1) I've found this seems to be a good time for grocery sales, stuck as it is in between the two holidays (so too early or late for event sales). Was able to buy a 3 pound bag of apples for 99 cents, blueberries for 99 cents a pint and grapes for 99 cents a pound. Also, finally able to get a 3 pound bag of potatoes for $2.20.

2) Thanks to a tip from venatrixlunaris over at Pillowfort, Standard EBooks is creating copies of public domain books and have a fair number of well known titles on hand. They are looking for volunteers as well as donors.

3) I was struck the other day by how comfortable life has become in the 21st century. I don't mean that in an economic sense, because the continuing disparities there are painfully obvious at this time of year. Rather, I meant it in terms of creature comforts.

I mean, back in the 17th century it didn't matter if you were king of the world, life was still uncomfortable. But today a comparatively small amount of money can buy things no king could have.

I was excited to discover sherpa lined pants at the grocery -- only they were for men only! The women got thermal short shorts and sweatshirt crop tops or thin sweaters...

After trying out what Mike bought, I went down a size and got them to fit well enough. Super cozy! I've been looking for thick lined plus size pants for several years now and it figures they make them, but for men. I got both the top and bottoms and if worn together I look like Christmas wrapping paper. But there was also a pair in plain black.

I remembered how growing up my nose was always running in cold weather. Part of it was undiagnosed allergies, part of it was simply being cold. Wool was the go-to then for warmth, which was scratchy and uncomfortable. It could work fine for blankets (especially as they were heavy which has been shown to improve sleep) but for clothing it was miserable.

And I was generally miserable in cold weather. All the heating dried one out, and in confined spaces it smelled. And the static! Plus all that clothing and bedding used to be so expensive compared to many options now.

Now I can walk in comfortable shoes with polar-fleece socks that are like puff pads cradling my feet, in fleece pants and tops that are warming without being heavy or stiff. Leaving aside central heating, a microwave can produce steaming tea in minutes, and on a cushiony sofa with a light fleece throw, I can watch TV in more coziness than the most pampered of ancient monarchs. And I can watch what I want at what time I want for a fraction of the cost I used to pay. The entertainment options alone are vast these days.

I was firmly reminding myself of all this as I reviewed more changes at the local grocery, heard of another restaurant shutting down, and a whole shopping center going on the market. Some local things we used to really enjoy have simply gone away. I sure wouldn't trade things today for my childhood and teen years. But I do rather think there were a lot of things in the 90s and 2000s that it would be nice to return to.

4) World Cup quarterfinals!

Croatia vs. Brazil, There were certainly a lot of ball battles in the first half, but the very fact that they only had a minute of added time testified to a fair amount of movement throughout the half.

Once the second half began I was waiting to see if Brazil was going to start picking up the attack. The commentators made much of an attempt on goal by Neymar at 55 minutes. However it seemed to me entirely too solo an effort, and had there been a pass there would almost certainly have been a goal. Well done by the keeper though.

What's more, it seemed to me there were a lot of poor passes by Brazil in the first half. And I spotted a few in the second as well, and that wasn't counting all the times that Croatia took the ball from them.

Of more importance to me was the Brazilian attack at 65 minutes that was saved largely due to the keeper. The resulting corner kick came to nothing.

Kind of ridiculous the lack of calls at 86 minutes when the Brazilian player was eventually dragged down by the arm while nearing the Croatian goal. A surprising amount of fouls were not called.

As things went to extra time not a whole lot seemed to change. But it all took just a moment. Finally at 105 minutes, Brazil did a series of passes, Neymar avoided a defender and sliced the ball past the keeper.

116 minutes in though Croatia took advantage of an opening in the Brazilian defense shot to take a shot at the goal. The keeper couldn't put enough power on it to deflect. I think it might be the only real attack the keeper had to defend this game.

Apparently the Croatian player got a yellow card for taking off his shirt, which seems very pointless given that they may well continue to the semi-finals. No idea why players keep doing it.

At this point, the game seemed interminable even though there were only two extra minutes of time.

So it was yet another round of penalty kicks. The tension mounted as Croatia got two kicks in and Brazil's first one was denied.

Finally Brazil's fourth kick bounced out because of the goal post. So the fifth kicks did not need to be taken. What's more, although Neymar equaled Pele's record of World Cup goals, he will have to wait until the next Cup to pass it.

One thing is really clear, which is the value of the Croatian keeper, because none of it would have happened without him.

Netherlands vs. Argentina Argentina and the Netherlands had an active battle for the ball going back and forth in the first half. Unlike Brazil, who was signaling their sloppiness all through their game. the teams seemed to be playing more effectively. Which suggests that even had Brazil gone through, they would have had a good fight against Argentina.

At least Argentina didn't leave things late, scoring about half an hour in with a good pass by Messi to a teammate approaching the goal, who then got past the keeper.

A good Dutch shot to goal as a result of a free kick, but stopped by the keeper late in the first half. The second began with at least the hope of ending in 90 minutes.

The penalty kick had been such a stupid foul-up by the Dutch, although I've seen worse. There was a foul committed against the Argentinian player in the penalty box so they got a penalty call. Despite the huge size of the Dutch keeper, the ball sailed right by him. Commentators were pointing out that the keeper barely had to jump to hit the goal's top bar. At 74 minutes in, it was going to be harder to equalize.

Right after there was nearly a scuffle in front of the Argentinian goal after the keeper came out to catch a ball.

But at 80 plus minutes the very tall Dutch sub, did manage a goal! And he was the guy who had been yellow carded while sitting on the bench in the first half!

But that wasn't all of it. At 88 minutes an Argentinian player slid into one Dutch player, and then at the feet of another knocking him to the ground. And then he shot the ball into the Dutch bench at which point all of the Dutch players swarmed onto the field.

At that point the Argentinian player should have been kicked off entirely. Instead play resumed with just one yellow card. And then we moved into 10 added minutes.

At this point Argentina's plans seemed to simply be to attack every Dutch player they ran across. This finally resulted in a free kick at 100 minutes. And the Dutch, in fact, landed the goal.

The Dutch fans were ecstatic but the stadium was much quieter with all the Argentinians shutting up.

The penalty shootout was tense and miserable as they always seem to be. I'm just glad I didn't really care about which one of these teams went forward. However given how many penalty calls went against the Netherlands compared to Argentina, I was feeling more sympathetic about their chances. Yet it was Argentina who won.

Morocco vs Portugal Kind of surprised at the beginning of the game to see so many empty seats.

After the Moroccan keeper denied Portugal a goal around 5 minutes in, the commentator noted that Morocco had only conceded one goal during the tournament so far.

Beautiful goal by Morocco at 42 minutes in. A decent pass, an amazing jump by the Moroccan player, to beat out both the keeper and a defender.

Even playing the last 8 minutes or so a player down due to a red card, Morocco still won. I was glad to see it given the significance of Morocco going on in the tournament.

England vs. France As clear as France's first goal was when it was still coming, England failed to keep it out of the goal. Too many players just standing around instead of blocking his way.

Of course this was early in the first half so there was still plenty of time to equalize. Their free kick ball may have been stopped, but it got past the wall and it was on goal.

Probably only Americans of a certain age will get this joke. We noticed that there is a French player called Fofana. We speculated that his initials were B.F. Fofana.

At 47 minutes the French keeper prevented an English goal. He was also very lucky there wasn't one a few minutes later when an English player could have gotten it in.

England got a free kick call off Mbape falling over in English player's leg. But it was England at 51 minutes who got the penalty kick call.

The fact that the two opponents were long-time teammates would seem to disfavor the kicker. But the kick landed a goal!

England nearly gave away another one at 54 minutes, were it not for their keeper. Another near run a few minutes later certainly kept things tense.

At 76 minutes a scary near goal by France. The keeper was once again the hero. Unfortunately a minute later and France was ahead.

At 80 minutes there was a shove down in the French box that was not even close to the ball. At first the ref ignored it, but then it went to a VAR review. And a penalty was awarded.

And he missed it. And not by a little either.

England kept battling but it seemed to me the fact that France scored two goals and England got only two penalty kicks told the final story.

5) Petzi recently shared an article discussing the end of movie stars, and how Tom Cruise was maybe the last one. I was thinking of it when I saw Ronaldo walking off in the tunnel crying. Stars did not come to much in this Cup.

It was not the players everyone was talking about, who really stood out. Sure they made some goals and good plays. But so did a bunch of other players who nobody was talking about. And this is largely a media driven problem. At one point, the match commentators talked about how tired the French coach was about being asked Mbape questions. He said it was England versus France, not Harry Kane versus Mbape.

I would add that the Netherland's two goals in the quarterfinals came from a guy just off the bench. And two of the best goals I saw in the game came from a South Korean player in the group stage.

Personalizing the game is a lazy shortcut for the media, especially if they are targeting novice viewers. Most stars earn their reputations, but they can't win games alone. And movie stars may add something to a film, maybe even make it bearable viewing, but it starts with the script and is a collective effort.