Monday Rambles

I started feeling a little better towards the end of last week.  My energy level has been picking up over the past few days.  I'm at the end of this chemo cycle, so this is supposed to be my "good week."  I get my next infusion next Tuesday, so I intend to work this week for all its worth.

I still have to have my rest periods, but not nearly as many or as long.  Last "good week" I was able to get by with just early bed times.  I'm hoping to squeeze in a little thrifting and some major booth work this week, plus some house cleaning.

I'm not looking forward to the next infusion, just to be frank.  I'm getting tired of being stuck with needles, for one thing.  I still have these hard knots up and down my arms from the last round of shots.  Seriously, it was three weeks ago, but I can still identify all of my injection spots.  I'm also dreading the next increase in side effects.  (I need to remember to renew my anti-nausea meds this week.)

The radiologist released me last week.  I had my follow-up with him on Wednesday.  He gave me the option of continuing to see him or not.  I was only too glad to be rid of one of this crew of doctors!  Of course, if I do need further treatment, he'll be called back in, but we're hoping that doesn't have to happen.

How do you know that the Kentucky Derby Festival is about to begin?  The temperatures drop in Louisville!  It was quite chilly this weekend for the big fireworks deal thing at the Waterfront.  Thankfully, overall, my sales didn't dip too much. which can sometimes happen.  In fact, my sales started picking up toward the end of last week, which was much welcome.

Despite the chilly weather, there were a few good sales this weekend.  In fact, three of my favorite sales of the year took place on Saturday.  I knew about two of them all week and had a plan to hit both of them.  The third one hit me out of the blue.  I had checked the website for the center having that sale at the beginning of the month, and there was no mention of the sale, so finding the ad on Friday caught me off-guard.  It's important to do your research, but sometimes your sources frustrate you!

Rearranging my plan, we hit the surprise sale first, since it's always the biggest and best one.  For a couple of years now, I've gotten to this one and found cheap furniture and had no way to transport it.  This year, I remembered to bring the truck.  Voila!  One load of cheap furniture!

When we hit the smalls, Keith and I were gathering so much that one of the volunteers gave us a Rubbermaid cart to use as a shopping cart!  We loaded that sucker up!  Having the cart meant that I could gather up a good deal more stuff at once, so I didn't have to make my usual two-three trips through the place.

We did notice, both at this sale and at one of the churches, that prices were a little higher than we were used to.  Not that they were sky-high, but there were fewer of the .05 and .10 tags at both sales than we were used to.  I have a theory that the little old ladies at those places who price everything at .25 or less have started dying off, resulting in more .50 and up prices.  I still got quite a lot, though.

My goal for this past weekend and the coming one is to get stocked up enough to carry me through the next chemo cycle.  That approach worked well for me last time, so I'm doing it again.  Just getting to a sale or thrift when I'm battling the fatigue is very difficult.

I had a couple of unexpected windfalls last week that will help me reach that goal.  I was able to by a batch of items from the untagged room in the Peddlers Mall.  The store won't sell anything without a tag, so it's dated and put in a special room.  After thirty days (per our contracts), the store has the right to sell off any unclaimed items.  A lot of vendors don't check for their untagged stuff (I do), so it piles up.  I bought a bunch of stuff older than thirty days.  Some of it had been placed in there last summer, in fact!  I'm going to have to remember this as a source.

Also, my junking uncle Mike sold me a van load of his overstock and threw in a couple of bags of free items as well.  He kind of surprised me with it, but it was more than welcome and I appreciated it so much.  He told me he had started gathering some things for me to tide me over when the getting out is difficult for me.  We were able to get together for our first joint junking run in ages last Friday.  It was cold, but we hit a half dozen yard sales and a few thrifts.

The other thing I have to do this week is get all of this stuff sorted and priced and ready to go.  Then all I have to do is pull a box and go.

Speaking of going, I'd better get moving. I have a lot to do this week.