Rejection...

Well, I procrastinated again until it created a problem. The last day of the month that I needed my car inspection and I got a rejection sticker. It needs new ball joint on the right front ($550) and possibly a new starter ($300) and they could get to it tomorrow but I have to work. The paper finally came in for that job that has been dragging on all week. And because of the holiday they won't be open again until Tuesday. So after seeing that my tire is sitting on a slight slant, I will be driving real carefully till Tuesday.

I am just glad that they force us to have these inspections every year, even though they are a pain in the ass, or I would have left on my trip to South Carolina oblivious to the danger.

This was another boring day with nothing in particular to do except the inspection. Went to Car Connection, Used Book Store, Target and Trader Joe's. Do we see a pattern here??????? I need to stay busy so that I can stop shopping.

The book store was a disappointment and angered me. They would not accept most of the tapes that I took in because the boxes didn't meet their standards. They were worn....... some of them are 10 years old and I bought them in the same condition. Picky-picky!!!!!!! So I will be driving to Manassas to go to the other store over the weekend.

Came home and took a nap which lasted about 2 hours and I didn't feel very good when I got up. Too much sleep?????

Well, the weather is finally turning. We had no rain in August that I can remember and it was ungodly hot. Today it has been cool (70's) and has looked like it will rain any minute. Hurricane Ernesto is heading our way, bringing heavy rains for tomorrow and Saturday. A welcome relief but hope it doesn't end up on the basement floor again. Will have the wet-dry vac at the ready.

Tuesday already.............

The weekend job went okay but Sunday took a lot longer than I expected and I didn't get home till after 6:00. I had to strip 2 baths, prime and repaper, including the ceilings. Sad thing is, the paper is "butt ugly" but the woman likes it and that is what counts.

Monday, Mike and I went to a party for members of a beach house that he was in for years. It was good to see these people, difficult to remember names and surprising how old everyone else looks. "haha" Sure miss the good old days when we packed up every weekend and headed to Dewey Beach. Don't know where the energy came from but I sure don't have it now.

Today I was stripping a bath and repapering except that the paper has not arrived. So I stripped and went to Ross's to exchange a sweater, ended up spending too much money and the paper still wasn't there. So I told them I'd be back tomorrow, hoping that the paper came later today. No such luck!!! Now I am on hold till the shipment arrives.

I found some shoes at Ross for Gwen's daughter, Clare who will be 1 year old on Sept. 10. Four pairs in fact-------OshKosh strap shoes, Stride Rite boots, Sketchers tennis shoes and Carter's tennis shoes. If they don't fit or Gwen doesn't like them, I can return them. And today was Senior Citizen's discount day.

Still need to get my truck inspected. I only have till the end of the month and I am going to South Carolina on Sept. 8 so also need to get the oil changed.

STRESS

Went to buy cigarettes, mail cards at Post Office and Trader Joe's for a few items. That's all I got out to do today and I needed the break.

I have been getting backed-up on some of my credit card payments because of lack of work this summer so I called another company to transfer all debt to one lower interest account. I HATE doing these things and actually start hyperventilating. It is like you have to admit to the whole world what an idiot you have been to charge so much.

Anyway, I got a very nice lady who was very helpful and if all goes the way I understand it, I'll have one payment due after my SS check arrives each month which will cover it. Keeping my fingers crossed.

She recommended that they deposit the full amount in my checking account and I can write checks to pay off other accounts. This would cost me one fee of $75 where if they pay each one it would cost $75 for each plus a percent of balance. Sounds suspicious to me but I'll see when it happens. They will be putting this "Huge" amount in my checking and it will look good for about 2 days. (Maybe I will just take a looooonnnnnnnngggggggg trip!!!) Just joking.

Then I decided that I should get a credit report so I can cancel all paid accounts. Sounds simple but of course there are problems. First my printer skipped 2 pages and I had to go back and set up printer to print those pages only. (Sometimes I surprise myself as to what I can figure out on this computer if I stop to think)

Next, in reviewing my stats I noticed that they have my birth date wrong with Equifax. What to do? So I sent an inquiry asking that question. Am still waiting for the answer. I figure it could screw up any reports that I request in the future.

Now I need to get things together to go to work tomorrow. I'll be working Saturday and Sunday.

Leisure Thursday

I finished the painting job yesterday after working all day Monday and Tuesday and till 1:30 on Wednesday. Glad it's over but it does give me a change of pace. Different muscles are sore now than from hanging paper.

Today I had to return to the highrise in Reston to glue down a seam. Somebody had rubbed against it when rounding the corner.

Then I went to Nancy's to put up a blind that had fallen down in her son Billie's room. She took me to lunch at Chili's and then I went to Safeway and came home for my nap.

Another day off tomorrow but have much to accomplish as I am working all weekend.

Sore Legs

I made a mistake yesterday.........I bought a pair of ankle weights at Target and wore them too long. This morning my calf muscles were telling me not to do that again. It took about 3 hrs. to work it out so I will go slower from now on.

About 4 or 5 mos. ago I bought hand weights to see if they would help to build up my back muscles again and that worked but I started off really slowly with them. So I just have to slow down a bit with the ankle ones.

Started priming and painting a bedroom in Fairfax today. Got the ceiling primed and painted with one coat of paint (hope that is enough)and spackled the walls and primed all the walls and woodwork except the baseboards. So tomorrow I will tape off the carpet and prime the baseboards and then start painting the walls. Hope that only takes one coat but if not I'll be there 3 days.

Paul (my sister's son) called tonight and talked for over an hour and a half. His wife of less than 2 yrs. is having an affair in Hawaii where she is stationed with the AF Guards. He is in Las Vegas in the regular AF and feels totally lost and stuck. I feel sorry for him and helped him by transferring funds from their joint acct. to his personal acct. so she can't clean him out. COMPUTERS ARE WONDERFUL for accomplishing these tasks 24/7. His computer is not working and his mother is out of town so he had to rely on me.

Anyway, I have stayed up way past when I planned on going to bed and now Paul has me so wound up, I hope I can sleep.

Sunday AM

I am wasting time right now until I leave to hang a border in Prince William County right off the Parkway. Love these little jobs....$100 for an hours work.

Yesterday was relaxing, going to Lowe's to stock up on supplies and I convinced Mike to meet me at a new restaurant in the area called "Eggspectations". He looked at the menu outside and said "lets go somewhere else". The prices were sooooooooo high. I won the arguement and , as usual with my choices, it was not very good. He ordered a bacon and cheese omelet, which was scrambled eggs with cheese folded inside like a taco and bacon strips laying on top. Lots of thick-sliced fried potatoes and fruit (god forbid). He can't stand fruit or veges.

I ordered a cup of Cream of Salmon Soup, which was really salty and also had a lot of potatoes as filler. And a Niciose Salad which was soaked in sweet oily dressing, canned flaked tuna, ripe olives, tomatoes, onions and a lot of potatoes (mushy from all the dressing). Brought most of it home and promptly threw it away.

Scratch that one from my list of restaurants to frequent.

I think I will rent a movie to escape into for tonight....

Disappointed ! ! !

Well, all went well for Teri taking Alex to the boarding school but she backed down after going all the way to Missouri. He started crying and pleading and she brought him back home. I think that was his only chance to straighten his life out but he will be 18 in February and all he has to do is stay obedient until then and she can't do anything with him without his permission. I hope I don't have to ever say "I told you so".

Finished the bathroom papering today in good time and now I have tomorrow off to play around here with the yard, which I have started concentrating (obsessing) on. I traded my shoe obsession for plants, trees and flowers. I love planning and digging in the dirt. My own little sandbox. Hope it all lives through the winter.

Last Play..........

The play, "Forever Plaid", was just okay and not really a "play" at all but a musical tribute to DooWop music of the 1950's. It was good to hear the old songs but they didn't have any really upbeat songs. It just droned on almost like a monotone. Anyway, that is over till next summer.

Have not heard yet how Teri made out with taking Alex to the Christian Boarding School in Missouri. Sure hope she was successful.

I stayed the night at Dean's on Wednesday and went to my (as it is turning out) bimonthly dental appointment. Shaved the partial plate some more and probably will be starting over in a month with a new one. Dr. Rea says the lab should make a new partial for free since they obviously didn't make the first one right. Oh joy !!!

Stopped by Vicki's office and chatted for a few minutes then went to Pap's to wash his sheets, dust and some vacuuming. Put flea meds on Trouble and brushed some burrs out of his hair. Swept the patio with the new broom I got him. His 2 old ones are so worn down that there are no bristles past the cords that tie them together. Makes sweeping a little difficult but they have been this way for years and "god forbid" he should buy a new one himself. He is of the mindset that once you buy something, you never have to buy another. You should see the 40 year old carpets, just to mention one of the other problems.

Before I left on Wednesday, I scheduled more work days so things are still looking up. I'm off to Ashburn tomorrow to paper a master bath and will probably finish on Saturday. Haven't seen it yet so don't know how much there is to do.

Humidity "Go Away" , please!!!

Went to Lake Ridge today and papered 2 walls in a kitchen. I like small jobs like this because I make between $120 and $180 for them and they take under 4 hrs. Then I can get other things done and not be exhausted.

Yesterday when I got home there was a package from Butch and it just happened to be his birthday. It was a cloisonne elephant and a very delicate Chinese paper cutting of 2 pandas that he got for me on his trip to China last month. Nice surprise!!!

Tomorrow I am off to Thurmont again to go to the last play of the summer season at Totem Pole Theatre in Caledonia State Park, Pa. I am a little glad that it is the last. For some reason this year I am getting bored with going every 2 weeks. It seems like I am always packing to go somewhere. But then if I have nowhere to go I am unhappy also. At least I can still go........

I found out yesterday that my neighbor is still in a coma a week after her last cancer operation. I understand that during the operation her intestines were punctured and they didn't know it. They sent her home from Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and was rushed to Fair Oaks Hospital here in Fairfax shortly after getting home. She was doing so well before she decided to have this last surgery that it only re-enforces my mistrust of doctors. She is only 55 yrs old, I think, and now she can't enjoy life at all in her "Golden Years".

Monday, Monday

Another "hot and sticky" day....

Hung 6 rolls of paper on 2 walls in a 14th floor condo on Lake Anne in Reston today. Easy job but a real pain getting in and out. I made it until noon without a cigarette and then the lack of nicotine got to me enough to go out on the balcony. This is a desperate move since I am petrified of high places. I hugged the patio door so tight my butt marks have to be imprinted in it and then I literally crept to a flower pot to use as an ashtray. Was not worth repeating so I finished work real fast and got out of there for the next lightup.

The view is spectacular from up there and I think the skyline I was seeing in the distance was DC, 30 miles away. The building is on a lake which has a large waterspout in the center and a group of shops around a large concrete patio area that goes to the lake edge.

Two more jobs called in today so things are looking up and I might actually be able to pay some bills and eat too. (lol)

Stopped at Lowe's on the way home and bought a crepe myrtle tree and a sand cherry bush/tree and 2 bags of mulch. Planted those tonight after it cooled down enough to breathe and then hopped in the shower. Feeling pretty good now and ready for bed.

Has it really been a week since I last posted????????Boy, time flies when you are BUSY or having fun.

Mike and I were supposed to go to Ron Doherty's in Edgewater, MD. on Monday to go out on his boat and ride his jet ski but they were calling for storms so we postponed until Tuesday. We had a great weather day and a lot of boating fun. I went with the attitude that I may or may not ride the jet ski as I fear water deeper than I can stand in. So, my decision was to ride with Ron because I probably would never get another opportunity to do this. We didn't even go fast enough to make waves but it was a fun ride anyway. As for Mike, who is way over weight, it was another experience and he ended up in the muddy water in mud up to his knees. Ron had to put an extension ladder from the dock down into the mud to let him climb out because of his great bulk. (I wish I knew how to add pics to the blog and will experiment with that later.)

I have to give him credit though......he was so determined to go for a ride that he got on alone (to cut the weight) and rode for quite a while, even knowing that he would have to pull into the 2nd dock, wade in shallow muddy water and climb an embankment to get back to dry land.

After hours of boating and skiing we were starving (or I was) so I asked if we could eat. Ron seemed unfazed by the request for over an hour even though he said he had steaks, potatoes, corn on the cob and salad planned and bought. So I suggested and insisted that we take him out to eat so that we could get home sometime that night. By this time it was 7:30 PM. It still took him more than a half hour to get ready to go out to eat. Not doing anything, just sitting and chatting. Guess he doesn't have "sugar lows" like I do.

In the end the local seafood restaurant was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays so we went to a Rib House. Not my favorite but I figured I could at least get a burger. Ended up ordering a salad with Tuna Steak and it was just mediocre but FOOD.

Wednesday I had an estimate for painting a bedroom in Fairfax at noon, got my hair shampooed to remove all the suntan lotion and to put some life back in it after the sun.

Then because my 3 day job for the week had cancelled last minute, I packed and went to Deb's to paint her foyer and stairwell and upper hall.

Always a fun time and very hectic there with 3 girls and many pets. Deb and I started painting about 9:30 AM on Thursday and finished about 9:30 PM successfully applying 2 coats of paint to all the walls and now in a week or two we will (if she still agrees) tape and paint stripes on the whole thing. That will probably take longer than 1 day but I like doing things like that and I think it will look fantastic.

I decided to stay over and leave on Friday morning since it was so late. They were all leaving for Hershey Park at 8:30 AM so I waited and showered after they left and got home about 1:30 PM.

Today, Teri and Paul were coming over to install a new router for the computer but she called last night to cancel. She is having so much trouble with her oldest boy, Alex with drugs, drinking, not coming home and God knows what else. He is 17 now and will be 18 in February so she has a few months in which to get him help before she can't have him committed without his permission.

I sure hope this works (and it is something that I should have done for my son, Jeffrey (when he was that age) but I guess I wasn't aware of what was available.

She has signed him into a Christian Boarding School in Missouri and "no" he doesn't know any of this. Next Thursday at 4:30 AM 2 men will come to her house and take Teri and Alex to BWI to fly to Missouri where he will be "enrolled". She will return home that day and he will stay and hopefully improve his way of thinking over how ever many months it takes. If he doesn't cooperate they take him on one of those Wilderness Survival Treks for a week. Sure hope this all goes down as planned. The added security at the airports could pose a real problem.

I don't envy her for the next week and then hopefully she can breathe a sigh of relief for the first time in a long time.

Today for me is just puttering around in my own little world and hopefully getting something accomplished.

BUT WHO REALLY CARES!!!

Troubling Times

I called Paul ( my nephew in Las Vegas) this afternoon to see how he's doing and got a major surprise..........his wife of 1 1/2 years returned to Hawaii with the Air Force Guards and wants a separation. He is devastated and doesn't know what to do. After I picked my jaw off the floor, I gave him my best suggestions and advice.

I feel so bad for him but better to happen now than after they start a family. I think he will be okay but it could take a long time to regroup his ego.

My problems seem so small in comparison.

I finished the bathroom papering and did my usual errands (gas, bank, Ross, grocery store, etc.).

Doors "Open" at last...........

My thermometer is reading 68 degrees on the patio this AM. ("But Monkey") It is supposed to get up to the low 90's by this afternoon. At least we have this break and a chance for fresh air.

My job yesterday went just fine except for the fact that the tile men had not finished the tile work around the tub. So today is going back to finish and hope they completed it last night.

No work at all scheduled for next week yet.

I think I will get some movies to escape with for later today.

No relief yet..........

It is still 100 degrees every day and is not cooling down much at night either. Hopefully this weekend will start a new trend downward.

The play was really cute: "Sylvia" (a dog) adopted by an empty-nester husband living in NYC with his wife and all the ensuing problems.

Back to dentist today to find out that my new plate doesn't fit properly. But I brought it home to see what I will be able to get used to and I go back in 2 weeks to try again. I knew this would not be easy nor be right the first time. The dentist is frustrated because he says the Lab didn't make it right so we may have to start all over. Oh Joy !!! It doesn't stay seated on my gums when I chew. It moves up and down and food gets under and behind it and gags me, so I have to take it out and clean it with each bite. What a dinner date I will be.............This is one way to lose weight.

Off to work tomorrow and hope that I don't melt.

Just another day......

Finished the paper job and stopped by Susie's to do some work there. We both decided it was too hot and we weren't in the mood to work. So I went to Trader Joe's and came home.

Took my usual late afternoon nap and then ironed, showered, watered backyard plants and now some computer time and then to bed.

Tomorrow is off to Thurmont again to go to Totem Pole, spend the night at Dean's and go to Waynesboro to the dentist on Thursday. Sure hope they have my teeth ready this time....

May go to Deb's after dentist to pick up my shoes that I left there last week. Also Friday is her 40th Birthday so I should take something to her but I haven't figured out what yet. I am terrible with picking gifts.

Very, very HOT again today (near 100) and predictions are that it will be HOTTER tomorrow. Hope we live through it.....