on another whirlwind adventure!

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I had a few errands to run around town today. I thought about bundling Catherine up and hopping in the car and zipping out to get them done. Then I came to my senses! With the time it would take to get the baby in and out of the car at each stop–never mind the hassle of finding parking–I would be out all afternoon! And what a waste of gas!

I decided the best plan would be to walk. So I packed up the things we’d need to take with us, fed and bundled Catherine and grabbed a coat. I checked the outside temperature and quickly swapped my warm, puffy coat for my spring windbreaker! I popped Catherine in the Back pack and we were ready to go!

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One look out the back door of our building will show you why we decided against taking the stroller. All of the sidewalks around here were partially shoveled and walked through during last week’s storm. Then they froze over. We walked with the stroller to Church last Sunday and it was more of an off-road obstacle course than a sidewalk! With the backpack I had to
maneuver only myself over the ice and snow, not a stroller as well! Once we headed out I wished that I had worn boots instead of sneakers. There were tons of puddles on our path caused by the 49degree temperatures!

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Our first stop of the trip was to the Beverly Historical Society in the Cabot House on Cabot Street. I had some books that I wanted to donate to their library and since they were heavy and the Cabot House is just across the street from our apartment, it was a logical first stop. We had a nice chat with some of the men who were working there. They admired Catherine’s perch up on my shoulders and she pulled out some flirty smiles for them. We also scored a couple passes to the museum. Looks like plans for another visit are in the making!

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After the Historical Society we headed down Cabot Street towards Ann’s Fine Consignments. I had a dress that I thought I might consign. Unfortunately, the woman (Ann?) was not interested in it. “Come back around April 1st,” she told me. “That’s when people start going to weddings.” I guess she knows best, because she’s the one that works there… but it was a simple, classic black dress. I would have thought that a dress like that would be easy to sell in a consignment shop. I guess not. Back into the bag it went. Catherine did make a new friend there, though. There was a small dog in residence in the shop. “Ann” lifted her up for Catherine to see. All of a sudden the backpack started shaking and I heard the greatest little laugh erupt from Catherine. That reaction was priceless!

As we left the store I was approached by four young men (maybe in their mid twenties). They appeared to be on lunch break from work, judging by their attire. One of them said to me, “Excuse me, are you aware that there’s a kid on your back?” I quickly replied, “Y’know, I was wondering what kept pulling my hair! Thanks for letting me know!”

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Next on the agenda was a stop at Family Dollar. We’ve had a couple of difficult nights lately trying to get Catherine to settle in for the night. I finally realized that the bulb in her night light had burnt out. With the hope that a new lightbulb might buy us a little peace and quiet, we headed into the store. Along with new lightbulbs we picked up some saftey pins, some baby hair barrettes (badly needed as evidenced here) and a Cherry Coke Zero. The Coke was pretty good. I’m a sucker for Cherry Coke! All in a all a pretty good haul from the Dollar…and the price was certainly right!

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We kept walking and were excited to see ourselves in the window of the local Ford Dealer. It kind of looks like I no longer have legs, but a wheel instead! You can see in the picture my newish “Stop and Shop” grocery bag. I rarely shop at S&S, but I like their nicely sized, reusable bag. I wish it didn’t have their logo plastered on both sides, however. I’d much rather promote Market Basket!

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Since the consignment shop didn’t want my dress, and I didn’t want to bring it home, we made an unscheduled stop at the Beverly Bootstraps Thrift Shop. If I wasn’t going to be able to make any money on the dress I wanted someone to. It was a quick stop that hopefully the organization will be able to benefit from. I like donating to this local charity better than donation to the Salvation Army. I like to think that I’m helping those who live in my neighborhood specifically. Bootstraps is doing a great job helping those in need in Beverly.

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Our final stop was at the Beverly Post office. For the past week we’ve had a package all wrapped and addressed and ready to go sitting by our door just waiting to be mailed. Today was finally it’s big day. Catherine got a lesson in using the self service postal machine and we sent the box off to her new friend Jeffrey. Hopefully it will have a good journey courtesy of the USPS.

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Heading up the street towards home we were forced to walk on the street. The sidewalk was too icy and the pitch too steep for us to safely climb the hill. Luckily the road is not too heavily trafficked! We made it up the hill and back home with no incident. (insert readers’ sighs of relief here!)

When all is said and done, we had a wonderful adventure around town. It’s too bad you weren’t able to come with us! Maybe next time?