Bad Day

I am feeling MUCH better now. If I had posted a few hours ago, I don't think I could've said the same.

It sometimes doesn't take a whole lot to get you in a better mood. In this case it was two things: (1) Our money situation is much better than I thought (more on that later), and (2) I StumbledUpon the coolest website today: Musicovery. It is a web radio with a really unique format. I won't go into explaining it, but you MUST check it out. After being bummed about the events of today, I decided to go with calm/neutral music before starting the money stuff. I am now listening to selections from the positive and medium energy level of the chart (the first pop radio song I've heard tonight is playing right now, Gwen Stefani's "The Sweet Escape"). What I really like about it is that it gives you an opportunity to hear music that you wouldn't get to hear just listening to the radio. Lately, I have become more and more disgusted with the state of popular music in the US for various reasons. One of things that bothers me is the "homogenization" of music, where a small amount of very similar music is actually aired on the radio. The average Joe listens to it, accepts it, likes it, and buys the music, without ever getting a chance to hear something different for a change. The above link is completely different, and I love the opportunity to hear something new for a change.

Anyway, on to my bad day...

Maybe it was because it rained non-stop for the last three days, or maybe it's because Meg's dad went home yesterday, or maybe it's the fact that there are less than two weeks left this summer, but I woke up in a funk this morning, and it was down-hill from there.

First off, I have been putting off 'money stuff' for quite a few days now, because I had expected it to be really ugly. We've been hosting a lot of family this month, which has involved extra groceries, extra traveling, and extra trips out to eat. Max has amassed over $500 in vet bills already with his hypothyroidism. The Saturn needed new tires and an oil change ($250, which is a bargain actually--thanks Dad!). The air conditioner had to be repaired twice this summer (to the tune of $400). Well, the wad of receipts in my wallet was telling me that there must be NO money left in the account.

Meg had originally scheduled us to go get a family portrait done today. I explained that with our current money situation, that it probably wasn't the best idea, and could we wait till September. She understood, but I could tell she was disappointed. So, I suggested that we do something fun and free today, and we came up with the idea of going to Gloucester Township Park, packing lunch, having a picnic, and then letting Maddie try the swings and maybe the sliding board.

Well, after packing everything up, I checked my e-mail and discovered that RAM I had sold to someone over eBay turned out to be defective. Now, I was only selling the RAM because I had won it in another auction, and it turned out to be for a desktop and not a laptop. I had no idea whether it worked or not, but didn't have any doubts. Well apparently I was wrong, and I also neglected to specify a return policy, so I am stuck having to refund this guys money when I get the worthless stick of RAM back. So yes, more money out the window...

...but I was going to have a good time with our picnic; the weather was actually nice for a change. We got to the park, and parked by the toddler playground, only to discover that there was no picnic table there... no big deal, we'll just walk to the next area, and then walk back when we were done eating.

So, we found a picnic table got all of our food out, and got almost halfway through lunch before we started getting attacked by vicious yellowjackets. And it wasn't too long until one of them STUNG MADDIE and the picnic was over. Meg and I panicked at first and prayed that she wasn't allergic. After about 30 seconds of crying, she calmed down, and you would have never guessed that she had just been stung. However, a frantic call to my mom was still in order. She instructed us to head to the grocery store and pick up some meat tenderizer and to watch Maddie for signs of an allergic reaction.

To our relief, she was fine, and nothing is left but a red patch on her arm now. However, it put a damper on our free fun picnic.

My job for the rest of the day was one that I have been putting off. At the beginning of the summer our attic fan stopped working, which means that on hot days the heat just stays trapped in the upper level of the house and the air runs all day (probably why it broke twice). Well, some diagnosing at that time led me to believe that a long stretch of wire needed replaced. I would not be able to do this on a hot day, since it gets to temperatures of over 100°F in the attic. Well, with the cool weather we've been having, I haven't had an excuse, so I got up in the attic today and replaced the wire. This was not easy to do, even with the cooler temperatures, because I do not fit in an attic very well, and there is very little light up there. I even almost fell through the ceiling at one point.

After several hours and a lot of sweat, I was finally finished. I flipped the circuit back on, only to find that the fan STILL doesn't work!!! I was hungry, tired, and sweaty, and I had no desire to figure out why it still didn't work, so it will have to wait until another cool day.

Nothing really terrible happened today, but it was really just one thing after another. So, after a relaxing dinner, a bowl of cookies-n-cream ice cream, and some "calm" "postive" music, I got to work on the money stuff. Yes, we went way over budget this month, but we actually had enough of a cash cushion that we are still in good shape. I happily told Meg that we would actually be going out to eat tomorrow (as we usually do on Fridays).

Tomorrow I am going to spend the day planning for the start of the school year. Being prepared like this will also make me feel better about the end of summer. Things are looking up.