This morning I rode into the city with my husband to pick up a car a friend had borrowed. My plan was that after getting the car and sending my husband off to work I would drive another 15 minutes to the Ten Thousand Villages store and redeem the gift certificate we were give as a wedding gift (thanks She!)
There was a slight
modification in my plans when after getting the car and entering the expressway traffic I noticed it was shaking badly before I even reached 55 mph. I called my husband and he directed me to the nearest Costco with the hopes that balancing the tires would fix the problem. Once a Costco I took a quick look at the tires in a effort to gain any possible information that might help me answer the questions I would
inevitably be asked. When I got to the last tire, the right rear I was shocked to find a gash one third the way around the tire so that I could see the steel radials sticking out (I'm not sure if that's what you call them but it sounds good here). Praise
YHWH (God) he was watching out for me so that tire didn't blow while I was driving on the expressway.
Long story short, I bought a new set of tires today. After an hour of lunch and wandering the asiles of Costco while chatting on the phone I was back on the road again headed to my original destination. I found the store with not too much problem thanks to my GPS, Tina Turner.
The stores in the plaza were upscale shops including Chico and
Talbots. I was tickled to see they had a misting system ...a very cool idea-no pun intended-of
spraying an area with a light mist to keep you cool in the dry desert heat...although I did hear the weatherman say that Friday it will cool down a bit and is only expected to reach 98 degrees.
For those of you who are not familiar with the Ten Thousand Villages stores they are a connected to the Mennonite Church and sell products from artisans around the globe using fair trade practices. If you have never visited their stores I would encourage you to check them out on the
Internet at
www.tenthousandvillages.com
The store was packed with a wonderful variety of beautiful products that make just looking fun. But today I was going to have extra fun as I had money to spend...well, at least I had a slip of paper that said I could spend some money.
The products were
artistically displayed in color groups that were very pleasing to the eye. Each item was tagged with the name of the country it came from. As I moved from one section to the next I found lots of beautiful things that I could have spent that gift certificate on.
Before going to the store I had visited their website and decided ahead of time that I would like to purchase some cloth napkins and maybe napkin rings both to be green (by not using paper napkins...something I thought my husband would appreciate) and also to make a pretty place setting with my new dishes. However...
When I entered the store the first display I came to was musical
instruments... from drums to wooden flutes to singing bowls. I knew immediately that this was were my husband, had he been free to join me, would want to spend our certificate. Not only does he enjoy experimenting with a variety of
instruments but he has also been wanting to find a way to help the young children in our Messianic fellowship be able to join in the worship.
After making my way around the store several times while engaging in a pleasant conversation about Ghana and Haiti with the sales woman I finally made my purchases. Two sage green cotton napkins from India....
and three fun but not too loud
rhythm instruments.
