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.

I’m halfway to meeting my $3,000 spend target for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, and I’ve only had the card about two weeks! (And to think I was worried I couldn’t hit it.)

I did spend a fair amount ok, a lot… about $500 or $600…on clothes (capris, summer tops and shorts) and 2 pairs of sandals, but Patient Saver hasn’t purchased any clothing, save for bras and panties, since 2009. I’m working with a bunch of 20-somethings and need to look at least remotely presentable/stylish. Otherwise, they might think I wandered in off the streets. Seriously.

Today, I purchased a rubber cargo mat/liner online that’s supposed to fit perfectly in the trunk of my new Honda. (You indicate the make and model of your car and they cut the mat for a custom fit.) It was $80, much better than the $300 the dealer wanted! It even has a one-inch high lip around the edges to contain any spills. I nearly told the dealer to go ahead and order it as I had no idea they sell these custom fit to your car, online, much cheaper than dealer, of course. I'm glad I did a quick check.

The trunk on my old Honda got TONS of use to haul wood, tree branches and other messy stuff to the landfill. A liner would have been great to protect the cloth-like covering. The liner is easily removed so you can hose it down if needed. Just this am I was bringing trash to the dump and worried that my kitchen trash bag might leak in the new car. (It didn’t.)

I figure now is the time to buy a liner, while it’s all still clean. If the trunk liner fits well, I may also spring for custom-fit rubber liners for the 2 front seats. I go through many cloth mats with my cars and they get so grungy and difficult to clean that rubber liners, once again, sound like a great idea. I know you can buy rubber mats at the store, but it’s one size fits all and they don’t completely fit the floor area, so you inevitably track mud or dirt on the floor of your car.

I did a few other things on my To Do list already. I cleared the family room gutter after noticing it was clogged again last time it rained hard. It doesn't take much at all. I also started mowing the front lawn, but still have about 15 minutes of mowing left on the charge, which I need to do since they're forecasting rain tomorrow and part of Saturday.

I went to Kohl's and bought some shorts and am still debating whether or not to return 1 or 2 more items I bought at Macy's. I tend to buy when I need to, not when there's a sale going on, and that was the case again this time. I feel I overpaid on a few things.

Everything looked like a great fit in the dressing room but now I wonder if it just looks like some of the tops I bought are swimming on me like a tent. I don't like tight-fitting tops and so I tend to buy them with plenty of extra room. (I see so many overweight people out there wearing clothes that are way too tight, which I believe makes them look so much worse than they have to.)

Tonight I'll be watching a Netflix movie I've been saving as I don't seem to have enough time on work nights. The commute with the new job is more like between an hour and an hour, 25 minutes, which gets me home around 7:15 or even later, and by the time I'm thru with dinner, it's after 8 pm.

On the third vote, taxpayers finally approved the school budget here. Looks like I’ll see a nice little decrease in my taxes, even though you would expect to see a much higher drop since the last revaluation 5 years ago was when real estate values peaked.

There's a PDF on the town website where you can look up your street address and know exactly what you'll pay. I have a 3-bedroom, 1.5 bath Colonial, built circa 1930 on a 1.5 acre lot near the center of town. Market value right now is around $298,000.

Last revaluation: $269,760
My current taxes: $6,619.91

The new revaluation: $175,770
My new taxes: $5,856.66

So that’s a reduction of $763.25. I’ll take what I can get.

So, I wrapped up my 2nd week at the new job. I worked 2 days last week and 3 days this week. I got the job, if you’ve followed by blog, through a recruiting company and the recruiter happened to be someone I know, a former writer I worked with at my last job who, after his layoff and being unable to find work, switched careers and got into the recruiting business. His name is “J.”

The agency is headquartered in Manhattan. I had never heard of them before. Most of the jobs he places are on Long Island or in the city, but this one was in Fairfield County, and he called me because he knows I’m a great writer.

He originally described the job as paying $35/hr. After I interviewed with the employer and they told the recruiter they wanted me, my friend J., the recruiter, said I’m afraid I’m going to have to reduce the pay to $33 an hour. He was evasive, I felt, when I asked who was lowering the pay, his firm or the employer. He later more or less admitted it was his employer, the recruiting agency. This was all communicated via email.

So he’s trying to wheedle me into accepting the job but I dug in my heels, pissed that he lowered the rate of pay. I wanted to try “negotiating.” It was a Thursday night, I think, and I knew he was going away for the weekend and probably wanted to wrap up the whole thing before he left. He kept saying, can I tell the employer’s HR person you’ve accepted? When can you start? You can make up the difference in pay when they hire you on a permanent basis. (This is a contract job…there’s certainly no guarantee they’d hire me on a perm basis.)

I resisted. His anxiety to make it a done deal showed through in his emails, so I felt I had the upper hand. J., you’re not cut out for this business, I was thinking, because I could almost see him sweating it. Finally, I said let’s split the difference, I’ll accept $34/hr. He was relieved and said he’d “make it work,” whatever that meant, I wondered.

So today I get an email from J. saying he “forgot to give me some paperwork” and can he meet me right after work in front of my office. I said, well, sure, though if it’s easier you can just drop it in the mail. I was a little curious about why he was meeting me as it’s a pain to get around the city with traffic and all at rush hour.

So we met tonight. He didn’t have any paperwork to give me. He explained that his employer, the recruiting agency, was again lowering the price they were paying me to $33/hr! And he had come to meet me in person to give me the difference in cash! Since I only worked a total of 38 hours, he handed over $38 and when I asked him if this was coming out of his pocket, he said yes!

What kind of outfit is this??? Surely he can’t keep this up indefinitely. He told me it was a dirty business and that because I was his friend, he wasn’t going to let this happen to me. Now I wish I could have said no, keep your money, but I really need every cent after being out of work for so long and yes, I felt indignant that this sheister agency would try to pull this on me.

In fact, if it wasn’t my friend I was dealing with, I’d threaten the recruiter to tell the employer’s HR and my immediate manager what they were doing. Surely they wouldn’t want that kind of bad PR. However, I’m not sure what would happen with that since it’s the recruiter that actually cuts me a check and pays me each week. (They are getting paid by the employer.) I don’t think the recruiter could “fire” me since I’ve already started working for the employer.

My friend confirmed that the employer is paying his firm a tidy sum, so this is one incentive the employer has to take me on a perm basis. My friend added that they (the employer) had also been looking for a long time for a writer but hadn’t found anyone they liked. (‘Til now, hopefully.)

I don’t know the business very well and I suspect there’s more going on at his end than I know. He’s kept urging me to work more hours, or that I suggest to my boss that I can work more than the 3 days a week I’m doing now. And he’s acknowledged that as far as his employer is concerned, the longer I work as a temp, the more money they make. But I’ve been complaining about the commute all along and said 4 days a week might be the most I’d want to work, unless I could work at home 1 or 2 days a week and that seems somewhat unlikely since my new boss told me at my interview that she wanted someone on site 5 days a week.

J. asked if I could see myself staying here a while. He also said that if I found another job, to please give him as much advance notice as possible. I haven’t really been looking as hard as I usually have since I started this job, but I have been keeping an eye on postings just in case something much closer to home came up that was also a good match for my background. So he keeps asking all these questions and there’s a lot I really don’t have answers to. Like, I don’t know what’s driving my manager’s decision to have me start at 3 days a week, nor how long she might envision me working at that rate before increasing my hours.

One thing I do know: I want to earn $34/hr. That’s what was offered to me, and that’s what I accepted. But now knowing that it’s coming out of J.’s own pocket makes me feel pressured to not accept more of his money, because he’s a personal friend and it makes me feel like a schmuck.

In hindsight, I’m suddenly realizing that I don’t even have a copy of the paperweight indicating they would pay me $34/hr. This deal went down so fast, I met J. at a Starbucks late one night where he had me sign a slew of papers for taxes, auto deposits and everything else. I signed something that indicated the rate of pay, but I never got a copy from him. All I have as proof of that agreement is the emails we exchanged.

It was another sweltering day. I met a friend at a local used furniture warehouse in town and browsed their goods.

Worked several hours editing a 17-page legal report for one of my freelance clients. Otherwise, tried to stay cool, mostly in vain.

Went out this evening to mow some lawn and take some snapshots.

Here's the new set of wheels:





I know all the plants in my yard so well. I planted many of them myself. Although they bloom so reliably, year after year, I never lose the "wow" reaction when they start in with the fireworks.


This is a perennial called false indigo, I believe.


Another view


Striking red clematis




I often like to leave portions of the lawn unmowed to see what comes up. Here we have a delicate little wildflower called Red Robin.


Spectacular mountain laurel near bloom with rhododendron.


The Stairway to Heaven. You can see a bit of another huge rhododendron in the back yard.

This morning I returned just one of the summer tops I bought at Macy’s and since I was there, I purchased another $100 worth of capris and summer tops at Macy’s and Coldwater Creek. Not my usual modus operandi, but I haven’t clothes shopped in 3 years, and I’m determined not to look like a middle-aged woman with no fashion sense with all these 20-somethings I’ll be working with. I put it all on my new Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card. I need to charge $3,000 by end of August to earn back $400 in gift cards.

After the mall, I hit Trader Joe’s. It was super hot today, up to 91 degrees, so I brought a small cooler with ice paks to keep the food cold. Also put it on the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

Later in the day I went to pick up my new Honda Civic. Was able to pay $1,000 of it with the Chase card. (That’s the most they’d let me charge, in addition to the $1,000 deposit.) I’ll post a photo of her tomorrow! The salesman ran through all the controls in the car, but of course I quickly forgot most everything. I will be carefully reading the manual, to be sure. The car even has a camera mounted in the back bumper so when you put the car in reverse, you see an image of the ground behind you. I think it’s meant to make sure you don’t run over anyone; it will likely be a standard feature in all cars one day, I think.

I don’t think my old kayak rack will work with the new car, especially since I got it with window visors to keep out the glare and rain. They disassembled it for me and I have it, but I guess I won’t be kayaking on my own anytime soon since I’ll have no way to transport the kayak unless I meet another kayaker. This kind of bums me out, becus I got so much enjoyment out of kayaking, but truth be told, I’ve been going less and less since I bought my kayak in 2007.

After picking up the car I headed to A.’s to show it off to her, and we had already planned to go out to dinner. We went to an old favorite of mine, an Italian place I haven’t been to in years due to my frugalness by necessity. She wound up treating me to the dinner to celebrate the new car and the new job. I paid the tip. But I was able to charge the whole dinner on the Chase card as well.

Also tonight I charged my water bill on the Chase card. So I’ve had the card less than a week and have already managed to charge $1,260 on it. I had hoped to also charge my new car insurance, which would help hugely in reaching the target spend, but my agent told me it would be significantly more expensive if I treated it as a new policy, since I wanted to charge the full $770. Instead, it’s just being treated as a modification of the existing policy, so I’ll get a bill for just $93 to pay. So anyway, I still need to charge $580 for each of the next 3 months. That seems doable when you consider groceries and gas and maybe some more clothes shopping for the job. The only other non-recurring charge I can think of is my $80 dump sticker, which comes up for renewal in June. I can also charge the phone/Internet on it too, each month, although at least one of those phone/Internet bills I want to charge on my Americard, since they have a deal, good thru June 30, where you get a $15 gift card if you charge just one phone/Internet/cable bill on it. Seems too easy to pass up.

I might consider getting two new faucets for the upstairs bathroom. The hot water handle on the one faucet locked up ages ago and can’t be used, while the plug thingy in the sink on the other faucet is beginning to rust becus I made the mistake of leaving that sink filled with water for my old cat to drink from. If I ever sell the place, those things will need to be fixed, so why not pick out some faucets now at Home Depot and then have a plumber do. I could charge it. There are probably other small home improvements or items I could buy for the house if needed. Now that I’m making better money, I will allow myself to consider that.

Nothing much planned for the weekend, besides mowing. It’s very, very hot here but I have NOT opened any windows yet this year at all (!) because Waldo has had such terrible allergies each summer. He had a lot of trouble breathing and I disliked traumatizing him by taking him to the vet for a shot. His breathing is fairly good now. I’ve been checking the pollen count daily, waiting for a day I can open the windows, but the pollen count has largely been “High” or “Moderate.” When it becomes “Low,” I’ll open the windows. I need to get through one more warm day tomorrow, up to 86 I think. Starting on Monday, temps will moderate to the 70s.

It’s great to be earning real money again!!

For three-and-a-half long years you've heard me whine about how little money I have and how far I have to stretch it. I'm afraid you're in for a lot of posts about what I'm going to do with a lot more money soon!

So I’m playing with various scenarios for potential income at my new job. It’s based on an 8-hour day with a half hour for lunch and working either 3, 4 or 5 days a week. This week I worked just 2 days and next work I’ll be working 3 days.

3 days a week = $765 gross a week
$3315 gross a month
$2592 net monthly
$600 discretionary income

4 days a week = $1020 a week
$4420 gross a month
$3315 net monthly
$1315 discretionary income

5 days a week = $1275 a week
$5525 gross a month
$3990 net monthly
$1990 discretionary income

The discretionary income is money left over after paying my minimum monthly expenses of around $2,000. This money could be saved or spent, or some combination of the two. It does not include money earned from my freelance work which I hope to continue in some form.

By working full-time, you can see my discretionary income more than doubles, from $600 monthly to $1990 monthly. Seriously wonder if I can do that, though today’s commute was a more reasonable one hour both ways.

Oh, the possibilities.

Today was much like yesterday except that I got to edit a roughly 40-page document in the afternoon. She seemed to like my edits. I’m done for the week. Hooray! I suppose I may have to wait another week before getting paid for this week. But it’s fun to note that in 2 days here I grossed more than I would have made after 5 days at that other proofreading job I had.

Day after tomorrow, I pick up my brand new car!!

Tomorrow I'm looking forward to catching up on mowing, getting a cashier's check from the bank for the car payment and doing some other housekeeping stuff here. May also swing my girlfriend's (my former job share person) to show off the car Friday.

Insurance agent gave me prices for the new car insurance based on a $500 deductible, as well as $1,000, $1500 and $2,000. I went with the $2,000 since I've never filed a claim and don't intend to start, and I want to bring that soon-to-be-recurring annual expense DOWN.

A stupid thing happened with one of my credit card payments. I sent payment in a while ago and they informed me the payment was rejected. I checked and realized I'd left off the first 3 digits of my bank checking account number. Luckily, I had made the payment very early on so there is no late payment fee, but if I want to use that account again, I now have to get the bank to indicate on their letterhead that this is the correct account number, etc. Kind of a pain, but i have to go there tomorrow anyway for the cashier's check so I can do this at the same time.

Still no sign of the return of $500 deposit from Ford dealer! I have to call Chase again tomorrow to find out what's going on with that. I'm still concerned.

Also tomorrow I HAVE to go to landfill which I missed doing last week.