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Strengthless or Lazy?

It's hard to maintain strength. Physical, mental, emotional. We are constantly assaulted by strength suckers. I don't mean this to sound negative, or cynical, just an observation. This morning I drove all the way down to Ikea from North County. Smart am I, i made it there just as the doors opened! I knew what i wanted, and asked the bag girl how to get to the self serve furniture area without being tortured by the endless circles of merchandise for sale. In and out, that's all I was looking for. They did have some cool outdoor chairs for $29 -but I resisted.

I never went upstairs. Yeah! It still took a long time to get to the self serve area, and there was still the inner war with myself not to stop and look at all the stuff that i didn't need- like more lamps, or wine glasses, or sheets. I finally arrived where I was headed, and what I wanted had a prime location right at the entrance.

Those boxes are heavy. I hope I didn't screw my arm up again, my left one, just trying to get four boxes off the pile, and onto the rolling cart. I think I was successful. Paying was relatively painless , especially at this time of the day.

I passed the food court at the exit. I don't recall any smells, because most likely it isn't "real" food, but at least it's better than buying food at gas stations. Outside, I saw that most of the loading/unloading areas were full, not a sign of the people who left them there. I'm guessing that they just parked there, so they didn't have to walk so far, selfish selfish selfish.

I banked the cart against one of those big concrete barriers, and headed into the main lot to get my car, hoping that no one would run off with my purchase. I managed to find an open spot (out of like, 20), and then opened the back and rolled my cart between two pillars, only to find that my car was about 2 ft from the curb. The cart kept rolling towards me, with those four heavy boxes and I was trying to decide if i should get back in the car and try to get it closer to the curb so I could "slide" the top boxes into the back when one of the Ikea staff wearing a back safety belt and cleaning up trash down the way, spotted my dilemma and came over to help me lift them into the car. Thank you Mr. Ikea, good job.

Driving off, still early, I spied an empty parking space at Lowe's, and hopped out to buy a new garden hose. Six months ago I bought that really cool "as seen on TV" X-hose- $40 plus $9 shipping for a 50 footer. It's that one that weighs a pound, and unfurls like a snake, then creeps back into its skin. It's already dead, sprung a leak. Loved it until it died, now trying to get a free replacement (ah such an optimist). If it had lasted a year I would have just let it go, but that pissed me off, 6 months.

I looked at the warranty on all the new (lol- still an optimist) "kink-free" hoses, spending the extra few bucks for a contractors hose. I'm saving that warranty paper, and know i have to cut off both the couplings in order to activate that replacement policy. Hope i remember the conditions when this one inevitably kinks or sprouts a fountain. If I do, I'll be so happy since I did actually read it. Most likely though, the warranty will be buried in a box somewhere in the garage and will take me a day to find it. Wonder what my spare time is worth, like right now when I'm sitting around boring you with this blog.

It's only noon and I've been up since 6, walked the dogs, weighed in at WW, had breakfast at the cafe, dropped the dogs home, been to Ikea and Lowes, unloaded those heavy boxes and taken them part way up the stairs, and talked to a dear friend whose husband is facing serious medical issues.

I'm thinking I'm done for the day. My left "tendonitis " arm seems to be OK so far. The dogs are both crashed out, yawning and staring aimlessly.

So, just for fun, let's figure out how much money I've spent so far today. Coffee on the way to WW along with a tip $3.25. Breakfast along with a tip $12.50. Ikea bookshelves 4 x $39.95 plus tax- something like $173. New Garden hose at Lowes $44 plus tax. Yep, time to rest. Day one of a three day weekend.

I know i should probably lift some weights, or get the "bike I've never ridden since I bought it" out of the garage and into the sun, but I don't feel like it. I'm in a cruising mood, so I'll go with it.

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Halloween opera style

Faust is the quintessential example

It's hard to maintain strength. Physical, mental, emotional. We are constantly assaulted by strength suckers. I don't mean this to sound negative, or cynical, just an observation. This morning I drove all the way down to Ikea from North County. Smart am I, i made it there just as the doors opened! I knew what i wanted, and asked the bag girl how to get to the self serve furniture area without being tortured by the endless circles of merchandise for sale. In and out, that's all I was looking for. They did have some cool outdoor chairs for $29 -but I resisted.

I never went upstairs. Yeah! It still took a long time to get to the self serve area, and there was still the inner war with myself not to stop and look at all the stuff that i didn't need- like more lamps, or wine glasses, or sheets. I finally arrived where I was headed, and what I wanted had a prime location right at the entrance.

Those boxes are heavy. I hope I didn't screw my arm up again, my left one, just trying to get four boxes off the pile, and onto the rolling cart. I think I was successful. Paying was relatively painless , especially at this time of the day.

I passed the food court at the exit. I don't recall any smells, because most likely it isn't "real" food, but at least it's better than buying food at gas stations. Outside, I saw that most of the loading/unloading areas were full, not a sign of the people who left them there. I'm guessing that they just parked there, so they didn't have to walk so far, selfish selfish selfish.

I banked the cart against one of those big concrete barriers, and headed into the main lot to get my car, hoping that no one would run off with my purchase. I managed to find an open spot (out of like, 20), and then opened the back and rolled my cart between two pillars, only to find that my car was about 2 ft from the curb. The cart kept rolling towards me, with those four heavy boxes and I was trying to decide if i should get back in the car and try to get it closer to the curb so I could "slide" the top boxes into the back when one of the Ikea staff wearing a back safety belt and cleaning up trash down the way, spotted my dilemma and came over to help me lift them into the car. Thank you Mr. Ikea, good job.

Driving off, still early, I spied an empty parking space at Lowe's, and hopped out to buy a new garden hose. Six months ago I bought that really cool "as seen on TV" X-hose- $40 plus $9 shipping for a 50 footer. It's that one that weighs a pound, and unfurls like a snake, then creeps back into its skin. It's already dead, sprung a leak. Loved it until it died, now trying to get a free replacement (ah such an optimist). If it had lasted a year I would have just let it go, but that pissed me off, 6 months.

I looked at the warranty on all the new (lol- still an optimist) "kink-free" hoses, spending the extra few bucks for a contractors hose. I'm saving that warranty paper, and know i have to cut off both the couplings in order to activate that replacement policy. Hope i remember the conditions when this one inevitably kinks or sprouts a fountain. If I do, I'll be so happy since I did actually read it. Most likely though, the warranty will be buried in a box somewhere in the garage and will take me a day to find it. Wonder what my spare time is worth, like right now when I'm sitting around boring you with this blog.

It's only noon and I've been up since 6, walked the dogs, weighed in at WW, had breakfast at the cafe, dropped the dogs home, been to Ikea and Lowes, unloaded those heavy boxes and taken them part way up the stairs, and talked to a dear friend whose husband is facing serious medical issues.

I'm thinking I'm done for the day. My left "tendonitis " arm seems to be OK so far. The dogs are both crashed out, yawning and staring aimlessly.

So, just for fun, let's figure out how much money I've spent so far today. Coffee on the way to WW along with a tip $3.25. Breakfast along with a tip $12.50. Ikea bookshelves 4 x $39.95 plus tax- something like $173. New Garden hose at Lowes $44 plus tax. Yep, time to rest. Day one of a three day weekend.

I know i should probably lift some weights, or get the "bike I've never ridden since I bought it" out of the garage and into the sun, but I don't feel like it. I'm in a cruising mood, so I'll go with it.

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