Friday March 15th

Katie and I wanted to go to a few places we always go to when we come to our Texas Home. First is Harbour Freight Tools, where they have all sorts of neat things. We always get magnets there...may sound strange, but try and find small powerful magnets at home and it is virtually impossible. Some come with hooks and some just flat. We use them for all sorts of things around the house, hanging xmas lights outside, fridge magnets, holding two pieces of material together, etc. etc.

Katie usually gets solar lights there, but they were not at their usual sale price. We got some paint brushes which are cheap compared to home, and a tarp to cover the golf cart for the months we are not here.

After we finished browsing around Harbour Freight, we went down the street to Sprouts Supermarket. They have all sorts of organic foods there of all kinds, and although we are not eating meat, one of the best looking, quality meat, counters we have seen in these parts. We didn't need much of anything, so it was mostly just browsing.

Then it was on to "Little Mexico" which is old downtown McAllen. There are tons of shops within a few blocks walking distance. Many stores have the same items, most likely come from China, but the prices are good. It's just kind of fun to browse around. I did find a pair of shorts that I like at a very good price, Katie was looking for a purse, and although there were hundreds at various stores, she did not find one she liked. On previous visits we went to a Mexican restaurant called Maria's which was really good and reasonable, but we were not hungry enough to go there this time.

On the way home we stopped at Lowe's as we are looking for a ceiling fan for the bedroom. unfortunately the one we wanted is out of stock.

We also stopped at a paint store, as we wanted to get some undercoat so we can paint our bathroom over the vinyl wall board which we think is a little loud in pattern. The store only had a gallon which is much more than we need, but a paint contractor came in, overheard the conversation, said he had a part gallon in his truck and gave it to us. We offered to pay but he said no. What a nice thing to do!!!

Then it was back home for supper...oh wait...checking my email, find an email from Sister Maureen, telling us that Livvy who we sponsor. and Karily. who is sponsored by Durga who works with Katie, are back home from Monterrey. Sister Maureen said there was a communication error, and she didn't know they were back until she saw them playing in the yard on Thursday. Erica, the mom, made some tamales and sent them with Sister Maureen for her, and for us. Sister Maureen said we could pick them up at her office before 5PM, but we didn't get home until almost 6PM. Damn...but the good part? We get to see the girls on Monday. and they are very much looking forward to seeing us.

We just relaxed for the rest of the night.

and so ends another great day in the Valley...

more later...