The Sandcastle

December 21st my iPad decided to become private. It stopped showing me what it was doing. I could hear things happening. iTunes would connect and say it was backing up my iPad to my laptop. But my screen was blank.

It looked much like a window with the top half being a slightly different gray tone than the bottom half. And someone keep pulling down a window shade that was a another shade of gray.

So, what did I do? I called Dave, of course.

We tried this. Then we tried that. Then we tried another thing. Until finally we decided we couldn’t fix this ourselves. I would need to make a trip to the local Apple Store.

Since I took my van to Texas I don’t have a car here. The Apple store is less than 10 miles away but that’s a nearly $30 taxi ride each direction. So, I showed some friends here what was happening and word got around that I needed a ride to the Apple Store. Fortunately, a woman, from Minnesota no less, was going that way December 23rd.

So I hitched a ride to the Apple Store. Sort of. If you look at the mall map below you will see an entrance on the upper right between Macy’s and section D.

 

I was dropped off there with instructions to walk to the central court then right on out the other side and a block up a pedestrian only street. Unfortunately my definition of the other side did not match that of the giver of instructions and I did not see this map before I went. So I walked all the way down to JC Penney. Wrong. I was supposed to turn between sections B & C and go out that side. Instead I went out the side of Penney’s and walked through the parking lot to the “Lifestyle” mall on the north side of this mall.

I did eventually find the Apple Store where I traded in my broken iPad and a bunch of money for a new one. But they were out of the SIM card I needed to make the cellular part work. They said there was a Verizon store by the center of the mall I had just walked through. And I remembered seeing it but had no idea where it was. So I found this map. Guess where it was?

Right. All the way back by the entrance I had come in. So I walked all the way back again, taking rest breaks along the way because I was totally exhausted.

But my new iPad works. And it is lighter than the one I had so I won’t get so tired carrying it around. And the taxi picked me up at that door and brought me right to my door here.

Still, I took today off and stayed home. I don’t feel a need to do any exercise classes today.

Merry Christmas.

TTYL,

Linda

ps. My FitBit says I walked almost 2 1/2 miles yesterday. It has been years since I walked that far which I’m taking as a sign of my increased health.

Thursday I got invited to a white elephant gift exchange next Thursday. Do minimalists own white elephants? Am I going to have to go buy one?!!! Guess I don’t get to keep those new earrings I just bought but have not yet worn. Wonder what I will do with what I get in exchange? Ah, the price we pay to participate in community.

One woman was missing the Christmas preparation. She persuaded staff we should get to decorate. So they put up a tree and gave us bins of decorations and we spent Friday evening decorating the lounge area and listening to Christmas music. It feels a lot more like Christmas here now.

Tomorrow afternoon there is a wrapping party where we get to wrap our white elephants then place them under the tree. I plan to sneak peeks to see if I can figure out what is in which package. That will be followed by a sing-a-long around the piano.

The gift exchange is scheduled for Christmas night. Should be interesting. Everyone who brings a gift gets to pick a number from a hat. Then number 1 gets to choose a gift from under the tree. Then number 2 gets to choose, etc. When all the gifts are distributed we go around again and you get to swap your gift for someone else’s if you want to do so. Only then do any of the gifts get opened. I think I won’t swap my first choice because I would probably wind up wishing I had it back. Maybe I should pick the package I wrapped so I get to keep my earrings? Nah, the fun is in seeing what you did get.

And there will be a special menu for Christmas dinner. Beef tenderloin with shrimp, parsley potatoes, roasted asparagus, and chocolate pudding. Does that sound like Christmas to you?

TTYL,

Linda

I arrived safely back at Structure House on Sunday after a good flight and I am already losing more weight and getting stronger. I keep surprising myself at what I can do now.

I don’t understand, though, why TSA took my child-sized scissors out of my checked luggage. The paper they inserted said they opened the bag and repacked everything but my scissors are missing. So I can’t cut the scratchy labels out of the necks of the shirts I brought.

I just tell myself that since that’s the worst thing that happened on the trip I should consider myself very lucky indeed. And I am. Very lucky.

TTYL,

Linda

http://www.sportsmobile.com/inventory-details/?inventory_id=325

My heart is still breaking but the van is now offered for sale. See the link above for the listing.

They chose not to use my version of the write up so I will answer questions you might have about the van itself but all sales questions need to go directly to Sportsmobile. Thanks for understanding that.

TTYL,

Linda

Some RVers, especially those who stealth camp in small vehicles, differentiate between day camps and night camps. I very rarely hang around one place during the day that is not the same place where I spent the night. But I recently did that.

I spent a Saturday night at a Cracker Barrel. Sunday morning is a very popular time for locals to eat there so I felt a need to vacate their parking lot. But, I was too close to my destination to want to move on there so early in the day. So, I moved to a Cabela’s parking lot to spend a few hours.

I don’t know if you are all familiar with Cabela’s. It is a huge sporting goods store. With huge parking lots. Most of their customers are, of course, sports people. Some of whom arrive with dogs. So Cabela’s offers dog pens where you can leave your dog outside your vehicle since we all know leaving them locked in a car while shopping is not a good plan in most weather.

Some of them also offer horse corrals. I’d never seen a horse in the corral, though. Until this stop.

Maybe it’s because I am in Texas?

Linda