Sorry I Haven't Been Around

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I'm sick.

I'm also discouraged, because my scooter tire's flat, I can't replace it, and I can't get around in the cold. So I'm pretty much housebound.

And my bank stole $60 from me.

They let my account read "$3.00" for nearly a week. I took out $1 one day and $2 the next day, to buy cigarettes at the local store.

I'd have bought a carton at the Pueblo Cultural Center for $12, but the scooter was flat and the busses didn't run Thursday or Friday of Thanksgiving week, so I was stuck buying cigs for more than twice the price I normally pay.

The bank says each transaction was an overdraft, and charged me $30 per each.

They won't take off the penalties.

So, once I paid the rent, the MSNTV bill and bought a carton as soon as I could, I now have less than $30 cash left for the month.

And, of course, last month Food Stamps sent a letter, stating that I'm now receiving only $60/mo. instead of $90.

So, I'm very discouraged. I can' buy an innertube until January.

Several people said they were buying arts & crafts from me; I haven't heard from any of them again for over a week.

So, I'm doing the best I can not to get depressed.

Stu, a gardener friend of mine, took me to Stadium Grocery the Saturday after Thanksgiving and GAVE me $20. I got lots of eggs, fruits, vegies another turkey, more cream cheese and sour cream, etc., all on sale.

I made a turkey pasta with alfredo sauce. I've made turkey tacos and turkey salad. I don't get sick of turkey, and could eat it forever, as long as I can prepare it in different ways.

I'm making crepes and filling them with all kinds of different fruits, jams, etc.

I put my new blue tarp up in my back yard, which took me days to finish.

I still putter in my front yard and my empty lot garden, when weather permits.

And I'm doing some major house cleaning when the weather's bad.

I'm getting the house ready for some big sewing and crafts projects to tide me over until spring. I've found some Rubbermaid storage containers and a filing cabinet in the trash, so that's helping me declutter and organize my supplies.

I'm putting one foot in front of the other.

My food stamps come on the 8th. Normally, I check calendars every day at the beginning of the month, waiting for Grocery Day. Today, I don't even know the date, because I have plenty of food in the house and don't need to worry yet.

But I'll go soon, when the weather warms back up.

It could snow today, so the cats, dog and I will be working in the house.

My little garden is so weather proof now, Snuffy sleeps outside at thing in one of my covered cat beds. I think the furnace and fire place make it so dry in here, it's hard for him to breathe with his sinus condition. So, I'm working on a humidifying system, made from an old soup pot on a coffee pot hot plate, with my fan to blow the vapors through the front of the house better.

The back bedroom is the only room with the heater vent open, and I have a curtain across the door way, to keep the heat in the room better.

So, in a few days, Snuffy should be able to sleep in the front of the house, where it'll be cooler, but less dry. And the other cats, Porkchop and I can sleep in the back where it's warmer but drier.

Poor ol' Snuffy! His sinuses give him fits!