Cedars, Shopping, Royals

It made Fio feel warm and fuzzy when she saw that even more cedars along DB Woods Road had been hung with colorful Christmas decorations. Dressing trees is a sweet thing for people to do--and to make it even sweeter, she's noticed that the decorations are gone by New Year.
*
Fiorella visited a dollar store yesterday and filled up on felt stockings, Russell Stover chocolate bars, and some silver-sheathed pipe wire things that she's hoping can hold her tinsel ropes to the trees along the driveway. Today, she'll visit with friends in Austin, pick up earrings from the jeweler that she'll be giving to her senior daughter-in-law for Christmas, and stop by Walmart to restock el estantes de la despensa con Shredded Wheat (the shelves of her pantry with Shredded Wheat), which Target is out of and H-E-B doesn't carry anymore.
*
A special Christmas gift to Fio is the news that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are engaged. Fiorella likes happy endings, which she hopes they will have.  

Ceremonies

Sonia Dog's head peeks over that back of the couch as soon as Fiorella finishes her Shredded Wheat. She knows what's coming, that Mommy will place the bowl on the floor, call her to "come," then tell her to "stop," then invite her to lick up the milk remaining in the breakfast bowl, which doggie does with relish. Next, Mommy approaches her with a paper towl in one hand to wipe up the splashes on the floor and two Milkbones in the other hand as Baby's reward for being a good dog and drinking her milk.

Sonia likes ceremonies. Patterned activities reassure us all. We like to know what is going on, what our role is, and what the outcome will be--that if we plug in the computer, it will open up, that if we are nice to people, theywill be nice to us. But there are always exceptions, deviations from our expectancies that we have to handle on our own. And we can. Fight the good fight.

Fiorella Rides Again

Fiorella may have had a discouraging time--make that a devastating time--on Tuesday, what with her entire book getting deleted, but on Wednesday, her Austin day, she, friend Paula, Brother, and his wife had a great time laughing and exchanging stories at Dan's Hamburgers. On the way home, Fio bought Easter candy, which is always uplifting, and stopped in at Click Computer Repair, hoping against hope, and Click came through. Travis not only resurrected Phillipa, but taught Fio about something called a recycling bin. Then, high as a kite, Fiorella stopped at Target and was able to buy five boxes of shredded wheat, which hadn't been on the shelves the day before when Husband and a friendly store employee had searched for it. And when she got home, Fio added a cartful of rocks to the driveay murita and took some nice bluebonnet pictures, which she can't show you until Minnesota Son, who's visiting next week, teaches her how to post pics on her blog without messing up.

 So today's a new beginning, and Fio has a light day planned. Primarily, she will work on Phillipa's story, then call the church to find out when she and Austin son should be getting their art in. On the side will be laying down rocks, sorting family photos, paying bills, practicing piano, and, of course, studying Spanish.

By the way, Fio needs more opportunities to practice her Spanish. Does anyone out there know of an instructional DVD or a small local class?

Breakfast

I like to eat
Shredded Wheat--
Soggy or dry
I testify
It's a treat
That can't be beat

I am replete

Food and Fio

Food itself is not interesting to Fiorella.  She likes certain foods more than others and will eat far too much of them at one sitting if she has the opportunity. Day to day, she eats the same thing for her late breakfast--shredded wheat--then skips lunch, then is at a loss for supper.  Going out is nice, but it costs money. Husband's specialties are tasty, but then there's the clean-up. Take-out is a cornucopia of calories.  That leaves ice cream and popcorn, which Fiorella restricts to once a week each.

Might as well starve.

Daily Report

Husband really does love Fiorella.  He gave her several days worth of the old-style crossword puzzles he found when he was cleaning out a drawer, he stopped by Target on the way home and bought her seven boxes of Shredded Wheat, and he spent more than an hour battling his way through a strangely recalcitrant Amazon to get Fio the romance novel she wanted to read to put her mind on the right track for writing revisions.
*
Sonia Dog will be a full-fledged adult mastiff on April 21 when she turns two-and-a-half-years old, and you can tell already that she's leaving her teenage years behind. But let a deer cross her path . . . .
*
Husband is taking a day off so maybe he and Fio can clear out more of the garage.  Lots of interesting things are showing up, but they still haven't gotten to the boxes that haven't seen the light of day since they moved in nine years ago.
*
Fio feels good this morning and hopes you do too.

Post It

Come breakfast time I always eat
A bowl of spoon-size shredded wheat
And sometimes when I'm up at night
And need a snack, I'll take a bite--
Early or late, it's hard to beat
My wholesome, tasty, crunchy treat.

The Great Shredded Wheat Quest

You already know that  when HEB stopped carrying Fio's favorite breakfast cereal, Post's Original Spoon-size Shredded Wheat, Fiorella started making regular visits to Target to stock up on her early-morning crack, and she would buy at least four boxes at a time to be sure she didn't run out. (Thus are hoarders born, but that's another story.)  However, when Fio got down to her last box two days ago and Husband tried to replenish the pantry, the shelf at Target was bare.

Panic set in.  If neither HEB nor Target carried Fio's cereal, did that mean Post had stopped making it?  Would Fiorella have to switch off to Cheerios?  Thus when she drove into Austin the next day to meet Friend Joan, her secondary goal was to scout out a  supermarket that might still have a couple of orphan boxes of said Shredded Wheat on its shelves. But HEB drove driven out Albertson's and Randall's years ago so what was left?

WALMART! 

With breath bated, Fio entered WalMart's door, found the breakfast cereal aisle, and walked slowly down it, searching for the familiar bright red boxes.  No luck, no luck, no luck. . . .Was her quest to be in vain?  Would she be deprived of Spoon-size Shredded Wheat forevermore? But no!  Here the boxes were, at the end of the aisle!  Up high, of course, where they always are, but Fio is skilled at establishing a toehold on the bottom shelf and stretching her fingers to tip the boxes off the top shelf onto the floor.  She snagged five whole boxes,and would have grabbed the remaining two if God had just given her longer arms or two more inches in height.

Glowing with triumph, Fio drove home.  Yes, once again, the efforts of Fiorella Plum had saved the universe.  She lugged her paper bag (which cost 10c because the WalMart was in Austin) into the house, dumped the boxes on the kitchen island, and arranged them with military precision so the household males could gaze at her with respect and awe,  .But Fio had to take off for ARWA as Husband came in and before Son arrived.When she returned at about ten, Husband was in bed, but Son awaited her with a sly smile.

"Count your boxes," he said.

Fio complied and discovered that what had been five was now seven.

Son's smile broadened.  "I stopped by Target and they'd restocked."

What a relief!  Fio gets tired of continually having to save the universe.

Supermarket Scheming

There's a plot afoot and HEB is the culprit.

Two weeks ago, Fio noticed that Post Shredded Wheat wasn't on the shelves at HEB. A temporary stock outage, she thought, and bought a box of Kellogg's, which tasted sort of yucky. One week later, there was still no Post shredded wheat available. However, a new variety, HEB shredded wheat, was on proud display.

Now, Fiorella is addicted to shredded wheat. Not only does she eat it for breakfast, but she frequently snacks on it, even taking a plastic bag of it with her when she flies off to writing conferences, so she decided to give the HEB brand a try. It was okay, better than the Kelloggs, but lacked the tight compression of the Post product. Besides, she didn't like being manipulated. Obviously, HEB wanted to get its own brand started so it first switched customers to a shredded wheat that would taste radically different, then introduced its own brand which tastes more like Post.

Fio's onto ya, Charles Butt. But never mind--she's found a new supplier for her daily fix. Walgreen's carries not just medical supplies, beauty aids, and candy, but also . . . Post Shredded Wheat.