i woke up at 8:40am this morning. i heard GC's alarm clock repeatedly buzzing but he didn't wake up. i hope he was just being lazy instead of being dead. GC finally woke up at 9:30am and left for work a bit before 10am.

in the afternoon my mother wanted to visit fallas in east somerville followed by the twin city (inner belt) marshalls. she showed up at my place with my 2nd aunt in tow, giving up the driver's seat so i could take us there. it was another hot and humid day so the air conditioner was on at full blast. while they went browsing at fallas, i went next door to target. i was tempted to buy a small replacement plastic cutting board to replace the old one i currently use which has a shredded surface and black mold, not the most sanitary board. i saw one that was cool, made from a material called poly granite, but it was more than i was willing to pay ($6.99) for a small cutting board. however, i may change my mind as my old board needs to be seriously thrown out.

in the home furnishing department, i saw they still had that one remaining ottoman left, i guess nobody likes that wild "hunting motif" pattern except me. i left target without getting anything, and was surprised to see that it'd rain outside while i was in the store. i found my mother and aunt at fallas and we soon left.

next stop was the inner belt marshalls. i was there for the very first time 2 weeks ago looking for accent rugs. my rug shopping and touching some cheap artificial carpets was most likely the cause of my suddenly blistery itchy dermatitis on my hands. i made sure not to touch anything like that this time. i didn't go to marshalls at first, but instead to the star market next door, in search of sugar-free jones soda. they didn't carry, but i was impressed with the size of the supermarket, just as large as the one in porter square if not larger, with a wine/beer department.

i looked for a small cutting board at marshalls but they didn't have any that met my specifications: around 11x7" in dimension with a loop handle. next i browsed the extension selection of insulated bottles. i decided to get an exquis 40 oz. bottle ($10), advertised to keep cold for 24 hours and hot for 12 hours. i was more interested in the cold insulation.

after marshalls my mother and i went to a makeup supply shop so my aunt could get a curling iron. then they went to dollar tree. i'm not as enamored with dollar stores since there's a dollar tree right near where i live so i could go whenever i want.

in total we spent about 3 hours shopping, which i thought was too long because that was precious time i could've spent at home while my roommate was away. GC ended up not coming home until 8:20pm, which i didn't know, since i'd expected him to return at his usual time of 5:20pm. turns out he was working late because his boss asked him to do some calculations for a conference he was going to and wanted the numbers finished by monday. that was kind of a dick move because it meant GC would have to spend the weekend working, but that was also why he was trying to get it done by friday, so his weekend could be free. even after coming home he worked in his bedroom (a rare occasion when he wasn't squatting in the living room) and i actually went to bed before him, at midnight, while he continued working until 2am.

for dinner i finished the leftover market basket fried chicken and sweet potato fries.

the 40 oz. insulated bottle was a good purchase. i have a 40 oz. thermos insulated bottle i use to keep boiled water during the cold months when i prefer to drink a hot beverage. i never considered it before, but if i put ice cubes in the bottle, i could have a ready supply of ice cold water whenever i wanted during the warm months. it was a good idea in theory but bad in practice, because i discovered that the opening of the thermos is too small to fit standard sized ice cubes. that's why i bought those tiny ice cube trays. those fit but the amount of time to remove all those tiny ice cubes made it too much of a hassle. that's why i was searching for an insulated bottle with a wider opening, plus one that was easy to drink from despite the size (the thermos is not designed for drinking from directly). anyway, the new exquis bottle that i got can easily fit an entire try of standard size ice cubes. and it's rubber grip made it easy to hold, plus an easy to open lid that stays on the bottle so it doesn't get lost. now i can always have a supply of ice cold water ready on hand for drinking.