A trip into Marion with time to kill

Mackenzie had a cast party last night, so of course she needed a ride, the chauffeur (me) fired up the chariot (1991 Toyota) and off we went. Now, I had no desire to go into Marion, and wait for three hours so my 15 year old can socialize. I have been feeling like a walking zombie and I really hate it when I am the driving zombie, but the reality is, when you have a lot of children, and they vary in ages this is just how it goes sometimes. So I made the best of it. Besides God always seems to bless me with a second wind just when I need it.

Dropped her off, almost at the wrong place before I remembered where I was going, this is normal for me and makes for many laughs. Then I went to Walgreens where I bought 2 boxes of Puffs and 2 boxes of 100 count dryer sheets for $5.06, with a $4.19 savings.

Off to Menards, have I said before how much I like it there? I mean, you can buy groceries, lumber, hammers, insulation, candles, laundry supplies, tp, toys, appliances, pretty much everything. AND they take coupons. I bought two Crayola painting mats, they were $4.99 each, but will send in a rebate for $6.00 so these will end up costing me $3.98 for 2. Nice birthday gifts for a couple of nieces. Shhhhhh don't tell Gabi and Gretchen.

Then to Wal-Mart (again) no children this time, so a bit more mind power (billowing smoke) available. While there I get a call on the "new to me" cell phone. I had it in the coat pocket, I have tried to wear it on the hip but have not perfected getting it out of the clip, this will take some practice at home, maybe I can have the kids call me, and I can practice, sort of like drawing my gun. Where was I......yes, the phone call. I guess the cast party is not as fun as years past because most of the kids were at the new Christian Club that opened in Marion. I got the call to see if Mackenzie could go over there. So being a sap, I said yes, besides I had more shopping. Have you ever really noticed how big WalMart is? I always need pet food of some kind, which is on the complete opposite end of the store as the milk I also always need. Why bother being a mall walker when you can be a WalMart walker. This may become my new form of exercise.

Saved $22.83 with coupons there. Not a bad trip considering I would have much rather been at home. $33.02 on the night. I am really having fun with this.

People are feeling better over here. The doc mentioned the need for some moisture in the air, the gaps in the hardwood have been mentioning that for a while. I am not interested in spending money on a humidifier, so we brought up a few drying racks from the basement, to hang some wet laundry on, we always have plenty of that to hang. One for the dining room and one for the living room. I really do not like drying racks all over the house, but I do like moisture that saves us from spending money as well as running the dryer, so I will learn to live with it. Then I mentioned that the pharmacist yesterday said that her mom put bowls of water in front of the furnace vents. Well, we thought we could do that too, in the rooms where the heat comes out of the floor, and since we were just blessed with anther 6 or so inches of snow, we filled up bowls of snow to put in front of the registers. Thank you Dean for your frugal idea. Then when Cade goes over to play in it, he is just eating the snow. I think the bowls will empty quickly and we have hopefully solved a problem with no financial output.