Burning a hole in my pocket

Life slowed down somewhat this week. Most everything I want or need has been unpacked - though I still can't find my tea canister. No worries, I still have boxes of tea so I'm not going without. 

My son had Monday off as a statutory holiday for Remembrance Day, and because his bi-weekly earned day off is usually Monday, he had Tuesday off as well. That meant four days off for him, and quiet mornings for me - since I spoil him and let him sleep late. Monday, though he had to be up by 10:30 as my brother's friend, P was stopping by to check the garage door for us. The fellow who had leased the garage from the owners had mentioned it was tricky - tap three times to open it and twice to close it. That didn't work for me nor my son. After he had retired, P got into refurbishing garage door openers as well as installation. In fact, back in 2010 he replaced the old garage door opener at the previous property I'd owned. 

The one sensor wasn't working properly, but he got that going in short order, then did a few adjustments to the machine. That seemed to make things worse, so he took it apart and realized he had made the turn to the opposite direction he intended. About 20 minutes and $40 later, the door is functioning as it should. P mentioned the opener is very old, but a top of the line brand. He figures it should last the winter at least, and agreed he'd be back in the spring to replace it, if we chose to do so.  Since he's closed down his business, it's nice to know he'd do that for us. I did tell him, my brother R owed him a coffee. :)  

Oh, before I forget, Wednesday's photo is courtesy of R. He was out hunting elk but the wily creatures kept approaching him from the wrong direction or after hunting hours ended due to the sun setting. While he'd like to get his elk, he truly enjoys being out in the blind enjoying the sounds and sights of the natural world around him. I'm too soft hearted to like the idea of hunting, but I do appreciate the photographs.

Wednesday, C was back to work, and I went shopping! Nothing really exciting, some groceries and a few household items. I did make a stop by the thrift stores too finding a lamp at Value Village, a sheet and a pair of pajamas at Salvation Army. When I was moving the furniture in the living room, I manage to break one of my lamps. Eventually, I'll replace the pair in the living room, but the one I bought will be used in the basement. It had no shade, but I was able to use the one from the broken lamp. 

I also stopped in at my former esthetician's shop to purchase mascara for D. I missed L, as she wasn't working in the morning but I was able to make the purchase. One little boy got into his mother's make-up last week and wasted a whole lot of mascara. She had given him permission to play with the eyeshadow but neglected to expressly tell him not to use the mascara. Apparently he drew pictures on the tub with it. (Are you laughing...I was.)

Later, I met S at Stitch and Chat. I'd actually got some knitting done this weekend and was close to finishing the toque I've been working on. I didn't get it done that afternoon but have finished it since. We meet at the library, so I dropped off the book club novel, "Lethal White" by Robert Galbraith. I hadn't realized the author was the nom de plume of J. K. Rowling, or I likely wouldn't have read the book. She's made some controversial comments about the transgender community, and when challenged about those remarks she doubled down on her comments. In any event, I read the book and wasn't impressed. BTW, I've never read the Harry Potter books and if this novel was a sample of her writing, I won't be reading any more in the future.

I won't be attending next week's book club as D and Eli will be in town. He has an appointment for autism testing with a psychologist and a student intern. The appointment is over a four hour period, and I sure hope they give him a number of breaks. I'm expecting the two of them to arrive at the house mid-afternoon and they will overnight here before heading home in the morning.

More shopping was accomplished on Thursday as well, but not necessarily as I had planned. I want a new laptop as the one I currently use has a very limited memory. I do have an external hard drive but find it annoying to have to retrieve photos and documents. Yes, I know there is a cloud thingy too and some of the photos are saved there - at least the ones since I purchased this laptop, BUT I have no idea how to retrieve those items from the cloud. I didn't get a password or any kind of program to access, it saves the photos automatically but I also save to the computer and back-up the folders to my external hard drive. My concern is: what happens to the stuff in the cloud if this computer were to crash? Some things are just too important to me to lose access.

I went to the Staples store near my house and had a laptop selected, but they had none in stock. According to the tech, there was one in stock in the store on the other side of the city. Off I trundled to buy it there...except that didn't happen. The laptop on the shelf was not exactly the same as the one at the north store; it had half the memory/storage of the one I wanted, yet it was listed at the same price. I tried to get some assistance, even phoning the store directly after I'd ask a nearby stock clerk to call someone. The phone was never answered, and the automated voice told me to call back later. I waited a few more minutes, then walked out of the store. Back at home I ordered it online for delivery next week.

Since it's been a very spendy week, it was time to stay home on Friday. I did a few chores and tackled some heavy duty cleaning. D has my rug cleaner so I used the small green machine on the worst of the carpet in the basement. Upstairs I cleaned the louvers in the pantry and linen closet doors, washed the walls in the back landing and scrubbed doors. I'm slowly making my way around the house. Once the cleaning is complete, there will be some minor repairs and painting needed, most of which I can do over time.

Today, I've got nothing on the schedule. There are several curling events going on, I may find something streaming to watch. I'll likely do some knitting, to finish off the toque I've been working on for several weeks, and then turn my attention to another UFO, a sweater I started in the spring and barely started. It is Grey Cup weekend (Canadian football championship) but I won't be watching as I don't have access to the game. I've set up the Christmas tree and started a jigsaw puzzle. As I said to my daughter, I'm just puttering. A quiet weekend sounds good to me...as next week will be busy.

Have a great week ahead everyone!