Amber & The Storm Before The Calm

1.  Go to Schaubhut to pick up more meds for Pickles.  Check.

2.  Go to Whiskers to get calm drops for travel and gut-pills for barfy Woody.  Check.

3.  Get, but do not eat, a chocolate croissant for Nick's Birthday Breakfast treat.  Check on the getting...

...and we'll see about the eating.

4.  Work.  (In Progress)

5.  Pack up work laptop, stuff at office, including books to read and bike helmet.

6.  Whole Foods for last minute purchases: sunblock, citronella spray, face scrub and shampoo.

7.  Stop by Spoiled Brats to place order to pick up tomorrow on way out of town.  (Rather than lug two cases of food, 35 lbs of litter, and other supplies up the stairs and then back down tomorrow.)

8.  Buy $5 gypsy skirt on the street.

9.  Laundry.

10.  Pack and clean apartment.

11.  Go to River House.

 Breathe.

Amber & eMac: Adopted

Tonight, my dear friend eMac went to live with Noreen and Ted. eMac was good to me for many years but since they invented Hulu, which is meant to be watched on the couch, was replaced by something smaller and more portable. But, he was a solid computer. Many years of Quicken and e-mailing were shared between us, and for that I am glad that he is getting a good new home.

I am also glad that when I worked at the Bronx Garden of Botanical Delights, I met Noreen and that she married Ted. They are nice people, they gave me Hauschka stuff, and they do good posing on demand.


I look forward to cooking for them at some point in the future, when my table is not covered with stuff that I am taking to San Francisco tomorrow morning. (Since Ginger is on the table, he gets to go, too, right?)

Amber & Fresh Direct

I have been experimenting with Fresh Direct. There are few good grocery stores near my house. There is a D'Agostino's which I find to have gross produce, but it's a good source of lamby baby food. And there is Frank's which is so ridiculously over-priced that it makes Whole Foods look like a discount chain. So, at CRD's suggestion, I tried ordering in my groceries.

There have been a few snags, mostly due to my lack of reading comprehension. Like, when I thought I was getting a gallon of 2% milk, but I really got a gallon's worth of drink boxes of 2% milk.

Or, when I thought I was getting a pie and saved room in my tummy for my 6 to 8 pm delivery window, eagerly expecting my dessert, and then it arrived frozen, but "ready to bake."

And there is the excess of packaging. As someone who brings her own canvas bags to the store, I find the six cardboard boxes that came with my last shipment a bit much. (Sorry, Al Gore.) But, the kitties sure enjoy them!

But, overall, it's going really well. The produce is lovely, the ready-to-bake items are delicious (sorry, Kevin: I ate the pie), and it's incredibly convenient. It definitely is more expensive than a good grocery store, but that's the price you pay for the ease of getting fresh veggies delivered to your house.

Amber & Soap

This was a very exciting morning. I used up the last remaining scrap of soap in the shower. I had been using a delightful lavender, rose geranium and ylang ylang bar from John Masters Organics for a very, very long time. Finally, the last suds of it washed down the drain.

Tonight, at the end of my work day, I can stop off at Whole Foods and buy a new bar.

I think I might get the same exact flavor. I really like the Weleda calendula soap but my Whole Foods doesn't seem to be actively stocking Weleda at present.

Still: lavender, rose geranium and ylang ylang?

Cleansing for both mind and body.