Poor Mr. Mamie...

...woke up this morning with a terribly sore throat. So we started dosing him up with this:

Despite feeling pretty crappy, Mr. Mamie was willing to forge ahead with the day, so we headed out on a long list of errands.

We started at our favorite corner convenience store where we fueled up the car with gasoline and fueled up ourselves with a a big diet Coke/diet Dr. Pepper combo (me) and an overly sweet coffee concoction (Mr. Mamie).

Then it was on to the Animal Shelter in The Village for the annual dog licenses. It was shot clinic day, so it was pretty crowded and noisy. All we had to do was turn in our previously-completed forms and pay our money, so that was done pretty quick. Of course, we did take the time to visit both the doggies AND the kitties, but managed to leave without acquiring any new family members (which wasn't easy).

Next, to the library in The Village to pick up a couple of books I had put on hold. FINALLY I'll get to finish Catching Fire!

Then, to the auto parts store in The Village to get a new battery cable and a new post (terminal?) for my car, as there seems to be tons of icky corrosion on the top of my battery. Got the cable but no post.

Now down the street to the hardware store in The Village to copy the key for Mr. Mamie's truck so that his brother can have his own key for when he uses the truck. Mr. Mamie's brother is ALSO a long-haul trucker working for the same company as Mr. Igor. We got trucker brothers!  Mr. Mamie's brother's home base is in Texas, but the headquarters of the trucking company is here, and a lot of freight transfer occurs here. So he passes through quite frequently, and usually avails himself of our shower and the use of a (normal-sized) vehicle for a few hours. We're happy to oblige. Anyway, he needed is own key, hence the trip to the hardware store. They give out bags of fresh, hot popcorn to munch while you shop, so I'm always happy to stop in!

Off to the Big Town, where we first dropped of some items at the local donation place - a box of books, a bag of clothes, and a few other random things. Yay, decluttering!

Then we tried another auto parts store for the battery terminal, but they were idiots and Mr. Mamie wouldn't buy anything from them. Yes, it did occur to us to call the car dealership, but the parts department was closed for inventory today. Humpf.

Stopped at a local fast-ish food type place. While I made use of the facilities, Mr. Mamie pondered the menu. Nothing looked good to him - he really wanted soup - so we continued on our way.

Next destination was the recycling place - not the stupid "binnies" next to the fire station by our house which are always full and have tiny openings to poke your stuff into bit-by-bit, but rather the REAL recycling place where they pay you money for your cans AND have huge, open-topped dumpsters where you can empty out your small bins in one fell swoop. Finally our car was emptied of all the rattling cans and bottles and rustling newpapers we'd been driving around with all day!

We attempted to drop off some donations to the food bank downtown, but discovered they're only open on weekdays. That got put on hold.

Went to Great Harvest Bread Company, hoping for soup, but no luck.

Went to a local breakfast/lunch cafe - "no soup for you!"

 

Finally went to a local pizza/pasta place where we KNEW they had soup. Had a delicious lunch, and used a FULL "$5 off" punchcard and the recycling proceeds to pay for it.

Stopped at a grocery store that we usually don't visit because it's so far from home. But, we were right around the corner, and I knew from their weekly ad that they were having a case lot sale. Of course, they didn't have the diced tomatoes I was hoping for. Stewed, whole, sauce... yes! But not diced.  We did buy a case of canned chili and a case of spicy Top Ramen, both of which Mr. Mamie likes to have for lunch (SHUDDER!).

We needed to get a birthday present for Mr. Igor, and so went to a fabulous emporium of hardware/hunting supplies/home goods/sporting goods to look for the item we had in mind (which will not be revealed at this time). They had ALMOST what we wanted, but it wasn't PERFECT, so we decided to try one other place.

We the drove even further to the other side of town to go to a hobby store for something Mr. Mamie wanted, only to discover it's gone out of business. Bummer!

After a nice drive over the ridge above the Big Town, we pointed the RAV in the direction of home... but made a few more stops, first.

I really want a different strap for my camera (Canon Rebel DSLR), as I hate the one that came with the camera when I bought it three and a half years ago - it's a bit short, and it's stiff. Of course we got to the camera store exactly one minute after they closed, but the guy unlocked the door and showed me what they carry. Now I can compare to what I've seen online and make a decision.

We went down the road to Sportsman's Warehouse in search of the birthday present for Igor - score! Yay! I'm sure I'll do a birthday post for him in a couple of days, and then you can see the present.  We got some treats, too, which I'll mention in a moment.

Our final stop was the natural foods store, where we got some more supplies for Mr. Sick Mamie, and a couple of grocery items. I got two new Badger Balm lip balms in flavors I don't already have - Ginger-Lemon and Highland Mint. YUM! I loooooooves me some Badger Balm!

 

FINALLY it was time to go home and fall down on the couch.  Happily, we had discovered some AWESOME treats at Sportsman's Warehouse to munch on:

Tender gummy raspberries for Mr. Mamie, and...

FABULOUS sour cherry balls for me, JUST like the ones at DISNEYLAND, nom nom nom!

And now it's 12:56 a.m. and I am sooooooooo going to be regretting being up this late tomorrow. G'nite!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)