A Day Away

 Today was a bit of a break. Mattie called. She was unable to round up a driver for Rudy's appointment in Pittsburgh, so I volunteered to drive them. I haaaaaate driving in city traffic but some things just need doing and so I did it. 

They have two car seats now, one for baby David and one for Rudy. Mattie sat in the back with the children, and her mother came along as well to help her with the appointment. I don't generally go into the hospital with them. I would if they needed me to, but they seem pretty self sufficient. I brought along a book to read 'Remember This' which I bought some time back and have never finished. It's a heavy book and a book like that gets read differently than light reading. I got about 1/3 of the way through it, and then things got busy. Today I started in on it again. I noticed the writing on the flyleaf of the book. 'Powodzenia!' said one with a David S(unreadable). The second thing read: 'Individuals have souls' signed by 'Der' which faded off into another unreadable scrawl. The final thing: 'One evening I go to the theatr' C(unintelligible scrawl) Y. 

It hit me today what I have. I have a book autographed by David Strathairn, who played the role of Jan Karski in the one man play. The other two names are Derek Goldman and Clark Young. the playwrights. I had no idea! 

So, I sat in the car, engrossed in my book, and eventually everyone returned. Mattie's mother said, "I read about a woman who claims there are many thrift stores in Pittsburgh. I said, "Well, I hate to tell you I am not driving around Pittsburgh looking for them. Happiness is Pittsburgh in my rear view mirror! (no offense Doug)" And so we didn't. We hied ourselves out of town and back on the highway. 

Once off the highway, though, the fun began. They love yard sales. So do I. We found a half dozen nice ones, and the trunk began to fill up. A sturdy child's chair, toys, the old fashioned adjustable window  screen inserts, a glass pie pan, pitcher, a high chair for dolls (Levi is building a play house for the children), It didn't take many stops and we were unpacking the trunk to repack it to create more room. It was full. One thrift store was so taken with baby David's serious little face that she gave Mattie a box of diapers that someone had donated. Their baby had outgrown them before the box was opened. 

Sticking to my determination not to buy ANYTHING because we will be downsizing, I did well. Sort of. At one of the yard sales, there was a lot of nice women's dress clothes. I don't need dress clothes, not at all, but I did love one dress and so I got it. Hanging near it was a 'Coach' purse. You have to understand that I do not know anything about things like this, but I knew that my daughter loves this kind of stuff. It was $20. I tossed it around in my mind, It was very well made. It was in perfect condition. She has a birthday coming up. And so I bought it. It was most certainly fake. 

When I got home, I looked up the registration number inside. 

It led me to this purse:

The prices ranged between $50 to $249

I was quite sure that I could not possibly have gotten the real deal for $20. I mean, that just doesn't happen...except that I went to a site that gave me six things to examine for authentification purposes. The bag ticked all the boxes. 

Looks like my daughter will be getting a very nice birthday gift. 

I was very happy. 

At another place, I got a Minecraft transforming sword/pickaxe. William likes Minecraft, and I figured that he was worth the 50 cents. 

I got a table runner for $1.50. 

That was the sum total of my spending. 

Rudy's appointment went well, and it was a very exciting day for him. He loves flashing lights and sirens and policemen. We saw a semi-trailer that had flipped with a load of building trusses. They were big ones that spilled out blocking two lanes of traffic. The trailer was completely flipped, its wheels in the air. He was agog with excitement. Police cars everywhere. After a long day, he was treated to the sound of an ambulance rushing by with flashing lights AND sirens. The icing on the cake. 

He did so well, really. I've never seen a not quite five year old child who could sit in a car for five hours and be perfectly happy looking out the window and singing songs to himself. He was good as gold. 

We were finally on their road when we came up on an Amish buggy. Mattie said, quick as a wink, from the back seat: "What is Levi doing out?" and sure enough, when I carefully pulled out to go around him, it WAS Levi. I was tempted to pull along side and ask him did he want to race, but I'm always nervous about spooking the horse, so we waved and went by. Curiously, I asked how on earth she could have recognized that it was Levi from the back of a buggy that looks like all the rest of the Amish buggies. She said, "I know how he sits. I also recognized my horse." 

When we pulled into the driveway, children came running from all over. The trunk was unpacked in the blink of an eye and kids were excitedly examining the toys. Little David slept soundly in his car seat. 

We're all kind of worried about John, over at 'Beans and I on the Loose'. He has not posted since the 18th, and that's never happened before. A lot of his followers are worried about him. Spare a good thought for him today.