Calgon, take me f*#k away

So, yesterday. Suckass day, just so ya'll know. It started on a lovely note. I woke up at 12:55. In the morning. No reason why, just WIDE AWAKE. I remember seeing the clock turn to 3:13, and then I fell asleep.

To be woken up at 5 because Boy 2 heard the cat make a funny sound. Climb out of bed, find cat, search house for any cat heavings. Find nothing and stumble back to bed.

Then, leaving for work, I stepped off my porch and onto my walkway that keeps becoming an ice skating rink because the mountains of snow on either side melt and fill in the only available spot, my walkway. I instantly fall on my ass, soaking my entire self and? Hurt my bum.

Go back in, change outfits, glare icy walkway into submission, make it to work.

Where! My boss is on me for every real and imagined thing I do wrong. He'd ask me to do This, and I would do this, only he meant this and I should have known that and gee! isn't this, This and this fun! And (urg) when I catch something he totally missed, he doesn't say a word. And when he gives the paperwork back to me, HE'S made a mistake. So I casually make the changes and put a post it note on it, just asking if I should include this too (I should) or not? Not only does he not say 'nice catch' or even just a simple yes, include that, HE makes the changes, prints it himself and never acknowledges that I helped at all. (urg again!)

I head to my car. And on my car? A parking ticket. A parking ticket for parking in a permit only area. And that parking ticket? Was placed on my windshield, approximately 12 inches from my PARKING PERMIT!

Finally, I get home. It was windy yesterday, no? Very windy. And I was aware of the wind when I opened my storm door. Held the storm door tightly in my little hand. But the wind ripped it out of said hand, slamming it clear against the house, bending the little shock absorber thing to a right angle and ripping the spring/chain thing on top, clear off.

So, I feel I've earned it. I received a gift certificate to a day spa for christmas. I'm using it this Saturday for an hour long massage. Now if I could just sleep through Friday...

Moving to China

Our neighbor, G, passed away recently. He was a great guy, the first to welcome us to the neighborhood. He was young, only in his 50s. He made the effort to get to know us, and as an avid gardiner, was kind enough to encourage my ragged attempts at gardening instead of telling me to put the shovel down - slowly - and back away, crazy lady. He was a huge fan of a local sports team, and took the boys to a game and got pictures of the boys with the players.

We heard an advertisment for a game on the radio last night. Boy 2 wondered if G's family still went to the games. We discussed that it may be hard to go to the games right now, because they miss him, but that later it would be a nice way to remember G and how much they love him.

Boy 2 mulled that over and then made an announcement. When he turns 95? He's going to tell all of us and all of his friends that he's moving to China. Then he's going to go home and never come out.

Um... why?

That way no one will know when he dies, and they won't be sad. He doesn't like making people sad.

Don't you just want to eat him all up? How does a kid get to be that sweet?

Attempt to make money, #1

So. Attempt #1.

Sell my books. I like to read, have I mentioned that? And while I use the library, both the one in my town and the one in the next town over, at least once a week, I still buy books. Going without books makes me anxious.

So I have more than a few books at my house, some waiting to be read, some already read. I posted the books online. 92 books so far. And, in 24 hours, I've sold 5. Not bad, right?

Uh huh. Except selling books means I need to ship them. Oh. I need envelopes. Padded envelopes. And packing tape. And postage.

So, 5 books down and I think I'm only in the hole by about $10. Yippee!

Blah

Heh. That whole money thing? The needing it and owing it and such? Sucks. Big time. As I'm sure most everyone is feeling, prices are going up, but my income? Not so much. To make it that much better, at our last friday meeting Boss M said they couldn't allow overtime unless they requested it. So there goes the extra three hours I've been sneaking in each week for the past few months.

I'm looking for a part time job. As is, apparently, every one else. There are far more people offering to babysit than looking to be sat. Retail jobs pay squat, and I'd have to either pay someone to watch the boys or leave them alone for hours on end. For very little money. I'm looking at newspaper delivery (can you picture me on my bike, through the snow, cursing merrily as I go?) because it would be in the mornings, hopefully before the boys even wake up. We'll see. It seems everyone has the same idea I do, since even though they keep advertising, they haven't returned my calls. So I Shall Stalk Them. Good plan, no?

I've been trying to do more meal planning and careful shopping, which has also meant more mac and cheese and ramen noodles. Love me some cheap food. Unfortunately, I also love fruits and vegetables and avoiding scurvy and such. I'll try growing a veggie garden again this year, but I have a lot of trees and not a lot of sun. Hence, not a lot of veggies.

Yes, I realize I have an excuse for everything. Why no, I do not think my negative attitude is similar to my father's negative attitude, which drives me nuts. Why do you ask?