Military Romance Author
The holiday season is crazy, even if you’re just trying to keep out of everybody else’s way. Then you go to make a blog post and they changed the format again. Tech. The digital nightmare that keeps on giving.
But then we get to see the new goat in town at the Oregon Zoo, Bruce Wayne. Officially the smallest goat on campus at the Zoo’s family farm, he doesn’t seem to know it. Let’s all take a break from crazy and watch the baby goat. I’m in!
Have a great, safe, weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!
My military training comes in handy since leaving the service. Valuable lessons learned can translate into great help when accomplishing one of my greatest joys, shopping. Now about this time of the year, I’d rather get three root canals than venture into a shopping mall.
But no matter how well I plan, there is always one item I need to pick up or purchase to complete my list of home needs, gifts or plain consumerism. Recently I got to thinking about which are the scariest parking lots I face on a regular basis. I’ve come up with my top four contenders.
4. Target. The mall in my area has both Target and Kohl’s with a very large parking lot joining them all together. Pure madness this time of year. Several years ago I adopted the back route maneuver. I go behind Target and park behind the store which does not link with the big parking lot. Problem solved. Quick exit and entry. No prowling the rows endlessly for parking spots. In and out.
3. Fred Meyer. (Kroger to the rest of you) Go mid-day, avoid weekends, or streak in at dinner time when most folks are eating. I park in the same area so I don’t lose Subie. There are a lot of silver SUVs around here. Have my list. Get in, get out. Occasionally I like to wander through the seasonal area for holiday entertainment. Especially when the biblical downpour from a thunderstorm made it so noisy on the metal roof a week ago Tuesday we couldn’t hear ourselves think. Best to wait that one out. I’m a native Oregonian, but I’m not stupid when it comes to rain where you need a scuba suit to stay dry.
2. Eye Clinic. This parking lot is pure peril. Not only am I driving with at least one eye dilated, but other folks flat-out can’t see. My remedy is to park outside the main parking lot. There are so many parking stalls back to back to each other, it’s a matter of time before there will be a complete gridlock crash zone. Of course, when I enter the doors and the sign says “No weapons allowed,” I can imagine that is because of the crazy drivers outside. Good to know.
1. Home Depot. This is parking lot is the hands down craziest. That’s before the holiday season. One of the store’s I frequent is next to PetSmart, so now we’ve added a rash of crazy pet owners and excited dogs to the mix. (I rarely see cat’s shopping, they have staff.) When I am mission planning for an HD run, I am in full tactical mode. Head on a swivel. Rested. Full stomach. Water bottle in the car.
When going into this mission, I always plan for a two-fer; hit Home Depot and PetSmart. If you’re going to take your life in your hands, go for the gusto and reduce the odds with one combined operation and not two different trips. Lower your odds of chaos. Pre-planning includes finding out the items I want, if they are in stock and where in the vast warehouse of crazy they are located. Know your target and secure its coordinates.
When I want a helper at Home Depot, I can’t find one. When I go in armed with intell and know where I’m heading, they are everywhere. But first, you have to secure a parking spot. Be on the watch for pedestrians with a death wish wandering in every conceivable direction. They also are pushing carts and carrying loads of timber and metal sticks which they can swivel in an instant and knock you to the ground.
I’ve seen bushes walking with only legs visible, people moving into the traffic while texting on their phone and pushing a full shopping cart, and a family heading for the store entrance strung out for six blocks trying to muck up all traffic lanes. Manage your troop movements people!
There are contractors and DIY’ers shooting out of the loading dock at any given time with varying velocities and no warning. You can be moving along at fifteen miles an hour and all of a sudden have a dual-wheeled one-ton pickup try to T-bone you with a load of patio bricks. Be very careful around the loading bays.
If the PetSmart doggie people wander over for home stuff after their visit to the treat store, now we’ve got an entirely new wrinkle to deal with at Home Depot. Thank goodness for cement floors.
When I arrive home safely from the HomeDepot/PetSmart mission, I am truly proud of myself. Until I realize I forgot the special cat food.
Curses!
Take it easy out there everybody and reward yourselves for a mission well done during these holiday parking lot horrors. Think outside the parking lot. The life you save may be the cat’s waitress.
Spec Ops Cat testing out the new holiday blankie from Kohl’s. I think it passes. Mission complete.
Digging out of the trenches. Okay, I still have one foot in the mud from moving from my eleven-year-old computer to the new one. I’ve been dreading this, but almost done! So when one of the YouTube channels I follow had a quick video on feeling overwhelmed and anxious, what better gift to forward for everybody. It is the holiday crazies!
Then I wanted to wind up with a calming hour of holiday music and snow. You can watch for a few minutes or an hour. Relax. Get a cup of cocoa and breathe.
Have a great, safe, weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!
P.S. These new computer keyboard keys are really SHORT.
What better way to celebrate Black Friday than staying home and watching videos of African Painted dog pups born to Ella at the Oregon Zoo! It’s her first litter and they estimate ten to sixteen pups. She needs privacy and quiet, so here we get to peek into her maternity ward. So either try to count the pups or go shopping today.
I can shop online like a ninja, so no worries here about sales. I actually did my shop and buy last weekend to beat the crowds. Okay, the crowds were there, but I’ve been trained for combat; it comes in very handy when retail shopping.
As I dived into an overflowing steel basket trying to find a certain polar bear snuggle blanket at Kohl’s my elusive prey was not to be found, but I captured it online. Don’t try this at home, I’m a trained professional buyer. The government used to pay me to do that. Alas, my budget is much smaller now. But I love me some bargains.
I did actually achieve getting two hoodies for free with points and coupons and sales and garlic. My personal best so far. But I digress.
Have a great, hopefully long, weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Family, turkey, friends, mashed potatoes, football, pumpkin pie, gravy, whipped cream. You get my drift. It’s also a time to reflect on all we have and how lucky we are to live in the USA.
When Debbie, my Australian friend, happened to visit our family during Thanksgiving one year, she totally endorsed this fabulous holiday. Everybody can get behind a time to be thankful.
Whether you’re having turkey, spaghetti, ham, a breakfast burrito, McDonald’s Happy Meal or eating Meals-Ready-To-Eat or mess food on a ship, it’s time to reflect.
My sister and brother-in-law just got back from a trip to California to visit family. On the way down I-5 they traveled on the road with Oregon fire crews going to backup our California neighbors in need. At the hotel in Redding they shared space with more fire crews and the displaced folks who had lost their homes in the fires.
It’s times like these that those of us who are not directly touched by the wildfires, hurricanes or other natural disasters can do our part to help. Donations are always welcome. The Red Cross is a good place to start.
So while we thank and honor our firefighters on the lines in California, our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq spending another holiday away from home, and all our military members, veterans, law enforcement and intelligence personnel around the world protecting us, it truly is a time to say thank you for what we have.
I am blessed to be able to work on my writer dreams, have a funny family and supportive friends; plus cuddle Spec Ops Cat who thinks I’m his waitress and personal mobile heating pad.
And to my blog readers, I send you hugs and wishes for peace, prosperity and pumpkin pie.
Which means I’m now heading off to whip up the pumpkin pies for tomorrow. Somehow there always seems to be leftovers. Because we plan to feed an army on purpose so we can take turkey and pie home. Life is logistics!
The only thing better than turkey day, is turkey day leftovers.
Have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!
Last week I was praying for toilet bowl cleaner and hemorrhoid cream tv commercials to avoid political ads, but we made it! It’s time to cut loose and prepare for the shopping frenzy and advance Black Friday deals. Talk about shopping creep.
So for a palate cleanser I have brought back an oldie and a goodie in Sing A Long mode!
Prepare to hoard eggnog!
Have a great, safe, weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!
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