How timely

Given my last post on the collapse of unstructured time and the rabbit-hole, time-sucking danger of context switching. I just got this notice about a book I've had on hold at the Lexington Public Library for some time.

So we don't have HBO, and we wanted to watch 'The Gilded Age',

 and Lexington Public Library only has Season Three, inexplicably. Two copies.

In case you didn't know, anyone in a contiguous county (including Fayette) can get a library card at the Jessamine County Public Library and have full borrowing rights if they're an adult. Unlike the Lexington Public Library, they still have physical CDs, older books in series, Hoopla, and Freegal music, which I miss. It fills in some of the gaps. They're at 600 South Main Street in Nicholasville, so not far away, and they also have a studio and a Library of Things, where you can check out practical things like birding backpacks and telescopes. All you need is an ID with your address on it. Their website with full details is: https://jesspublib.org/

The library, as you exit

I also found the first book in the Amelia Peabody mystery series, which I dearly love. So, unlike LPL, they keep older books in series. We've had to request books from interlibrary loan because LPL no longer has the earlier books for the series we want to get into.

Also, JCPL has access to Freegal Music, which LPL used to have. You can download a limited number of songs a week to keep.  For as long as you want. Period. I managed to get several albums that way when I used it before. So that is nice.

                                                  I'm also really excited because they have Hoopla, which allows you to check out five items per month--books, audiobooks, movies, or TV series. I plan on checking out Life is Beautiful, a 1997 movie that is very highly acclaimed that will apparently make me cry, and the dramatised audio version of Crocodile on the Sandbank once I am finished re-reading the book.

Also, some time ago, LPS got rid of all their CDs, and they had some Shinedown ones I got to listen to. I know, I can stream them. It's not quite the same. 😊 So between the two libraries, a lot of service gaps get filled.

The library card is kind of spiffy

'The Gilded Age' Season 1
 (written by the same person who
 wrote for 'Downton Abbey'

My favourite mystery series, first book

A month later, and it's been a bit dire, but I'm okay

32 job applications put in with:

• 4 rejections
• 2 interviews scheduled
•     1 completed (and it was for a library!) 
• 26 up in the air

2 job skill webinars scheduled

• one completed (on résumé building)
• one on Tuesday on strategic upskilling

1 job fair scheduled (March 24th)

2 Career counselling sessions attended through the UK Alumni Career Centre

Of the 61 books I currently have out from the Lexington Public Library:

• 19 books relate to job hunting
• 9 relate to getting particular library jobs [as subject matter]
• 5 relate using mindfulness for work or to prevent burnout

I also bought the 6th edition of the classic What Color is Your Parachute? (used, from Better World Books) because I'd seen a companion at Barnes & Noble called The Job-Hunter's Workbook, and I'd been intrigued by the exercises. I have an old copy of WCIYP? (I think it's 2012), But this was different. So I got both and returned the copy of the text back to the library, getting both of them used for less than what I'd have spent on the workbook on its own there at Barnes & Noble, and then, also, for less than that one book, I added What Color Is Your Parachute? for Retirement. The whole order was just over $20, and considering that it includes two $1 donations, that's pretty decent.

The interview this week went really well. I did a little stumbling here and there verbally, but never once said the word 'thing' instead of a specific noun. I was not nervous at all. I felt prepared. I was very excited about the position, as it served a particularly overlooked population. We'll see how well it goes. I really think it would be a good fit for me and vice versa, fingers crossed. In the meantime, I have another interview scheduled for this coming Wednesday.

I'm also starting to volunteer with our state talking book library, which creates and distributes books for those with low vision or other disabilities that prevent them from using standard books (including dyslexia or ADHD). They start you out as a proofreader, and that sounds exciting, where you compare the text with the spoken word to catch any errors.  Eventually, you may go on to narration if you like. This gets me out of the grind of looking for jobs at my desk, only requires an hour or two a week, and offers a remote option for proofreading, so I could do it even once I get a job.

My unemployment appeal was accepted, but the hearing date hasn't been set yet, so I have not been receiving payments. On the one hand, I am old enough to draw my pension, but I'm not at full retirement age for the plan (65), and my birthday falls right into next month.  So, if I take it now or anytime in April, it is substantially less than in May, and since it works just like Social Security in that once you draw it, the amount that you draw it at is what you get for the rest of your life, which is less if you draw early. I confess that I'm really angry that I'm in the position that I'll likely have to do this, shaving hundreds of dollars A MONTH for the rest of my life from something I earned because I lost my job this close to retirement, but not close enough. Considering the difference between 58 and 59 was about $400, I think it could have been substantial. But it happens a lot. My mom lost hers right as she hit 62, without a pension. She drew Social Security early and was on unemployment at the same time.

Unfortunately, even if I win the appeal, that'll likely put me over the income limit (no doubt in April), and I'll lose my insurance (Medicaid). I'm likely eligible for subsidised health plans, but it'll still mean a significant portion of my premium going toward a less robust plan.  On the other hand, it's better than the COBRA option, which costs over $ 1,200. If I had kept my insurance, which admittedly, I'd met my out-of-pocket, but oh my, how would I have done it short of draining my retirement?

I did call every creditor I could, pushed back as many bills to late April or May that I could (most worked with me), and then took enough out of my retirement to pay the rest of the bills for March and get into April so that I'd have a place to live, a phone, car insurance, etc.  It didn't throw me off Medicaid (it was under the limit), and then the day after, I pulled the money out, and after a month of daily paperwork, I was approved for SNAP, so I was afraid the distribution would mess all that up. Still, it apparently didn't matter as it was a low amount and wasn't recurrent. I have not gotten the EBT card yet. Fortunately, a couple of friends have helped with food during the month when there was nothing at all coming in.

The last thing I did with my final paycheque was to pay for my storage unit, where almost all my things actually are, so I wouldn't lose it at the end of the month (you only have three days to pay past the due date), leaving me about 32 cents in the bank. I've never been what you'd call financially comfortable, but this is the first time in a very long time that I haven't had a paycheque coming in to fill things back up. So the distribution really was the only way to go, especially since the SNAP application was going so slowly (they tell you to upload a document, but then you have to call requesting why--in the last case, it was because work had signed a form with a computer-generated form rather than a person signing it. Once I took the distribution, I had to send in the stub, a statement, and my 15-year-old printer just died. I saved a signature file and used it, since I couldn't print and didn't have time to go to the library to print the one sheet and then take a photo to upload to the Commonwealth's website. It is an image of my actual signature, not a computer-generated one.  It was, fortunately, accepted.

I hope that means everything has gone through. I have worked hard to get all of that through. People who complain about SNAP have no idea how difficult it is to get and keep the benefits. I have had two friends on disability who have had it. Both got less than $20 a month. One had to fax his renewal, and we spent weeks trying to get it to them (this was before the upload option) and had to actually call the governor's office at one point, finally, only to discover that the machine was broken--had been for months, and then by the time we were able to get in the other route, it was too late and they lost that. I've found the upload process easy; it's just the sheer amount of paperwork. And I've filled out a form saying I'm already registered to vote twice online, yet I still got a form today that I'll mail out Monday. I'm very grateful they've awarded it to me. I hope to use it soon. Having no income at all for over a month, with no savings, nothing, was hard. I had just what I had in the bank from my last paycheque, plus the final one, 3 days' work [they paid me a full day for the day they let me go], plus 3 days' worth of PTO. If it weren't for my retirement savings and the fact that I rent from a friend rather than a complex, I'd be in a much worse position. I don't have much in my retirement, though, not what I should. So hopefully this won't last long.

In the meantime, I'm actively looking, and I'm staying upbeat. I'm really trying to get back into librarianship again--it's where my passion lies, after all, and my skillset is the greatest there. Here's hoping I'll be back in a library soon.

And just in case you hadn't noticed it on the sidebar, here's my résumé.

After the rain...comes rainbows

Yesterday I did a whole slew of errands, which meant driving in heavy rain, which I find nerve-wracking, almost the whole day. Finally, at 5:42 PM, while I was going to get my holds at the Tates Creek branch of the Lexington Public Library, I was rewarded. It immediately disintegrated after I took this, so I was lucky. 🥰🌈

I stopped at the circulation desk and asked if they wanted a copy. The librarian gave me her work email, so I sent it to her.

I really believe in this cause--it's a great niche and really needed

I am off the cane, by the way, and I'm glad I can drive again for a slew of reasons, but I've been looking forward to this and was hoping I could go in time; I'd contacted their secretary a month-and-a-half ago about when it would be. I had some bottles ready for the last time in June, and that's when I fell off the porch into a rosebush, so I was in the ER during the dropoff. Hopefully, this time it'll be less eventful this time, as I've got quite a lot saved now. You can drop clean pill bottles and lids off at the Beaumont, Eastside, and Northside Branches of the Lexington Public Library, or the Scott County Public Library in Georgetown, from 1-2 PM on October 4th.  They're usually in a spot in the back parking lot so that you can just line up and hand over the bags/containers. Thank you to the ladies of the University of Kentucky Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and their Alumnae association.

I'm intrigued

I was looking up a historical figure (James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, a Scottish general who was hanged, beheaded, and quartered for supporting Charles I during the War of the Three Kingdoms in 1650)--Battlefield Band has a song called 'Montrose'. Going down that rabbit hole, I found a book by John Buchan [novelist and former Governor General of Canada] called Witch Wood, which sounded promising and put it in as an interlibrary loan request with the Lexington public library. Montrose only makes a small appearance in it, but the story sounded compelling, the story of a clergyman who discovers Scottish witchcraft/paganism being practised and suffers from ensuing politics in the 17th century. It'll probably come from the University of Kentucky, as their library has it. I have a UK library card, but for residents of Kentucky, they expire after a year, and mine is likely expired. The thing I'm most interested in is that in the over 300-page story, a lot of the dialogue is in Scots, which I am interested in, having a lot of Scottish ancestry.

Support our local library

I plan on getting one of these when I get paid this coming week. You might like this too. On the back it says 'Justice begins with access'.

It's very quiet in the house

Just the sounds of my fans going above my head and nearby. We finally have some relief to the heat (it's been in the 90s with little to no rain for weeks), with rain in the forecast tomorrow, but I'm hot-natured, so even though it's in the 70s now both inside and out, I keep the fans on in my room whenever I'm there. But the quiet is nice. Sometimes it's good to only hear your own thoughts.

Today  I did many things but I did not go to the YMCA and do exercises in the pool like I meant to.  I haven't given up, I just had a lot to do today.  But I did have some time to myself and some relaxation time, as well as game notes and laundry and errands.

I went to the pharmacy today to get my roommate some medicine and see if they had my Lantus, as I started on my last pen of the pack.  Turns out they'd sent a request to my doctor's office for a refill and it had been denied.  The reason? They said they had never prescribed it.

Now, I have been on Lantus for a couple of years, Basaglar before that for a short time when it was on my insurance's formulary, and years of Lantus prior to that, including quite some time of it from this office, continuously up till this past month.  So obviously there has been a mistake. I'll have to call them on Monday.  I'm hoping I have enough to last me through Monday so we can get it taken care of, a pen only lasts a few days--I get 10 per refill, and they last about 3 days each.

On Habitica, the task/productivity 'game' I play, there was a reading challenge I took up to read a book called The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury.  Now I like Ray Bradbury, and it's actually a children's book, so I thought it would be good to read some fast-moving fiction. It's been such a struggle to read fiction (even non-fiction has its challenges), for several reasons.  For one thing, I think being on the Internet has made my attention span that of a gnat.  I've also apparently been a little off in how I use my bifocals, and it's hard for me to find a nice comfy place to read--I can't read in bed easily, and the comfy chairs are in the study (where my friend is often watching streaming stuff) or in his room.  Reading in bed requires lots of pillows, a folding lap desk, and a study pillow with a neck bolster.  I can read at the kitchen and study tables, when it is quiet, but the chairs are wooden and really need cushions after a while.  Still, I managed to read the whole book in a very short time, maybe an hour or an hour and a half (it's 145 pages long).  I enjoyed it--I knew all the various cultural ties to the practices of Halloween, but that was fine. And I'd figured out what happened to one of the characters.  I guess the only real thing I had a bit of an issue with it--not a lot, just a bit, were that there were no girls at all in the characters, and little to no character description or development, really.  But it is a product of 1972, and while Bradbury's writing deviates poetically from standard writing styles, he shares a common thread you find particularly in male writers of the time, and especially in science fiction writers, somewhat tilted towards action and away from characterization.  (Women, by contrast, tend to over-describe and have a lot of emoting going without driving the action forward at all)--a good writer balances both.  Still, his description of the settings and experiences are very good, and this story actually needs somewhat blank characters, as they represent certain timeframes of history in their costumes and with the exception of the one character from whose perspective the story is told,  there's no real personality among the children, and I guess there really doesn't need to be.  Anyway, I did enjoy the story, and it was a little chilling there at the end, so suitably Halloweenesque.

Later, we ate dinner from Subway with a friend, who had a couple of Pierce Brosnan 007 movies on, and then we returned home and I took up finishing the laundry.  I've done my clothes and I'm working on my friend's bedding right now. I'm going to do mine tomorrow.

Tomorrow I think I'll try to get up early.  I was supposed to do a couple of shelves, pulling off the books and dusting them.  I didn't, but I can today.  I did do the game notes, which were more timely.  If I could get that and my normal Sunday pre-game chores are done really early, I might still be able to go to the Y and do some exercises in the pool and work out in general for maybe an hour, total.  Then Monday I can go back for the low-impact pool class that I took this past week.  I did really well with everything (and have been in much less pain and been able to move and bend better as a result) except this thing where you put the foam dumbbells under your knees and then balance above them.  I need something to hold on and even so couldn't do it.  The instructor suggested getting a lighter pair of dumbbells (I had the heavy ones) next time.  People were really nice and non-judgmental, though, and I enjoyed it.  The instructor was very good.  We ended with a mindfulness exercise.  So it starts out easy, gets the heart pumping, puts you through all sorts of movement, but it isn't extremely intense--just right for my level of conditioning.

I  also need to run by the library while they're open and pick up a book on hold on the zero-waste home--I've been on the list for a while.  It must have been there when I picked up The Halloween Tree earlier, but I didn't realise it was in, so I didn't look.  I also checked out CDs by Sam Smith and Rush.

Okay, I'm going to get ready for bed.  The laundry's still in the dryer, but at least I'll have my teeth brushed, etc.  Hope you're having a good weekend.

I've tried to blog using the mobile application several times lately

but it refuses to publish with an image attached no matter what I do. Maybe it's a glitch that will be fixed in an upcoming update.

Anyway, sorry I haven't physically gone to the computer and blogged instead.  I've been fairly busy as of late.

I've spent some time setting up the new phone and tablet.  The phone I've geared towards listening--things like Pandora, audiobooks, podcasts, music on the SD card, etc.  The tablet I've geared towards reading, especially Kindle and Project Gutenberg.

We haven't played the game in a while as one of the players is away visiting family in another state.  So the first weekend of this month YKWIA and I went to the Lexington Chamber Orchestra concert at Tates Creek Presbyterian Church and had a very good time.  Otherwise, it's been all about doing stuff around the house on the weekend and getting some relaxation in.  I haven't read much else, just a bit of The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman, and while I had to turn in The Labyrinth of Spirits (which, as a new book, was due in 2 weeks rather than 28 days), I got it as an Audible audiobook.  Today as I was waiting at a doctor's appointment I went through the book up to where I left off.  I was on chapter 19 (21 really, as it has a prologue, etc.), which sounds great but the thing has over 700 pages and while the chapters are short, there are over 170 of them!  I'm not sure I can listen to it at work and still focus on my paperwork like I can with music, but I have a device that plugs into the car cigarette lighter that syncs up with Bluetooth to my phone that allows me to play music and answer calls even though I have an old car (18 years old!) that doesn't normally have that functionality.  I can also play the audiobook through the device.

Brenda stopped by the other day with a wonderful orchid for me.  She'd found it at Kroger for $2, in a plastic pot and finished blooming, but healthy and there are about three plants in there.  It's a type I haven't had before with a very prominent pseudobulb on the bottom with leaves coming from them.  I've seen them in the store--they have rusty, spidery, small flowers in just clusters of them, and I've really wanted them.  I'm not sure what type it is, perhaps a miniature Cattleya or Dendrobium.

Speaking of which, it's almost spring, and I read with interest that the Bluegrass Orchid Society was having their first meeting of the year tonight, with a talk on Dendrobium species and their care, but I had the doctor's appointment and then we had planned on going over to a friend's house for his birthday.  He is battling cancer, and had gone out with his brother and sister-in-law, and was just too tired to get together tonight, so we'll go see him tomorrow.  So by the time we got home, it was too late to change plans and go to the meeting.  I would have loved to have taken the new orchid, though, and get an identification, but oh, well.

I fed the animals and then YKWIA went to the computer and was watching some weird, twisted soap opera he discovered on YouTube, while I went to my room to lie down for just a bit, and the cats came with me, the one purring on my belly and the other at my feet.  I wound up falling asleep for two and a half hours.  I got up and did the dishes, plugged in the electronics to charge tonight, and then decided to write a bit.  But I can tell sleep is coming fast.  I didn't sleep the best last night, kept waking up in fact, and woke up at 4:30 am to pee and almost just got up for the day.  I toyed with the idea of going and getting another bookcase for my office since I had the appointment and therefore parking in back of the hospital, but that would have meant going to the storage unit in the dark wee hours of the night, and I thought that wouldn't be particularly prudent.  So I decided to go back to sleep, and it's good that I had the parking, as I woke up at 7:16 am, and had to be at work by 8:30 am.  I was about 15 minutes early, but if I'd had to ride the bus this morning that would not have happened.

Work has been very busy and I've done really well with productivity and while it can be frustrating, I'm plugging on.  The other day I was able to pull off a minor miracle to get a family's MRI scheduled next day, with the help of my co-worker who does the authorizations, and my boss let me come in at an ungodly hour of the morning so I could call first thing.  It was touch and go for a while (I got pulled out of a meeting because the family got there and the university had accidentally scheduled a sibling instead, so they were being told there was no appointment made).  I'm working on some difficult surgeries, and I have three denials I have to work on for a single case agreement tomorrow.  That's when you ask the insurance company to treat your out-of-network status as if it were in-network for that one case only.  I've had one other case I tried it on, and it worked, so it's worth a try, and it works better, in my opinion than an appeal.  But I don't have much experience in it.

I had applied to the Lexington Public Library in February for a library programming position, but I haven't heard anything, so I'm assuming I didn't get it.  LPL does usually send an e-mail, and I haven't received that yet, but it's been a month or so since the position closed so it's not looking good. :(

Tomorrow I'm at work until 3 pm again as I have a blood draw at 4 pm.  My family doctor always does a blood draw two weeks ahead of the main appointment.  Kudos to my boss, who let me off for a total of four appointments this month, although they're all after 3:30 pm at least.  It was five but I rescheduled my appointment with the ophthalmologist to April.  My endocrinologist is next Monday; it had already been rescheduled by them from January since she wasn't going to be in that day, and when I tried to reschedule, it was going to be August!  So that one had to stay.  I need to reschedule one I missed during my bout with the respiratory virus in January, and I have made an optometrist appointment for an exam on the first weekend of April.  Yay for weekend appointments.  I'm switching dentists and need to get the ball rolling on that, too.  But all my appointments were clustering in March and so I'll wait on that till maybe May, I think.  Then I can have the second cleaning of the year in November.  I did have the DMO plan for Aetna, which paid more fully for services but had a very limited range of providers (mainly Aspen Dental).  I switched back to the PPO, which costs a little more but has many dentists so I could go to one I've been to before and liked, one that YKWIA goes to.  The reason?  Aspen called me up one day insisting I pay a bill I didn't know about before they turned me over to collections. When I asked how much I owed, it was $1.  Yes, you read that right, $1.  I paid it there over the phone, but it kind of ticked me off that they would do that, threaten to send me to collections over such a trivial amount when I'd never even been billed.  Anyway, I like Dr Kleier, although she doesn't have the later hours they did.  So I'll have to wait to go there.

Okay, I guess I should head to bed.  6 am comes early, and with the time change, it's a struggle.  Good night!

Did you know?

That if you sign on to an unfamiliar computer, say, at a library, Google will send you a notification (not a text, a notification) asking if it's you and then have you tap one of three numbers to correspond to what the computer says?  That was a little creepy.  Very useful, but still creepy.

I'm on the computer at the Beaumont library because it's not quite time for the public visitation for my friend, but I didn't want to go back home, but rather stay on this side of town.  The funeral home is right down the street.  I took YKWIA, who will be helping our friend with the family visitation, so he had to go earlier.  But I'm all dressed and ready, and there seemed to be no real reason to go back home until later.

So I'm where I feel most comfortable, a library, looking through books and music. I pared down my keys to the car fob, ignition key, and house key only to realise when I got here that I don't have my library card, the actual card being with my Kindle and the key ring card being on the rest of the ring at home.  But they let me use my licence to check out a few things, which was nice.  I can apparently sign in to a computer using my name, but when I went to the reservation kiosk it asked for my library card number, which I was able to glean from the Lexington Public Library application on my phone.

Anyway, the plan is to spend some time doing some things here rather than go home.  It's just a little over an hour till the public visitation begins, and the library closes at the same time, so it was fortuitous.

I went through three other gardening books

Which were mostly listings of various plants or some plans for some gardens.  I took pictures with my phone using CamScanner, which puts them into a PDF file, including an herb garden from Edible Landscaping and also a listing of various types of plants that are edible (and things that certainly aren't, like castor bean).  So I took a total of six books back, picked up the hold, so I have seven out, one of which YKWIA is reading, three of the others are fiction, one is a collection of Julius Caesar's writings, another a book on sites important in his travels, and then the Holocaust book focussing on a town and what happened there.  The fiction books are all fantasy; two are teen books, and they should be quick reads.  I'm hoping I can get everything read before time to take it back.  I'm going to focus on these before any others.  It was difficult to pass by the new bookshelf, which is right by the entry, without perusing the titles.  Also, I was very pleased to see the crowd turn out for the opening of the Tates Creek branch, which happens at 1 pm on Sundays.  I was there early, about 12 minutes till, and was the first non-employee to get there, as there was no one in the other cars.  But in the intervening time period, probably fifteen cars came in, and people were waiting at the door.  One man nearly ran over a woman as she was heading in.  I suspect the rush was to get to the computers. :)  But there were four other people looking to pick up their holds in that section.  Three other cars had dropped off books at the book drop while I had been waiting.  It was quite a crowd, and even though I don't work there, it warmed the cockles of my little librarian heart.

Okay, time for more caffeine.  Let's get these chores over.  At least the grocery run is finished--I got a few things at Kroger and then had to go to Fresh Market for radicchio.  Most things were for a salad--arugula, shallots, the radicchio, fennel, etc.  Of course, there was milk, and I got more bread flour because I miscalculated how much would be left when we did the last run.  I use between 3 and 5 cups of flour for each loaf of bread.  I really should get YKWIA to find his ginger for me and make some whole wheat bread, because I have all the other ingredients for the bread, including the soy lecithin granules and ascorbic acid for the booster you put in the bread to help it rise.  The ginger's part of that, along with cornstarch.  And you have to put wheat gluten in, but that's a separate ingredient.  It makes a lovely loaf.  I have an entire bag of wheat flour.  But I think YKWIA prefers the basic bread even to the oatmeal one I tend to prefer.  The basic white bread just takes flour, sugar, salt, dry milk, butter, and yeast, along with water, of course, and it's cheapest to make.  The oatmeal one has oatmeal, of course, but not the instant kind, but rather quick oats, and uses honey instead of sugar.  Both make lovely loaves.  I'll have to see about the wheat though so I can use that flour.  I think you still use a cup or so of white flour in the wheat bread as well, so I can't just make it if I run out of white bread flour, but if it gets low, maybe.  I get White Lily bread flour, which is made by a harder wheat than regular all-purpose flour, but I could use the latter in a pinch.  Because I use the rapid bake, I use a jar of Fleischman's rapid-rise yeast.  You use a little more yeast if using the recipes that came with the bread machine (the basic white and herb bread) or different amounts if I'm making the oatmeal bread, which is from the book Electric Bread, under 'Outrageously Oatmeal'.  It has good recipes, some a little odd but intriguing, and recipes for spreads as well.  It was a good find.  I think that was from a book fair at work. :)

Okay, really, I'm going now.  Have a great day.

My best friend

mocks me a lot because despite being a librarian, I don't read much anymore.  In fact, I can't tell you how many books I've read in the last year, maybe five, and those were mostly non-fiction books, like gardening ones, with lots of pictures.  Don't get me wrong, I've always been an avid reader, at least until about 5-6 years ago, and then everything petered out.  I don't know why.  I've had lots of excuses.  I'm too busy. I'm tired. I can't find a good place to read (I cannot read in bed, for example, and at the old apartment, there wasn't really a good alternative, whereas here there are chairs or the kitchen table, so that excuse doesn't work anymore.)  Since the beginning of this year, I've read two gardening books, but again, lots of pictures, not much text.

I have several books out from the library.  He accuses me (rightly) of hoarding books from there without reading them, sometimes for several checkouts, because I always mean to read the books.  I have the following out right now:

1. "A" is for Alibi by Sue Grafton
2. The Oversight by Charlie Fletcher
3. Lost in Translation: An Illustrated Compendium of Untranslatable Words from Around the World by Ella Frances Sanders
4. The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron
5. Caesar's Footprints by Bijan Omrani
6. La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust, book 1) by Philip Pullman
7. A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab [which YKWIA has borrowed since I obviously wasn't going to read it in a timely manner]
8. The Landmark Julius Caesar: The Complete Works (Gallic War, Civil War, Alexandrian War, African War, Spanish War) edited by Kurt A. Raaflaub
9. The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: The Essential Guide to Planting and Pruning Techniques by Tracy DiSabato-Aust
10. Edible Landscaping by Rosalind Creasy
11. Native Plants of the Southeast by Larry Mellichamp
12. Starter Vegetable Gardens: 24 No-Fail Plans for Small Organic Gardens by Barbara Pleasant [which I have actually read from cover to cover but am holding onto to make copies of one of the plans]

I also have a thirteenth book on hold that has arrived: Anatomy of a Genocide: The Life and Death of a Town Called Buczacz by Omer Bartov.  I'll check it out tomorrow.

So here is my conundrum.  I would like to read them all. I actually have time now to get some reading done.  I think I'll start with Sue Grafton's book because I have fifteen days left on that loan and it's very unlikely I can renew it, as I'm sure others put it on hold after her death.  I also want to knock out the gardening books, the language book (which is just a small illustrated description book), and Caesar's Footprints.  That leaves the actual Julius Caesar text, the one on hold, and the fiction books, all of which I have some time on.  If I can read these, I'll be doing very well.  And maybe, just maybe, YKWIA will stop taunting me for my lack of reading.  I will make progress on my 'To Be Read' pile!  To that end, I'm going to take Sue Grafton's book and go into the study and read, while YKWIA naps. :)  Oh, and where I pulled the books off my bookcase headboard to look at the titles and authors, the cat is now in the pile's space and is looking quite pleased with himself.

PS I got a notice from the Lexington Public Library that they had decided not to fill the position that was advertised, and for which I applied, which was Branch Manager of the Village Branch. I do wish employers wouldn't advertise positions they are not going to fill anytime soon. I was excited by the possibility of getting or at least interviewing for that one. Oh, well.

Cross your fingers

Although I enjoy my job (and having insurance after being unemployed and on COBRA), I haven't given up on being a librarian. Today I applied for a job with the public library which, while a bit of a longshot, I'd enjoy immensely, and I feel I'm qualified for. Wish me luck! There's another position, at the university, that I need to apply for in the next couple of weeks, too. Both pay well and would really go a long way to having some financial stability after the roller coaster of 2017.

So I'm home with just the dogs and cat tonight

as YKWIA is watching Crimson Peak with a friend over at the friend's house. I've seen the movie (with him) and enjoyed it. I've been playing music without headphones.  (We do not have similar tastes in music, although there is some overlap.  Mine is a bit too modern for him).  I also ate something.  It's been a busy day.   I have:

• Called Brenda to see whether we're playing.  She is doing better but still coughing, so the game master ruled it best to get some rest.  There is the potential that when we resume, every character Brenda has could pop like soap bubbles, so he'd like her at her best.
• Take YKWIA to an appointment.
• Gone to the credit union.
• Taken YKWIA to a pet store for a special cat food.
• Taken him to the vet for special condroitin chewies for the older dog.
• Stopped by the Rusty Scabbard, a local gaming store.
• Done a Kroger run at two Krogers (Tates Creek is consistently out of Land O'Lakes half-and-half, a staple in our household).
• Gone to the library and gave him some instruction in filing via the Dewey Decimal System, the use of cutter numbers, and orienting him to how the library sections off its various genres.
• Come home and while I didn't take a nap, I laid down for a little bit to recover.

So now I'm thinking of doing some reading. I got some gardening books at the library the other day.  I also need to water the plants at the latest by tomorrow.  Tomorrow I also plan to do laundry, clean the catbox, screw the toilet seat more securely, take out the trash, and take YKWIA to Meijer for some nice shirts that he needs, as everything he has are t-shirts.

Okay, I think I'll go now and listen to some more music or read.  Hope you're having a good weekend.  We're enjoying much warmer temperatures, and I'm loving it.  It won't last, though.

My day

I had $1.50 in fines on my library card (hey, don't judge, I'm a librarian, but we like to keep books, sometimes a little long). Fortunately, the Lexington Public Library is doing a 'read off your fines' promotion, so for 15 minutes of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time (my choice, which happens to be my current read, or re-read in this case), my fines were wiped. You still have one more day to do so--they're open from 1-5 pm tomorrow, Sunday, the 31st of December. It works for children or adults. I think you can erase $8 per hour read.

While I was there, the reference librarian was assisting someone on a call who obviously was interested in reading Sue Grafton's alphabet mystery series, and was putting the first one on hold for the caller. Mystery writing has lost one of its best-loved authors, and I think it's very sad that she got as far as Y, and didn't finish the whole alphabet. Perhaps there will a posthumous Z. [Hey, I didn't expect Elizabeth Peters' book The Painted Queen to come out, and it was an unfinished novel posthumously published with another writer who knew her finishing it up based on Peters' notes. So we could get a Z, who knows.] It does make me want to start the series, as I've never read it. In her obituary it was stated that as far as her family is concerned, the alphabet runs to Y, but who knows? Anyway, my condolences to them and to her fans out there.

Hope you are having a pleasant weekend. I have gone on a fruitless search for garlic at two Krogers, and so I came home a little frustrated, but I'm relaxing at home now with the dogs nearby and that makes everything better.

Which is good, as I need to work on the rest of the game notes. I'm about one-third of the way through the recording.

Have a great weekend.

So, I've obviously been amiss at writing/blogging

I've been pretty much coming home, having a great meal, and relaxing a bit before bed, maybe listening to music, rather than getting on the computer. Sorry about that. But I've had to recharge well because we've had a lot (and I mean a lot) of patients come in this week, and it's been very, very busy. Today, though, I had an appointment and so I left at 1:30 pm. After the appointment, I made a couple of stops, came home, spent quite some time talking with a neighbour who is a co-worker's cousin and trying to organise a neighbourhood watch, and she told me about a meeting they're having on Monday nearby. Then I went in, ate a little something, and by 5 pm I was headed out to an appointment with my insurance agent, who likes his representatives to see clients at least once a year. That went well, I got a little refrigerator magnet out of it :), and then I stopped by the library to pick up a book I put on hold for YKWIA along with a couple for me.

Last night while looking up the said book on the library website, it reminded me to try using an application on my phone that they have partnered with, Libby, by Overdrive, which is a sort of one-stop shop for library e-Books and audiobooks. It was then that I discovered that there was one more, last, instalment of my beloved Amelia Peabody mysteries by Elizabeth Peters, called The Painted Queen. It had been finished by another writer, I presume, as the credits are for both Peters and her. So I borrowed it in Kindle format. Here's hoping I have some time over the next two weeks to read it. Of course, I have all the others, mostly in paperback but the later ones are in hardback. So eventually I'll buy one.

Okay, I know it hasn't been exciting, but I really should turn in for bed. However, I may have some good news to share in the next few days, so be sure to stay tuned. Good night!

Today's agenda

1. Get medicine from pharmacy
2. Return books to the library
3. Donate a few of YKWIA's books and a CD to the library
4. Work on the bedroom
5. Pack books
6. Get totes for clothes' storage
7. Get mattress pad to protect my current (queen) mattress from dust (and cover up a couple of menstural blood stains from the movers--I should have putt one on years ago. The new one (which is a full mattress) had one on within minutes of delivery. Of course, it has a 10-year warranty that is void if it gets stained.)
8. Find something that will work for providing more clothes storage in the closet at YKWIA's
9. Work on game notes

Today, possibly tomorrow:

1. Take telescope, holiday decorations, and walk-in-closet things to storage
2. Take out trash/recyclables
3. Go through medicine in the refrigerator and reduce packaging/space
4. Clean kitchen
5. Clean bathroom

I have been pretty busy lately

as I'm sure you can tell from my lack of posting. I've been staying up later but my evenings and the weekend have been pretty full of various errands, being with friends, or just trying to get some things accomplished, but I never got around to actually talking about them, I'm afraid. I actually missed a deadline for a job application with the Lexington Public Library the other day for a children's librarian at Northside yesterday because I was really tired late Sunday night when I got home, and I couldn't get myself out of bed early enough to work on it before work. So tonight, I got off work a little early (well, the original time I was supposed to work till, 4:30 pm), went to an appointment, and got out pretty quickly, by 5:35 (it was a 5:15 appointment, and I barely got to the car and there with just about three minutes to spare, so it worked out well). I was over in Beaumont for the appointment, and I needed to go to the credit union, and then I realised there is one in the area, so I didn't have to drive over to the university. Instead, I deposited a pay cheque at the credit union and then headed over to the Beaumont Branch of the Lexington Public Library to see what they may have. But I am a bit confused, as I see no new books at all, and I'm not sure where they keep them. I've found the regular books, the CDs, the 'Top Shelf' books, and the Holds, but no new books. I'll have to ask before I go. I'm sure it's glaringly obvious and I'm just not seeing it.

I am resisting the urge to go to another place down the street--Masala, the Indian restaurant I like very much. It's evening so I could order Peshwari naan (my favourite) and vegetable korma, which goes very well with it. But I have to admit, I do need to eat soon, and I am in the neighbourhood...perhaps I will at least check their dinner hours.

I think I'll download the recording from the game and maybe start on the notes--there was a lot of investigation this time, as we started a new adventure, this time a series of murders in Glasgow, Scotland. So I thought I should get an early start on the game notes.

Okay, I'll try to write later, but just in case, have a great evening.

Ah...

So Friday wasn't too bad, really. Work was much calmer than the rest of the week, and we worked at a steady but relaxed pace. I left at 5 pm and went and got a friend who had taken a bus to an appointment that didn't happen (but I was more annoyed at that than he was), and we went and got another one, and I dropped them off and came on home, and I stayed up till (get this) almost 11 pm (although I was just heavy-lidded and falling asleep quickly). The rest of the days this week have mostly been about 8:30 pm as far as bedtime, I've been exhausted (to the point that while I met my goals the other day on Habitica, I fell asleep before checking off the boxes, and woke up 10 minutes after the start of a new 'day' (which I've got set at 2 am), so my little avatar took damage--and so did everyone else I game with. I felt so bad. It's just been hard to get everything done that needed to be done lately.

This morning I called A at 6:30 am, picked him up at 7:30, took him to work, got a couple of cheese and egg biscuits and a parfait at McDonald's, and came back intending to go back to sleep. But I laid in bed from about the time I got home (8:30 am) till about 9:30, and decided to go ahead and get my day going. I went to Costco, intending to get some light bulbs and a couple of other things, and spent more than I meant to, but everything I got was quite useful. Well, maybe not the cheese bagels and tomatoes, but they're yummy nonetheless. Then I went to the library, where I sheepishly turned in most of the books I had (most of which were overdue, including one of two interlibrary loans I'd gotten for a friend, who'd taken off the papers that have all the information on them that the ILL department uses. I had most of it to give them. It so embarrasses me that he does that, and I know they're not happy with me. He wants to see the covers. I tell him not to do it. He almost ripped the cover off one, because they changed how they do it, so instead of having two sticky labels, they wrapped the cover in a piece of paper that was carefully taped. I am beginning to think that should they ever let me borrow again, I should remove them myself, carefully. The man mangles anything he tries to remove (paper from a notebook, or my favourite, the DVD envelopes from Netflix, which we just leave to me now). Anyway, I apologised, left the other books in the book drop, and slinked away without mentioning in any way that I am, indeed, a librarian. And with all the overdues, I checked later after everything got checked in, and I owe $6.30, which is actually less than I expected. The interlibrary loans are $1.00 a day. One was still before the deadline, but one was due the 25th. :( I got it from him on the 26th or 27th, but I literally was just too wiped out to take them back during the library hours, and didn't just want to dump them in with the papers just sitting inside the books. Also, they had a 'read off your fines' thing going on through the 31st, and while I planned to do that, I just decided I was too tired. So I'll happily pay the fine.

Speaking of public libraries, I have an interview about an hour's away up the interstate on Friday afternoon, and got permission to leave work at noon so I can get there before 2 pm. I'll probably come home, change clothes, and go straight up there. It's Owen county. My dad's family, the Duncans and the Cobbs, have lived in the Owenton area for generations. I'm interested to know more about the library. I never visited the library there as a child; I don't know much about it, actually, and I should educate myself on it before I go. I also need to e-mail a confirmation that I will be coming.

I went to the grocery a little while and got some veggies for a tray for the game, some cheese, some crackers, and some dill dip, so I'm good for the game tomorrow. And I spent four hours today doing the notes. I came back and collected the trash and recyclables from various containers and some horizontal surfaces, and I now have quite a load to take out. I had to take a break, though, before actually taking the bags outside, as my back was bothering me. Mainly I've been doing better with my back, although that workout on Thursday made muscles in my lower back and buttocks scream, because they apparently didn't know they were supposed to do anything. I didn't make it to the gym at the complex today (there was a pool party going on early afternoon that was intriguing, but too many people for me, I think, being a shy introvert who would have stood around, not eaten hamburgers or hot dogs, would have had to slather on a ton of sunscreen, and gee, talk to people). It's not my thing. I am glad the complex did that sort of activity, though. I wish they'd have a yard sale. They did that every year for several years while I was at Speedway and working on Saturdays. Now I could participate, and I have plenty of stuff that needs to go, if I can part with it.

Okay, as much as I hate to admit it, those bags of trash and recyclables are not going to take themselves out. I should get up and do that, so they're taken care of and I can tick that off my busy day list.

I helped a friend

work on some job application materials, namely cover letter, résumé, and the online application, for a job at a local hospital. He's currently in the hospitality business, but wants to get back into healthcare, where a good bit of his experience lies.

I went through and filed a stack of papers regarding insurance, retirement, separation, unemployment, student loans, all that stuff that had been piling up in my inbox. I discarded anything I didn't need, and just put the rest into individual folders and into my little filing cabinet, which admittedly is falling apart, but will serve for now. So my inbox is clean and happy.

I also looked through some paperwork from the credit union on accidental death and dismemberment insurance, which was reasonable, so I think I may get it. The credit union pays for a couple of thousand dollars' worth, and then it's $1 per $10,000 per month after that, taken out of the account quarterly. So I do still have insurance, between that and what I ported from work, although neither lasts after my late 60s, early 70s. But in the meantime, if I die, particularly if I die accidentally, my loved ones can pay off their house and fix it up some. :) I already have funeral insurance, car insurance, renter's insurance, health and dental (I dropped the vision, as I'd already gotten glasses and contacts in the past year), and AFLAC. Insurance can be kind of scammy, to be honest, but on the other hand, it can be handy. My car was bought from my mom by my AFLAC money when I got hit by a car, for example.

I took a plastic crate and put it under my desk for recycling. There's also a small trash can nearby (that's what I hooked my toe upon), and together they're keeping the work area pretty clean.

I called YKWIA, but apparently he's just waking up, is still hacking, and I was using too many words. It takes him about two hours and two giant cups of coffee to really get going. He has an appointment I need to take him to, but it's not till 4 pm, so I'll venture over there in a couple of hours.

So that leaves some time. Mmmm...I'm really avoiding getting into the apartment clearing, especially as they could come by, and I already have plenty of stuff dragged out. The hangers I'll wait until after the inspection. My drill (and the drill bits, presumably) are in a closet that has some stuff that needs moving right now. Goodness, I wonder if I'll ever reduce the clutter in this place to where I can truly have friends over and be comfortable in my own apartment. But I do have several boxes of books to go right now.

It's sunny again. I wonder how humid it is out there. It's lovely in here, as the air conditioning is working just great. I did turn it so it wasn't too cool (didn't want to affect the fish or plants). That one orchid has put out six more buds, and that may have had something to do with how warm it had been in here. I don't know enough about orchids to really know. I must see if the public library has a good book on them. The only one I have is a very small guide, mainly with details on various varieties, rather than taking care of them.

I'll go look that up. Maybe I'll go to the library if there are any. I'm down to eight books from the library (mostly on job hunting). That's pretty good. I usually have far too many and don't get to them all in a timely manner. In fact, maybe I should just read one of the ones I have out. There's one on clutter, for example, and it's pretty small, but it may be useful, and it's due soon.