Join The Club

          Now that Mike and I are more settled and have lots more storage room, we decided to join Sam's Club. There are three Sam's within 53 miles of us, so it just depends on which direction we want to travel. North is Sam's Club in Vestal, N.Y.; it's the closest at 42 miles. Scranton, PA is southeast and comes in second at 48 miles. Williamsport, PA is southwest and is the furthest at 53 miles.

          "We go to Williamsport because we used to live in Williamsport so we're more familiar with the area," Rosie Kipp told me. "We usually go when Lamar needs work done on his car because that's where he takes it. They'll drop us off at the mall and I can go shopping, then when the car is done they'll come back and pick us up. Another thing is they have gas pumps at that Sam's Club and it's always at least ten cents cheaper than Wyalusing. Does the one in Vestal have gas pumps?"

          "Uh-uh." Even though Mike and I had never gone in the Sam's Club we'd driven past it many times.

          "And the taxes in Pennsylvania are cheaper too," Rosie added.

          "Yeah, but I like the drive up through the country on the way to Vestal," I told her.

          "The drive to Williamsport is almost all country too and even when you get to Sam's Club it's right there on the edge of town so you don't have to drive through the city much at all."

          Rosie had lots of reasons to go to Williamsport, but being the furthest one, we ruled it one out.

          "You want to go to Scranton?" Mike asked.

          "There's a lot more traffic and all those little towns to go through," I put in my two-cents worth.

          "What about the taxes?" he asked.

          I Googled it. "There's no tax on food in New York either," I reported.

          Our next question was, Is it worth it?

          "What do you get at Sam's Club?" I asked my handsome son.

          "I save the most money on my coffee," Kevin answered. "It's much cheaper than the grocery store." Then he gave me a word of advice. "You have to be careful what you buy though because not everything's cheaper."

          I tried to do a little homework before we left. I have an app on my phone for a grocery list.

          "What's an app?" I hear my mother ask.

          App is short for application. If it were on my computer, I would call it a program. So basically it's a program for my smartphone.

          There are many apps out there for grocery shopping. I chose one called Out Of Milk. It lets me check items off as I buy them or I can scroll to the bottom and see all of the items I'd previously checked off, uncheck it and it'll put it back on the list for me if I'm making a list. It'll also tell me how much money I've spent if I put the prices in. So I spent an afternoon with my Wal Mart and Aldi's receipts and put the prices in. Now I could compare prices.

          We decided to go to Vestal, New York. I took a few road pictures for you.

            When we got to Sam's Club the greeter asked to see our card. "We're thinking about joining," Mike told her.

          "Go to Customer Service," she said and directed us with a wave of her hand. "The line starts in the middle."

          Mike and I thanked her and took our place in line. We were third but it didn't take long for it to be our turn.

          "Next," said a pretty young lady.

          We stepped up to the counter and Mike noticed her nametag. "Kia. Are you related to the car company?"

          Kia laughed. "I wish! I wouldn't be working here. What can I help you with?"

          "We're thinking about joining. Can we just get like a day pass and check stuff out?"

          "With a day pass there's a ten percent upcharge on anything you buy," Kia explained. "If you just want to look around, you can go in and look around."

          "What if we decide to join?"

          "Then come back up here and we'll get you signed up."

          Mike and I walked around and checked out prices on a few items we normally buy and decided we would save money. We joined. I'll tell you what! The Sam's Club in Vestal is huge! "It'll take us all day to see everything," I complained. I really don't like to do a lot of shopping and I'd hurt my back a few days before.

          "What did you do to your back, Peg?" you ask.

          Good question. One I don't have an answer for. I woke up one morning and it was hurting.

          "I'll bring you some of my Witches Potion," my best girl Joanie said when I complained of my backache at Monday night's exercise class. "That's what Ben (her husband) calls it. When his back hurts I'll put it on a couple of nights in a row and he's all better."

          "What is it?" I asked.

          "It's Panaway oil mixed with a carrier, usually olive oil because that's what I have. Panaway by itself would burn your skin."

          I'd only used it twice by the time our shopping trip rolled around, but we needed to see what Sam's had to offer so we walked every aisle. One thing we noticed about the food is that it was all name brand. No Great Value anything.

          "That's what I've been trying to tell you!" Mike exclaimed. "Wal Mart and Sam's Club is all you're gonna see one day. Wal Mart will be all Great Value and Sam's Club will carry the name brand stuff and they're going to own the whole country!"

          We bought a few things that I knew were cheaper, but I think store brand stuff is still cheaper than name brand — and my back didn't bother me too much at all!

          I took a couple of more pictures on the way home.

         I don't know about your house, but in my house the oven is where my cast iron skillets live. We've been using the oven a lot lately and dragging the skillets out and putting them back in got to be tedious. So I left them stacked on top of the stove.

          "Why don't I make you a rack to hang them up?" Mike asked one day as he walked past the stove and spied my stack of skillets.

          "Okay!" I was all in! "Let me show you what I want." I went to my computer and pulled up a picture I'd saved from the internet.

          "Peg, we don't have a wall to do that," Mike said.

          "I know, but you could make it over the center island."

          We discussed the why-for's and whatnots and decided it would have to wait. In the meantime Mike put this up for me. After I got all of my cast iron hung up, I went into the pantry and brought out some more skillets. "Hang this one up too!" I'd say.

          Mike would get a screw and his screw gun. "Show me where you want it."

          My rack is almost full and I think I've got a couple of more iron skillets somewhere.

          "Peg, is that your glass shop or your kitchen?" you ask.

          I know, right! I have so much counter space that I leave my glass set up on this counter. It's nice to have it handy and I've used it quite a lot.

          Mike's gone back to work on mudding and painting. He's completed the water room and half the hallway.

          In my picture you can see Mike working in his water room, straight ahead is the door to the way-back and to the right is my (unheated) glass shop slash library.

          Then Saturday Mike finished the other half of the hallway. I took the picture just as he finished painting the floor and it's all wet and shiny. In this picture I've got my back against the door that goes to the way-back, my shop door is now on the left, the water room and pantry to the right, and straight ahead is out to the garage.

          Mike did 99% of the work. All I had to do was wash the drywall tools and paint brushes when he finished with them and I ran the vacuum once. The other two times he ran it himself.  

          I pulled out my Rainbow. A Rainbow vacuum cleaner sucks the dirt up and into a basin filled with water which is supposed to trap the dust. As I watched the water come up to the fill line I remembered that during our move I'd found the box of scents that Mike bought with the Rainbow. You add a few drops to the basin of water and it makes the house smell good while you vacuum. I set the basin aside, went looking for them, and found them in the junk drawer. I picked up the box and saw it had been upside down. I opened it and pulled out a bottle. It was all dried up but looked like there might be a drop or two in the bottom. I wonder if I can put a little water in it and get some scent out. I held the bottle under a stream of running water and when I thought I had some in there I replaced the lid and shook it up. I took the lid off and turned it upside down over the basin of water but nothing came out. I squeezed. Nothing. I squeezed harder. Still nothing. I squeezed hardest and...

          POP! — something hit me just below my right eye — clatter clatter clatter — pieces of the bottle rained down all over the kitchen. I stood there for a moment in shock. I can't believe it shattered.

          Mike wandered into the kitchen. "That could've been a bad deal," I told him as I pitched the piece I still held into the trashcan. I blinked my eye a few times to make sure there wasn't anything in there.

          "What?"

          "I broke the bottle and a piece almost hit me in the eye." Mike didn't say anything. He was in the middle of something else. But the enormity of what just happened dawned on me. "I could've been blinded!" I exclaimed and my overactive imagination had a piece of plastic sticking out of my eye. OUCH! I briefly wondered how bad that might hurt then my mind quickly turned to a kind and merciful God. "I think God sent an angel," but Mike was headed back out and I don't know if he heard me. Again my imagination takes over as I see a divine hand deflecting the shard allowing it to hit just below my eye instead of in it. Thank you, Lord, I whisper.

          "Peg, that's silly," you say. "It was just luck."

          Nothing has happened or will happen on this earth that God doesn't know about.

          Matthew 10:29-31 tells us: Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

          During the process of cleaning out the hallway we hauled some stuff to the way-back for storage. While we were back there I picked out a couple of boxes and hauled them up here to unload. Guess what I found!

          "Oh no, Peg! Not another clock!" you guess.

          Nope. Not another clock. A potato masher. I have four of them, which is one more than I thought I owned. Only one of them is in good shape though. A couple are bent up, one worse than the other. Then the masher came out of the handle on another one. I'm guessing they let it air dry upside down in a drainer and the water sat in the furrow and rotted it.

          "You can fix it," Momma told me when I told her about it.

          I know. Maybe someday.

          The night I found the fourth masher I got this picture from Kevin. It's Andrew using a masher of this very same style.

          "Way to teach him, Kevin!" I told him.

          "We don't have potatoes too often so I thought why not," Kevin responded.

          Kevin, the king of mashed potatoes to his family, says this is the best masher ever!

          Despite having four of them, I will still buy any that I find.

          Let's talk about my bedroom window for a second. Even though we live out here in the middle of nowhere, Mike is uncomfortable having an un-curtained window at night.

          "He could shut the curtains at night," you say.

          I know, right! That's what I told him too. You know what he said? He said, "No. I like to wake up with the first light. Can we get a curtain to cover just the bottom half?"

          Well a cafe curtain hasn't happened but it's been rattling around in my head. I remembered having seen on the internet a couple of DIY (Do It Yourself) projects for covering a window. One involved a mixture of cornstarch and water to glue lace onto a window. The other one used a mist of plain water and bubble wrap and sounded the easiest one to do, so that's the one I tried. I didn't have a piece of bubble wrap big enough to cover the window so I used several small pieces. I misted the glass and stuck the first piece of bubble wrap up. It wouldn't stay no matter how long I held it. I resorted to using painters tape to hold it in place. A few days later I took the tape off and was pleased with it.

          "What do you think?" I asked Mike.

          "Macchiato can't see out the window now," he said.

          Sigh. I didn't know that was a condition of covering the window.

          I'll have to tell everybody it works, I thought. Then that night, as I lay in bed reading, I hear it come loose from the window and fall.

          Sigh. Now I don't know if I want to try misting the window again, if I want to try the cornstarch paste and lace, or just break down and buy a cafe curtain.

            Look at this handsome guy! 

           Spitfire has been wanting to come in the house for a while now. He would sit outside the kitchen door and look in at us. His expression seemed to say, "How come Smudge can come in and I can't?"

          "Peg, that sounds a little anthropomorphic to me," you say.

          I know, right! I may have projected my feelings onto Spitfire, but I didn't know you knew that word. Anthropomorphic (an-thro-po-mor-phic) means to attribute human characteristics to an animal. Maybe Spitfire doesn't wonder why Smudge is in and he can't be, but he does want to come in. I let him come in for a few hours last week and he was a perfect gentleman. After exploring the house he jumped up on the couch and just slept. A couple of days later I let him come in again. After hitting the food and water bowls, which they have plenty of their own outside, he got into Itsy's basket beside my desk and napped until suppertime. The smell of food cooking roused him and since I didn't want him getting into something he shouldn't be in, I put him out.

          I'd let all my cats in if I could.

         "No!" Lamar exclaimed when I said that to him. Then he shook his head and laughed a little. "You don't want all those cats in the house."

          Look at the doves! 

           I had ten of them out there under the feeders one day last week. They look plump and juicy. Can you eat doves? I wonder. It seems to me you can.

          "Delicious and nutritious! Tastes just like chicken!" I heard Kat say in my head as she impersonated a character from a movie, then she'd giggle.

          "What movie was that from?" I asked Kevin. "Fern Gully?"

          "It could be Batty," he answered.

          "Peg, why don't you Google it?" you ask.

          I did, but I couldn't find it, that's why I asked Kevin if he remembered.

          "It's been a long time since I've seen the movie," Kevin said but after searching for a few minutes he found the quote from the movie for me. He's a good son.

          Let's end this one with a sunset picture from Friday night —

               And remember—

You're all

in my

heart!