Tuesday, September 2, 2003 I can’t even believe how broke we are. Brian’s work still hasn’t picked up and we’ve been spending money as if he had all of these jobs lined up. But he doesn’t. Earlier this summer he’d tell me “it will be okay” and I took that to mean that something was on the way. But it isn’t. He finally got his truck fixed, the one that had the broken transmission. And I found out last week that he spent nine thousand dollars more on that than he needed to get it working again. He said it would have cost less than a thousand had he not done other stuff. *sigh* Add to that the cost of that ‘69 Bronco he just had to have, that’s over seven thousand now. I figure if his tranny hadn’t broken, that’s seventeen thousand dollars not spent. And if he’d only done what needed to be done, well, that would have been a thousand spent. *heavier sigh*
Of course, I’ve spent money this summer, too. I finally started burning CDs for the vehicles, since we’ve got the stuff to do it with, I just needed supplies. Like blank CDs, jewel cases, labels, inserts…. I found some great deals. I’d gotten kits a couple of years ago, and I’ve found the kits are pretty expensive, when you compare to generic product. I found a place where I can buy blank 80 minute digital audio CDs for thirty eight cents each. That’s a great price and I don’t feel so bad when I screw one up and end up not using it.
And with my weight loss this year, I’ve gotten (needed!) new clothes. If I’d ever thought that I’d have lost this much weight this year, I’d most likely not have thrown out all of those clothes I did when we redid the bedroom. It just makes me sick to think of it. And I do have quite a bit of new material, too. So, I can make more clothes, which should help. Tops aren’t all that hard to do.
And I’ve been shopping QVC. Bad idea. I love some of their stuff, good thing I won’t spend over a hundred an item. The last thing I got, though, I sent back (a ring that didn’t fit) and I haven’t ordered anything since. I did see a new ring that I absolutely love, I keep going back to look at it, but I won’t buy it, not at this time. Hopefully it will still be around if and when we can afford it. Maybe if my mom gives us money for Christmas, I’ll do it then.
I have been setting a little aside for Disneyland in October so that shouldn’t be too bad. And last week, we got our passholder newsletter with advertised special rates for the hotels. I checked on the Paradise Pier (the least expensive of all the Anaheim Disney hotels) and it was $180 a night, close to what we were already paying, not a deal at all. But the reservationist checked the Disneyland Hotel (I protested “but they’re always more than the Paradise Pier!”). Guess what? They aren’t this year. We’re saving over a hundred dollars by switching hotels! That’s a big help.
Brian is finishing up a job today that should have been done over a week ago. But he couldn’t finish it up because the stupid supplier of one of the products he needed kept sending him either the incorrect product or the product was bad and he had to reject it. And when they had to re-do, they didn’t fasttrack it, he went to the end of the line. That’s just plain wrong. It finally showed up late last Friday. We’ll bill this out as soon as he’s finished, but this guy won’t pay until next month. That’s just how he works it.
So, right now, I’d like to thank all of you who are either buying from the store or just donating funds. Because, to be honest, I’ve been wondering if I might have to start shutting down some of my websites, which I really don’t want to do. The funds I’m getting are going towards payment to the hosts and upgrades to the programs I run. And, in a couple of months, I’ll be starting a free monthly raffle for lisaviolet design stuff. Teeshirts, puzzles, and hopefully catnip mice (I’m going to make my own and use our own homegrown catnip, which has done well this year). Stay tuned.
Brian’s brother is taking a vacation after this job is finished and Brian’s going to try to start, then finish, the dining room and living room. We’ve got everything we need, the floor tile, drywall (the cats have ruined one wall in the dining room), and paint for the ceilings and walls. To have that done by our Disney trip would be great. The weather is mild enough now that the cats won’t mind being outside, Brian can do it during the day. Yeah, I’d like that.
We went to a movie yesterday! It’s been years since Brian has been. The last one I saw was “A Beautiful Mind”, the one I took my mom and mother-in-law to when it first came out. And I would like to see “Open Range”. Gah, I can’t believe how much it cost. We went to the matinee, which was $6.50 each. When Brian and I used to go once a week (it was a Thursday thing), it was $6.00 full price, $3.50 for the twilight showing. *koff* And the refreshments? Double gah! Five bucks for a “big” bag of popcorn? I had some money Brian had given me last month and I bought the treats. We shared a bag of M&Ms, shared a large diet Coke and a bag of popcorn. Brian can’t do popcorn, though, which we found out. So, the bag didn’t get eaten, only ate about half of it. Next time, I’ll get a small bag. And we’ll bring our own little bags of M&Ms.
It’s cooling down a little and the cats seem to like it. The flowers are doing so well. Except for the places the cats like to stretch out, the flowers aren’t doing well there at all. *lol*
DeeJay has been leaving some wonderfully large, well formed, firm poops. It looks like the Purina One is good for him. The only problem is he likes to eat it in the exercise room and I still keep forgetting he’s in there. That’s how I know how nice his poop is.
I’ve moved the food farther from the office and Annie now has to trot down the hall a little way to eat. Not much, but I’ll gradually move it farther and farther, then hopefully, she’ll be eating out of the same feeders the other cats are.
Autumn was keeping herself under the sofas in the family room, but she’s moved to the bottom of the kitty entertainment center. I’ve been making a point of reaching in and petting her until she’s been purring for a while. It’s not very comfortable for me, but she seems to like it and I want to keep a connection with her. I’d sure like her to not be so anxious. It only eggs the other cats on. I caught Daniece (DANIECE!) teasing her yesterday. Daniece doesn’t do things like that. I wasn’t very happy about it.
All of the outfronts are still around. OC has lost weight, I don’t know if it’s a health thing or a summer thing. He still goes back across the street in the mornings, though, doesn’t come back here until evening. Sometimes he sticks around fairly late into the morning, but more often than not, he’s gone during the day. Repete hangs around, as does Little Bit. I rarely see KittyMeeze across the street. A couple of weeks ago, when Brian and I were outside watching the stars, we also saw two young possoms making their way to the front of our house. Most likely to eat. The people behind us are redoing their backyard and they’ve made a new dogrun for their dogs. It’s at the side of the house and the dogs are kept there pretty much 24/7 when the people aren’t outside with them. This makes it easier for the small animals on the fence at night, no more of their weimariner throwing herself against the fence to make the small animal fall into their yard, where it woule most likely lose its life. And it sure cuts down on the barking.
The fur on Junior has almost completely grown back in. You’d never know he’d had surgery. He seems thin to me, it may be the heat. I guess it kind of worries me because he’s still got a good appetite, eats all that he’s given. He did puke breakfast back up one day last weekend, but he’s been okay since. Yesterday morning he decided he’d come inside for a while. That was fine as long as he stayed where I could see him, but he got bored and started checking out the house. And there are too many little bowls of catfood around for me to be comfortable with him on the loose. Because I know he’d eat as much as he possibly could, the minute he had the chance.
Well, it’s two in the afternoon and I really wanted to get paperwork done today. I want to see where we stand, how bad off it really is. I don’t know what we owe to the company’s suppliers. I’m almost scared to see it.
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