A post in which I have a busy evening

I was antsy at work today.  I had stuff to do, but the weight of stuff needing to be done in my real life was making me anxious.

After work I headed out to run errands. 

The first stop was CVS.  They sent me a $3 coupon for my birthday, and I used it to get Q-tips.  It is surprisingly hard to find the real ones now - it's like they only want to sell the store brand (they had at least 5x more of the store brand than they did of the real kind).  I have tried the bargain brands, and even the other 'quality' brands, and none of them are as good as the real ones.  So I shell out twice as much for Q-tips because I really can tell the difference.

From there it was on to the dollar store - the new big nice one near work.  I needed a couple of things:

   - a mailer to send back the Gamecocks shirt I ordered (it was too dark and Miss Kat and Dana got me one I like better anyway).  I was quite surprised to see mailers at Dollar Tree the last time I was there, but it made a lot of sense; they are ridiculously priced for what is basically a big envelope.  Apparently everyone else thought so too because they were nearly sold out.  I had to buy a smaller one than last time, but I think it will be big enough.

  - since I opened a can of refried beans Monday night, I wanted fixin's to make them into suppers for this week.  They had real sour cream (I checked) in the fridge section, and little things of cheese.  I found tortillas, but when I looked at them they had trans fat in them.  As did the tortilla chips on offer.  The tostada shells didn't, but they had nine grams of fat per serving.  I spent most of my time in there tonight comparing and contrasting tortilla options to complete a meal started with a can of beans I paid $1 for, but it wasn't like I was in a hurry.

 - a thank you card for Rhonda.  I have a pack of them at the house that I got during treatment that I haven't even opened, but she went to so much trouble herding cats, making arrangements, and even coordinating gift ideas for people that I felt I should at least get her a big card instead of just a regular thank you size.  That's one more thing on my to-do list this week - I have to get thank you cards in the mail!  Everyone was so wonderful to me last weekend that I really want to get the cards out quickly to let them know how much I appreciated everything. 

 - I also perused the freezer section.  They had peas and carrots to finish up the fried rice I was going to make tonight to use up the left-over rice Eve sent home with me last night.  She persists on sending food home with me.  I don't know why, but I'm not too proud to take it, and it's kind of fun to make stuff out of it.  While I was in the freezer anyway, I picked up a couple of they snack-y things to try.  They're cheap enough, and I eat stuff like that every now and again.  Tonight I got cheese sticks, mushroom bites, and a fettuccine alfredo. 

In the end, I had to go to the grocery store anyway.  I bought tortillas that didn't have trans fat in them (or at least didn't have enough that they had to put it on the label), and scallions, tofu, and mushrooms to go in the fried rice.  I went home and made burritos for supper, and then started cooking.  It ended up that I bought $6.28 of ingredients to use up about 0.50 worth of rice (because I think it was instant rice of some kind), but I got three lunches out of it for next week so it was worth it.  I won't have to worry about cooking lunches when I get home Sunday - I can just take them out of the freezer.

While I was futzing around the dollar store Dana called.  She and Miss Kat want to take me out for my birthday (they didn't come to the party - long story), but since my schedule is packed full for the weekend, I leave Friday, and because Miss Kat is out of town this week anyway, I asked if we could wait until next week.  Dana seemed kind of disappointed, but amenable.  Things are just crammed up this week.

My fried rice came out OK, but not as good as it used to be.  I need to get that video from the library again (that is how I learned to make it in the first place) because I think I'm forgetting to put something in.  What I made tonight was about restaurant quality (if a bit salty), but usually what I make at home is much better than the Chinese restaurants make.  It could be the instant rice - usually I make mine with brown rice, which gives it a lovely chewy texture and a nutty flavor that really makes it better.  Some things are better if they sit overnight though, so maybe it will be tastier next week.  I was happy with the way my tofu came out.  I really want a new wok though.  I have my eye on the one I want - maybe I'll ask for that for Christmas.  I opened the cheap dark soy sauce I bought the other week tonight.  I used up the last of my tamari.   I could really tell a difference in the smell.  The new stuff smells harsh - almost like a chemical smell.  I'm spoiled to expensive organic tamari.  If this doesn't measure up any better in taste than it did in smell, I won't be buying any more of it.

So after all the shopping, the cooking, and the cleaning up, I didn't feel like doing the other things around the house that needed doing tonight.  David comes Friday, and I have a host of birthday presents to find places for so that I can have them out of his way.  He really hates clutter, and it's good for me to have the incentive to keep things cleared away.  I need to clean out a couple of things in the fridge.  I also need to wrap birthday presents, and get clothes together if I'm leaving for Columbia on Friday night.  None of that stuff got done tonight, which leaves me with a big chore list tomorrow.  But for tonight, I settled in front of the telly for a while watching Family Guy re-runs and eating birthday cookies while I chatted online.