The Winter Court of the Insane, Philosophical Ladybug

What a day. I had maybe one hour of sleep, dozing holding the Baxter plushie and curled up against the other two. Then when I opened the curtains, evil gravity's evil cousin velocity caused me to bonk my toe on the edge of the cupboard so hard that it bruised and swelled up. Luckily, I don't think it's broken because I was able to move it after it happened, but ugggh. Even putting on a sock to go out hurt.

I wanted to see our K-Mart one last time and also to get the snow cone maker, and I thought the only way to do that was to tag along when Dad took my sister to work early in the morning. But something went drastically wrong when we went to get her and we apparently ran over something sharp, because the tire blew out. She had to go find our brother's car to take. And our tire size is very hard to find. Wal-Mart has a new one, but we really can't afford a new one when money is already so tight. Dad has been trying to find a used one.

EDIT: We have two cars here that don't work right, and one of them has the right size tire! Squeeee. So he just put one of those tires on the working car! Yes!

When the temporary tire got on, he was nice and decided to take me to the store anyway, even though we didn't get to take my sister to work, because I'd tagged along thinking I was going to get to go. And I did find the snow cone maker! And not much else. Gah, it was so sad seeing the place so bare. Everything they had left was moved more to the front of the store and yellow tape roped off the completely bare areas. There was only one half-aisle of toys left, plus three toy kiosks. There were pieces of all kinds of merchandise in other departments too, but the only section that really looked like its former self was the greeting card area. And as if it wasn't sad enough, someone had to decide that playing When Will I See You Again on the loudspeakers was a good idea. Um, no. We'll never see K-Mart again. I found out the one down South is also closing, so there will be no more in the state at all. Not a song I wanted to hear under the circumstances. Especially running on one hour of sleep.

We checked every tire place in town and no luck. Then I had trouble going back to sleep when we got home because I was wide awake. And because there was construction work right across from my window. When I finally went to sleep, I think I only got about three and a half hours.

I was glad to get the snow cone maker at such a good price ($4.80, down from $16!), but I could have done without seeing how sad the store looked. I almost wonder if I would have rather I'd got it on a previous visit, even though it would have cost a bit more, and then not seen K-Mart this week. I don't think I want to remember K-Mart the way it looked today. I think I want to remember how it looked before all this nonsense started, when there was no inkling that it would go away and it was always fun to visit and see what they had available and what might be on clearance. So I'm going to record the floor plan.

When you go in, just to your right are some shelves with changing merchandise. Usually it's quilts, but sometimes it's toys on clearance. To the left is the customer service desk. Up ahead is the women's clothing department and things like a jewelry chest of drawers made by Jaclyn Smith. I usually turn right, past the greeting cards on the right and the jewelry on the left. Dad usually goes to the pharmacy past the greeting cards to wait. Then comes housewares on the left, followed by snacks. Farther down on the right are the mattresses and appliances they started selling. We got our dryer there last year. Past those are the movies and TV shows. We got so many awesome deals on stuff there during holiday and birthday times.

Just diagonally to the left is the seasonal area. During Christmastime there are many trees set out. Some are white, some are green, most are pre-lit. Some of them turn by themselves. There are also lots of inflatables and other lawn decorations. During Halloween, the aisles are filled with spooky stuff, both the aisles past the media center and aisles to the left, beyond the open area. The open area with the Christmas trees usually has the trees during the Halloween time. Turn left past the open area and the holiday aisles and walk down to the toy section. There are several aisles of regularly priced toys and a special clearance aisle. The clearance price will fluctuate based on the week. Just beyond that is auto stuff.

Keep walking and turn left again. Now it's the back wall. The sports section is there, with furniture just beyond it. Last year we got a bookcase to serve as a pantry cupboard (not the one I got bonked on today). Just beyond that are men's clothes. Sometimes I find Turtles shirts there, like that one with Fly Baxter they briefly had last summer. It was right around the corner from the bookcases. Shoes are opposite this section. They have a poster of the 87 Turtles in the shoe section for some reason. I probably should have asked if I could have it.

Beyond that is the baby section. Turn left to walk past it and there you'll find the boys' clothing section, followed by the girls' section. Now you've made a complete square and the registers are to the left of you, along with huge baskets of products on sale in the middle of the aisle. Last year they had a bunch of chocolates on sale and we got a whole lot for presents for people, and kept some for ourselves too.

Wooow, what a long day. Made even longer by the fact that I only got four-ish hours of sleep. I had plenty of time for a good sleep, but my body refused. Ugh. As soon as the batch of wash I'm doing is done, I hope to sleeeep.

First thing was that Dad wanted to visit an old friend. We got lost finding the street. But finally we did, and as soon as I saw the place, I remembered vividly being there years ago. It was also August back then, August the 5th, but temperatures were cooler and I waited in the car and wrote and observed some kids at the house across the street. It was honestly an outing I remember very fondly. We drove around the area afterwards and I saw a bride running through her front yard to the back yard. Apparently she was having either the wedding, the reception, or both on her property. We stopped for gas around 8 and I observed that the sun was going down. It was a hint of autumn on the way and I was thrilled. I even remember what I was writing: it was the early chapters of my YGO mystery Ballistic in Boston, when the Jackie Chan Adventures character Viper showed up. I'm not even fully sure why the memory of that outing makes me so happy, as I don't recall finding anything awesome while shopping. But it was such a nice, peaceful street and I was happy to sit there and write and watch those kids and I loved the hint of autumn.

Anyway, this trip out, it was way too hot to even think of me staying in the car. It was practically 100! Uggggh. So I went in. Luckily, the visit didn't last much more than thirty minutes, and the man was very nice.

K-Mart was ... oh brother, a mess. Unlike our K-Mart, which tried to keep order despite closing, this one was helter-skelter, especially in the toy department. Everything was everywhere! I had to dig through the toys on all shelves to make sure I didn't miss something awesome. Only by doing that did I find a Miraculous Ladybug figure, one of Marinette in casual clothes. That was awesome, and she was 10% cheaper than she would have been had I bought figures when our K-Mart had some. The dream that shook me up so much regarding that show seemed to be more in the background, so I snapped her up. Cat Noir was unfortunately the subject of the horrible dream and seeing his picture on the back of the card made me chill a bit, so I don't know if I would have got a figure of him had I seen it. Looks like it will still take a while for the dream to fully stop upsetting me. It's not that I'm leery of Cat Noir; it's just that he reminds me of the dream and it was extremely upsetting to me.

I also saw a doll of Chloe that looked amazingly accurate, but I don't like her and won't like her unless she shapes up this season, so I opted not to get that even though it was a temptation from the high level of accuracy. Then there was a figure of Marinette as Ladybug, but it was a fancy figure that could twirl, and even with the discount, I didn't think I should get that right now because I need to help with grocery money. So I just got the other Marinette figure.

Didn't see any 87 Turtles stuff except another of those Leonardo hats that really hurt to wear. There was lots of Nick Turtles stuff, though. And I find myself regretting I didn't get the snow cone maker. I wanted it badly at our K-Mart, but I couldn't get it then. This K-Mart didn't have it quite as cheap yet, so I still didn't get it. Now I'm thinking that for the sake of 10% more, I really should have, because it's unlikely I can get back to our K-Mart before they close and also unlikely that they will still have any of that product. I didn't realize I wanted the snow cone maker so badly. I'll see how I feel after sleep.

The class reunion had wonderful food! Potato salad, and potatoes drenched in butter, and chicken salad, and lettuce and tomato salad, and chicken teriyaki, and buttered rolls, and so many wonderful desserts! Cheesecake! Lemon cake! Eclairs! Some other cream puffy thing! Ice water! And luckily, I remembered to bring sandwich bags so I could smuggle food out if I didn't finish it all. There were also lots of leftovers on the buffet table, so I decided to help by running off with some of them. I'm not sure if the hotel just throws away the leftovers or what. I heard that if the roast wasn't completely finished, what was left of it would be thrown away. So wasteful! Why not let the employees have it? But anyway. I wasn't interested in the roast, but I ran off with the food I did love.

Aside from the food, though, I have to say that I was underwhelmed by the reunion. It didn't last long, and while I was grateful since I wanted to do more shopping, I was sad at the same time because it felt like there really wasn't much to the reunion and there really should have been, when it's the last official one they're going to have. Five years ago, they had an elaborate program with people singing fifties songs and I just adored it. This time, the program was very short. Everything, including the dinner part, was over within a couple of hours. Nobody seemed to want to stay and visit for long after the official festivities were over. I'm glad my focus switched to being excited more for the shopping, as otherwise I would have been tremendously disappointed. Part of the reason I looked forward to it for five years was because of how awesome the last one was.

I also felt a little less connected than I did the last time. That may be because my main interests right now are cartoons rather than 1950s shows, although I still adore them as much as I ever did.

Since things let out earlier, I debated whether I wanted the big F.Y.E. or Toys R Us more. I chose the former, and I don't regret it. I found an 87 Turtles shirt on clearance for $3! I also saw that they had been selling a shirt with the Team Rocket crew on it, but I couldn't seem to find any aside from the display copy, sadly. I'm planning to try to find the shirt online later.

We needed to grab a couple of items at Wal-Mart, so we hurried across the street to it. When we lived at the old house, that Wal-Mart was always my favorite. It always seemed to have more stuff than other Wal-Marts.

It didn't disappoint. After years, I finally got season 4 of The Wild Wild West! Squeeeee! And for cheaper than Amazon was selling it for! This is honestly the first time I've seen season 4's DVD set in person. I exclaimed out loud when I saw it and I immediately snapped it up. I have taped copies of those episodes, but I bet they're cut for commercial time.

I also saw two Baxters in the figure area! I didn't blog about this yet either, but I've finally been getting some more work and I felt I could offer the Baxter I had to my friend as a gift, as originally intended. And I was very happy that he wanted it and was thrilled with it! I'd like to get him another to make into Barney, as he's expressed the desire to have a Barney too and wishes he could find the figures in his area, but I wasn't sure I should get one right then after I'd had a mini-shopping spree and when I need to help with grocery money for at least a while. And I think the stores down here will be having more of him soon. The one two towns over is finally getting ready to sell the Mutagen Canister line! So I didn't get one. Hope I won't regret that too.

So overall, an awesome shopping time! And I am totally exhausted.

Also, I finally figured out how to get the tablet's Bluetooth keyboard to work, so now I can use it like a mini-laptop. Squeee. It will make typing long messages on the tablet very plausible and pleasant! Usually I've avoided typing long messages on the tablet and wait till I get back to the laptop. Now I won't necessarily have to, depending on what I'm doing while using the tablet.

I got the keyboard hooked up in case I wanted to take the tablet and write story scenes using the keyboard, but I'm glad I didn't. I only had a bit of writing time while Dad was visiting with his friend, so I did it the old-fashioned way, in a paper notebook.