Cabin fever

Yesterday and this morning I've been organizing my shopping list, and in the process of doing so, I realized I was getting excited about going shopping.  For groceries!  That's when it hit me that I haven't been off the place since last Friday, and that was only a two-mile trip to the bank to get our cash for the week.  It was a week ago Thursday that we actually went somewhere to shop.  No wonder I'm ready to get out of the house for any purpose whatsoever.  In nice weather we're always taking little jaunts on the motorcycle, which relieves the tedium of staying at home all the time.  
Cliff has been asking retirees if they get bored with all that time on their hands; one former co-worker told him he only gets bored in the winter.  I can understand that!  Cliff, of course, has his shop, and it's heated now by a wood stove.  However, he's pretty much caught up on stuff he can do in an enclosed space, even now; and he goes to work every day.  He's really been enjoying those Farm and Ranch Living magazines my bloggie friend in Maine sent, with all this nasty weather limiting what he can do.   Yesterday he bladed snow off the driveway.  Someone asked in a comment how long a driveway Cliff has to clear.  After it's daylight, I'll go to the road and take a picture to add to this entry.  I think it took him about an hour to clear it with the John Deere.     
We have to go to Orscheln's to pick up a protein block for the cows, and I'm hoping they have their ten-cent-a-pack garden seeds in.  I've tried enough of them now to know which varieties are satisfactory for my purposes.  I'll check at Walmart and see if they have their mini-greenhouses yet.  It's too early to start tomatoes inside, but I like to be prepared.  
I changed the header picture on here last night, and I couldn't seem to get the "Just Me" to show up.  I thought Blogger wasn't adding it, but turns out I had it in black letters so it didn't show up against the dark trees.  This morning I figured it out.  
I was going to address a rude comment left yesterday evening that I deleted, but now that I've slept on it, I've decided that would come under the heading of "methinks she doth protest too much", as Shakespeare said.  It's better left alone.  
Here's something I've thought about:  For those of us who use Blogger, at the foot of each entry are links to the blogs of persons who link to us in their blogs.  I get a lot of traffic from this feature, and I don't mind the links that show on individual entries in my own blog.  But I wonder if people shouldn't be given the option of whether they want these links to show.  For instance, my blog link almost always shows up on Sister Mary Martha's entries because I link to her: She's a nun; what if I was blogging about something a nun wouldn't want to be associated with?  That isn't likely, of course; let's face it, I'm pretty tame.  She did come over and comment once, so I know she's checked it out.  Still, is there even a choice on this feature?  If so, I haven't found it.  

My loss

Cliff and I went to do the shopping today. For quite a while I tried to give my business to the local grocery (eight miles away) with the noble purpose of giving support to my community. I really wanted it to work. I was willing to pay a little more for my groceries.

Unfortunately, it didn't work out so well: They didn't stock certain items and brands I use all the time, and they'd advertise items on sale they didn't have, and didn't intend to have.

"But it's in your ad," I'd whine.

"Oh, our bigger store at (another town) probably has that."

So it's back to Walmart. I'm sorry, Guy in Oregon.

Since we had to make a stop in Lexington, the nearest Walmart from there is across the river at Richmond.

Cliff gets home from work at 3 A.M. and sleeps till 10 o'clock. We headed out shopping at 11 A.M. I get hungry at noon.

But I was not going to give in, not this time. I wasn't going to suggest the Chinese place or Sonic... I wasn't! Why spend too much money eating unhealthy junk someplace when we have plenty of food at home! Trouble is, I hadn't bothered to cook dinner ahead of time. Cliff leaves for work at 2:30. There's no chili in the freezer at present, nor anything else I can fix without some preparation.

Then I remembered a cooked chicken breast in the freezer. Chef salad! "I'll buy some lettuce and a couple of tomatoes and a cucumber, microwave-thaw and dice up the chicken to toss in the salad, and sprinkle some grated cheese on top," I said to myself. I had to talk to myself; Cliff was off somewhere in the automotive department.

When we had loaded everything into the trunk and were in the car, I told Cliff about my mental battle (it's a common one for me; I love to eat out). Boy, was I proud of myself for overcoming temptation.

"I was thinking about Subway, myself," he said.

"See? We saved all that money.... wait just a minute! I spent $1.39 for a head of lettuce, $1 for a cucumber, $1.95 for three puny tomatoes... and I still have to make the salad when we get home! Subway would have only cost us $5 plus tax.

Cliff found the whole episode humorous. Me, not so much.

At least the salad was good.

What a day for shopping!

When Cliff and I were done with our daily walk this morning, the temperature was in the mid-forties and the sun was out-doing itself shining.

We needed to pick up a prescription and run by a dentist's office to pick up an X-ray. I suggested we take the motorcycle.

"In fact," I said, "we could do the weekly shopping if you want. The morning is going to be shot anyhow, and I have my list ready."

We bundled up well; and indeed, it was a great ride. By the time we got all our errands run, it was in the mid-fifties.

I did patronize our nearest small-town grocer this time, and even though I bought both a turkey ($.69 per pound) and a ham ($1.69 per pound), I stayed under the $100 I allow for groceries. With a little cash to spare!

And it all fit in our motorcycle trailer.