Tag: love

FB was kind enough to remind me that it was 9 years ago that my old oven died on Thanksgiving day. That was fun.

Oh, yeah, on our very first Thanksgiving together we were evicted. No joke. We sat down to eat our little turkey and they shoved an eviction notice under the door.

Good times.

Today, as hubby was….going to work!!!!…more on that later….he asked me which car I wanted today and I said I’d take The Beast. He reminded me it had been a while since the Old Black Beast had been started, it was cold, it might not want to start, I might have to put it on the charger.

Ok. No problem. I can do that.

I gathered my bags and headed out the door at 8am. I got in the Black Beast, turned the key and…..click click click.

Damn!

Ok, no problem. I’ll just put it on the charger and wait a bit.

Yeah. Right.

Did you know, if you don’t do something for a while you may forget how to do it?

Things like; where the hell is the thing to open the hood!?

Yeah.

I looked and looked and looked, I know it’s IN the car. Ok? I KNOW that. I couldn’t find it. I went TO the HOOD to try to get my hand under it and feel for a latch. Yeah…no. There is NO space there for that. Zero.

I kicked the tire, berated myself, looked again, couldn’t find it. With head hung low came back inside after admitting defeat.

I resigned myself to going out after hubby gets home…from work! In the meantime, I was upset. Very disappointed in myself. BUT it’s Thanksgiving and today is baking day, which is why I wanted to go to the store.

I whipped up the Darling Family Pumpkin Cake. I will put Marie Callendar’s pumpkin pie in the oven in just a minute. (She’s such a nice lady to make me a pie.) I really really wanted to make fudge this year. Yes, the Darling Family Fudge…which comes off the Fluff jar or the Kraft Marshmallow jar, whichever you prefer. Someone posted the old recipe to FB and I got nostalgic. I admit it. My mom made it every Thanksgiving/Christmas along with stuffed dates, which I love, we would sit there together splitting them, pitting them, stuffing them with walnuts, ‘sealing’ them back up, and rolling them in sugar until they were all frosty. I want to do those too this year. My Oldest and I are probably the only ones who will eat them but, it seems, the older I get, the more I want to have a truly Old Fashioned Christmas.

Well, that’s not exactly true. I should say; The more I want my grandchildren to experience a truly Old Fashioned Christmas….before I die.

Yeah, that’s 100% accurate.

Anyway, I got the cake in the oven and kept kicking myself for not being able to find the latch to open the hood so I could put the charger on the battery. AND…YES! I’m certain I can still get that right, how hard is it? Black to black. Red to red. Turn the fucking thing on and wait.

But you can’t do that if you can’t find the latch.

I went to sit down and feel bad. I debated calling my Youngest for assistance but 1- I didn’t feel like a dependent old lady asking her daughter for help…that is so true! and 2-I didn’t want to drag her and the baby out on this yucky rainy gray day.

That idea was immediately nixed.

Then the two biggest voices of ever present Cast and Crew who live rent free in my head 24/7/365, started talking…to each other. I hate that. It’s like I’m not even there.

You know, darling, your daughter loves this…what is it?

Instacart, dear.

Oh, yes, Instacart. Why don’t you try it?

I thought; Fuck it, why not? Stop and Shop delivers!

So, I opened my Stop & Shop app. I clicked ‘delivery’ and ‘went shopping’. I don’t need much, just a few items. I went to finish my order and the app told me I have to spend another twentysomething dollars to reach $60 to get delivery.

I don’t want to overspend!

I don’t need twentysomething dollars more.

Does GrubHub deliver?

No, darling, not groceries.

Oh, what about that DoorDash thing?

Yes, I believe it does.

Ok, I have that, let’s try.

Open DoorDash, do the whole order again, marvel at the price differences! WTF? Yes, I hooked up my S&S ‘loyalty card’ for the points. Still…geez. When I got to the end it was rather expensive.

Ready to at least look at Instacart, sweetheart?

(Grunt.) Ok. Fine. Let’s do this.

Download Instacart, go through the whole frickin’ thing again! Once more, I marveled at the price differences on each item. One more time; WTF?

Got to the end and compared all bottom line on all three. Well, all three apps were open and at the same place by that time.

Last time…probably…

WTF?

S&S would have been the least expensive if there wasn’t a $60 minimum.
DoorDash was quite pricey! $52.41 including a $5.00 tip for the driver.
Instacart came in at $40.24 including a 15% tip for the driver.

Maybe that’s because it was my very first order with them but I didn’t see any special like that. BUT they did NOT charge me $7.99 delivery fee. Which, if they had would have still been cheaper than DoorDash.

I placed my order. I announced my accomplishment on FB. I sat down at my computer.

My phone RANG. I mean it was actually ringing. Weird. I looked down to see my youngest was CALLING and nearly had a heart attack. I expected to hear bad news. She was calling about my Instacart order. She’d read on FB already. In fact, she posted a reply for me asking me why I hadn’t asked her for help. And then…and THEN…she began reading me my order.

No shit.

I nearly FREAKED out!

What?

Turns out she has the Instacart Shopper App and as she sometimes, unbeknownst to me, does Instacart deliveries for a few extra bucks.

My heart stopped racing.

It’s a funny ol’ world and I find I don’t like a lot of it so stuff like that can really just set me off.

She wanted me to cancel my order and she would pick it up as soon as her car was available to her in a few minutes. I love my daughter but I don’t want to cancel the order because I’m old(er) and it will make me feel bad. BUT, next time, I will call her BEFORE placing the order so she can snag it. That’s fair, right?

Then she starts asking if I did something for replacement items or returns and this and that.

In short, a bunch of a stuff I didn’t know about because I really just wanted to, cheaply, get some items to make some fudge for tomorrow, Thanksgiving. After my phone conversation, my Oldest started asking me the same. I must go back to the app and check this out.

Anyway, it didn’t take very long. Maybe 45 minutes or so, whereas S&S in at least two hours down the road for the delivery. I’m old(er) I don’t like it when delivery people just plop the stuff on the step, take a picture, and leave. I especially hate it on cold rainy snowy days…with hot food.

From my (newly cleaned/cleansed and totally straightened out) office I saw a car park across the street. I thought it was them. I didn’t see anyone get out. but they must have because I got a text saying my order had been delivered. Along with the ever-lovin’ picture.

Ok, ok, ok. It’s 2025. We must put up with some things especially in the post COVID World.

(Grunts.) Fine. Everything’s cool.

I picked up my stuff and brought it inside.

My minor crisis has been averted. My Darling Family Pumpkin Cake is done and out of the oven. Marie’s pie is in. After I hit ‘post’ on this thing I will make Darling Family Fudge for the first time for my grandchildren.

Don’t let those Senior Moments get you down. Adapt. Overcome.

Yes! I know. Hubby will come home, open the car door, reach inside, pull something I couldn’t see for the life of me, laugh and call me a Crazy Old Bat. I will laugh at myself as I remember where the damn latch is.

Getting old(er) ain’t for the faint of heart.

It’s an adventure unto itself.