Just one more errand

I ran errands yesterday. The plan was that I'd stay home today, do some laundry, pay bills, upload tunes to the new mp3 player... y'know, all that at-home stuff.

Except, last night, right before falling asleep (at, like, 3:30 a.m.), it dawned that there were a few more errands I had to run today. I scrawled them on my white board so I'd remember.

OK, no problem. I wake up this morning and look at the list. I make my plan: Bed, Bath & Beyond for a shade for my garage window (at night, the lights in front of my garage shine through the windows on the garage door, and can be seen through the garage window -- and it's apparent when there's no car there. So if I'm going to be gone for a few weeks, I want a curtain on that window); then to the mall to go to Victoria's Secret and buy just a couple more bras; then hit the pharmacy for a few essentials, then I'm good to come home.

Riiiight.

Go to Bed, Bath & Beyond, and buy the shade. The Bed, Bath & Beyond is right near the Best Buy, and I remember that I forgot to put "go to Best Buy for a replacement battery for my travel alarm clock" on my list. And I don't have the battery with me and don't know the size (it's something small). Damn, damn, damn. I buy the shade, and figure I'll bring it home, hang it quickly, and grab the travel alarm battery.

Yeah, you can see where this went wrong.

I'd been hoping that the shade would just slide into the brackets that the previous owner left, but it took a different bracket. So I pulled a ladder over, removed the brackets, screwed in the new brackets, and hung the new shade.

Heh. That's how it was supposed to happen. You can insert in there the use of a power screwdriver, a power drill (with screwdriver attachments), two old-fashioned hand-operated screwdrivers, pretty much destroying a couple screwdriver bits, and only actually managing to get 2 screws in on each side. (Did they test this in the real world before they released it on an unsuspecting bracket-hanging public? The idea is that they give you a little corner bracket that you screw to the inside of the window frame -- screws on the top and screws on the side -- and then there's a bolt hanging down from the top to which you will attach the shade. But the bolt hanging down is strategically placed to block access to every single screw hole on the side, and it's rather in the way of getting a tool well-placed for the top screws as well.) A simple job took an hour, and when I was done, I was dripping with sweat.

No, I understate the situation. There were rivers of sweat pouring off of me. 98 degrees outside and I'm wearing a knit dress, working in my hot garage with the sun pouring through the window. I sweat from places I didn't know I had pores. Flies started buzzing around me because I was a water source. When I was done, I stepped on the scale and weighed a half pound less than when I'd started this morning -- it was all water loss from the sweat.

I didn't imagine I was in anything like decent shape to go to Victoria's Secret and try on bras -- I bet they'd make me buy anything I touched. So I needed a quick shower first.

And before I shower, I might as well re-pot the plant, right? Because that's dirty.

(And somewhat amusing. For my housewarming, my neighbors gave me a basket with all sorts of plants in it. Some of them were obviously fake. Obviously. I assumed they were all fake until one of them started dying on me; then I realized a few were actually alive. So I started watering it, but the basket wasn't made for that, so it all spilled out the bottom. So, yesterday, I bought a pot and some potting soil and figured I'd try to save the survivors.)

So, I repotted the two hardiest of the bunch, tossed the rest in the trash can, took out the garbage in general (as it's trash day tomorrow and, hey, as long as I'm dirty...) and ... dammit, that was my last compactor bag. Fine, I'll add "go to Sears for more compactor bags" to the list just as soon as I get out of the shower.

I showered. I made a list of where I had to go (and when it would close). And ... I'm off. First stop; the mall. Victoria's Secret. I find the right style bra in my size and they have a grand total of one of them. All that for one freakin' bra? I grab some food at the mall because I'll need the sustenance. I then go to JC Penney and pick up a few more bras. (Hooray!)

Back to the car and ... to the pharmacy, men! Necessaries purchased.

To Sears! For compactor bags.

They're out of compactor bags.

(Nooooooooo!)

To Best Buy for a battery for the travel alarm, and a vague hope they may have compactor bags. Negative on the compactor bags, but I score on the battery.

Haul my exhausted butt out to OSH (hardware store) to see if they have compactor bags. They do! Finally!

I get home, just on the good side of 8:00.

Wiped out, and with NONE of the at-home stuff done.