I had plenty of things on my list to get done today. One of them was go to a hardware store near the Xcel Center in downtown St. Paul and get a plunger and a hammer, as I don't have those things. But I left with neither, as I realized I don't do well shopping when I need to go to the bathroom and get back to my car as the meter was about to expire. I ended up getting a plunger at a different place, Walgreen. It was a 'Some assembly required' item. I had to screw the handle into the rubber part of the plunger. Thankful I haven't needed a plunger just yet but it was a bad idea to go without one for so long.
The day started with me getting thank-you letters sent out, four in all, three were to family. It was in reference to birthday cards I had recently received. Since it was already midday by then I went to get lunch as well. I stopped at a Holiday station to use the ATM and got lunch there. I had my car radio on, and it was a hockey game at the Xcel Center. The NHL's Minnesota Wild were playing a matinee against the Detroit Red Wings, due to a college hockey championship scheduled for the evening. So I had to think of an alternate place to park as everything near the hardware store had signs posted saying 'No event parking'. I found a place but had to walk a little, and I figured just over an hour on the meter would be enough. I first shopped at an antique store, where I had been a few months earlier
to purchase some Winter Carnival buttons and World's Fair postcards. This time I bought four postcards, one of them was patriotic as it prominently had a flag on it and a poem. Another was of a tunnel from the Pennsylvania Turnpike, I liked it as it reminded me of tunnels I had driven through before like the Lowry Tunnel in Minneapolis. I saw a wide variety of hammers and couldn't find any plungers at the hardware store, which is having a liquidation sale. But I wanted to see that I bought what I really wanted and needed, so it meant waiting a little longer.
By the time I got back to my car I knew I really needed to go to the bathroom, and I figured my best bet was to find a place outside of downtown. I went to the Best Western at the edge of downtown on Rice Street next to a Sears and did my business there. I had been to this hotel before to check out their stamp collecting sale, and found out there was one again. I liked what I walked away with, more first day covers. There were eight of these. One was of the San Francisco World's Fair of 1939, and I already had one from the New York World's Fair from the same year. Other notables were 'Prevent drug abuse' from 1971 and 'Family planning' from 1972. I really liked finding a set of 5 pre-stamped postcards- some of them were airmail- promoting tourism from 1972. I got it for a song, as it said 42 cents on the envelope but got it for a quarter. I had been to a few of the places depicted on it, like Mt. Rushmore, Statue of Liberty, a San Francisco cable car, Liberty Bell, and Washington, DC. I found some envelopes with foreign stamps on them, one from Fiji and the other the USSR, but these will not go into the binder with the first day covers. The 'Savings and loan' cover from 1981 also arrived today, an E-bay order.
After making a quick stop at the library, had to be as they were about to close for the day, I went on to the Goodwill in Roseville as I wanted to find a photo album for postcards. I found a good one, along with a picture frame and a set of two luggage tags. The tags weren't on my list, but they looked really catchy. These were round tags, one was one of those black and yellow 'Have a nice day' smiley faces but had a mustache instead of a mouth. The other was a woman with a word balloon saying 'We all have baggage'. The latter was why I bought the set. I wanted another photo album as I had one with World's Fair postcards- specifically Chicago 1933- but it was a small one and nearly full. Well this won't be a problem now when these cards were in an album of 80, but now 200.
My next stop was Cheapo Music, as I wanted a few CDs. There were 10 on my list, I bought 3. This was 'Artpop' by Lady Gaga, her latest. Another was 'Greatest Hits' by Charley Pride, and I made sure it had songs I really liked- 'San Antone' and 'I'm Just Me' on it. The third was by Brett Dennen, 'Hope for the Hopeless', as I wanted the one with 'Follow Your Heart' on it. I like their selection of postcards, and got one with a Laundromat scene on it. Finally there was Walgreen, where I got more than just the plunger. I also needed some bar soap, and more sheet protectors for the first day covers.
It was evening by then, so after getting the 9 first day covers in the binder and the postcards in the album I knew I needed to go eat. It was kind of late by then, so I decided to just make my meal part of my weekly grocery run. I got a dented can of spaghetti and meatballs from the discount table for 69 cents. Then I told myself I was unsure if I had a can opener as it wasn't a pull tab. After a quick search it looked like there wasn't one, and I used a can piercer instead. Let it be known, readers. I don't recommend this. I had to be careful to avoid cutting myself. All the while I was reminded of how I once cut my finger on a soup can. I guess I can still be daring, just wanting to challenge myself. It wasn't easy to get the can open far enough to get any of the contents out and into the pan to heat it up. I watched some of the college basketball tournament, Wisconsin held on to beat Oregon. The game ended ugly with a technical foul.
The day started with me getting thank-you letters sent out, four in all, three were to family. It was in reference to birthday cards I had recently received. Since it was already midday by then I went to get lunch as well. I stopped at a Holiday station to use the ATM and got lunch there. I had my car radio on, and it was a hockey game at the Xcel Center. The NHL's Minnesota Wild were playing a matinee against the Detroit Red Wings, due to a college hockey championship scheduled for the evening. So I had to think of an alternate place to park as everything near the hardware store had signs posted saying 'No event parking'. I found a place but had to walk a little, and I figured just over an hour on the meter would be enough. I first shopped at an antique store, where I had been a few months earlier
to purchase some Winter Carnival buttons and World's Fair postcards. This time I bought four postcards, one of them was patriotic as it prominently had a flag on it and a poem. Another was of a tunnel from the Pennsylvania Turnpike, I liked it as it reminded me of tunnels I had driven through before like the Lowry Tunnel in Minneapolis. I saw a wide variety of hammers and couldn't find any plungers at the hardware store, which is having a liquidation sale. But I wanted to see that I bought what I really wanted and needed, so it meant waiting a little longer.
By the time I got back to my car I knew I really needed to go to the bathroom, and I figured my best bet was to find a place outside of downtown. I went to the Best Western at the edge of downtown on Rice Street next to a Sears and did my business there. I had been to this hotel before to check out their stamp collecting sale, and found out there was one again. I liked what I walked away with, more first day covers. There were eight of these. One was of the San Francisco World's Fair of 1939, and I already had one from the New York World's Fair from the same year. Other notables were 'Prevent drug abuse' from 1971 and 'Family planning' from 1972. I really liked finding a set of 5 pre-stamped postcards- some of them were airmail- promoting tourism from 1972. I got it for a song, as it said 42 cents on the envelope but got it for a quarter. I had been to a few of the places depicted on it, like Mt. Rushmore, Statue of Liberty, a San Francisco cable car, Liberty Bell, and Washington, DC. I found some envelopes with foreign stamps on them, one from Fiji and the other the USSR, but these will not go into the binder with the first day covers. The 'Savings and loan' cover from 1981 also arrived today, an E-bay order.
After making a quick stop at the library, had to be as they were about to close for the day, I went on to the Goodwill in Roseville as I wanted to find a photo album for postcards. I found a good one, along with a picture frame and a set of two luggage tags. The tags weren't on my list, but they looked really catchy. These were round tags, one was one of those black and yellow 'Have a nice day' smiley faces but had a mustache instead of a mouth. The other was a woman with a word balloon saying 'We all have baggage'. The latter was why I bought the set. I wanted another photo album as I had one with World's Fair postcards- specifically Chicago 1933- but it was a small one and nearly full. Well this won't be a problem now when these cards were in an album of 80, but now 200.
My next stop was Cheapo Music, as I wanted a few CDs. There were 10 on my list, I bought 3. This was 'Artpop' by Lady Gaga, her latest. Another was 'Greatest Hits' by Charley Pride, and I made sure it had songs I really liked- 'San Antone' and 'I'm Just Me' on it. The third was by Brett Dennen, 'Hope for the Hopeless', as I wanted the one with 'Follow Your Heart' on it. I like their selection of postcards, and got one with a Laundromat scene on it. Finally there was Walgreen, where I got more than just the plunger. I also needed some bar soap, and more sheet protectors for the first day covers.
It was evening by then, so after getting the 9 first day covers in the binder and the postcards in the album I knew I needed to go eat. It was kind of late by then, so I decided to just make my meal part of my weekly grocery run. I got a dented can of spaghetti and meatballs from the discount table for 69 cents. Then I told myself I was unsure if I had a can opener as it wasn't a pull tab. After a quick search it looked like there wasn't one, and I used a can piercer instead. Let it be known, readers. I don't recommend this. I had to be careful to avoid cutting myself. All the while I was reminded of how I once cut my finger on a soup can. I guess I can still be daring, just wanting to challenge myself. It wasn't easy to get the can open far enough to get any of the contents out and into the pan to heat it up. I watched some of the college basketball tournament, Wisconsin held on to beat Oregon. The game ended ugly with a technical foul.
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