Somber Thursday and Whiny Friday

My work clients have spent the past week thinking up outlandishly un-doable requests since they were all planning to take off the next two weeks for the holidays and I'm sure they didn't want to leave me without anything to do in their absence. Coincidentally, all of my vendors that I use to fulfill aforementioned client requests have also planned to take off the next two weeks as well... which should make the next two weeks interesting. In self defense, I am taking off next Thursday and Friday since I'm pretty sure that no-one will be in the office and I plan to stay home and sew, sew, sew!

Thursday was a miserable day at my office. We've lost four people in my group this month due to layoffs. Our workload is growing and morale is at an all time low. I spent most of the day on the phone attending conference calls. After work I went to my Thursday night quilt group. As soon as I arrived, I started to sneeze and cough, which did not endear me to my fellow quilters. I wasn't surprised that I was getting sick since I had traveled so much last week. I half-heartedly worked on some pillowcases. Karen was making beautiful machine embroidered wine bags. Unfortunately I did not take any photos. We celebrated Ginny's birthday. I left with my head throbbing and feeling like everyone in the group hated me for going to quilting with a cold. Honestly, I had been in perfect health earlier during the day. I called my Mom in Florida and told her that I hated everything and everybody.

On Friday, I worked from home. I also managed to spend an inordinate sum of money and not have any fun at all. First up, I was waiting for the plumber, who was scheduled to arrive at 10 am to install our new disposal. He arrived at 1:30 pm (only 3.5 hours late) and installed the disposal in an amazing 20 minutes. He admired the model that Mike had chosen, so that was a good sign. He also asked for a check for $25 for "permit fees." I was a little annoyed since we had already prepaid Home Depot a princely sum for the installation and no mention of permit fees was made at that time.

My poor Romeo has been suffering from an ear infection so I had to take him to the vet at lunch time. I had been giving him prescription ear drops for several days, but his ear still smelled really nasty so I was concerned. The vet took a culture and sent it off for lab work. This little visit cost $210, but Romeo is priceless and worth every penny.

Alas, poor Romeo has an ear infection.

My ears were full of fluid and my sinuses ached and I felt so lousy that I decided to see if my doctor could squeeze me in for a visit. The last time I had a cold was back in March and I was sick for over a week. Luckily for me, they could see me at 2:30 pm and since the very late plumber had finished his installation in record time, I was able to make my appointment. I was convinced that I had the black plague, but the doctor said it was only a head cold. So between co-payment and a visit to the drug store for Sudafed, cough syrup and cough drops, I had spent another $30. On the way home, I stopped for gas ($48) and a calendar and two note books for work ($25).

When I got home, I was enormously cheered up by a funny message from my Dad on my answering machine. It is good to know that my 84-year old Dad still has my back. The message said, "Nan, this is Daddy. Mom told me that someone at work was mean to you. Give me their name and address and I'll send in the SWAT team and the black helicopter to take care of them. If you want the bodies found, we'll leave them in the trunk of the car at the Miami airport. If you don't want the bodies found, we'll dump them in the Everglades."

Be nice to me or my Dad will send the SWAT team after YOU!

Thanks Dad! Sometimes laughter is the best medicine!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy