Getting better

I slept well last night, if not long enough.  Still, it was around 7 hours of nearly uninterrupted and nearly pain-free sleep.  I apparently slept in one position most of the night though.  Sleeping at the other end of the couch seems to help a lot as it takes the weight off my left side.  Plus I'm further away from the dining room and the television in there.  I put my tv on timer and fell immediately asleep, waking up around 5 for a potty trip and some ibuprofen as it was too soon to take a tramadol.  Then I ended up sleeping until 9:15 when Professor woke me up needing to go out.

The pain was down to a 6 (with 10 being the worst pain you can ever endure) so I took a tramadol and put the back support thingy on, which dropped the pain down to a five immediately.  The tramadol is helping finally so the pain is down to about 3 now.  Very endurable.  I had to watch myself because I felt so well that I started doing some cleaning and stuff.  Zach put the plastic on the last window while I just stood there and handed him the scissors.  Didn't need to advise him on it as he had watched me very closely the other day when I did it.  This is a huge help as he can do half of it next winter.

I took a nap around 11 a.m. and slept until Tom left for work at 1:20 and I'm still sleepy.  I know your body does it's healing during delta sleep so I'm assuming that's what's going on, but I want to sleep tonight so I'm holding off on more than one nap a day.

I've been talking to Tom about maybe knitting up an inventory of things to sell at a flea market or craft sale or something, plus working on becoming more proficient at spinning so I can either enjoy knitting with better yarn at a cheaper price or sell the yarn I dye and spin.  Either way I decide to go, I've got to treat it as a job and set aside the time for it rather than doing it after my day is over.  My biggest problem isn't setting aside time to do this; it's having any confidence that anyone would want to buy my products.  I have this fear that my stuff won't hold up or people will buy it and it won't meet their expectations and they'll want their money back and will give me horrible reviews and such.  It's not something I grabbed from thin air; I've seen people do that to online store owners, sometimes on a whim.  Which is one reason I'm not doing the online thing.  The other one is I'm not keen on dealing with the mail service.  I'd rather sell person to person.

So as soon as my back is better, I'm tackling the house to get it under some semblance of control, then setting up some structured time for both my crafts and the tightwadding I need to do in order to make this work out.  It helps that Tom is supportive and understanding.  For a long time I don't think he understood my limitations because invisible disabilities aren't...well...visible or apparent to anyone.  But after all these years he knows that it's very real (he's gotten up in the middle of the night to find me curled up in a ball on the bed or walking the floors because the pain is too bad to sleep) and tries very hard to be there for me.  But he is a human being and I know that at times it gets to him, too.  Fortunately he doesn't take it out on me.  Anymore, that is.  Before he really understood, he would get fed up with me and feel resentful.  Now things are better.

I need to learn to be disciplined about this, which isn't my strong suit.  I need to feel productive in whatever way I can.

But today and maybe tomorrow I'm going to focus on healing my back getting my selective shit back together again.  Another early night for me!

TTFN

Occupying my couch

We have one window to put plastic on and while Zach is going to do it under my observation, I'm too tired and hurting to do it tonight.  Today was spent on errands so I wasn't home much and what little I've done is going to have to be it.  Still having pain in my back but the pain is down to a 7 from an 8.  And I'm taking tramadol regularly instead of waiting on the pain.  That seems to help a bit.  Except I'm taking it every 6 hours instead of 8 so I can get an extra dose in because of the pain.  I'm allowed to do that once in a while but I'm sure if the pain ever gets that bad regularly, my dr will increase my dose accordingly.  I'm on the lowest dose, after all.

Tom flipped my futon for me yesterday but that created more problems than it solved or we should have flipped it the other way or something.  I ended up with a spring right under my left back, where the pain is.  I was sitting on the side of the bed fighting tears at 3 a.m., when Tom came down and noticed.  He offered to flip the mattress over but at that stage I was too tired and in too much pain so I just slept on the other end.  Actually that ended up being the best solution all around as it put me on my right side and gave my left side a chance to heal a bit.  Although I was up at 5 a.m. taking more pain meds and could barely crawl out of bed at 11:30 a.m.  Still, while I'm still in a lot of pain, I can see light at the end of the tunnel.

And I bought a back support thingy today and some heating pads for the back.  Actually they are ice pads as well, depending on where you store them.  I think this will help immensely.

But tonight I'm heading for bed and leaving the kitchen for Zach to clean.  Tomorrow after the plastic is on the window I'm Occupying My Couch until I feel better.  Knitting and video games await me. And I dare anyone to tell me to get up and do anything!

At least until I feel better.  I have tons of stuff to do, some of it fun, but I can't enjoy any of that until I get ahead of this pain.  And if this isn't incentive to get rid of the belly fat that is pulling on those back muscles, I don't know what is!

TTFN

Good thing we had warm temps today.

Since I'm still not done with the winterizing.

I will be so glad of the extra hour or sleep tonight.  Not that I'll get to use it, but glad it's there nonetheless.  I didn't sleep until noon today.  In fact, I was up before 10 because of the pain.  I've discovered it's not my dodgy hip after all.  It's my left lower back.  I've messed it up again, most likely hauling that laundry up those steep basement stairs.  Plus climbing up and down the step ladder hanging curtains.  And today putting the plastic on the two windows in the kitchen.

I ended up buying four more panels for the kitchen as I cut the one curtain too short and besides, one panel wasn't enough for that window anyway.  It's wider than a normal window.  I thought I could just pick up three more since I already had one, but I couldn't find any in that color.  So I went with blue.  Nothing in my house has any semblance of a color design, having decorated with early garage sale, but at least my curtains normally match within one room. 

I'm leftover with one long and one short curtain.  Not the one I cut off.  I put that on the back door and I'm not going to put plastic on it this year because of the insulated curtain on it.  I don't have to open it at all so there's no sense in wasting the plastic.  Plus it doesn't do any good anyway.  Same with the front door.  I get so much condensation on the plastic on the front door that the curtain gets wet.  At least this way, I can just wipe it off.  Plus I have an insulated curtain I can cover it completely with at night or on windy days.

Two more windows and I'm done.  The two most difficult are the one over the sink and the one in the bathroom so I'm halfway there. I just hope my back holds out long enough to do it.  I took some ibuprofen this morning but it did nothing much for the pain.  I'm holding out for the tramadol to get me through the night.  I might take a double dose tonight as I'm allowed to do that now and then.

I've turned the heel on the sock I'm knitting my dad but I decided not to continue the pattern past the heel.  I hate it when a pattern has a purl on the first stitch of a double pointed needle pattern.  I never get it tight enough. Plus, he's not going to care anyway.  I still have to get some sock yarn for my mom's socks but no hurry on that.  I haven't been to the yarn store in ages because I hate the parking where they moved.  There's one in another town nearby, too, but again, parking is a pain.  I might just do online shopping.

I'm ready to start the pattern on my Ocean socks that I decided to keep for myself.  I'll make my mom's out of the plum yarn I've got instead of the green.  She likes that color a lot.

And once I'm done with all the winterizing, I'm going back to sweaters and Bowser in addition to the socks.  In a perfect world I would have a pair of socks on the dpns all year round.  And then after I've gotten caught up on the cleaning, I'll get busy with the spinning and dyeing and washing of the fleece.  Washing of the Fleece sounds like a festival, doesn't it?

I saw a really cute Santa suit for dogs today but as I have red yarn and white yarn, I might just adjust a pet coat pattern I have and make one for Professor.  He'll hate it for sure but it will make for a cute picture or two. 

I'm late with supper but Tom is late getting home so that worked out pretty well.  It should be done in about 15 minutes...baked ziti and brussels sprouts.  Nothing fancy but something I could cook while putting plastic on the windows and the curtains up.

Off to get the plates and such out and clear off a space on the dining table so he can eat supper.

TTFN

Really glad it's Friday

I got the last load of clothes out on the line this afternoon, by which time only one of the loads from yesterday was done.  As I got up at 7 a.m. (due to pain) I got to watch the sun hit the frosted clothes and let off steam.  It kept me entertained for at least 15 minutes.   Tomorrow morning I don't intend to get up that early.  And by early I mean before noon.

I wasn't able to take the paperwork back to the credit union today because Tom missed several places he was supposed to initial.  The cover letter made it sound like there were only a couple of places but in reality there were about 8.  I probably won't make it tomorrow either because they close at noon and I plan on sleeping until then.

I did make a run to the store as we were nearly out of milk.  My excursions are costing almost half what they used to.  I'm trying very hard to stick to the list and not just grab things off the shelf.  I should have enough for a week unless the guys go through the milk as fast as they did this last gallon.  Although the clip on sunglasses I got don't fit so I'll need to take those back.  I can't drive without sunglasses with my astigmatism.

I finished up one Ocean sock and started the heel flap on the sock for my dad.  I went over my mother's phone call yesterday and realized the "thick" socks she was talking about wanting was the fingering weight sock yarn so I need to get more sock yarn for her pair.  I'll probably throw in a pair of bulky socks as well though. 

I'd like to start working on the sweaters again, too, and get back to work on Bowser.  At this rate, Bowser won't be done before spring.  But I still don't have the curtains up.  I must do that today and get the plastic on over the weekend.  It was 55F in the house this morning (and frost on the ground and clothes).  I don't think it got up to 60 in the house but it's still been pretty comfortable so I'm not going to turn on the furnace yet.

Tom is already planning his trip up north for deer hunting.  I was a bit astonished to see on the calendar that it's nearly upon us.  At least I have a reliable car this year.  Not that I plan on going anywhere.  But I could if I wanted to.

Well, off to fold the clothes before they wrinkle and then pop a pizza in the oven.  I can't cook and get the curtains up so I'm cheating again this week.  Hopefully once the winterizing is done, I'll have more time to do the frugal stuff.  And more time to work on my knitting, dyeing and spinning.  I'm getting antsy to scour my Shetland fleece, not to mention dyeing and plying my Welsh top singles.  I've decided I want another kick spindle for Christmas so I can spin more than one type of yarn at a time.  It will speed up the process a bit and I'll have more yarn to knit with.  My goal is to get to the point where I only knit with what I've processed and spun.  That way I can use better yarn instead of the acrylic I can afford.  Although I probably won't give up on acrylic altogether.  It has served me well!

TTFN

We're never going to win this race

The universe reminded me today that we are still in the can't-catch-a-break category.  The dryer quit.  Fortunately it was sunny today and will be sunny tomorrow provided the weather-guessers can be trusted so I have two loads out drying overnight and will put another load out tomorrow.  I think it's just a belt, which will be easy to replace if we can get the correct belt.  It was a cheap, cheap dryer we bought about 14 years ago but I just can't afford to replace it right now.

As a result of hauling heavy, wet clothes up the steep basement stairs, my dodgy hip is screaming at me to stop and go to bed.  Not going to happen yet but I will postpone the curtains until tomorrow.  And the plastic.  Climbing up and down the step stool won't help my hip much.  I know I should mention it to the dr, but I've already been diagnosed with arthritis in that hip and can't afford a bone scan because it comes off the deductible first and I don't have $600+ that it would cost.  I hope to lose some weight, which I think will help.  It can't be good for that hip to be carrying all this weight on it.

Beans and cornbread for supper tonight and I'm trying to catch up on the kitchen.  I have stuff that must be washed by hand and that's what's slowing me down, but mostly I'm making progress.  The dishwasher just finished and Zach will empty it when the dishes have dried a bit.  Then after I finish the cornbread, I'll eat a bite and make up the couch.  I've had trouble sleeping because of the pain lately so going to bed early makes a lot of sense to me.

My mom's birthday is today so I called and wished her happy, happy.  She would like some thick socks and I'm making Daddy some thin socks so that will make up the bulk of their care package this year.  It's going to be a bit light this year due to getting back into tightwad mode.  Well, triple tightwad mode.  I will admit I feel better when I do this.  Makes me feel like I'm doing my job.

Tonight I'll work on the socks for Mom and Daddy.  I'll give Mom the Ocean socks since I'm okay for now with what I have as long as I wash them out every other night. And really it would be better to do that than to machine wash them.  Plus I'll have to start washing my wrappings (lymphedema) every other night, too, if I end up having to use the clothes line and racks this winter.  I've done it before it's just finding room for the racks that is the problem but since I moved the living room out of the dining room, there is a space in front of the heating vent that is usable plus there is a space in the kitchen right under the heating vent that will work.  I'll just have to move the pet food to a different location.

So, off to make cornbread and go to bed.

TTFN

The after stress nosedive

I wasn't going to go anywhere today but after a day of doing absolutely nothing except getting the clothes from the dryer and putting a new load in, I thought I would go ahead and get Tom's bread so I don't have to go out again.  Imagine our surprise when we walked out of StuffMart to snow!  Thick, wet, heavy snow!  It wasn't sticking so that was a bonus and by the time we got to our town,  the snow was gone...or not arrived yet, being east of the town we just left.

And I still don't have all the curtains up.  Which I absolutely have to do tomorrow in addition to putting plastic on the windows.

I think I just caved in to the stress of the past two weeks.  I do fall apart after the crisis.  Never during, which is good, I suppose.  But after I toss the pizza in the toaster oven on timer, I'm making up the bed and crashing for the night.  Some sock knitting to soothe me but an early night, I hope.  I did get to sleep early last night but woke up several times due to the pain.  In fact, woke up this morning in pain.  I didn't take a tramadol though.  I do tend to hoard those for night when I can't distract myself from the pain.  Today I just endured instead of tramadol.  Some days I can; some days I can't.  Tonight I'm just going to go ahead and take one as I crawl into bed so I've got enough time for another one before I go to sleep later.

When I got home I checked the mail and there was a letter from the loan officer with some paperwork he forgot to have us initial but I'm not going back to town tomorrow.  He can wait until Friday.  I've got work to do tomorrow.

But for now, I'm winding down and don't have a lot to talk about so....

TTFN

I'm a happy girl

Yesterday was packed with errands, cleaning and laundry and I was too tired to blog about it so I had an early night and slept until 11:30 this morning.  I did get some knitting done though so I feel pretty good about yesterday.

The Town and Country is sitting in the driveway after an effortless morning in settling all we needed settled.  First thing Tom called the insurance agent and got insurance set up on the new car.  Then we headed to the credit union where the fairly new loan officer had nothing done at all and didn't even remember talking to us until he found our paperwork, but the process, while long, was uneventful.  But I will be calling on the first of December to make sure our automatic payment got made and from the correct account.  Not saying I don't trust the guy, but it's my credit rating on the line.

Then we headed to Vic's, the mechanic, where the car was sitting, ready to drive.  It cost so much less than we anticipated:  $225, including the tow.  I swear they are the best mechanics around.  So we were able to drive the car home, take the plates off and head back across town to the dealer to sign the papers and hand over the check.  By 11 a.m., I was driving my new car and loving every minute of it.  Now we plan on cleaning up the car, fixing a few minor things and selling it.

I had planned on taking today off since I had shopping to do yesterday (meds in at the pharmacy and nearly out of toilet paper) but the library called and I had a book in.  I don't like to delay picking my holds up because generally there is a waiting list for the books.  I like to get them, read them and return them so the next person doesn't have to wait.  But we didn't go shopping or anything, Zach and I just stopped for a coke and talked about future possibilities and plans for getting our heads out of our asses and getting our lives back together again. 

Then we got home where I have been working on clearing out my closet (where the cold air return is) more laundry (I'm waiting until I have water from the faucet during showers in order to save on the water bill) and then I've got curtains to put up.  I can't find my other set of kitchen curtains but it's not a problem as I have to shorten the set I had last year anyway so I might as well just cut off the curtains I was going to use in the living room but changed out for shorter ones.  I have pinking shears so that will be okay for this year.  Next year I'll hem them.

I have to get supper started and straighten up the kitchen a bit but aside from that I'm not doing anything more tonight.  I'm tired.  And I would like to get more knitting done.

I ended up going with the Ocean sock pattern for the worsted weight yarn.  I've got a pair from last winter and love them.  They fit well and have a nice enough design.  I went back to the pattern I had been using on the fingering sock yarn.  It's an adaptation of the Yarn Harlots sock pattern.  I just do the twin "cables" down the sides instead of her intricate cable design with longer ribbing.  It's a great design that I used last year but with a gray yarn instead of teal.  I wish I had gray again because I think it looks better with a lighter color yarn, but I have the teal so...

I also would like to work on some fingerless mitts as I can't find mine and my fingers are getting cold while knitting and typing.  I know they're here somewhere.  I'm sure once I knit up a new pair, they'll show up.  But you can never have too many pairs of mitts.

In the meantime, I'm planning on doing some reading as I got a new knitting book from the library today and I can't wait to sit down with it.  So I'm off to get my work done.

TTFN

Things are looking up

It was another day that started early and was full of stuff to do.  I got up early after little sleep and took Tom to work so I had the truck.  After a cup of coffee I went to the dealership and got the sales papers.  While filling them out the owner told me that when I called to tell him the credit union had approved the loan, there was a man sitting in the chair across from him wanting to buy the minivan.  He had to tell him that we got there first, but had I not called, he would have had to let him have it since we were only a "maybe" up until that point.  Always, always keep in touch with people you're dealing with.  The fact that I followed through and did the paperwork today gave us more credibility.

And we got the release papers in the mail for the truck today, too.  They no longer hold the lien on it!

Tom has the logistics worked out about the car.  We're going to tow it home unless it's completely a waste, at which point we will either give the car to the garage or call a salvage yard.  I don't want to spend anymore money on it, but if Tom can fix it on his own, then towing it home so he can work on it at his leisure makes sense.  It won't cost us a penny to sit in our driveway all winter.  As long as we can get all the vehicles in the driveway we'll be good.  Can't park on the streets overnight after Monday night.

Although we're betting our neighbor will.  Tom says if he can get by with parking in front of a fire hydrant for months on end, he'll get by with parking on the street during the winter.  There is a couple living there with him, I think, plus his girlfriend so that's 4 cars.  His problem though.  I'm not going to interfere.

I picked up my prescriptions at the store and did as little weekly shopping as possible, getting only bare essentials and it still cost more than I wanted it to.  The pesky prescriptions, even with the co-pay ran $40.  I tried to get a flu shot but the insurance company won't pay.  Well, they "will" but they will charge me more for a co-pay than the shot costs.  I just don't have the money for flu shots right now.  If they have them later, I will.

Although I'll end up with the flu anyway.  I always get it once a year even with the shot.  In fact there seems to be no difference.

I washed a load of clothes but didn't get them out on the line because I had to go pick Tom up at work and by the time I got home, I was wiped out.  Not as tired as he was, but for me, my energy was at an end.  I might hang them out tomorrow.  I need to start putting plastic up.  It was 52F this morning in the house.  I won't use the furnace until the house is winterized and besides, we were busy all day so it wasn't uncomfortable.  But I told Tom to shut his windows on Monday because after the first of November, it's a crap shoot when I'll need to use it.  I try to get close to Thanksgiving but I won't let us freeze to death over a goal.  This winter looks like it's coming early and hard.  I need to be prepared for it. 

It will be nice to be in a car that sits higher off the ground.  The Concorde sat so low to the ground that I would hit pavement on dips, not to mention what it was like driving in snow.  I'm a fairly decent snow-driver if I have a car that handles it well.  The Concorde was a front wheel drive so it handled very well in the snow.  I made sure the Town and Country is fwd, too.  Plus it has new tires on it.

I started a new sock last night with the worsted.  The pattern called for 56 stitches which is way too big for me so I went down to size 2 needles and it looks like it will fit perfectly.  It's cabled so it will draw in a bit anyway.  I love the density of the sock with size 2s so I might make all my socks with that size from now on.  I still have to decide on the fingering weight sock yarn.  I found a pattern and if it works, I'll link to it tomorrow.  Same with the pattern I'm trying with the worsted weight.  Then I really need to get back to the sweaters.  We're going to need them.

Zach has decided to postpone college for now.  Especially since the guidance counselor still hasn't called him back.  Getting back in touch with people at the college was a huge problem before.  It ended up costing us an extra $400 and no internship because his adviser would never answer his emails.  Plus he's talked to an accountant who said that an associate's in accounting from a tech school is practically worthless and he'll be in the same position he was before.  So he's going back to his original plan to volunteer at the library here in town.  He can walk there and back, make connections, get references and hopefully after the first of the year have additional stuff to add to his resume and re-apply at the jobs he's been applying at, and update at all the employment agencies.  Then he can decide if he wants to pursue his real goal of studying sociology.  He's wanted to do that for a few years but figured it was out of reach.  He can also look into online colleges that are reputable and accredited.  It might cost more and take longer but it might be the only way he can get what he wants without accruing a mountain of debt.

And now it's time to make up the bed and crash for the night with my socks.  I haven't slept much since Wednesday night and I'm really tired.  Although I did walk Professor around the parking lot while waiting for Tom (he loves to ride so I take him with me once in a while) and my hip never hurt once, so maybe just moving around, exercising is helping it.  Now to get the excess weight off of it.

Hopefully I'll have excellent news on Monday with pictures of socks, more socks, sweaters and a car.

TTFN

By Monday the minivan will be mine

The loan is approved and tomorrow I pick up the paperwork to take to the Credit Union first thing Monday morning.  We also have to put the car on our insurance and swap the plates from the junked car.  I expected to hear from the mechanics today but they never called.  I'm okay with that as we don't have to do anything with the car until next week now.  Free storage all weekend.

Of course that means getting up very early to take Tom to work and picking him up later.  And calling the insurance agent this weekend so we've got the car insured before we pick it up.  It's not the law here anymore but I won't drive a car that's not insured.  My luck doesn't run that well, after all.

I frogged my dad's sock last night because I didn't like it after all and knowing my dad, I don't think he would wear teal socks anyway.  So I'm looking for a pattern for me to wear.  I think I'm going to be a bit selfish this year with my knitting.  I rarely ever make stuff for me.  I'll focus on the socks for me and Zach and finish up the two sweaters and then dig into the stash for the rest of winter knitting.  I've got plenty of stuff to work with and I need a new hat now that I lost my really good winter one.  Although I might replace that with a lumberjack hat.  I've wanted one for years.

I haven't done much today besides straightening up the kitchen.  Supper tonight might just be soup and grilled cheese because I'm so sore and moving so slowly that I don't want to do much of anything tonight.  Besides, we haven't had grilled cheese in ages.  And who doesn't love tomato soup?

Well, off to crash on the couch until time to cook supper.  We had a late lunch so I'm not ready to start cooking just yet.

TTFN

I'm taking today off

Yesterday was the day from hell.  No, make that The Day From Hell.  No question.

After waiting in vain all day for the guidance counselor to call Zach about re-registering for college, we had to go to the store and library, but first stopped at McSnacky's for two 99 cent beverage and a chance to sort out his growing confusion on what to do about college.  We couldn't get the car in park, so we decided to just go home only to find the car locked in L.  Locked solid with no hope of getting it into neutral at all.

And, the phone I thought was in my purse with the charger was minus the phone.  My phone was dead which I couldn't figure out since I hadn't used it.  So we went next door to Shopko to find a charger but as the 3 year old phone is now an antique, there were no chargers that fit my phone.  They didn't have universal chargers but I knew that StuffMart did...way across town.  So we grabbed a bite to eat because at this stage I was shaking so bad that I knew I had to eat or pass out.

After a meal we headed out to StuffMart, a good (or shall we say bad) 4-5 miles away.  It took us over 2 hours to get there because I have a dodgy hip and had to stop every 20 feet or so, and had to stop and sit down at least 5 times.  And while we found the charger, apparently my phone was damaged by trying different plugs and now will no longer work with my charger.  So...needless to say we couldn't call Tom.  But StuffMart had a pay phone, the only one I know of in town, so we called a taxi after writing a check for $20 over.  It took over a half hour for the taxi to get there and it cost the whole $20 to get home. 

I was so sore, I was barely able to talk, and it took me until around 4:30 a.m. to get to sleep, but we woke up around 8:40 (because I forgot to set the alarm) and headed off to town where Tom determined he can't get it to work.  We stopped at the mechanic's and set up a tow truck for later in the evening so as not to disrupt the traffic flow at McSnacky's and they will take it to the shop where we probably will not fix it.  We're going to have to junk it.

We stopped at the mechanic's on the way home because getting them to call back could take hours and we were able to give them the remote for the car (since it was locked with the key in the ignition) and got the ball rolling much more quickly. 

On the way home, we passed by the used car lot where Tom found his truck and sitting there were two minivans.  Now, I had been hankering to get a minivan to replace the car because we had one over 20 years ago and I loved it, but didn't think we could afford even a used one.  We took it for a test drive and most likely will be calling the credit union tomorrow to see if we can get the financing.  Which we probably will as we just made the last payment on the truck last week.  We checked it out online and it's a good, reliable vehicle and feel good about the owner of the lot since we got a very good deal with the truck.  Plus the price is about a $1000 under the lowest list price for vehicles of that year.  This guy always seems to underprice his cars.

I need a car and soon because Zach is trying to get the process going for re-registering for college so we don't have time to wait for weeks to find a newer car.  We have days.

I called McSnacky's after we got home to update them on the car.  I had told a crewmember last night and it looked like she told the manager but I can't be sure.  But as the car was still there and not ticketed (I called the police department as well) I'm guessing she did.  So I thanked them for their patience and let them know the tow truck would be there later in the evening when their traffic slowed down a bit and they took the license plate number and thanked me for letting them know and for waiting until the slowdown.

So the lesson is to let people know what's going on so they don't make assumptions and call a tow truck and you end up paying outrageous fees.

Did I mention it was around midnight before we got home last night?  And we stopped at McSnacky's at precisely 6:38 p.m.  It took over five hours to get home.

Oh, and I lost my winter hat on the walk across town.  Damn!

And I really, really had to go to the bathroom about halfway there but by the time we got to KFC, they were closed.  By the time we got to Wendy's, they were closed and I had to wait until I got to StuffMart.  And by the time we got there, I could barely move so there was no racing to the bathroom.

I never want to go through that again. 

And so, of course, I got no knitting done last night.  But Hannibal decided that sleeping in my knitting bag was cozy so I have cat hair all over both sweaters.  And I don't even care.

Except we're still out of milk.

TTFN