When we lived in Texas, sometimes we heard the expression, "I got no dog in this hunt" (or "in this fight"). A person would say this when pressed to give an opinion or get involved in a situation where the outcome was of no impact or importance to them.
Turning it to the positive side, I do have a dog in the hunt for the NCAA basketball championship. Purdue is the only Indiana team to be seeded (number 3) and invited to participate. Last night they beat Tennessee (seeded 2) in overtime 99 to 94. What a great game! The Boilermakers had a big 18-point lead but Tennessee caught up after the half. In the last seconds of the regulation game, Carsen Edwards was fouled and made 2 out of 3 shots to tie the score. He played well (29 points) though missed some free-throws. The story of the night was senior Ryan Cline. He made 7 3-pointers in the game, 3 in 4 minutes of play. He was hot!
Purdue now advances to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2000. They face number-one seed Virginia this weekend though. Lots of great basketball ahead to watch.
We bought new recliners which were delivered Wednesday morning. My husband also built a walnut bench-style coffee table.
We are sitting pretty.
My husband and I subscribe to the Wall Street Journal. A few years ago they invited subscribers to sign up for WSJ+. This was a free new service offering premium perks like special tours or events, sometimes special goods like wine at a discount. Also, the chance to enter once a month to win a free trip to places like Napa Valley, Mexican resort, etc.
This past year I have been getting free ebooks. Once a month, 3 titles are offered, with the subscriber being able to download one free book. This is how I added Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz, the book I read on my cruise, to my ipad. To access the books on a device rather than on my pc, I had to download the Book Shout app. There are a few free books on this app, and many for a fee. It is not a Wall Street Journal product; WSJ just has an agreement with them so they can offer the free books. Anybody can sign up for and use Book Shout. A special sign-in procedure is used to get the free Wall Street Journal book.
Another downloaded book from WSJ+ was The Boys in the Cave by Matt Gutman, a book about the rescue of the Thailand boys. You can see these are fairly recent publications.
As I thought back on my perusal of the WSJ+ offers, I began to wonder if the little mystery bonsai might have been something I saw and on a whim clicked yes as part of this service. The address information would already be in the Wall Street Journal data base. I have a vague recollection that I did say yes to one of the offers other than the books (which only come in an email with link).
The brain cells are not as sharp as they once were. Sometimes a vague partial memory surfaces, but in this case not enough to really know the origin of the bonsai. It might have been a "bonus" for ordering on Amazon or from the various companies from which I ordered Christmas gifts. There was a lot going on in November, December, and January.
Martin's isn't my primary grocery store, but I shop the specials there and redeem some of the coupons they mail to me. I did have the Bloom of the Month program last year thanks to my husband, but I decided not to repeat that.
They advertised some bunches of daffodils this week.
I also had some coupons about to expire. I picked up some Halo Clementines on sale. I didn't have a coupon for those though. As I was strolling the center of the store, a lady stopped me. She had some coupons about to expire, also. She noticed my Clementines and asked if I would like her $1 off coupon. I accepted it and thanked her.
While unloading my cart in the parking lot, a different lady came up to me and asked if she could put my cart in the cart corral 6 cars away. Two kindnesses extended unasked for.
This afternoon when my husband brought the mail into the house, there was a priority package addressed to me. There was no sender address other than the company that sent it. Inside was a bonsai!
I certainly didn't order this. I checked my credit card online to see if somebody was conning me. Everything looked OK. Why it was mailed to me is a great puzzlement. My succulents are not doing well; I will probably end up killing the bonsai, too.
This weekend is the change to Daylight Savings. I hate this change. I am not a morning person, and in the past few weeks the sun was rising so I naturally woke up at a good time. Now it will be dark. Bad enough to have this change, but why do they insist on making it so early in the month? It is way too cold here for people to spend time after school or work outside. I guess I better focus on my cheery daffodils and just put up with the time change.
Except for the display on the cabin telephone, you don't see clocks on cruise ships. Yet, it is important to be on time for excursions and traditional dining seating and shows and activities.
I suppose most people use their cell phones. My husband mostly did that, though he did have a wristwatch for some shore excursions. I took a cheap metal wristwatch I had bought at Meijer for $15 when I lost a watch about 3 years ago. The back of the watch had corroded some, but the biggest issue was that the clasp no longer always stayed fastened, and the watch at times fell off of my arm.
While we were on the bus returning from Veragua Rain Forest in Costa Rica, I heard something slide down the space between my seat and the window. At first, I was puzzled, but then I realized my watch had come off my left arm. When all of the other tourists had exited, my husband helped me look under the seat by sitting in the seat behind me. No watch. I said something to the tour guide, and the bus driver blindly reached around the seat frame. Voila! My watch returned to me. Alas, all of the effort was for naught. The watch no longer was running. I don't think the fall broke it; I think the battery had died. I didn't have the heart to tell the smiling rescuing bus driver and guide.
The next day was a sea day, no port to visit. On sea days, the Island Princess had shopping bazaars in the Provence dining room for several hours in the morning. These consisted of "junk" purchased especially for shopping entertainment on these days when the passengers needed to fill time. I had visited an earlier shopping event on a sea day but didn't buy anything. On this day, while I was doing the laundry, my husband browsed. He came away with the same opinion I had (mostly junk slightly discounted), but he saw they were selling watches for $10. I had thought about asking the expensive watch boutique on the ship if they replaced batteries, but buying an el cheapo was a better option since the clasp would still be problematic on my watch I had brought from home.
I ended up with this bangle/bracelet style watch. No clasp to worry about and it had a nice big easily-read face. This became my cruise watch. God graciously provided for me in my need.
I did have other watch options waiting at home. I have a dressy Caravelle by Bulova gold watch with rhinestone decorations. This isn't something I wear every day though, just for special occasions.
Over 15 years ago, I mentioned to my husband a watch with multiple bands and bezels I had seen in the store. He bought it for my wedding anniversary present. This Anne Klein watch "set" I do wear sometimes. The metal "straps" had corroded much like the watch I took on the cruise, but the leather straps were useable, though they were getting stiff with age. In some ways, a leather or vinyl or cloth band with punched holes is better for me. A metal band, even the stretchy kind, is always too big for me. I have to wear the watch quite high on my forearm.
I had done some looking at watches before the trip because I knew I couldn't keep wearing a watch that fell off. I didn't want to spend big bucks because of the "corrosion problem" I have experienced. I decided to take my chances with my Meijer watch and wait until Valentine's sales to buy a watch most likely at Kohl's.
With my "cruise watch" filling the need, I was able to take my time looking around. Kohl's had a sale on Armitron watches this past week. I bought one on Saturday. It is similar in size and coloration to the non-working watch, though more of a gold and silver combination. It cost about $50. The saleslady took out the "extra" link and commented on my small wrist. Yes, this watch has to be worn shoved up my forearm a bit.
So now I have many wristwatch options. I am satisfied with how things worked out.
