Vocational Rehabilitation

I went for the Voc Rehab orientation this morning. It was basically a PowerPoint presentation and then setting up an appointment to see a counselor. I'll go back to see the counselor on November 26th. I have a packet that I need to fill out. I've already done some of it, but I'll have to get back to it. This afternoon I went and picked up my Skills Certificate at the PPWFC. I have a Silver Certificate (there are Gold, Silver and Bronze certificates). All of this, the disability stuff and only getting a siver cert has me wondering if I really am capable of going back to work. I'm going to give it my best shot. But even David said that I won't continue working if it's too hard for me. I'll give it my best though. We really need the money. Looks like we'll have the BEF in place by the end of January and start on the DS in February (paying off the $700 family loan). We will never borrow any money for anything ever again. Period.

I'm going to go clothes shopping Saturday afternoon. In the morning I have to go pick up the AFM box. Then I have someone coming over to buy some christmas stuff I posted on craigslist. It's just $10, but every dollar helps.

I have to upgrade my MS Money. The trial period is over. I'm checking one out on eBay. It's about $20 online (the MS site). The $20 one is an essentials version. The one on eBay (which is at $1 plus $4 s/h) is a deluxe version. I'm also watching a DR Financial Peace University DVD set on eBay. It's at $75 right now. Theres about 3 days to go on both items. I could definitely work both into the budget.

Tomorrow I'm going to go over to the Open PC lab at PPWFC. I'll be working on a Computer Skills Assessment (Word, Excel, 10 key, etc.). I don't know how long it will take so I'm going to get there at 9am when it opens and try to complete if by noon the latest when the lab closes.

I'm disappointed that I only earned a Silver Certificate on the Reading, Math and Location Skills Assessment. I really feel like I could have done better. But that was when things were different, before the accident. I really had a much harder time with the test than I thought I would. So I'm not sure how I'll do on the Computer Skills Assessment. I'll just do my best. I'll bring that stuff to the Voc Rehab appointment. I know that doing as well as I do doesn't look like I have problems, but I know it's different now. Even filling out the application for the appointment on the 26th was making me anxious. I felt like I couldn't figure out how to fill out the application at some points. It's frustrating. And I'm having a heck of a time with my right thumb (the one that was dislocated and surgically repaired).

I will start work in 5 days. Yikes! I'm going to feel like an idiot if I can't do the job because I talked myself up so much. It has been 7 years since I worked though, so I anticipate an adjustment period, mentally and physically. The first day I have to go to HR for orientation at 8:15am. Not sure what the rest of the week will look like. I have Thanksgiving off, paid. That's cool. But I have to work on Friday and David is off. He has hockey that night though. We'll have the afternoon together. Maybe we can do something special.

I haven't been feeling good for days now. My allergies are really bothering me. My nose is runny and I've been coughing. I use cough drops when the cough gets bad. I feel dehydrated. I need to drink more water. I weighed myself this mornin and I'm under 250. Woohoo! I think working will help with losing weight too. I'll be more active and focused on other things.

Enough for now.

Clothes shopping

I have dinner going. The potatoes are boiling and the chicken is baking. I really felt like having a nice meal tonight. I still have to do an inventory of all the food I have so I can plan out some meals. I forget that I have stuff so it's a good idea to list everything out. I'll take care of that after dinner.

I'll have to do some clothes and shoes shopping this weekend. Thankfully the dress code is business casual so I don't have dress to the hilt. I'll start at Goodwill and see if I can find anything there. I may have to get shoes at one of the cheaper shoe stores if I can't find any at Goodwill.

It's going to be weird to go back to work after being off more than 7 years. I'm sure it will take some time to adjust to being somewhere for 4 hours straight. I'm sure I can do it though. I want Paul & Caryn to know they made the right choice offering me the job. I don't know how much training I will need. Hopefully I'll pick it all up quickly. I'm really excited that I'm getting so much per hour ($11.52). It should be interesting to start up a new job.

Guess what?

I got the job!!

The HR person called me this morning and offered me the job at $11.52/hour. I'll start on 11/19, the week of Thanksgiving. And boy will I have something to be thankful for. On Monday, the 19th, I have to go downtown to HR for orientation. I don't know how long orientation lasts. I'll get Thanksgiving Day off paid. Woohoo! I had to go this morning for my drug screen. It took me two hours and three large cups of water to get it done. They'll have results in 48-72 hours. It'll probably be quicker than that but I'm sure they say it will take that much time to cover themselves. When I go to HR on Monday I get to park in the Parking Garage for free because I'm an employee. Yep, that's me, an employee. I am very excited and nervous all at the same time. I do have to work the Friday after Thanksgiving but David is off for the day. I'll only work a half a day. My normal hours will be 7:30 - 11:30 am, Monday through Friday. I'm still going to go to Voc Rehab on Wednesday. I want to see if they can do anything for me even though I've already accepted a job. Then in the afternoon I have to pick up my skills certificate at the PPWFC.

I called David first to let him know that I got the job. Then I emailed Lisa and then called Lynn. Everyone is happy for me. Lisa called me after I talked to Lynn. I also emailed Kitty to let her know. So this is my last week as a homemaker.

It's already 3:30pm and David is home. I'm going to make chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner tonight. I probably wont get that going until about 5pm or so.

Okay, I'm going to go check out the TMMO forum. I'm just so excited!

2008 Budget

I made David's lunch. We're saving a lot of money by me making his lunches each day. All he spends on is breakfast and chew. That's about $20/week. That's his blow money. My $20 usually goes to get groceries. I need to fix that. I should be able to blow my blow money on whatever I want. I need to adjust the grocery budget if it's not working and I have to use my blow money. At the end of this month I'll figure out just how much I spent and then make an adjustment.

I'm craving orange juice this morning. A nice, cold glass of orange juice just sounds really good. I do have a few dollars. I could get some orange juice if I wanted to get some. There's some change in the change jar I could use.

I added 2008 to the budget. I just copied previous months and pasted them into the budget workbook. I feel good getting that done. Of course, I'll have to make changes along the way to account for my new, job income but that will be a pleasure to do. And I'll have to tweak things as we go along too. It takes a few months to get a working budget that's fairly accurate. And of course, we have the holidays coming up and I'm sure that will have a slight impact on the budget. I don't really know how much to plan for for the holidays. Thanksgiving will be okay since we'll be going over to Lisa's. Just bring something to share instead of cooking a whole meal. And I'm sure we can do Christmas inexpensively too. We'll get our AFM food just before Christmas. That will be a big help. And I already have a turkey for Christmas if I need one. That would be my $5 turkey. I saved over $7 on that deal. I saved 41% total on the whole bill that day because I only bought sale items. I'm trying to be a good steward with our money.

Guess I should start cleaning up around here. David should be leaving soon so I'll start right after he leaves. More later.

The time has almost come...

It's a bit after 4am. Blitz woke me up to go out. I let her and Huxley out for a few minutes. It's really cold and windy out. They're back in bed. I'm up because I'm nervous about hearing from CSHP. I should know within hours whether I got the job or not. It was weird not seeing it on their website or in the newspaper. I've really been focused on getting this job. I don't want to work too far from home with winter coming up. I also don't mind working part-time for now and then maybe FT later. I figured it out last night that I'll be starting off making about $5 less per hour than I did at my last job. Hopefully I can move up that way as I go along. I know I'm not going to get a job for $17/hour but a girl can dream.

I'm going to jump in the shower later so I can be ready in case they need me to come down to the HR office today to do pre-employment screening or a drug test. I need to check my list of meds and see if it is up to date. I can also check with Wal-mart today on those $4 prescriptions. I want to save money wherever I can. Plus it would be easier to get prescriptions when I need them instead of having to wait for them to come in the mail. Too bad I can't get all of them at Wal-mart. I may check their prices just to see what the difference in cost would be. It's nice having a 3 month supply but it would be nicer to save some money and have quicker access to the prescriptions.

I also need to make a call to the Healthcare company so we can have someone come and pick up the oxygen machine. We're paying for it but David's not using it. And it's pretty expensive. The Healthcare company was part of our financial planning. I need to take care of that too.

I'm going to get the house straightened up today: laundry, dishes, vaccuum, paperwork and cleaning. I really need to catch up. I'll feel better if I'm caught up on stuff. The house is kind of a mess right now. No problem though, I'll just jump in where I am.

My allergies are really bothering me. I have post nasal drip, a cough and my tongue is sore. My eyes are watering too. I don't want to take allergy medicine because it will make me sleepy. I need to be awake to get the house cleaned and chores done. I think I'll also take an inventory of what food is on hand and plan out meals. I have quite a bit of meat in the freezer so I'll be able to make quite a few meals. There's quite a bit in the cupboards too. And Saturday I pick up the AFM food. All that shoud last for quite some time. The only things I'll need are perishibles: milk, bread, produce. Oh and I'll need to get cereal. Although I probably should stop eating so much cereal and eat smoothies again for breakfast. I've gained back a few pounds because I've stopped walking because of th weather. I could wait until later in the day to go walking when it's warmer and less windy out. I need to get back to walking. Either that or use the treadmill over at the clubhouse. That might be too boring for me though. But I've got to exercise somehow. I don't want to gain back all the weight I lost. I should start out today and just get out there and walk this morning. I have a hoodie I can wear to keep me warm. And I have gloves and a hat to keep me warm too.

David's radio alarm is going off. He hasn't got up yet. Wait, I think I just heard him getting up. Yep, that was him. His alarm is off now. The dogs should be in bed sleeping. That's where I should be too but I'm too amped to sleep. I'll probably go back to bed in a little bit though. I really need my sleep. I haven't sleep through the night for so long now. Either the dogs are waking me up or I'm getting up to go to the bathroom. It stinks. I won't be able to work if I feel like this all the time. I've got to stay in bed until at least 5:30am. I want to be at work by 7:20am because people start getting to the lab at 7:30am. I don't want to keep people waiting. (She says, knowing that the job may not be hers.)

It would be so nice to make more money. We could get the BEF done, pay the family loan, get a month ahead on bills and then pay off the jeep. After that we'd start on the retirement again and whatever is left over would go towards paying off the house. It'll definitely take years to do, but it's better than taking 30 years (the length of our mortgage). It will be so nice to not be in debt. It will be awesome to pay for things with cash and have the money to do things with. We are living like no one else so that later we can live like no one else. I don't know that we'll ever be millionaires, but it would be fun to work towards it. But even if we don't end up as millionaires, at least we'll be able to enjoy our lives guilt free and debt free.

I'm a bit nervous about whether I will be able to actually keep a job. I know it's just nerves making me worry about that but I am worried. All I can do is what I can do. I'll work if I can. I need to make some sacrifices too to get us out of debt. David can't be the only one who works all the time. Even if I can just work part-time, I'll be adding in more money, making a bigger 'shovel' to pay off the debt with. I always doubt my abilities before I attempt to take on something new. Guess that's just human nature. I'm confident in my abillities but I'm also worried that I don't have the skills to do the job. It's hard going back to work after not working for 7 years. I'm hoping Voc Rehab can help me and I'm hoping I can get this job. Having Voc Rehab help would make it a bit easier because I wouldn't have to worry about SS doing a medical review. I worry about that because I haven't been able to afford to go to the doctors (mental health or physical). I could try to get back after I'm comfortable in my job. It's not that I don't need to be seen, it's just that I can't afford the copays. We'll have the HSA for next year and that will help us with meeting our deductible. We've gone to the basic PPO for this coming year. I hope that is the right thing to do. If not we won't be able to change it unti 2009.

I should get up and start doing some stuff around here. I don't know that I'll go back to bed. I'm too nervous. I could use that nervous energy to clean up around here. I've had a basket of laundry in the living room for days now. And the counter is full of dishes again. I need to get back to my FlyLady routines. I've completely gotten out of my routines. And the house shows it. But I know that working 15 minutes at a time, I can get a lot done around here. I just need to pace myself. It will feel good to get things 'under control' again. Routines are the way to achieve that.

It's almost 5am now. I can't believe I'm up but then again what else would I be doing with all of this nervous energy I have.

I need to remember to call the Healthcare company and Vonage today. I want to see if they have done anything on getting my money back to me. That $80 would help out a lot. I'm afraid of them trying to rip me off though. I can't believe I had to pay $39.99 to get my service transferred back to Qwest. They told me it wasn't a disconnect fee. The person I talked to at Vonage repeated that over and over again. The person said that it was just a temporary fee and I would get it all back because I was within the trial period when we cancelled. I'm sure they will give me the run-around though. They always seem to.

I think I'll probably jump in the shower after David leaves. I don't want to be showering later when the call from HR could come in. If I don't hear anything by 10am, then I'll call her back.

It feels so cold in here because we have the heat turned down to the low 60's and it's cold and windy out. I don't want to feel like I'm freezing all winter long.

I only have a few dollars left for this week. I think I have most everything that I need. Just remembered, I need to make David's lunch. BRB.

Still waiting...

The ad for the job at CSHP has been taken off of the CSHP website. They must have chosen someone for the job. I have to hope it will be me. If it's not, it's because God doesn't want me to walk into something that will be a negative experience for me. I've prayed that I would get the job if it's the right thing, but if it's not, that the door would be shut completely on it. I'll wait for a call in the morning. If I don't hear anything by 10am then I'll call the HR person back. I did leave a message for her on Friday and asked her to call me back. I would assume that she would call me right away so I can get the pre-employment screening stuff done.

I checked online for help with food and clothes just in case we would need that. There are services out there if we need them. I think we'll be okay though. I'm planning on getting the BEF funded in November and December. Then we'll work at paying off debt. That will start in December. We'll start on the FFEF in April '08. Of course that's all tentative. Who knows what Murphy will bring. That's the goal though. Then after the FFEF is funded, we'll start working on paying off the house. We could be completely out of debt in 5 years if we stay gazelle intense. We have to. What else can we do. Stay in debt? I don't think so. It's going to take a lot of sacrifice but it will be worth it.

I've been tired all day. Haven't done anything around the house. I really need to get caught up before I have to start working. I'll have to get into a routine for sure if I get a job. I don't want to come home to a house that's a mess and laundry and dishes every day after working for hours. I'll probably get a lot done tomorrow because I'll have so much nervous energy even after I get the call. Whether I get the job or not, I'll be nervous. I really don't want to have to do anymore job interviews. I'd like this to be it. Gosh, it's so hard to wait. I'm not very patient.

David and the girls are still napping. I should go in and join them. I have to figure out what to do for dinner tonight. I haven't taken anything out of the freezer. I'm just so unmotivated today. Not much going on in the TMMO forum so that's not keeping me busy. That's why I've been blogging so much today. It's keeping me busy and helping me to get out the nervous energy.

I got a letter from Brad the other day. He sounds like he is doing okay. I sure hope they keep him in jail for a while this time so he can get his GED and learn a trade. Hopefully he'll do well with the structure and then have a better chance of doing well when he gets out. Grace said that he seemed happy and okay on the day she visited him (his 20th birthday). I'm glad that he has food, shelter a place to shower and structure in his life. He gets sentenced on December 20th. If they let him out he'll be out on the streets in the winter time. I don't want that for him. I need to work on another letter for him. I'll do that in a little bit.

Back to dinner. I really want chicken and mashed potatoes but I'm too lazy to make them. Maybe I'll get some energy here soon.

Just remembered: I didn't take my medicine this morning. I better go do that.

No jobs in this weekend's paper

We went and picked up the Sunday paper. I've already looked through the jobs section. Nothing of much interest today. CSHP isn't advertising for the East branch receptionist position. They must have made a decision. I should know within 24 hours if they are open on Veterans Day. If I started on 11/19 I'd work for three days and then have a day off. Not sure about the Friday after Thanksgiving. I think that's a work day for CSHP. Then I'd have the weekend off before starting my first full week. I'm kind of nervous about training. I hope that I can pick things up quickly. I'll need to be very focused on what I'm doing. I'll have to take a lot of notes. I don't want to rely on my memory. I don't want to forget things. I'm sure I would do okay. Well, it feels like it's time for a nap.

Waiting...

If I can just get through today the waiting should be over. I just want to know if I got that job or not. Of course, that makes me nervous because what if I get the job? Yikes! I'd be a worker again. But I'll do whatever I need to do to help pay off our debt. We have that family loan, David's jeep and the house. Then we will be debt free. I'm curious how our taxes will turn out for this year. We haven't borrowed any 401(k) money for the first time in a long time. If we get a refund I'll have David change his deductions so we get it back during the year instead of lending it to the IRS. I just hope we don't end up owing anything for this year. We'll have deductions for the mortgage interest and for charitable donations. Not sure what else we can itemize. I'm thinking of going with a DR ELP CPA to do our taxes this year. It may cost a few dollars more then the local guy, but I'm not sure if he's a CPA or not. Just checked. He is a CPA. He's done our taxes for years, so maybe I'll stick with him. He always seems to do a good job. And I believe he would cost less too. Hopefully we'll get everything we need to do taxes by mid-February. I'd like to get them done as soon as possible.

I need to work on the allocated spending plan (budget) and make worksheets for 2008. I want to be able to plug in my new SS amount and my part-time job. It will help to see how fast we can move along with our plan.

craigslist is awesome!

I put the Left Behind series and all the board games on craigslist. They would make good Christmas presents so now may be a good time to list them. I'm asking $15 for all the books and $75 for all the games. Hopefully I'll get some action on them.

Finances

I researched the Wal-mart $4 prescriptions program. Looks like we have a couple of meds on that they cover but some of them aren't cost effective to buy at Wal-mart. My prozac would be cost effective to buy at Wal-mart though. I'm paying $200 every 3 months for that prescription through mail order. If I paid $4 per month I'd only be paying $12 for that same three month period. That's a huge savings. I'll take my list of prescriptions to Wal-mart and see what they cover and how much they would cost (there's a note on the Wal-mart Pharmacy page that prescription costs may be higher in Colorado). I'm looking to save money anywhere that I can. Most of what we spend seems fixed, but I'm realizing that not everything is as it appears with the finances. There is a lot more wiggle room than I imagined there would be.

I haven't heard anything from Vonage yet about my refund. I'm going to call them tomorrow and check on it. I know they received the equipment because I paid for delivery confirmation. I'd like to get my $80 as soon as possible. I had to pay them immediately but they seem to drag their feet on refunding me my money. It's already been six days since they received the package and I haven't heard anything. That is frustrating. And I won't see why deposit refunded from Qwest until December of '08. I should however see my $300 credit on the next bill. That will help out a lot. All the phone stuff is so expensive through Qwest but because I want DSL I have to go with Qwest. And now we're locked into contracts on the wireless phones and DirecTV. I hate contracts like that. It's expensive to get out of them too. Oh well, it's the price we pay for wanting technology.

I've been up since 6:30am. It's almos 8am now. David is still in bed. He said last night that he probably wouldn't go into work today. I'm sure he's tired of working every day. We really could use the OT $ though. Of course, I can't really talk because I'm not even sure I'll be able to hold down a job, even part-time. I really don't mind if he doesn't work today. He deserves a day off.

My easel didn't sell again on eBay so I'm going to give it to Lisa. Either she'll use it or she'll let them use it at the boy's school. At least it will get used and not just sit around gathering dust.

I want to get a month ahead on bills after we fund the BEF. I won't feel comfortable trying to pay off debt if I'm worried about paying bills. DR says to be current with all bills and for me current means being a month ahead. It'll take a few months to get there but it will be worth the sacrifice. I'll still pay the family loan off first though. I don't want that hanging over our heads any longer than it has to. It would be nice to be able to pay off the bills in Jan with November's income but we're not there yet. Right now we're still living paycheck to paycheck. But at least we have a working budget and everything is accounted for. We're just going to have to stick to the budget as much as possible. Spending $30 a month on the AFM program will really help out with the grocery budget. I hope it works out to do it.

I should look at selling the games we never use (except the NHL Monopoly). I could pick up an extra few bucks there. And this might be a great time to sell them since we're coming up on Christmas. Think I'll research prices and see how much I could sell them for.

I'm getting a raise!

I was just doing some research online and found out that I'll get a 2.3% COLA in January. That will amount to about $27 a month. I get a raise! Woohoo! I'll get to work for 9 months and make as much as I want during that period. Then in the following 36 months I can make $940 a month after I take out for prescriptions or other things I have to pay for in order to work. I'll have to check out what exactly I can deduct. I'll go do some more reaserch. BRB.

Yes, I can deduct what I spend on prescription drugs and probably equipment I need to buy in order to be ergonomic at work. But I don't have to worry about that for 9 months of making over $600 or so a month. If I get this job I'll definitely make over $900 per month. I'll have to figure out deductions to keep me under $940 after the 9 months.

I'm also going to check with Wal-mart and see if we're eligible for their $4 prescription service. I know it's only on certain drugs, but it's worth it to check it out. Think I'll go research that right now.

Smell like berries...

I picked up the girls from PetCo. They smell like berries and they are so soft. And their breath is nice because they got their teeth cleaned. Their nails are a lot shorter than I expected and that is great. They were way too long. I'm sure their feet were bothering them because of their nails being so long. I am so glad we had the money to get the groomed. It was worth every penny. I did save $10 with PetCo coupons. It cost a total of $70 for both of them. So worth it.

The DR show is on now. I love watching the show. It motivates me. I think we've been doing a whole lot better with finances lately. Which curiously has made things a whole lot better between the two of us. Isn't that interesting? David worked 4 hours OT today and I think he's going to work 4 hours OT tomorrow morning. The OT money is great. It's getting us on track. We still don't have anything towards the BEF, but we are able to pay all the bills and buy groceries and gas for the vehicles. I know every day where we stand financially. It's a good feeling, very empowering.

Hmmm? Maybe the DR show isn't on. It's on the schedule but it's not on TV. That's too bad. I'd like to see an episode tonight.

I just thought: I hope they didn't use any strawberry on the girls. I'm allergic to strawberries. I'm feeling a bit itchy already. It could just be what they used even if it's not strawberries.

I sure do want to hear about that job at CSHP. Monday can't come quick enough. I'm sure I'll be anxious on Monday morning and up early. I'd like the job hunting to be over but if it's not, I'll just keep doing what I can do get a part-time job.

Taking the girls to get them groomed

I thought I was going to have to wait until Tuesday to find out about the job because Monday is Veteran's Day. But I don't think CSHP takes Veteran's Day off. David has to work that day. I let Lisa know that they called me. She thinks they'll offer me the job. I sure hope they do. I just took a shower so I'll be ready to leave to take the dogs to be groomed, nails trimmed and teeth brushed. They really need to have that done. It's been too long since their last 'spa treatment'. lol David had hockey again tonight. I'm going to try and get some stuff done around the house. I've been behind for weeks. I just need to jump in where I am and do what I can do. There are dishes on the counter that need to go in the dishwasher. There are dishes in the dishwasher that need to be put away. There's a load of towels to be folded. There's laundry in the dryer that needs to be put away and laundry in the hamper to be washed. The house definitely needs to be vacuumed too. I also need to stop by the store. We are almost out of milk and we are out of bread. There are a few other things I'll look at but they will have to be deals for me to buy them.

Nothing happening with the eBay or craigslist stuff today. I don't really have much else to sell at this point. I guess I could check out what's in the garage and see if there's anything there to get rid of. I also could consider selling my desk and bookcase that are in the office. I really don't use them for anything but storage. They sit unused most of the time now that I have my laptop. I do go in there to print though. I want to get a wireless printer when I can afford to get one. Then I can sell my printer (HP 6110xi). So I guess there are a few things around here that could be sold. I'll have to check to see how much I can get for that stuff to see if it's worth selling.

If I get that job I'll need to pick up a few things at Goodwill. I don't have any work clothes right now. They have awesome deals at Goodwill. I'll also have to pick up a pair of jeans. I'm always having to hike them up because they fall down.

I have to wake up David in about 5 minutes and leave with the girls in about 15 minutes. Minnie is up on my chair while the dogs are outside. She loves coming out and getting some attention.

Depending on how long it will take to ge the girls done, I might go to the store while they are getting groomed. I may have time to shop, bring the stuff home and the go pick them up. That would be ideal. I don't want to leave stuff in the car because it's at least in the high 60's today. I'll be using blow money to shop. I never really use the blow money to blow it. I usually spend it on groceries. I'll have to make sure that I'm alloting enough to groceries. I didn't allot anything this week but I could allot $25 to keep with the grocery challenge. I know we'll need milk and bread again because we're eating a lot of sandwiches and cereal.

Time to get David up and get the girls over to PetCo.

Grooming secured

I was able to get the girls in for a 4pm appointment today for 'the works' which includes a medicated wash, condition, nail trim and teeth brushed. They'll be smelling good after they are done with that. They are quite dog smelling right now. David smells it more than I do. I'm always so congested.

David should be home from work in an hour or so. I think I'll let him take a nap and I'll go over to the library to peruse the CPT book. I have a book called "Decoding the Codes" on hold, I'm number 2 in the queue. That will be very helpful to me. It's a book that I may want to buy at some point. I'm not sure how expensive it is though or if it's even available for sale.

I checked my item on eBay this morning, still no bites. If it doesn't sell this time around, I'm going to give it to Lisa. She said if she couldn't use it she'd take it in to school for the art teacher. No bites on my xmas stuff on craigslist either. I hope someone will be interested in buying the items. If not, I'm not sure what I will do with the stuff.

Gosh, I'm feeling sleepy. I'm thinking about going back to bed for a while. Or maybe I'll wait for David to get home and join him in a nap. I haven't had breakfast yet so I need to do that. Oh, it sounds like David is home. Woohoo!

Bizzarre things

I woke up a bit after 8am this morning. That's sleeping in late for me. I still feel tired though. I think it's because I'm not used to taking all my medicine. I also woke up with a cough. If I get a cold, now would be the time, before I have to start work. I wonder what they do during the pre-employment screening. I know that there will be a drug test so I'm ready for that. I have my last 2 orders from the mailorder company to show what meds I take. I'm assuming they'll do a background check and have me fill out paperwork. Maybe they'll do the background check prior to me doing the paperwork. Would be kind of wasteful to do it simultaneously. If a person didn't pass then the paperwork was done for nothing. I shouldn't have any problems though. I'm just waiting for that call on Monday tellling me that they are offering me the job. I wonder if they'll offer me $11+ like the HR person said. I need to ask how often they get paid. I'll have to work that into the allocated spending plan. It will be a pleasure to have to do that. :-) I think I'll bring in about $800/month net. That will put a dent into the DR plan. First we have to get the BEF funded, then pay the family loan, then it's on to paying the jeep off.

I had a weird dream last night. I dreampt that we still had the Tundra and we were using it to haul stuff to sell at the flea market. We still had stuff left after the flea market, so we packed it into the truck and parked the truck in Aunt Frances' back yard. Well, in the dream it was stolen along with all the stuff we were going to sell. We were served with a $90,000 court action. But the guy serving me knew David and let us go without paying the $90,000. I was so upset about the truck being stolen. I was walking and driving around looking for it. Never found it though. Then David and I were on bicycles riding 'home'. Instead we ended up at a friends house where the living room was as long as a bowling alley with nice hardwood floors. In the dream I spoke to a girl who was pregnant and having problems. She didn't want to go to the ER because she would have to admit that she was pregnant. But I talked her into going so she and the baby would be safe. Then the attorney I was using to help with the truck being sold took something that I made and started a business for me. I was trying to pick out a name for the business. I wanted a name that would be interesting. Then I was on a new browser system on a weird little PC and I was trying to download pictures of the stuff that was in the truck and the truck itself. I was having difficulty getting it to print out. The browser kept going back to pages that I didn't need to be on. I think I dreampt about that because I installed FireFox last night on my PC. Anyway, that is the jist of the dream. I'm sure it means something but I can't make hide not hair of it at this point. Oh yeah, I couldn't wait, in the dream, to go onto the TMMO forum and post about the truck being stolen. I guess you know you're spending too much time on a forum when you start dreaming about it. lol

I'm feeling a bit wheezy this morning. It's either a bad case of allergies or a cold is coming on. I hope it's just allergies.

I didn't allocate any money for groceries this week. On purpose. We have tons of food in the house and we should be able to get by on it for at least a week. The only thing I'll have to buy is milk and bread. There are some other things I'd like to buy but I'll have to check out the prices first before I can justify buying them (Hershey's syrup, soy sauce, things like that). Next weekend we pick up the box from AFM. That'll probably take us through the end of the month. We're going over to Lisa's for Turkey Day so I won't have to buy a completer meal. I'll just bring something over to Lisa's to share with everyone. I'll try to make it something I already have on hand (maybe that pumpkin cheesecake). It'll be nice to not have to do massive amouints of cooking for just the two of us. I think I'll still buy a small turkey because they are only $5 at Safeway. We don't have to use it for Turkey Day. We could save it for Christmas or some other time. It's definitely worth the money if I clean off all the meat and use the carcass to make soup that I can freeze.

That made me think of Leanne (a turkey soup recipe) and the job I applied for with savingdinner.com. I haven't heard anything about that job. Oh well, I want the job down the road anyway. It's going to be so nice to work less than 2 miles from home (positive thinking). I'm sure they must have been calling to offer me the job.

Lisa told me some of the questions they asked in the reference check. Most were pretty routine and straightforward. One was bizarre though. They asked if I had any violent or ? tendencies. What the french toast? That is the weirdest question I have ever heard of in a reference check. Violent tendencies. Sheesh.

I'm starting to get a bit nervous about actually working a real job. After taking that test yesterday and realizing how difficult some of it was, it made me wonder if I'll have a hard time at a job. I know it's just the jitters and I'll be fine once I'm at the job but I worry that in the last 7 years I've forgotten how to learn quickly and pick things up fast. When I think about it rationally, I know that I will do okay.

It's just a bit after nine now. I don't feel like doing a dang thing. I'm wheezy, have a tickle in my throat and I'm coughing. I need to see if I can get the girls in for grooming. They really need a bath and to have their nails trimmed. I guess I should try and call PetCo and see if they have any slots open. I'll blog more later.

I might have the job!

I got up early and went to my skills assessment class at PPWFC. The whole thing took about 3 hours. A good percentage of it was fairly difficult. I did complete the test and scored well on the 3 categories - math, reading, location. I'll get to pick up my certificate next Wednesday. I am getting a silver certificate. After class I went home and let the dogs out. They were anxious to get out. I let them back in and then left to do errands. I dropped off the book on tape at the Library. I wasn't able to pick up those books because they both are reference materials. I stopped for gas and at the CU. After I did my errands I went over to Lisa's. We had a nice time. When I got home there was a message on the phone from CSHP. Tracy in HR called and asked me to call here back. She sounded positive so maybe I got the job. I called back but she was already gone for the day. I left a message for her to call me back. I'm assuming that she won't call until Monday. I can't believe I missed that call. I should have forwarded the home phone to my cell phone. Grrrr! Oh yeah, and they called Lisa for a reference. She was nice enough to give me a good reference. Any time the phone rings I want it to be the HR person telling me I got the job and I need to schedule employee pre-screening and drug testing. I'm sure I won't hear from her until Monday. And hopefully she'll call early on Monday. If I didn't get the job I'd like to know as soon as possible. David is at hockey tonight. I miss him. I'm ready for bed and I know he'll have to sit up for a while to unwind. He's going to get in some OT tomorrow and maybe Sunday. He'll probably work 4 hours each day. We really need the OT money. It's helping out so much. It's hard for me to believe that I might be working in a week and a half. I did do okay with sitting there for three hours today to do that skills assessment. But I'm tired tonight and my allergies are making me feel sick. I really need to get some sleep.

Research done

I checked and they have CPT books and ICD-9 books at the East Library. I'll check them out when I drop off that book on tape tomorrow. I think the ICD-9 is reference only. It's the CPT book that I'm really interested in anyway.

I sent a thank you to Paul & Caryn via the HR department. It's either going to tell them something good about me or it will blow the job for me. Whatever is supposed to happen, will happen.

Okay it's midnight now. I seriously need to go to bed. Goodnight.

Interview went really well!

I had my interview with CSHP this morning. I think it went well. I was interviewed by the head of the lab department and the head of the radiology department. I was able to answer all of their questions and even had a chance to ask questions of my own. I feel like I would be a good fit for the job. If I'm offered the job, I'd start on November 19th, 11 days from now. They said that HR would notify me by the beginning of next week. I have to admit that I'll be disappointed if I don't get the position, but if I don't I'll just keep looking. I'm going to have to brush up on my lab and radiology codes and procedures. I'll look and see if they have anything at the library since I'm going there tomorrow to drop off that Stephen King book on tape. I never finished it. It didn't grab my attention like the other one did. I'm really nervous about waiting to hear from CSHP HR. I so want this job. I did pray though, that if it's not the right job for me that God would completely shut the door on it. I don't always know what's best but He does. I wish they'd make a quick decision and I'd get a call tomorrow. I just have to be patient I guess.

Tomorrow morning I go to PPWFC and do a skills assessment test. That should be fun. If I do well I'll forward that to CSHP HR. Couldn't hurt. If I don't fair too well then I won't send it to them. Then tomorrow afternoon I'll be going over to Lisa's for scone church. I'm looking forward to that. She invited us over for Thanksgiving. We accepted. I won't have to buy a big meal then. I'm not sure what I'll bring but it will be less expensive than doing a whole meal for just the two of us.

David and the girls are already in bed. I'll be heading there pretty quick. I took some time tonight to reply to topics on the DR forum. Being on that forum is so helpful. It keeps me accountable in the finance department. I got paid for both the items I sold on eBay. I used the money to put some gas in the jeep, get Benadryl for the dogs and to do some grocery shopping. There's a challenge on the DR forum to keep grocery shopping to $25 a week until the first of the year. I had budgeted for $60 a week. If I can spend half that, I'll be doing good. In two weeks I go pick up the AFM unit. There will be all kinds of stuff in there. I hope I can use most of it. Whatever I can't use that's non-perishable will go to Care & Share.

I have to be up by 7am the latest tomorrow. I'll have to leave about 7:45am. I don't want to be late. I have no idea what the testing will consist of. I'm sure it's all done on the computer though. I guess there could be some writing too. I'll know when I get there. It'll be fun.

I called the recovery center and told them that I would like to be taken out of the running for their office position. I also emailed the owner that I interviewed with yesterday afternoon and told him that same thing. No need to drag it out. That way the can eliminate me and go on to the next candidate.

If I get the CSHP job, I'd be working from 7:30 - 11:30 am, Monday through Friday. They said there is a possibility of the position turning into more than part time, but that would be down the road. I won't worry about that right now. I have 9 months to make as much as I can before I have to worry about going full time or making the appropriate amount with my disability. Nine months should give me enough time to figure out if I can really go back to work, even just part-time to start. I have applied for some other jobs, some of them are full-time, just to get some more experience doing interviews. Oh yeah, they mentioned tattoos and piercings being frowned upon, so I'll have to always wear long sleeved at that job. I did stop last night and buy a $2 shirt at Goodwill. It looked really good today. Until I know what job I'm getting and what the actual dress code is, I won't buy any work clothes. There's no jeans at the CSHP job except on payday Fridays. I will have to ask, if I'm offered the job, what my pay rate will be, when I get paid and what happens with the holidays if I'm only part time. They have some days that they work only half a day but get paid for a full day (xmas eve, new years eve, sometime around Thanksgiving). Since I'd only be part-time I don't think that would apply to me.

It's 11pm. I really need to get to bed. I want to feel refreshed for the testing tomorrow. I also have an appointment next Wednesday with the Voc Rehad people. I don't know what, if anything, they will be able to do for me. At least I'll be able to go to the appointment. Unless of course the pre-employment screening and drug test for CSHP has to be done on that day. They would have all of that done by next Thursday so I could start on the following Monday (the 19th). It's nerve racking not knowing if I did well enough in the interview. I need to remember to send a thank you to Paul and Caryn for interviewing me.

Well, I'm going to go look up the lab/radiology stuff at the library and see if I can find out where to send the thank you's and then I'll head to bed. I'll be back sometime tomorrow.

Another interview from H E double tooth picks

I guess I'm just not used to small business interviews. I worked for a big corporation for 12 years before I quit working 7 years ago, so I'm used to organization, structure and a professional demeanor. I never thought that I would go to an interview and the guy running the place would be in bib overalls. I have nothing against bib's or casual, I'm just not used to interviewing for a job with Uncle Bob. lol This afternoon's interview went well despite the fashion faux pas. lol It turned out to be a business in this guys home. He does construction and remodeling and has an online business as well. He does large volumes of work on eBay. Basically I'd be the office girl - filing, data entry, computers, phones, etc. It's definitely something that I can handle. The pay isn't very good ($8/hr to start) and he pays in cash and doesn't do 1099's. I assume I'd be responsible for taxes and such. Not sure how that would work yet. He is the kind of guy who just wants to cut through the cr*p and get to the bottom line. He said that in his business it was 'his way or the highway'. Yikes! Not sure if that's a good sign or not. Anyway, he won't make a decision until the beginning of next week. I guess because I'm not totally into the job, I'm not very nervous about whether I would be offered the job or not. I was hoping this would give me some experience interviewing so I would do well tomorrow morning at the job I really want. Nope. He doesn't care about resume's, he doesn't take you at your word re: what skills you posess and he wanted to tell me the way things were going to be (versus interviewing me). What the heck am I doing wrong to deserve these nightmare interviews? lol ~sigh~ Well, at least he wasn't late for the interview and he didn't eat while we were meeting. I have to be grateful for the little things. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's interview because I know it's with a large company and I'll feel like I fit in better there. Please pray for me. lol

Job interview nightmare

I had another interview last night at a recovery center. The whole interview was, hmmm, how should I word this? A joke! They were late getting to the interview because they were at Subway. They didn't formally introduce themselves. They ate what they got at Subway DURING the interview. One of the girls left the interview, just minutes in, to take a personal phone call. The girl I was left with told me she wasn't prepared for the interview and didn't learn about until late in the day. She had no idea what questions to ask me. The one who took a personal call came back in and continuted eating while talking to the other girl. I felt like I wasn't even there. They didn't seem to be able to tell me much about the job. What a nightmare! Turns out it wasn't even for a permanent part-time job, but for an on-call job. The girl who was allegedly interviewing me was the one who was going to leave, but she decided to stay, for now. It was very confusing. And comical in a way. At the end they asked me if I had any questions. I told them that I did. I got to ask one question before they stopped me and ended the interview. Huh? The whole thing took less than 20 minutes. What a waste of time. I still have to call them and let them know that I don't want the position. I'll probably do that tomorrow.

On the brighter side, I got a call from CSHP and they want me to come in for a second interview! Woohoo!! I am so excited! The interview is tomorrow morning at 9am at the Central office. I can't wait. I really feel good about this job.

This afternoon I have another interview for an office job for a home office. I don't think it's a job I want to take but I can use the interview experience. I hope this interview goes better than last night fiasco.

I have 45 minutes until I have to leave for the interview. I'll let you know how it goes after I get home. Wish me luck!

Not feeling well

I'm not feeling well today. I feel like I have a cold coming on. I've been coughing quite a bit. So, I decided not to walk today. It's kind of frosty out and I don't want to be out in the cold.

David asked me to clean his bathroom today. I told him I would do it. I'm going to have to get some energy first. I also need to clean the cat box, do dishes and do laundry. And I don't feel like doing anything. lol At least I don't have to worry about dinner tonight. We're having leftover turkey/rice/celery. It's delicious.

My eyes are really watering. I need to take a break from the laptop for a while. Be back later.

Working at getting a part-time job

I've applied for a few more jobs this weekend. I have to apply in person for one of them tomorrow. For another one, I have an interview on Wednesday. On Wednesday I also have to call Tracy @ CSHP HR to see where things stand. I'll be disappointed if I don't at least get to the second interview. It's been a quiet weekend. I've been in the whole time. David worked OT yesterday morning and this morning. That'll help the bottom line. I'm going to try to spend only $25 per week on groceries through the holidays. Turkeys should go on sale this week. I'd like to get a four or five dollar turkey. I have a menu from the Dinner Diva. It looks yummy. I'm not going to go overboard making stuff though. I'll pare it down to just the essentials: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, veggie, gravy (probably I'll make pan gravy this year), and something for desert (maybe a pumpkin bread). That sounds good. I could do a cheesecake because I have 3 things of cream cheese in the freezer. I'll have to see what the ingredients are for the cheesecake. If I have most of the ingrediments then I'll make cheesecake. We have so much food on hand that I shouldn't have to buy too much over the next few weeks. I do need to get milk, bread, apples and bananas. We decided to day that we are only going to get gifts for the grandkids this Christmas. We'll probably get Dylan some Lincoln Logs and we'll get a Sock Monkey for Aspen. That's it. I have to check to see if I have any christmas cards (I'm sure I do) and if I have enough stamps. I'll probably have to get some more stamps now that Brad is in jail again. I like to write to him often. I may scale it back and only write to him 2x a week. I wrote to him every day last time he was in jail. I have plenty of stamps for now but I'll need a few for christmas cards. I'm not going to send out as many cards as I usually do either. I'm just going to send to family (Cork & family, Ronnie & Ronda, Aunt Francis, Aunt Freda, Uncle Skippy, the Kerr's and Brad. That should be about 10 cards total. Usually I send out about 50 or more. Yikes! Postage alone would be over $20. I'm going to go look and see if I have cards. BRB.



Couldn't find any cards. So, I'll have to buy a small box of them at Wal-mart or Walgreens. My creche is in the christmas bin. I think I'll try to sell that on craigslist. I don't use it anymore. I'll have to see what a fair price would be for it. BRB.



Looks like I should ask $15 for it and try to get $10. That'll be an extra ten that I can use for holiday groceries. I'm also going to ask David about the drill press he got brand new for his 35th work anniversary. I don't know that he will have any use for it. But if he doesn't want to sell it, then I'll be okay with that. I've thought about selling the table and chairs. We never sit there so it's kind of just a filler. I could look at selling the light above the table too. It's beautiful, but again, we rarely use it. We've got to be gazelle intense about making money to pay off debt. That's why I'm trying to get a part time job. I have to be careful about how much I make though. If I make over $900 (2007) or $940 (2008) then I'll lose my benefits. They'll also do a medical review sooner if I don't get a job through Voc Rehab. If I use Voc Rehab, there won't be any review. I don't go there for about a week and a half. I do my skills assessment at PPWFC this coming Friday morning. That will help me with getting a job (if I don't have one by then). I'm fairly nervous about applying for more jobs. There's one that I applied for and I don't remember if it's part-time or not. I sent an email to the owner of the business and asked him but I haven't heard back from him yet. I really would like to get a job close to home so driving/gas won't be an issue this winter. Gas prices have gone up again. There is no rhyme or reason for the way gas prices go up and down. It's about $2.90 a gallon right now. And I only have a quarter of a tank of gas. I'll have to fill up soon. That will throw a wrench in the budget. I do have some money coming in though. I should clear about $30 on the stuff I sold on eBay. I'm expecting another $80 from Vonage. Hope they don't drag their heels on sending it. Then I'll put a few more things on craigslist. I will also have to spend a few bucks at Goodwill to get a pair of pants that fit. The two pair that I have are almost falling off of me. lol I haven't walked for a few days now. I'm going to get back to it tomorrow morning. I need to do my walking at least 5 days a week. I guess I could try to sell the jeans I have on craigslist for $5 a pair. Who knows, they just might sell. I also have to cover postage for the two packages I'm going to ship out tomorrow. That'll probably take all the cash I have. I may have to use the debit card to pay for it since I need to get some stamps too. I'll have to think about all of this. I know Vonage got my package because I got delivery confirmation on it. They should open it tomorrow. I'll keep an eye on how long they take to refund my money. They better not jerk me around.



I've been watching Nascar most of the day. I love Nascar. I've also been watching the Patriots game too. Score is 24-20 New England. Woohoo! Unfortunately, on Nascar, Tony Stewart isn't having a great day. It's still fun to watch though.



We turned the clocks back this morning. It's just after 5pm and it's already getting dark out. I hate that it gets dark so early. I have trouble driving at night. I'm not comfortable being out there at night driving anymore. That's why I want to get a job close to home. Especially with the snow coming.



David and the girls are in taking a nap. I need to get dinner going here in just a bit. It feels like we're having dinner really late tonight. lol We're actually probably going to eat earlier than usual. Tonight I'm going to make ground turkey, rice and celery. Mmm, mmm, mmm. It tastes so yummy. Think I'll go put the turkey on. BRB.



Okay, I've got everything cooking. It'll just be a few minutes and it will be done. It's good to have dinner taken care of already. And there will be plenty for David to take leftovers for lunch tomorrow. He's been doing well with his $20 a week. He spends it mostly on breakfast at work and chew. He did have to get gas today. It was about $34 dollars I think. Yep, $34. Now he has a full tank and that should last him for at least a week and a half. But like I said earlier, I definitely will have to get gas sometime soon. Especially since I'll be driving around for the part-time job stuff. Time for dinner.

Errand day tomorrow

I didn't get anything done today. Mostly just sat in my chair listening to DR. I'm waiting for my Prozac to get here. I don't know that it will get here until sometime next week. It was mailed on the 30th of October, so it will be four days tomorrow. So maybe it will be here by Saturday. I won't count on it though. I know I'm not feeling too good without it. I have to get some stuff done tomorrow because it's pay day. I have to got to CFAN and order the AFM box. I also want to go to Big Lots and look at the flannel sheets they have on sale and the crock pot that is $12. Then I need to stop by the christian bookstore and pick up the DR TMMO book. It's on sale for $13 and I have a coupon for 25% off so it'll only cost me about $10 total. That's a great deal for a $25 book. I also have to go to the grocery store and pick up milk, bread, cereal and toilet paper. It'll be a busy day. I'm going to try to get up and walk in the morning since I haven't walked for four days. Oh yeah, I should also pick up some smoothie mix. I don't think it will still be on sale though. I guess I could check the Vitamin Cottage and see if they have it and what they are charging for it. I'll already be up that way to go to the christian book store so I might as well stop in there and see how much it is.

I'm going to go take my nighttime medicine and go to bed. I'm feeling sore tonight. I think that's a side effect of not having all my meds. It'll feel good to go to bed tonight.

It's November!

I had a job interview and testing yesterday. It was for a medical receptionist position at CSHP. I was so nervous before I got there. Once I started the testing process, I felt better immediately. The test was on a PC and consisted of data entry, customer service questions, receptionist questions, spelling/vocabulary and medical terminology. The only part I didn't do too well on was the data entry. The job was listed for $9/hr but I was told that if I was offered the job it would probably be for $11+/hour. Woohoo! Only problem is, that then I might make too much money so I need to be careful about what I accept for compensation. I don't want to lose my SS benefits. I can't. I'm not even sure I can work even part time at this point. It would definitely be a trial thing. The actual interview was fine. I was able to answer all the questions put to me. I had to list Lisa and Kitty as references. They were fine with that. Once my references check out, I'll hopefully be asked to a second interview at the actual site (over here on the east side of town). If that goes well, I should hear from the HR person and be offered the job. It will probably take a couple of weeks for all of this to take place. Hopefully I'll be able to attend the voc rehab and skills certificate sessions at the PPWFC.

I also applied for an online job with savingdinner.com. They are hiring a Customer Support Representative. It's an at home part time job. That would be great because of the dogs. If the receptionist job is more than 4 hours on any given day then I probably won't be able to take the position because the dogs won't last in the house alone for that long without possibly having an accident. I'd hate to have to refuse the job because of the dogs. Anyway, whatever is supposed to work out, will work out. I know that.

Want to mention that I called Lynn before the interview and we prayed for me to have peace in the interview and testing process. It definitely helped to pray. I had a lot of confidence in both the testing and the interview. I made a few flubs, but nothing glaring. It certainly was a victory for me to get through the process. Even if I'm not asked for a second interview, I feel good about doing well in the testing and interview. My right hand is sore from taking the test on the PC. I don't know how that would be effected by working 20 hours per week. I'm sure I would get used to using my hand again for that length of time.

After the interview I went home and applied for that online job at savingdinner.com. Then a bit after 6pm we went over to Lisa's for a Halloween get-together. We didn't stay all that long, but we did have a nice time. I was in bed by 10pm but was up at 2am to go to the bathroom. I went back to bed, but started thinking of things that I needed to do so I got up. I wanted to send a thank you email to the interviewer and I got that done. I also wanted to figure out what the potential pay would be for the position so I could see if it would affect my benefits or not. If they don't offer me less money, then I'll have to ask for less. I get to deduct the cost of my medications, but the rate that she quoted me would probably still be too high. I'll just have to see what happens. I'm not going to spend any time worrying about it. I know that what is supposed to happen, will happen.

I also wanted to get up and blog a bit. I haven't blogged for days now. I've had internet and phone at home so I haven't had to go to the library and I've had distraction while at home. Mostly I've been spending my time job hunting and filling out applications. I've kind of let the house go (laundry, dishes, etc.) but I started working on that yesterday. I'll try to get everything caught up by the end of the day today. I'm sure I'll get back to bed for a while and get some sleep. I've only had about four hours of sleep so far tonight/this morning.

I got half of my medicine in the mail yesterday. It's nice to have my Trazadone again to help me to sleep better. I'm still getting up to go to the bathroom but when I am sleeping, it's a more restful sleep. The other half of my medicine should be here by the end of next week, I hope. I really need my Prozac. I'm starting to feel a bit off kilter.

I got a haircut yesterday for the interview. It was kind of messy looking so I got it trimmed up. It's a bit shorter than I'd like but not military style. lol It definitely needed to be trimmed.

The weather was really cold and overcast yesterday. There was a possibility of snow showers and that made me a bit nervous since I had to go downtown for the testing and interview. But the weather was fine. No precip to speak of. But it sure was cold. I parked in the parking garage so I wouldn't have to walk outside. Unfortunately, it cost me $6 to park. Yikes! That's for only about 2 hours or so. Highway robbery if you ask me. lol

We're on our second month of being on a budget. It looks pretty tight for the first couple of weeks of the month, but then we'll have a surplus at the end of the month to 'get ahead'. In December we can definitely start on the BEF. If I can get a job, then we'd be able to fund that a lot quicker and start on the debt snowball (loan, jeep, FFEF). I'd need to spend some money on clothes for work if I get a job outside the home, but I'd try to do my shopping at Goodwill instead of paying retail. If I had two pair of pants and four shirts, I'd have plenty to wear. I don't have any dress clothes at this point. I wore a pair of David's dress pants with my orange top. Luckily the pants fit just fine since I've lost so much weight. I work clunky shoes but decided it would be better than 'falling off' of my slip on shoes.

I haven't walked for days. I need to get out there tomorrow morning and get my mile in. I don't have any smoothie mix, so I've been having cereal for breakfast. I miss walking. I'm not quite as into the new Stephen King story as I was the first one, but it's growing on me. I did a lot of nervous eating today, so I really need to get out there and walk tomorrow. So far I've lost about 30 pounds total. That's pretty good. I'm still trying to stay away from soda, junk food and fast food. I've had a treat now and then, but not daily (or multiple times a day!) like I was doing just months ago. I'm doing really well.

Well, it's November 1st! I can't believe it's turkey month already. I need to start getting ready for thanksgiving and buy a bird. I'm going to keep it low key again this year. If we get invited somewhere, I think we will go but I will still make a bird for at home. David and I need to sit down and talk about christmas. We don't have the money to buy gifts for everyone this year so I think we should concentrate on getting something for the grandkids only. I'm not sure how he'll feel abou that, but otherwise we'll have to do family gifts (movie or game baskets). That might be a better idea anyway. We'll have to see.

I miss going to the library. I was much more focused while I was there. Since I didn't want to spend the day there, I had to just do what was necessary and put off what I didn't need to do. It saved me a lot of time by not being on the computer all day. But, now that I have internet service at home again, I'm back to spending more time on the laptop than I should be. Mostly I spend time on the TMMO site. Which reminds me - The TMMO book is on sale at the christian bookstore for half price, plus an additional 25% off! What a deal. I think I'll pick up the book on Friday. I'm also going to buy some flannel sheets for the bed. They are on sale at Big Lots for $20. They also have a 3 quart $12 crock pot that I'm going to look at. I'm not sure if 3 quarts is big enough so I'll have to see it first. Those things aren't in the budget but they are necessary. I want to start using a crock pot for cooking so I'm not having to start dinner so late int he day eveyr day. And the flannel sheets are needed because we are keeping the temperature so low in the house to conserve on energy. And the book is a steal, so I can't pass that up. I'm not sure how much more I'll get out of the book than I've already gotten out of the radio show and the forum, but it would be nice for David to be able to read the book along with me. He's totally on board but needs some information to understand where we are going with all of this.

I've already got the November budget in place. We went over the budget last weekend. I think we need to go over it again though in more detail.

For some reason I was just thinking of the house up in WP. Sometimes I really miss the lifestyle that we had up there. I don't particularly miss the house, but I do miss the lifestyle. I also miss heating the house with the wood stove (in addition to the electric baseboard heat). I don't know that I miss hauling firewood up to the second level, but I do miss having a fire in the cold weather. And I sure do miss that property. It is so beautiful. Oh well, that's another chapter in my life now. One that I've had to turn the page on. I'm glad that I'm having good feelings about the place instead of always having bad thoughts about everything that happened up there.

One of the other things I was thinking about while I was lying in bed was the money that people owe us that they had no intention of paying back. I lent money to a friend so she could buy safer tires for her vehicle and she never paid us back. We also loaned about $11,000 t D & A and I'm sure we'll never see any of that. And of course there is the money we loaned to Brad. Speaking of Brad, I believe he's back in jail. I got three messages on my cell phone and I think it was from the correctional facility. I'm actually glad that now that the weather is getting colder that he is in jail instead of on the street. He'll have a warm place to stay, food to eat, shelter, a shower every day and he won't have to worry every day about where he's going to sleep that night. I worry about him being in jail since he was jumped last time he was in, but overall I think it might be a safer place than him being out on the streets. I tried to call Grace to see if she knew he was back in jail, but she didn't answer. I left her a message though. I have no idea how long he'll have to be in jail (if he is in there). I hope it's for a while, at least during the cold, snowy months.

Well, David's alarm went off, so it's time for me to head back to bed. It's a bit after 5am. Hopefully I can get another 3 or 4 hours of sleep. I'll blog more later today.

Catching up - at home!

I did that timed typing test on Tuesday. I as able to type 50 wpm with 94% accuracy. Not bad. Most places want 25-50 wpm so I'm okay.

Yesterday I spent the day waiting for the phone and DSL to be turned back on by Qwest. I swept and vacummed floors, did the dishes and the laundry. I also dusted. The house looks really nice. Everything was up and running by 6pm. Woohoo! It was great to get back online.

I've been completing applications online and sending in apps and resumes for part time jobs. I think I'll have a difficult time since I haven't worked since 2000. But that's okay, because it will give me time to work with Voc Rehab and do some skills assessments at PPWFC. I was going to go to PPWFC this morning but I ended up having to mail off the Vonage equipment so I can get my money back. I also took time to sell some books (made $20) and answer some emails on items I have on craigslist. Haven't heard back on them yet though. That frustrates me. I'll try to get to PPWFC tomorrow morning and then go over to Lisa's at 1pm.

I did mess up today though. I told Vonage they could debit my account for $39.99 when I knew I might not have the money in the bank account. I could have waited and closed the account tomorrow when I'd be sure to have money in the bank, but I wasn't thinking. I got smacked with another $25 bank charge because I messed up. The money I made selling books was deposited in the bank and got me back in the black. For now. David get's paid tomorrow so all should be well. I called David and told him what I did. I have no idea why Vonage needed to debit $39.99 from my account when I was in the trial period and have already paid $40.43. I sent back the equipment and I was promised that I would get back all my money as soon as they got the equipment. We'll see how that goes. I also had to make a $120 deposit to Qwest and they said I should get that back in December (not sure if it will be this December or next December though - that sucks). The phone costs are killing the budget this month. Eventually it might all work out that I'll save money, but right now it just seems that I keep paying out money I don't owe on fees and deposits.

We've been sticking to the $60 per week grocery budget and we're way under the $250 per month gas budget. I'm still trying to cook what I have on hand as much as possible, but I'm really running out of stuff on hand (besides meat). I'll have to plan better for the next week. I need to add in more veggies and fruits and salads. We're still trying to eat as healthy as we can. It's been nice to basically get through the week on the cash we budgeted out for groceries, breakfast, chew and blow $$.

I've missed a couple days walking because of weather and waiting on the phone guy. But I did go out and walk today. I walked a bit later than usual and boy was it warm. Earlier is still better for walking. I'm at 249 now. Woohoo!

Lisa called today and reminded me to set up our voice mail. I took care of that this afternoon.

The Red Sox are playing the Rockies in Fenway tonight. They beat the Rockies 13 - 2 last night. What a whoopin'! Hopefully tonights game will be similar. David is routing for the Rockies and I of course am routing for the Red Sox. We talked to Kyle last night because it was his birthday and we talked some about the MLB World Series. Then Brad called to make sure I was watching the game and routing for the Sox. It was good to hear from him but he sounded like he had been drinking or doing drugs. He hasn't been going to see his PO and he'll probably end up back in jail. I feel bad for him but he's going to have to work this out this time.

I've been listening to the DR Show pretty much every day on KRDO and on podcasts. I get so much out of the show. I learn something new every time I listen.

The Sox are on in 45 minutes so I probably should get dinner going. I think I'm just going to make fried egg sandwiches tonight. Something easy and it's stuff I have already. Off I go to cook.

Woohoo!

I went over to Kitty's this morning and we were able toget my resume off of that zip disk. Woohoo!! I've already updated it and uploaded it to Monster. I also sent a copy of it to Mardel. The prescription site was up so I could order some of my prescriptions too. I've been able to get a lot done in an hour. Now I'm going to pack up and head home. I just realized that I forgot to have breakfast this morning and I'm hungry. I also have things to do around the house and I'm sure the dogs would like to go out. Just remembered, I want to take that timed typing test. I'll do that then I'll head home.

Power cord

I talked to Kitty this morning. She can't find the power cord to the zip drive. She has stuff to do this morning so she won't have a chance to look for it until later. I checked the jobs I would apply for and I don't really need a resume this morning. I will need it though.

I've got the headphones on and I'm listening to DR while I sit here. I came to the library this morning to log on to Caremark but their site is down for maintenance. Frustration again. I'll have to keep checking while I'm here and hopefully it'll come up. Think I'll go check my email.

Frustration

10/21/07 It’s snowing out. Yep, October 21st and it’s snowing out. I took a couple of pictures that I’ll post probably tomorrow. I don’t think I’ll get to the library today because of the weather. I don’t want to go out in the snow. If it clears up some though I might have David take me over there just so I can order my prescriptions. I need to get that done. I probably won’t get to that until tomorrow either. Anyway, it’s like a winter wonderland out there. It’s a good day to sit under the blanket or to nap. The girls have gone out a couple times already. They don’t seem to mind the snow. I thought they would have a problem going out because they don’t like going out in the rain, but they don’t seem to mind the snow.

I had a lot of bad dreams last night. I think it’s because of the new medicine I’m taking for the bladder issue. I take it at night before I go to bed and I end up feeling weird during the night. I think I’m going to stop taking it and see what happens. I’ll have to call the Doctor and see if there is something else I can take. I also need to get something generic. I can’t afford these name brand drugs.

The girls just came in from outside. It’s really snowing out now. Big flakes. The wind is picking up and whipping the snow around. It looks nasty out there. It wasn’t this bad just a half an hour ago. Boy, the weather sure can change quickly. It was in the 70’s yesterday and it’s snowing today. It’s supposed to be nice the rest of the week though, cool but not snowy. It’s just yucky out today.

I sure wish I had internet access. It’s still frustrating to not have instant access. I miss being able to just look something up when I think about it. I’m very spoiled. lol

Since it is cold and snowing we decided to go take a morning nap. We just got up a few minutes ago. I think we would have slept longer but Gabe called so I got up to answer the phone. I looked out on the deck and we have about three inches of snow! And it’s still cold, windy and snowing. Brrr! David asked if I wanted to go to the library. I told him that I don’t want to go out in this weather. I should check to see how the streets are though. If they are clear I might think about going to the library. I wouldn’t be able to stay long though since David would be waiting so it’s not really worth going. I can wait and do what I need to do tomorrow morning. I don’t have anything scheduled this whole week. I’ll just be going to the library each day once I get my morning routine done (walk, shower, breakfast, laundry, dishes). I have no appointments until next week when I go to the optometrist. I won’t be able to get new lenses even if I need them because I don’t have the money in the budget to do that. Maybe I’ll just reschedule and go when I have a bit more money in the bank account.

I’ve been playing with the budget this weekend working out some of November and December’s expenses and income. I like having a budget. Having a framework to work within really helps. I realize that I’m not on BS1 yet (the $1k BEF). I’m still trying to get current with all the bills. I need to get ahead so that bills aren’t late at all. I know it will take months to get the budget really working so I need to be patient. I need to be as much ahead as I can be before we start saving for the BEF. With the Excel spreadsheet that I’m using, the one from joelmaxwell.com, I can put in different figures and see what effect it has on the rest of the month and the coming month. We need to stay within what we’ve budgeted for groceries, gas, etc. Anything over what we have budgeted for the month will go toward paying bills at the beginning of the next month (land lease and mortgage). I know I’ll get there soon enough.

I just had a pb&j for lunch. It was good. Think I’ll have some raisins for a snack in a little while.

I miss the DR forum and listening to the show during the day. I can hear the show from the day before the next morning from 9-noon. But I like listening to it live online. I’m not sure why it’s not on live on our local radio stations. At least I can get it in the morning. That’s helped me out this week while I’ve been internet-less. It’s funny, but I’m not much interested in the forum while I’m at the library. The forum is something I do in my leisure time. When I’m at the library I want to just get done what I need to do and get back home. Sitting there looking at the forum isn’t much fun. I like to look at it when I can just sit at home with nothing else to do.

I don’t have much else to say today. Maybe I’ll blog some more later but for now I have nothing left to say. lol

We finally went out today. David wanted to gas up his jeep so we went to 7-11. The roads are just fine. It’s cold (about 30 degrees) and windy though. I’ll wait to go to the library tomorrow when it’s nicer out.

I’m really hungry today. Don’t know why. I’m snacking but on fruit and stuff. I think it’s because I am bored without the internet. Usually I just sit in my chair and surf but since I don’t have that to do, I want to eat. That’s not good.

I got the Sunday paper while we were at the store. I’ll check out jobs and the coupons here in just a minute.

There are quite a few jobs in the paper today. I’ll do some applications online tomorrow. I need to find my resume. I made one up put it isn’t that good. I need my detailed resume. I looked on some CD’s I made but no luck finding the resume. I did find a zip disk that has documents on it from when I was working. My resume might be on there. I need to find someone who has a zip disk drive so I can access the disk. I have to find that resume. I’ll need it to apply for jobs in this week’s paper. There are quite a few part time jobs that would be of interest to me. I must have shredded my hard copy of my resume. Stupid. I’ve looked through all the files on my laptop and I have Brad and David’s resume, but not mine. I’m sure it’s on that zip disk. I may have to check with a computer shop to see if I can get access to it if Lisa or Kitty doesn’t have a zip drive. I don’t even have the information to recreate my resume. I have no idea of jobs or pay. Man, this is frustrating. I just called Kitty and left a message for her asking if she or anyone she knows has a zip drive. If she doesn’t I’ll check with Lisa. I’m sure a local computer company would have a zip drive. I don’t want to have to pay just to get it transferred to my flash drive. I hope Kitty can help me out. Maybe she can check with Dan and see if they have one up at FOTF. There must be a zip drive somewhere up there. Arrgghh! I’m so frustrated. I can’t believe I don’t have a copy of my resume anywhere that I can access. I wonder if they have a zip drive at any of the library branches. I guess I could check with Best Buy or Circuit City and see if they have one available. Maybe they’d let me check to see if the file is on there and just move the one file. I’m feeling pretty desperate. I can’t use the resume I made this past week because it’s so terrible.

I need to get my mind off of this. It’s going to drive me crazy if I keep thinking about it.

Kitty called me back. She has a zip drive. Woohoo! I’m going to give her a call tomorrow and go by there on my way to the library. I might go to the Ruth Holley library if they have wi-fi there since I’ll already be on the side of town. I think they do have wi-fi. I’m just glad that Kitty has a zip drive. Now I just have to believe that my resume is on that zip disk. If not, I’m up a creek. I do have one other floppy disk I can check but I don’t think my resume is on that disk. It has to be on that zip disk. I think I can plug the zip disk into my laptop but I’ll bring it over to Kitty’s to make sure before I take it. I’ll transfer my other zip disks to CD’s while I have it. If I can’t plug it into the laptop, then I’ll have to have Kitty set it up on her PC and use it over there.

Okay, now I can relax a little. I’ve found the zip drive. I know I have a really nice resume (if it’s on the zip drive) and it would help me to get a job if I had a better resume than the crappy one that I put together last week.

David’s watching hockey. I’m bored.

Not bored any more. The Red Sox are playing Cleveland in game 7 of the ALCS. They are leading 2-0 in the top of the third. Matsuzaka is pitching. If they win this game they will play in the World Series against the Rockies. No question as to who I’ll be routing for in that Series.

I know I’m insane now because I keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result each time I do it. What am I doing you ask? I keep trying to log on to the internet. I’ll pick up some other wireless networks and I’ll try them to see if they are public. So far none of them have been public. But I keep trying. See, I’m insane! lol

I look forward to finding my resume on that zip disk. If it’s not on there I’ll have to keep using that crappy one that I put together last week. I’m sure that the one that might be on the zip disk has what I made per hour. I have no idea how much money I made at my last job and I don’t have any paperwork that documents what I made. I really, really need that resume to be on the zip disk. I’ll call Kitty around 9am and go over there and then to the library. I hope the RH branch has wi-fi. I’m not sure that the RH branch is any closer than the East branch. I should measure the mileage tomorrow. If RH has wi-fi and it’s closer, I’ll go there until I get access at home. I’ll feel so spoiled having access at home again! lol

How I’ve made it this long without internet at home is beyond me. If I didn’t have wi-fi at the library I would be crazy by now. I need to check on how much my prescription will cost. I’ll order what I can tomorrow, if I can get logged onto the site. Then I can order the rest on Friday. I also want to remember to do that timed typing test again so I can see how many wpm I’m typing these days.

I WANT MY INTERNET BACK!!!

I have the home phone forwarded to my cell phone so that hasn’t been a problem. We haven’t had too many calls. Speaking of which, Lynn hasn’t called today. Maybe I’ll give her a call in a little bit.

Have I said “I WANT MY INTERNET BACK!!!” lately? Well, I’m saying it now!

I just want to go to bed so I don’t have to face the rest of the night without internet access but I want to stay up to see the Red Sox game. It’s just before 8pm. I think I’ll take my nighttime medicine and see if I can get sleepy enough to not be bored and frustrated.

Most of the jobs in the paper today that I was looking at wanted 50wpm for typing. I think I could do that but I’m not sure what my accuracy would be for 50wpm. That’s why I want to do that timed typing test, so I can see not only what my speed will be but what my accuracy is.

I’ve got to put the laptop down. I’m starting to get too frustrated again. ~sigh~

Sleep

I forgot to look at the DR forum while I was at the library. I’m frustrated tonight because it’s Friday night and I don’t have internet access. I’ll watch the DR show on FBN at 6pm (in about 5 minutes) then I’ll watch “Ghost Whisperer” at 7pm. After that, I don’t know what I’ll do. I’ll probably call Lynn and talk to her for a while. I’m so mad that Qwest is going to take until Wednesday to get it up and running. DR is on now so I’ll write more later.

I’m already tired and it’s only quarter past six. I think I’ll end up in bed early tonight. It really stinks that I don’t have internet. I know I keep harping on that but it’s really bugging me tonight. I checked with the library to see if they were open late tonight but they closed at 6pm. They open at 10am tomorrow. I guess I’ll try to go over in the morning.

I didn’t get my walk in today. I don’t feel bad about it though because it’s not a bad thing to take a day off. I’m hoping to get out there tomorrow morning. Sunday it’s supposed to snow so I don’t think I’ll be walking that morning. Again, it’s okay because I could do with a day or two off this week. I’m starting to feel a bit sore and I don’t want to over do.

I didn’t go over to Lisa’s this afternoon because I had a headache. It’s gone now. Yay! But I’m still really tired from not sleeping too well last night. I was so anxious about that meeting and it turned out to only last about 15 minutes. Oh well.

11:20 p.m. I went to bed before 9pm but I just woke up from a bad dream. I think it has something to do with tonight’s episode of “Ghost Whisperer”. It wasn’t scary because of the ghosts. It was creepy because the main character had been stalking a girl and was now stalking Melinda. That’s creepier to me than ghosts ever would be. I’m really not sure why it bothered me so much, but it did. Thankfully, David was home and there to hug me. I still feel upset though. I feel like I want to throw up. It’s not a pleasant feeling. I’d like to go back to bed but I’m afraid that I’ll start dreaming again. I’d rather stay up for a bit and get it out of my system.

Unfortunately David is watching a creepy old Lon Chaney movie. The music is very creepy. It’s not helping me to feel any better.

The dogs are out in the living room, on the couch. They won’t go to bed until I go back to bed. They are loyal dogs.

Maybe I just ate too much tonight. I spent half my grocery budget at the store earlier and too much of it was on impulse buys. Now I have $30 left for the rest of the week. I’m going to have to make it stretch. Anyway, I bought ice cream (two types of Skinny Cow) and had one of each. I think the stress got to me today and I ended up eating things I shouldn’t have eaten and buying things that I did not need to buy. I’m feeling bad about the impulse shopping and eating. I usually do better than that but tonight I was stressed and didn’t have the internet to take my mind off of things, so I ate. Not a good plan. I have to budget my food intake like we’re budgeting money. I can’t have it all at one time – money or food. That’s why we wrote down a budget – so we wouldn’t over spend. I need to do the same thing with food – so I won’t over eat.

I don’t know. I just feel weird tonight. Maybe it’s because I’m running out of my medicine and not taking the doses I need to take. I won’t be able to get my medicine for a while, at least not all of it. I guess I should get the stuff I really need now and get the rest of it later. I’ll have to see what’s in the budget and figure out what I can order. I’ll have to wait until I go to the library so I can go online and check out the cost of each medicine at the CareMark site. If I can just get my psych drugs, I’ll feel a whole lot better. I still have my anti-inflammatory and my muscle relaxant so I don’t need those immediately. I do however need my psych drugs as soon as possible. I wish I could check out the prices now and order them tonight. I’ll have to wait until tomorrow though.

It’s incredibly frustrating not having the internet at home. I can live without the phone right now because I have it forwarded to the cell phone and we just had our minutes renew again. But living without the internet stinks. Thankfully I figured out that I could ‘blog’ in Word and then copy it over to my blog when I get online. I need some kind of outlet and this is it.

I took that timed typing test. I received a score of 39 words per minute with 100% accuracy. I know I can type faster than 39wpm but I was nervous and was typing slow. I want to go to that site again and try a longer timed test and see how I do.

I was thinking about the Mardel job I applied for online (a department clerk). It would be so cool to get the job. It’s only about 2 miles from the house and it’s part time. I’m sure it doesn’t pay great but I could put in some hours and make some extra money that could go to the BEF and then the debt snowball. I also applied for that teller job. Since I don’t have any teller experience I don’t expect them to have much interest in me. I’m also not sure what effect not working the last seven years will have on my ability to get a job. I was honest too and said that I left work to go on disability. They might not want to hire me because of that either. But I have the PPWFC stuff (skills certificate, voc rehab) that could help me in the long run to get a job. I just have to be patient. I’m so used to getting a job whenever I apply for it that it’s weird for me to have to think of being rejected for a job. I have to face that it might take a while to get something. I might be in luck though because the holidays are coming up and a lot of places will be hiring for the holidays. Hopefully, if nothing else, I could get something working through the holidays. That would give me time to get something more permanent. I’ve also thought of applying at temp agencies. I would request to work only part-time positions, not full days. I don’t know that they’d have much work like that but I could look into it.

I’m surprised that David hasn’t been more ‘excited’ about my job search. He’s always trying to get me to work and now that I’m looking into it he’s not saying much. Just applying for jobs is a big deal for me. I’ve come over to the dark side again. lol I know he’s happy that I’m looking for work but I don’t know how he feels about me working part-time and only being able to make a certain amount each month before it affects my benefits. I can earn between whatever I want for the first nine months. If I don’t make over $640 in a month, then that month is not counted toward the 9 month trial work period. Any month that I make over $640 is counted as a TWP month. I have five years to get the 9 months in. I’m sure if I get to work though, that I’ll get the 9 months in pretty quick. I don’t want to work lots of long days though. I’d rather work a bunch of short days that add up. I’ll have to see what I’m offered first. I’m not going to be too picky. I just don’t want to earn over $900 after the 9 month TWP. If I do make over $900, it will affect my benefits. So I have to be careful of what I make per month.

I’m still feeling yucky but it’s better than it was. Getting my mind off of it has helped. And that creepy show that David was watching is over. Thank goodness. That music was getting to me.

I think I’ll wait to go back to bed. I’ll wait until David goes to bed. I don’t want to go to bed alone. I don’t really want to be up all night either though. David often stays up late after hockey games to unwind.

Gosh, I wish I could get online. I’d love to check out the DR forum. I miss seeing what’s going on there daily. I guess I was online a lot more than I should have been and the internet was taken away to slow me down some. I know I can’t get along without it though. Well, I don’t have to have minute by minute access to it anyway. I’m definitely addicted though because I have an emotional reaction to not having the internet available to me. At least I’m addicted to positive sites like the DR forum.

It’s officially Saturday now. It’s 12:20 a.m. The Red Sox play Cleveland tonight in game 6. The Sox need to win or they are out of the playoffs. If they can win the rest of the games then they would play the Rockies in the World Series. That would be a fun series. It’ll still be fun if it’s the Rockies and the Tribe. David has hockey so he won’t be able to see the game. That kind of stinks. It could be the last game if the Sox lose. But that won’t happen!

Joe Torrie, the Yankees manager, turned down a one year, five million dollar contract to come back next year. Must be nice to be able to turn down five million dollars for one years work. Actually it’s one season, not even a full year. Anyway, it will be weird that he’s not the manager of the Yankees.

Every time there’s a commercial or show they say ‘find us on the web at www blah, blah, blah. It irritates me because I can’t go on the web.

What a bunch of junk there is on TV this time of night. David’s watching his favorite infomercial right now. It’s on a colon cleanser. Yuck! He really believes this stuff can help him. I hate infomercials.

My weight on Thursday as under 250 for the first time in a long time. I’ll go up and down a bit during the week but hopefully at the end of it I’ll still be under 250. I’m excited that I’m steadily losing weight. My pants are so big on me now. I constantly have to pull them up. That’s a good sign. I know I look like I’ve lost weight too. I can see it in my face especially. I still have a long way to go but I’m hopeful now that I can do it. I have to get out there and walk tomorrow though. And I also need to watch what I’m eating. I’m eating too many carbs lately. I need to not turn to food when I’m stressed out. I need to walk instead or blog like I’m doing now.

I think I’ll get up in the morning and go for my walk, then clean the back yard. After that I’ll take my shower and then head to the library if it’s okay with David. Or maybe I’ll wait until later in the day when David is taking his nap. I’ll have to see how that goes. I don’t want to spend hours away from him on the weekend when he’s up and about. I can wait until he takes a nap. Or I could go while he’s mowing the lawn. Not sure if that would be okay with him or not. Like I said, I’ll just have to see how things go.

I look forward to getting to the library though so I can get online. Am I addicted or what? lol I’ll probably spend most of my time on the DR forum. It’s not as much fun to be on there though while I’m at the library. I stay fairly task oriented while I’m at the library. But I don’t really have any tasks to do today so I’ll try to spend some time on the forum. It’s motivating for me to read what others have to say. It’s very informative too. I always learn something when I’m on the DR forum. People are so helpful on there too, very encouraging and supportive.

Well, I think I’m ready to go back to bed even though it looks like David is still going to be up channel surfing for a while. I hope I can get back to sleep.

I was able to get back to sleep. I got up a couple times to go to the bathroom though, so I’m still tired. It’s 6 a.m. It’s cold and windy out. I hope it gets warmer so I can go for my walk this morning. I had a lot of weird dreams last night. I can’t really remember them now but I know they were weird.

Fall has definitely moved in and winter is very close behind it. I dread this kind of weather but I’m going to have to deal with it if I get a job. I saved a pdf file from Barnes & Noble and I filled out their application for employment last night. I’ll mail it out today. I’ve applied at quite a few places already. I don’t want to wait on PPWFC helping me out. They could take a while and I want to get a job as soon as I can. I think I’ll have to really work at getting a job because I’ve been out of work so long and because of being on disability, but if I persevere I can do it.

I’ll probably go back to bed here in a few minutes. I’m still very tired. I’ll have to get the dogs to move out of my space. They always go right for the pillow. lol They make themselves as comfortable as they can. They are funny. A lot of times they’ll wake up and ‘attack’ me with kisses and sneezes. It’s too funny.

I’m going to head back to bed and hopefully get back to sleep quickly. I’ll blog more later.

I was able to get to sleep for a couple of hours. I was up around 7:30am. I went for my walk. I was able to listen to the book on tape I got from the library. I didn’t think about David’s headphones on his little radio. He let me use those this morning. They are kind of like ear buds. I don’t like them as much as my other ones but they did the job. It was hard walking today. Not sure why it was more difficult today than it has been. Maybe taking that day off yesterday didn’t help me much. So I took it easy today. I didn’t push myself. When I got home I relaxed for a few minutes and then I went out into the back yard and cleaned up. David is out there mowing right now. I’ll probably have to go over the yard one more time once the grass is cut. I’ll wait until after that to take my shower. I’m still not sure when I will go to the library today.

I went out and swept the yard for anything I missed on the first outing. There wasn’t too much out there. So I’m done with that now. David’s done mowing too. Glad that’s done.

I was thinking that I should order what medicines I can with what’s left in the bank account. Then next week I could order the rest of it. Mostly I need my Prozac and Trazadone. I’ll have to see what I have left in Wellbutrin. I’m not going to reorder the Abilify. It’s too expensive, $200 for three months worth. I pay that much for ALL of my other prescriptions. It’s expensive because there is no generic. I’ll have to check to see if there’s something I substitute it with.

I have to jump in the shower. If I don’t do it now I’ll never get it done today. Actually I’d like to take a nap right now. lol

The nap won out. I just got up after napping for about an hour. It felt good to take a nap. Still have to get a shower done. I’m thinking of popping over to the library since David is still asleep. Think I’ll go do that after I take a shower. Toodles.