I am building my lists partially the night before to make sure I don’t forget to add things I need to. That said, it is impossible to judge weather lately. Wednesday Night wasn’t supposed to rain but it rained heavy and sent Nala under the bed in the middle of the night. SO.... I plan as best as I can and we’ll see if the weather and the schedule play along.
AFTER WORK
(1) Drive straight to HyVee Redemption and unload that glass!
(2) Then drive to Walgreens and see if you can’t get some fucking answers! What do they mean they’ve shut down every pharmacy within 40 miles?! That can’t be true, can it?!
(3) Drive Home and give Nala her Good Girl Treat, if deserving.
(4) Change Clothes
(5) Small Walk for Nala, weather permitting
(6) Dog Park for Nala, weather permitting
(7) Finish the Pizza and penultimate Apple
(8) Gather trash from house into one bag
(9) Place Car Trash in One Bag or New Bag
(10) Put trash on curb
(11) Unload Dishwasher
(12) Write Proper Grocery List (include a variety of food and protest needs)
(13) Prepare an additional trunk full of Redemption Items
(14) Call in Rx to CR Walgreens, if they will take it
Make sure to write what time things finished. Tonight sounds like a busy night and I’m not sure I can get it all done before 11 p.m., if I’m being honest.
So… funny story… because my colleagues spent most of the afternoon at the bar and I was back at work… I figured I’d leave early and get a jump start on my to do list. And then, I left 5 minutes after closing time anyway!
(1) Hy Vee Redemption. Went well… enough. 70 bottles accepted, 16 bottes rejected. One of the reasons I’m coming to hate the Iowa form of Recycling. Every store has a BARCODE scanner to say “This was bought at our store, therefore, we will return the 5 cents we charged you when you bought it because you are recycling at our store.” EXCEPT the store keeps, creates, and “updates” the barcode scanners. SO… let’s say they just… don’t want to accept recycling anymore… something we know they don’t want to do because they petition the governor every year to keep letting them charge the extra five cents BUT permit them to not accept recycling to return the five cents. Yes, Big Grocery Chains saying “We want to take five cents from each customer but not give them a way to get it back!” SO… yeah. 16 bottles that I bought at that exact store that they will not accept in return. So, ultimately what I have to do is gather the rejects together and take them to a REGIONAL REDEMPTION facility. SO, keep collecting the rejects… set them to the side… and have a group that has “been processed” and needs to be taken somewhere much farther away.
Though, I did have a profound awkward experience. As I left the grocery store, across the parking lot I saw a woman. Short. Around my age. Long brown hair. Very pale skin. Like… clearly hadn’t seen the sun in two years or more. And as I caught myself staring, definitely in a “wow- she’s beautiful” kind of way.... I realized exactly what was going on. This is something that happened with Nancy a lot. And I would tell her. I’d enter a space, look around the space, my eyes would fall on this woman… short, around my age, long brown hair, very pale skin… like… hadn’t seen the sun in two years or more.... and I would think “Such a beauty” and then I’d realize that was Nancy. And I’d always tell her that. SO/BECAUSE while she isn’t the “WOW, WHAT A BABE!” my type… she was very much the “I would definitely date her” my type. Apparently, that’s still the case. I sometimes wonder if that’s part of the reason Nancy died her hair blonde during the divorce. Her MAGA Small Town Pick Up Truck Boyfriend liked Blondes so… I just figured that was it. But… the truth is… I’ve never dated a blonde. Darker Hair or Red Hair has always been my go to. I bet she wasn’t thinking about that at all, but it’s something.
(2) As I approached WalGreens… I noticed that the Drive Up Pharmacy Line was long! As I approached the doors, I was looking for signs declaring what the phone system and internet had said: PHARMACY CLOSED! But that isn’t what the signs said. The signs said PHARMACY CLOSED FRIDAY. What? So, I went up to the pharmacist and inquired… they are going to a “sporadically, unpredictably, shifting open/close pattern”. So… I can still use the pharmacy down the street… but I will have to use my legs to see if they are open on a specific day or not. So..... I can still get my prescriptions here. Good! That’s important to know. Though… funny that the issue created a good excuse to head to CR which… if she doesn’t back out, means I got a date out of the whole thing.
(3) I arrived home a little after 6, did the Good Girl Treat
(4) Changed clothes
(5) and took Nala for a short walk. Ultimately, I think this is an important shift I need to maintain how I can until freezing temperatures hit. Because it’s at least a little exercise. It’s something. It’s not enough, necessarily, but its better than nothing.
(6) Then too Nala to the dog park.
(7) We stayed out there until about 7:30 p.m. then came home for dinner.
(8) Gathered the trash in the house into a single bag
(9) Gathered the trash in the car into that same bag
(10) Then placed the trash on the curb.
(11) Came back inside and unloaded the dishwasher (hand dried and returned items to proper cupboards.
Filmed an inaccurate, passionate, angry tiktok video
(12) Then wrote a proper grocery list with a variety of foods, including fruits and vegetables and Protest Sign Making things.
(13) Then went back out to the garage. Looked over the sea of cardboard boxes and bottles and cans. Gathered two garbage bags full and one box full of plastic bottles and put them in the trunk. Consolidated a bunch of now empty boxes… and appreciated that… I still have at least two, three, maybe even four more trips to Hy Vee before I go to the Regional Recycling Location… I am making a difference. I am getting through it. I just have to keep at it, stay organized about it, stay committed to doing it, and push on through. I’m finding recycling things that show I haven’t done this since last year so… it was more than time to do this.
(14) AND lastly, I didn’t need to call in more Rx because I got them taken care of locally.
But even with all of that? Was still done around 9 p.m. So… while the list may have felt like a lot.... easily tackled!
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