It was a slow start to

What I choose to call my first day of 'job freedom', but it all worked out to be a decent day. I woke up at 8:30, downloaded some job materials to a thumb drive, looked over my unemployment paperwork again (they came to our workplace a few weeks ago and explained things and gave us a folder). At 10 am I found myself procrastinating the actual trip to the unemployment office, now called the career centre. I actually laid down. YKWIA called and caught me, literally, trying to nap about 10:45 am and mocked me into getting up, getting a shower, and going out the door. So I drove over to the office and got there a little after noon, presented my ID, and then filled out online form (I'd already created the résumé, which was required, on their site prior to being laid off), asked a couple of questions, waited to be called, spoke with a counselor, and got my dates for requesting benefits and reviewing eligibility. He also gave me info on classes run by the University of Kentucky over off Red Mile Road, where recruiters come and may do on-site interviews, so you should dress like you would for an interview. I saw two of my fellow laid-off coworkers while I was there, one of the maintenance guys and a cook from dietary.

I came on home about 1:45 and listened to music for a bit, then went to an appointment. I'm going to go to twice-weekly classes that week help me better be able to exercise better, starting Thursday.

After that I got my allergy shot, came home to check the mail, and then YKWIA called wanting a ride to take A some food, as he was languishing after working several hours at both jobs. I went to the library while they ate and checked out books on job searching and three CDs. Then I took YKWIA to the store for creamer, fed the dogs and cat for him, and now I'm home. I'm getting A from work in a couple of hours, at midnight.

Tomorrow I:

1. Go over and wake up YKWIA at 7 am.
2. Take him and a dog to the vet.
3. Drop him off at the library for a programme.
4. Go to a meeting of the Kentucky Medical Library Association, where I can meet with my colleagues and network.
5. Go to see a doctor for medication management.

That's it, so far, anyway. I'm definitely staying busy.

Happy leap day, or

as my word of the day puts it,  bissextus. Just a quick note to say hi,  really.  Yesterday we played the game again for the first time since before Christmas,  and while it was fun,  I got home late and didn't get much sleep.  The highlight of my day today was giving blood (pint 42). I've been tired all day,  unrelated to that,  and as the day wore on,  I've gotten quite a few aches where rain is coming.  A friend gave me some 8-hour Tylenol Arthritis,  and I made him soy dogs and we watched 'Ugly Betty'.

I'm home now,  which is good,  as I have to go over at 5:30 am tomorrow to pick someone up and get him to an appointment by 8 am,  which is always a challenge. So now it's a little after 10:30 pm,  so time for bed.  Good night!

It's amazing

how hungry you can get when you're told you can't eat for a few hours. Today I had a chest CT scan with contrast, and couldn't eat for four hours prior to the test. Fortunately, the imaging centre is very close to my apartment, so I came home and am having a peanut butter and fruit sandwich with some vegetarian baked beans, and plenty of water.

This has been a very rough week in terms of scheduling my friend's and my appointments so they don't interfere with my work. My relative is doing better, although still in the hospital; her husband texted a picture of her to me today, and that was nice. I now face a very difficult decision--do I drive an hour away to see her, visit, and then return, or do I take care of some things that have been on the back burner and basically regroup and get recharged while I have some time tomorrow? If I get up very early, I might be able to do both, but I think that would be pushing it. I haven't been taking care of myself very well of late, something I'm trying to get back to doing.

In the meantime I'm going to take a friend to get some furnace filters and leaf bags (in Lexington, leaves and other yard waste must go in either big paper bags or the Lenny (yes, we name our trash receptacles here, there's also Herbie and Rosie) container, which fills up pretty easily, although it is pretty large. I also going to try to do some laundry over there, as I missed it last Sunday and didn't manage to do it any of the rest of the week, either, and I'm kind of down to very little cool weather clothes--although it was fairly warm today, in the high 40s, low 50s.

I think I'm going to lie down for about a half-an-hour nap, then stop by the grocery store briefly and go over there. I should still be there before the friend I'm taking shopping gets home.