along.  To him it's relaxing. To me, it's taxing. He is energized by the chase and the thrill of finding something unexpected.  I'm happy to find the unexpected treasure, but I dislike the process for doing so. Driving hither and yon.  Deciding if we want to stop, parking the truck, getting out of the truck, walking around the stuff, walking back to the truck, getting back in the truck, finding the next place on the map, driving to it, repeat. I don't really enjoy it.  He loves it. It's the Hershey trip in microcosm.


He found a couple items for the shop this morning.  I found three zipper binders for $1.50 (those things sell new for $15-26 each!).  He bought a clarinet and two music stands for $22.  We bought ten puzzles (over $100 new) for $5. Not a bad haul. He found a lantern for $2.50 yesterday.  For parts.

Still working on the Polar Bear on the Loose type-in. Got the bills paid. The new credit card finally arrived, so I got my automated bill payments reconfigured (my credit union switched from Visa to MasterCard and promised me a lower rate card; the new card is more than 2% lower, and it was already in single digits -- doesn't matter much, because I don't carry a balance, but just in case).

The Week Ahead:
  • Head to SA with three cats on Sunday. 
  • Water through Wednesday and do necessary yard work
  • Listen in on Apple Launch broadcast to see what's new for fall
  • Take phone in for battery and sleep/wake button warranty fix on Wed.
  • Return to Central TX early Thur morning, dropping Floyd and Lady at vet for boarding on my way by.
  • Finish getting the cats ready to fend for themselves for the weekend
  • Head to Dallas with Mr. L for the weekend -- swap meet and hanging with the kids
  • Try to sandwich in writing work around this stuff


1 comment:

Wendy said...

Oh. My. Gosh. If I hadn't met him, I'd swear Mr. L and my dad were twins separated at birth. Does he have any German in his ancestry? Buying the lantern for parts--that's so my dad. Both my parents love yard sales. I've rarely found anything I can't live without since 1990 when I was buying baby clothes. You can make a killing buying baby clothes, but I don't have babies. (Thank you God!)

Have fun in Dallas!

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