It's Been a Week!

So much going on!

I was robbed in November. A lady I'd hired to do some cleaning took some jewelery. I didn't discover the theft until December, and then only partially. It was January before I realized how many pieces had been taken. I hemmed and hawed about it for about a week then called the police to report the theft.

A month goes by, and I finally got the police report from them to give to my insurance company. I called my agent, and he intimidated me so bad I nearly didn't file the claim. But I had to file the claim!

Another week went by and I finally called them. They were fast, efficient, and downgraded my loss by about $2375, so I have to absorb that much of it. To be honest, that includes my deductible, so the amount of actual loss not covered is about $1375.

So that was story number one. Story number two...

I ordered some cat furniture from a reputable supplier. It was almost $400 for the order, and included two cat trees and one scratching post. One of the trees was 80 inches tall, almost to the ceiling, which I figured would give the cats a wonderful view of the bird feeders and space away from each other.

The items were all shipped separately, from different points of origin. The first never arrived, but the second arrived on Feb 10. I got another e-mail, for the third shipment, and looked into the three shipments.

It turns out that the wonderful, tall cat tree was delivered to someone other than me, left by a front door, with no signature confirmation. The delivery company says they delivered it to me. I'm sure it doesn't help that I had several deliveries that week, and continue to receive items I've ordered - specialty cat products, books, online-only office supplies, and so on. So, they closed the inquiry, and are offended that I would even hint at a mis-delivery.

Too bad. Now, I have to do a chargeback against my vendor. I hate to do that, but the item was the most expensive of the three that I ordered. In fact, the one cat tree that I received was a purchase afterthought because the large cat tree was $100 less on sale!

So, I went to my bank and did the chargeback yesterday. I really hate to do that. I really do. It's a black mark against any merchant when that happens. And it wasn't her fault, but the shipper's. The only mistake she made was allowing the shipment to be made without requiring a signature confirmation.

So much for story number two. On to story number three...

My doctor wanted me to take some allergy medicine because of the drainage I experience every night. She prescribed Zyrtec. It's known to make folks drowsy, so I took a pill at night with my other meds on Wednesday.

I had a very fitful night's sleep, came stark raving awake at several points, and my body seemed to slow down. The next day, I was in a fog all day, and had to slap myself awake during my last class. The drive home was a nightmare!

When I got home, I slept. Nothing but. The phone was ringing off the hook, and I just couldn't talk to anyone. I couldn't get the phone to my ear fast enough. I ended up with six messages on the machine. Two were the insurance company, one from the shipper, and three from friends.

I ended up sleeping till about 8:30. I got up and called two friends back, and it was too late to call the third. I ended up staying awake till about 4:30am and then went to bed. I slept like a log till 10:30 when the alarm went off.

It was now Friday, and I had a lot to do. I went to the bank to do the chargeback, went to the court and did my little research job there, and then went to get tires on the car before the next rain hits. I've not had time for that since I had the money, and it was becoming desparate. I almost hydro-planed during the last rain on Thursday, when I was groggy.

I got home, and forget the diet, I wanted a hamburger! So, I got one of those when it was time to have supper.

Story number four...

During all this, as if my week wasn't full enough, I printed the last of the research I'd done for my book. I organized what had been printed and started printing at home, and finished the job at school. I'm now looking for space to work.

I think I'll clear off the perfectly-good work space I have that's an accumulation of stuff that doesn't belong to me and wasted money. There is a furnace filter that's the wrong size, an older laptop computer, and a collection of stuff that belongs to a friend that moved to CA over a year ago. He want's it shipped to him if he ever sends money. Meanwhile, it's taking up space in my house. If I can get the table cleared off, I'll have a great work space for school work, sewing and other purposes.

Story number five...

Well, there's this mess that's been accumulating around my chair. Things fall and I'm not paying attention, so the mess gets bigger and bigger. Last night, I'd had enough. The reason for the mass purge was that my cat Fluffy, who never pukes up hairballs or anything, got sick. All over the place, repeatedly, and nastily. I had to clean up after her.

She started on a pair of shoes that got tossed yesterday afternoon. She has diabetes, so this is kind of a serious turn for her. She continued into several rooms, and hit the paid bills, computer programs (boxed), office supplies, clothes, and of course, all the stuff sitting around my chair. It was bad enough that the pile was growing, but her getting sick on it was more than I could stand.

So, it's been a very full week. Lots of ins and outs, lots of stuff happening. So much for not getting anything done!

Those pills from the doctor? - not taking them anymore. Once was enough.

People Stupid, Holidays, Reflections on Sobriety

It seems the holidays are in full swing. I have finals coming up, too. This year (2011) has just seemed to fly by.

Parties, school, finals, meetings, changes - all happening pretty quickly this year. Friends and family have passed on, other friends have come to join me on my journey. There was even a birth early this year, adding to my family.

Sobriety has been a gift this year. Not that hard to be sober. I've had a couple of cravings - mostly when something else was going on, like taking pain pills for toothache before I had the teeth pulled.

However, I still feel like I'm kinda people-stupid.

I have a "friend/sponsee" who just dumps on me. I don't know how to stop that kind of thing, and it's really annoying. But I do it to my sponsor, too. Maybe that's the way it's supposed to be. I just wish I could steer her into a more healthy way of dealing with stuff. But I know you have to go through it to the other side. There is no shortcut to growing up.

Then there's the way I communicate with my aunt and uncle. It's like I can't ever say what I mean - or the words get jumbled up and come out wrong. It can't all be my brain-fart - my neurological wiring problem. It's like I don't realize how my words sound to folks. Maybe I really don't know how I sound to folks. Maybe that's my biggest problem?

I've been crocheting this coat. I had one sleeve front completely done, and decided it looked wrong. There must have been a pattern mistake or something. I even sent an e-mail to the folks who wrote the book! So, I took it all out and tried to figure out how it should go. About half-way through, I realized that the pattern WAS right, and my "thinking" was messed up. I pulled out what I'd just done and started to re-do the sleeve again. That's my thinking with people in a nutshell. I think I know what I mean to say, but the words get all messed up in my thinking....

Yep, I know it all and realize I don't. Got to follow directions better....

Overwhelmed

I've been huddled up with school books, class DVDs, and a calculator. I'm not ignoring the world because I'm depressed- I'm extremely busy!

I finally got to the post office yesterday to get stamps. I mailed the cell phone back to the provider with a "request" to cancel service. I'm so over them...

I checked out of Facebook early last week - posting a status that left no doubt as to why I'm not checking in.

I got another 150 e-mails overnight. This has got to stop! Not the good kind, either. Most were spam, something I don't need to see everyday, or just notifications. It all takes time to sort and sift. The remaining 10 or 20 needed to be read and dealt with. And that's not even including business and school e-mail!

Oh, well....

All will be well. I should be caught up on math by Monday, and have the management test done tonight.