The visit to Mom’s went OK.

She loved the camera, and we spent the afternoon at stores, mostly window shopping since we were both broke. Mom got a memory card for her new camera at Walmart, and I spent my time there resisting the urge to buy yarn. They had some really pretty yarn. Somehow I managed to walk out of Walmart with only the thing I said I was going to get … something to treat Lin’s chigger bites. He got bitten terribly by them last week, and they have been making him insane.

Then we ran over to HEB, because Mom said she had seen a coffee-maker like the one I described as THE one I was looking for since our old one broke. I was thrilled to find it was exactly the one I was looking for, and it was only $20. I couldn’t pass that up. It’s an older model by Melitta. They have recently updated that model with a timer and other fancy gadgets, but I prefer the simplicity of the one we had. I don’t need a timer. There’s more to making Lin’s morning coffee than making sure it’s ready on time. I like getting up at ungodly hours to fix his coffee and see him off to work. It would feel strange to stay in bed and let the coffee-maker do all the work.

While we were out running around, I saw a whole bunch of people I graduated from high school with. In a small town, that tends to happen often. What was funny about it all was the fact that none of the people I saw, made eye contact with, and walked by didn’t even recognize me. They looked at me just like you would any other person you didn’t know who looked at you while walking by in a store. I always let people recognize me, rather than running up to them and talking. I don’t like putting people on the spot if they should not remember my name or ever having known me. I really haven’t changed much at all since high school, so it isn’t like its hard to recognize me if you knew me back then. The only difference is I am 5 inches taller now. Lin says that can actually throw people off more than I would realize, and I guess he’s right. How do I know I am easily recognizable by those who knew me in high school? When we were checking out at the HEB, a hear something calling my name, and sure enough it was one of my friends from way back then. It was great to see Emma and see she’s doing well. That was pretty cool. Even though we didn’t spend a lot of time outside of school hanging out, we were close friends. I also saw someone I would have sworn was my best friend from high school, and I almost turned the car around to stop and find out, but then I reminded myself that she’s lived within 25 miles of me since I moved to Austin and the only time I heard from her in all that time was when her mom died ages ago. We’d made plans at that time to get together, but nothing ever came of it, and I just let it drop. I guess some things are best left undisturbed. My close friends and I all went our separate ways shortly after high school, and now we are really all quite different people. Well, except for me. I’m still mostly the same as I was then … only louder and more talkative.

Also I want to mention, if you are ever in the Fredericksburg area and looking for the best BBQ, you have to go to Cranky Frank’s. It used to have another name, and some people say the BBQ isn’t as good as it used to be. Don’t believe them. That’s just small-town politics talking. They still make the best BBQ in the area … and maybe the best BBQ outside the area. The brisket was so tender it was falling apart, and while the sausage was just as great, it was a little too peppery for my tastes. The potato salad was phenomenal, and I usually hate potato salad made with mayonnaise. The beans were tasty and well cooked. So … if you want great BBQ, go to Cranky Frank’s! Besides, who can resist getting food at a place with a name like that?! I am so glad we decided on BBQ and dropped the idea of getting Subway sandwiches. That BBQ rocked, and we all had enough left over for dinner too.

I’ve been slow getting moving today. The cedar pollen count has been off the charts for days now, and it’s killing me. On the drive home yesterday, I saw why it’s been off the charts. All the cedar everywhere had HUGE pollen pods on them … ripe and overflowing with the reddish brown nastiness that causes me to have headaches, itchy-scratchy eyes, and massive amounts of congestion. Let’s not even mention the non-stop sneezing. I sneezed three times just writing this paragraph. Nasty sneezes too. Eeew. Anyway, Cedar Fever has me moving in slow gear today. If I take allergy pills, I am down for the count. If I don’t, I move in slow motion and can’t stop sneezing and coughing, and I still get nothing done. Can’t win for trying, you know? I’ll be glad when the cedar is done with it’s mating, that’s all I can say.

All in all, even though I was feeling less than 100%, we had a fairly good weekend. I won’t mention that we are still having serious problems with our neighbors, because a) I think that’s going to be the norm from now on and b) just having serious problems with neighbors is bad enough … no need to expound on that (at the moment anyway). The coming week doesn’t look like it’s going to be too horrible. Aside from the usual daily routines, the only big things on my plate are going on one of those massive grocery shopping trips (put off for today due to my car being illegal to drive until re-registered) and going to the craft store to get some yarn. They have their store brand eyelash yarn on sale again for 99 cents, and while I did great resisting the urge to run over there the last time, I don’t think I’ll be able to resist again. It’s just too good a deal.