Note to self.  Scheduling 3 MRI’s in the same day is a very BAD idea.

The brain one was not so bad.  I am sure with all the pharmaceuticals in there it made  it glow without the need of the magnetic field.

The upper abdomen was a bit worse, having to keep my arms over my head for so long, but for both the brain & upper abdomen, I could keep my legs bent for the 40 minuets.

The pelvic MRI was horrid.  With 4 herniated disks I had to keep my legs straight.  Feet strapped down so as not to move.  The pain was intense.  I had the alarm plunger in my hand the whole time, a hairs breath away from squeezing it.  I had not had a regular pelvic exam in years so this was warranted, given my family history of cancer.  By the time the tech pulled me out of the machine the blood was pounding in my ears.

Walking was most challenging for the next few days....

Not another learning experience.

Gwen and I went to an auction last weekend.  I saw it on the news and the fact that it was all theater supplies intrigued me.

It was crowded and took way too long I think.  It would have been better if they started at 9 AM and did away with the entertainment of having kids come out and model some of the costumes. While entertaining, there was just too much to go through.  I wanted one parasol but it was auctioned in a huge block.  Obviously for a dance number.

It was chaos toward the end, which ran a few hours late.

I was outbid on a lot of things.  Some folks were more willing to spend more than full price for items than me.

What I did manage to score was a box of fans.  Some paper for flamico numbers. Some beautiful peacock feathered fans.  I spend 55 on that box.  I know that one of those fans would go for 40 and I have quite a few.  I can now do a multitude of dance numbers.

I also bought a few cow horns, a decorative magnifying glass that you wear as jewelry, some shoes (one a bog shoe reproduction) a pirate cap gun and 7 capes.   Hey, they were 10 bucks each and gulf wars is coming up in March.

Gwen bought a huge pile of Styrofoam wig heads for her hat making class.  She gave me 4 and I now have a proper place for my wigs.

I decided that I would fill the pool to the top so I could get an idea of where the slow leak is (if there is a leak, still not sure).  If I do not run the skimmer and the level dose not change then it is somewhere in the skimmer system.

I managed to get it fairly clean, love the smell of chlorine in the morning, it smells of; clean pool.

Go back inside to get some computer work done. Honestly this computer is becoming more than a second job.

A few minuets after I sit, I feel a sharp jab at my lower glute. ???? Did I sit on a pin?  I haven’t sewn in many months and that hurt a HELL of a lot more than a pin. Jump up.  No, I don’t see anything on my chair.  I take off my shorts.

A wasp drops out!!

How the hell did that thing get in my shorts, of all places?  My pool is enclosed with a screen lanai. I have NEVER been stung by a wasp or bee in my life. My flip flop makes quick work of the assailant.

OK, now I am itchy all over.  The sting sight throbs and burns badly. I can’t take benidrill because of the meds I am taking.   

One itchy cranky Nova will be in front of the computer today.

Dull. We want dull and boring.  Honestly.

I think there is a leak in the pool

I just filled that dang pool a few days ago. It rained yesterday. Yet the skimmer was sucking air over night at intervals. That is just not right.

The pool boy came by and gave it a brushing. He promised to come by the next day to hose out the filter, but seems that instability is a requirement of youth.

Next week I need to call up a few pool leak companies. Perhaps Keith will know someone that knows what he/she is doing, that will not charge an arm and a leg.

He is getting a dumpster and putting it next door soon. He offered me the use of it and I think it will be a good time to clean out the garage. I have some stuff I have been meaning to toss. Some things that did not sell at the yard sale and really want to jettison my excess and get my stuff out of storage.

Odd. I cut back on my SCA activities to do just that. Yet I find myself spending time on the internet instead. That second life can be quite addicting IF you can avoid the drama. I know I hate to work on the house (especially out in the hot Florida sun) but really like living in a nice home. I could have a beautiful house but it just seems to never end and I get discouraged because it seems to never end.

Like my pool you get out what you put in.

Time to work on my online newsletter, ‘Nova’s Nibbles’ 

My pool has gotten green again. The local pool boy came by to brush it out and make it smell like a bottle of bleach.  I ran the filter over night, but it still looks a bit green.  I think I will need to keep cleaning the filter. I have a hard time wrestling the top off the lid of that thing.

It would really, really help if I could find my automatic pool cleaner, the shark.  It is a big bit of equipment, but for the life of me I can’t find where it ended up.  I have a light duty cleaner but I do not think it can handle this.

The reason I have neglected my pool is physical.  I guess I will have to look into having my left him re-surfaced, like my doc wants.  Yes, you know, my usual MO is to wait until mission critical THEN let them cut me.  All those years I have enjoyed my belly dance have taken it’s toll on my body.  It would not be an issue if my body was not attacking my own soft tissue.  A ‘normal’ woman would benefit greatly from the physical activity.  Me, I have a price to pay.

Top that with the fact that my neighbor’s cat is now living in my Florida room. She is a nice cat but I do not want to get attached.  I want to be cat free because I want a dog.  I do hope he gets finished with his house soon.

I figure I have the ability to have one dog in my life left.  I had better do so now.  I want a dog that I can do schutzhund competition with.  I bought a book and have been reading up on it.  Physically, I can do it, for now. I will not be able to do this when the dog reaches the end of his/her life span and if I want to get to this item on my bucket list, I will have to do so soon.

Times-a-wasting.

I don’t know what is going on with mornings and me. First, I lock my keys in my running car.  The very next day, I go to make coffee.  It is raining, I do have milk so I decide to make a pot myself. Put a pot onto the stove front electric burner and turn it on.  Continuing to putter around the kitchen counter as I wait for the water to boil.

I knock the paper towel roll onto the stove back burner.  No biggie. Then I realize I turned on the wrong burner as the paper towel roll caught fire when it made contact with the back burner.

You know, there is something about having to handle a flaming roll of paper towels before you have had your morning coffee that really sets your morning off to a good start.  It would have been easier if I did not have a sink full of dishes because I did not empty the dish washer yet.

I stomped the flames out on my kitchen floor.  Good thing I have a creamic tiled floor and NEVER go barefoot.  Not even in my own home.  (Raised from Italian parents that believed unshod feet are a sign of low class).

Satisfied that the roll is out, I turn on the FRONT burner (I swear all the written print in this house is shrinking).  Go to get a new roll of paper towels from the garage.  I stand in the middle of my ash strewn kitchen and wonder. “Are a few dull mornings too much to ask for?”

Today I decide to get my coffee at the circle K and take my meds.  Off I go, or so I think.  I notice I forgot to put out my trash can.  No biggie.  Leaving the car running I drag it to the curb, using a plastic glove of course.

Go to get back in the van.  Locked. ???? I never lock this thing.  OMG I must have banged the button with my elbow when I got out.  Ack! 

Go around back to the Florida room to get the spare key.  Of course it is not in the drawer that it has been in for years.  In fact, it is not anywhere in that room. Grrrr.

Go to call AAA from my cell.   I realize I forgot to pay the cell phone bill.  I do not use my cell often so it is easy to forget. I don’t like not having the automatic bill pay option, which this air head signs up for every chance she gets. I really wish every business I deal with had it.

Great.  Out in the hot FL sun.  The cat is locked inside wondering what is going on.  All my windows are locked.  I check out the bathroom window.  Not usually locked.  It is small but I can get through.  Unfortunately I will need to try and do a controlled fall head first into the tub as opposed to me legging my way in as I would with a normal sized window.  Not a good idea.

Sigh

Tried a credit card at the front door.  No go.  The rubber and molding prevent that.  Take off the screen on the front window and try to credit card the window lock latches. That too is a failure.  Sigh  (Mind you, a real burglar would just break a window.)

Go around back.  With all my might, I give a 2 handed slid while leaning on the glass door, managing to break the plastic latch & nearly breaking my fingers.  I can always get another latch at home depo for $3.99 (I will make 6 van keys while I am there). I would not be able to do this had I put a bar across the inside. Finally I am in.

Once inside, I call AAA.  They are sending someone STAT, since the van is running.

I made a pot of coffee while waiting. The guy came and had the door open as fast as I could have with my key.

I am not sure I want to venture out today....

In light of my deciding not to get a different car, I decided to have Orlando, my mechanic look at the AC in the van.  It has been driving me bat shit in the hot Florida sun.  Seems that when I need it the most, like on a sunny day, it cuts out quickly and stays out.

Well wouldn’t you know it.  I bring it to him on a cloudy day. OK 300 dollars later I seem to have the AC working again.  So far, so good.  

I am not saying I will not buy another car.  I want a good deal, not a fair deal.  I really hate that good cop bad cop crap the dealers pull.  Gad, they may as well walk around with a script & read from it.  Giving me a high price then weaseling around with a pile of bull sh*t will not get me to buy, just get me to distrust.

Gwen, who followed me there to drive me home, is doing very well.  So well in fact that she is going to the SCA event coronation in a couple weeks for the weekend.  Me I only day trip to SCA events, when I go.  It is close enough for a day trip, but I am not sure I want to be bothered.  Besides, I don’t want to screw up my weight loss regiment.  I do not find reading a menu of stuff I am not going to eat worth my time.  Nor do I feel the need to give or get sorrid descriptions of food for insane amounts of conversation time.

Yes, I am a VERY accomplished cook, but unless there is an extraordinary dish that needs to be described or new information to be exchanged,  I am really not interested in all those little details.  “The boiled potato has 3 leaves of parsley, one at 12 O’clock, the other at 3 and last at 7:30 and it was so good!” >yawn<

So I will most likely skip it.  I really find the SCA events more of a chore here in the south.

OK, I decided I would try to take advantage of that cash for clunkers program that the government was offering.  If my ‘94 Plymouth voyager did not qualify then I do not know what would.

Well wouldn’t you know it?  At the time this make & model was made it gave 19 mpg.  The only voyager van with a 3.0 liter engine as opposed to the 3.1 plus.

But that did not stop there.  The sales man wanted to sell me a car sooo bad it was not funny.  Now you folks know me.  Ms. Numbers.  I NEVER do anything without crunching the numbers.  I live by numbers.

While he had a nice accord there BUT the salesman was pushy, as all salesman are.  My Van as a trade in.  Them telling me that it is a 14,500 vehicle.  Wanting me to sign then and there.

I do hate that.  I get suspicious.  My hackles go up and my ears go back.

Why can’t dealers let you shop around?  Are they so afraid that you will find something better?

He offers me the car for 14. I told him off the top of my head 10 grand would be about right. Of course there is the ritual.  A script.  “Gotta talk to my boss”.  Then of course the boss comes out and has to question your sanity.  Eventually I left the dealership because my diabetic meds were home and I was in dire need of them, and truth be told, I had enough of the sales men.

I go online and find that this car goes for around 9 grand in good condition.  Good gas mileage.  Then I think it may not be such a bad deal.

Silly me.  I go back to the dealer.  Now I do not want to give up my van.  Why should I?  It dose not qualify for the rebate & they will only junk it.

They want to up the antie on not junking my van by 800 dollars. What this has to do with anything is beyond me.  I tell him I know the blue book value on the car.  No reason to take my van OR jack up the price.  I get suspicious with a squeeze for every dollar.  I know they are in business but still. By not taking my un-sellable van I am saving them money.

Much haggling.   They go down to 10,400.  You know, had they stuck with the 10 grand they MIGHT have closed the deal with me, but something was fishy.   Used card do not count for the government rebate so my van is a moot point.

Then I call the insurance company to put this car on.  OK the insurance on this, much higher than my van.  While they get the paperwork together, I crunch the numbers, which is what I am good at. I do not drive much, if I put 50 miles a week on my van that is a lot.

Extra insurance premiums - the savings on gas = A loss of about 10 bucks per week.

Not good.  Since I have a vehicle I am not desperate for another.  Just looking for a good deal.  While this car was an OK or fair deal that is not good enough for baroness barracuda.

Much to their dismay, I left the showroom before signing the papers.  I made my apologies. It  is a function of dollars and cents, period.

I will still be shopping around.  If I come across a fantastic deal then great, but until then I will try and get the AC running properly on my van.  (It only works on days when the sun dose not beat down on it)

The last load of laundry I did was sheets.  That was 5 days ago.  Unfortunately, with all that has been going on, I forgot to take them out of the washer.   Yes, I have not been in the garage in that long.  Early today I went to put a load of laundry in and realized that I left the sheets in for days. OMG the smell on them was pretty bad.  I ran them through 2 heavy duty cycles, one with bleach.  Now they are in the dryer with double dryer sheets.  (Twitch, twitch)

Gwen has a doctors appointment today at 12:45.  She wants me to take her there and wants me to be at her house at 11:45.    I will make sure to pack for a day trip because I do not know what information will be missing until it becomes an issue.  It is ludicrous to have to pack for a day trip for a doctors appointment but it seems necessary. 

I am still a bit cranky from yesterday.  Finding my 600 thread count sheets sitting in the machine like that did not help.