Checking the List

Checking things off the list, one by one.  My nephew's high school choir concert was on Monday.  He came out of his room with black pants that were too tight and too short.  Good thing I saw him before he left for rehearsal because he didn't remember that I had bought him new pants a few weeks ago.  Pants changed and he was looking good.

Still working on his mustache.

Only a few days left of classes and then finals for him.  He is looking forward to the break and doesn't even mind that the weather in Minnesota is going to be freezing.  Last Saturday, I did my monthly 4 hours of trying to get my foster dogs adopted.  No luck.  Then I dropped off the dogs and picked up my nephew for volunteering at the cat shelter.  After that we had dinner at Culver's and then pants shopping at Kohl's so that I don't look neglectful when my nephew tries to wear shorts in the snow at his grandfather's house.  At least I provided appropriate clothing.  Whether he wears it or not is up to him. 

The next day I made lasagna which I meant to make for Thanksgiving but we actually had turkey instead.  The ingredients were getting old so I had to put them together.  I introduced my nephew to the movie "Scrooged" with Bill Murray.  He said he didn't need to watch it once the ghosts arrived because he knew what would happen but the movie kept him entertained enough that he kept watching.  Maybe next weekend we will watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.  Lol.

This Thursday is our company audit.  It always makes me nervous because I am afraid I will be asked something that I don't know.  I've been at this company 10 years now.  I think I should know the procedures by now.  I did not expect to work there for 10 years.  5 years, maybe.  I still remember when my boss asked me what I planned to be doing in 5 years and I said I expected to have a child by then.  Turns out it did happen but I actually had a teenager instead of a newborn.  Strange how things work out.  Now that I have reached the 10 year mark, I get 4 weeks vacation!  I also got a $100/m raise for my usual annual raise.  That will be helpful.  I only took 11 days of vacation this year.  I must try harder to use my days next year because I will lose them if I don't take them by December.  I'm sure, if I put my mind to it, I will get them all used up.  That's the kind of challenge I like.

Busy Day Off

I took the day off today but I certainly didn't relax.  In the morning I had to meet the movers at my boss' apartment.  They were 30 minutes early so they had to wait for me.  I got there, unlocked the door, and wandered around making sure everything got into boxes.  It was cold and I wasn't dressed well enough so I was shivering most of the morning.  The movers were supposed to only take 2-2 1/2 hours but they took 3.  Then the tow truck driver who was picking up the car my boss donated didn't show up until after 12.  I was finally free at 12:30 and went to Home Depot to spend some of the $100 my boss is giving me for supervising his chores.  I wanted a cordless sander that I saw online and I thought it would be quicker if I just went in to the store to get it but I missed the fine print that said "online only".  They did have the same sander with a cord so I bought it.  My front door is still sticking from the rain and previous water leaks.

I tried it out this evening and it is wonderful.  So much easier than sanding the door frame with sandpaper wrapped around a block of wood,  The door opens without as much force now but it needs more sanding.

After Home Depot I stopped for lunch at Taco Bell (my favorite) and then bought shoes at the discount clothing store.  I always wear the soles unevenly and the cloth part behind the heal rubs off.  I bought a pair for my nephew too but had to exchange them later because he is now a size 12.  I should have realized that he isn't done growing.  I was able to get back to the mobile home and rest for 1 hour before it was time to pick my nephew up from school and take him for his permit test.  Alas, he did not pass.  Since I have to take time off work to take him to the DMV, I told him that he has to pay his other aunt for driver's education tutoring on Skype before I will take him back next week.  I can't be getting off 2 hours early every week just to have him fail.  I hope next week will be successful.

After returning the shoes, we stopped by the house to eat dinner, get the mail, fill up water bottles, and take showers with plenty of hot water.  I usually take a shower at the house on Wednesdays whenever I can.  It saves me from using our finite water supply out at the mobile home.  Then back out to the mobile home where I tried the sander on the door, fed the dogs, swept the floor, and wrote on my blog.  Whew.  That was a busy day off.

I did have a chance to get out my old scrap book to see if I kept my ticket stub from the David Bowie concert I went to in high school.  Yep, found it.  If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm kind of a pack rat.

I was a huge Bowie fan in high school.  No cameras allowed so no pictures of tiny Bowie on the stage.  Oh well, I have the pictures in my head.

Saturday Plans

For once I am not working at my mobile home on a Saturday.  Since I have the water pump hooked up for the sink and toilet, there are no more super urgent chores to do.  Everything else is on the 'will make my life easier' list but it isn't urgent.  Instead, I must go to my mother's house to get her mail, check the food in the fridge, and hook up her two trees to the drip system.  I also plan to go adopt my foster dog so that I can take her to my own vet.  I am less than thrilled with the care she has received at the pound.  They just want to amputate her leg and get her adopted without taking in to consideration her other injured leg which will leave her with only two good legs.  I want another opinion.  Lastly, I am taking back a bag of plumbing fittings.  I'm not finished with the plumbing project but I know I won't use that type of fitting.

So, that is my exciting Saturday.  I hope there will also be time for a nap and some Netflix.  I don't plan on spending more than gas money and $15 for the dog's license.  My credit card needs a break.

A Rare Work From Home Day

Monday morning I woke up and did not want to go to work.  That is pretty normal but, besides the usual reasons for not wanting to go to work, I was trying to figure out how to get one dog and a bunch of cats to a vet appointment at 5pm without having to keep them in my office all day.  I was considering driving home at lunch time and picking them up, that way they would only be at work for 3 hours but its a good thing I didn't try that because it was raining cats and dogs (haha) at lunch time.  Finally, I sent a text to my boss and asked if I could work from home.  I think I have only worked from home 1 1/2 days this year.  He replied "yes" and I was thrilled and then I went back to bed.  Since I didn't have to drive to work I had an extra 30 minutes to sleep in.

After my nap, I tried to log in to the remote desktop on my computer but was blocked because I hadn't done a full computer security scan within the last month.  So, I started that and made breakfast, then checked email, then facebook, then a little Netflix... and finally, the computer scan was complete.  I expected a bunch of urgent work emails but there were only half a dozen.  Maybe next time I work from home I can bring some work home with me so that I have more to do.

I'm really glad that I thought to ask to work from home and that I was able to get my computer connected.  I also had fun watching the backyard fill up with water and running out in the rain to put more plastic storage containers under the eaves to collect rainwater.  I really wish I had my gutters up.  The rain was over by 4pm and I loaded up my truck with cats and one dog and drove across town for their vet appointment.  The kittens got 4 more medicines to help them get better.  Their eyes just refuse to clear up.  These kittens are going to hate me because all I do is torture them with bad tasting medicine and eye and nose drops.

Anyway, I wouldn't be able to work from home everyday because I need to be able to talk to the other people in the office and to look up old paper files and drawings but I am glad that it is an option once in a while.

Can't Have the House and the Money

After visiting my property last week, I've been going in mental circles again.  I suppose it is good to review my options just in case I don't come to the same conclusions.  It's the middle of a scorching summer.  I can't do much except think.  I can't expect to go out to my property with all of the work that needs to be done and not want to run away screaming.  I reviewed my budget spreadsheet and tried to whittle away at it so that I can stay in this house where all of the infrastructure already exists.  The only problem is that my retirement money is in this house.  There is no way for me to keep living in the house and get the money at the same time.  I considered a roommate (not going to happen), living in a tiny house in the backyard and renting out the house (yard isn't big enough), buying another house (no more rentals!), but it just won't work.  I need to just stick with my plan and not worry about the mess out at my property because my focus right now is paying off my mortgage, not improving my property.  It's just so hard to wait.  It doesn't help that it is 80F in my house because I only have a evaporative cooler.  It makes me cranky and impatient and I start to think about buying air conditioning but I would need around $6,000 and in a few weeks I won't need A/C so I need to just not think about it.  And no more recreational shopping (dumpster diving is ok).  The only thing I should be ordering are free seeds through the seed library, which I did and they should be at the library tomorrow for pickup.  I love the seed library!  I get to pretend I am buying seeds and then grow some food.  So, I will try to be patient and stick to the plan and not think about all the work that needs to be done because it isn't time for that yet.    

Layout Fun

I took a moment to play around with the layout of my blog.  It is hard to do on my netbook but I am using my desktop while the laundry does its thing.  I decided to take off the ads since they weren't doing anything for me.  I got one $100 check from adsense back in 2011, I think.  I don't try that hard to make money off my blog but a $100 every few years would be nice.  You would think that I would have earned another $100 by now but when I checked my account $45 disappeared for an "adjustment".  I looked up "adjustment" and it seems there are random fees.  Nice.  Well, no need to have ads cluttering up my blog then.

While I was at it, I changed the layout and I'm still working on the title block.  Yes, that's me looking like I'm about to throw up on Mayor Mc Cheese's hat.  Cute, huh?  I found another one too.  Having the time of my life on a filet o' fish 1975.  Now Mc Donald's playplace's are all hamster tubes and ball pits.  Actually, I do love ball pits.

Driveway Decor

My mom's car is part of my driveway decor now. She doesn't have insurance coverage yet so she isn't driving. I called to get her signed up but the insurance company was busy so they said they would call back in a couple hours. They did call back but we were eating lunch at a restaurant and I didn't have the time to talk. My mom decided that she would wait until Monday to talk to a local agent instead. In the meantime, we bought a cover for the car so that harsh Arizona sun won't damage it. We will be riding to church squished in my truck again. Actually, the parking lot at the church is so tight that my mom doesn't want to park her car there at all. I think we need to find a new church with a roomier parking lot. haha. Gee, something makes me think I'm not going to be allowed to transport dogs in this car. It does have quite a roomy trunk and the back seats fold down. I bet I could fit half a dozen dogs in that back seat/trunk area.

Slowing Down

Well, now that the mortgage on the rental house is paid off and the property management company is handling my tenants, I find that I have less and less to write about. The house hunting search is going very slowly. The maintenance projects on the mobile home are un-ending and not very interesting. Foster dogs come and go and my job is still good one day and bad the next.

What I am trying to say is that I might not write every day from now on. Some days, like today, I can't seem to think of anything to talk about. We will see. Maybe I will be more inspired tomorrow.

Now I am going to go back to watching every video Queen ever made. They sure did change over time. Quite the range of music. Love Of My Life is my favorite of the day.

In Between Days

Gosh...what to talk about. No mortgage to payoff, no other debt, no interesting houses to look at, I just don't know. Someone started a page on Facebook for my alma mater. I have spent the last few days reminiscing. It is funny how the memories come flooding back, the good, the bad, the strange. I haven't even been watching Hulu. I think it rained everywhere in town except where I live. Maybe tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Friday! Whew. I made it.

Movie Interlude

Ahhhh....Friday. Time for ice cream, movies and relaxing. Ok, probably not movies. I have been wanting to watch a newer movie but so far I haven't found the time. I was going to buy one from Amazon.com but I decided to search Hulu.com first for something interesting and free. I ended up watching a show about the life of Harry Nilsson the singer and songwriter. Such a troubled life. It made me sad. Now I need a happy movie to cheer me up.

Shrugging Off The Set Backs

I picked the boss up from the airport today and he bought me lunch. It's always nice to get a free lunch. No word on my rent money. I paid $500 of my Home Depot bill and I should be able to pay the rest next month. I have until the September bill to pay it off interest free. It shouldn't be a problem. I am trying very hard not to charge anything extra this month. I need to keep my emergency fund for real emergencies not for spending spree's.

The rain seems to have taken this week off. Hopefully it will start again next week. My water tanks are still very low. I have 200 gallons that I can transfer to my mobile home tank. I am expecting all of my tanks to fill up this Summer.

Someone called me and wants to borrow my dog trap to catch a stray dog. I had to dig the trap out of my shed. I still have all of my stuff from my rental house in there...carpet remnants, tile saw and tools, cleaning supplies. Cleaning out the shed is just another thing on my very long to-do list.

After work I stopped by my friend's house to check on her cat. Yes, it was still there. On the way there I saw a steer running down the side of the road. I was going to call the police but then I saw 2 sheriff cars so I am sure they could handle it...if they carry lassos.

Birthday Today

I have one more year to be financially independent by the time I am forty. Not that it is a goal set in stone or anything, it's just a convenient marker of time. My goal was actually to be financially secure enough to change careers, not to retire. So my next step should be to figure out what job I want to do next.

It was a beautiful day outside today but I was stuck in my office again. Next year I should take a vacation day for my birthday. It will be on a Friday so that will make a nice 3 day weekend. I'm already looking forward to it (assuming I am still working there). I bought donuts this morning. There was only one other person there who eats donuts so there were a few left over. For lunch we walked to Carl's Jr. and they bought me a chicken sandwich. I can't really say anything else happened today. Having a birthday in the middle of the work week isn't too exciting.

The best part of the day was being able to check my bank account because it is payday and I am another $1100 richer. That was a very nice present indeed.

When I Was Young

Monday and Tuesday seemed to drag but today went by quickly for some reason. The weather has been beautiful, not that I get to see it very much. No rain in sight but my water tanks are still pretty full even after 7 loads of laundry last weekend.

The Fair is here and I can see the lights sparkle in the distance when the sun sets. Although I am not going this year, I am enjoying the pictures that friends are posting on Facebook. Their children are in 4H and are showing chickens and sheep. I showed chickens one year when I was 12. The big kids all had little bantam chickens and I had a huge Rhode Island Red that I could barely lift. I missed the First place ribbon because I didn't know where the hackles were. I'll never forget that. I also missed out on my 4H pin because I didn't know we were supposed to turn in a report. It doesn't matter now but it just brought back the memories.

Thinking of those missed opportunities when I was young makes me think of what I am missing now. I still go to work everyday and wish I wasn't there. I want to be doing something that makes me excited to get out of bed instead of dreaming of sleeping in. I want to do something that makes me forget what day it is instead of longing for the too short weekend every week. Life is slipping by. I look back on the last few years and I see progress on paying off my mortgage and I see 52 foster dogs so far. The dogs were much more memorable than the money. Of course my job gives me the money so that I can foster dogs but very soon I need to figure out how to make money doing something I enjoy. Life is too short for clock watching.

Blogger Formatting

Blogger has suddenly decided to ignore all of my line spacing and paragraphs. I don't know why. Just wanted you all to know that I did indeed try to break up the posts in to paragraphs but it doesn't do any good. Blogger just erases them and runs it all together.

Still Sick

I was miserable all day yesterday. I barely got out of bed except to feed the dogs and run to the bathroom (too much information?). I'm feeling a little bit better today. At least my head doesn't hurt so much. I don't think I should have to go back to work until I am able to clean my floor. One day of not being able to clean and things have, well, gone to the dogs. Maybe tomorrow I will have enough energy to get the floor scrubber out. At least the dogs have let me sleep although initially they were so excited that I was still in bed that they wanted to play and jumped all over me. They've calmed down now and we are just chilling. I wish I was well enough to watch some Hulu TV. Maybe tomorrow.

Note to self: Buy an air conditioner soon. It is 85 here and it gets hot in the afternoon. That reminded me that my old AC was freezing up last year. I certainly don't want to wait until there are no more in the stores like I did with the heater last winter.

Search For Power

I forgot to bring my power cord with me to work so I couldn't be sure I was buying the right thing. I found many, many options on Ebay and Amazon. I'll order one tomorrow because now I am out of time.

Oop, My Dog Ate My Power Cord

I was watching hulu.com tonight while one of my dogs was lying next to me. I always try to make sure the power cords aren't within reach but I missed one and oops, he chewed it. It was letting off little sparks in the dark. Now my netbook has less than 2 hours of battery power and it is going to take a few days to order a replacement so I think I am going to miss a few blog posts. I've done a little research on the power cords available. Looks like there are the original cords that are around $30 and then there are the cheap cords for $8 but I would run the risk of them not working or frying my netbook. I'd rather not take that risk so I am going to order the $30 cord that is the same model number as the one I have. I hope they have fast shipping!

Movie Day

We headed out to go Christmas shopping today but ended up just going to see Disney's Tangled. It was a remake of Rapunzel and it was pretty good. I don't remember the last time I went to see a movie....oh wait, it was UP at the drive in. The drive in was much cheaper than this movie. $8.75 for the matinee. They had it in 3D too for a few dollars more.

I am having a nice time here in Washington DC. We haven't gone sight-seeing yet. It was windy and cold today so being outside was painful. A few of the family have colds so that is throwing a wrench in our plans. I hope I don't get their cold but it is probably inevitable. It is kind of a tradition now. Someone has to be sick for my visit. Two years ago we all had the stomach flu at Christmas so I suppose I should be happy that it is just a cold. I think we are going to try to go shopping again tomorrow.

Merry Christmas!

Hopefully I made it to my sister's house without getting stranded anywhere. And since I am busy, my two dogs would like to show off their Christmas bows.





I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Mondays And Mops

Another Monday gone. It felt like Tuesday or Wednesday. There were no emergencies or panic attacks. Perhaps our Mexico office was still hung over from a long weekend of partying.

The weatherman promises 91 by Wednesday. That is only 1 day away. It has got to happen this time. And there aren't any days over 95 in the 10 day forecast. In fact next week they say will be in the 80's. I don't know if that will happen but I will be happy with low 90's so my air conditioners can take a break.

Does anyone have a steamer mop? I am thinking about buying one. There is one called a SteamFast that is supposed to be a floor steamer and a clothes steamer. With these messy dogs I am going through a roll of paper towels per week. And getting down on the floor is no fun at all. The idea of a steamer mop sounds great. No chemicals, no kneeling, no paper towels. I don't know if reality would be as great as I think it would be. I will research it some more. I have many more rolls of paper towels so I have plenty of time to find out if there is a steamer mop that is right for me.