Recent Shopping Excursions

The Sam’s, that they’ve been building right down the street from us since we moved here, finally opened last week. That means we don’t have to drive all the way up to OKC to go shopping. We took Arthur on his first Sam’s run on Wednesday. He holds a lot more bulk items than the Miata.

The Sam’s is so new that the concrete floors still look shiny. There was a huge line to get membership cards, and the greeter/bouncer seemed surprised we already had one.

We went back today because we’d forgotten Velveeta and didn’t get onions and bell peppers. The place was jam packed, but there were lots of checkout lanes open, so once we maneuvered the crowds, we got out of there pretty quickly.

We also went to an army/navy surplus (is the air force less wasteful?) store in Norman today that has everything 50% off. Berck got a pair each of navy, green, and cloud BDU trousers, and I got a navy pair…about $12 each. I love surplus stores. This one had crampons available, which would have come in handy on our icy hike in Zion National Park, though I couldn’t come up with a good enough excuse to buy them now in hope saving them for when we embark on some treacherous trek in the distant future.

We had to dash back from Sam’s, because Berck was scheduled to fly in a little while. He flew today and yesterday morning and Thursday night. He said he made himself nauseous tonight practicing chandelles.


Actual Fact: In 1996 Ringo Starr appeared in a Japanese advertisement for apple sauce. Apparently, that’s what “Ringo” means in Japanese. (I don’t know if “Richard Starkey” means anything in Japanese.)

Two Day’s Worth

I’ve got the house to myself for the weekend. Berck and his dad spent Thursday night here on their way back from California. They got to Nashville last night.

The rain on my way to work Friday morning turned to sleet when I pulled into the parking lot. By 9:30 a.m. there was two and a half inches of snow everywhere, and it was still coming down in thick, wet flakes. But the temperature never got below freezing, so by the time I went home it had all pretty much melted.

They let us go at 2:30. That’s because with inventory and trying to catch up from inventory the next week, we had 15.5 hours of overtime for the last pay period.

Actual Fact:

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (also known as F. Scott Fitzgerald) was named after his father’s distant relative, who authored the Star Spangled Banner.

My baby’s gone again.

Berck’s dad arrived last night. We had Berck’s pot roast and my bread and pie. I tried a new recipe that turned out really well. Berck complains whenever I make a dessert that isn’t chocolate, and he loves meringue, so I found a chocolate meringue pie recipe. It’s a keeper.

Berck and his dad left this morning. They’re driving to Phoenix to pick up a U-Haul trailer, then picking up Jim’s stuff in California, and then driving it to Nashville. It was $200 to trailer from Phoenix to Nashville, as opposed to $800 from California to Nashville. I guess everyone is leaving California. Berck will fly back on Monday next week.

I got to bed rather late last night with all the festivities. We finished inventory last week with a perfect audit, which made my boss extremely happy. But it was a long week. I had eight and a half hours of overtime. Since we were too busy counting to send out any product last week, this week our orders are doubled. I worked today until 5:30 (I’m supposed to get off at 3:30). I was beat. But I came home and took a nice warm bath, and all was right with the world again.

I’m still very tired, though. So I’m going to go to sleep.

Stuffed Pizza Night

Berck was practicing flying in the dark tonight, so I made pizza. I tried something new… Chicago style stuffed pizza. And it was really good! Even if I did forget to put the salt and the garlic and the pizza spices in. I made it in our cast iron frying pan.

Actual Fact: Reg Presley, the lead singer for The Troggs on their five million selling, 1966 hit “Wild Thing”, went on to become one of Britain’s premier UFO experts.