The Perfect Saturday

Today was a perfect Saturday.

I LOVE weekends, way too much. I love not being chained to a desk for 7.5 hours. I love being able to wake up on my own, without that annoying alarm clock going off at 6:00 AM.

Today I woke up early for me on a Saturday - at 7:30. I came down, fed the pets, made coffee and toasted a bagel, then sat down to read my emails, in a leisurely fashion. I even read the New York Times, which is emailed to me every day and I read it about once a week.

I decided to tackle a project I've been putting off - bathing Pepper the Dog. Pepper has very thick fur and usually loves to get in the tub but today for some reason, she was reluctant. I bathed her, brought her in our room to dry her, comb her and cut her hair. After 20 minutes of sitting on the floor with her, I stood up and could hardly move and I was reminded how old I am. Sitting on the floor, or maybe I should say getting up off the floor, is not an easy task.

Then I came down, had more coffee, read the paper, did laundry, and just relaxed. And for once, I had energy, so I tackled a job that is rarely tackled in this house - vacuuming under the couch cushions. I don't know how we turned into such a family of slobs, but we are a family of slobs.

Then I read the garage sale ads in the Sun Press. One caught my eye. First, it was today only, until 5:00, and it was already after 2:00. Second of all, it just sounded like my kind of sale. This was actually an estate sale and the owner made "award winning honey" and was a photographer, so there would be honey and photos to peruse. I called Sharon, who is on the same wavelength as me. I said what do you think? And she said I'll go! So I picked her up and off we went.

We weren't sure where the street was, but the ad said it ran off a major street, so we figured we'd find it. We knew we were lost when we saw the sign saying "Leaving Richmond Hts" and the sale was in Richmond Hts. But we did see a "Richmond Hts Farmers Market" and decided to take a look. It was a little bizarre. It didn't seem like a farmer's market - more like a mini grocery that you usually find with gas stations. We started to wander, and they had a whole section of foreign foods. We didn't even know what language was printed on the merchandise. Then we discovered a bakery with fresh strudel. Mmmm. I had to buy some apple strudel. And an eggplant, macadamia nuts and chocolate drizzled Humphreys popcorn.

Before we went into the farmers market, Sharon called her house to have them look up the street we were looking for. We waited and waited, as we sat outside the market waiting to go in. Suddenly I remembered I had a street map in my car. So we found the street we were looking for and realized there was a misprint in the paper. We headed back to the house sale. Arrived to find a very old house. Walked in, and it was like walking back in time 100 years. It even had that old smell - not unpleasant, but homey - cottagey. Sharon immediately found some Warner Brothers drinking glasses she liked. There was a lot of colored glass. I love colored glass. Then we walked into the room with the photos, and they were really amazing photos. Some had prices of $75 on the back. Sharon said they can't be selling them for that. So I asked, and was told the photos were $1 a piece. One dollar! Then I had to carefully look through each one again, to find the perfect ones. There was also a room with old frames for a buck. Man, this was my kind of sale.

I picked out my photos and frames, grabbed a jar of dark natural honey, and happily walked out with $9 worth of purchases. It wasn't only goods I was getting, it was pure entertainment.

Then a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up stuff for dinner, then home. I'm cooking an eggplant parmesan which I will bring over to Sharon's tonight.

I wish every day could be Saturday.