Regular Season

We had a busy weekend at our house again, but James and I always try to work on our "to-do" lists together, to not only spend time with each other but to make the ho-hum chores more enjoyable. We had two wooden railings that James took down not long ago, and last weekend James cut everything up into manageable pieces. Unfortunately the site where we take our household recycling doesn't accept wood, and it was way too much to toss into our garbage cans. Plus it was treated lumber, and we wanted to dispose of it properly.



We loaded up the SUV and took it all over to the county landfill. The landfill charges by the pound, and as you drive in you have to stop your vehicle on a large scale. Once you unload everything, you weigh again as you leave, and they take the difference and charge you. But, once the guard looked inside at our load, he told us it was too small to worry about, and didn't make us pay. I thought that was nice, because we were prepared to pay the fee so that we could put the lumber in the correct container.



On the way to the landfill, which is out in the middle of the country, we drove by signs saying that the nearby Piggly Wiggly was going out of business. For those of you not from the south- or who never saw Driving Miss Daisy- "The Pig" is a small grocery store chain down here. We've never been to this particular Piggly Wiggly, but we decided to check it out. Everything in the store was on sale (below- yes I really do carry my camera everywhere), reduced from 40%-70% off. We actually didn't need any groceries, because I had just done the weekly shopping the day before, but we grabbed a cart and loaded it up not once, but twice! We bought anything that was in a can, box, or bag (no produce or cold items), as long as the expiration date was in 2010- from soap and shampoo to canned beans and jarred pickles. I can say now that I am super glad James installed those extra shelves in our kitchen pantry, because we're completely loaded down now. We bought 119 items with a total discount of $117. Not too bad!



After an afternoon of college football, we went to Lowe's that night and finally bought all our ceiling fans. We're going to schedule a company to come out and hang them in the next week or so. A very nice young lady named Whitney spent quite a bit of time with us, helping us match up the downrods to the fans. We had tried to do it once before but became frustrated with the process. Turns out that most of the downrods we needed had to be ordered, which is why we could never find them ourselves, and Whitney took care of that for us. We are thinking of calling the manager at the store to let him know how helpful she was. Seems like people only call to complain- wouldn't it be nice to receive a call from a customer that was a compliment instead?? The world needs more of that, I think.



Sunday kicked off the regular season for the NFL, and we were there to see the Falcons and the Dolphins play. Of course I was cheering for the Dolphins, and I wore turquoise and orange in support of my Florida team. Sadly the Fins did not give me much to cheer about, with too many embarrassing and costly turnovers, and one measly score that came very late in the 4th quarter. I was extremely disappointed.





James of course was there in support of Atlanta, wearing his red and black. Next weekend will be a dilemma, as the Falcons play the Carolina Panthers, from our "old" hometown, and the two teams are hated division rivals as well. I don't have to decide next Sunday because James' best friend Ron is coming in from Charlotte for the weekend, and Ron will be going to the game in my place.



After the game we decided to not rush out with the rest of the crowd. We stayed in our seats watching the Falcons drumline practice on the field, as well as a little league team warming up for a game. We then walked back over to the CNN Center to spend some time winding down, letting the crowds die down.



Lucky for us, there are two penny machines at the CNN Center (below), and we were able to add eight more elongated pennies to our collection. We found a Starbucks kiosk and got coffee and snacks, enjoying the lively atmosphere of the gigantic, bright lobby there (and of course many TV's all tuned to Ted Turner channels). A lot of the football fans were still wandering around there, and we saw several tour groups taking advantage of the special behind the scenes studio tour offered at CNN (we haven't done it yet but it's on our list for one weekend).



By the time we made it over to the train, as you can see, most of the crowds were gone. It was worth the wait, and we had a nice time together. We ate lunch at the CNN Center before the game, but we have decided next time we'll try and eat after the game, to allow more time to pass. There are plenty of restaurants to pick from, but so far we've only ever eaten at the Mexican restaurant (everything else is fast food in the food court). Lots of shops in the CNN Center, too, but so far I haven't checked any of them out, although I was eyeing the Waldenbooks yesterday. Maybe next time.