Week 7 - Under the Dome

I started Stephen King's new book, Under the Dome, last Sunday night at bedtime. From that point until this Sunday night, I did nothing but read. If I wasn't at work, in the pool, driving or sleeping, I was reading. From first thing in the morning until I fell asleep at night with the book in front of my pillow, I read. No TV (except the Survivor premiere), no chores, no cooking - nothing! In a week where I worked 40 hours, went to water aerobics 3 times and prepped for the Wine & Dine, I still managed to read 1074 pages. I have not been so enthralled by a book since I first read The Stand in the early 80's. So chalk up this week to me being under the dome.

But that's not to say nothing of note happened. After the pool on Tuesday, I stopped at Belinda's house to pick up some cat food for Husker Cats and then was heading home to watch Lost (I would have given up reading for that.) But while approaching a red light on Cornhusker Highway, I went over the pot hole from hell and popped a tire, bent a rim and lost a hubcap. I pulled into the first available parking lot and called AAA. Good thing I had my book with me because it took them an hour to get there. By the time they had the donut installed and I drove home, it was nearly 9:00. Fast forward to the next morning when I start hunting for a rim. There was one in Des Moines so I paid $123 to get it shipped to Lincoln. On Thursday morning I picked it up and took it to T. O. Haas to get a set of long overdue tires. I was ridiculously excited to drive on the new tires. I really need to get a life! And had I not been driving on really bad tires, my rim probably would have survived the pot hole from hell. I just chalked it up to another instance of my procrastination costing me money. It's the nature of the beast. And can you guess how much it drove me nuts to drive slow on the donut? The manual said the max speed was 50 but I wanted to go 70 so split the difference, set my cruise for 60 and still was the slowest car on the road. GRRRR!

The library's Wine & Dine was Sunday so I spent a chunk of Saturday and Sunday dealing with door prizes, which I volunteer to do every year. I had already scavenged my house for items to put into baskets but also had to deal with repackaging and wrapping prizes that were supposed to be dropped off ready to give but were naked. Sheesh! We had an inch of snow overnight Saturday followed by 45 mph winds on Sunday morning, which lead to white out conditions. I tried to go to Fremont in the morning to buy a laptop but couldn't see the hood of my car and turned around just as they were closing the highway. (Not to let weather stop me from hitting a good sale, I ordered the laptop online so it'll arrive Wednesday.) The same winds kept about a third of the people who'd bought tickets from getting to the Wine & Dine but it went on regardless and was nice. But with only 20 pages left to read, I was watching the clock, impatient for the entertainment (a man who sang love songs, mostly from the 50's, who also did an unfortunate duet with his granddaughter) to be over so I could head home. I was out the door at the first possible chance. I finished the book (loved it!) and went to bed – a nice end to a non-productive but interesting week. Here's hoping this week is less "interesting."