Laurel's Monday (Monday, Sept 29)

Monday was a pretty hectic day.

I got up early and went to the grocery store, since the fire had burned up all my food. Not that I have a stove to cook anything on at the moment, but Robert promises he'll be bringing one around as soon as possible.

Ah, well, the refrigerator still works. I can eat cold cereal to my heart's content.



I got to the grocery store so early, they weren't even open yet. I had to stand around outside for ten minutes, waiting for them to unlock the doors.

That made me feel pretty good - like a real go-getter, up with the chickens.



After doing my grocery shopping, I decided to make a quick stop by Jamison Books to see if they had anything about fire safety. I don't know, I guess seeing my kitchen in flames upset me more than I thought. I just have an urge now to learn all I can about how to protect myself from fires.

Jamison's did have several books on fire safety. I chose the most basic looking one to start with. I can come back for the others later if I want.



This was supposed to have been a quick trip, but it took forever to get waited on at the checkout counter. Normally, I am pretty patient in situations like that, but I kept thinking about the gallon of milk in the backseat of my car and finally I had to call out for someone to hurry up and help me.



Then I found out that "Jamison" of "Jamison Books" is actually none other than Vince Jamison, the guy who lives in the apartment next to mine.

When I saw Vince, I felt really embarrassed about about hollering for someone to come and wait on me. But I consoled myself by thinking about how embarrassed he must be to be standing face to face with the lady who hears through the wall when he watches dirty movies late at night.



Vince didn't seem a bit shy, though. In fact, he talked and talked and talked and talked and TALKED. I know everything there is to know about Vince Jamison now, because he told me his entire life story. I kept thinking about the milk in my car and trying to edge away.

I was very relieved when another customer came up and Vince had to go wait on her.

I'll admit I scrambled out of the store with a bit less grace than I would have liked.



Robert still hadn't installed a new stove when I got home, but he did at least drag off the smoking ruins of the trash compactor and replace it with a plastic garbage can.



All of my clothes smelled like smoke, so I did what felt like 437 loads of laundry.

I didn't get a thing done at the shop today, and didn't even have a minute to sit down at the sewing machine!



It looks as if I'll be having more spare time in the near future, though. Ben stopped by after work to tell me he's not going to be able to see me for about a week. He's trying to get Sophia into a private school, and he needs some time to work on the applications and so forth.

I told him I understood.

To be quite honest, I guess it's probably a good thing. I'll miss seeing Ben for the next few days, but I have a million things to get ready before the Grand Opening.

I'll just have to look forward to seeing him again next week.