Chris loves Val (and boy is that cute) :-)

For a while now, my neighbor Chris has visited occasionally and taken one or more of my hermit crabs out of the tank so they can play. They really like him, and they seem to enjoy the little break from the tank. The other night he was here because we were going to watch the latest disc sent to me by Netflix. While I fiddled with my laptop to get the DVD to play, he had Val the hermit crab out to play. He was letting her walk around on my couch and on his lap and talking to her, saying things like "How can you climb that, it's too slippery, you'll just fall!" "Don't go in there, you'll get lost!" My response was always "She's a hermit crab, she doesn't know that, silly!" But I really think it's cuter than heck when he plays with them and talks to them. I often have a lot going on. If I'm not working, I'm here cleaning or catching up on my sewing or whatever, and it's nice to have him come visit with me and have some play time with the hermit crabs. I think if he wasn't a truck driver he might have his own hermit crabs, but he's never home so I would be crab-sitting for him almost every day. That wouldn't be so bad I guess, but I've got my own critters here. When he gets home I'll have to have him over for "hermie time."

Backpack Backers

In many ways I'm not like most women. One of those ways is I don't carry a purse. I do carry a backpack though, especially if I'm going to work or grocery shopping. The backpack holds my red vest, a bottle of water, a sandwich, and little bag of pretzels. That stuff doesn't fit in a purse. It's easier to just put as much of my grocery load as I can in my backpack because wearing a backpack leaves 2 free hands to carry any bags of stuff that didn't fit on my back. I also hate trying to carry heavy stuff in a bag so the first things to go on my back are cans and milk/juice jugs. I know it sometimes looks weird to have a backpack but this is apparently becoming a more socially acceptable thing for "grown-ups." I do have to admit I look like a student with a backpack and a DBU sweatshirt, but I do think backpacks aren't such a strange thing anymore. I realized this when I arrived at the bus stop with most of my groceries on my back. There was a guy waiting there already and he was wearing a backpack. 2 more guys showed up and they both had backpacks. I wish more people realized how handy they are, and especially women, because I see a lot of women with a purse AND a bag, or a purse AND some extra items, or a purse AND a sweater, etc. Put all that stuff in a backpack and you don't have to worry about leaving anything behind on the bus or anything like that. It's proven to be very handy for me. A purse is kind of an akward thing to me anyway. Takes up a hand you could have free. Is easily left behind because it's kinda small. Gotta find a place to set it down if you need both hands for something. Gotta juggle ALL the groceries AND the purse. Boy, no wonder I don't have a purse. Inconvenient. :-P