Slow life

Yesterday the only thing on the calendar was to go to the beach at 6pm.  It started raining at 2 and was forecast to continue raining until 8, so we canceled the beach meet-up.  I love having such a relaxed life.  I love living with not much stress. 

With nothing scheduled we did have pancakes and eggs for breakfast.  Then we set out on an epic errand journey.  We stopped at 10 places ending with the bank drive-in as the storm rolled in.  The kids came to all the stops until L fell asleep and one of the big kids stayed with him for the last few stops.  One thing I was pleased about, we didn't buy anything at every store.  If they didn't have what we came for, we left.  I know that sounds like a rather low bar.  But for me to go into Ace Hardware and not find something I can justify needing, that is a good thing.  We also didn't buy anything at Target!  I know.  We went to Target looking for a specific item and we didn't find it so we left.

Here's the list of stops:
Ace:  didn't have the shop vac filter I needed.
Gas station: had gas.
Auto Zone: I needed a tire gauge and resisted buying one at the gas station but then bought the small digital one.  So I probably didn't save money overall.
Vaccum store: had the filters I needed and the owner is always showing the kids a blacksmith puzzle and has as deaf son so he signs too.
Dollar Store:  bought 16 boxes of the fabric bandaids that stay on and don't leave adhesive all over.
Target: did not find the clip-board box we saw last time but did not buy.
Fruit stand: bought tons of good food.
Library: Movies and graphic novels...  The 3 kids that read use their kindles to borrow books.  B is starting to read and we have tons of early reader books.
Thrift store: I found a real straw hat for me.  I had despaired at ever finding a straw hat rather than a woven paper!  We also got a watch for lP to desperately wanted one.  This thrift store has a nice selection of used watches and they put new batteries in them.  So it's a nice way to pay $5-$8 for a watch that will last longer than the $8 watch at Target.  It started to rain as we ran the donations to the back door.  lP and I held hands and ran back to the car.  It's nice having those small tastes of dramatic escape.
Bank: Thank goodness for the covered drive-through.
 
Now I hope to get things tidied up so Sunday will be more peaceful.  Sometimes I feel frustrated with the general clutter.  I did just donate a big box and bag.   I need to do more to minimize.