For instance, yesterday at this time, it was 19 degrees outside. Right now, it's 52.
Big difference.
Anyhow, the warmer weather made it more comfortable for me to do my work.
The day started off with me bringing Ariana to school.
After that, I stopped at BJ's to get gas. Gas was $1.59 9/10 a gallon. And I was able to fill up my tank on just $18.00 this week, whereas last week it was $19.00.
It's been years since I was able to fill up on gas for under $20.00.
Then I stopped at the bank to deposit a couple of checks.
After that, I was in the mood to stop at Uncle Jon's to check and see what day-old pastries he had, and perhaps even get a vanilla latte.
I was going to stop that the little shop in Mattapoisett instead of the big shop in Marion because the little shop was on my way home.
As I was approaching the shop, I was thinking that it's been a dog's age since I had seen Jon, and that it would be nice to see him and say "Hi."
And guess what? Jon was there working at the little shop! In all the times I've gone to either coffee shop location, I very rarely saw Jon.
Jon's a very nice fellow ~ easy to talk to, and generous. He once let me have my latte for free because he said that he appreciated my patronage and support.
But really, it's hard not to give my support to Jon and his coffee shops. Jon has created a mini coffee empire in our neck of the woods. He may not be Starbucks, but his products are just as good, if not better.
The service is awesome.
And I think that it's a great thing to support the local economy.
Anyhow, I told Jon that I had a feeling that he was going to be there. And I mentioned to him my up-coming move to Texas.
He told me to make sure that I come and visit before I leave so that he could give me a hug.
Yeah, I'll do that. And I think that I'll buy one of his "Team Caffeine" tee shirts that I admired for many years.
Uncle Jon's tee shirts feature the paper cutting art of his neighbor Peter Martin.
Peter's paper-cutting art work is exquisite. (The mermaid wall paper on Uncle Jon's site is Peter's work.)
One of my favorite tee shirts was one that I bought from Uncle Jon's when it was still a new entity in the Mattapoisett/Marion area. The tee shirt featured Peter's cut paper design of Noah's Ark, with the statement, "Wake up and smell the coffee. Noah did."
I wore that tee shirt so much that it got so many holes in it that I had to throw it out.
So, I definitely have to get another Uncle Jon's tee shirt before I leave for the Lone Star state.
(By the way, it was in Uncle Jon's early location in Marion where I almost ran over Geraldo Rivera in the parking lot. But that's another story all together. LOL)
Anyhow, it was around 11:30 when I finally got home. And it was time to crack the whip.
I stood by Richie's door and yelled, "Get up, lazy bones!"
Today my mission was to get most of Neil's stuff, including furniture, out of Ryan and Richie's room.
I made Richie work his butt off. He helped bring out the stuff, including the some of the furniture. He disconnected the electronic equipment and brought that out to the room at the top of the stairs.
I took the large cabinet out of my bedroom and placed it in the same room with all the other stuff.
Meanwhile, I worked on cleaning and arranging things in the room at the top of the stairs.
I tell you, that room is now ready for business. It looks great!
However, the living room is now a mess, with piles of books from both my bedroom and the room at the top of the stairs. Also, it is filled with boxes full of stuff to sell. These were boxes that were sitting in my bedroom.
Outside, I had to move about 30 garbage bags. Apparently when I had people bring the bags outside and place them at the rear of the house, those bags very seriously encroached upon the back door of the workout room.
Because I needed to have a clear path to that door, I had to move the offending bags to a different spot.
'Miah and Barbara stopped by for a brief moment. I gave 'Miah his assignment for tomorrow.
He's going to have to remove from the garage and place in the workout room the following:
- Neil's old bike that's on the wind trainer
- Ariana's bike
- Ariana's old crib
- an antique iron bed frame
- a portable picnic table
- Neil's old sled
- 2 aluminum saucer sleds
If all that stuff won't fit in the workout room, I will have to find space for them somewhere in the house.
In addition, I will have to go through the garage to dig out the 3 pairs of roller blades that I know are lurking in there somewhere.
While 'Miah and Barbara where here, a fellow named Dennis stopped by to look at Neil's weight-lifting set.
He wasn't interested in the whole set. The power cage (also known as a squat rack) was too tall to fit in his basement. Dennis was just interested in the plates.
So, he will call me tomorrow, after I had a chance to add up the weight of the plates, to see how much I want for the plates.
Also, 2 other fellows may be stopping by tomorrow to check out the weight-lifting set.
I decided to quit the physical grunt work at 4:00 PM.
My next project was to work on the signs.
Those sunny yellow signs.
I tell you, it was quite cheery to come downstairs this morning and see those yellow signs. They were so bright that they lit up the kitchen, even though it was overcast outside. I had to do a double-take to make sure that the kitchen light was not on.
My plan was to work on those signs until 6:00 PM. Then I was going to quit with the signs and go write my blog so that it would be ready for Neil when he got home from work.
However, I got a call from Ariana at 5:40 PM. Her art teacher did not need her to do a double drawing class session. So she needed for me to come and pick her up.
So I left my sign work on the table and headed off to Fall River.
Apparently this is Ariana's last week of classes. Next week she has her algebra final exam and has to pick up her art portfolio after final grading.
Today was her last class in psychology, and she had her psych final today as well.
After a full day of school, Ariana was both hungry and tired.
To take care of the first order of business, we stopped at the Peking Palace Chinese Buffet in Fairhaven.
It wasn't crowded tonight.
As we were being led to our table, the hostess noticed us and gave us a most enthusiast greeting. Ariana and I looked at each other, the both of us saying, "They know us here."
We love going to the Peking Palace. Sometimes we'll even go there just for their tea, which is most delicious.
One of the main features in the dining room is this huge fish tank. It must be about 200 gallons!
While most of the fish in it are fancy goldfish, there is this one HUGE pinkish giant gourami. That is one most impressive fish.
Not only is the fish impressive, it's also very personable. I spent moments mesmerized at the tank, watching the giant gourami.
The fishy fellow watched me. When I moved my head, the fish followed my movements.
I could have spent a long time at the fish tank, communing with the large fish. However, our check had arrived, and it was time for Ariana and me to head back home.
And it was about time, too. I was so stuffed that I felt as though I needed a wheelbarrow to get me out the front door and to my car.
As I returned to out table, Ariana told me that the restaurant gave the both of us calendar wall scrolls. How very nice of them! In all the years we have been going to the Peking Palace, this is the first time they ever gave us gifts to take home with us.
We were both touched by this sweet gesture. This was a most fine way to end the day.
Tomorrow will be another day of cracking the whip.
Ariana has no school tomorrow, and I told her that I will need her to work on her end of the storage area and also the chill room, which is still not fit for having people come upstairs.
The moving sale is drawing closer and closer. And each day I have to map out a cleaning and organizing strategy so that we will be ready for business come early Saturday morning.
Yeah, the sale is supposed to start at 10 in the morning. But everyone knows that in this type of business, you can count on early birds to arrive at least a couple of hours before you're ready to open the doors.
As such, I will have to make sure that I'm up well before the early birds.
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