Last night I woke up from my 'nap' at 11:40 pm

I almost went ahead and went to the store, but I'm glad I waited till this afternoon, when I was awake and could really be frugal and calculate as I went. I managed to get bread flour, honey and butter for bread-making, two jars of spreadable fruit, a bunch of bananas, a gallon of milk, eighteen eggs, some raisin bran, string cheese, and some soda (yes, the latter was not important to get, but I thought it might be good to have some caffeine over the weekend), all for less than $27. That leaves me approximately $15 for things like more gas or groceries. Yay! I had some of YKWIA's bread (he's been making some, too) earlier, and I had some cheese and a banana. One of my co-workers also gave me a care package of oatmeal, trail mix bars, potatoes (to go with the onions I got yesterday), tuna, macaroni and cheese shells, and Indian lentils I can put over some rice I have. Thank you so much! That, along with the things I have in the cabinets (some tomato soup, some canned vegetables, and a few other things), plus my packets of Goldfish crackers, should (hopefully) last until I get paid. I can make bread, and I have some peanut butter in about four small jars that I'm going to consolidate. I also found a big can of pasta sauce I can put with my farfalle, and I think I have some old pasta up in the top cupboard that might still be edible.

Today was our No Limits Sports Clinic at work, where the kids come and play various sports out on the back lawn of the hospital (we have a total of just over 26 acres of land, most of it greenspace). We parked on the lawn east of the hospital to allow for families to have more parking. We had a good turnout, and I did the certificates for them. Because this is the last one at the current hospital building, they ordered each of us a teal shirt, and almost everyone wore those today, so we were all 'of the body', basically. It was fun. Lunch was a free cookout (I didn't eat hot dogs, hamburgers, or baked beans (pork is in that, almost always), but I had a cheese sandwich with trimmings, Doritos, a great coleslaw, and a fountain drink. I didn't schlep back outside to wait for the Amish ice cream, which is always great, but it seemed to be very popular. It's basically soft homemade ice cream in large vats powered (I think) by a gas contraption with a smoke exhaust pipe. One of my former co-workers came back to take care of the music. It looked like great fun. It was sunny and warm, but the humidity didn't seem bad, and the sun would occasionally be behind clouds to give them a break.

After I got finished with the certificates and delivered them, I turned my attention to the data entry, referrals, surgery charge reconciliation, and several issues I was tracking down, error reports, that sort of thing. I was able to leave at 4:30 pm because I had my time in, went over to YKWIA's, then we went to Barnes & Noble and I found a couple of books that I can't afford, but noted on my phone, and they're both at th library and available. I returned a book to the library (the one on the Medicis) on the way back, but couldn't check the others out because they'd already closed for the night. I dropped off YKWIA, picked up the stuff I'd left at his house, and went to the grocery. I also picked up a paper with directions on applying for a job. (Oh, and even though I haven't heard back about that one position, I went ahead and sent off the application today for a technology library assistant at Scott County Public Library). I did it via mail, since I'm not sure she ever got my e-mail. It's not due till the 17th, so it should get there in time).

Wow. While I was at the Chinoe Kroger, a fire truck and ambulance turned into the apartments there, and they had trouble negotiating the entrance. I just had a fire truck and ambulance go by my window as well, so apparently they're having to come out for medical emergencies at apartments today.

My apartment maintenance folks snaked out my tub today, so hopefully the water will run down the drain instead of backing up. I have a little cover I can put over the drain to keep hair out, but things were so bad, it would just float away. It's been doing it for awhile, I'd actually kind of gotten used to it (it happened so gradually), and I'd tried enzymatic drain opener (which worked on the sink, but not on the tub). I'd hate to see the hairball they got out of there, as I've removed it from the top area of the drain as much as possible, and apparently I shed a ton. Hopefully it will work right. Because it wasn't draining, the soap was impossible to get off the bottom of the tub, where the lather settled as it slowly drained, and it was getting slippery. I should have told them some time ago; like I said, it happened gradually and then suddenly I was up to my ankles in water.

Wow, it's almost 9 pm. I think I'll go start some bread, get something to drink, fill up the ice cube trays, and clean up the kitchen/do the dishes, since I didn't do that last night. I think I have four more posts before I hit 11,000 posts. :)

Red flashing lights and the distinctive sound of an ambulance backing up woke me up

It is outside my living room window right now. I'm not sure what's going on. Actually, it's not the most exciting thing so far tonight. I managed to slice open a small cut on my middle finger earlier. I now understand that saying, 'best thing since sliced bread'. Oh, and we got a notice yesterday that the cheques and money orders for rent at the leasing office were stolen over the weekend, so those who'd already paid have to stop cheques and re-request money orders. Fortunately, I'm broke at the moment, and hadn't paid yet.

Apparently the thunder brought rain as well. I'd been working on things in here, and then fallen asleep, and missed most of it. But it's quite wet outside.

There are a couple of things I really must do, including going over the lesson tomorrow (although most of it is guest speakers) and putting my medicine into their reminder box, but I think I'll get up early tomorrow and do that. I want to get to work about half and hour early, too.

Okay, good night.

I could have easily died tonight

I was coming back from getting my friend from work, had dropped him off, and was mainly concerned with getting home with my gas light on empty. I was driving down Man O'War road (a big circle on the outskirts of Lexington, one I live right off of) in the rain, when a fire department ambulance came out of one of the side roads as I was very, very close to the intersection already.

I didn't have time to brake gently, and if I went right on through we could have collided. So I broke hard, but they locked, and it sent me into a wide 270-degree spin in the middle of the intersection, going into the oncoming side (there were no cars coming, thankfully), and I narrowly avoided hitting the median on the way back to my side of the road. The ambulance waited for me to start back up again and show I was okay by moving back the other sixty degrees, and then went on.

I shook the rest of the way home. I'm glad A wasn't in the car. He would have utterly freaked, and I'd rather if I died in an accident not to take anyone with me--and YKWIA would never forgive me. I have to admit I did alright at the time--it was just afterwards where I was a bit of a wreck, but I managed to hold it together until I got home. I parked the car and could not get out of it soon enough.

I'm going to curl up in my unmoving bed and go to sleep. It's not 100% safe (storms could rip the building up around me, I suppose, or a car could crash through) but those are so infinitesimal in probability, I'm willing to take my chances. Good night.