Lucky

So, since the sale was still on at the Penney's Outlet, we went back out there tonight and bought a new chair:

It was the same price as the other one, well, a few dollars more, but they had a matching ottoman, and with the discount it ended up being just a little over $100, which I think is a pretty good price. And it's comfortable! We put the other one in the living room.

I really did sort of hate to spend the money, but I did need a chair, and I spend almost all of my time at home either in that chair or in my computer chair, as does Bob in his office upstairs. And we bought him a new computer chair a couple of weeks ago. So we should be set for awhile.

He had kind of an unpleasant dental appointment today, so he didn't feel much like eating, but we ended up at Sweet Tomatoes so he could have a bowl of soup, and I had a big salad--our big night out. But it was fun. We do have a good time just hanging out together. So lucky.

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Addendum

Pyewacket seems to approve, too:

However, it really isn't comfortable for a human being, so we've decided to go buy what I had originally intended to buy--a comfy upholstered chair like my old one--tomorrow night. The sale is still on tomorrow. And we'll move this one to the living room, where we also need chairs.

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Whirlwind

I went to the Penney's outlet store last weekend and bought some curtains for the bedroom. I had blinds and sheers on them, but they really didn't do much to block out the light in the mornings, and Bob had asked me to get something heavier. I found some in a dark plaid--navy blue and dark purple--that weren't too bad, so I bought four panels, and they look pretty good.

While I was there, I looked around at a bunch of other stuff; a lot of the stuff they have there is pretty crummy, but like any discount store, part of the appeal is in the search, and you can often find pretty nice things that are a real bargain. The springs in my chair broke a few months ago. The chair was still usable, but it wasn't really right, so I'd kind of been on the lookout for a new one.

They had some just exactly like mine, well, they had one in the same ivory as mine, and a bunch of them in kind of a pretty blue. They were $199, which was probably a pretty good price--I can't actually remember what I paid for the other one--but more than I wanted to pay without thinking about it a little more. Then there was a 25% off coupon in this morning's paper, so I rushed out to see if they were still there.

They were, but then I remembered a green glider I'd seen last time, and went over and looked at that, and it was only $99, which, with the 25% off, would make it $75, so I changed my mind and decided to get that one. I thought it would probably look better in the dining room corner than the upholstered one did; it's smaller, anyway.

Way smaller. Bob asked me, "Did you actually sit in this chair before you bought it?" Well, no, I didn't. It was displayed on an upper shelf, and the ones they were selling were in boxes, and I didn't feel like I could go find someone and ask them to get it down for me so I could sit in it, although, yes, I did think that I probably should. But I didn't. I bought it, and then left it there and came home until Bob got home, then we went back out and picked it up, and when we got home, he put it together for me.

It's . . . well, it's okay. It's not the most comfortable chair I've ever sat in, and it certainly isn't very roomy, but it will be fine, and someday I'll buy a better chair, and this one can be a side chair in the living room or something. But it's cute!

And Dinah apparently approves.

Last weekend I also bought daffodils in the grocery store--two bunches of them--because although mine had started blooming, I didn't really want to cut them. I enjoyed them all week. I should have bought some more today, but I didn't think of it. It was kind of a whirlwind weekend. In addition to the Penney's purchase, I went to T. J. Maxx and Marshall's, and bought a couple of rugs for the kitchen and bathroom, and a few little odds and ends like a frosted glass candle cup, and a pretty pink and green tea mug, just a few little pretty things that were a dollar or two each on the clearance table.

And I went to the bookstore, and the library, and the post office and bank, and washed the car, and went to the grocery store . . . I tried to go to the gym, but the weather was so nice that I was wearing sandals, and I didn't think to put any athletic shoes in the car. Good excuse, anyway.

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Spring!

Okay, so I know it's undoubtedly not really Spring, but it's definitely showing the signs. For some reason, this winter felt like it would never end, even though it wasn't particularly harsh. Just . . . I don't know. I really want it to be Spring. It feels like it today.

Bob was outside testing a depth finder in a trash can full of water, and I went to see how it was going, and it was so nice out that I got my gardening gloves and went out and trimmed a bunch of dead limbs out of my herb pots and picked up some leaves, and then just sat for awhile on the stoop, enjoying the air being warm enough that I didn't need to wear a jacket. Yesterday was nice, too--when I stopped at the gym in the middle of the afternoon and the girl at the desk asked me how I was, I said I was fine, and asked her how she was, and she said, "Fine, but wishing I was outdoors!"

The cats were sitting at the back door, watching us, and after awhile I went inside and got their harnesses and leashes and put them on, and took them out so they could enjoy the day, too.

Cats on leashes aren't exactly like dogs on leashes. You can't actually walk them, for one thing. The leashes are only really so they can't run away, or up a tree or something. You just (okay, I just -- I'm sure there are cats who behave more like dogs and will actually walk on a leash, but I've yet to see one) kind of stand there, and they poke around and stand and sniff the air, and the most action you'll get is they might chase a leaf or something.

Pyewacket got kind of bold and walked around the side of the house and rolled around on the driveway, and later she stretched and acted like she might climb a big tree, but she didn't. I'm sure she would if something was after her, but everything was pretty quiet. Bob went in and got me a big club--the handle to some kind of garden implement--to use if a dog tried to get them or something.

Then I made him hold the leashes while I went in to get the camera. This is the part that I always worry about--they inevitably go in different directions, so you're left in the middle, and of course, neither one of them will come when you tug on the leash.

We only stayed outside a little while; I decided to bring them in while Bob was out there so we could each grab one. Pye was mad, but I think Dinah was ready to come in.

A couple of people asked in the comments (which I now have!) whether I ever found out what was going on Thursday morning with the SWAT action on the highway. No, I never did. I checked the local newspaper's website several times that day and evening, but never did see anything about it. I suppose it will remain a mystery. Good story, anyway.

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Drama on the highway

Okay, so I think I figured it out. I figured out a way to make an entry index page, with a list of entries, but as far as I can tell, there's no way to make "next" and "previous" links automatically (if anyone has done that or seen it anywhere, feel free to correct me). The list page isn't automatic, but it's fairly easy to create. I also managed to get rid of the obnoxious blue background image that was showing up when you viewed the site in Bloglines, but frankly, I have no idea what I did. Don't you love it when that happens? It's great to have fixed the current problem, but not knowing what did it makes it difficult to correct if it happens again . . .

If anyone has any difficulty subscribing, please let me know, because I've made some changes and I'm not totally sure that it's working right for new subscribers. Just me being obsessive, probably.

On another note, if anyone is interested in ordering from Adagio Tea, let me know and I'll email you a $5.00 off certificate.

I was driving along to work this morning, listening to The Hogfather, drinking a Diet Coke that I'd picked up at McDonald's on the way, minding my own business, obeying the speed limit, when I noticed a police car in the lane next to me. I slowed down a little, as you do, and drove on.

Then he flipped his lights on, and I saw another police car a few cars back do the same thing, and I started slowing down. I didn't think it had anything to do with me, but I always get out of the way when emergency vehicles are trying to get past, even though I've noticed that a lot of people don't do that anymore. I assumed that they were just wanting traffic to clear for them so they could go on through to some emergency, but it turned out that the emergency was right in front of me.

I pulled over as far left as I could get (I was in the lefthand lane, next to the barrier) and stopped, and the two police cars rushed past me and squealed to a stop in front of the van that was traveling ahead of me, boxing him in. Two more police cars squealed up, all the doors popped open, and eight policemen jumped out with assault rifles trained on the van.

For a few minutes, nothing happened. The police cars were ranged across all four lanes of the highway. They were about two car lengths in front of me, close enough that I was a little worried about what would happen if they started shooting.

A couple of minutes later, a couple of arms appeared out the driver's side window of the van. I couldn't hear any shouting, but I had the windows up. Pretty soon, the van door opened and a guy got out, his arms in the air. By this time, I've gotten the cell phone out of my purse and called Bob, and was excitedly reporting the events as they happened. The guy started backing up, his hands in the air -- I've got to assume that the police were telling him to back up, that they didn't want him to turn around. He backed up and backed up until they told him to stop, then they made him lie down in the middle of the highway and they handcuffed him.

Up until this point, most of them had their rifles trained on the guy, but a couple of them kept theirs on the van. Once they had him under control, they all focused on the van again, and this time a woman got out the passenger side door, hands in the air. They got her handcuffed, too, then checked out the van, which was apparently now empty. They got both people into police cars, moved the cars off to the side of the road, then one of the policemen got in the van and moved it off the road.

I wasn't sure whether to start driving or not -- I kind of expected one of the policemen to turn and motion the traffic on, but they totally ignored everything except what they were doing. They were very focused, which was good, I guess. Everyone, including me, eventually just kind of started driving slowly on, and no one stopped us. I called the office and told them that I was going to be a little late.

That's the most excitement I've had in the morning in awhile.

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