28...

...degrees, at nearly noon today. I have on several layers, and will put on several more before going out the door.  Though I am cheerfully unemployed today, I have agreed to make a trip to Sam's Club to buy some necessities for church maintenance. I'm not sure how I got myself into this position, other than by default.

At least for a couple of years now, I've been bringing home kitchen towels and washing, applying an occasional major dose of bleach, to let them 'mull' in the washer overnight. Drying, folding returning, often as many as five dozen. After they have been used to do some really nasty, un-named stuff. Possibly mopping the floor, cleaning out seriously stained coffee makers, burned on food items in the oven. Whatever emergency pops up and needs a nice clean, white, neatly folded towel to remedy.

Then I got asked if, since I seem to have such an agreeable nature combined with so much free time, if I would be the person to purchase supplies that are accessories to Sunday morning coffee consumption. Cups, plastic stirrers, creamers, sugar, cocktail sized napkins. Well, okay, why not?

And then my friend the 'official' Sam's Club shopper got annoyed by ongoing necessity for extra trips as urgent needs would arise. And quit her volunteer job. So they said: since you are going anyway, to get coffee amendments, would you mind picking up.... whatever?  I was going.  Nearly every week for some coffee-drinking accessory. But I did that on Tuesday. And now I am going on a 28 degree day to get cleaning supplies for the guy who did not realize he needed them earlier in the week. The same guy who does all the cleaning, and is the only one who uses this stuff, so would have known a week ago when he last cleaned, what he was running low on.

.. hmmm. I think I am beginning to understand how my friend finally decided she was being taken advantage of...The only bright spot here is that I have learned to keep up with my mileage for all this volunteerism, to take it off on our tax return. That and all the medical/office visit mileage and expenses have really begun to add up, here in our dotage with lots of reasons to visit doctors.