What the Junk?!

I went to Starbucks today and tried another new drink.  The new one is an almond milk honey flat white. How is that for a mouthful! It wasn't bad at all.  I think I might like it better than the pistachio latte. The more I drank, the more I liked it.  At first, I wasn't sure, but it grew on me.  I would probably try this one again.  I went to Dan Daniel's park to sit for a bit since it was a little warmer today and I wanted to capture a few Munzees there. I took three pictures to share:

Nice, yes?  It was a good little respite in my day.  I finally heard from my hard drive support team! They are going to try to retrieve my data and they are going to replace the drive. That is wonderful!  I hope they can replace the data.  I am anxious to get the replacement drive so I can back up my current stuff.  I also want to be able to give the borrowed drive back to my friend!  Speaking of my friend, he had given me a nicer heater than the one I was using but it stopped working. He came a week or so ago and looked at it and it was working fine. It worked well for a few days and then did the same thing as before.  So I was back to the original heater that isn't very effective.  It heats, but it's not as powerful as I need for those really cold days considering it's the only heat in the house! (I keep my door closed at all times).  He brought me another little heater tonight.  It's about 1/4 of the size of the heater I usually use and it's warm!  I plugged it in and then rode with him on an errand.  I could tell a difference when I got back.  This is going to be good! I'm quite happy with it and hope it lasts.  I'm actually pretty toasty for a change.  That is nice!

So, my friend texted today and was going to head home early for work as he had a package coming to his house and there was the one coming to my house.  He was able to get the one that was coming to my house at the hub.  He wanted to know if I wanted to go eat, I did!  I am glad I did because if not, I would not have seen much snow.  We did our full thrift trip. Reidsville, Eden, and Martinsville.  I got a lot of stuff. I actually wrote a list. lol Here it is:

• Canon Selphy Printer
• French coffee press
• milk frother
• backpack
• stainless water bottle
• candle
• jack o lantern that is a lantern lol
• three coffee themed mugs
• stainless steel straws
• jack o lantern votive holder with candle
• iPad Mini case
• Relic wallet with a dime in it. :p
• Envelopes
• burger stack salt and pepper shakers
• 1 snowman shaker
• colorful jingle bell wreath with snowmen
• metal colorful decorative tree
• A book on aromatherapy
• phone case looks like Gameboy
• metal tape measure
• brass looking little tree with colorful bells as ornaments
• Halloween stickers

Guess where I went to tonight?  If you guessed Starbucks, you win! I sat waiting on another package for my friend all day and couldn't go out.  Well, the package never came, but it did. What the hell you say?  Well, the driver stopped here.  He got out, went in the back of his truck, scanned something, looked around in there and then got back in his truck, and left. D'OH. I was not amused. So now it will be delivered tomorrow (maybe) who knows at this point?

After I realized that it was not coming, I ran out just to get out and went to Starbucks. I decided to try a new drink. It's the pistachio latte.  It was pretty good.  It was sweet without being overly sweet.  Just like my beloved cascara latte. If it tasted just like my cascara latte, I'd be in love.  Sadly, it doesn't, but it's still a pretty good drink.  I'd probably get it again. I got a tall  just in case I didn't care for it.  They still have the holiday cups! I am not complaining at all. I love them.  I hope they bring the smoked butterscotch latte back this year. That is sooooooo good.  I want one so badly!  Here is hoping!

We are under a winter weather advisory here. They are calling for snow tomorrow! YAY!!!!!!!!  As you know, if you've read this blog in the past, I LOVE snow. I am going to enjoy sitting in the window watching it fall. I'll have on fuzzy socks, drink some coffee, and enjoy! Now watch it just rain and spoil everything. :p

I might run over there later, but I might not.  As for now, I'm drying my hair.  I went out earlier to Munzee and then decided that since I was right near the grocery store, I would get some much-needed groceries.  I got myself plenty of good things to eat, some extra coffee (just in case!) and they actually had my creamer. One bottle that is now mine! :p. I got all the things to make a hash brown casserole but one. They were out of shredded hash browns! Store brand and Ore-Ida. I would have gotten the Ore-Ida if they had them, but alas, no hash browns.  I do have all the other stuff now, so I just need those.  I also got two boxes of cheesy hashbrowns Hamburger helper. I like it for something different every now and then.  I don't use hamburger, I use Morningstar Farms veggie crumbles in it. It's very tasty! Guess what they were out of?  Yes, MSF veggie crumbles. Ahhh!  They were out the last time I looked for them too.  I will check another store and hopefully get those and the hashbrowns.  The funny thing about the stuff for HBC, the one thing they are usually out of is the cream of potato soup. They had tons of that today so I stocked up and got enough for two casseroles (four cans).  I also got the sour cream and cheese.  The sour cream is good until February and I'll have long since made and ate both casseroles before then! :p

I was happy to get a bag of coffee. I didn't get any the last time I went to the store and although I'm not out, I'm getting low. I do not want to run out of coffee!  It's getting harder and harder to find whole bean coffee in my store.  They have plenty of ground.  I also bought a box of K-cups for times when I don't have my re-usable filters clean or I just want a quick cup without grinding, filling, etc.  It's Green Mountain coffee which I've had many varieties of and have liked. I don't think I've tried this particular one before, but I'm sure it's good. It's the Nantucket medium roast.  I usually can't go wrong with a medium roast.  Plus, as I said, everything I have ever tried from Green Mountain coffee, I've liked so I think I'll like this too!

I had to wash dishes so I could have room to wash my hair.  I put a pot of water on to heat up on the little hotplate I bought and it warmed up while I washed dishes.  I then washed my hair and it's drying now. I wish it would hurry up because I'm ready to fix lunch! :p. I did pick up a ham and cheese sandwich in the deli while at the store, so I'll have something good to eat with no prep.  I just don't want to go to the kitchen while my hair is still wet at the rest of the house if pretty damn cold!  The funny thing is, it's in the 40's today and when I left the grocery store I had my air on coming home! lol. That was weird.  I didn't need the air once I got home and got my stuff put away. My kitchen is too cold for that. :p

Yes, you know where I went today! :p. I went to Starbucks and I went inside to see if I could get a few more cards. I got some and then found a mug I liked.  There was a tumbler the other day that I wanted, but of course, it was long gone! The other one like it that I was considering was gone too!  Their stuff is 30% off so people probably bought them for gifts. I did pick out a cute mug (no handle) with a lid.  It says it's 8oz, but it looks like it would hold more. I think it will without the lid.  I'll test it out by brewing some coffee later!  I got a grande peppermint mocha.  I ordered a grande peppermint white mocha.  This is the third time I've gotten a PW instead of a PWM. :(. They were BUSY and there were a lot of people waiting to order and a lot of people waiting on their drinks, so I wasn't going to mess that up by asking for a re-do. I drank it. I didn't enjoy it as I should have, but I wasn't going to inconvenience a whole store of people!  Oh well, hopefully, next time it will be right! The mug is very cute and I love it.  Here is a picture I took:

I should have put the mug up there too. Oh well!  I am currently sitting under the hair bonnet dryer.  I got my dishes washed, my hair washed, my bed linen washed, and I'm now relaxing for a few minutes.  My bed linen is currently in the dryer.  It was too cold for me to sit with a wet head even in my turby thingee.  I decided to get out the dryer.  I already did my weekly backup too.  Oh! I ran by Office Max while I was out and picked up a package of the card sleeves that I use to keep my cards in.  I also did my daily Zeeops mission for Munzee while out.  Now, I'm just going to sit and relax for a while.  I just put the bed linen in to dry before I came to start drying my hair, so that is going to be awhile.  I want to get a few more things done in my 2021 bujo and I want to write some on my story. I did write a few words before posting this. 411 words to be exact. I'd like to get more done.  

I used my new Starbucks mug tonight. It's so pretty!  I love new mugs, especially Starbucks ones.  It's great to find them in thrift stores.  This ons is in such great condition, too!  Here is a picture of my desk with my new Starbucks mug. That coffee didn't last long. It was delicious!

The candle is another thrift store find!  I love candles.  I have three or four pine-scented ones that I can't wait to use.  I want to finish this one first, though. The little snowman you see above the MBP is something I got at Family Dollar. He was just too cute so I had to buy him. 

We got some nasty cold rain today, but no snow or anything else that I saw. BOO!  I love snow and would love to have a nice big snow event. It probably won't happen, but I can hope!  We only got the one snow last year and was only there for one day. We'll see how it goes.  You know I'll share pictures if we do get a nice snow event.

I worked on my story last night and today and it's much better. I've added stuff, gone back and edited stuff and it's working nicely.  My main character had a very traumatic event happen to her (kidnapped, gun to her head, etc) and she is fine right now because it hasn't hit her just yet.  It's going to hit her hard pretty soon and it's going to be good!  The guy tried to actually shoot her in the head, but the gun jammed so he bashed her over the head with it instead.  Ouch!  She is going to finally react to it in my writing I plan to do next. It should be good.

In other news, I haven't done much today except try to stay warm.  I didn't go out because of the cold rain earlier and now that it's not raising, I'm not going out because I didn't put air in my tire earlier. It's too dark now to see what I'm doing and I don't feel like driving down to Sheetz and fill it at the air pump there.  I'll fill it tomorrow and maybe tomorrow afternoon or tomorrow night I can go out. I'd like to go looking for holiday lights.  That is my favorite thing about the holidays. I don't care for this time of year, but I love the lights!  I think when I do it, I'll go to Starbucks, get a venti peppermint white mocha and drink it as I drive around and look at lights. Sounds like bliss to me!

I finally sat down and worked on that part of my latest story and boy did I improve it a LOT.  It's so much better.  I went to mail off the few holiday cards I prepared last night. I got in line at the post office behind a lady at the dropbox.  She opened her door, got out, put her arm in the box, looked in, put her arm in the box again and I just sat there like this. @_@?  She gets out and goes around and drops the mail in the back and finally gets back in her car and pulls off.  As soon as I got up to the box, I see the issue. It's so full that it isn't even going down the chute!  I just left and went to a free-standing box somewhere else and mailed my cards. I have never seen a box stuffed so damn full!  I wonder when they emptied it last?   I was able to get Starbucks while out and I actually went inside and got all of the Christmas cards they had! Well, everything but the multipacks.  I came home and looked and I was just a few short of having all the cards.  I ordered the ones I was missing on eBay so I'll have the complete set. Yay! I'm quite pleased.  The only bad thing is that I ran out of the little plastic card pages I put them in!  I need to go to Office Max and get another pack.  My collection is really growing.  I realized that I missed quite a bit this year because of Covid, but I hope to get those on eBay eventually!

It was nifty being in Starbucks. I hadn't been in the store since March or earlier!  They have all the seating marked off so there was nowhere to sit and stay.  I hadn't planned to anyway.  I will be happy when things get back to normal! I miss being about to go in there and just sit and enjoy some time out. I noticed as I was out today that the city has salted the streets.  We are under a winter weather advisory. I think it will probably just be rain and that will be it.  I would love to see some snow, but I know that isn't going to happen. :(

Well, the drink was good, but the ordeal I had getting it.  Let me tell you.  They were busy as usual so I drove around the building to get in line.  Some old hag in a truck came and pulled up from the other side and got right in front of me.  I was not amused but I went ahead and got behind her.  Of course she was smoking. ~_~: I'm glad I didn't have to run the vent.  I kept my window up until I could get to the order box.

This is when the next bit of drama happened.  I ordered a Venti peppermint white mocha with caramel brulee sprinkles instead of the chocolate sprinkles.  This caused some confusion.  I think the girl taking the order was new.  I've ordered this before with no issues. I'm not one to get mad at the baristas, so I just patiently waited while she sorted it out.  She finally got it straight (she asked if I had said frappuccino, no I had not) and I went up in line.  Of course, the old hag in front of me had to order something that took forever.  

I finally get to the window and the girl takes my Starbucks card and I tell her it's with stars. That goes smoothly and she hands me my drink.  It's a peppermint white mocha all right. Only, she gave me a grande instead of a venti! :(. After everything that had happened, I just took it with a smile and went on my way.  It was delicious in any case.  I did not want the line to get any longer.  When I left, they were back further than they had been when I got in line so I was doubly glad I didn't get it fixed. I deployed a Munzee while I was out and then headed home.  

I wrote some on my other story tonight. I have some ideas of some other stories running around in my head.  These are old and much-loved characters so I am happy to get back to them.  

My internal hard drive came today.  I unpacked it and opened the Macbook Pro and pulled out the old drive.  Then, I found that I had to get the screws from the sides of the drive to put in the new one to securely mount it.  I, of course, didn't have the right screwdriver!  I looked online and Lowe's had one that was a multi head one and it was only $10 so I left the computer and ran over there and got it. Easy peasy getting those little screws out then and I have a tool for future use!

I get the new drive in and turn on the computer to do the disk copy.  Well, disk utility is being snarky. I look up information and see it's a glitch with Disk utility in Catalina that causes this and to go get a clone software.  Oh no! I thought, more money.  I found Carbon Copy Clone and it has a free trial. It's a fully functioning trial, In other words, you can do everything as if it's the full version. YES! Thank you, CCC!  If I ever need you again I'll be happy to purchase the full version.  I'm currently in the process of copying the external to the new internal and I'm hoping that goes well. It took some doing to even get everything to start but it seems to be rolling along now.

While I that is running in the background, my mail lady came. (The hard drive came via UPS) My new tags for my car came! YAY!!!!!!!!  I went out to put the back one on and I was NOT going to put the new tag in the damn front window so I got some tools and sat down and worked on getting the tag holder on the front. I had to go slowly and work diligently so that I didn't mess up my bumper.  I also had to bring something outside to sit on because the ground is still wet and pretty saturated from all the rains.  I got the little holder on and then I went and found (after a search)  the screws to attach the plate to the holder.  I had put them in the little compartment in the new car in a Ziploc but of course, I had forgotten ALL about that.  I finally remembered and put my tag on.  I now have a car with front and back tags.  I'm so proud of myself.  My friend kept saying he was going to do it but it's been since July, so... 

I went out earlier before I knew I needed a screwdriver.  I knew via informed delivery that my new tags were coming today and I wanted to take my car over to Starbucks one more time with the STARBUX tags.  I got a Peppermint white mocha (delicious) and I took a picture of the car with the tags and Starbucks in the background.  I'm silly, I know but I don't care!

Of course with all the stuff I've been doing, I haven't written for NaNoWriMo yet.  I guess I'll be writing later this evening.  That isn't a problem at all.  I really want to work on my other story too, but NaNo work comes first!  The video I watched to make sure I was removing and installing the drive correctly gave links to the things he used.  He has a little 'case' to put the internal drive in to make it run like an external. I ordered one hoping I can access the drive.  I don't think I will be able to, but you never know! I'm hoping.  

Here are the pictures I took at Starbucks. :)

If you are wondering what the little blob is in the first picture on the upper right, it's LSP from Adventure Time! Oh, My Glob! lol

So, I found a software that does recovery.  Sadly, it only lets you get so much back for free.  The price is expensive so I will only be able to get a little bit.  The good about this program is that I can save the search I don't have to do it again.  It's been scanning for HOURS and it is only at 66%. Ahhhhhhh! I might be able to get some important things with the limited version.  I also plan to keep the program in case I'm able to get a license to recover it all. 

I had to run out for a bit today so I headed to Starbucks! I had a prize from the summer game that was for 50% off a Frappuccino.  I wanted to use it as it runs out tomorrow.  I got a venti caramel ribbon crunch one for half off. It was very tasty!  I got my word count in for NaNo too.  I will hit 10,000 words tomorrow!!!  Whoo Hoo!  I am trying to decide where I want to get myself a pizza. It's now a tradition.  I hit 10,000 words on NaNo, I get pizza!  I'm ready for it now! :p