Good Deal

Hello,

Leroy needed to bring a food dish to a farewell for the interns at his work place. He asked, “Should I sign up for fruit?”

He knows me well in this area, “Sure,” I said, knowing that I had plenty of watermelon available. I could just go to the Hy-vee up the street to buy some cantaloupe. Yesterday in the midday heat I headed off to the store. The sign announced that the melons were on a sale of two for four dollars. I smelled many, checked the stem ends, finally selected one, and took it to the check out. There the price turned out to be 2.99. I did not say anything, but I could not remember seeing a sign indicating that two must be purchased to get that lower price. Once home I looked at the ad and it did not state more than one must be bought.

Today I went back to the store, register slip in hand and inquired. I learned that my melon should indeed have been $2.00; consequently my melon was free as per the store policy. I did ask about the idea that I should have bought two and the guy replied, “We never do that.” He then told the other worker to refund my money while he went back to produce. I commented that I should go get another melon. There was a police man standing there and he laughed saying, “Whatever you bought I want one too.”

Back in the produce area, I thanked the guy for the refund and said, “I am buying another melon.”

“I will go change the charge,” he said as he started moving away.

“It is alright, I will not ask for this again.” I told him”.

“Just tell them the right price when you check out,” he smiled, “because I cannot get there right away.”

I found another nice smelling, good looking melon. In the end I got two melons for the bargain price of two for $2.

Paula

Cars

Hello,

I have been driving both cars. Most of the time I drive “my” car which is the Saturn. Leroy does not like the shifting pattern so it became my car. It is the newer car so we tend to drive it on trips. Leroy does ok, but there is always an adjustment. It is a bit different, but I am comfortable with it. The Saturn is the newer car however some might consider it old because it is a 2004. Just to keep the battery charged in the 1999 Hyundai, I drive it once a week. Because it does not have keyless entry I take it to work rather than go shopping with it when I might get in and out four times.

Because of this I have discovered that it is much easier to park in Leroy’s side of the garage due to turning angles.  On my side I must keep a careful eye on both sides of the car as I have to come in at an angle that is not my choice. I suppose I could back up and straighten it, but perhaps I like the thrill and daring of barely missing the sides of the garage with the bumper on the driver’s side and the rearview mirror on the passenger side. My side of the garage, however, has the electric garage door opener. That opener now only works to raise the door rather than lower it. Lowering requires holding down the button until the door gets to the fully closed position. This situation is to be fixed soon, but in the meantime I must pull the car out, go back in the garage, hold the button, and then get back in the car to leave. As with many things in life there are pluses and minuses.

Certainly a plus for this Saturn is the gas mileage. The last time I checked it with just driving to work and the occasional shopping trip, the mpg was 33+ and if one added in the 12 miles that I drove before I remember to set the trip odometer it was a bit over 34 mpg. We thanked the car for doing so well. We are certainly pleased with another blessing in our lives. We only have to fill up once a month because Leroy is riding the bike and just using the car for my work and shopping. That is very nice indeed.

Paula

Little Trip

Hello,

RAGBRI was in town Thursday night and Friday morning. They were to go close to the museum on their way out of town so Leroy was asked to come to work at 6:00. Anyway he got there at 5:30. He does not believe in being late. Because he was going in two hours early he would get off two hours early. He learned this fact on Wednesday. We contacted Brian and found out that it would be a good weekend for a visit. Apparently Leroy looked very tired in the afternoon so his boss asked if he would like to leave even earlier than the 3:00 time. That was great, but not so great because I was not ready to leave at that point. We did manage to leave ahead of our planned departure time.

“It has been a long time since we have been out of town,” one of us remarked.

We noted the dryness of the corn and pastures. It is quite sad looking. In the city we are, at this point, more inconvenienced than seriously traumatized by the lack of rain. I knew it is problematic, but seeing helps me more fully grasp the depth of the despair. Some places obviously had had some rain, but some just next door looked terrible. It was much better in Minnesota and north places.

We had not seen any of our grandchildren since the end of March. It was great to get some hugs, playtime and general horsing around. Logan, at seventeen months, was a just a little hesitant at first, but quickly got in the thick of things. Maybe he even remembered us.

He is talking now and liberally sprinkled “grandpa” around when he felt the urge. Granny was slower to come out of his mouth, but he made that too. We think earlier he was calling me grandma.

Now if those daughters of ours just lived closer we could drop in on them for a short visit when the opportunity suddenly presented itself. I fantasize about having bungee cords attached to all my children and just pulling them in when I wanted to see them and they could spring back when it was time to leave. Mass and matter does not work that way does it?

Paula

Still Working

Hello,

I still have work to do. I am working on getting the series numbered properly. Also my boss decided to go through the junior section of the library because the shelves are so packed. She was able to find more than a cart load of books that can be weeded. Weeding in the catalog system is usually my job, but she started on that before she left last night. Then there was the large stack that, after discussion, we decided to shelve in a different section of the library. Hopefully that will make them attractive and available to the right patron.  I had to make those adjustments. Then she told me about a section of the library in which the cataloging needs to be edited as one cataloger had no skills and just did whatever they felt like doing. So there is enough work to keep my busy. Plus there was an order of about ten videos that just came and those need to be catalogued.

Besides that every day that I go to work I do some Inter library loan tasks. That keeps me feeling necessary.

Yesterday Leroy and his boss went to the airport to pick up a shipment of books. The books could not be found. After much searching they learned that those books were still in Chicago. Subsequently they learned that they had not come through customs as the shipper did not fill out the proper papers to make that happen. Consequently Leroy felt as if he had gotten nothing done for an entire morning. Why do we not count as getting something done the time that it takes to work on problems? Are we too concerned about a product? Is that true of all personalities or just some like Leroy’s?

I have not gotten so much done on my day off, today. Wait, I took a walk in the morning coolness, mixed up a batch of bread, worked on the bank statement, paid the rent and utilities, paid a credit card bill, and dusted. For enjoyment I worked on two Sudoku puzzles, and read a magazine as well as a newspaper. And I was grateful for water and air conditioning. Life would be very different if those two items were scarce.

Paula

Successes

Hello,

Yesterday, I finished cataloging all the videos and all of the books that had been lined up for some time. It is great to look at the shelf and see it almost empty. As my boss laughed, “I will have to order more books to keep you busy.”

The videos especially have been there since I started in March. More books would just keep materializing because of purchases or gifts. This z source I found is so great because everything that I did yesterday was available there. Admittedly I had to search rather diligently for some for it, but it finally came to light.

There was a movie with a one word title that I was looking for. After entering this title at least three different times, getting it to run, and doing some other job while it ran only to come back to failure left me discouraged. My boss suggested I could just do a slim catalogue record and forget about it. Before I did that, I looked at Worldcat. The movie appeared complete with the proper picture on the cover. I happened to notice that the actors were listed as authors. That gave me another search point. I first tried the only actor name I knew but nothing returned. Then the next name gave me the record. Yes! Happiness filled my soul. Why it did not show up long ago I cannot imagine, but there it was just as it should be. There still are mysteries in life and I suppose that is good. I certainly could not have felt so good if I had found this catalog record on the first try. It would have been just added to the other easy finds.

There were ten DVDs that we had been unsuccessful at finding on Saturday. Today I found all of them. Some were even not that difficult. Why they did not turn up on Saturday I cannot say, but it was great to conquer the pile.

Besides that, my friend gave me a tip to make magazine cataloging much faster. And it was fast already.

Little things can be satisfying.

Paula

A Fool and his Money

Hello,

Surely a fool could not be referring to me since I am not a “he”. But it might be a close fit some days. We have been carrying another picture that we have not framed, mainly because there is no premade frame that works with it. It is a picture that the school in Bratislava gave me. I decided to frame it or pass it on as there is really no point in keeping it in my dresser drawer for safety. This must be the year to purchase frames because I realize since we have lived here I have bought three other frames, each more expensive than the last. What I did not know was that I was building up to the largest out lay of frame money for this group of two people who believe in holding onto their money.

I went back to the store where I selected the other frames. I could find nothing that would work with this picture. A clerk came and helped me look. She was also unsuccessful. Consequently I ordered a custom made frame. Is this print as valuable as the frame? Not even close. Probably the frame outshines the picture. I will surely have to work hard to enjoy it as much as the cost deserves.

It is a picture of the castle in Bratislave from the 1700’s. After all, Bývali sme pod hradom which translates as we lived under the castle. Would you believe that I even remembered this phrase, but I checked the translator for sure? I will be happy to have this picture out where I can look at it.

At least we do have the money to pay for this and we are not taking it from some other concern.

Last night we visited with one of our neighbors who has garden strips in her front lawn. She is Asian, but I could not tell from what country, but her accent was strong and English limited. She is growing interesting things.

Paula

My Posture

Hello,

Recently, I have been noticing a tingling in my back. I assumed that meant something was not in quite the right place. Usually more and varied yoga is my method of cure. For some reason I cannot make myself stick to a program. However the other day at work I happened to look at myself in the mirror and realize that my shoulders are no longer straight across, also the lower shoulder seems to be drifting forward.

“Holy cats!” I thought I really must get that yoga a regular part of my day. I want to be standing up straight for more years to come. Well, yesterday I did some yoga, but not today. So much for wonderful resolutions, New Year’s or otherwise. It seems that neither discomfort nor vanity is a powerful motivator.

Just anytime in the day I am trying to hold my shoulders back, hips tilted under, and stomach in. That lasts for a total of five minutes before I forget about it and sag back into whatever seems comfortable at the moment.

And to think I have hounded Leroy from years because of his posture. He does have slight scoliosis that has been inherited by our daughters. So he is not totally to blame his muscles but some blame is squarely on his genes. However the one time that he lifted weights for about a year his posture improved leading one to believe that there is a certain amount that can be changed. Now if I could just find the fortitude to do it I would be happy.

Paula