Toodles, Firefox

We trekked to Costco. I rarely go to Costco these days. I don't remember the last time we were there together. And today was a great reminder as to why I don't go: I purchased $80 of stuff I didn't know I needed or wanted until I saw it. Yes, they were great deals. But I was doing just fine without any of it before I saw it available there. Gosh, they sure get ya, don't they? Still, four pairs of pants and 9 pairs of underwear for $80 - and I did really need them. Though I probably wouldn't have been shopping for them this weekend.

The thing we went for and didn't get was a Dell laptop. They only have HP's and Acer brands in the store. The HP computer that was comparable to the Dell we were planning to buy was $150 more than the Dell available at Costco online. We're frugal....and I have a strong aversion to HP. No particular reason. Just do.

In the mean time, I switched to Internet Explorer and did fine all day. And after a tip from my cousin D. in Oklahoma (Hi D.!), I discovered what the compass-like short cut on my desk top is for - it's for Safari - yet another Internet explorer that also is working very well. So perhaps just skipping FireFox and using IE or Safari will be enough to allow this laptop to limp along for another few months. That would really help given it's Christmas - and I did a fair amount of cyber shopping this weekend.

We did install our new flat screen TV. Got H. and three of his buddies to help get the old one down from the TV nook. J. and I were easily able to lift the new one up into the space. 150 pounds vs. 35 pounds. Wow, technology has come a long way....and this TV was 1/5 of what we paid for the one we purchased only six short years ago. So now we're back up and running on the TV front in the family room - and we have a huge, heavy six year old non-working TV in the garage that is too expensive to repair. We'll be looking for an eWaste event soon to dispose of it.

The boys also moved a 'new' (used) dresser (very heavy) up to H.'s room. It came from his Uncle B.'s house and H. has been needing a larger dresser. So that'll be one of his projects for the last day of vacation - moving stuff from one dresser to the other. Then we'll carry his old, little dresser down to the garage and add another item to dispose of ASAP.

I couldn't cope with turkey leftovers again for dinner....so we headed to McDonald's. Buying food for four starving teen boys is pretty amusing. The lady behind us thought we were nuts - and I'm pretty sure she assumed we were buying for our grandkids. We took three bags full of burgers and fries (and chicken sandwiches) and drinks back home and fed the volunteer work crew. It was great of them to help and with the four of them, J. didn't have to lift a finger on getting the old TV down - which I was glad about. I don't want him getting hurt. He's already achy - knee and shoulder giving him a fair amount of issues daily. Poor guy.

It's hard to come to grips with tomorrow being my last day off. The next three weeks will be jam packed with holiday parties, holiday to-do's and massive amounts of work stuff. It's a very busy time of year for me. Thankfully, only three weeks of work followed by two full weeks off - and we are all really looking forward to that break. Already.

Signing off for the night. Last night of staying up late (it's approaching 11 and I can't believe I'm still awake). Sleeping in tomorrow. And busy all day attempting to finish the zillions of things I will realize I need to finish around 10AM tomorrow - all in one day. It's just the way I roll....waiting until the last possible minute to get it all done. But I will. I always do.