What a day!

In a good way, that is. I went out to move things around in the garage the other day and noticed the front tire on my bike was flat. It was a nice morning, so the Sally the dog and I walked down to the bike shop, where this very cute, but kind of young, bike shop tech waited on me. I don't see myself as the cougar type, but maybe I could make an exception... Ha ha. When I went back to pick up the bike, he was there again and said (ouch) "my mom's name is Linda". (Ouch) OK, so maybe he was too young. Anyway, I am the proud owner to two new inner tubes, and am looking forward to tooling around as it gets warmer.

From dropping off the bike, Sal and I went to the hardware store, where I bought myself a boxcutter. I felt a little like I should repeat often that I just wanted it to cut boxes, but no one at the hardware store seemed to care. I've ordered enough stuff in the past year or so that has come in cardboard boxes that there was a small mountain of them in the basement.

I felt like a total dufus, though. I'm all set to start slicing up my many boxes, and I can't get the cutter open to install the blade. I squeeze, and I pull, and I push and twist, and spend about 20 minutes, thinking, "I am NOT going back and asking them how to operate a utility knife!" But I did, and as it turned out, part of the packaging was caught. The nice guy at the hardware store freed it and I was on my way. I cut, bundled and got rid of about 30 lbs. of cardboard at the recycling center - yea!

I like being able to patronize local businesses. It's funny, between those two things, I feel like I got a lot done.

I also washed several thrift store sweaters that smelled kind of old and musty, and I just remembered they are still in the bathtub and will need my attention here before too long. I still need to grade some school stuff and do dishes, but it's been a good day.