November 1, 2008

Here we go again...another month has flown by.  And once again, my brain is trying to catch up.

Remember to turn your clocks back tonight.  Truthfully, I hate it when we leave daylight savings time behind because it's dark in the morning when I go to work and dark in the evening when I come home.  But they didn't ask me, darn it.  So I guess I have to go with the flow and fall back with the rest of the world.

It will be Thanksgiving before you know it.  Then Christmas.  Then we will welcome in another year that will go by at lightening speed.  Can you tell this isn't my favorite time of year?  The holidays are nice, but the DARK and the COLD and the WINTER that is now LOOMING JUST AROUND THE CORNER make it hard for me.  Winter is very difficult.  I want to hibernate like an old bear and not come out again until spring.  But then, that would probably just make time go by even faster and it's already too hard to keep up!!!  Sigh.  Happy November...

November 4, 2008

Election day has finally arrived.  Voting is a huge privilege.  Don't forget to vote today!!!

November 16, 2008

It takes me awhile to get a load or two of laundry together.  It's just me, after all.  So, it's pretty common for me to go a couple of weeks between loads.  I know that's hard for some of you to believe, but one person, living alone, that's just how it is.  I guess it's good that there is some benefit to being alone, right?

Anyway, I decided to do a load of laundry this afternoon.  Got everything together.  Headed to the laundry room.  Started to put things in the washer and...EEK!!!!!!!!!!!  There's a MOUSE in my washing machine!!!!!!!!!  Yep, a MOUSE!!!!!!!  What the heck is it doing in my house?  And what in the heck is it doing in my washing machine?  I get along with mice about like I get along with snakes...which is not at all.  Not even a little bit.  Especially when they are in MY HOUSE!

Unfortunately, even worse than a live mouse, this particular mouse is dead.  In my washing machine.  I think it's worse that it's a dead mouse, as opposed to an alive mouse.  But I'm not sure.  Either way, I don't know how to deal with it.  If it was alive and it was in there, I would freak.  But I'm freaking out that it's dead and it's in there.  Like I'm going to reach in there and pick it up and take it out?????  Yick.  Yuck.  Puke.  Even with gloves, I'm not liking that idea.  So the laundry has been abandoned and I'm sitting here trying to figure out how I'm going to get a dead mouse out of my washing machine.  I don't even know how long it has been there.  Could have been there a couple of weeks.  What if it's squishy?  I really don't think I can handle this one.  I guess I didn't need to do the laundry after all.  Clean clothes are highly overrated, right?  Where's a guy when you need one?

November 21, 2008

What an insane week this has been!  Work was crazy all week long.  But the big kicker this week was finding out that my credit card information had been stolen somehow.  Don't know how yet, but somebody got it.

I got a card in the mail Monday evening about the status of an order I had placed (huh?) with a company I hadn't ordered from.  I called them and found out that someone had used my credit card to place an order and they were having the order shipped to an address other than mine.  I was stunned.  I told them that I hadn't placed the order, that someone had obviously used my credit card without my knowledge and that I needed them to cancel the order and let me speak to their fraud division.  Fraud at this particular company only works 8 to 5, so I had to leave a message.  The stress was building.  The next call was to my credit card company.

Fraud at my credit card company works 24 / 7, so I got to talk to a live person.  They were very nice, helpful and supportive.  They read through a list of charges that had been made since my last bill cycle...none of which were mine...and told me they would cancel and credit them out because I was not responsible for them (thank goodness!).  They  told me a fraud investigator would be assigned to my case and that I would be contacted within 5 days.  I'm still waiting to hear from that fraud investigator.  That's stressful too.  They closed my account, and though they will send me a new credit card (with a new number), I don't have it yet, so I've been without all week.  I never use cash...pay for everything via credit card.  I've tried not to think about it too much, but it's eating at me.

I would feel better if I knew how they got my information.  I use a firewall, anti-spyware software, anti-virus software...everything possible to protect my computer, so I'm hoping they didn't get anything that way.  I haven't heard from any company I have purchased from - yet - about a theft of data.  I still have the credit card, though it's now defunct.  I'm thankful I found out about it early, but it's very unsettling.  I'm definitely not as able to handle the discombobulation as I once was.  That's another way of saying "I'm too old for this!"

November 22, 2008

I did it!  For the first time in 3 or 4 years, I went through the pain and effort of putting up my Christmas tree.  Whew!

I've been collecting ornaments since I was about 9 years old.  I always buy anywhere from 1 to 5 new ornaments each year.  I'm old enough now that I have an incredible collection and it's always fun to pull them out and find special places for them on the tree.  I'm old enough now that I have some really old ornaments!!!  Sigh.  Oh well, here's the result of all my work.  I especially collect angles, moons and snowmen, but I have a lot of other miscellaneous ornaments of various kinds.  It's pretty.  Almost gets me in a holiday mood. 

November 27, 2008

Wishing you a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving filled and overflowing with all that you have to be thankful for!!!

November 29, 2008

Sometimes life is discouraging.  I'm still trying to pay off medical bills from my surgery in February and it doesn't seem like I'll ever get them paid.  I'm thankful to have a job with a steady income when the economics in our country (and world) are so fragile.  But it seems like I can't get ahead for getting behind and that is kind of getting me down at the moment.  Of course, at the moment, I don't have any heat, which is part of the reason I'm discouraged.  Two years ago, I opted to spend $5000 for a new super-duper-energy-efficient Lennox furnace SPECIFICALLY to avoid waking up in the morning to find out the heater had stopped working yet again (it was happening a lot prior to that time).  But this morning, I woke up with a very cold nose (my body was under my electric blanket).  The house was 68 degrees and falling.  My heater isn't working.  And I'm discouraged.

It's going to cost...you know it will.  And I just spent $320 on my car two weeks ago, so it's not like I have any extra to play around with.  Won't be able to buy Christmas presents - that dream just flew out the window.  Like I said, I AM thankful to have a job.  Truly I am.  But I'm tired of struggling.  Maybe I'll feel better once I have heat again. 

November 30, 2008

In case you're wondering, I'm still without heat.  Best case, I might have heat by Tuesday.  The fancy super-duper-energy-efficient Lennox furnace motor is defunct.  Kaput.  Defective.  Dead in the water.  So today, Zoe and I have huddled by my not-at-all energy-efficient throw-your-money-out-the-window fireplace that puts out little heat.  It's supposed to be just for looks; you know, to add ambiance and to make you feel cozy.  It's a sealed system, so you can't open the doors or anything, meaning most of the heat stays behind the glass.  But it doesn't let the cold air in either, so there's a plus.  I had my electric blanket on high last night...which I'm sure I'll repeat tonight.  Meanwhile, the weather has taken a turn and it's getting colder.  I think we may have been fortunate if it hit 45 today.  Just my luck...it has been unseasonably warm lately...until my furnace motor expired.  Like I said yesterday, sometimes life is discouraging.  This would be one of those times.  Brrrrrrrrr!