At around 09:05AM and while I was cleaning up in and around the parakeet area, I remembered someone. It was the wife of my maternal uncle, whom we forgot to visit! I told Maw that he is a veteran and we needed to get a nice American flag to place on his grave today.
After eating breakfast, feeding the birds, cooking a dish of ham-hock and mung bears and a second dish of sinigang soup (with two sour-tasting calamias and other meat stuff), Paw and I decided to go shopping ahead while Maw finish up her cooking. Of course, whenever Paw and I are together, we take forever to shop; for we are indecisive and deliberate with our purchases.
We got two small batteries (CR2032) for Maw’s blood glucose meter. Earlier, it kept showing an error for about 4 to 5 time before she realized that it was low on battery. So the selection of this item was very easy. The birthday card takes time, however.
We had to find the right price, the right color and design and most importantly, the meaning behind the words MUST apply to the relationship between the giver and receipient of these sort of gifts. Since CVS/pharmacy (formerly Longs Drugs stores) didn’t sell flowers, we went to Safeway instead.
In my previous blogs, I briefly entered $5 for 8 pieces of fried chicken at Safeway. It was so good we finished it in 1.5 days. It’s better than Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), which tasted blander after they switched to no trans fatty oil and less salty (and cheaper) than Popeyes (Louisiana Kitchen / AFC Enterprises, Inc.)
Anyway, we found a bunch of flowers (white daisies, red carnations and purple stuff) wrapped in the usual red, white and blue colors of stars and strips and decorated with three glitter-covered curly stems. It was worth $8.99 (with a Safe club card) or regular price of $9.99.
But because the cashier had a hard time bringing our card information with three useless phone numbers, she gave us $1.00 discount anyway. I swear I went home, logged online at Safeway.com and submitted a card information change. I’m still waiting for the slow service via email confirmation. Sheesh!
So off we went to the Lima Family Mortuaries (Fremont, CA). There was a sign for a 10:00AM Memorial Day ceremony, which we will probably attend to find out what it’s like. We arrived there after noon-time and placed our flowers at the marker. It’s really pretty against the recycled wrapper, which we conveniently draped over the vase.
We noticed an Asian couple placing their flag into the soil of a nearby marker. I thank the grossly made-up older lady about inquiring at the front office about a flag for a veteran, my late uncle.
With Paw’s strength, he used both hands and rammed the sucker deep into the soil. It is located above the marker somewhere between where the the marker and the grass border each other, which was easier than straight into the solid than normal grass, which wouldn’t give!
I took pictures of the marker with its newly decorated flowers and my parental units. I’m usually not in the photos because neither one has ever offered to take mine in return and partly due to their inability to point, focus and click. It’s too difficult for old timers to be crossed trained in new electronic gadgets, seriously!
We then said our prayers and left to eat Nacho Cheese with ground beef and Chili Fries (for Maw and I, respectively) and regular fries with a ‘100% Black Angus Beef Six Dollar Burger™’ for Paw. We sat quietly as usual, munching our food, enjoying each others’ company and burping silently until we began to feel sleepy from sitting down too long at Carl’s Jr.
Maw wanted a Memorial Day T-shirt with the American flag for tomorrow’s events and figured she would find one for her and me at Michaels – The Arts and Crafts Store. But we ended up buying two regular, palm-sized American flag patches instead ($0.99) each. Tomorrow will be 20% off EVERYTHING, by the way.
Today’s sunny, clear blue skies and cold winds. It’s a nice day: I could sleep the rest of the afternoon away without WORRY, PAIN or SADNESS. Nyah!
Copyright © 2009 by Fluffy von der Flynn. All rights reserved.
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