Outing

The iron supplements I got from the store the other day are working really well for me. I am back to my old self again! WOO-HOO!!

And to celebrate, I decided that today I'd have a little outing for myself, while my husband stayed home with the kids. Take some time to do a little window shopping, check out sales and have a tasty treat. I also wanted to check out the new Nike store at the Oakway Center.

That was my second stop. (My first was at the local Bi-Mart, where I got some movies that were on sale, as well as a toy for the baby.) The Nike store is AWESOME. Right when I walked in, I was greeted by this HUGE wall-to-wall screen with Nike ads, informational skits and types of shoes Nike has made being featured all across it. There was one special area where shoes created by two local teens as part of a charity effort are being shown, as well as a large panel of information about Nike co-founders Bill Bowerman, Steve Prefontaine and Phil Knight. The last name is one I am familiar with: I have seen that name many times in the local paper. I read about "Pre" on a friend's blog, as well as also in my local paper, but Bill Bowerman was a new name to me. I briefly started to wonder if he was in any way related to my good friend, Peter Bowerman. (Heh, that would be interesting!) I knew Phil Knight was somehow connected with Nike, but had no idea that he was one of the co-founders. Same goes with Pre. I also didn't realize that Eugene, Oregon really IS called "Track Town, USA." I mean, during the summer Olympics, I thought it was just a promotional angle. But it is indeed called "Track Town," thanks to the natives of Eugene who helped create the company we all know and love as Nike. (The longer I live in Eugene, the more I am learning about just how famous it is for certain things and people.)

From there, I checked out the Pottery Barn, admiring the very pretty glitter candles, but, at the same time, disappointed that there was so much emphasis on Christmas but not so much on Thanksgiving. I mean, I know people shop VERY early for Christmas, but Thanksgiving IS right around the corner! (And on that note, I am eagerly putting together a VERY special Thanksgiving dinner menu. Millie and Allison are planning to join us for Thanksgiving dinner! YAY! I want to make the cheesecake EVERYBODY is always asking me to make for special occasions.)

Next I headed into Borders, where I came across the new book, The Purpose of Christmas, by Rick Warren. I enjoyed reading his other book, The Purpose-Driven Life, so I was interested in this one. And true to form, he was not overly preachy in this book and his ideas really made a lot of sense. The stuff he said in this book was stuff I could relate to, stuff I have seen myself, and I was grateful he touched on those topics. I read 50 pages of it before deciding to put this book on my Christmas wish list. Also while I was at Borders, I enjoyed their Marble Mocha coffee (YUMMY!) and a tomato and cheese toasted sandwich. Afterwards, I worked on my novel. Finishing a chapter, I browsed more books and I was able to score 4 books for $20! Sweet!

The next place I had to go to was the grocery store. My husband texted me while I was at Borders, saying we needed more milk, so I got the milk next. I WAS going to get a paper, but I forgot. GAH! It was nice chatting with a friend I saw there, though. I hadn't seen him for MONTHS, so it was nice talking with him again.

Later, after spending time on the couch with my husband and children, I looked at the clock and decided it was time to get dinner in the oven. I announced I was making pork chops and Jen said she wanted hamburgers. I was okay with going to get hamburgers for dinner but checked with my husband to see if he was okay with the change in dinner plans, too. Getting a nod from him, I got my jacket back on and left to get burgers. It was a good thing, too, because we needed ANOTHER thing from the store, which I picked up from the Amazon Market on my way. (And I got a newspaper, too. Woot!)

When I got to the fast food place, I debated going through the drive-through. I had a bad experience at a drive-through before and I worried it might repeat here. But I was VERY low on gas and was afraid to turn off the car because it might not turn back on! And I'd be stranded there with hot food that would turn cold. So instead of risking being stranded, I went through the drive-through. At the drive-through, I tried ordering the burgers at the box but they got the order wrong and I tried telling them "no, I don't want that, I want this," but they didn't change it. So I had to drive up to the window since I didn't know what the heck they were even saying and explained that I am deaf and had trouble with the box. They were TOTALLY accommodating about this, which was nice since ANOTHER fast food place I tried to order at the window gave me a lot of grief over it. They kept saying "we can't take orders at the window" and I kept reminding them "But I'm deaf and I'm allowed by federal law to order at the window." They went on and on about it until the manager appeared and, I guess for the sake of all the customers lined up behind me, she finally took my order. I was NOT happy then but at THIS fast food place (CARL'S JR., PEOPLE!!), they didn't give me any trouble at all. The employee was VERY understanding and spoke in a slow manner so that I could understand him. And when I couldn't, he wrote stuff down. (They'll definitely be getting more of my business, that's for sure!)

On the way home, I stopped to get gas. The gas station attendant kinda scared me. He looked like the bad guy in a horror movie I saw not too long ago. A horror movie that disturbed me so much, I couldn't watch all of it. And it was something this character did that made me turn it off. The same character this guy looked like! So the whole time I'm sitting there, I'm scared out of my wits thinking, "PLEASE don't hurt me! EEK!" Well, obviously, that didn't happen. But it made me remember one of my uncles, who kinda looks like Freddie Kruger when he puts his black hat on. I kid you not! My family thinks it's hilarious (and he knows this, too, and thinks it's funny) and I think it's funny, too, but at the same time....kinda weird. I started to wonder if OTHER people have relatives who resemble icons or bad guys in horror flicks.

All in all, it was an interesting day. I was really grateful for the chance to get out and shop, eat, write and see stuff out there. Those kinds of days don't happen very often but it's definitely a refreshing change when they do.