Good Day to Stay In

 This is just my kind of day.  It doesn't matter than I stay in most days anyway, but this weather was perfect for wearing my sweatshirt and pajama bottoms, drinking coffee and doing so many mindless things.

I enjoyed seeing the clouds roll in early this morning with coffee on the balcony, listening to 28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand, one of my favorite authors, and working on my long-neglected mystery cross-stitch.

I just went back out to check on my plants since I didn't water this morning and love the way the plants look at twilight.  

There are several clematis buds on the vine, but it looks like the central plant is dying.  The leaves are turning brown, and that bloom is wilty, but the new growth and buds look healthy, so we'll have to see.

These petunias and geraniums are healthy without any babying at all.  I do deadhead every morning and clean them up, but they give me so much joy.  The petunias smell so good too.

Those are old herbs beneath that I snip off sometimes but mostly just ignore.  I did plant dill, parsley, and chives in the same pot, and they're looking good.

Layla and I enjoyed the beautiful bit of sunset we saw.

My friends and I were talking yesterday about how just about the only thrill we get some days is a package arriving from Amazon - or their groceries!  Living in an apartment, we really want very little "stuff" coming in, but I did order something a couple of weeks ago for myself.

On some blog I follow, I saw the recommendation for a tiered stand for the kitchen, and with my teeny kitchen, I thought a little double-decker storage would be nice.  It was more than I really wanted to pay, but I shopped around for similar things and decided I liked that one the best.  It was from World Market.  There's not one near here, so I ordered it.  I used to like to visit World Market in other towns I lived in, but I'm not going to drive very far for any store.  It took weeks for it to get here, and I had just about forgotten about it until it arrived today.

My excitement was short-lived though.  It had plenty of bubble wrap but was kind of rolling around in the box, and the box was banged up.  When I took it out, it was assembled and looked like this.

I tried replacing the screws that I found in the box, but that did nothing to straighten it. I'm not sure exactly what the problem was.  The screw holes were enlarged and gouged out-looking, so I think someone else had had the same problem.  I'm sure it's a metal problem.

I dreaded contacting WM and setting up returns and refunds or whatever, but I went ahead and immediately called, expecting a big runaround.  A sweet voice answered and ended up calling me Miss Becky and complimenting the Allyn in my name - "That's pretty."  She listened sympathetically without judgment to my problem and just went right on and ordered me another one.  I had figured I would just ask for a refund, but since I don't have to send it back, I'll try again. They don't require you to send back things under $100.  That's kind of nice but unusual. If the second one is deformed, then I'll have two.  I feel sure Ryan can whip them into shape with some of his manly tools.

So I went ahead and put it in the proper place, and if you don't look really hard at the forward tilt, you can tell what it "should" look like.  It think it's just about perfect in that spot and rounds up tea and coffee things well. 

I love groping my way into the kitchen every morning and hanging out here.  I'm hearing Mike in my mind grumbling about there being no spot on that thing for his Taster's Choice container with the spoon attached with a rubber band.

I've heard nothing from the Binderts today, and I guess that's good.  I know they're having a good time.  I did a good bit of texting with friends and had a nice phone call.  I love people who understand me and make me laugh.  We all need that.

What I didn't need was to see on the community page another OMG Look at THIS! post that quickly got laughed away by sensible people.  

Someone had seen a video or something about your mail-in votes having D or R on them so "they" can get rid of your vote.  I'm still not sure who "they" is.  Are they Democrats or Republicans, these people who grab the ballots and throw away the ones they don't want?  Do they think people are allowed to stand around and sift through ballots and get rid of the ones they don't like?  What people and how do they get chosen?  

With about two minutes wasted on a fact check, the truth is revealed that the D or R appears only on the primary election ballots where you have to pick a party and only get ballots with that party designated on the envelope.  The PRIMARY election.  In the general election, naturally there is not a CLUE on the ballot as to the way you voted.  Do these people believe everything and are just too lazy to check for the truth - or do they know it's not true and just hope to carry on their anger a while longer.  Sad.  

Disclaimer:  I didn't know these things either, because I never heard of anything like this - nor would I ever believe someone is stealing my ballot - but a little knowledge is a good thing.

I thought today was Saturday, so I have the whole weekend ahead of me, although those two days will be no different than the last five.  We are going to have a sunny and dry week ahead, so that will be good for the kids and grandparents to get outside.