The Dregs

Lyssa and I went out and wandered through some Goodwill stores today.

We'd planned to go yesterday, but I got smacked with a gigantic migraine.
First one I've had in six weeks!

Except for about three hours (15 minutes here, 20 there) I slept ALL DAY.
And all night, too.

Did all that sleeping work?
Sort of.

I still ended up having to take some migraine medicine, something I've tried to avoid since the whole exploding BP game.

Sumatriptan does tend to raise BP, but I just checked mine a little bit ago and it was 112/79.
 
I'll take it.


I've also had more than one Excedrin.
Ibuprofen may have made an appearance in the drug cocktail, too.
Oh, and I took a Vicodin.

I did not take all of those things at once.

No word on which thing actually worked, but I can report that I saw an aura with this one. And that I dug out a barf bag (unused) from the last hospital visit 'cause I thought for sure I was going to need it.

I ended up not using it in case you're curious.

So our expedition was postponed a day.

Lately I've been looking for a few very specific things when I go, along with the usual browsing.

I hit the movie section first. I have a smallish collection of movies that I've been known to watch more than once. If I see one I loved in the past, I usually grab it to add to the rotation. We were at the Goodwill Outlet ('the bins') last week and I found the first season of True Blood on DVD. I've had it recommended to me by more than one friend, so I grabbed it.

I found that I enjoyed it, so now I'm on the hunt for other seasons. While I'm waiting, one of my friends told me the books were better (aren't they always?) so I asked my librarian (aka Tami) if she had them.

She had quite a few of them, we picked up the bag when we delivered some brownies to them last week.
Turns out she didn't have the first four.
Dammit.

So I did what I usually do.
I turned to Goodwill.
For about 20 bucks I got five books so I could read all of them in order.

I had to order them from Goodwillbooks.com, but it only took a couple days for them to get here.

I'm on #2 right now, but I didn't read yesterday for most of the day.
It made my head hurt more.

After the movie section, I look at the toy aisle, the crafty stuff aisle (paper goods, beads and stamps and little bits of this and that) to bring home.

Although I've been leaving toys on the shelves due to the no job for the foreseeable future thing. :::sigh:::

I look at cookware.
Trying to find a specific mixing bowl and Eric has this weird obsession with cast iron lately, too so I see if there's anything I think he'd like.

I check out the furniture, cruise through towels and sheets, glance at men's shirts (Eric) and women's clothing although I don't really need any of that, and I'm out the door.

I noticed some interesting things today, though.
We went to three Goodwill stores.

At all three they had many of the same movies, in the same positions on the shelves.

Two copies of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban were on the shelf with one copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. At all three stores! There were two copies of The Patriot and a copy of Master and Commander (which I found to be one of the more stupid movies EVER) next to Ocean's Eleven. Also at all three stores.

Multiple copies of The Pursuit of Happyness scattered throughout the movie section, a movie we watched once while we were visiting the time share at the beach. That movie pissed me off when I saw it and I'm still pissed off now when I remember the basic premise, which is 'selfish asshole works as an unpaid intern, loses wife, home. Takes kid and sleeps in public restrooms and shelters and is rewarded with multi-millions for being a negligent husband and father.'

Something we can all aspire to, I guess.

I found a package of plastic page protectors at every stop today, too.

Every store had multiple owls. One of them was a good three feet long, a metal sculpture that is meant to hang on a wall. Lyssa said she could just see the lacerations she'd get after hanging that thing up. Owl sculptures, stuffed animal owls, pictures of owls. A really swell owl made from pine cone pieces and some acorns.

Hey, I didn't say they were all works of art.

I saw the same blue-with-silver-stamped-on-seahorses shirt in two of the three stores, but one was XL and one XXL.

I came home with a drawer organizer for some of my art supplies (Ikea) and a flannel shirt. Yeah, winter's coming faster than you'd think. Oh, and I picked up a dvd copy of the Lion King. The cashier asked me if I checked it, as movies are not returnable. I confidently told her I had checked and that I've been really lucky with movies, only had one in ten years that wasn't okay.

Today we made that TWO in ten years.
That damn movie didn't work.
:::sigh:::

Goodwill is interesting to me. Each time I visit, I see at least three things that I'd definitely have donated, too. Ugly sweaters or stupid pointy-toed bitch shoes, various home decor, glassware. Once in awhile I find something that surprises me.

"Huh. I would never have donated that if I had one."
Not that I buy whatever it is. Or not usually.

The clothing is getting more difficult for me. I have to wear cotton. It's not just a preference, I get a fine little rash from things that contain more than 10% polyester.

So many manufacturers are adding a large percentage of poly or rayon or some other ugly/sweaty/itchy stuff to the fabric. I can't figure out how anyone could sleep in something made of polyester. Or sleep on poly sheets, either. UGHHHHH.

So many of the shirts I might have been interested in if they were cotton just stay hanging there, lonely. They'll show up at the bins, and probably sooner rather than later.

So tomorrow is Friday. Eric works 4 day work weeks most weeks, with Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. We're going to get up and go to some of the outlet stores, starting in SW Washington. We will wear gloves and masks and I'll still feel dirty until I get back home and wash/scrub/wash some more.

But maybe I'll find more movies.

IF the headache isn't back.
Right now I can feel the pressure lazily revolving behind my right eye.

And what exciting things are you up to?