The Visible Woman...January 17, 2004

Sometimes shopping makes me anxious, especially on a Saturday when everyone else is doing it. But I weather it pretty well today.

Shopping just does it to me. The parking, the lines, the decisions. All the stuff.

FFP wanted to go look at bath accesssories. I agreed. We expanded to a few things from Sam's and Whole Foods because they were there.

What made it not awful was (1) we had pretty good parking and driving karma in spite of big crowds in the Gateway area; (2) we agreed not to buy anything at all at three of the places we went...although we saw some things we thought could work; (3) we kept our cool in Sam's checkout even when the checkout person we'd chosen seemed incapable and when we were redirected to a line where our new cashier couldn't seem to get set up and then wandered off for a bit before starting our order; and (4) we agreed on the impulse purchases in an almost magical way and didn't end up leaving Sam's with a large quantitiy of something we'd never use up or leaving Whole Foods with a weird food we'd never eat.

Shopping wasn't so bad today. I have a pretty good idea about where we can get the bath accessories we want although I've now thought of looking at some other places (but not on Saturday!) as well. We got a few things we needed at Sam's (Citrucil, Tums, Anne Tyler's latest novel and blank video tape for FFP) at good prices and we scored an inexpensive and promising wine at both Whole Foods and Sam's and FFP got these vegetarian foods he likes at Whole Foods (tofu dip, no egg salad, and vegetarian barbeque) plus some cool potato chips (didn't need those for the waistline) and a crate of Clementines which will disappear soon.

I know the economic recovery depends on the American consumer but what to do about shopping anxiety? Heck, I even experience it when shopping online. Although I have to say that it is lessened by one's ability to get up and take a breather. I did receive an ebay purchase today that I'm pretty happy with...a universal charger with dual voltage and adaptors for other countries (and U.S.) and two replacement batteries for my digital camera all for not much more than one Pentax battery. And...so far it seems to work although I have to see the life of the batteries and, of course, I can't test the charger in France yet. It even has a car adaptor. Yeah...like I needed another gadget, huh?

	shopping anxiety Sometimes shopping makes me anxious, especially on a Saturday when everyone else is doing it. But I weather it pretty well today. Shopping just does it to me. The parking, the lines, the decisions. All the stuff. FFP wanted to go look at bath accesssories. I agreed. We expanded to a few things from Sam's and Whole Foods because they were there. What made it not awful was (1) we had pretty good parking and driving karma in spite of big crowds in the Gateway area; (2) we agreed not to buy anything at all at three of the places we went...although we saw some things we thought could work; (3) we kept our cool in Sam's checkout even when the checkout person we'd chosen seemed incapable and when we were redirected to a line where our new cashier couldn't seem to get set up and then wandered off for a bit before starting our order; and (4) we agreed on the impulse purchases in an almost magical way and didn't end up leaving Sam's with a large quantitiy of something we'd never use up or leaving Whole Foods with a weird food we'd never eat. Shopping wasn't so bad today. I have a pretty good idea about where we can get the bath accessories we want although I've now thought of looking at some other places (but not on Saturday!) as well. We got a few things we needed at Sam's (Citrucil, Tums, Anne Tyler's latest novel and blank video tape for FFP) at good prices and we scored an inexpensive and promising wine at both Whole Foods and Sam's and FFP got these vegetarian foods he likes at Whole Foods (tofu dip, no egg salad, and vegetarian barbeque) plus some cool potato chips (didn't need those for the waistline) and a crate of Clementines which will disappear soon. I know the economic recovery depends on the American consumer but what to do about shopping anxiety? Heck, I even experience it when shopping online. Although I have to say that it is lessened by one's ability to get up and take a breather. I did receive an ebay purchase today that I'm pretty happy with...a universal charger with dual voltage and adaptors for other countries (and U.S.) and two replacement batteries for my digital camera all for not much more than one Pentax battery. And...so far it seems to work although I have to see the life of the batteries and, of course, I can't test the charger in France yet. It even has a car adaptor. Yeah...like I needed another gadget, huh?
a gift from my Aunt...she took a painting (done by a friend of hers) of the coast where we go when we visit her in Maine and made a cork border with hooks to hold lighthouse wine charms
JUST TYPING Shopping. Looking, comparing, asking for help. Deciding to wait. What other people buy seems bizarre. A load of popcorn and six cakes.
		Food Diary. *breakfast* two cups of coffee *lunch* three slices turkey bacon green onions carrots *snacks* 3/4 ounce Laughing Cow cheese hot tofu dip and way too many fancy potato chips a glass of champagne a Jack and water 1/2 of a hefty Jeffrey's cheese plate *dinner* salmon in a sesame sauce fresh brussels sprouts with lemon butter a couple of glasses of red wine Today I - had too much to eat and drink...so what else is new?
		Time flies.... We sort of slept in. Not really late but turning over a few times. Therefore it was about noon when I was home from the gym and had eaten and showered. I called the barber and she said come on. I read and used her computer while the three guys ahead of me got their cuts. When I got home FFP was up for shopping and we spent several hours at that. When we got home we put away the stuff, snacked, read and he made dinner and I cleaned up. We got ready and went to Zach and saw Always, Patsy Cline and then had a glass of champagne and talked to people since it was opening night. Then we went to Jeffrey's bar and had drinks and a cheese plate. It was late when we got home. I felt a little sniffly for a few minutes after midnight and was afraid I was getting sick, but nothing came of it. I took books to bed and slept hard, dreaming lost dreams.

		Reading. Newspapers. Dear General: Eisenhower's Wartime Letters to Marshall edited and annotated by Jospeh P. Hobbs on bike and finished in bed. One thing that this book and the one below and many others I've read makes you think is: what if? What if they had overruled this decision of Eisenhower's or if Stalin or Churchill or FDR had done this? What if FDR had died sooner? History is a bunch of what ifs! The Conquerers by Michael Beschloss...while waiting for a haircut and at intermission of the show and in bed.
		nothing
		Exercise forty minutes recumbent bike chest, shoulder and tricep weight routine fifteen minutes on the exercise bike
	. .	mood is good...but I'm afraid I'm getting a cold...but maybe I'm just allergic to something and sneezing
	It's a Tangled Web we weave...these days of our lives.	One year ago "I hate it when I find notes and I can't tell for the life of me what the discussion was or who it was with. Also, I doodle a lot. The research notebooks that I do keep would drive a person crazy. I know they do that to me.'" Two years ago "But this latest rearrangement is a breakthrough of sorts and gives me some room to manuever while I clean. I think.".