Out and about with St. GK
Oct. 17th, 2019 07:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vanillafluffy I'll be the first to admit that I gripe about GK in this venue, but I've also got to say that when she comes through, she does it royally. I haven't seen much of her the last few weeks, as she was volunteering at Balloon Fiesta (and she's fixing to start working on early voting next week), but today we got together and it was epic.
Because California ended up being MUCH more expensive than I expected, I've spent last month and this month trying to subsist on 2/3rds of what's barely enough money in a normal month. (I can't believe November is still two weeks away--October has been interminable!) As it happens, I've been invited to a Halloween party on the 26th, and I proposed to GK that we run around to a few thrift stores for costume shopping. Then when I went to my cash stash, imagine my dismay when I realized I only had $20, not the $40 I thought I had. Wah!
Anyway, GK showed up after having gone shopping. She raided a grocery mark-down cart and picked up a metric shit-ton of baking supplies at drastic reduction--things like cans of pie filling (apple, cherry, pumpkin), salted caramel chips, shortbread tart shells--stuff like that. Also two pounds of sliced deli roast beef, sing hallelujah. It makes a very nice change from friend eggs, cheese and sausages.
From there, we went through the drive-in (Hello, sausage McMuffin!), which was good because all I'd had time to do was get up and get dressed. Then we hit four thrift stores--Savers yielded a few goodies: two Glasbake casserole dishes (a cousin of Pyrex), and three tops. GK picked up the tab for the tops, Because the casseroles took most of my available cash. (One top is for costuming, one was cute and the other is going to be somebody's Christmas present). Restore was the next stop. Nothing I was looking for, so no money spent there. Then we went to Assistance League, which is one of the better thrift stores in town. I ended up scraping the loose change out of the bottom of my purse to get a pewter seahorse soapdish, a retro mug, a poodle key chain and a Jessica Howard dress (black and white diamond pattern with random pink diamonds).
She asked if I had any steam left, since we were right across the road from Thrift-a-Lot, and I girded my loins and said Heck yeah--because I don't get out thrifting often so today I was binging on it. I found a few things and she got them for me--a necklace to go with my new dress, a little zippered case, originally for earbuds that's exactly the right size to hold my tape measure, a DVD and a pair of hippo salt and pepper shakers--they're going into my stocking; the rest came home with me.
And then, as we were sitting in front of my place, she handed me a card with $40 so I can pick up a few groceries between now and the end of the month.
Also, next week I have an appointment for a trim--the day before the party--and she's going to drive me over there so she can introduce me to the stylist and save me from having to spend bus fare.
I haven't used Lyft at all this month--although it's in the budget. I invested the equivalent amount in bus coupons, which last forever. I was running low, and over the course of the next few weeks, I have three appointments, bariatrics, podiatrist and ophthalmologist, for which I'll need transportation. Since cash is something I never have enough of, bus coupons are fairly essential. The bus costs $2 per trip and doesn't make change--if all you have is $20, you're going to have a very expensive ride!
After all the running around today, I'm pretty well beat; maybe by Sunday or so I'll be back to my normal, but these days it seems like for every stop I make while I'm out and about, it takes a day to recover. Last weekend took a lot out of me, and now here we go again! But I had a great time, and it's largely thanks to GK.
Now I'm going to go scarf some roast beast. The McMuffin has worn off. Love to all!
....
Because California ended up being MUCH more expensive than I expected, I've spent last month and this month trying to subsist on 2/3rds of what's barely enough money in a normal month. (I can't believe November is still two weeks away--October has been interminable!) As it happens, I've been invited to a Halloween party on the 26th, and I proposed to GK that we run around to a few thrift stores for costume shopping. Then when I went to my cash stash, imagine my dismay when I realized I only had $20, not the $40 I thought I had. Wah!
Anyway, GK showed up after having gone shopping. She raided a grocery mark-down cart and picked up a metric shit-ton of baking supplies at drastic reduction--things like cans of pie filling (apple, cherry, pumpkin), salted caramel chips, shortbread tart shells--stuff like that. Also two pounds of sliced deli roast beef, sing hallelujah. It makes a very nice change from friend eggs, cheese and sausages.
From there, we went through the drive-in (Hello, sausage McMuffin!), which was good because all I'd had time to do was get up and get dressed. Then we hit four thrift stores--Savers yielded a few goodies: two Glasbake casserole dishes (a cousin of Pyrex), and three tops. GK picked up the tab for the tops, Because the casseroles took most of my available cash. (One top is for costuming, one was cute and the other is going to be somebody's Christmas present). Restore was the next stop. Nothing I was looking for, so no money spent there. Then we went to Assistance League, which is one of the better thrift stores in town. I ended up scraping the loose change out of the bottom of my purse to get a pewter seahorse soapdish, a retro mug, a poodle key chain and a Jessica Howard dress (black and white diamond pattern with random pink diamonds).
She asked if I had any steam left, since we were right across the road from Thrift-a-Lot, and I girded my loins and said Heck yeah--because I don't get out thrifting often so today I was binging on it. I found a few things and she got them for me--a necklace to go with my new dress, a little zippered case, originally for earbuds that's exactly the right size to hold my tape measure, a DVD and a pair of hippo salt and pepper shakers--they're going into my stocking; the rest came home with me.
And then, as we were sitting in front of my place, she handed me a card with $40 so I can pick up a few groceries between now and the end of the month.
Also, next week I have an appointment for a trim--the day before the party--and she's going to drive me over there so she can introduce me to the stylist and save me from having to spend bus fare.
I haven't used Lyft at all this month--although it's in the budget. I invested the equivalent amount in bus coupons, which last forever. I was running low, and over the course of the next few weeks, I have three appointments, bariatrics, podiatrist and ophthalmologist, for which I'll need transportation. Since cash is something I never have enough of, bus coupons are fairly essential. The bus costs $2 per trip and doesn't make change--if all you have is $20, you're going to have a very expensive ride!
After all the running around today, I'm pretty well beat; maybe by Sunday or so I'll be back to my normal, but these days it seems like for every stop I make while I'm out and about, it takes a day to recover. Last weekend took a lot out of me, and now here we go again! But I had a great time, and it's largely thanks to GK.
Now I'm going to go scarf some roast beast. The McMuffin has worn off. Love to all!
....