Josh's new truck

Josh, Elizabeth's boyfriend, has a part time job delivering the mail. His route is about 500 rural mailboxes and covers about 100 miles of country road. So, he's getting a little truck to deliver the mail in.

I got to thinking, though, wondering how he's going to carry that much mail in the cab of the truck. I wonder if he's also going to get a camper shell or some kind of truck rack to put on it so he can have the sorted mail in the proper order and still have room to maneuver as he drives.

I'm sure he can't just throw it in the back, even in the containers he uses. Weather like we've had the past few days would get the mail all wet and soggy. So he's going to need something to keep the rain, and eventually snow and ice, off the mail as he makes his rounds. It could be that a rack with a cover or tarp on it would work out just fine since he doesn't get to drive very fast and there are a lot of stops.

Chores revisited

Well, I did get quite a bit accomplished. Probably not as much as I should have, but it's a start. I'll chip away at the chore list again in the morning. I hope to get a lot more done.

Sunday evening, we'll be going to supper at Cracker Barrel with my daughter. It's been a couple of weeks since we've had even lunch together, so I'm really looking forward to it. Maybe we'll even take time to do a bit of shopping at Kohl's or one of the other stores we like so well.

Sigh of relief

I have chronic bronchitis. This means that when the air gets drier, I actually have more coughing and more shortness of breath. If it weren't for the fact that the humidity in Arkansas stays fairly high for most of the year, allowing some needed moisture in my lungs, I'd consider Arizona real estate for my move instead of just another location here in the state.

Chores

With working the way I do, chores around here don't get done nearly enough. So, I need to spend the remainder of the day catching up on things that have "gone south" the past few weeks.

• Thorough cleaning of living room
• Thorough cleaning of kitchen
• Thorough cleaning of bathroom

It's a short list, but what's involved will take a lot, believe me.

Driving in the dark

We didn't get to leave McDonald's until around 3 AM today. This is because the crew who were closing were working in s l o w motion, which just about drove me crazy. When they finally got finished, we took one of the girls home before we headed home ourselves.

After we dropped her off, we started home. Now, all this driving in the wee hours of the morning was on some very dark country roads. When we got within about 4 miles of my house, along one of the darkest stretches of road, Brandon started going, "AH! AH! AH! AH!"

I said, "What in the world is wro..." when suddenly, from out of nowhere, a huge black dog was right at my car, barking loudly!

I screamed, but kept driving. Yikes! It's like the darkness just balled up and produced this big barking dog right there at my driver's side window. Brandon said he had seen it running across someone's yard toward our car, but it was so fast he couldn't articulate it, hence the "AH! AH! AH! AH!"

I don't think my heart stopped pounding until I got home! I kept driving and stayed in the road just fine, but man!

Rain, finally

Yesterday we finally got some rain after all these weeks. I don't think it was enough to lift the county wide burn ban we're currently under, but at least it did rain a little. It even thundered for awhile, which gave me hope that we would get a long downpour.

In fact, at 4:15 PM yesterday, it got so dark out that our security light in the front yard came on! Of course, then I worried we'd have a very bad storm. That didn't happen, thank goodness. We live in an area where tornadoes are common year 'round, so you can see why I'd be a bit skittish.

And do you know what I hear now? Rain! Yes, it's raining again this morning, which is very good news!

An all-nighter for Brandon

Last night, Brandon was at work all night long. I took him to work at 5 PM and he got home this morning around 8 AM. Besides being busy with after ballgame throngs of diners while I was still there, he and two other managers had to count the complete inventory for the store. This is always several hours of work, counting and logging the information. At least it's just once a month.

So far, I haven't been required to participate in it. I'm sure that will come eventually, though.

Sunday plans

After awhile, we'll be going out to lunch with Elizabeth. I always enjoy these outings. We get to talk and laugh and sometimes shop a little while we're out. It's great to make a day of it.

I think we'll just go someplace low cost and fast to eat this time. That way we'll have more time to possibly shop and more money to shop with! I'll tell you all about it when we get back home later.

Yard sales

We closed last night which meant we didn't get home until around 2:30 AM. I had hoped to be able to hit some yard sales early this morning with Elizabeth. I called her about 9 AM but only got voice mail.

She had called me yesterday and asked about going to yard sales today. I told her I'd like that, but maybe something came up and she couldn't go after all. I didn't want to go by myself. It's much more fun when you go with someone else.

It's been ages since I've gone to any yard sales. I really don't need to bring anything home. There's enough mess here as it is! But sometimes you find some really great stuff that you can put to good use. I wish we could have pulled it together to go.

Early shift again

We go in Monday at 6:30 AM, so it looks like I'll be up around 5 AM to have enough time to get ready, drink coffee, and go. I'm not a morning person anymore, after having worked evenings for nearly a year, so this is hard to get used to.

At least I'll learn something about working the breakfast shift and how to ring breakfast items up. Today is also payday, and Brandon usually handles handing out checks to people, so we'd have to be there around 2 PM anyway. This way, we'll already be there.

Friday goings-on

Brandon and I went to town to pick Elizabeth up for lunch. Her little car is in the shop. Not exactly sure what's wrong with it, just that it died and nobody could get it to start again.

We went to lunch, as we do often. While in town, MY car died several times. It made me really nervous. I can't afford a car repair but I've got to get it looked at. Then the question is: How do I get back and forth to work if my car is in the shop?

This is going to be a big problem for me. I may have to try to buy a real cheap car for the interim, then let Brandon buy it from me when my car is fixed. I have to have it fixed since I'm still paying for it. I don't want to pay for a car that's not running.

Credit cards rewards

A commenter asked a question about my post on low interest credit cards. He wanted to know if there were also rewards cards with low interest since he needs one that will give him points for hotel stays. The answer is "yes".

Chase offers a low interest rewards card with points that can be used for travel, hotel stays, merchandise, or car rentals. You earn one point for every eligible dollar spent.

Who got my pen?

I have a couple of pens I really like to use. They write well and I can even use them for carbonless copies when I need to since they allow me to bear down without squishing ink everywhere. Apparently, I left them laying around at work and now they're gone. Why is it that when someone finds ballpoint pens laying on a desk or counter, they think it's alright to take them? I think I'm going to have to get one on a leash and keep it clipped to my belt loop at work so it doesn't ever get away from me.

By the way, someone got my new click pencil, too.

Laundry

I guess I should get up from here and get the laundry started. We will need to be at work Friday by 2 PM so that Brandon can hand out checks to crew. We are scheduled to close, but the GM said she might switch us around with others since we'll be there so early. Suits me just fine.

I really prefer working mid-shift since we can get home earlier in the evening and still have time to put my feet up and watch a movie for a bit.

I digress.

I'm off to do laundry! woo...hoo.

Niece's uniforms

My niece brought her McDonald's uniforms back today. I had talked to her on the phone and told her if she was quitting the job, she'd have to bring them back before they would pay her. So, she dropped them by my house.

My dog decided they'd make a soft bed and took a nap on them while they were on the couch. They were clean, but now I'll have to wash and dry them again before I turn them in Friday. We get paid Friday, and niece could have actually brought them to the store since she's planning to come pick up her check anyway.

She won't get paid much, she worked so few hours, but it'll be enough to put some gas in her car and have some left over.

Raccoons

Did I mention that on the drive home from work late the other night, I ran over some raccoons? Ugh. I hate doing that.

See, they were crossing the highway and I did see them up ahead. They actually had made it over the center line and part of the way to the other side. Well, when I got pretty close, all three decided to turn back and went right under my car.

The next day I saw one dead, so I don't know if the others went off and died or I just didn't do as much damage as I thought I had.

Lunch with Elizabeth

We got to have lunch with Elizabeth today. First we met at the ATT/Cingular store so Brandon could sign on to E's phone plan. I did that a couple of weeks ago. Then we headed to Tropical Smoothie Cafe for lunch.

E got a high protein, low fat smoothie for her lunch. Brandon and I both got sandwiches. They were very good and on some great sourdough bread.

After lunch, Brandon and I went to pay the water bill. Then we headed home where it was cool. The car AC doesn't work, so we don't stay out very long if we can help it.

Niece quit McDonald's

I couldn't get hold of her Monday or Tuesday to tell her when to work. I found out today that she decided it wasn't for her because she didn't want to work at night.

Now I have to tell you, I wasn't too happy with her. I stuck my neck out twice for her to get on there, and then she didn't even call me to talk to me about not showing up. I was hurt by this, and not a little aggravated with her.

I wonder, sometimes, why I even try to help people. Maybe they should really have a chance to hit bottom instead of being helped all the time. I hate to see anyone suffer, especially family, but sometimes you just have to know when to say "no", I think.

Friday not well

I had fever all night last night, which means today I was still pretty sick. I don't know what this is, but I suspect it's just some kind of 24 hour bug and will be gone by tomorrow, or later tonight. I hope so. It's got me sapped.

I wound up having to leave work early today. I've just been lolling around since I got home. I've coughed until my ribs hurt, though, so I'm not really up to doing very much.

Having high blood pressure means there's not a lot I can take to relieve these symptoms since most OTC meds drive blood pressure up.

Two days off in a row

Of course, today was used up. Besides having lunch with my daughter, I also headed to Walmart to get my prescriptions refilled.

While I was at Walmart waiting for the scrips, I picked up some cans of evaporated milk to use in our iced coffee here at home. It has a much better flavor in the coffee than regular milk does. I'll post my recipe for regular iced coffee over at my Feeding Time at the Zoo blog.

I really hope I don't have anything to do tomorrow that takes me away from the house. I need to get some things done around here and possibly make a workable schedule for myself that isn't too ambitious and allows for rest times.