It's beginning to look a lot like 'don't care'. . .

After all the insults and half-truths online, FIL had the huevos to text Beloved Hubby today. We haven’t been in contact with him, is everything OK ? (shakes head) Then on to why he really wrote - seems his favorite fringed leather jacket may have been left behind, can we mail that to him ? Um, it’s not here. The jackets we found were all fabric, not leather, and I am well-acquainted with the jacket he’s missing. I thought it was sutured to his shoulders, he was rarely seen without it, June or January. And if I had a dime for every fake turquoise pony bead I’ve returned to him from it, we could easily afford to ship it. Notice who’s paying for mailing it is conveniently left out.

Wore one of the salvaged jackets to Dollar Tree today. It’s very nice, basically a leopard-fake-fur lined black hoodie, but the zipper is rather difficult to work. That’s probably why it was abandoned. If it’s not zipped up, the cold wind just whistles right through it, like a superhero’s cape. Luckily, I have some local apiary beeswax to help the zipper remember its job !

Didn’t buy a lot of non-snack food on today’s DTree run. I got a fancy ‘gourmet’ box of sea salt caramels – shoulda stuck to the cheaper bagged caramel Santas. Barton’s, the fancy maker, encloses five in a package, and it’s the chocolate flavored coating that’s salted, not the caramel. It’s not even flowing caramel, just the cheap stiff stuff you’d find in any inexpensive candy assortment. And salted wax-chocolate may sound like an intriguing idea, but to me, it suffers in execution. I ended up scraping the salt off halfway through the one piece I tried.

It’s kind of funny how many food makers try to dodge around what’s in the package. F’r instance, the Barton’s caramels list that a serving size is 2 pieces, and there’s ‘about’ 2.5 servings in the box. Yet the inner tray is set up for exactly five pieces. What’s wrong with just saying “There’s five pieces here. We count a serving as two pieces. Enjoy !” instead of making people do math in the aisles ? Sure, that was easy math, and you knew what you were getting with simple multiplication, but some foods darn near require degrees in engineering or knowledge of advanced quadratic equations just to figure out how much salt is in the can !

Seemed as though most of the shoppers while we were there were digging through gift bags, choosing the largest ones. Christmas decorations and dish towels were ignored, but the candy and candy cane aisles were fulla folks. One couple had evidently never been in DTree before – their mission was to fill up Care Packages. Their delight was visible and audible. If their intense need for a shopping cart was any indication, not all of their candy selections are getting shipped somewhere ! 

Otherwise, it was a day of discoveries. When I went to use the dishwasher, I quickly figured out why the ILs had suddenly stopped using it – somehow the door lock had hung up, making it impossible to start the machine. I jiggled with it for a half-hour (having already loaded it to capacity) and suddenly, it worked again. Yaaay.  Also discovered that, if my blood pressure is low, a quick half-hour of housework – like preparing a load of dishes for the ‘washer – gets it right on up there, but without leaving me winded or exhausted. Between DTree and dishes, and getting Beloved Hubby’s books back upstairs, I was tired enough to skip laundry. But tomorrow, I conquer the bags ! And maybe a coffee cup cozy, now that the cups are all clean !