A lovely day, even if I do have to do laundry

I had to drop my son off at work early this morning. Except for one day last week, he is working three straight weeks with no day off (even then, they gave him that one day because he was exhausted). Such is life at a bookstore near the University in August. Real "traffic" began to return two weeks ago when new graduate students and Internationals arrived.

That meant the return of Staff from summer vacations. Today begins the influx of new Freshman students and the following week... they are ALL back. No more easy parking spaces at Einstein's or Panera until Christmas break, not when you live close to a university with nearly 40,000 students.

After leaving the bookstore, I made my way to the nearest Starbucks. A dear blog friend sent me a gift card to purchase a latte (she knew what would make me happy). Although I highly suspect her dog had something to do with it, too. (Thank you, Miss Candy, it did help cheer me up!) The weather was still pleasant enough to sit outside with my Cinnamon Dulce Latte and a slice of blueberry lemon coffee cake (which always makes me think of my daughter). Life is good again... :)

My husband later made me an offer I could not refuse. If I went with him to drop some items off at the Mission's thrift store, he would take me out for a belated anniversary lunch (our 33rd was yesterday). We went to our favorite "nice" cafeteria, where once again I was reminded of the many family get togethers we have known there through the years ...our own family, my mom and stepfather, brothers, sisters. My sister who lives in Tampa may be visiting soon. We will definitely have to stop by the cafeteria for old times sake.

Not only did I get an unexpected treat for lunch but both of us found great deals at the thrift shop. (Of course we also had to shop after dropping off "stuff"!) I found some books for the grandchildren (six to eight books in a bag, only 50 cents for each bag), a copy of the Fannie Farmer Baking cookbook, and a Landmark book about Daniel Boone. I may not be homeschooling full time like I was but I still can't pass up a good Landmark book. My husband found a great "tweedy" sports jacket for $3.00.

Of course, there is always housework waiting in the background. No matter what the day holds, we find dust collecting, dishes stacking up in the sink, clothes waiting to be once again cleaned and placed in their proper places, books and papers accumulating on the dining room table, and carpets showing the need for a good vacuuming. It was the stack of dirty clothes that won the housework lottery today. I think I hear the dryer buzzing now...