Over at the Tates Creek branch of the Lexington Public Library

Picking up and dropping off books, and also doing some job searching for A and myself.  I've been here almost an hour and a half and have founds some leads.  I'm going to have to call the University of Kentucky to see if there is any way I can pickup my transcript in person on Thursday (part of my transcript is on microfilm, so that might be an issue) so I can apply for a job in Paris, Kentucky as an assistant public library director.  I only have unofficial transcripts, which do not include the information from pre-1988, but I don't have the money to go ahead an order my transcript and get it in time, and won't till Thursday.  If they won't be able to help me in person Thursday or Friday, I'll see if I can borrow the money to get the ball rolling Monday.  The job closes on Friday.  In the meantime, I've tweaked my application materials and just have to finish a cover letter.

Okay, I'm going to go pack everything up and go check out the books.  I have found several new ones, one on herb gardening, one on mediaeval Europe, and one on historical city maps.  I'm also picking up a book for YKWIA.

I'll write later.  We aren't going to play tomorrow due to the game master being ill, but I may finish the game notes tonight anyway.  But I actually have a little time to myself, so I'm going to try to make the most of it. :)

I feel free

I'm off work early and at home with no plans with anyone else until Saturday.  There's just me and the fish. :)  I would like to straighten up the bedroom and clean out the car, and of course there are the game notes, but otherwise I plan on having some fun and relaxing.  We'll see if that comes to pass.

I'm starting out my free time with a little cereal, and then a nap.  I'm waiting to see if something comes in the mail, which doesn't look like it's run yet.  I hope it does--it's the reimbursement for the trip, which I sent in the request for over a month ago. That would be a great help right now.

Okay, on to that nap.  Ill write later, though.

Well, I made it to 'Lego House' by Ed Sheeran

before deciding to call it quits. I've put away the clothes, cleaned out the tub, cleaned the sink in the bathroom (the toilet is okay), and so everything is pretty much done in the main rooms, leaving only the bedroom. I am eating some cherry tomatoes that have miraculously not gone bad (I have some pasta, but didn't want to eat anything heavy this late). I also downloaded SoundCloud so I could listen to Charlie Puth's piano/no rap version of 'See You Again' (I love the lyrics that didn't make it into the main version, and his voice is very sweet, which is good for this song). I haven't been able to find any way to actually download that version, as it's being played on the radio, but isn't officially released by a record company, so this was the next best thing. I also like his song with Meghan Trainor, 'Let's Marvin Gaye and Get it On'.

I'm not exactly sleepy, but I'm not ready to start excavating the bedroom this late in the game, so it will have to be done another day. Tomorrow is an early day for me, as it's the day I get my allergy shots, so I go into work an hour earlier than normal. I have a dental cleaning tomorrow afternoon, and just realised that may be an issue, as a friend needs meds from the pharmacy tomorrow. I might be able to get them if I bump the allergy shots to Wednesday, their late day, and go get the meds and then go to the dentist before delivering them. Actually, there are two appointments after work on Wednesday, one of mine followed by a friend's, so I can't get the allergy shots then. :( Thursday is going to be a special day I won't go into at the moment, and I'm off work, because it starts out with a doctor's appointment and then various things to follow, but I am not taking even the very small chance of having a reaction to the shots on that day, Epi-Pen or not. Friday, I think, is just a normal Friday, so I can get my shots then, and have one round this week instead of two.

So that's the week ahead. It'll also be a tight week. I paid my rent (on time!) but still have a couple of major bills, and I'm trying to save money for eating out on Thursday night with friends at Masala. I've got about $30 saved, there's gas in the car, but otherwise, I don't have anything that isn't already allocated. The latter part of the month should be a little better, so I'll hopefully be able to pay a couple of bills I couldn't at the beginning of the month then. I wish I could get my hair cut between now and Thursday, but that's a no go. Oh, well. I will eventually. :)

I think I'm going to go back in the bedroom and see if I can go to sleep. I won't listen to more music right now, anyway, it's been a day full of it. I might read a bit before I go to sleep, if I don't fall asleep quickly. Good night.

Amazing

how people whose insecurity is only assuaged by money and material things can be totally dickwads when someone who appears to be homeless offers them money instead of begging:



I would have probably reacted like the one woman who he hugged. At least, I would hope so. The rest of them? They need some time in someone else's shoes to learn that money, while useful, doesn't dictate who is better than whom, and it shouldn't be what your self-esteem is based upon. In the end, we all end up in the cradle of death, and it doesn't matter what car we drove or the balance on our bank account. Our legacy is the difference we made in other people's lives, and the reasons we gave them to remember us. The people who were abusive may be rich in things, but they are poor in life. (This was a video YKWIA happened upon tonight and showed me).

Up in the middle of the night, briefly

Having given my libation to Hekate. I feel emotionally better than I did earlier. Building up a civilisation on a simulation game like Civilization IV helped. So did a little comfort food, although I tried not to go overboard on that. I also listened to an album, Bastille's Bad Blood, which was the only thing from the radio that I was taking comfort in. I guess that it just had to pass. I had a mild version of the 'emotional storms' I used to have, where I felt like just running away or driving really fast and exiting out of life. I'm on my medicine, everything's been rather smooth lately, with no disturbance in mood. But my menstrual cycle sometimes plays havoc with my lability. I've got to expect issues occasionally, I suppose, and ride it out, but if it happens again within a short time I'll seek help. This time it wasn't right before my period (I have a diagnosis of pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder), but rather during. There's some stressors in my life right now that generally don't bother me, but lots of little things are weighing me down, I suppose. And the dental work and the havoc it's causing to my schedule is part of the problem. It seems to be never-ending. And I wouldn't have had the issue come up that broke the camel's back and caused me to cry like a little girl if I hadn't been gone most of yesterday morning and this morning, because it would have been taken care of in a more timely fashion. So the appointments, despite all my efforts, did affect my work. Still, I had to have the dental work. The partials themselves are also a stressor, as I'm still having issues eating with them and talking with them, and have to be careful putting them in or it can get pretty annoying. I am having a much harder time adapting to them than I thought I would.

And it's expensive. I'm already paying on about $2700 from my care plan, plus I paid $400 for the root canal the other day (thankfully, from my flexible spending card on the latter), and I'm not sure how much I'll owe the endodontist. My dental insurance, while better in some ways than the one we've traditionally had, has some major limitations compared to my health insurance. The last couple of weeks I've pretty much paid bills from my bank account and did day to day living from a credit card, which isn't ideal. I have the credit, that's not the problem. But I don't want to get to the point where I'm snowed under. And I have someone in my life who still owes me over $3,000 who hasn't even made any effort to start paying it back. That's a stressor, too. I feel that I was there for him when he needed me, but I've barely spoken to him or had any interaction with him of late, and in fact, I rather think he's avoiding me. If I bring up the money at all, he tries to make me feel guilty for saying anything.

I'm just struggling to keep a balance, and I'm burning up almost all of my PTO with my doctor's visits and the upcoming trip to Chicago, and never actually seem to have time for anything fun. Well, Chicago should be fun, but it's also work. But I couldn't afford an extra day, so it's fly up one day and come back the next. I would have liked to taken off for my friends' anniversary tomorrow, but at least I'll be able to get them to their dinner date after work. There's no way I can take my birthday off this year, even though it's during the local school system's spring break and things will be slow. At the rate I'm going, I may not be able to take any day off except for assigned holidays. It's a little depressing. I think I may try to go in tomorrow somewhat early to make up a bit for all the time I missed this week, so my PTO doesn't take a terrible hit. I'm struggling just to try to maintain the 24 hours minimum required in case you get sick. I'm usually about 15 hours lately, even though I accrue about 10 a pay period. I have plenty of extended-illness bank, the one I can't touch until the fourth day of being sick, despite draining a lot off that with my ankle surgery a couple of years ago. That bounced back rather quickly. But the PTO is a struggle, and I think the lack of a vacation is starting to wear me down. Maybe Chicago will help, with a change in location, anyway. And my boss finally thinks he has a backup for me in case I ever want to take more than a day or two off at a time.

Okay, I'm bordering on whinging, so I'm going to stop now. But I do feel better than I did earlier. Things will work out. Today when I was driving and felt an overwhelming sense of distress, I breathed my way through it and got home quickly and took care of myself emotionally. Years ago I would have really struggled with dealing with emotional distress. Thankfully, my dialectical behavioural therapy still works. :)

Well, for better or worse, I put in for the extra day

I think I can manage the trip without spending much in the way of cash until I get paid, which will happen the first night I'm in Chicago. I called the hotel to make sure I would get the group rate if I went up early. The reservation clerk told me there were only 3 rooms left for that day. I talked to my boss, who approved the extra day (we had a miscommunication where he thought he had already done so, whereas I thought he was mulling it over). I sent in my travel request immediately and the folks in Chicago are starting to work on that. So, I committed to a three-day trip, and hopefully I'll get to do my sight-seeing. The museum I'm going to is only $35 for an all-inclusive pass to experience all the exhibits. I can buy a day pass for the L and buses at the airport. I plan on taking a cab back to the airport at the end of the trip, but that is reimbursable, as will my food on the last two days (some of which will be provided at the conference). I'll probably eat in the hotel on the first night and then go out with a group for dinner on the first day of the conference. So, yay! I feel much better today.

I also found out that part of my job is expanding somewhat in that I will be putting more entries in than I currently do. So, I'll have to make even better use of my time while still trying to do referrals, do all the data entry, and run the library. :) I'm beginning to think I should ask for a raise on the data entry job, as my 'added duties' are becoming a big part of my work life.

I got the package from Amazon today that had my friend's birthday gift and my desk fan in it. It's a five-inch black fan that folds up and runs on either USB or AC USB adapter. I got it approved by plant operations and then ran it this afternoon. It's got a little noise to it, but the amazing thing is, I did not become sleepy during my data entry at all. Normally I do, and I always chalk it up to my blood sugar being a little high, but I think the lack of air circulation tends to make me sleepy. I work in a fairly small cubicle, and sometimes it gets stuffy in the afternoon. This was like an instant wake-up pill. The fan only has one setting, but it was reasonably priced and seems to work well. It's angle is very adjustable. I'm seriously thinking of getting another fan (a bigger one) for the living area at home so I don't head to the bedroom to lie in front of the one there, or have to move it back and forth. Maybe then I wouldn't turn in so early.

Tonight I'm going to try to straighten up the house a bit. There's the couple of shows on TV I wrote about last night on; I may watch or DVR them.

Man, it's only 5:47 and the light is fading. Usually the sun is streaming through, at least when I get a ride home, like I did today. But soon it'll be dark when I leave and come home from work--daylight savings comes to an end on the first weekend of November. Not fun. It'll be even worse. It's a good thing my winter coat is light blue; otherwise the bus drivers might not see me. I'll definitely be wearing it tomorrow morning--tonight it is supposed to get down to the upper 20s to low 30s with a frost warning out My little pepper plant is in, with a few peppers started on it. I hope it does well for awhile.

Okay, time to get away from the computer for awhile. After all, I spend most of my day on it. :)

Seriously?

Someone gave me a $50 bill today and I stopped by my bank to change it for smaller bills. The teller asked if I had an account and when I said I did, he asked me to send in my debit card through the drive-through pneumatic system. Meanwhile, one of the other tellers was trying to butt in on the transaction by taking my card while he was getting the money, and generally making things more complicated than they need be.

Really? To change a bill? Whatever happened to going into a bank and, I don't know, presenting money and getting money in return? Would they ask someone with a ten for ID before they exchanged it for a roll of quarters?

Speaking of quarters, I asked if they could send me a roll through the system (I didn't think they would; most banks won't, because the roll could break and get everywhere). But I guess he realised I was a bit annoyed. So he stuffed a roll into an envelope, told me he was making an exception, and sent it and the other $40 through.

Is this common at all banks, or is PNC just more than a little odd?

Yay!

Okay, it only took a WEEK bouncing around in pending, but I got the money back from the pizza order. Now I'm off to the bank and to get more groceries than I thought I would be able to. :)

Glorious

It was so nice to sleep in today, as there is no game, so no getting up at 4:45 am to travel for an hour on the bus for what is a 10-15 minute ride by car to the gamemaster's house to clean and prepare for the game, no major Kroger run, no playing for hours and getting home late, then crashing on Monday evening. While the game is immensely fun, Sundays are very long days for me.

Instead, I slept in until after 8:30, had breakfast, and checked out the (albeit disturbing) news and blogged. So the question is, what to do now? I'm thinking about getting ready to go out, walk down to the store for some caffeine, and then working on the house this morning. I have quite a lot of TV to catch up on, and I have an Indiana Jones movie out from Netflix I should return tomorrow.

I'd like to go out and get some presents, but I don't have much left after my bills because they had to take money out of my pay where I'd been overpaid last time (and I pretty much spent that on medicine and groceries). So there's not much money before the holidays. But I'll see what I can do. :)

Okay, I should get going. Have a great day!

Blogger editing was being screwy last night

so sorry for just the one post. It's back up again this morning, at least.

I was going to get up early and go to the bank, but I had some issues this morning and just missed it in terms of time. Which is unfortunate, as I have a cheque to put in and $1.77 in the bank otherwise, so no money for tomorrow. (The cheque wouldn't have cleared till tonight anyway, so that's two days without money anyway. Now there will be a third. Drat.) Oh, well, it's not like I actually get paid until next Thursday, anyway.

For lunch I'll take some prepared Indian food, which always freaks my co-workers out a bit, because they're not used to seeing it. The Kitchens of India brand has been putting CDs of Indian music in with their pouches lately, so I'm interested in what I might get. I particularly like their CD of Indian strings. I wonder what I'll get today?

Oh, Gods, why did I do that?

I left work today and got a ride to Kroger so I could get a new bus pass (my expires tonight) and some groceries. My co-worker offered to give me her number so I could call her when I was done, since she was headed to Meijer for awhile, but I said, no, I was just going to get a few things.

'A few things' involved three full canvas reusable bags and a couple more regular ones. I managed to take the cart to the bus stop (sorry Kroger cart guys!) much as I hate it when people leave them there. Then on the bus I had to ask for my stop rather than pull the cord because I was busy corralling the bags. Once I got off the bus, I rebagged them (the young lady was very nice but is used to bagging for people who only have to put them in a car). I tied one light bag to a reusable one. I took the bag with the paper towels and toilet paper and threaded it through my satchel strap. Then I started the schlep home. Normally this is a 15 minute walk. From the time I got on the bus till the time I made it into the house it was about 45 minutes. There were many rests, especially after making across the road. I guess I was carrying about the equivalent of two of those big dog food bags' worth of stuff.

The cupboards were pretty bare, and with snow, that's not a good thing. Plus I got some fresh fruits and veggies for playing with the new blender. No dacquiri mix--too much high fructose corn syrup and besides I don't have anything to put in it. So I'll toast the new year with a smoothie. That's just as well--I don't really care for alcohol that much--I like them just as well 'virgin'.

Okay, so today I got paid. I went ahead and got my money order for my rent. I got my bus pass. I also got groceries. that leaves me about $50 for the next two weeks, but the big stuff is taken care of. I'll try to be frugal with what I have, but I can maybe get a drink and some popcorn with the movie tomorrow (I have two free tickets to get in).

Oy. I am tired. I must go recuperate and must eat something substantial, as all I had for lunch was some nachos, a banana, and some broccoli.

I feely very blah and achy

and although I do need to go return that graphics card (I have no money until I do, having just paid rent), it looks iffy dealing with the buses before work, even if I leave by 9:30 (I work at 2). Richmond Road only runs once an hour on Saturday, which I knew, but also the Nicholasville Road bus only goes by Southpark once an hour. I'd be let off at Lexington Green at 10:30, then I'd have to get over to Best Buy and complete my transaction and try to get to the bus stop by 10:48. If I can't, I'll have to wait until 11:48. That would put me getting home about 1:00, and then by 1:40 I'd have to walk over to work. It's doable, but I'm not sure it's a good idea before work.

Monday I need to go to a meeting with our district manager at 3. That'll probably take till 3:30. At 4 I could take the bus out and get to Best Buy by 5, catch the bus back at 5:20 or 5:50, and then continue on that same bus to be at a friend's by 6:40 so we can watch 'Heroes' at 9, plus have the money to take a cab home.

I suppose I'm committed to that course of action as I've now blogged to the point where I can't catch the 9:40 bus. In the meantime, I'm going to live off Indian pre-packaged food, a few dollars, and Diet Sunkist. :) But hey, I've had a lot less to survive on, and at least my balance is positive.

Incidentally, when I checked my balance I came across a slew of information from my bank on transferring to the bank in mid-February that bought it. I'm getting a new debit card, for example, and the account numbers will change for my accounts, but direct deposit, etc., shouldn't be effected. Wish me luck! I just ordered cheques and they'll have the original bank's numbers rather than the new ones. I'm supposed to be able to use those until they run out. Heh, heh. It took me three and a half years to go through the last box, as I very, very rarely use a cheque, mostly to withdraw funds at the bank itself. :) I may set a record for longest use of the old ones.

Okay, I'm going back to bed for a little while and see if these aches will go away. If not, I'll take an honest-to-goodness bath later. Maybe I'll read a little of Blood Rites, too. It's so nice not doing the notes at the last minute. I could get used to it. :) And although I really should have gone out this morning, it's a relief not to deal with hours of bussing when you have a headache and don't feel so well.

I reactivated my savings account today

With $150 put towards the car. I might be able to put away as much as $350 next week, bringing it up to $500, which would be a quarter of the way to how much I want to save. I may have to call the bank tomorrow, though, because although it's showing the savings account online and the amount as pending, a corresponding amount is not showing as being deducted from my checking account. Since I wrote the withdrawal on a slip where she looked up my account based on my Social Security number rather than an actual cheque, I'm wondering if she put the wrong account down and I got someone else's money instead, because the combined total for the two accounts is $150 more than there should be. It might just be how it displays and tomorrow everything will be in its place. If not, however, I want to make sure there was no mistake.

Anyway, go me, I'm finally on the road to saving, and I have reminded myself, as others have, that I can't drive a Kindle around town. :)

Bad librarian, no cookie

I missed the first bus to work this morning, so I dropped all my borrowed items off at the library before catching the next one. Only one problem: I came home tonight to find a message from the library saying that one of the CDs I returned was missing disc 1. It was still in my CD player. Guess what I'm doing tomorrow as soon as they open?

Over all it was a good day. We had a free lunch at work that I forwent since it was hamburgers and hot dogs. I appreciate that the group sponsored the meal, but the only thing I could have eaten that was vegetarian was a cheese sandwich and maybe some potato salad if it was the kind without bacon. The line was very long, so I slipped in the other way to examine the salad bar. There were some chopped eggs, but no tuna, so I decided to order pizza instead, forgetting that it was Tuesday, the day that Papa John's delivers to schools, so it took a little over an hour to arrive. It was good, however. They have a five-topping anniversary special for just $9.99.

On the way to work at the store I stopped by the grocery to see if they had any bus passes, since mine expires today. No such luck. I'll have to use dollars tomorrow and then go downtown Thursday and get one.

Work was actually pretty fun. I love working with Teressa. One of my co-workers sadly had her car throw a rod today, so she's in the same boat that I am, but it's worse because she lives all the way in Richmond, about 30 minutes away from Lexington.

We had quite a rainstorm with hail that fortunately waited until I was inside and at work before hitting. People swarmed under our canopy to keep their cars from getting hit. The hail was about the size of crabapples. I think people got out of the rain as soon as possible, and it slowed down considerably after they got in and settled, but I was quite busy, especially with money orders, before that.

We got our quality assurance inspection tonight and passed with a 100%. That's five months in a row. That adds to our bonus, yay! We should be getting a bonus the third week of September, so I guess that would be next week. Double yay! Bonus cheques are normally about 1 1/2 to 2 times my normal or so.

The only bad thing about today was that I was in a lot of pain due to the tendonitis. I finally broke down and took some ibuprofen, which knocked it down to painful-but-able-to-move. I really may have to go back to Dr Rooney. I hate to think what she'd do about two ankles with tendonitis. Two surgical boots? Crutches? But it's not getting better; it's just getting worse. I have an appointment with my primary doctor next Monday. I'll see what he thinks. I really don't want to have limitations that could keep me from working at the store, but working through the pain isn't really doing so well. The braces help a little bit, but not much. The stretches she gave me help the best. I'm getting very good at tracing the letters of the alphabet with my foot. :)

It is so nice to come home to such a cleaner house. It's much more restful. I'm glad YKWIA challenged me to actually get some work done rather than just talking about how I needed to work on the house.

Okay, maybe the Universe likes me after all

I forgot that I had a debit coming out this weekend and as a result overdrew my account. Even though I get paid on Wednesday, I figured with the late fees that would take the cheque and I'd have to wait until the 30th to pay bills, get food, etc. That left me with $3 in my pocket, no food in the house, and about $10 on a gift card for the store for gas or snacks.

When I came home tonight, an unexpected windfall was in the mail--$329 to be exact. That should give me enough to get in the positives plus eat, etc., depending on how the pending items stack up (I'm technically only $31 in the hole at the moment, but if the pending items hit tonight, there will be a $36 fee for each item). In any case, I should actually get my direct deposit on Wednesday and not have it eaten up by fees. Thank the Gods for dropping this in my lap. Hurray!

Things are not so good on the car front. It's got even less pick up and is squeaking on acceleration. On the right side it sounds like the metal is squeaking as it bounces, too. It's been a good car, but it's getting to the point where I'm not sure whether it's worth fixing, but I don't know of any way to get another one any time soon. I didn't think I'd be able to fix it; now I may be able to, but I'm not sure whether that's realistic. It sounds like it's dying. :(

You may have wondered where I went off to...

nowhere, actually. But my car's starter is out and so I've been schlepping around on the bus, which takes a lot of time and by the time I've gotten home I've just been wiped. It always takes me a bit to acclimate to riding the bus, but it can take an hour and a half to go anywhere if I have to transfer. Thankfully I can get to the hospital or from the hospital to the store in about 20 minutes. But to get to my friends' it's over an hour.

Unfortunately, it looks like it will be the 18th before I can get it fixed, because this week's pay goes to rent and it'll be about $300 to fix. The good news is that the strange speedometre-busting behaviour where the speed goes to 0 even when the car is tooling along at about 50 may be a faulty sensor. It in turn, can cause the transmission to have issues and other systems to go out, because the computer doesn't know how fast the car is going. That means it may not be the computer going out after all. A speed sensor should be much easier and cheaper to fix. So, I have an appointment at 8 am to take the car in on June 18th.

I'm never going to get ahead, am I? Oh, I know I will, but sometimes I get a little discouraged.

We had a heavy rain earlier tonight when I was at my friends' house. Fortunately it didn't rain on the way home. I hope the rain holds out awhile longer--depending on whether he finds a ride home or not, A may be walking, and it's several miles. I'm going to check with someone tomorrow who offered a spare van for times like this. If it's not still being used by someone else, I might be able to borrow it so that I can pick A up and do grocery runs, etc.

Meanwhile, my ankle is swelling to more than twice its size and is very painful all the time. My other ankle swells too (they do that in warm weather), but the other isn't really bad. My left one has really been hurting. It may be time to go to my podiatrist again. It may just be arthritis (it is the ankle I have sprained dozens of times), or some issue like I had with my foot last year, some stress issue from standing with my weight like it is. It unnerves me that my weight has caused broken bones.

I have a friend who's on a special medically-supervised diet where she drinks little tiny shakes and has a food bar a day of something that is so remarkably full of fibre that it fills her up. I think it's an Optifast diet. But the food is $150 a week, something I don't think I could afford, plus my insurance won't pay for weight loss plans (but will my diabetes and cholesterol, go figure). Still, it might be something to consider.

A long but excellent day

A small miracle happened this morning. I was able to get to the gas station without running out of gas despite the fact that I was 10 miles over my normal limit of 26-miles-to-the-gas-light. I was very nervous getting a friend last night because I really didn't think we'd make it and I'd have to call AAA. At least I have AAA. Yay, AAA.

This afternoon my mom came over (along with my stepfather, his mother, and the dog--I'm not entirely sure why) and we went downtown to transfer the car I've been driving for years over to my name. They had already gotten insurance for me from GEICO and paid for six months, so I'm good until September. I have my registration and insurance cards in the glove box just in case I get pulled over (I have a tail light out, so it's a possibility. Unfortunately I don't have the tools to fix it and it's a chronic water-collects-in-the-light-due-to-a-bad-seal-and-kills-the-bulb kind of thing, so fixing it doesn't ensure that it will stay fixed. Next time I go to visit my family I'll try to get my stepfather to help.) I paid for having the title transferred over and I also had to pay some minor back taxes on a car I didn't officially junk and accrued a bill for two years. But it wasn't much, which is good, because although it's payday I have:

1. Gotten gas.
   
2. Bought some health and beauty aids I was nearly out of, like shampoo and toothpaste, to name a couple.
   
3. Had breakfast, lunch, and dinner, then got some groceries tonight on the way home from my friends' house.
   
4. Bought a Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse novel that happens to be the next in the series of the ones I've read.
   
5. Paid my cable Internet bill.
   
6. Found a gadget on clearance at the grocery store that was half off (I have trouble passing up gadgets.) It's an emergency radio/flashlight/signal flasher/cell phone charger/compass/siren all in one. It operates with a hand crank, with 30 seconds giving 60 minutes of charge. This is what a former acquaintance once referred to as a 'non-electric radio', which of course it absurd, because it is electric, it just doesn't run on batteries or wires. What can I say, I thought it might be useful in the car especially and it was less than $12. And it works pretty well, too.
   

Okay, it's after 3 am. I'm going to bed now. I've been painting and dusting tonight and I'm fairly tired. There will be more tomorrow, plus two hours at the store for truck night, work at the hospital, and errands, so I should get some sleep while I can. Good night.

Okay, theoretically

yesterday was just a glitch and my card (which is active, with a balance of $3,120 on it), should work in getting my medicines. So I get to try again, today.

I just took a shower and feel nice and clean. I've eaten and taken my medicine, including a vitamin. (My nails were breaking badly and I decided it was time for Flintstones again. Hey, what can I say, I hate horse pills. Flintstones vitamins have 100% of everything an adult needs and they're chewable.)

The bed is made and the counters clean. The aquarium is so much clearer and I've adjusted the temperature. I've balanced my chequebook (yay, I can get gas and toilet paper and still have plenty left over). I'm just waiting for the floor in the bathroom to dry so I can sweep and mop (I got out of the shower to get a new facial scrub, and got water everywhere). I got new razor cartridges at the pharmacy yesterday. It amazes me how much more expensive the cartridges are for reusable razors than disposable or just the razor itself. Between that and the facial scrub (which did at least come with a trial tube of moisturizer) and a plug-in air freshener refill, I spent quite a bit more than I meant to of my regular money (as opposed to the flexible spending amount).

I think I'm going to do an hour or so of notes whilst waiting for the floor to dry. Then it's a quick sweep and maybe mop, calling about the leaky faucet, getting gas, trying the card again at the pharmacy, and then I have to be over at a friend's by 2:30. I work from 5:30-9 tonight; it's truck night since yesterday was a holiday. But I'm off tomorrow. Then there's the game prep and game itself on Sunday, and I'm back to work at both jobs on Monday. But I must admit, it's been a productive vacation, and I've still gotten rest.

Well

I didn't get up early and clean like I did yesterday, because I got home about 1:30 am and stayed up to 2:30. But the house does look a little better from my endeavours yesterday. And I have a bunch of recyclables in the car I'm taking to the co-op between the two jobs today.

For it is also payday, and I have money for gas. The only reason I was able to go over to a friend's yesterday and pick his husband up from work was because a random lady in the parking lot at work, who had seen me check a gift card to see if there was money on it, gave me $4, and then the manager who was filling in for my boss (who just had her wisdom teeth out) told me to pump another $4 that he'd kicked in. So thank you to both of them. I've done the same for others, so I guess it's coming back to me. So the first order of business today is to go by the store and get some gas and some money, and then go to job #1, where my goal is to clean out storage in our attic as part of our big 'fall haul'. I work the truck tonight, but I've got two hours between jobs and I need to run some errands--the recyclables and also I have something waiting for me at my post office, which is on the south end of the big double circle with radiating streets that is Lexington. I'm on the east side. I only know of five post offices in town, although there may be more. But I'm in another zip code entirely from this one and it's about 8 miles away. Makes no sense that it would be the closest, hmm? Oh, well.

Okay, I'd better go. Whenever I go to the store I usually get sucked into a conversation with my boss, and so I'll need some extra time. :)

I feel a little like I dodged a bullet

The good news: my electric bill is paid. I thought I might not be able to, and I barely did.

The bad news: I have $10 and some change to my name until Thursday, and slightly over a quarter of a tank of gas. This should be an interesting week.

Fortunately I get paid at both jobs next week. The only thing that saved me this week is that we got our quarterly bonus at the store, so my cheque was much higher than usual, plus I've been working more.

Today feels strange because I'm only working 3-5 at the store, and not during the truck delivery, either, which I'm almost always there for. She has me working 3-5 most weekedays this coming week, except for Monday, where I have a couple of doctor's appointments.

One nice thing about this for tonight is that I can watch the premiere of 'Supernatural' over at a friend's. And I'm very excited about the return of 'Heroes' on Monday--again, I happened to be able to get off. Yay!

Okay, time to go to work, to get more money, to keep the necessities running. Hope to post soon.