Confessions of a One-Track Mind

This week has gone by with super-sonic speed. Let me take a deep breath and catch up. I spent more of Tuesday with GK and Kat, running around on various errands. To begin with, I met them at Kat's and we went to the mall to shop for an outfit for her (Kat) to wear to the wedding. The found a very nice black and grey suit ($139), and I found two lovely things on the clearance rack, a green top with rickrack at the neckline, and a great little jersey knit dress in shades of plum and pink---a riotous mod floral print---$30 for BOTH pieces, thank you very much.

Then GK and I joined Kat for an appt with her neurologist---found out she was supposed to be using a patch that he gave her last month, but she brought it home, put it down and forgot it. So, since I'm the one who's local, I'm going to be supervising her meds---the doc says the patch may help with her cognative functions, but she has to wear it consistantly for at least a week before we can expect any improvement.

From there, we visited Merritt Island Goodwill, where GK and I played "Let's Make a Deal", namely that she'd pick up the tab for my loot if I'd watch Thing 1 and Thing 2 for her while she had lunch with a friend on Wednesday. Yes, yes, yes! We also found a snazzy RED suit for Kat to wear at the wedding (colors and red, white and black), $20.

Ended up back at her hotel schmoozing til dinner time, when I got invited to join them at the Chinese Buffet---the one on the Island that regularly has salmon and duck on the evening menu.

Wednesday, I spent 3 hours in the hotel room with the Things, who were engaged with various electronic devices---I watched two hours of What Not to Wear and an hour of Overhaulin' before GK got back, then I came home and devoted a few hours to a WIP.

Thursday...was a sleeper. Talked to GK on the phone, they had stuff going on, so I *thought* it was going to be a quiet evening, but NO. missybrat called me around 7PM and announced a kidnapping. She and her SO took me to the Chinese Buffet in Melbourne (mere blocks from my former place of work), where I gorged on still more salmon---second time this week, woohoo!---and visited her place (Now I know how to get there!)---and wrapped it up with a trip to WalMart. I got in late enough that I *still* haven't seen the season finale of Royal Pains.

Today, missybrat and I met GK and company at the Rockledge Goodwill---I found the greatest little pink jacket---trapeze style with two buttons at the collar, VERY Jackie O---I *must* find a little pillbox hat to go with it, it's perfect with the Macys dress and the shoes I found at WalMart.

Got GK to pin the dress I'm modifying for the wedding---never mind the vision I had of the two of us over at Kat's spending a quiet hour or two getting it DONE. Oh hell no---the Things are allergic to Kat's cats, and so doesn't trust them alone at the motel for any length of time, so I went over there after the Goodwill trip with my sewing box and she pinned it in place in eight minutes flat, because then they had to run out for another doctor visit.

Sometime soon, I need to take te dress over to Kat's and wrestle with it and her sewing machine for an afternoon. I want to make certain it's exactly right, because once I cut it, that's all she wrote.... GK also left my birthday president present, which will come in handy. Lawn mowing? Haircut? Remains to be seen....

Anyway, tonight is movie night at church---yay, pizza!---and then I'll go over to Kat's, call GK to meet me there, and we'll review Kat's meds so I'll know what's what.

GK and company go home tomorrow. I love her, but wow, trying to keep up with her can be exhausting!

It rained AGAIN: no swimming. However, otherwise it was a pretty good day. GK and I came to an agreement that there are a few things I will have dibs on if/when Kat goes, IE, the fridge. Meanwhile, I have had access to the Grandma Lode of fabric; got a length of lime green stuff that I want to make a simple skirt from---it'll go well with my black and green top. A funny thing---we were both wearing dark neutral pants and tops with black, white and an accent color---and when we compared notes, found both tops were from TJ Maxx.

GK kept me fed: We dropped of the first vanful of stuff at the Sharing Center, hit McD's---chicken sandwich for her, fish for me. Went back, took on another load, got Kat and took all that to Sharing Center, then went in and browsed. Due to the fact that I had a total budget of $14 for the day, I didn't get every piece of hammered aluminum I saw---just one, which was particularly choice.

I've been collecting for well over a decade, and have never seen a similar one. It's a rectangular tray. The long sides are bent up at 45-degree angles for about a half-inch. Straight aluminum rods span the short sides as handles. The design embossed in the center is a continuous length of chain---very celtic-looking. At first I thought it was Canterbury Arts, which specialized in that sort of thing, but it's Everlast, which usually did the more fruits-and-flowers type designs. It was all of $4, which is about a quarter of what I paid for the lone Canterbury Arts tray I have.

We stopped at Taco Bell on the way to Goodwill. It's right next to my bank, where I had to write a check to cash---more on adventures in banking later*---and scored a steak quesadilla. Goodwill---there my major score was a neat pair of kitten-heeled black shoes with big fauceted stones in lieu of bows. Leather uppers, size 11, and worn/broken in enough that they fit despite not being wide. (Oh, btw pwcorgigirl, GK was delighted with the boots. They fit her just right, and she says they'll be excellent with trousers come winter.)

Aside from the items mentioned, my net was two books and a leopard-print chiffon scarf---more orangey than most of the leopard prints I see. I still have $2 and change left, gee, wow....

GK wanted to print a copy of her boarding pass, so we zipped to the library. Kat and I stayed in the van. She napped and I read one of my new acquisitions. GK was a busy little bee---in addition to the boarding pass, she inquired of the staff as to what it would take to get me a library card again---I don't think I've ever gone into that saga here, but basically, they claimed I'd lost a new book and sent me to collections, charging me the cost of the book plus what they claim the collection agency charged them---$75. This all went down around '02; I've never had a spare $75, and anyway, I hadn't lost their fucking book, so...etc.

According to her, the staff looked in the system, which as apparently new since my time, and said I wasn't in there as delinquent or anything, so theoretically I can go in there with ID and they'll set me up with a new card, and all will be joy and skittles. (Or joy and Starbursts, whatever.)

As if that wasn't happiness enow, she got a stack of Little Ceasar's pizzas on the way home, including one for me. We detoured to the humane society---closed, but we dropped off some decrepit towels for their use. They won't mind!

I have watched last week's Harper's Island for, like, the fourth time. I am no closer to figuring out wtf is going on, but OMG the hurt/comfort/angst potential for Sheriff Mills has me flailing wildly. If, of course, he survives the next few eps. (Although I was right about who was going to die this week, though not necessarily why.)

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* The bank business is making me insane. If I ever got a new card, god only knows where it is. I called my bank, extremely not happy about the whole thing...remember the other day, I said they'd sent it registered mail? Oh no, that would be too freaking simple. I had two green "Come and get it" postcards---I *thought* that's what it was, but no, I got to the post office and it turns out that my mail carrier is a four-star, gold-plated idjit, because the whatever it was want for me, it's for the Asshats next door. And the bozo somehow managed to leave TWO notifications in my mailbox. Silly me, not looking to see who it was addressed to, since after all, it was in my mailbox and there were TWO of them. So I called the bank today, they are asking to have the card reissued, which will take 7-10 business days. I swear, if I ever get my hands on the dipstick that arbitrarily canceled my card, I'm going to knock him/her on his/her ass and stomp them to a pulp. Thank God for online banking.

After crashing hard around 2:30 AM, I woke up four hours later and couldn't get back to sleep because my back was killing me. I had some cheese and crackers, watched William Powell in "The Kennel Club Murders", took some prescription-strength stuff for my back and finally went back to sleep for a couple more hours.

I still feel out of it---not hungover, just really fatigued---and I had at least one weird little dream that I can remember. I was in a Goodwill, and I found a very pretty deep rose pink dress in a satiny fabric that I wanted to try on. It was long dress a ruffled A-line skirt, and I had the idea of cutting off the skirt and turning it into a petticoat to wear under the dress I had for Dr. Bizarre's wedding. Except I couldn't find a changing room, then people kept pushing past me into the changing rooms, and when I did get into one, I couldn't secure it, and people kept walking in on me. Then I couldn't find the dress, which I never did get to try on.

I'm tweaking my wee Watchmen crossover---spent ages wracking my brain to tell me that the name of Ozymandias' base was Karnak---thank you, brain. That was quite a feat for you today.

Right now, I can't even summon the energy to go to WalMart. Meh. I'll make do with what's in the pantry.

When I first got my schedule for work, I didn't know how good Sunday and Monday off was. Sundays are when a lot of promos end, and of course there are a bunch of people freaking out about stuff that's sold out ("But it was there yesterday!"), ditto holiday Mondays, when most of the partners have some sale or other going on. I manage to avoid all that!

Kat and I got together for lunch, and when I mentioned the new Goodwill was open, she wanted to see it, so that's where we went. Wow. The building used to be a furniture showroom, so it's big, and it's really well stocked, and there was a lot of cute stuff.

Thanks to Kat, I came away with some goodies: a pair of tab-top curtains to spiff up my sliding glass doors, an ornate three-hook coat rack, a package of 20 little round tins with clear lids PERFECT for storing beads in, a pair of silver sandals, a lightweight kiwi green cardigan, a new-with-tags blouse in midnight blue slub silk, and two shells, one black with white pattern and the other oatmeal-beige woven with gold thread---I'm wearing that tomorrow with my leopard print skirt, yes indeedy!

The tab-tops were the first thing I saw when I walked in---they weren't even on display yet. Since the acquisition of the wicker throne and ottoman, I've been leaning toward warm colors and light neutrals for the living-dining space. Today's tab tops are two-tone beige and cocoa, with a repeating geometic leaf-in-a-square pattern. The ones that are up there now are a brown and orange atomic print that I got for cheap five or six years ago. I still like the pattern; I may refurbish them and put them up in the middle room, when I get that far. I think they're wide enough.

GK found the old living room curtains for me before she left, so they're circa '02-'03 and they weren't new then. The sun has eaten them, and they're showing little pinhole tears. At the Asbury Arms sale last month, I found 7 yards of a great striped fabric that I want to use to replace the drapes on my living room window. The striped print reminds me of some Norwegian woven runners that we had when I was a kid, the colors in the stripes echo the colors in the chair, but the background hues are khaki-beige-cocoa-chocolate.

I *am* going to need a new couch; the color of the orange loveseat I have isn't so bad---at least it's a solid color---but it's reached a stage of age and ickiness that I'm uncomfortable with. I need something that has never met a mouse, preferably something in a solid earthtone neutral. (Are you listening, Universe?!) Khaki, cocoa, harvest gold, hell, I'd settle for olive green or avocado if it was in good shape.

Okay, I need to do some laundry. Back later....

I checked my bank balance online just now, and am on the verge of a massive *headdesk*. They have me as overdrawn by $17.12, PLUS I have an outstanding check for $20 that hasn't hit yet...it's all this damn medical stuff that's killing me. The $20 is for my scrips, the copay was $15---and I'm still trying to figure out where I missed the boat. Crap! So first thing Monday damn long holiday weekend Tuesday I get to run shrieking to my bank and beg them not to bounce that check and reassure them that it will be covered by my next direct deposit. Of course, there will be fees. Fuck! And I'm not getting paid for the two days I took off...whimper...I fail at finance.

Think happy thoughts...today is my Friday, it doesn't seem to be raining at the moment, the antibiotics are working, I'm not starving/going to starve to death (and there's still a little chocolate ice cream in the freezer), yesterday I made 12 sales and got several compliments on my violet-print top, I have cans I can turn in for cash---probably only a couple dollars but enough to put a few cups on gas in my tank, that new Goodwill on US1 has finally opened.

Re: the new Goodwill. The building used to be a furniture showroom, so it's BIG. It's in a GOOD neighborhood, so hopefully the merchandise will reflect that. They've been advertising "Coming Soon" since last October, and they're just now opening. I've been irked by the delay---I was starting to think it was a scam---and of course, now they've opened when I'm up to my ass in alligators and don't dare go shopping. Grrr!

Harper's Island has a fresh ep tonight!

,I kept waking up. 7 AM. 8:30. 9:30---couldn't stand it any more! Got up, got dressed, scooted out the door for the 11 AM showing of The Watchmen. Seated myself front row, center. Sat through interminable commercials. Previews for Star Trek, Terminator: Salvation and a couple forgettable comedies. Then the screen went yellow....

OH. MY. GOD. ( Run, do not walk, to your local theater. )

It was only about 2:00 when I got out, and since it was a nice day and the Friday afternoon rush hadn't started yet, I headed to the other end of the island to spend my Valentine's loot at Target. I wanted a coat rack, but I wasn't thrilled by any of the ones they had. I ended up getting two individual hooks to mount on either side of the mirror I have by the door. Also hit their clearance racks and found a pair of pants. Two pairs, actually, but I already have multiple pairs of black pants, and so I went with the purple ones. Why do I have the feeling they were passed over by the Red Hat Society?!

That took care of my gift card nicely. I then went across the street to the MI Goodwill. Yield: a leopard print skirt (my old one is DOA) and a non-stick round pizza pan by Wilton.

Stopped at Winn-Dixie for bread and butter, and got a $5 rotisserie chicken marked down to $3 because it had been there since 11AM. It wasn't dried out, and it had reached that perfect stage of fall-off-the-bone tenderness. Yum.

Okay, so I've put up the hooks. Now I can hang up jackets, etc, go, me. (Although I don't think I'm going to need jackets for very much longer.) I need to go clear off a bookcase, since CapeGypsy has expressed an interest in any surplus bookcases I may have. And after church on Sunday, I need to get those cylinders listed on eBay. I figure a 7-day listing. *fingers crossed that they will save the day*

Hope your weekend rocks!

Okay, so I have no business going into Goodwill during property tax season. None at all. But at the moment, I can't regret it, as it's paid off divinely this time. I don't usually rummage in their lingerie bin, and I'm not sure what prompted me to today, except that it seemed to be better organized than usual...and as I rummaged, I saw "Cacique" woven into an elastic band.

Cacique is the Lane Bryant brand of lingerie. Excellent quality and VERY pricey. So imagine my glee at finding not one, but TWO Cacique bras in my size. Because what are the odds of getting two size 48DD bras, regularly about $40 apiece, for 99 cents each?! I was so happy that when I got back to worked, I changed into one in the ladies room, and am going to pitch the one I had on. (Nasty stretched-out grey thing---it's Just My Size brand, which is okay when it's new, but this one? *Ain't* new.) My god, the girls haven't been this up and perky in years.

Further glee occurred when I returned home to find a drabble from karaokegal: it's for Flight of the Phoenix, a shared obscure fandom.

It started with a can run. I've been putting off hauling a load to recycling, but since I was going to be running around and had nothing but loose change in my wallet, it was time. I had 18 pounds of cans, and earned $8.10. Woohoo, big bucks!

Got home and while waiting for GK, discovered that my package with the fabulous 44-cent fragrance had arrived. (Retail cost, $48. I had a coupon for 50% off plus free shipping, thereby reducing the price to $24. Sales tax was $1.44. I had a $25 gift card. Cost to me: 44 cents. Go, me!) I smell fantastic!

Okay, so GK shows up, she's rented a Chevy HHR---I've been admiring those, and it was a really sweet ride---and we head over to the New Century Buffet for lunch with Red. It was great. We talked even more than we ate, and we all ate a lot! Sadly, they didn't have duck OR salmon on the lunch buffet, but there was gingerbread on the dessert bar, which helped make up for it.

We then proceded to the A+ Thrift Store, where the three of us perused. I exercised great restraint. I saw a vintage tablecloth I coveted, but talked myself out of it. Ended up with two books and a small picture frame.

From there, we headed down to the Melbourne Goodwill, by way of 7-11. That went well. GK picked up the tab for several articles that flattered me: 2 tops, 2 skirts, 2 dresses, a pair of shoes and a TV. (I was very excited because it's a 12" flat screen, however, I got it home and it doesn't freaking work. Grrr!) Red also made a number of fun finds, and she and I were warbling along to the oldies background music. Cupid, draw back your bow, and let your arrow go, stright to my lover's heart, for me, nobody but me---!

Red departed for home after that, and GK and I headed back to Cocoa. One of the projects she's working on during her stay is to replace the fluorescent bulbs that have burned out in her mom's kitchen---she bypassed Home Depot in favor of the thrift store, but I suggested that WalMart might have them, AND it would give me a chance to pick up some bathroom tissue. So we did WalMart.

She dropped me off with the spoils of our campaign, AND a top that she'd acquired for me at the MI Goodwill yesterday AND my Christmas present. Yes, she *is* preternaturally organized. In case I forget in the next six weeks, it's on top of the entertainment unit in the living room.

That's RIGHT, readers. A scant six weeks until the mercilessly commercialized holiday of quasi-religious significance. If you need to order anything online DO IT NOW.

Anyway, I tested the "new" set, which doesn't work and will be traveling back to Goodwill with me on Tuesday. The old set is plugged back in, and I just got through watching CSI: Miami and Blood Ties and reading one of my new acquisitions, The Final Confession of Mabel Stark, which so far is excellent.

I hurt all over, but it's been a pretty good day. And I have a lunch date to look forward to tomorrow as well!

Soon. Soon I'll be blonde again. My roots are gooped up with formula and my timer is ticking away the minutes until I can submerge and rinse away the lackluster tone of my locks in favor of shining golden color. Mad science, with a double-X chromosome....

Dropped the box of discards off at Goodwill this afternoon---a damn close call, timewise, but it was taking up the whole passenger side, so I wasn't about to leave it. Granted, I exited the house in what ought to have been ample time. It was raining fish in South Rockledge. The whole way from Rockledge Gardens to Suntree, I was white-knuckled...then it faded away to minnows instead of mackrel.

Was a block and a half from work, when I was blocked by a train stopped on the tracks. Then it began to inch forward until the end of it was in sight. Then...it stopped again...and started backing up. At which point, I turned around, backtracked to US1, drove down to the street that intersects the other side of our parking lot and went down that way.

Got a couple decent, though not spectacular, sales today. She-Boss wasn't around, but the chicks who noticed the hair were complimentary. With trainings lined up tomorrow and Thursday, I want my hair to be at its best.

Sorry if I've been a bit obsessive this week, but I'm rediscovering one of my best features....

Never mind that I'm a pagan at heart, I was raised with all the Christian trappings, so I'm not going to bend over backward to be politically correct and avoid Those Holidays. What sparked that? Why, the fact that I went to Goodwill this afternoon and found an Easter dress!

My inner badass is laughing her ass off, because tho' I tend to avoid soft pinks (Give me strawberry/hot pink/bubblegum, baby!) and florals, I found---and snagged!---a charming dress in soft pink with a pattern of deeper pink/coral roses. It has a solid pink taffeta underdress with the rose print over it on sheer nylon, very classic with an A-line skirt and a fitted sleeveless bodice and a neckline that isn't quite a scoop neck and isn't quite a boater. It suggests the 50's, somehow. I've dubbed it America's Sweetheart Rose.

And what Easter dress is complete without an Easter bonnet? It just so happens I picked up a secondhand straw or raffia hat when I was out and about with GK a few weeks ago, and it begs to be transformed. I had to go to Wal*Mart anyway this evening, so I wandered through their craft section and found some blossoms that ought to do the job nicely. During check-out, I promised to come through on Easter Eve and show the results to the cashier who rang them up for me.

I probably ought to feel guilty, but I don't. At this point, the total cost of the outfit is still under $20 for the dress, the hat and the flowers. Somehow, I WILL get pictures!

We may elect to extend our lunchbreak to an hour, and I've gotten into the habit of doing so on Fridays. I wandered over to You-Know-Where...because Goodwill gets good stuff all the time, and it's been four whole days since I was there last.

I nobly resisted the call of a white, 80's jacket that was begging me to pimp it. I put back the suede moccasins and the Brevard Zoo baseball cap.

However, the leopard-print velour Mary Janes with three-inch foam platform heels are mine, all mine, bay-bee! I saw them on the shelf, and went, "Whoa, cool." Picked them up to look at the size out of morbid curiousity, saw that they were 11s and could hardly get my sneaks off fast enough to try them on. Oh, yes! I am going to rock those puppies like crazy!

I figured out why they got sent to Goodwill in the first place---the left sole (sole in this case being a pad of textured rubber that covers the bottom of the foam platforms) was lifting up around the edge. I brought them home and broke out the household cement...it's currently resting with a binder clip squeezing the two glued surfaces together.

Now I just have to create the rest of the outfit.

And get pix for you-all....

I had a bright idea a few weeks ago---I was going to take pix of my outfits for work, church, etc. with a cheapo camera. I did this for a week or so, then turned the film in. Unfortunately, either the flash in the mirror rendered the shots light-struck or they were badly aimed and showed only part of me. Anyway, I'm going to have to get other people to take the pix, and since I don't have a roommate or other helping hand, it's gonna be a while....

What I need is a decent digital camera---built into a cell phone would be even better! (I haven't detailed my cell phones agita simply because it's been such a hassle, but pay-as-you-go sucks big hairy donkey dicks.) Or a boyfriend who's a shutterbug...as long as he wasn't one of those "I've posted those nude pix of you on the Net" types.

Of course, I could also use someone standing over me forcing me to go through my wardrobe and sort and organize it. I had it together for a while last year---everything was arranged in my closet according to long or short sleeves, knit or woven, print or solid, and sorted by top or bottom. Since I've been running amok at Goodwill, though, my organization is fairly superficial. I'm just trying to squash it all into my closet!

Today, although I set my alarm for 8 AM (unheard of for an off-day!), the snooze alarm failed on me, and I was awakened by GK calling to announced they'd be there to pick me up in 15 minutes. ("They" being her and her mom, Kat.) Yikes!

That got me moving---we breakfasted at Cracker Barrel and headed on down to the Melbourne Goodwill (my home away from home!). GK got a nice selection of spring-summer wear, and admitted that Melb. has a better selection than M.I. (Absurb of me to feel so vindicated, I know!), and we spent about two hours treasure-hunting.

You'd think that as often as I'm in there, I wouldn't've found much, but they got a few nice things in over the weekend, AND I tried on one shirt that I'd been admiring for weeks but hadn't tried on account of the alledged size. (Lest anyone out there thing I'm some tiny little thing who has her pick of fashion far and wide, my measurements are 56-50-64. Very, very fluffy!)

My haul:

* a blue, Hawaiian-looking shirt that'll look great with jeans
* a soft pink sleeveless top---I have a tee in the same color that I've worn to rags, so this is a worthy replacement
* a cocoa-brown top with 3/4 sleeves and a scoop neck, very flattering with
* a sheer blouse in horizontal earthtone stripes (much nicer than it sounds!) that in turn works with
* a floral skirt--I usually DO NOT do florals, but it has a calm, parchment-colored background, and the print goes with a lot of things I have, although NOT
* a very pink shell with matching jacket that reverses to black. There's something VERY 50s retro about it, and I'm thinking of blessing it with the rhinestone buttons from the Moldy Grape Monstrosity of a couple weeks ago.
* a black velvet newsboy cap that was too cute to pass up

From there, we hauled ass back to town in time to pick up Kat's mom and visiting brother to go see Wild Hogs, which was sort of like City Slickers with Harleys---mind you, I think Billy Crystal is funnier than Tim Allan, on the whole, but William H. Macy is funnier than the whole rest of the cast of City Slickers put together. We get a good butt shot when they go skinny-dipping. Be still my heart! There's also an absolutely hysterical slashy wake-up scene---! Travolta was good, Martin Lawrence wasn't too hyper, and there were appearences by Ray Liotta, who I've loved since Goodfellas (Here he does sleazy rider really well!) and Marisa Tomei, who I've adored forever. As one reviewer pointed out, Wild Hogs may not be Oscar material, but it's enjoyable escapism.

Oh, and my cloak is done! Some of you may remember me raving about GK sewing me a cloak last summer...it's taken this long for her to get the big, bronze celtic clasp sewed on and the thirty-foot circumferential hem hemmed. It's fabulous! I'd completely forgotten that I'd picked a particularly...suggestive...pink to line the hood. I was consciously thinking Pucci, but it's quite Freudian in its labial tonality.

Time to go put the laundry in the dryer!

I'm just going to quietly curl into a fetal position now...today was "hump day" for me, both in the sense of the mid-point of my week, and in the sense of an unsatisfactory fuck. Between assholes in traffic and assholes on the phone, I'm having a Spaceballs moment: I'm surrounded by assholes!

The enamel on the inside of one of my front teeth is eroding. Crap. My dental coverage can't kick in too soon!

The one good thing that happened was, I got to work early enough to cruise Goodwill, and got a great batik Wild Woman jacket. I have a woven one, courtesy of AI via the last clothes swap, which I adore---that one goes well with shades of maroon, rose and plum. This one is deliciously earthtoned, and will harmonize with tans, rusts, browns, beiges, etc. It cost me all of $4.99, which is probably about 10% of its original cost...I think I'm going to pair it with my sand-colored sleeveless dress. That ought to work well.

I have no energy left. I'm going to bed now. *yawn*

Today was a mixed bag; when I got there, the computers were buggered and I was ready to walk out, because it can be stressful enough when they work right, let alone when you have to take the long way round with everything.

Hung on, despite a colossal British asshole on Posh Brits. I was as polite and deferential as I could possibly be, and he, the twit, would not believe what I was trying to explain to him about the hold on his bank card. I ended up doing something I've never done before, namely, dumping his English ass on the credit card department with scant ceremony. He wasn't listening to me, there was no bloody help desk---I don't know who hires or schedules them, but they need to hire a fuck of a lot more of them, and concentrate on availability. During the day, there are managers around to ask questions of---at night, it's just the help desk, WHEN they aren't wanking around taking breaks and every other damn thing. Anyway---!

Talked the sweet young thing at In-Charge into granting me an hour lunch, during which time, I soothed myself at Goodwill with some speed-spending. MP3 player on intravenous audio, flip-flip-flip along the racks---too small, too small, freaking hideous, too small---hold it up to myself, waist to waist, hips to hips...stains or snags or tears? Came out of it with several tops---most of what I find there is tops---in a much better mood.

When I sat back down, they started calling and throwing money at me like there was no tomorrow. Five pairs of shoes? Yes, ma'am---I can help you with that! Two pairs of jeans? Yes, sir! If we'd had a pair of size 6's in that last style I had a call on, I would've had a $1500 night.

They say it's going to get down below freezing tonight. Brrr!

I'm in Schnauzerland again til Sunday. I've been here barely an hour, and I'm already in a bad mood. One, I've been lumbered with a fourth Schnauzer until tomorrow sometime, and for those of you who think Schnauzers are all so adorable, well, this one ain't. He lets me pet him, then he barks. And he barks loudly and often. Two, S. is trying to short-change me for sitting AND she's left a page-long list of cleaning she wants me to do to make up the difference. Three, I fucking hate her fucking computer. It's a goddamned temperamental useless piece of shit and I fucking hate it. Oh, and I fucking hate it, in case I didn't mention that part. It's garbling everything; pages aren't displaying correctly, e-mails are showing as columns about 40 characters wide, and I've already had to restart it once, which is typical. (Mine, I might, possibly have to restart it once or twice a month---at the most. This shitburger averages 3 or 4 times a week.)

Went down to Melbourne---beautiful day for a drive! US1 widens to three lanes south of the Pineda Causeway, so traffic wasn't all bunched up. It used to be a total nightmare, but since they finished the road widening, it's a dream. The commute won't be as excruciating as I thought. I went and paid the cable bill OFF (cash borrowed from the C's from church on the strength of my job prospects), which was a rush---I won't get another bill for another three weeks, at least, and it won't be due for a couple weeks after that.

Then I went looking for the call center HQ---I was afraid it was going to be way the hell at the south end of town, but it turned out to be very easy to get to. And! (This is gonna be a killer if/when I start there...) It's in the same shopping center as Goodwill.

Now, these twerps have my resume, right? But I still had to fill out---not one, but two! two! applications, one paper and one on-line. Explain this freaking system to me, will ya? Then, a typing test. I asked the lady who set it up for me what wpm they expected, and she said 20, at which I snorted involuntarily. I did 45 with three errors; unfamiliar keyboard, what can I say? And that mouse needed cleaning in the worst way! The build-up of crud on the rollers was nasty. After that, I had to demonstrate my familiarity with the internet by going to several websites and copy-pasting info to a Word document. (Like that was a problem!) Finally, they wanted me to write a response to a customer letter in my own words, which wasn't exactly a strain on my abilities.

The upshot is, I'll be called today or Monday, the earliest I can expect to start is next week, or possibly the week after. As much as I've shied away from the prospect of working in Melbourne (25 mile commute each way!), the money at this place is excellant, and hey, next door to Goodwill? Dude! That's like the time I was temping at the Section 8 office, which was just down the block from the Salvation Army store.

After I got out of there, I *had* to go check it out. The C's gave me more than I asked for, "wiggle room", they called it. For under $17, I got a denim jumper (I was delighted it fit, since it was a size down from what I usually look for), and a patchwork We-Be-Bop shirt in a 3x. The colors are mostly blues, with some orange, and I've always loved that combo. (NOT because I'm a Gators fan, I'll add, since I don't give a damn about college football, but because my daddy was a Gulf Oil man for 35 years and I grew up seeing the company logo everywhere.) When I tried it on, I learned that We-Be-Bop sizes *extremely* generously. I could gain sixty pounds and it would still fit. I think I'm going to pair them together and wear them to church. Tried on a brown straw fedora, but it was too small in proportion to my face. Too bad, otherwise it would've gone well with the rest of the ensemble I had on.

In addition to that, I got some glasses: two shot glasses printed with "Stubbs -- Swallow it all, Mate!". (One for me, one for S's shotglass collection. The woman got me absinthe, I can't be *that* pissed.) My mind went straight to the gutter....swallow it all, Mate? Oh...kay.... I also found a handsome pressed glass goblet with worn gilt/aurora borealis overglaze. What fascinated me about that was how very thick it is...I'm thinking that it'll be perfect as my designated absinthe glass. It's heavy-duty and classy as hell.

When I finally headed toward Schnauzerland, I spent a few minutes rummaging through the CDs I had in the car, cuz I was over the one that was in there, I wanted something I could drive to. Found a sweet mix that ranged from Motley Crue, Drowning Pool and Flogging Molly to Oingo Boingo and Marilyn Manson. Yes, I specialize in eccentric playlists.... Took US1 up to Pineda, cut over to the island and up Tropical Trail, over to Banana River and up 528. Scenic, and I avoided the worst of the traffic. It felt good. With the price of gas---and I don't CARE if the price is coming down, it's STILL over $2 a gallon!---I don't just get in the car and go for a drive. I've got a little mental voice saying "Ten cents a mile!", and that quells my enthusiasm, because it adds up real quick.

So, I'm here, the fridge is well-stocked---I can easily make up for the financial shortfall with a carnivorous binge---and it's only for another 48 hours.....

K and I cruised Goodwill today---they're hiring; I got an app. I also got a remedy for my closet woes. (I was looking through it the other day going, "I hate that, and that, and where the hell did that come from, my god that's ugly, what was I thinking?" and in general, lamenting the whole state of affairs.)

I now have several lovely new things to soothe my aesthetic sensibilities. Four tops and a skirt! One floral denim button up---too adorable, I wish I could get pix! Two long-sleeved knit tops, one basic black, one kind of...lavender blue. The third is chocolate brown, short-sleeved, and it goes perfectly with the lovely chocolate brown gauze skirt. Aside from the denim, the tops are all scoop-necked. K is SO good to me!

There was one other top that technically *fit*, but when I tried it on...no. Just, no. It was fuschia. (I have nothing against fuschia.) It was knit, and had little ruffles at the wrists. I wasn't thrilled by the ruffles. It had a row of itty-bitty buttons down the front, and they all buttoned without gapping or pulling.

I looked in the mirror and couldn't get it off fast enough. Oh, the horror! It was limp and droopy and made me look like the world's biggest wad of used bubble gum. There was a time when I would've meekly said, "Oh, good, it fits!" and taken it without a second thought, but I've discovered that there is such a thing as Too Big, even for me, even when I don't encounter it often.

The blue will go with my navy slacks or skirt, and jeans, of course, as will the charming denim top. The black and brown are great for mix and match with all the leopard print stuff I've got... earthtones and I get along well. Looking at the brown and brown ensemble, I'm thinking gold jewelry, and/or copper. I'll have to come up with something spectacular!

Now, off to edit the crack!fic.