Dispatches from the grocery store, and more

Heater update: still no actual heat from the heater, but Rob went over to the office and they gave us a space heater. So that helps, but also our apartment is apparently really well-insulated and it's really not that crazily cold in here, anyway. Our bedroom is the only place that gets relatively cold, I think because there are French doors that go to the balcony and they're not as leak-proof as they could be. But even in there we have quilts and comforters and, y'know, thermal shirts and stuff, and I usually sleep like a baby when it's cold. (It got above freezing in the afternoon, but by the time we went to the store it was back down to 23 degrees, which barring the ice-storm last year - during which we had temps in the actual teens - is about the coldest it ever gets around here!) (I checked, the ice-storm was last year, still - for the next week, since it was in February 2021. So really closer to two years ago.)

I have sort of a pre-Christmas gift of my own, which is a tiny one-cup Keurig machine, and I really love it. It was half-price from Amazon on Black Friday (or sometime during that weekend, I get mixed up when it comes to that long week chock-full of sales!) so we decided it could be part of my Christmas gift. Since we don't have children and such to worry about, we just partly pick our own presents anyway. We haven't had a coffee maker at home in some years - Rob likes instant, and I normally just go to S-bucks all the time. But I figure if having the Keurig cuts down on the Starbucks bill even a little it'll totally be worth it. So I've been sort of collecting various kinds of coffee, gradually, since it came. I just finally remembered that I should get some decaf, so I can drink it late at night. If you live where there's HEB stores, you probably know about their house brand (Cafe Ole!) already, but so far everything I've gotten has been excellent. I had some kind of holiday blend that I've been steadily using up ("Christmas In a Cup," which according to that link is now sold out in K-cup form anyway).

I'm thinking about the coffee because we just got back from an HEB run. It was fairly crowded, but not too terrible, and we weren't in a rush and it's kind of cheery and funny to people-watch and see what people are buying last-minute. (We had to stand and wait behind an older man who clearly didn't know what he was supposed to be buying in the whipped cream case! I've been known to intervene if I actually think I can be helpful, but I had no idea what he was looking for so we just kind of looked the other way and pretended to be very interested in the ice cream on the other side of the aisle 'til he was finished.)

We (meaning me & Rob & my sister & B-I-L) are going to see The Fabelmans tomorrow, and then we're going to their house Christmas Day. My sister is determined that we should all have holiday cheer, etc. We are doing "little token gifts" between the four of us only. I got some Beauty Pie stuff for her and we always get chocolate for Ed, plus Rob got a Duck Dynasty mug from somebody, which we are passing along as a sort of joke/white elephant gift! (We don't want to hurt the feelings of the original giver - but I don't think they will know to look here!)