P-Day Shopping- Saturday, June 26, 2010

I woke up with a jolt today. We didn't set the alarm and Rich slipped out of bed at 7:00 leaving me to catch a few more winks. Then about ten minutes later he came in abuptly waking me up telling me that the Argyles just emailed us inviting us to breakfast at 8:00. No way!!! There is no way in the world that I could be ready in a half hour to leave the house. He said, shall I email back and tell them we could be there by 8:30? That sounded better, but still impossible. But when he returned to the computer and read it again (it was in Spanish) it said 8:00 on Monday morning not today. Whew!!

The circumstances around this invitation developed yesterday as the President was leaving the office. He mentioned that his kids said they should have breakfast with the office staff one more time before leaving. He said he would talk to Sister Argyle and see if that was on the agenda for this morning, as usually when we do breakfast it is on a Saturday morning. Well, last night we heard nothing so, of course, didn't plan on it. No problem -- I thought that was quite an undertaking given that they were busy tieing up all loose ends before next week anyway. Then, to have an email come early this morning saying it was on for 8:00 was really a surprise. They don't work like that.

After realizing the error and experiencing welcomed relief, Rich said I could go back to bed. Yeah, right!!! The adrenalin was pumping now and I was wide awake. So I jumped in the shower to get ready for the day.

Notice came earlier in the week that the fumigaciones people were coming by to spray for bugs and we missed them last month. We really don't have any little critters running around, but we like the protection, and I like to prepare for them. So we went through the apartment vacuuming the floors and mopping them. Then, when they sprayed, the chemicals could dry and I wouldn't be mopping them away if I cleaned after they left. We also moved things away from the walls so his spraying would be easier. He came right at 10:00 and we had our door ajar so he would know we were home and waiting. Last month he came and went and missed us, probably because our door buzzer has never worked.

We didn't have a lot on our agenda this P-day, partly because the weather was questionable and cold, and partly because this is Stake Conference weekend and tonight is the adult meeting at 6:30. We did have a few errands to run so we finished putting the house back in order and dressed in our casual clothes with our walking shoes on and took off up Constitución.

The first stop was at our favorite empanada place, and when the little lady asks how many and which ones, Rich tells her "four of our favorite," and she knows which ones they are. We love the cheese and tomato ones. Then we added two pollo (chicken) and two carne (meat). They keep well in the fridge and we enjoy heating them up in the microwave at the office for some lunches during the week.

Next, we hit the Kodak store to have a couple pictures printed off that people have requested. They really enjoy getting a picture of themselves and we enjoy supplying them. We can deliver them at conference tomorrow.

This morning my main curling iron would not turn on. I use two -- a bigger barrel and a smaller one. It just stopped working!! I bought it last year after I lost the two I had in the robbery. So that purchase was of utmost importance today but we didn't know where to find one other than at an appliance store. Yes, they sell them along side fridges, stoves, washing machines, heaters and air conditioners. The only such store near where we were going did not have any, but there were plenty of hair straightener models. Now what??

We decided to walk over to the small Carrefour to see if a grocery store would carry them. No luck!! But we knew we could find one at the huge Carrefour down by the freeway or at WalMart. On the way back home we stopped at a produce market to buy some oranges and some celery for the clam chowder I want to make -- maybe tomorrow.

I really wanted to take a nap, but had to concentrate on what to do about the curling iron. So we decided to take a remise out to the big Carrefour, and while there we would pick up some things we need. Then possibly we could take a bus home, or if we buy too much to carry, we can get another remise. Good idea!!

We found a curling iron, bought some groceries, ate at the McDonald's there, and noticed that the weather was deteriorating fast. We tried walking out carrying our bags thinking we could catch the bus, or even walk a ways and find a remise company close by. But the wind was cold and our desire to be home faster made us turn around and go back inside to wait while we called Arenales for a remise to come and get us. We didn't want to search for one on the street. To our surprise, as we went back inside, we noticed that Carrefour has a remise service. Great! We paid 12 pesos to them and one of their cars took us home.

Rich immediately turned on the World Cup soccer game between the USA and Ghana and watched the second half. Too bad we lost in overtime 2 to 1. Now the US is out of the competition. We still have Argentina to root for, however.

We left for the Saturday night session of conference in a rain storm. It was coming down pretty good so we hustled along quickly. The choir that will sing tomorrow sang a song tonight too. They sounded good. There were five speakers and the theme seemed to be on families and the role of parents in teaching the gospel in the home. If it doesn't come from the home and if parents don't start early when the children are young, the consequences could be great. We saw a lot of friends from the Tigre branch, and Virreyes was represented well too.

Rich did a great job of translating for me, but I tried to stay focused on each speaker and I could understand some of what was being said. President Argyle spoke tonight and I think both of them speak tomorrow too. We'll look forward to that!