Panera and thrifting... does it get any better?

I dropped Christopher off for his four hour work day (he is leaving for a youth retreat in the Southern part of the state this afternoon). Rather than drive all the way home, I decided to have a lovely quiet time at Panera, to also stop by my doctor's office to pick up my blood glucose monitor, and mosey on through Goodwill and my favorite thrift store.

Before leaving, I taped a few pretty vintage decorating and gardening pictures onto pages in my scrapbook journal (very easy to do since I now have everything organized... will share it another day). I clipped a pen with purple ink onto the journal and tucked the Reformed Study Bible on top... ready for Panera.

What a lovely time, sipping half-hazelnut and half-decaf coffee (real cream!) and nibbling on a bagel. It is not possible to do this often... rather expensive in money and high in carbs. However, once in awhile it is such a perfect getaway. I opened the Bible to Romans, where I'm currently reading. I've been using the Study Bible for its' excellent notes.

After awhile, I took out my scrapbook journal and made some new lists as well as checking off past "to do" items... always a good thing. This really is my favorite place for study and pondering. Even though there are conversations going on all around me, the light classical music (sometimes a light jazz) seems to make it easier to concentrate. The only thing better would be to have my daughter with me to chat with. :)

I left there for the thrift store, the one where treasures are hidden. I found a stack of vintage Christmas napkins but only two were in a condition I'd buy them, even if they were only a dime each. I use them as liners for baskets, anyway. I found one vintage dish cloth for fifteen cents. My best buy? They were clearancing out all their coats and I found a very nice trench coat for my son for only a few dollars. He tried it on and it fits perfectly. I also found Beth Moore's book about the life of David and a beautifully bound volume that has With Christ in the School of Prayer combined with The Practice of the Presence of God.

From there, it was only a three or four minute drive to the clinic, where I now see a doctor. I had to give up my specialist when I lost all insurance. I like this new doctor very much, though, even better than the specialist. He listens to his patients. A great advantage of going to the clinic is they are used to working with uninsured people (and my former specialist was not). They helped me get the new bg meter and enough test strips for a year (testing twice a day)... FREE.

By this time I still had over an hour before I picked up Christopher from work so I decided to look through Goodwill... having time to actually look carefully through the clothes. I found a pretty Talbot's skirt half-price ($1.99) and a Talbot's black pullover top that will be perfect with most of my other skirts for $3.99. That was well worth the trip, too.

This youth retreat will be good for him since he's been so busy and stressed with school and work. (Even if it IS suppose to turn cold.) We didn't get the severe weather, it stayed in the southern part of the state. Thankfully, it will all be cleared by the time he gets there. The snow flurries are still in the forecast but we're to return to 70 next week. Such is spring in the Midwest.

All in all... a good morning.

Picture: Morning Glory Coffee Shop; allposters.com