Today's Deal

1:45 p.m. Today's project was to pick up my contact lenses from Dr. Pabalan's office on Brockton Ave. in Riverside and deliver some eye makeup to my friend, optician Sherry. As is often the case in my life, other tasks in that part of town (Magnolia Center) needed to be accomplished.

I had heard from my friend Joanna Snow, co-developer with Jennifer Gutierrez of the "Titus 2 Mamas" coupon, freebies and deals website, that Jack in the Box is offering a free grilled sandwich with the purchase of a large drink just for today. With fast food becoming a rare treat, this freebie was a no-brainer! At 11:00, however, this was the question: do I go by Sherry's at 14th and Brockton first, and then swing by to get the sandwiches for Steve and Heidi and me, so they would be hot when I got home; or, utilize my always -in-the-car insulator bag to keep the stuff warm, and Steve's lunchbox to store the two giant drinks that I had to buy to get the sandwiches, and get the food before the lunch rush at 12:00?

Beating the lunch rush came out the winner, so I breezed right through the drive-through on Central, packed up the sandwiches and steadied the drinks. Then I drove over to buy a new black printer cartridge at Staples on Merrill. The store was empty at the moment, so I was checking out within 2 minutes! Naturally, I had a cartridge to recycle, on top of my teacher discount. I have honestly told them that I retired, but they said they'd keep on sending my discounts-- PTL!--I saved about $7.00 on a $19.00 cartridge.

I love being retired!! Proverbs 16:31 says, "The silver-haired head is a crown of glory if it is found in the way of righteousness." Even though mine and many of my contemporaries' "silver hairs" remain brown, black, red and blonde these days, we are definitely enjoying the advantages of aging. One of the great perks is doing errands during the work day in light traffic, and waitng in very short lines in stores, drive-throughs, and banks! (And Disneyland, relatively speaking).

Finally arrriving at the optometrist's parking lot, I found a space right in front. There I had a planning conversation with Marianne from church about publicity for the Heart to Home ministry, and our meeting is set for Wednesday. But, lest it seem that tomorrow is reserved for serious matters, I'll head from the church office to my fellow retiree Pat's housewarming party!! That will be a gracious gathering of Christian sisters, games and lunch.

Once in her office, Sherri got my lenses and we began to discuss the recent spate of early deaths (55 and under) of men in our church, and the strong exhortation Pastor Tim gave to the men on the worship team recently. "Go to the doctor! Don't make excuses," he had warned. "And cut back on your food; eat more vegetables and fruit!" True, so true."There is nothing new about what Tim said--far from it!" I said, "but I think that, seeing how the fresh salad I served at Home Fellowship was devoured on Sunday, people want to eat better, but can't figure out how, won't take the time or think it's too expensive!" Personally, I intend to follow up with walking at least part of the way with Steve and our dogs every day. [Ironically, the fast food was still nice and warm in my car during this conversation!]

Still feeling pretty jolly about accomplishing so much on my circular trip, I pulled out onto 14th street from Brockton to head up home. Now it was 12:30, so I did expect some lunchtime traffic. However, each of the 5 or 6 traffic lights took 2-3 cycles to get through; ridiculous, I thought. As I inched up past the old Press-Enterprise office, I saw the problem: everyone and their brother was pulling into the Jack in the Box parking lot at 14th and Olivewood for the same deal I was carrying home!! Sheesh, a full-on traffic jam!! I guess fast food is a wonderful treat for everyone else too, in these lean financial times, just like for us. And FREE is hard to pass up!

Finally seated with Steve and Heidi at the kitchen table, we enjoyed the fairly warm sandwiches, and thanked the Lord for His provision--and for the Titus 2 Mamas with their sharp eyes and sharing hearts!!