Because Mom and Dad are in Las Vegas, if Meridith and I want to go anywhere, we have to take the bus. This morning, Mom suggested that we go to Ralphs if we need anything (I ran out of bananas, and I want to see if that aseptic carton of almond milk is still on sale), and to that Italian sub place that's right by Meridith's old high school, and to pick up a cheesburger (regular) and a small french fry for Tigger and Kitty from McDonald's.
My plans were different. I was going to wash the dog's bowls and the tray they sit on, take a shower, and put Mom and Dad's bedsheets and pillowcases in the wash and then with Meridith, put them back on the bed. That was it. I have books. I'm fine. In fact, ahead of having to return all my library books next week, I've pinpointed three books I want so badly to read before that horrid day happens: Fool Me Once: Hustlers, Hookers, Headliners and How Not to Get Screwed in Vegas by Rick Lax; Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption, and Baseball's Longest Game by Dan Barry; and Miles: The Autobiography by Miles Davis with Quincy Troupe. These three are going straight to the top of my immediate reading list. These will be my weekend reading, or as much as I can read tomorrow when we're off to the library to return some books so we don't have as much to return by next Friday (the absolute deadline to return everything), Jamba Juice, the Valencia Town Center mall, Sprouts, Pavilions, and whatever else we can think of while we're there.
I've no objection to today's plans. After the dogs have their cheeseburger and french fries with some of their usual dinner, I'll wash the bowls then. And I'll put Mom and Dad's linens in the wash on Sunday. That's simple enough. Plus, I just took a shower. So I'm covered.
But one part of my Saturday routine might or might not be, my copy of The Wall Street Journal Weekend. We're taking the bus down to Valencia tomorrow and our first stop will be Pavilions, because Meridith suggested that they might have it there. I usually go to the newsstand near Kmart, because they not only have it, but what looks like nearly every magazine ever published, and I like to browse when I'm there. It's not as important anymore because the magazines I used to look at I now subscribe to.
So if Pavilions doesn't have it, then we have to do some thinking. We'll go to the library, but it's a little bit of a hike to get the newsstand. Yet, we parked at the now-shuttered Do-It Center (It was a much smaller Home Depot without the trappings of a chain) when the Food Truck Festival was going on and walked almost that length to get to the first car dealership where three food trucks were parked (It was going on to celebrate the revitalized Auto Row (what I call it), which had been refurbished, with plants at the curb, cleaner sidewalks, etc. This is the big happening in this valley. Now you see why I'm craving Las Vegas more and more).
It didn't take me long to read last week's Wall Street Journal Weekend and circle the book titles that interested me in the "Review" section. About an hour, I'd say. It usually takes longer. Do I really need it this weekend? I'd like it this weekend, just like every other weekend, and we won't be hauling any books from the library, the first time since we moved here seven years ago, but it depends on what else we do, if we buy anything that would have to be refrigerated (unlikely), and where we are physically by the time we get to that point (There's going to be a lot of walking). I think I'd be a little disappointed if I didn't have it, but not broken up, because when they do finally come home, Mom and Dad will have with them last week's issue of Las Vegas Weekly and this week's, and a few editions of the Las Vegas Review-Journal for me. That's all I wanted from Vegas. I wanted real reading material from my future hometown, and I'm getting it. I think that makes up for possibly not having The Wall Street Journal Weekend this weekend a million times over. Like I've said before, I only skim through the L.A. Weekly and The Signal because there's nothing that interests me, and the writing in The Signal is reliably atrocious. To read the Las Vegas Weekly cover to cover and read nearly everything in the Review-Journal (I skip the AP articles)? I'll take it!
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