Friday Free for All- Dollar Tree and Schedule Rethink

     

      This year, Friday is a no holds barred, anything I care to write about day. Theme days step aside for my rants, theories, and queries on topics occupying space in my head. No rants this week folks, but my brain's on overdrive.

Dollar Tree

     Between Thursday, February 10 and Saturday the 19th, my local Dollar Tree made the jump from all things $1.00 to $1.25. it made me wonder what might still be worth buying there, and what wasn't. As part of our shopping, prior to knowing the price increase, I got a few basics. Altogether, I spent $20.45. Nine days earlier I would have spent $16.36 on the same items, obviously a 25% increase. I  stopped for convenience as our store is right by the Salvation Army and I needed dental floss and my toothpaste. It got me thinking though, is there any reason to shop there, price wise? 

     The specific Colgate toothpaste I buy, is still lower by 72¢ for the same size paste and $1.72 less for the gel. Reach Dental floss; it's now 28¢ more at DT compared to Walmart, but still better than Target or the grocery store. Target's killing me with their prices! Greeting cards, basic wrapping papers, party plates and napkins, and other things still will be deals, if you don't mind limited selection. The movie theater size candy will be hit or miss. My local grocery store routinely has bins for 99¢ or $1. I thought this DT change and comparison was worth mentioning, but prices be will vary across the country. I'll pay attention now when I'm out and about and see when it makes sense to stop.

Packing for Travel 

     Disinfectant wipes, hand sanitizer, and N95 masks, vaccination cards-check times four. My first time flying in two years, same for my girls. I didn't travel specifically with disinfectant wipes or masks before but likely this will be my norm for a while. Covid aside, travelling to different places, being around people of unknown and questionable health practices, and no wonder I pick up colds and bugs often when away from home. We've all seen the person blow their nose repeatedly with the same tissue, then touch multiple places our hands could touch.

     I want to travel light, comfortable clothes, yet not sloppy. I'll layer for the plane itself, but the forecast doesn't look especially warm anyway. We'll be walking a lot so that's ok with me to be coolish. I got a pack of pain relief patches for my knee. I still need Breath Rights so the girls don't kick me out of the room as when I am really tired, I snore. We only have a couple set plans where times are involved, but many places we want to go. None of us have been inside the Washington Monument and it now allows booking for next day slots at 10:00, so plan for this. I'm excited to see a colleague/ friend from my DC board meeting days. We're meeting up for coffee, but she's got a lot going on with two young kids and a recent promotion.

Wrapping Up

     I'm not sure what else is on my mind to talk about with any coherence. Today will be a lot at work to make sure people know where to find things that will answer questions in my absence. It was a hard week before vacation with  Monday being a holiday and Thursday a mandatory full professional development day, so I tried squeezing two weeks worth of work and meetings into three business days. One of my colleagues said she had a meeting response decline saying, "I end my day at 4:30." It was another supervisor/manager. After our first inclination to drop jaw, our second thought was "good on you". I really want to model that as well-start my days at 7:30 and end at 5:00, take every other Friday off. March will be hard to break into that schedule, but I'm setting my sights on April. New quarter, new boundaries. 

     Finally, as I read and listen to the local, national and world news, this song keeps coming into my head. For a little world love, I'm sharing a YouTube video of an anthem for hope by the Five Stairsteps. Please add your Friday thoughts on anything. As someone commented, it saved the galaxy.