Save More, Spend Less

I was wryly amused to notice another deception in the prominent ad I'd seen from the tree guy. He said he had "27 years of experience."

Since I researched him by name online, I learned from Intellius and other data collection resources that he's 42, so with 27 years of experience, he'd have had to start tree cutting work at age 15. Not wholly outside the realm of possibility, except that I also learned from my online research that he used to drive a truck before he got into the tree cutting business.

The funny thing is, he came across as unusually friendly, reassuring and polite when I spoke to him. The last person you'd think might be lying to your face.

...last night I spent a few hours helping longtime friend R. clean out his dad's assisted living apartment since his dad (age 95) has been moved to the nursing home on the same property.

I worked in the kitchen, packing up dishes and other stuff for Goodwill, and occasionally asking R. if he thought his sister might like this or that. R. also let me take a number of things I know I can use, like half-used rolls of tinfoil, and a few items he said I could try to sell in my upcoming garage sale. Like, there was a nice set of 3 largish pots with lids, the dark blue metal with speckles in it? I forget what that's called.

The clean-out was one of those necessary things, but it was a little sad at the same time. As R. commented, it was hard to believe that a person's lifetime could be reduced down to three small rooms of stuff. I reminded him later that it's life experiences and relationships that are most important, not "stuff," and in that sense, his father had lived a rich and full life. I mean, he was still golfing with R. up to age 94!

Like my mother, R's father was a child of the Great Depression, and so it wasn't surprising to find untold quantities of metal soda tab pulls, plastic containers, the plastic caps from dish detergent bottles and other stuff that most people would throw away, all stuffed inside the kitchen drawers. There were also pieces of dried up orange rind thrown inside the cabinets as a means of non-chemical insect control. (I wonder if it worked...I never saw any signs of bugs.)

We recycled a bunch of stuff. There were a lot of old mugs with "World's Best Dad" and similar sentiments written on them, but they were too dirty to just box up as is. R. said don't bother washing them, just throw them away. (R. can be very sentimental, about some things, but old mugs aren't one of them.) I got about 3/4 of the kitchen dishware wrapped and boxed up and told R. I could come back to help him on Thursday, my next day off.

Afterwards, we stopped in at the nursing home to visit his dad, who looked smaller and more frail than last time I saw him when he and Ron. came to my house maybe 6 months ago. He took my hand as he often has and said I still look like I was 14. It's nice to know that, at least to a 95-year-old, I look like a teenager.

He was a little confused. He said a few things that didn't make sense. He mentioned he'd just had his breakfast, when actually, it was dinner.

Meanwhile, I spotted lobster at $3.79/lb at Caraluzzi's, alerted my mother and now we're supposed to enjoy lobster dinner together later in the week. She's very excited.

I don't have anything specific lined up for today, although I did buy some organic peaches with the thought in mind that if they're ripe enough to use today, I might make a peach/wineberry crisp. I also need to think about workday lunches for the upcoming week.

I haven't taken a walk for a very long time, and this seems to be the day to do it.

I am getting more and more push back from the recruiter about having to keep paying me that extra $1/hr difference each week for my job. He keeps saying he's going to try to "get you more money" on an hourly basis, though I'm thinking, why would they agree to pay more for someone who's already working there? He's going to make a case that I've been underpaid to start with, but since the agency accepted the employer's lowering of my pay rate to start with, I don't see why the employer would now say yes, you're right, we need to pay her more. Even if I'm worth it, and it's the right thing to do. Because employers just don't do that. Employees are not their most important constituency; shareholders are.

I foresee that extra $1/hr going by the wayside soon; of course, the job may not last long either.

Man, can you trust anybody in this world today to be what they say they are?

As mentioned yesterday, I had 5 contractors over my house yesterday to give me estimates for three different projects. One of them being the takedown of a huge ailanthus (tree of paradise) tree that is too close to my house (maybe 20 feet) and has already dropped a large limb in the last big storm.

One guy who was highly recommended passed on it, saying it was a little too big for him and I'd need someone with a bucket truck.

The next guy climbed trees and didn't use a bucket truck. He quoted me a price of $930 which would include mulching the smaller branches, cutting and then stacking the rest of the tree. Unfortunately, I don't have a fireplace so don't have much use for the wood.

I called my next door neighbors (an elderly couple) to see if the tree guy and his crew of 4 could drive a truck over their lawn with the mulcher. I figured they'd be fine with it because this tree threatens not only my power lines on one side, but theirs as well, on the other side and all of us, I think, are getting tired of big trees dropping in storms.

Sure enough, they were okay with it and so I called and told the tree guy he had the job. He was going to do it tomorrow morning.

It was around 4 pm today when I suddenly remembered I hadn't called the contact number tree guy gave me when I asked about his insurance. Tree work is inherently risky and dangerous work, and if someone got injured on my property, I could be sued. So I called and checked out the insurance; they said he had general liability insurance but not worker's comp.

I decided to do some quick due diligence online to check out the guy's background; this is something I do with most contractors I do business with. I noticed like so many others, he didn't put an actual address on his estimate paperwork and I learned years ago when I wanted to sue someone in small claims that you can’t serve someone if you don’t have their address.

While I didn't dig up his address, I did learn that he had only recently (a year ago) arrived in CT from PA. A man by the same name as him and going by the same business name had a long list of complaints filed against him by customers who said he completed part of the work, asked for more money and then never returned to finish the work. There were 16 complaints of that ilk. BBB of PA gave him an "F." Others also said he treated his workers very poorly, yelling and cursing at them. He was arrested for drug possession. There was even a local television station in PA that did an expose-type story on his business practices!! Amazing what you can find online when you dig a little.

So, I decided to back out and left a message for him. I was actually a little nervous about telling him the truth about what I found, lest he get angry with me and blow a fuse, so I lied and told him my husband lost his job today. Sorry, but you can't be too careful.

I'm just frustrated that I have to start from scratch again, and I'm pretty sure future estimates will be higher. His $930 I thought was fairly reasonable, given the size of this tree. I don't know if it even makes sense to spend money taking the tree down when there are so many other home improvements I need to make before selling my house, something I keep saying I want to do. It's just that after last winter, I truly am fearful of going through other storms like the 2 or 3 bad ones we've had, including Sandy.

Certainly, there are probably a half dozen other trees that could, theoretically, hit the house, but this one was the one I worried about the most.

One of the furnace humidifier guys got back to me with an emailed quote of $985 to install an Aprilaire humidifier, which I thinks is ridiculous. I hadn't realized what a top notch company this was, and they do a lot of business, he was telling me, with all the mega-mansions in Greenwich and southern parts of Fairfield County. They charge $130/hr for labor for cripes' sakes. I want to get the price from the other HVAC guy and then make a decision. This, too, is a project that is debatable as to usefulness if I sell the house in a year or two. Could I make do with the single room humidifier I use now, but perhaps more consistently, in just the bedroom? It gets incredibly dry in this house with forced hot air. I don't know; don’t really want to have to deal with that anymore. It's a $600 question.

There was another project I called a guy over for...the north side of my house with a large picket fenced-in area, all totally overgrown and beyond my control. (It would scream "high maintenance" to any prospective buyer.) He was here for quite a while talking to me about my options, which included his using a rototiller-type machine or something else I forget the name, to dig up the pachysandra and invasive brambles but we both agreed he wouldn't be able to get every last bit of pachysandra and the stuff would grow back. He wanted more money for doing that anyway. So he suggested that he had his 2 sons simply rake up all the debris and growth in there, take it away, trim it real short and dismantle the picket fence which is falling apart and rotting. For that he wanted $1200, again a ridiculous price. The idea of just cutting it all down low would be that I could then stay on top of it with my lawnmower.

When I didn't call him back in a day or two, he called me and left a message saying hey, I'm working in your town next week and I can save you some money by doing your job same day and hauling your stuff away same day, thereby only having to pay dump fee once and he brought the price down to $950. Somehow I suspect he's just trying to get my business and isn't necessarily working in my town. Anyway, that's way too much money. I might as well just wait til spring and again attempt to stay on top of the growth in that area with a mower/trimmer.

I keep feeling like I'm getting nowhere. Probably the biggest thing I’d want to try to fix with the house before selling it would be my damp basement issues. In the past with very heavy rains in spring I've had water coming through the cinder block walls. I have used Thoro-Seal and believe that's mostly plugged up. But I still have damp areas of the concrete floor in there during times of high humidity or in spring when there's a high water table. It's not wet, per se, and not standing water, just damp areas along the perimeter of the walls.

In years past I had not one but two separate underground drainage systems installed and spent probably $10K+; still I have these problems and I dread tackling this problem again. But I feel this would need to be addressed becus, unlike when I bought the place, state laws now require that any house seller disclose certain key problems (like wet basement, termites, etc) on a special form that's given to the buyer.

I've poured so much money into this place, installing a top of line furnace, new roof, hook-up to city water, hook-up to town sewers, all new Whirlpool kitchen appliances w/ s/s fridge and dishwasher, new washer/dryer, sun room conversion, new attic windows, French doors, new I-beam in basement, rebuilt front stoop, rebuilt brick patio, replaced all faucets, attic insulation, blown-in wall insulation, vinyl siding...

Other shortcomings of this house are...the driveway is in bad shape, but that's another expensive fix I wasn't planning on doing. And while I replaced the roof 18 years ago, it should probably be redone soon because the plywood boards underneath it are soft and no good. And the final big problem is the walls in the dining room and living room...it's paint over wallpaper and, you guessed it, the paint is cracking and coming up because the underlying wallpaper is starting to come up. I tried with one small area of the wall to scrape the whole thing down and it's a mess, with several layers of old wallpaper from I'm guessing the 50s. It would probably be easier to just replace the beaverboard with new sheetrock and then tape it, but that again is an expensive and time-consuming project. I also thought it might be easier to have my handyman guy just install vertical wood paneling over it, but then you have baseboards and moldings to worry about, and things like electrical outlets won't be flush.

If I had the $ I could just wave my hand and say, make it so, but now, every dollar is precious and I have to be careful of how I spend it. If I had a handy husband, that would be enormously helpful right about now.

So, a while back I had an HVAC guy here to give me a price on installing a new humidifier. The price I got with labor was about $500 or $600, depending on how long it took, and his estimate of time (3 to 4 hours) seemed a little high to me, especially at $95/hr. He wasn't familiar with the Desert Spring humidifier I extensively researched, but said he could install it.

Today I had another guy come out. He said it usually takes a little over an hour to do but mine might take 2 hours max becus I was asking them to replace some sheet metal that rusted out after the old humidifier leaked. I'm eager to hear his price.

I was pretty much set on the Desert Spring furnace humidifier, but with the Aprilaire 400 seems like there won't be mold issues, it won't use excessive water and maintenance is just replacing the panels twice a season. I guess I'm concerned that neither of the 2 guys who were here had ever head of the Desert Spring brand but they were both very familiar with the Aprilaire. So may end up going with that in case I have issues down the road.

Getting this humidifier installed is my #1 spending priority this year. I think it will make a huge difference in my comfort level during the winter months.

Also had a guy, highly recommended, come out to look at an ailanthus tree I want taken down. It's a humongus tree of paradise, too close to house for my liking. One limb already came off during Hurricane Sandy and it dropped maybe 15 feet from the sun room. It towers over everything.

He said the tree was a little too big for him to handle, plus it is rather close to my power lines and my neighbor's. He said he'd have a friend with a bucket truck give me a call. I also have another tree guy come over later for another estimate and I have one more humidifier guy coming, too.

Aside from the tree issue and the humidifier, I unexpectedly discovered some old water damage from ice dams last winter in the back of an upstairs hall closet I was cleaning out. It looks terrible; the sheetrock will either need to be repaired or replaced. I called one guy who didn't call back; my neighbors love him, but I suspect he's not interested in small, low-paying jobs like this. I suppose I could call Handyman Connection but I know they'll be higher priced. There's my other handyman guy but I sometimes question his skills. Meanwhile, I'm a little reluctant to put anything back in the closet so it's strewn all over the hall floor.

I agreed to help my friend R. clean out his father's apartment on Saturday. His dad is 95 and is having enough health issues that he's going to have to go into the nursing home he was moved to from his assisted living apartment. He said he'd pay me $10/hr for maybe 3 or 4 hours. I'd help him anyway; we've been friends a very long time.

I have a bit of work from my p/t job...writing some very brief bios for some architects.

I was able to get the payroll person at the agency confirm they are now in receipt of my time sheets from the last 2 weeks and that I'll be receiving 2 paychecks tomorrow....thank God.

Handyman Connection guy came and went; estimate tomorrow. It's just the back wall that's damaged by ice dam melting, but the other 2 walls are paint over wallpaper, so since he'll be disassembling the shelving in there to get to the back wall, I asked him to give me a 2nd estimate based on putting in new sheetrock all the way around.

Just got car my car tax bill today; it was apparently mis-delivered as someone hand-wrote on the envelope "deliver to correct address." Thanks to the mailman, it's already past due and I have to pay a few extra dollars in interest.

Oh, now my neighbor just dropped by to show me his latest puzzle designs. (He knows I'm home on Thursdays and Fridays.) We sat around the dining room table and talked for about an hour. I showed him the closet with the water damage and told him I was getting estimates but couldn't get a hold of the guy he recommended. He kept telling me I could do it myself and told me exactly what to do, but it's really not something I'd feel comfortable doing. He finally wound up saying he would do it for me for $200 and will come next Thursday.

I've been enjoying plenty of tomatoes, lots of cherry tomatoes and small beefsteak tomatoes, from my dad's plants that he grew from seed. The plants are five feet high. I'm also getting a few yellow squash, which surprised me since I have such a terrible infestation of cucumber beetles. Also a few cucumbers and green bell peppers.

I had something really spectacular growing in great profusion with little white flowers, but forgot what I had planted. It was in the general area where I planted my sister's parsnip seeds, so I figured that was it.

But when I mentioned it to her, she said, no, parsnip wouldn't be in bloom now. She suggested I dig one up to check for a tuber. I did, and got absolutely nothing. So I've apparently been giving free rein to some sort of weed that looked like something important. I ripped it all out this afternoon.

Finally, I have several celery plants which I bought on impulse and stuck in the ground. They're doing quite well and appear to be insect-free. I am really looking forward to starting to cut off a stalk or two as needed.

I made a new drink today….a pitcher of cold water with a handful of mint leaves from one of my plants and the juice from two limes, with some stevia thrown in for sweetener. Will let brew overnight in fridge, and will be curious how minty it will be. The limes were 10 for $1 at Shop Rite, so I figured what the heck.

I also made my lunches for the coming work week: a cold salad of equal parts black beans, corn and edamame. You don't cook anything, just let the edamame and corn dethaw. You also add some red onion, chopped red tomatoes and your favorite salad dressing, and oila! Yummy healthy salad.

Today I checked out an open house with a friend in town. I've been looking for the most part at condos, but this was a small house about 1200 square feet. A little too small for me, I think, with very small rooms. A cape built in 1947 but totally updated with 3 small bedrooms and 2 baths. New siding, new plumbing, new electrical, vinyl windows, nice patio out back. Central air and instant hot water. On a dead end street and a half mile from Sandy Hook Center. About a third of an acre, but still seemed like more grass to mow than I care for. Short sale situation.

It was cute, but a little claustrobic on second floor and steep stairs leading to a bedroom/bath due to the slanted walls that really made it necessary to watch where you were walking lest you hit your head. It also lacked a garage. They dropped the price to $249K.
After looking at the house we stopped in at the coffee shop for an iced tea and sat outside on the deck overlooking the Pootatuck River. It was such a nice day. A. is going to help me with my garage sale.

After that I went grocery shopping and rushed out to mow the back yard when it began raining. I was able to finish it and then do the trimming. Then it stopped raining and the skies cleared, so I trimmed a very large viburnum which keeps growing into my driveway. I picked some more tomatoes from my garden. Also potted up some groundcovers I hope to sell in my garage sale. I figure I'll pot them up now (4 varieties) and get them all good and healthy looking, though don't know how much interest there'll be in perennials in late August/September.

Inexplicably, the agency did not issue me a paycheck today. It wasn't in my checking account (direct deposit) and I confirmed on their website the check wasn't cut. I sent an email to the woman who does payroll, only to get an auto reply saying she was out til Monday. I then called my recruiter contact John at his office and I get a fast busy signal. (I'm getting a wee bit nervous now.) I called again and this time someone answered and said, "No one by [that name] works here." I finally get my contact John on his cell. He said everything was fine at his agency but they were having phone problems. And that he'd look into the paycheck issue.

Despite my having emailed my timesheet to payroll with a copy to John, they claim they didn't get it. And no, they can't cut a check for me until next Friday's payday.

This happened this morning and I'm still feeling ticked off. Partly because the payroll people over there apologized very nicely to John and never bothered to get back to me. Listen, people, I'M the one who didn't get the paycheck, not John. You’d think as a courtesy they would make a simple apology, but no.

Can you tell I hate dealing with this agency? How much effort is it to send a quick email?

Today I did 2 loads of laundry and was totally annoyed to find the "Start" button the GE dryer I just bought 2 years ago is not working properly. That is, the dryer won't stay on unless you keep holding the button down. I got it to work by applying duct tape over the button. (It's an auto shut-off.) I don't think it's under warranty.

I started mowing the lawn but then it started raining so I had to give up. It only lasted 5 minutes, but it was enough to make everything wet, so I decided to bag it until tomorrow.

I vacuumed both floors.

I made good progress on my weeding schedule. Everything here got real overgrown during all that heat we had, so this is catch-up time now in the garden.

I got a phone call this a.m. from my #1 freelance client. I was very surprised to learn (and so was he) that his right hand woman (she was at director level), quit the job to pursue her personal passion: thoroughbred horse rescue. She was very capable. He told me he wound up hiring 2 different people to cover everything she did. This past month had been very quiet and I'd been wondering why…now I know. After I got off the phone with him, I was thinking hmmm, maybe this is a good time to suggest we restructure our own work relationship. That is, instead of my continuing to freelance for him, I could work for him as a p/t employee 1 or 2 days a week, on-site. The advantage to him would be to not have to always worry about my availability and having me there on a regular basis would only improve the quality of my work since I'd have easier access to him when I needed info. The advantage to me, of course, would be more consistent income.

I was thinking how good it would be to have a steady p/t job with them now. For as long as my other job lasts, it would mean I'd be working 5 days a week. And if and when I lose the other job sometime later this year, most likely, I'd then have the other job to rely on.

He hasn't responded yet so don't know if there's any interest there. I know he likes my work and we have a very long work relationship, 20 years, in fact. I have worked as a staff writer there in the past, as well as part-time and now freelance. The question would be do they have room in their budget for this? I'm pretty sure they could keep me busy with all the work they have. I charge them $50/hr now; if I get that same rate working on-site for 15 hours a week. I'd gross $39K and I'd be golden.

I mean, I recently learned my HVAC guy charges $95/hr, for gosh sake's, and I'm pretty sure he has only a high school diploma.

I had a long overdue talk with my boss today at the p/t job I started after Memorial Day weekend. They're happy with my writing, love my fast turnaround and my great attitude, but she thinks that, like her (her words) she thinks I'm a stronger writer than editor, and she's unsure what the right "balance" is between writing and editing skills for the perm position.

(Note that the job was originally advertised as a writing job, so to hear her say this was complete news to me. It also is a painful reminder of what happened at Prudential; I started working a contract job there as a writer and then mid-way through that assignment, which I was hoping would go perm, they decided to rejigger the job description so it ultimately included certain skill sets I didn't have. All along they said they were quite happy with my work but my background, they felt, was no longer a great fit for their future needs.)

She said she will know from HR if she will have funding for the perm position (to start 1/1/14) this fall, but wants to start whoever it is working beforehand to see how they work out. She didn't rule me out as a candidate either. She was pretty candid about it and about as nice as could be, so I can't really fault her for that.

While I've worn dual hats at many smaller companies I've worked at as both writer and editor, out of necessity, I think she's probably right about my strengths. There are many companies out there who are less concerned with the exact correct placement of a semi-colon and more interested in getting a high volume of work done. I think it comes down to priorities and is the company doing well enough to afford to be so picky.

So I'm thinking I should be able to work through August no problem, but then after that, who knows how long I'll have? If she learns in September she has funding for the perm position and decides to advertise the position and they get the right person, I could be out the door fairly soon. Or I could still be there in December...don't really know.

I did inquire when we talked whether she'd be open to my working a 4-day week, if they wound up picking me for the position. She was not at all open to that becus she felt the workload was such that my being absent one day each week would burden other employees.

So the job for me would be all or nothing. I told her I was still interested. I have to be careful how I handle this and can't reject a f/t offer even though I'm very reluctant to take it, if offered, due to the lengthy commute. But if I declined any offer they might make to me, I would not be eligible for unemployment benefits, and I really have no backup plan for income other than that if I don't get this job. So I will have to accept it if offered.

I already told recruiter about the conversation and asked him to keep an eye out for other opportunities for me, and of course, I'm looking too, as I have been since before I even took this job.

In other news...
July was an expensive month, to the tune of $5200, but that's because I had to pay my semi-annual property taxes of $2928. Moving forward, I'm going to insert the monthly cost of $488 into each month's expense report. I haven't done that in the past; I would simply record the expense when I paid it. But doing that distorts my expense picture and makes it appear I'm doing better, expense-wise each month than I really am because I'm only paying the property taxes twice a year, and then it's a big wallop.

Other big expenses this month were my sun room blinds ($317), medical treatment for my Lyme without having health insurance coverage ($249, should have been more like $50), Luther's vet bill ($141) and a variety of one-time annual expenses that all hit at the same time, like my borough taxes ($156), car registration ($90) and dump sticker ($85). Groceries were also higher than I budget for, at $248. Sigh.

It's gratifying to see that my net worth increased by $19,456 (!!) since last month, but it's not because I saved it. (My cash on hand has decreased by about $2,000 since I started this new job).

No, the big increase in my net worth is purely due to the bull stock market we've enjoyed of late. In fact, my net worth August 1 is $70,286 more than it was a year ago at this time. Pretty amazing if you consider I have not worked full time during that year! Plus I spent $20,000 of savings to buy a new car. Compared to 4 years ago (2009), my net worth is $147,724 higher. My net worth is now at a lifetime high. But what will happen if the stock market takes a corrective turn?

Today, we start with a clean slate on August 1. I need to immediately revert back to my "survivalist" lifestyle with minimal expenses. Since starting this new job, I'd indulged a bit with just a few fast food splurges along with some discretionary spending on clothing, those sun room shades and my maharaja chair.

To help offset some of that, I've decided on having a garage sale September 15. I've enlisted a friend to help on the day of the sale and suggested she try to sell some of her own stuff, too. I figure the weather should be decent by then (not too hot) and it gives me plenty of time for further organizing.

My real problem is the lack of tabletop space. What I need is a few folding card tables but it doesn't make sense to buy anything since I never make much money at a sale. I might scrounge around at good will but not sure I'll be able to find anything. I have one long workbench in the garage that I could clear off to put items on, but it would be nice to have enough stuff that people can walk all around the garage.

I plan on having some furniture, mostly chairs, as well as the usual housewares, kitchenware, old records, books and so on. Also some hypertufa and perennial groundcovers though most people aren't thinking gardening in September.

After all the drama of Luther's escape, it is nice to have a peaceful Saturday and Sunday. He no longer seems to be favoring the one paw. He is eating well. I only managed to get one painkiller in him, on the day I took him to the vet, but after that he wouldn't take it in a soft treat. I don't think he needs them anymore. He is his old, loving self. I managed to pull another tick or two off from around his eyelids and they appeared to be dead, so I think the tick meds are working.

Expenses for the month of July are way out of whack, but that's what happens on the two months a year I have to pay property taxes of $2928 each time. So, with just a few more days to go in the month, it looks like my monthly expenses will be in the $5100 range (that's way high, not only due to the taxes but also a bunch of unusual or once annual costs like my borough tax ($156), car registration ($90), dump sticker ($85) and of course there were my sunroom blinds ($317) the cordless drill ($42) I bought to put them up, plus medical expenses for the Lyme ($250) and I guess that's about it.

My income was good this month (including $563 from freelance income and $435 in credit card rewards) but not good enough to absorb 6 months' worth of property taxes.

I did a little email editing for one of my clients, and expect to have something else to do for him tonight. I like working for him on a weekend when he doesn't need me to turn it around immediately.

Yesterday I got some long overdue weeding done in the front perennial bed and spread the last of my mulch over layers of newspaper. It looks much better. This morning I got started on my back brick patio. I'm about halfway through with it. Pulled up some poison ivy with plastic disposable gloves and filled up a wheelbarrow full of weeds. Hope to get out there again this afternoon to more or less finish that section.

The whole yard has gone wild due to my not tending to it for the past month of brutal heat.

I made another pitcher of hibiscus tea as well as a cold salad for work tomorrow: homegrown cherry tomatoes, feta cheese and a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. I may slice up a homegrown green pepper for it too.

Contemplating going to Shop Rite later. Not sure if I will.

I also put up the little brackets for the shades that allow you to tie the cords around them. I had delayed doing that as I wasn't sure I wanted to mess up the nice, clean look of the window trim, but I'm glad I did, because otherwise you'd see the cords dangling on the benches and it looks better now, I think. It was easy, didn't bother using the cordless drill except to drill starter holes.

I probably should do some vacuuming.

I thought he was doing okay after the 2nd floor Leap to Freedom, but he is favoring one front paw, and he is definitely having trouble doing very low jumps up now, in the house.

So I took him to the new emergency vet center right in town. No appointment necessary. The good news is, vet said obviously no broken bones, since he's walking, though he could have a sprain or pulled tendon. Hard to know which, but he didn't think x-ray were necessary, lucky for me since they run $300. He said rest is best, though easier said than done. He gave me some pain meds for 4 days.

He declined to try to remove the 4 or 5 tiny ticks on the cat's outer eyelid. Yes, gross. I removed 2 tiny ticks from his ears. He said if I give him the over the counter stuff I got at Wal-Mart (a cheaper version of Frontline), they should drop off. I'm afraid I'll jab him in the eye if he struggles if I try to remove them with tweezers.

It cost me $140 for the exam/meds, plus another $22 for the Pet Armor. I gave him his pain med in a treat and he ate it fine. Then I applied the Pet Armor and was determined to sit with Luther in one room for an hour to make sure he didn't try to lick it off his shoulders, something that Waldo did once and had a horrible reaction with frothing at the mouth. Luther did fine, and didn't seem to know I'd applied it.

They always say on the directions to make sure you get it on the skin, not the fur, but of course his fur is so thick around his neck and this liquid stuff doesn't really seem to be absorbed by the skin alone. You're supposed to apply it all on the same spot. I did the best I could; I hope it works as those ticks around his eyes are gross.

I finished my own meds for the lyme disease a few days and have noticed a few headaches returning since I stopped them. They would probably have me do a 2nd round of 3 weeks of antibiotics if I wanted to, but thing is, I can't see the doc again until next Thursday, Aug. 1, since I am not effective on my new health plan til then. Til then, I will have to tough it out and continue my herbs which I've been doing with the meds all along.

I would really like to move away from here to a place where I don't have to think so much about ticks and disease.

PS I managed to pull off 2 of the tiny ticks from around his eyes with blunt tweezers. He really didn't struggle, but after that, he started protesting, so will let him be for a while. There are at least 2 more there that I see.

Where did the day go? I left in the morning to hit Trader Joe's, the bank, the gas station and the landfill. When I got home, I had lunch and then decided to drive up to my neighbor's behind me as he'd said I could pick berries on their property. He invited me in for some tea and we shot the breeze for about an hour; then I went to pick berries.

I got home I guess around 3, and at some point after that, I decided to mow the front lawn. 40 minutes later, I'm done and go back in the house. Feeling tired, I went to lay down for a while, and got up around 6 to make dinner.

I was just finishing up the dishes after dinner when I realized I hadn't seen Luther in a while and it was feeding time for them. He loves his kibble.

I start doing a whole house search. Can't find him. Then I remembered with a shock that at some point earlier in the afternoon, I'd noticed a screen from an upstairs window had fallen down to the brick patio below. I'd thought nothing of it, really. I knew that screen did not fit well in the window and had fallen out before. But I'd totally forgotten that I'd left that window open maybe about 4 inches at the bottom. Enough for Luther to squeeze through….and jump to the hard brick patio below, a distance of maybe 12 feet.

I couldn't believe he'd done that. But then, this is the same fearless cat that clawed away my flexible dryer vent in the basement and crawled through the 4 inch wide circular opening for the hose to gain access through the basement wall and then jump about 8 feet down to the hard concrete floor of my garage. Thank God I hadn't left the garage door open that day.

But getting back to Luther's escape today. I began freaking out because I couldn’t remember when I'd noticed that fallen screen. Either Luther decided to squeeze himself through the window and then pushed the screen out himself before jumping, or the screen fell out by itself and he at some point discovered it when he jumped onto the window and took advantage.

I circled the perimeter of my yard, calling and calling for him. I brought out his kibble and shook it as the sound usually gets him running. I called my neighbors behind me (where I'd been picking berries earlier) and asked them to keep an eye out, but by this time it was around 8 and already getting dark. I was feeling increasing alarm as I knew once it became completely dark I couldn't find him and he'd have to stay out all night. And we have coyotes around here. Who knows if he'd be around in the morning, or if I'd ever see him again. I don't think there's a very good track record of people finding lost pets, especially those that are indoor animals to begin with.

I drove up to my neighbors and walked around calling for him there, but I didn't really think he'd go that far away. I was picturing him being so fascinated by the vegetation that he would just slink into the undergrowth to explore, and could very well be within earshot of me but ignoring my calls.

I went inside the house and gave vent to my fears, sobbing a little, and then decided to go out one more time around 9:30 pm. I bundled up in a hooded sweatshirt and pants and my rubber boots so the mosquitoes wouldn’t eat me alive, and grabbed my flashlight. I'd left the garage door open, and checked in there for the 4th time, just to be sure the cat hadn't wandered in there. And there he was, mewing, and looking a little scared. I picked him up and brought him toward the front door, when he had the nerve to hiss at me. Evidently, he wasn't ready to end his little adventure.

I am so relieved. I pictured coyotes getting him, or my neighbor's three dogs, who just two days ago got a hold of a woodchuck. Luther doesn't like me to touch him or check him out too much; he’s a very independent cat. I observed him to make sure I didn't see a limp, a possible injury from jumping from that height, and I didn't see any swelling in his paws. I did notice him scratching a little.

I will have to run out first thing to get some Frontline, which I think is prescription-free now, and maybe a flea comb. I sure don't want him transmitting fleas to Waldo or anywhere on the house, or ticks to me.

I will have to be super careful with cracking windows open. Generally, I open the top half of them only on the second floor, in case the cat should push open the screen with his weight, since the screens (Andersen) actually have a warning printed on them about children possibly doing that. But it's been so hot lately (today is quite cool) I'd opened the windows at the bottom as well, but only a few inches. Luther is getting better at crawling in tight spaces.
So he was probably out there for at least 6 hours. I sure hope he doesn't have fleas/ticks, or if he does, that I can rein it in quickly by applying Frontline.

Inside my house it’s 88 degrees; outside temp is 95 and with humidity, over 100.

Cats still in basement; me a glutton for punishment, upstairs with ceiling fan a-whirl.

I left around noon and went to the landfill first. Then to the library, then to fill up on gas at BJs. Connecticut already has high-priced gas, so they thought it fitting to raise gas taxes by .15. BJs is the cheapest around, at I think 3.86/gallon. Inside, I took my time, looking in every aisle, in the air conditioned space. However, I was lazy and didn’t bring my cooler with ice paks, so I really didn’t think I should be buying anything refrigerated or frozen. Which is too bad, as I’m a little low, but I may just shop locally tomorrow, with the cooler. Maybe Trader Joe’s.

I did buy two refrigerated things at BJs: some of their organic salad greens and something new: Holy Guacamole. I got 6 small containers and froze 5 of them. Woofed down the 6th with some nice crackers. It wad delicious. I’ve bought avocados before but they seem to go bad in a day, and I can’t use a whole avocado in one salad.

I’ve begun to pick wineberries in my yard. This is the time they ripen. I won’t go crazy like in past years since that’s a good way to pick up ticks and more Lyme disease, but I am picking from the relative safety of a mowed lawn. About a cup a day. I’m freezing them for winter use when berries are scarce.

No freelance work for the past few weeks. I have about $420 in outstanding billables that should be paid any day now.

Tonight is a Netflix night.

I’ve completed my spending for the last bonus credit card. I am waiting (so impatiently) for rewards on 4 different cards.

Heat index to be over 100 today. Ugh. I hate this weather. It’s much easier to deal with when I can get in my air-conditioned car and head to my air-conditioned office.

Today I’m off though. The good thing is that for the past 3 days, I put both cats in the basement with their water dish and food, and blocked the little cat door at the top of the stairs with 2 44 lb boxes of cat litter Luther is quite strong, but not strong enough to move that.

They seemed to weather it okay. They mostly sleep anyway, as far as I know. And now, it seems Luther voluntarily goes down there even before I lock them in.

I’m trying to give them a little break from the dank basement, though, so am hoping to hang out here until about 10:30 am, when I suspect it will just get too hot; at that point, I’ll put them in the basement and head out to do my errands, which today will include a trip to the landfill, a gas tank fill-up and maybe BJs.

My new health kick these days is drinking hibiscus tea. I came upon a new healthy food website (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/better-than-green-tea/) and liked this video comparing the antioxidant levels of nearly 300 beverages. #1 on the list, even higher than green tea, was hibiscus.
I especially love making this because there’s no need to use energy or heat up the kitchen; a cold brew is all that’s needed. Simply take 8 cups water and add 4 hibiscus tea bags (I used raspberry hibiscus…just make sure hibiscus is listed s the #1 ingredient), add a healthy sweetener like Stevia and lemon juice from a half lemon.). Let it sit overnight and oila…you’re done. Tastes like a healthy version of fruit punch, no kidding. I’m also trying to cut back on black tea, partly because the tannins interfere with the body’s ability to absorb Vit. D, so then you have to take extra magnesium. I’ll still have 1 cup of black tea daily and then the rest of the day drink the hibiscus tea.

Anyway, I’m rather liking the nutritionfacts.org website. The doctor in the video presents all the scientific studies and he’s a bit dorky, but the subject matter and topics are right up my alley.


I got in my full 3 days, or 23.25 hours, this week. I got a brief email reply back to the job fair email I just sent John this a.m. He didn’t say anything further about the money he owes me, so hopefully he’ll just mail it. His nickname for me is “Thunder Goddess.” I think this is a carry-over from when we worked together 4 years ago. I am rather fond of the name. And he alternately refers to himself as “the Thunder Goddess sugar daddy” and the checks as “Thunder Goddess tax breaks.” He cracks me up.

I’m in this weird, uncomfortable situation with my job.

As you may remember, the recruiter agency that told me about this job arbitrarily lowered the rate of pay, from the $35/hr that it initially told me about to $34/hr when I got the offer from the employer. After a few weeks on the job, they tried to lower it AGAIN, to $33/hr. and when I balked, the recruiter (a friend I worked with on a previous job) told me he’d pay me the difference of $1/hr out of his own pocket every week. His hope is that the relatively small upfront outlay will pay off down the road if they get more business from the employer who hired me.
So I’ve been there about 7 weeks now and each week he’s cut me a check for usually about $25. (I’m only working 3 days a week.)

I’ve been unhappy with the weird arrangement, but what am I going to do? I need the job. I’ve also been concerned because I’ve worried that if this job goes long term without a perm offer, the recruiter is not going to want to keep paying me that extra $$ forever.
Last week, my boss at the job told me not to come in on Monday because it so happened that neither she nor 2nd in command would be in. Wasn’t happy that my 3 days was shrinking to 2, but again, I don’t have much say in the matter. She said work has been a little slow.

So as has been my habit, I told my recruiter friend the total number of hours worked, so he could mail me a check.

I got an email from him yesterday saying given my abbreviated week last week, he thought it was safe to say we’re “all set”with the money he pays me. In other words, he wants to skip the check for last week and he’s hoping I won’t mind. Umm, given my abbreviated work week, I need it even more! I’m pissed that he’s using a shorter work week as some kind of excuse to not pay me, perhaps because it would amount to $15 for that week. I’d like to tell him he can just add that on to this week’s check.
I mean, his company/recruiting company already ripped me off from the $35/hr.

Not only that, but I was told by him the job was full time, and it wasn’t until 10 minutes into my very first day on the job that I learned from my manager that they decided to start me at 3 days a week….”Didn’t anyone tell you?” she said.

Umm, no, no one did. Who dropped the ball? Was it the employer who didn’t tell the recruiter or was it the recruiter who didn’t tell me? In hindsight, I could have kept my other p/t proofreading job AND this one and I could have been working full time all this time. (Truth be told, I was happy to leave the other job, so boring and low paying.) But it would have been nice to have a backup plan, just in case.

So how would you deal with the email? I was going to just let it go, it’s just $15. Every dollar counts with me, believe me. I’m not working full-time and I have a lot of deferred expenses from almost 4 years of under-employment. Yet I’m reluctant to pressure my recruiter friend becus he sincerely is a very nice guy. I guess this is one example of how mixing business with personal friendships is not always a good idea.

Rather than wait for my friend-with-a-drill’s availability, I decided to buy myself a cordless drill ($40 at Home Depot) and drill set ($4 at WalMart) and get my six bamboo shades up myself. I figure it’s about time a woman of my age learned how to use a drill instead of struggling mightily for hours with screwdrivers and such.

Here they are:



Aren’t they great? It still took me twice as long to get them up and to figure out how they work (very simple). They don’t hang perfectly straight, but that’s not a function of how I installed them; it’s because of the way the bamboo rolls up.

I am pretty happy with them but I’m still left wondering what these narrow strips of bamboo are for.



Usually ties like these would be used to tie back fabric curtains to the side, but obviously that wouldn’t work with bamboo shades. They already come with little metal prongs you screw into the side to wrap the cord around. Haven’t done that yet as I’m a little reluctant to install more hardware to the wood trim around the windows. Any idea what they’re for? I also doubt they’re meant to wrap around or otherwise support the shades when rolled up, as there’s no attachment or hooks on these little strips at all. I will have to call paylessdecor to find out.

The drill worked great, although even then, I still had to start each screw with a screw driver til it grabbed the wood, and then hand-tighten as well as I was working in tight quarters.
On the weekend’s agenda:

• Check out a condo open house (something I do frequently)
• Groceries, including one more 6-pak of blueberries at $1.18 at Shop Rite, before sale ends EOD today
• Library book sale tomorrow
• Continue mowing

I put in my measly 2 days of work this week and won’t have to return til Monday.

Meeting a friend to see a matinee with this morning. She’s picking me up at 9:45 am for a 10:30 am movie. I like matinees, but first thing in the a.m. does feel a little weird. We’re seeing something mindless with Sandra Bullock in it. My first movie of the summer! She suggested lunch afterwards but I had to decline….too many expenses these days.

This is a relatively new friend (the person I used to share a job with) and the one thing I’ve found I don’t like about her is that she talks fairly loudly and doesn’t seem to mind or care if other people overhear our conversations. I do, especially since she’s sometimes talking about off color things that are a little embarrassing. But she seems completely incapable of lowering her voice in deference to others around us. Hmm. Oh well, could be worse, I guess.

It’s just 7:27 am here and while it thundered and rained for a while, it did little to cool things down. The air is as thick as a Costa Rican jungle. Not having AC, I hate it; it’s been like this for over a solid week; it looks like Sunday we may see a meaningful drop in humidity.

I was watching The Bachelorette on Hulu the other night. It was the episode where they all go to Madeira, Portugal. My gosh, what a beautiful town. I actually wrote down the name to remember it. (As if I’m traveling anywhere anytime soon.)
My Lyme symptoms have been mostly gone since I started the combined antibiotic/herb regimen, but I woke up with a pretty bad stomachache this a.m., which I can only attribute to the herbs. I hope it goes away before I leave for the movies. Note to self: Bring earplugs to the movie theater. Last time I was at a Loew’s, the volume was way high.
I may get a haircut this weekend. I have a 50% off coupon at a salon I don’t usually frequent.

I used some Amazon gift cards I earned thru surveys to buy some new sneakers, a new nozzle for my garden hose (the old won’t turn off now when you use it). Now I’ve earned another $20 worth of Amazon gift cards from Delicious Living e-news, so would really like to get an updated AP style book. The one I have is 12 years old; don’t imagine it changes much from year to year, but my job really requires that I know it.

I bought a cheapie pear of knee-high rubber boots which I use often in my yard (ticks) but they’ve already developed cracks in front where you do a lot of bending, at the front of ankle. Rubber is rubber, or so you would think.

Who was it that was looking for more credit card rewards? I can’t remember, but if you go to My Money Blog, they did a July 8 post on Southwest Airlines card: 50,000 bonus points after spending $2,000 in 1st 3 months. Easier than the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

Still waiting on my quote for the whole house humidifier; guess I’ll have to call him. He was here on was it Monday?

At about 5:30 a.m., I heard the telltale sound of crashing glass bottles and cans, a sign that the recycling pickup truck was on my street. Of course, I’d once again forgotten to put my recycling out last night. Darn.

So I’m thinking as for credit card rewards, once I wrap up with the last one I’m working on…a Bankamericard Travel Rewards card (get $100 for spending $500), I may cool it for a while and catch up charging on some of my other cards. Eg, I have a Citi Forward card which enables me to get free Netflix for a year, provided you make some periodic charges to the card, which I haven’t really been doing cus I’ve been so focused on my bigger rewards cards. Also need to charge something to my Amex green card; they actually cancelled it on me a few weeks ago due to inactivity but reinstated it after I called and made a special request. I still haven’t charged anything on it! Same goes for my USAA card, which isn’t a rewards card at all, but that and the Amex card are my 2 oldest cards so I don’t want to lose them or it would zing my credit score.

But after I catch up on all that, I may do just ONE more big card this year, and that would be the Southwest Card mentioned above. I’ll wait and time my online application to right before a bigger bill comes due, like my car and homeowners insurance in October.

After a fairly anxious few weeks, I received a letter in the mail saying I’m approved for state health insurance program ($589/month). Because these are state bureaucrats we’re dealing with, there were various unnecessary delays in processing my application, so instead of getting onto their plan July 1, I will finally be on it effective Aug. 1. I’m mailing my premium out tomorrow.

So I foresee being on this plan for the rest of 2013 but will probably look for something better October 1, when the state healthcare exchanges are all set up. In a way, it’s better for me that my COBRA expired because in June their premiums jumped to $770 a month.

I just have to stay healthy and out of trouble for the rest of July!

My bamboo shades are due to arrive tomorrow, so that means the earliest I can put them up is Thursday. I sure hope they fit properly and that the order was filled correctly. I have 6 sets for my 6 windows. (The French door I may consider doing later.) I was counting on my friend R. to come over with his drill and help me install them, but he’s always busy and it’s been so hot here lately, I don’t want to delay the installation by even a week. So I went ahead and ordered a small cordless drill (Skil, $40) from Home Depot; I should have it in a few days, or at least soon enough to get those shades up this weekend. (I hope.)

Today would normally be a work day for me, but the 2 people I report to are both out, so she told me not to come in. I wasn’t happy about that. My 3-day-a-week pay will now be 2-day-a-week this week. .
I had a contractor over earlier to check out my oil furnace. I want to get a whole house humidifier to make it more comfortable here in winter months. I always get a sore throat when I wake up in a.m. because the air is so dry. Forced hot air. Should have done this years ago but when I replaced the furnace way back when, they convinced me I should not hook up the existing humidifier becus of concerns about mold. Well, that’s not an issue with the newer units.

He said it would take 3 to 4 hours to install, and since I already know the price of an Aprilaire, which he recommended, is about $250 retail, I can’t imagine the total price being more than $700 with labor, although there are a few other parts he pointed out that he would replace.

In another month I should have another $600 in credit card rewards (Chase Sapphire Preferred, Amex Blue Cash Everyday and BankAmericard Travel card), so that will help.

I already made my work lunches for the next 2 days: a black bean and corn salad. I usually bring some sort of fruit salad with me as well. Shop Rite had 6 packs of blueberries for $6.99, which works out to $1.15 or so per pint, which is very good these days. So I got a 6 pack and set about rinsing and then freezing them on trays, and then putting them in freezer bags, for winter use. I also went to Caraluzzi’s today to get a BOGO deal on Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, plus I had a $1 coupon for B&J, so the 2 pints cost just $3.18.
Tonight I mow the back lawn, use the trimmer and color my hair.

Indoor temp is now 85.I am frustrated that no matter what I do, it always heats up inside, whether I’m closing windows and/or drapes or keeping windows open with drapes drawn. Doesn’t really make much difference either way. It is true that I have alwys had minimal windows treatments here as I have plenty of privacy. Some windows have valances only, some have wood shutters and some have vinyl binds (which I hate). Soon will have bamboo shades in the sun room. If I had money to spare, I’d invest in insulated drapes for both hot weather days like this and winter, but for now am making due with the single pair of long insulated drapes I bought years back for frrench doors. I have closed off most of the upstairs rooms to the cats (except my office, where I’m sitting now). Don’t want to close the door at top of stairs cus it will just keep all that heat on first floor.

To while away the time indoors, I spent at least an hour on a most unglamorous job: cleaning my kitchen cabinets and other surfaces. With white cabinets, you can see all the smudges around the knobs, and cleaning like this is not something I do often, but I think I made an improvement using those Mr. Clean’s bleach sponges and some old-fashioned vinegar. I also worked a while cleaning the banisters on the stairs, which tend to get mold spots on them in this weather.
I made some iced tea this a.m. and am just sitting around as I often do in the heat with nothing but a pair of short shorts and a bra on. I’ve been running the ACs more than I usually do…wondering what the electric bill will look like.

I spent a few hours tidying up the basement yesterday, again, it gave me a reason to stay down there. It could really use a vacuuming down there, but then I’d dislodge the cats. I have a gazillion cans of half-used paint down there and was able to locate 3 gallons of exterior paint I can recycle next month since I now have vinyl on the house.

I did also manage to vacuum the upstairs, but aside from that, nothing too strenuous. Oh yeah, I did run the soaker hose for about 1.25 hours this morning in the veggie garden. I have lots of green cherry tomatoes and can’t wait to start enjoying them. I also suddenly noticed I have yellow wax beans ready for picking. Haven’t spent much time in the garden at all, and I really need to do some weeding there and tie up some gangly tomato vines. I did hang a 2nd cucumber beetle trap today.

Been listening to the radio and doing a few odds and ends online. Got paid $68 from my IT client, for editing his memos and emails. The hardest thing I’ll be doing is part 2 of lawn mowing at around 6 pm. Has to be done. I’ll reward myself with an ice cold Beck’s beer in a freezer-cold glass.

It’s hard to find the get-up-and-go on such hot days like this one. I made 3 calls to have guys come out to give me estimates on a whole house humidifier for my furnace.

I made my own German potato salad, which uses vinegar and chicken broth instead of mayo. It also has chopped up hard-boiled eggs. I cooked up the entire (5 lb?) bag of organic potatoes for it becus organic potatoes tend to go bad on me very quickly and I hate wasting the money.

Before I knew it, it was time for lunch at mom’s. I brought some extra potato salad in a cooler with me. Spent some time there catching up with her and browsing her studio since I get to pick out some art for my upcoming birthday. I discovered an oil painting that looked VAGUELY familiar, an impressionistic painting of 3 sailboats on the water. I liked it a lot. She informed me it was “very old,” and then when I became curious, she went to see if she could find a record of when she did it. She discovered that she’d painted it early in her career, in the “60s/70s.” Nothing more precise than that. It could well have been painted when I was just a child. Knowing that made me want to own it even more. Who knows? It’s possible we may have a family photo somewhere with that painting in the background. Wouldn’t that be cool?

Before I’d left for my mother’s, I decided I was going to put the cats in the basement with their food and water. So I was able to turn all the fans off, but I had to put 2 44 lb. boxes of cat litter in in front of the cat door at the top of the basement stairs to keep Luther from scratching his way out. He tried, but when I chastised him several times, he seemed to settle down, and when I came home I was happy to see he’d found a spot on a blanket on a lawn chair down there.

I may have to put them down there again tomorrow for the afternoon, when it’s been hottest. I don’t think the heat is good for them, especially Luther with his long fur. I’ve tried cutting it a few times, but he always hates this and hisses at me. It doesn’t hurt him at all but he’s so fussy about things like that.
I knew I had to start mowing the lawn soon so I went out there to sit and contemplate the growing grass. I really had a hard time getting started because it was still too darn hot at 6 pm. Indoor house temp was 83 degrees, to give you an idea. But, I did finally begin the mowing and will have to continue it 2 more nights to finish front and back.

Oh, I finished my spending on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, the holy grail of cards. Now i can just focus on my bankamericard travel card for a $500 spend; have also racked up $122. Easy peasy.

I find this humid, sultry weather so despicable! Hate it.

I posted yesterday that I had just one small window AC; I had totally forgotten about the large portable AC I’ve had for a number of years, but hardly ever use.


It's hard to make out in the photo, but it's actually sitting on a black chair.)

It blasts out cold air pretty well and it’s on roller casters, so you can place it anywhere in the house near a window. I paid a lot of money for it, I think $375 or something like that. It’s s got a large, flexible exhaust tube (about the diameter of a dryer hose vent) you have to hook up to the back, and then through a vent that fits inside a window. The problem is that this tube does not screw into the back of the unit or the piece that fits inside the window securely. (You close a double hung window over it.) It’s exasperating to work with and keeps popping out of place and as a result, I hardly ever use the thing except when I am desperate. I may call the manufacturer as well, which is long overdue.

I did run it for a few hours Iast night during dinner, in the kitchen. It did a good job of cooling the kitchen, but the cool air didn’t really filter into the adjoining dining or living room. This morning I kept the unit in the kitchen but managed to elevate it by lifting it onto a chair directly in front of the window and rejiggered the whole thing. The flexible hose can be pulled out to maybe 10 feet, but when the unit is running, you can feel that hose get very warm, and you have to wonder if it’s sending warmth right back into the air. So I figure when the unit is right up close to the window with the hose contracted in size to about 1.5 feet, if that will help. I will likely run it again today when the heat gets unbearable.

The worst thing is when we get these really hot days and I have to go to work, because I worry about how the cats fare cooped up in this house alone for a 10-hour stretch. They are not smart enough to go into the cooler basement, and if I locked them down there, Luther would be clawing at the door all 10 hours. At least now through Monday I can monitor the opening and closing of curtains, windows, run the AC as needed, etc. My 3 ceiling fans and 2 large floor fans help as well, though once the humidity reaches a certain point, all they do is blow hot air around.

Here’s a picture of the Maharaja chair I acquired about a month ago.



I like it very much. Kind of rustic, but very sturdy and comfortable. Sits in my sunroom.

I’ve started my Lyme meds, but had to cut back a bit on one of the herbs I’m taking concurrently, the Cat’s Claw. It was upsetting my stomach.

Going to mother’s for lunch tomorrow. I was planning on going to the landfill today, but forgot they’d be closed for the holiday. I’m guessing they’ll be closed tomorrow, too, so that means I MUST go on Saturday, the busiest day of all, since they are also closed Monday, my last day before returning to work.
Caraluzzi’s has blueberries this week for $1.88 a pint, cheaper than anywhere else I’ve seen. Used to be blueberries went for .99 a pint in summer, and I’ve staunchly held off buying them for anything more than that, the result being that I ate no blueberries the last few years.  So, I will cave and buy 2 pints at Caraluzzi’s today.

I finally got some interesting stuff to do at work yesterday. I started writing website product descriptions for some pillows and throws; I also have another designer bio to write. These are not ordinary product descriptions you might see on any number of retail furniture sites. They practically give an encapsulated history of where the product is made. For instance, I was writing about a pillow yesterday made in Norway using Norwegian lambswool in a woolen mill whose history is closely tied to the history of the town. It’s a small copper mining town, and back in 1789, a wealthy but childless mine director left his fortune to establish a foundation to feed and clothe the poor by teaching them how to spin and sew clothes made from lambswool. Anyway, it’s all very interesting and yes, the product description goes into some detail about all of the above and all. I don’t feel like I’m writing about a product to sell as much as I’m writing about the history of Norway’s handcraft industry. They’re very nice pillows, but I don’t have $100 to spend on a pillow.

I also wrote about the quality of the raw material: these Norwegian sheep live the good life, roaming at will and munching contentedly on fresh green pasture in the Norwegian mountainsides. Because of the cooler climate, they are not bothered by insects, and thus their wool does not need to be treated with harsh chemicals to clean the wool.

My manager has been making lots of edits to my work and I’m finding that she is uber particular about how everything reads. There is a definite “tone” running throughout the website which she wants to maintain, and being able to mimic that tone exactly to her liking will be difficult. A heavy-handed editor is something that stressed me out in the past, but at this point, I’m really just there to be paid and not taking personal ownership of things which just caused me to be possessive about my writing in the past and who messed with it.


Here's a photo of a large mirror my ex-toy designer British neighbor offered me after rescuing it at the dump. He was going to bring it home to his wife, the kind of thing he does all the time, but i guess he figured they had enough to stage their house and it would be just another thing to move. It's in very good condition except that the paint is coming off it and it would need to be sanded and repainted. It's very heavy so I'm not sure I want to try hanging it now.

If you recall, my COBRA was set to expire June 30. I planned to get onto the Charter Oak plan without a lapse in coverage, but things didn’t go exactly as planned.

As it happened, my premium increased for the month of June, from $562/month previously to about $770 a month. The COBRA rep I spoke to suggested that if I didn’t think I’d need, or could avoid incurring any healthcare expenses for the month of June, that I could save myself the $770 by simply not paying the premium at the start of the month as I usually do. He explained that if I DID need health insurance, I would still be covered for June as long as my premium payment was postmarked June 30; if it turned out I didn’t need health coverage, I could just skip it since I knew (or thought I knew) I’d be getting onto the state Charter Oak plan.

Would you believe that during the very last week of June I started wondering if I could have Lyme disease (again)? I was feeling very headachey, and the headaches didn’t go away. I’ve had Lyme 3 times already so I know what it feels like (for me, anyway). By this past Saturday, June 29, I was sure I had it. But it was already too late to mail in the premium since it was Saturday afternoon and the post office closes at 1 pm so no postmark. Not that I wanted to spend the $770 anyway.

So….I began to worry… a lot….over the weekend, wondering how I was going to get treatment without health insurance. There’s actually a health clinic in town for people with no health insurance but you have to be under certain income limits. I would be borderline eligible; they determine it on a case by case basis. They’re free, which is great, but they’re only open on Wednesdays. So I was thinking of trying to get in there, but I had a feeling it wouldn’t be until Wednesday (tomorrow) or possibly the following Wednesday, too late for something like Lyme where early treatment is very important.

I even called the local hospital to see what the cost would be; I basically just needed the antibiotics for 3 weeks, which I know from previous experience cost all of $15. They explained the emergency room is very expensive: $600.

OK, forget that.

So this past Monday, after getting no answer at the free clinic, I called my regular primary care doctor and explained my situation, that because of various paperwork delays by Charter Oak, I’m not yet covered by them and essentially am in the no man’s land of no insurance. She said it would cost me $75 to see my PCP, which I thought was actually a bargain. I figured it would be something like $200. Not only that, but she actually had an opening that afternoon.
I found that out 8:30 am, just before I needed to head to work. I left work early that day for the doc appointment and met with my PCP, who’s actually an RN with prescribing ability. I’ve been seeing here for probably 15 or 20 years now. When she walked in I could tell immediately she’d lost a ton of weight…85 lbs, to be exact. We talked quite a bit about that at first, which was good, in a way, because I wanted to warm her up to my proposal that she dispense with the blood test for the Lyme disease and just give me the prescription, to save my money.

She agreed to do that. The blood work, again for an uninsured individual, would no doubthave been several hundred dollars. As it was, those $15 antibiotics wound up costing me $124 because I lack health insurance.

I also spent another $150 on 4 different herbs recommended as part of a protocol by a well-known herbalist who wrote a book about beating lyme disease with herbs. I’m not a huge believer in alternative therapies, but I do feel that these herbs helped me get rid of lyme in the past, and I’ve heard enough horror stories about intractable Lyme to know I don’t want to take any chances with it.

So my total out of pocket for the Lyme, unfortunately, has been $350, still less than that $770 premium for the month of June, but probably not worth it given all my anxiety about my health.
These are things that the average person who’s always been covered by an employer health plan never even thinks about.

Here are some of the houses my friend and I visited during this past weekend’s House & Garden Tour in my town:











There were just 6 properties. In addition to the expected old colonials and saltboxes was a nice log cabin.

Have you seen this? Check out rewardboost.com.

You can enter all the credit cards you own here (not your accounts, just the name of the card) and it will help you maximize how much you earn in credit card rewards each year.

I'm constantly participating in various credit card reward offers and it gets difficult to keep track of which one's the best to use for specific purchase categories, like gas, groceries or dining out.

This site organizes all that for you and makes it easy to compare and contract reward offers so you know exactly which card to use for any given purchase.

The bottom line is, no one card is going to best for every spending category. I found that for the 3rd quarter, Chase Freedom will be best for buying gas with its 5% reward, but Amex Blue Cash Everyday will be best for charging groceries (3% reward). Citi Forward is best for fast food at 5%.

I've accumulated about 10 cards now. I have cancelled a bunch, but there are 2 I never use but will always hang onto because I've had them for years, before I got started on the credit card rewards kick.

And I notice my credit hasn't suffered with this many cards (I PAY IN FULL EVERY MONTH), so having several to choose from will help me optimize the savings. Right now I'm still working on upfront credit card rewards on 2 cards (Chase Sapphire Preferred and Bankamericard Travel Rewards) so am charging everything to these 2 cards, but once I meet my spend goals in another month, I'll then be using rewardboost to help me maximize everyday purchases with all or any of my cards.

Later this morning I’m picking up a friend and we’ll be visiting 7 private homes as part of my town’s annual home and garden tour. It’s really the gardens I’m interested in seeing, but I know the homes will be lovely, too. I imagine they won’t want people taking pictures inside, but perhaps I can sneak in a few outside to show you later. 

I haven’t done this in about 15 years. The tickets were $25 each. My friend mentioned that she thought one of the houses was somewhat inaccessible and that it looked like a walk in the woods to the house and she hates insects, not her idea of a good time, yadda yadda yadda. I think she’s entirely mistaken about that house; what she may have thought was a driveway was, I believe, a road. It has been insufferably hot and humid for a week now but we will be in an air-conditioned car and I’m guessing most of these homes are also air-conditioned as well. So please, don’t ruin this outing with complaints already. Let’s think of it as an adventure. Geez. 

Otherwise, this was pretty much a normal weekend for me. I hit Trader Joe’s Thursday, BJs Friday and will be at Caraluzzi’s after the home and garden tour. For some reason, I never wind up getting everything I need at a single grocery store, even though I always come with a list.

I am thinking next week I will look into getting someone to remove a non-functioning humidifier that’s attached to my oil furnace and replacing it with a new one. When I bought the house, I took the advice of a furnace guy to detach the existing humidifier because it would spew lots of unhealthy mold spores into the air or whatever. I have lived 18 years regretting that decision because in the winter, the air in here is exceedingly dry; I wake up with a sore throat daily and you generally feel a lot colder than you would if there was some humidity.

What made things worse is that the guys who were here at the time cut the plastic tube that carried the water, and at some point later, the water still trapped in that tube leaked out and totally rusted the unit as well as one side of my furnace. It didn’t damage the furnace, but it’s very unsightly. You just don’t see it all unless you walk around behind the unit. Anyway, I’m hoping it can all be replaced and the rust somewhat cleaned up for no more than $500. We’ll see. It would be money well spent. Surely they make humidifiers now with a UV light or whatever that kills mold.

My neighbors behind me lowered the price on their house from $900-something to the high $800s after probably less than a month on the market. They have a gorgeous, 6 bedroom house with 7 acres, but it doesn’t help, I would imagine, when the Zillow estimate that appeared on their Patch page with their open house listing valued the house at $580K or in that vicinity! It makes it appear they have grossly over-valued their home. I haven’t had a chance to talk to them about that, but I would love to know why they think there’s such a discrepancy.

I bit the bullet and ordered 6 custom-made bamboo shades (with liner) for my sunroom, at a cost of about $316 with coupon. I really, really need these. My sunroom was done about 3 years ago and I have suffered through 3 summers without any kind of window coverings. From June through August, from noon on, it gets too hot in there to enjoy the space. The windows face south and west. And the heat spills over into the family room, warming it up as well. So I’m hoping these shades will really cut down on the heat in there. I can’t wait to get them. I hope I can install them myself. Others said installation was easy. I need to borrow a drill.

OK, so I’ve been working the new 3-day-a-week job for 3 weeks now, and I’ve gotten a few paychecks under my belt. Now that I know what kind of net income I’m dealing with, I thought I would go over my monthly income/expense scenario again, with an eye toward fine-tuning and tweaking, especially as it affects my retirement.

For a long time, my retirement goal has been, after using countless retirement calculators offered by the likes of T. Rowe Price, Kiplinger’s and others, $1,250,000. That, I felt, was an accurate representation of what I would need to retire comfortably.

While knocking out the mortgage last summer was a big milestone, it certainly doesn’t mean I can just relax and forget about retirement planning. Although my 3-day-a-week job may transition into 4 or 5 days a week at some point down the road, I really have no knowledge of whether or when that will occur, so I’m focusing my re-budgeting based on the 3-day-a-week scenario.

I decided that prior calculations about what kind of savings it would take to save even $1 million by age 60 would not, realistically, be something I can achieve with my current income. (Assuming a 5% interest rate, I’d need to sock away $2,683 a month. Or $1,015 a month based on an 8% interest rate. Yeah, it would be less if I didn’t have to stop working at 60, but I don’t think I want to be locked into working f/t after that age.)

So I adjusted my sights downward somewhat by deciding to concentrate on a goal of saving $750,000 by age 60. Based on a modest 5% interest rate, I’d only have to save $247 a month to accomplish that. Remember that number; we’ll return to it below.

I looked at my revised “bare minimum monthly expenses” once again and made the following adjustments to it:

1. I set health insurance at $589 a month, though I am sort of in limbo right now and not yet accepted into the state plan. My application’s being processed.

2. I was happily able to adjust my monthly allocation for property taxes down to $488 a month, thanks to our recent town-wide revaluation of real estate. That’s a savings of $62 a month, or about $750 a year! You’d think it would be more, given that the last reval was done at the peak of the market five years ago, but hey, I’m not complaining.

3. My insurance for the new car will only increase $100, mainly because I boosted the deductible to $2,000. I’ve never filed a claim on car or home in 18 years, so why pay more each year in insurance if I don’t need to?

4. The big unknown at this point is how much my car tax will be. This is a hugely unpopular tax in Connecticut which legislators recently failed to do away with, but anyway, I called the town and she said it wouldn’t be due til January, so I’ll wait til then to find out.

So with these various adjustments, my bare minimum monthly expenses are actually a bit lower than before, at $1,922. Psychologically, I really like having it stay under $2,000 a month.

My net income from working 3 days will be $2,564 a month, and I’m adding an additional $200 in net income each month from my freelance work. I’m just guessing at the taxes on $300 gross. So with $2,764 in total income each month after taxes, I’ll have $842 left over each month.

I will put aside $247 of this toward my $750K retirement goal on the 1st of each month, starting in July. It represents a 9% saving rate on my NET income, not bad on p/t income, but that’s what you can do when your mortgage is paid off. That still leaves me with $595 for discretionary spending which I predict will be spent on things like home maintenance and the occasional eating out, clothes, Christmas and, hopefully not anytime soon, the vet….none of those expenses are included in my “bare minimum monthly essential expenses.”

In summary, I think this is a doable budget for me that allows me to save a meaningful amount toward retirement, something that has LONG been on my back-burner due to under-employment.

I’m not saying I want to retire on $750K and I’m not sure I could. It would be a fairly spartan retirement, perhaps something like my mother has. I always envisioned something more comfortable that would allow me some travel abroad etc. So while $1.25 mm is still the ultimate goal, for now, I will set my sights a little lower just so the bigger numbers don’t make me throw up my hands and give up. I am definitely a goal-oriented person and I do better when I have a goal I’m working toward, provide that it’s reasonable and doable. I believe this one is.
It also allows some additional funds for who-knows-what. I know this old house sucks up money like nobody’s business. In the back of my head are big capital improvements coming down the road like: new roof @ $8,000, upgraded kitchen cabinets/counters @ I wonder how much and a variety of other assorted upgrades/repairs.

I never paid much attention to pollen counts until I acquired Waldo and discovered he has severe allergies. Each spring it gets harder and harder for him to breathe. I brought him once or twice to the vet, who gave him a quick shot and presto! Allergies subdued in a majorly way, really quick. I noticed his improved breathing on the car ride home!

However, I’m reluctant to submit Waldo to the trauma of a trip to the vet unless absolutely necessary. Heck, I’m never really sure I can even catch him to put him in the carrier.

This spring, I noticed that weather.com will email you the daily pollen counts at the start of each day. They also break it down by trees, grasses or weeds and indicate the level of severity (low, moderate or high).

In early April, Waldo was already showing signs of having breathing issues, so I decided not to throw open the windows the way I do on warm days. I love the fresh air and breezes coming in the house, but it just wasn’t worth it when Waldo was affected by it so much. So I kept the house shut up continuously right through June; the only fresh air getting in here was when I went in and out the doors.

The difference has been amazing. Waldo is breathing so much better.

Not only that, but I came to the conclusion that the pollen he’s allergic to is tree pollen. Now that tree pollen season is over (according to my weather.com reports), it’s down to the grass and weed pollens, and Waldo doesn’t seem affected by that at all. Perhaps the tree problem is more of an issue because it’s floating down through the air from a much higher starting point. I know that when I still had my screened porch, I’d get a thin layer of green dust on everything in the porch and family room.

I’m really glad, as I knew I couldn’t keep the windows closed forever, and that when it really heated up, I’d be forced to open windows since I don’t have central air.

So now I’m enjoying wide open windows (and so are the cats) without any repercussions.

Yesterday, I got a check for $113; it’s the up-front bonus from my Chase Sapphire card. Still working on rewards for dual cards, something I don’t usually do, but I wound up applying for 3 cards right before I bought my new car. So now I’m working on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card and the Bankamericard Travel card. After that, I may take a little breather on the credit card rewards. I feel like you really have to stay on top of them when you’re working to earn those rewards within a given time span.

So far, year to date, I’ve earned $355 in credit card rewards and in another few months I’ll have earned another $615.

I also participated in an easy promotion where you just have to use your BankAmericard once to pay for a phone/cable/Internet bill through June 30 and you get a $15 gift card at Target and a few other stores.

Last night I made my first of the season pesto sauce over pasta. It didn’t taste quite right, because I substituted dried garlic flakes for fresh garlic, and it tasted a little flat to me.

I finally got paid $110 from a Yale study I did in early May. Now that I’m working 3 full days, I will by necessity have to cut back on these kinds of studies, and market research focus group studies, as well, but I will still keep my eyes open for things that might take place on my days off (Thurs and Fri).

The mulberries are starting to ripen on the big mulberry tree outside my window. I only know that because I can hear a variety of fruit-loving birds fluttering around in the branches each morning, including cedar waxwings, cat birds and robins.

Lucky Robin, if you’re reading this, you’ll be pleased to know I fed the boys canned rabbit for the first time ever this morning ($2 a can) and they loved it. I think you're on to something.

Due to my abbreviated work schedule, my “weekend” officially starts at 6:01 pm Wednesday night. So I was just into my weekend two nights ago when I arrived home from work. I didn’t initially notice that Waldo didn’t come into the kitchen at dinner time with his straight-up, happy tail with the crooked little curve at the tip. Which was odd, because Waldo is a healthy eater, and the cats had just gone a long stretch…10 hours…without eating since breakfast.

I found him huddled in a corner behind the French door in the family room. He was just sitting there, in an out-of-the-way spot. Perhaps I was reading too much into it, but the look on his face told me he was in pain. He didn’t respond to me when I paid him attention, and this I found very disturbing as he is normally extremely affectionate with me.

The first thing that came to mind, frankly, is that maybe Luther rough-housed with him too roughly, as I feel he often does, and this time actually punctured his neck. Luther is a big boy and I am constantly breaking things up when he decides to “play” with Waldo. I had even considered segregating them when I go to work, because the rough-housing happens when Luther gets bored, and poor Waldo is missing most of his teeth and can’t really defend himself. I ultimately decided against segregation because no matter where I put Luther, I know he’d be scratching and destroying whatever stood in his way. He can be very destructive.

I had also noticed 3 small pools of throw-up. I assumed it was Luther, who is frequently coughing up hairballs. These didn’t look serious, just white foamy stuff that sat on top of the carpeting, so it appeared it had just happened.

I continued to keep an eye on Waldo, and I was sure something was very, very wrong. If it wasn’t a bite from Luther, I worried that at Waldo’s age, 13, it could be kidney failure. I called the new 24 hr emergency veterinary place in town to confirm I could bring the cat in, any time.

I hesitated, because Waldo is still extremely timid and I knew I would have a really hard time getting him in the carrier. It would be very traumatic for both of us. And I know that I basically had one chance to scoop him up, because if I failed the first time, he’d be extremely wary about letting me get near him after that.

I brought the carrier down from the attic and positioned it upstairs out of view, wondering if I could carry a squirrely cat in my arms even that far. You know how cats can squirm out of your arms if they want to. I couldn’t let Waldo see it or he’d hide, even though it’s been several years since I last took him to the vet for an allergy shot.

Before I knew it, it was already 9 pm. Waldo was still sitting very still. At one point, he meowed once or twice (again, I interpreted that as pain or discomfort) and another minute later, I realized why: his stomach contracted a few times and then he puked up another small pool of white foam. He must have been feeling nauseous, hence the meows. But I didn’t know why he was throwing up. After that, he was quiet, but I was still very concerned for his welfare. Since taming him several years ago, he always loves to be petted, and this time, he didn’t respond at all.

I decided I would spend the night with him on the family room floor and brought a pillow and blanket downstairs. I was pretty tired and settled in, though later, he got up and walked away to jump up to one of his favorite napping spots on an upholstered chair. At that point, I decided that if he didn’t really want my company, I might as well get a good night’s sleep, so I went upstairs to bed.

Yesterday morning, I was up around 7 a.m., feeling a little guilty that I hadn’t gotten up in the middle of the night to check on Waldo. When I walked downstairs, I found Waldo had just gone to his food bowl and was eating with some enthusiasm.

I couldn’t believe it. His appetite had returned. I had been worried he might be dehydrated if he hadn’t eaten anything. I let him eat his fill and then followed him back to the family room. He seemed like his old, affectionate, good-natured self in every way! I was really astonished; I had come so close to hauling him over to the vet’s, which would have entailed all kinds of exams, blood work and stress for both of us.

Waldo has been perfectly fine since then. I really wonder what the heck happened. I’ve had cats all my life, and it’s been my experience that cats rarely get sick in any way, but that once they do, it’s often something terminal. That’s why when I saw Waldo’s condition Wednesday night, it wasn’t hard to convince myself that this was the beginning of the end, that this was Waldo’s time and I wouldn’t’ t have him for long. I thought that at his age there was a good chance he was in the early stages of kidney disease, since vomiting is one sign of that, as is loss of appetite.

I suppose that could still be possible, so I spent some time yesterday researching the best foods for cats with kidney disease, which means high protein, low fat and low carbs. It also means no grain products or the “healthy” vegetables that cat food makers often put in cat food to make it more palatable to humans. Cats are carnivores and don’t need that stuff; in fact, their digestive systems weren’t made to handle it.

There’s a very good vet online (http://www.catinfo.org/?link=cannedfoods) who writes extensively about cat foods and what’s best to feed cats. I studied her writing, lists and charts for hours. I’m going out today to pick up some higher quality cat foods then what I’ve been feeding the boys. “Higher quality” does not mean, necessarily, the most expensive foods. Iams, for instance, seems to a very popular brand, but the very first ingredient in their food is corn. A huge red flag. Another huge no-no according to Dr. Pierson is NO DRY FOOD. Also very little or NO seafood flavors. At most, use them as a treat once or twice a week. (See her website for reasons why.)
I am just so glad to have my old Waldo back but am still flummoxed by what happened Wednesday night. Since he doesn’t go outside and I control everything he eats (unlike Luther, he doesn’t find little things on the floor like bugs to eat), it would seem unlikely to me that he had indigestion, because he ate the same thing that day that he eats any other day.


Another shot of my office building, from the back side.


I discovered this marina just a 5-minute walk from my office!


The marina is behind the Starwood Hotel, which you can see here. Unfortunately, the nice little walkway between the hotel and the marina doesn't extend too far along the water, and it ends where the Starwood Hotel property ends. Too bad. The hotel does have a nice outdoor patio for dining though.

In other news…
I’m trying to work out a savings plan with my new 3-day-a-week income. I think I want to transfer $650 a month to my online money market account from checking. (My monthly net will be about $2,535.) $550 of this is to be set aside for my property taxes, which I pay twice a year. So I’m really only saving $100 a month, or 3.9% of net income, which is kind of shabby. But since I know my “bare minimum” monthly expenses are about $2,000, if I save $100 a month, that leaves me with $435 a month left over, which I can either save or spend.

It’ll probably be a combination of the two.

Sometimes, it’s just the little things that give pleasure. Like Wednesday night, which was like my Friday night, on my long commute home, I decided I would treat myself to takeout at Boston Market. I ate in my car. I used to do that all the time, but hadn’t in about three years. It was quite enjoyable, and a nice way to break up my drive.

One bit of promising news: my recruiter friend told me that his HR contact at the company where I work asked him last week for the “Direct Hire fee agreement.” (This is what the company has to pay the recruiter if they hire me on a perm basis.) Now I don’t want to read too much into this, but I think it’s a good sign that HR wants to review this document, possibly as prep for negotiating a perm position.

If not, I’m okay with that too, and would happily continue the three days a week work schedule, on a contract basis, all summer.

But it also points out how tenuous my work situation still is. If for some reason they decided I wasn’t a good fit, I could easily become unemployed again in very short order, scrambling to figure out what happens next. It’s actually good for me to keep reminding myself of this, because after an initial spending spree rooted in several years of self-enforced frugality (clothing, shoes, a “statement piece” chair, new car, rubber cargo mat for new car, and a few lunches out with girlfriend), I think I’m ready to really buckle down and do what I said I would do once I got a decent job: save as much as I possibly can, for my retirement, for the next unforeseen rainy day, in case I lose my job again and to try to get my investments back into positive growth territory without having to rely on a bull stock market. I have always had “money insecurity,” partly, I think, because I am single and have to rely on myself. I think having money insecurity is a good thing because you’re more likely to shore up your savings than if you were more carefree.

Yesterday I ghost-wrote a magazine article for a real estate exec, in about 5 hours’ time, so it boosted by my hour rate to about $57/hr. It’s important to me to maintain my freelance business while still holding down the other job, as backup security should something happen to my other new job. I also got another builder bio assignment and am trying to schedule an interview time with the guy today.

Sunday I am doing something fun….a tour of an old historic cemetery here in town, led by our town historian, a retired history professor. He’s very knowledgeable but I’ve only heard his talks a few times, so this should be fun. My friend A. will be joining me. I hope it’s not too big a crowd.

This is the building where I work. I can't show you the front side cus it has the name of the company in big letters.


Here's the view of downtown from our parking lot.


It was a pretty good weekend although I didn’t really do anything social aside from a brief visit from my mother and a phone conversation with my dad and my friend R.

I wrote a builder bio on Saturday and he liked it very much.

I mowed the lawn. Seems like is becoming harder and harder pushing that thing.

I made a cranberry-grape relish as well as a crabmeat/red pepper/pea/pasta salad for my work week lunches. I also tried a recipe that’s basically hard boiled eggs chopped up with mayo, sour cream and artichoke hearts, used as a spread on crusty bread or celery sticks. It was okay, but that’s because I just like egg salad; I don’t think I liked the calorie-ridden addition of the other stuff and the whole affair was rather bland, even with liberal use of curry powder.

I also made a turkey chili, so that will serve as this week’s dinners if I don’t get too sick of it. I was wanting to use up my frozen tomatoes from last summer, and after this have just one bag of it left. So, tons of food in the house; I may have to freeze some of that chili.

I swept up portions of my large driveway, as many shrubs hang over it. I got out my land bow saw and attempted to cut down to truly ground level the stubs of some shrubs I had cut back last fall. Without doing that, I still have to mow around the stubby stems. I’d like to be able to mow over the stems to keep them all from sprouting again. I made some progress, but it’s actually kind of hard to saw things like that so close to the ground. I’m sure if a neighbor saw me they’d wonder what the heck I was doing.

My friend R. has another court appearance Tuesday. He is in the midst of a contentious divorce; for him, after she walked out on him twice, it is a gloves-off scenario and he is representing himself and fighting to depose several members of her family and friends as a means of pressuring her to settle out of court. She has hired a high-priced lawyer becus she was/is apparently under the belief that he had gotten tons of cash from two lawsuits he won against a former employer and his health insurance company, but he didn’t get that much.

The whole thing is pretty sad; my friend is far from the perfect guy and, having dated and lived with him 25 years ago, I know that he would drive me nuts if I saw him regularly. However, at heart he’s a good guy, very family oriented and a responsible guy. How two people who twice said “I do” can be so mean to each other is something I have a hard time understanding.

Monday
Made it through another day at work. I only put it that way because it’s such an odyssey to get there. I’ve been feeling guilty my cats are on their own for such a long day, so tonight after heating up my chili in the microwave, I played with the string with them and then, for a special treat, I poured some catnip on the family room carpet and inside a long, rectangular box that is tunnel-like and great for cats. Luther, of course, took to it immediately, but I have yet to see Waldo go completely inside.

I got my “cargo liner” for the trunk of my new car today. I’m pretty happy with it. Only if you inspect it closely would you see that it doesn’t exactly fit the space; along the sides, where there’s a curve, there’s a bit of an overlap, a good half inch on at least one side. However, you can hardly notice it.


To think that the dealer wanted $300 for this.

I’m making good progress on the credit card rewards. For the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, I’ve already charged $1927 in this the first month, so hitting the required $3,000 to earn the $400 back in cash rebate should not be a problem. I also started in on a new Bank Americard Travel credit card, and have charged just $47 on that toward the target $500 in 3 months (to earn $100 back). I already finished with the Blue Cash Everyday card from Amex, and am waiting for my points to show up online (redeemable for $100 back).
Just finished interviewing a builder over the phone; now I can either write his bio now or do it tonight.

My British neighbor/toy designer stopped by for a chat on my front stoop. Since being laid off, he gets lonely staying in the house all day while his wife is at work. The house has been on the market for only a few weeks and they’ve dropped the price by $50K becus they don’t feel they’ve gotten enough interest, and they need to be out of there by December. The house was priced in the $900K range to start.

The Stairway to Heaven looks especially lovely with all the flower petals from the rhododendrons fallen on the driveway.



I’m debating if I should go out now and run my errands or write the bio. Hmmm.

I wrapped up my third week at the new job. I am liking things better as I get meatier assignments, such as writing a bio of a Slovenian designer, which will appear on the website, as well as 2 promo letters related to a home makeover contest ($10,000 prize!) and some other website stuff.

I learned yesterday from the recruiter that they are "particularly pleased" with my work. He predicts an early perm offer, but again, I try not to count on that too much and just chalk it up to recruiter's optimistic/hopeful disposition.

I am not particularly happy with my seating location, though. I am surrounded by a bunch of guys (web developers) in their 20s; I'd rather be sitting with other women, or ideally, the two other people who are writers, which would be my two managers.

They are planning a reconfiguration of the workspace as they have space issues and we should all be sitting somewhere new by end of summer. The nice thing about these offices is that, though there are no cubicles and everything is an open floor plan, they do have these gigantic windows that afford great views of the city.

I told the recruiter/my friend that their payroll person calculated my state income tax according to the maximum rate charged to people making $250,000+. I don't make close to that and asked to be charged the lower rate or I'll have vastly overpaid state income taxes by year's end.

For some reason, instead of approaching their payroll person, he chose to consult some accountant he knows and the accountant said I was correct, so now the recruiter said he would have it taken care of. Just thought it was odd he didn't just ask payroll directly about it but maybe he didn't want to bother her unnecessarily.

So recruiter is asking me to keep him informed of everything I'm doing for the employer as he says it will help "us" negotiate the best pay rate. I assumed I'd be negotiating for myself, but i guess the agency must get some kind of payment if and when i'm hired on a perm basis. He said realistically, i should be able to get about $80K with benefits. Of course, if i got what i wanted, a 4-day work week, my pay would be reduced proportionately, to about $64,000, if I'm not mistaken. I could live quite nicely on $64,000 without a mortgage and with much more reasonable health insurance expenses.

Anyway, trying not to focus too much on that and just taking it a week at a time. And waiting for the better pay to start having an effect on my pocketbook. That won't really happen til next month, as i went on a bit of a spending spree, what with my new car purchase ($19,700), new clothes ($580), a cargo mat for the trunk and yes, a Maharaja chair from Ballard's Design for $187 that I had my eye on for several years now.

As for the commute, I'm finding that the right mental adjustment goes a long way in making the drive more palatable. Meaning, an attitude of quiet acceptance/resignation is far better than impatience/stress and banging on the steering wheel! They are doing some major reconstruction at one exit which should improve things by February 2015. (!!)

I spend about 25 minutes each way on Interstate 95 and I would say my average speed is about 20 mph. That's how congested it is. And that's not to say it moves steadily at 20 mph; it's more like periods of stop and go the entire distance I must go, which is 8 exits. I gave up (for now) exploring back roads or the Merritt Parkway; the congestion is everywhere; there's no escaping it. I do feel I should know those alternate routes though, for when there is a huge backup caused by an accident or something.

So my average commute is between an hour and an hour and 20 minutes. Sigh.

I have some stops to make today or tomorrow: Wal-Mart, Macy's, the gas station and BJs, but it's been raining all day and haven't felt very motivated.
We're supposed to have a nice weekend.

The Author had told me earlier she might want to put her 3rd book on hold for various reasons, which disappointed me, but then she asked me for a price on it anyway. I charged her the same rate I edited the other 2 books for, which is very, very low compared to what others would charge; i'm pretty sure the going rate is .01 or .02 per word, while i've been charging her just .0056 per word. Just becus I was determined to wrestle that first book editing job away from someone else she was going to hire, so when she told me the other person quoted her between $1,000 and $1200, i quickly said i'd do it for $1,000 and after doing a complimentary edit of a few pages, i got the job.

So when book #2 came along, i felt i needed to charge pretty much the same rate as the first one. Also, she's usually broke as she doesn't work much and her husband (wisely) doesn't pay for all her novel-writing activities out of his pay.

So anyway, I quoted her this a.m. $810. It would be nice to do it since it's a little side job i could do in my free time.

Still not sure how my insurance coverage for the rest of the year is going to pan out. My application to get on the state plan is on hold as they want proof of my previous Cobra coverage. I called the Cobra people and they should be able to mail it out in a few days, and then I’ll have to mail or fax that to the state plan. I SHOULD have enough time.

Normally, the state plan doesn’t cover just anyone; they want you to have gone with no insurance coverage for at least 6 months before they pick you up, but there are exceptions to that rule, and one of them is if your Cobra coverage expires, as mine will June 30. It's just that I stopped paying for the Cobra after the May payment. It was the Cobra rep's idea. As long as I could avoid incurring any healthcare expenses in June, I could save myself the $770 premium for that final month of June since I planned to get on the state plan July 1 and would be set. I just hope the state plan doesn’t hassle me about dropping my cobra coverage a month before I had to.

Anyway, hopefully all will work out all right with that.

There are 2 does and a fawn spending a lot of time in my yard at dusk and dawn, and i see a doe here now. Once the apples and mulberries begin to fall, they will REALLY hang around. So yes, they are dropping their Lyme-infested ticks everywhere. She is not huge...about the size of a Great Dane.

Can’t say I “relaxed” today but I got a lot done and didn’t go anywhere.

It was such a lovely day, in the 70s and sunny. I did yardwork from about 1:30 pm to 6 pm and I am pooped. I finished mowing the lawn. Then I decided to remove fencing from around 3 different shrubs, all viburnums. They’re to keep the deer from browsing too heavily, but I’m thinking they mostly leave them alone (?) in summer, when there’s more to eat elsewhere. Aside from having to look at ugly fencing (a combo of plastic and wire), it’s a pain when you mow and also use the trimmer and the grass tends to get high and overgrown-looking.

So we’ll see how that goes. I used the trimmer and things look much better. Also did some weeding here, there and everywhere and potted up some more sedums in one of my homemade hypertufa pots. I trimmed back another shrub that tends to grow into the driveway and scrape the side of the car if you're not careful.....Geez. Now I can’t remember what else I did out there that took 4.5 hours, but I was mostly working.

I also made an edamame/corn/black bean/tomato cold salad for my lunches this week, along with a great fruit salad with mango, kiwi, organic peaches and organic strawberries. Those organic peaches are very hard to find, but they were at BJs. Peaches are one of the most heavily sprayed fruits, along with strawberries, so I figure it’s money well spent.

Darned if I think I may have poison ivy again. Those tiny, tell-tale little bumps on my itchy left pinkie finger. I mostly wear gloves and in fact today washed myself with tecnu poison ivy soap like 4 times.

See, I am not all that perfectly disciplined. Give me a little extra money, and I find the temptations to spend it very powerful.

I bought a pair of shorts at Kohl’s yesterday and today it was a pair of laceless plaid sneakers at PayLess (embarrassed to say I stopped in there).

OK, enough with the spending, Patient Saver.

I did get my first paycheck from the new job in today’s mail. It was quite small since I worked just two days that first week. I wanted to see how close the actual net paycheck was to what I’d calculated online using a calculator at paycheckcity.com. It was off by a good $30-odd dollars, and that was because the agency’s payroll calculated my CT income tax at the very highest rate possible. CT has about 6 tiers, based on income, and the one she used was for people earning $250,000 and up. Maybe they use that for everyone just to make it easier for themselves, I don’t know.

I emailed J. the recruiter about it. If it’s off that much on just one small check, it will mean I’ll have a fairly large state tax refund at year’s end; I’d really rather just get what’s owed me throughout the year.

So….AFTER I did all that clothes shopping, I thought I should try to go through my closet and dresser drawers and see what clothes still fit and which can be worn at the new job. My 3 closets are quite full of clothes that range from a size 6 through size 12, although the vast majority of clothes are sizes 8 and 10. I’m now fitting into the size 8 pants pretty well.

The closets are stuffed because I have quite a few pieces of clothing hanging there that don’t fit, but just take up space because I haven’t been able to part with them for sentimental reasons, believe it or not. There’s the t-shirt from the Adirondack Nature Museum I got over 18 years ago when I was vacationing with R. It never did fit but I always liked the graphic image on it. There was another tie-dyed shirt I got around the same time period at the Clearwater Festival in New York and a few really cute t-shirts I just liked too much to part with.

Anyway, I did manage to throw away a bag of old clothing that no one will want, and I filled another bag for Good Will. I put aside some clothes I thought my mother would like (she’s a little smaller than me), and she stopped by today to get them and to admire my car.

I organized things a bit better. I don’t want to get rid of everything that doesn’t fit because if I lose maybe 5 to 7 more pounds, I think that will make a huge difference, so I dedicated one bottom dresser drawer to too-tight clothes: jeans (3 or 4 pairs) capris (2 pairs) and shorts (2 pairs). I seem to have a gazillion shorts (that DO fit), so I don’t know why I felt I needed to buy another pair at Kohl’s. Oh, and also at Kohl’s, on a different day, I bought 2 more pairs of slacks. One was gray, to go with my new gray/black leopard print slide-on sandals which are oh-so-sexy cute.

But as for the shorts, if I had just dug through my drawers, I would have realized I have plenty.
Shopping can be addictive. I have enough now.

I’ve had to start calling the contact for a Yale study I participated in back in early May. They were supposed to mail a check for $100 but never did. She called back and left a message. I believe it will be coming eventually.

I recently did some legal editing for a client. I did a 15-page report for her before she realized she’d sent me the wrong version, so then I had to do the whole thing over again with version 2. I explained that I would need to charge her for time spent on the first version, but I did feel bad for her, so I just charged her half price and I told her I valued her continued good will more than a few extra dollars and I figured we could split the cost of the first version edited down the middle. That was my reasoning, anyway. So I was very surprised today when I received her payment and she paid in full for both versions. I sent her a thank-you note. I do believe that how someone deals with money tells you a lot about what kind of person they are. I do recall having the hardest time collecting all of $50 from the nastiest realtors in the world about a year ago.
I mowed the lawn this afternoon and will finish that tomorrow. Otherwise, just tidied up around here, had a brief visit with mom, dropped off the Good Will stuff and some trash at the landfill, deposited some checks at the bank and that’s about it.

Tomorrow not going anywhere. Will finish mowing and make an edamame/corn/black bean salad for the coming week’s lunches.

Next weekend getting together with a girlfriend to check out some Connecticut gardens and then probably do lunch afterwards. I’ve already done a breakfast and a lunch out with her which is more than I’ve done in ages, although she did treat for the lunch and I got the tip.

This is a new friend…the woman who shared my old p/t job proofreading. She’s older than I am and lives here in town but she has a very colorful past. She has 4 degrees, including a PhD. In psychology. She used to be a sex therapist (!) and also co-founded a singles dating service with another woman. She recently retired from many years of teaching in the public schools. She’s very social, smart and nice to spend time with. She’s married to a very blue collar guy who works on cars for a living. It’s nice that although I no longer work at that job (she still does) I still got a nice friendship out of it. She’s also had some trauma in her past which I won’t go into but it was very upsetting to hear about. She is incredibly well-adjusted, given everything she’s experienced. She’s a survivor, as they say.

J. told me his recruiting firm pays every Friday. What he neglected to tell me, apparently, is that the first paycheck is always mailed and thereafter it's direct deposit.

Thanks for letting me know. Grr. Makes me feel nervous until i see that 1st paycheck, what with all the other weird things I've experienced with this agency.