Here Come the Holidays

Thanksgiving Luncheon

So I’m pretty stuffed right now. Mom and I were invited to a Thanksgiving Luncheon hosted by the company that handles all of our reproduction business. It was a pretty good spread, and I predictably stuffed myself silly, and am about ready to take a nap.

Slow Work Day

Fortunately, however, it’s another slow day. I think the next few weeks around the holiday are going to be this way. Everybody’s taking vacations, or getting meetings crammed in before next week, so the place is pretty quiet. I spent a good portion of my morning putzing about my desk, shifting things, reorganizing, and finding places to store new responsibilities. I’ve discovered that I don’t have administrative rights to my own databases I created, in the new version of FileMaker Pro. It converts the files from the old version well enough, but it is a network version… the rights to which are controlled by the IT peeps that set it up. Ah well… I’m working with them on it now.

Christmas Activities

Got the e-mails today announcing the annual Christmas Ornament Exchange (girls only) and Secret Santa. I think I’ll decline the Secret Santa festivities this year. It’s hard enough finding gifts for people I KNOW… finding gifts for under $3 for peeps I DON’T know is positively hair-pulling. I mean, if I actually care that the person I’m buying for will LIKE their gifts, that is. Which, I do. Care, that is. Plus, I’m not that big on shopping. Spending money on something I KNOW I want is a whole nother matter. *grin*

I’ll probly do the Ornament Exchange, though. One or the other ladies in the building usually hostesses it at her house, we have a small potluck party and exchange anonymous ornaments… and then try to figure out who brought it. It’s tame enough, but a pleasant evening spent with peeps I’m comfortable around. Plus, Mom and I started a kind of tradition last year by checking out this really neat place in town that only has Christmas decorations… all year round. We went to look for unique ornaments for the exchange (which we found) but ended up just snoopin around the entire place… lots of neat stuff. The biggest problem is NOT spending any money. *sigh* It helps, though, when you know you don’t have space to keep everything… lol

On the Relocation Trail

Just got off the phone with the manager of the Duplexes I’m looking into. They’re running a special right now, knocking down the price of monthly rent and the security deposit if I sign a lease now. They’ll also hold a place once it becomes available, until I’m able to get out of my current lease. I verified their pet policy and found out they handle lawn care and snow and trash removal. It all sounds great so far… Mom’s comin with me to check the place out on Monday. She’s always good for checking and noticing things I wouldn’t think of.

If all looks good, I may turn in an application right then. *keeping fingers crossed* I also intend to look into the possibility of cutting my current lease short. Though, with as chaotic as they are at the moment in between management, now’s probly not a good time to ask.

Bandaging my Own Scrapes

I’ve rethought my finances, and if I hold onto the relatively large lumps of extra money comin up (extra paycheck in December, tax return, Halloween Nut’s loan payment from HER tax return) rather than socking them into my cc’s as originally planned… I should be able to handle all of my moving costs on my own. Hold off another year or two for a new car (and pray this one holds out), continue to manage my standing cc debt as I am doing now, and I shouldn’t have to supplicate to Gram for money. She already has a negative opinion of my spending habits, which is perfectly justified… even I have to admit I’m not the most fiscally responsible person in the world. However, I would rather not be indebted to somebody under that umbrella of disapproval. Call it pride. If at all possible, I’ll take care of my own scrapes, and be accountable only to myself.

IHOP Buddy

IHOP Buddy popped in very briefly to chat today. Wanted to let me know about a book we’ve been waiting on to be released. She couldn’t chat for long… I’m assuming she’s still working and that IHOP Hubby is still at home. I’ve been meaning to call her one of these evenings, anyway. She said she’d call me tonight on her free cell minutes after 9. We really need to hook up soon… mebbe get to Barnes and Nobles to pick up the new book we’ve been waiting for. :)

The New Arrival

I finally got my furnace… yay! I tested it out, and the blower is no less noisy, but at least the whole thing doesn’t rattle like it’s gonna come out of it’s case. And it still smelled rather heavily of gas in that room… if it’s still bad tonight, I’ll have to call up the manager. And hope it doesn’t kill the cat.

Just Gimme a Hammer and a Screwdriver

AND my crowning achievement for the last 24 hours is finally gettin started on my new desk! Woo-hoo! Of course, a good portion of yesterday evening was spent pullin out all the pieces… accounting for, checking, organizing and labeling all of em before I could get started. But then once it was all laid out, I relocated the loose computer pieces from the library back into the kitchen, along with my bulky coffee table I transferred in there too, to make working space in the living room. I conducted most of the preliminary work, and assembling the components in the living room, then brought them into the library to attach the components to the desktop (which has to go into the room sideways). I’ve completed the bottom half of the desk… and managed to flip it right-side-up all by myself. THAT was interesting in limited space… lol

Amway, with everything already laid out, it should be no large feat to finish up the top of the desk, and even get my computer stuff into it and all hooked up. Tomorrow I can work on the dresser, and then I’ll be free to catch up on my bills and Christmas newsletter over the weekend. Theoretically, anyway. *rolling eyes* I’ve learned not to plan on much, cuz something ALWAYS manages to come up. Lol

Welp… I promised the Receptionist to help her organize her computer files, so I’m off to do that. Should keep me occupied until the end of the day. :)

Until tomorrow!