Ah yes, it does feel good to be done with my classes for a month. Yesterday, we had two things to celebrate – the semester ending and mom’s birthday. So I headed next door midmorning so that we could head up to Piqua for shopping & a nice lunch.

Elder-Beerman was having doorbuster sales until 1pm, so that was our first destination. Although I didn’t get anything, the folks had some successful purchases. By the time we were done, we were all suitably hungry. Mom chose Red Slobster for lunch. Tasty tasty! We got their coconut fried shrimp appetizer and drinks (amaretto sour for me). Then when we ordered our main courses, we all picked shrimp again. Heh. I got their shrimp linguine. We’d decided while there to stop at Kroger on the way home for cake & ice cream (and other essentials).

We returned to the mall where Beerman is and did some more shopping. (I again managed to not spend anything. Go me!) Then we headed to Jo-Ann Fabric & Crafts for craft supplies. Alas, they had no glass bottles like I need for my Xmas gips this year, but they had some cookie decorating stuff that I wanted (and was on sale). So I picked that up and some itty bitty plastic bags (also for the Xmas gips). At Kroger, I bought the cake & ice cream for mom. Then we headed to KMart for the last few items on dad’s list. By this time we were all ready to be done. Thankfully, we were. Heh.

Once we were settled back home, it was time for mom to open presents. She got a GPS unit from herself and dad. (Wasn’t she thoughtful?) It’s a Garmin Nuvi 350. It’s really cute! She got some ’round the neck headphones by Jensen, a power plug for iPods, and a regifted iPod Nano 2nd generation (Product Red) from me. I thought it would match her Product Red iPod Shuffle that she got for Mother’s Day. 🙂 (Well, when the new iPod Nano came out with PURPLE, I had to upgrade…) I then worked a bit on her PC getting some playlists onto her iTunes (grrrr, I do hate iTunes) while dad got the cake & ice cream ready. It was very tasty.

When I got home, I resubscribed to World of Warcraft and revisited my little toons. Although I prefer City of Heroes, it is also fun to play WoW. (I’ll resub to CoH Tuesday or so which will let that subscription go until classes begin.)

Today’s Grand Adventure spawned in part because of yesterday’s failed trip to Jo-Ann’s. When I asked a store person about glass bottles, she admitted they didn’t have any, but (in a quieter voice, looking around to make sure no one was watching) she suggested that I try Crafts2000 in Springfield. When talking with my Aunt Becky last night, she recommended Crafts2000 too. So I put Crafts2000 into my plans for the day.

I played WoW until 11am, then called Crafts2000 (since they were open finally) to see if they did have glass bottles – colorless with stoppers or screw caps. The lady there was pretty sure & directed me to someone on the floor who concurred. 4 aisles of glassware, they said. So after I got my hair cut, I headed off to Springfield.

Wow – they weren’t kidding. They had just what I was looking for and then some. Square bottles, oval bottles, round bottles – and all $1 each! 12″ tall, nice & thin. Even a funny looking one (which I’m not sure will work with my plans, but we’ll see.) I will eventually show off what I’m doing with these bottles, but as there are recipients of them who read this list, I shall refrain for now.

There really isn’t a lot of nice eating places in that end of Springfield, so I headed to the Upper Valley Mall (which I’d not been to in years) and wound up eating at the Chinese place there. Mmmm, Mall Chinese Food – in a class by itself. General Tso’s (should have gotten the bourbon chicken) and orange chicken and lo mein. Plus some crab rangoon (the nicely sweet type – yummy). I was able to finish reading Jane Eyre (which I have on my phone) while there.

After finishing my perusal of the mall (they STILL have 2 bookstores there – yay! B.Dalton & Walden), I returned to the parking lot, set my phone to direct me to the Piqua Mall (AKA Miami Valley Center Mall), and headed off to see a movie.

The Cinemark Theater at the Piqua Mall has moved out of the mall proper and, on Friday, opened in their new location just outside of the mall. I decided to watch Delgo cuz I figured it’s not something likely to be crowded (it wasn’t) and that ought to be seen on the big screen (and can likely be missed as a DVD purchase). I enjoyed it – lots of fun eye candy – despite the pedestrian plot. If you do go see it, stay til after the credits. Heck, simply reading the credits was a hoot.

I returned home after the movie, invited myself next door for more cake & ice cream, and am now back home & typing this up. Tomorrow starts the last week of school for 2008. Should be a nice week. Maybe I’ll get the house decorated this week. 🙂