Happy Halloween And A Wee Update...

 Yeah, I know, I sucketh much as a blogger. *hangs head in shame* I'm also not completely unpacked yet either. *hangs head in shame and sighs deeply*


I still haven't found the charger and extra battery for the digital camera. I'm starting to think that Mr. Hairball must have packed it in one of the "office" boxes, because it's not in any of the "computer desk area" boxes. Most of those "office" boxes are still stacked up against the wall in the study/kitty room, because he's not going to be taking them all up to his new workplace. The thought of digging through all of those boxes is overwhelming right now, so I may just have to continue to do without my camera. I really do need to start deciding which of the remaining boxes will be unpacked and which will be stored "as is" until the next move.


I've been working on some  window quilts. Our apartment still has its original windows, and once the temperature outside gets below about 50F, it's chilly over by the windows. I went through my fabric stash and linen closet for some of the materials, and I went to the local thrift store for the rest. I'm sewing these by hand so it's taking me longer than if I used a sewing machine. I've got the one for our bedroom done enough that I can use it while I continue to work on it. We've had some nights where it's gotten down into the forties at night, and it's much more comfortable in there with it up than it was before. We choose to keep our heat turned down lower than a lot of people do during the colder months of the year, and these new window quilts will help keep it warmer inside.


I'm ready for election day because the political commercials are pushing me to ever closer to destroying my TV. Currently, I'm in the habit of watching/listening to TV in the mornings during the week while I pack Mr. Hairball's lunch and tidy up the kitchen. I usually turn on one of the channels that features the local news and weather so I see what's going on in Hometown City. As most of you are aware, the commercial breaks on TV right now are an endless stream of  political ads. I live in ReddyMcRedville, so the candidates are really just fighting over who is the biggest Teapartier of all. I'm seriously thinking of just skipping the local news and weather until after the election. It would probably do me good not to hear about how politician X is actually a ______ (insert your scary word of choice) who hates America.


Mr. Hairball finally got all the paperwork properly filled out, stamped, signed and turned in, so that his past work experience would be properly credited, and he would get an increase in his future paychecks. He gets paid the last day of the month and it shows up early if that date is not a workday. I eagerly checked the bank Friday late afternoon to see if the paperwork had been approved early enough to change the amount of his October paycheck. It did. It made it smaller. *beats head on desk* It looks like when the information was entered that someone made a mistake and instead of having his raise added to his check, it was subtracted. Awesome.


We also still don't have our health insurance cards even though our health insurance started in September. We have a snazzy printout that we can take with us if we need to go to the doctor that says we have health insurance, but the cards are still AWOL. We've asked HR repeatedly if since his old employer used the same insurance company if the insurance company might be confused and is not issuing us new cards because it thinks we still have our plan through the old employer. HR keeps telling us no, but I find it hard to really trust them after all the drama Mr. Hairball has gone through in trying to recoup a portion of the salary he was verbally promised. He's calling them again on Monday to ask about fixing his paycheck and to remind them about the missing insurance cards.


Mr. Hairball has started looking at the job ads in his field trying to find something better for when this contract is up. He's found a few that look promising, and has started working on his application materials. The thought of possibly making another big move next summer is overwhelming for both of us, but we knew that moving to Hometown City would only be a temporary stop. His boss does seem to like him and his work, so if something better doesn't turn up for him, he should be able to stay here for another year.


We are still saving for a new laptop for Mr. Hairball over at Smarty Pig. I  finally found the power cord for the old secondhand laptop, and I've been using that some during the week. Unfortunately, due to its age, it is in pretty bad shape and only the Linux side still works.  Most of the time this isn't a real problem for me, except when I want to do something like use the instant watch feature at Netflix. I shouldn't complain though, at least I have access to a laptop during the week again. Hopefully by the end of the year we'll have enough saved to buy his laptop so I can get mine back again.

I'm about to make some dinner and decide on my viewing choices for tonight. Mr. Hairball doesn't really like horror movies, so he will be spending the evening in the study/kitty room while I enjoy some spooky goodness.

Happy Halloween to those who celebrate it and my apologies to those who don't. I know from spending most of my life in very conservative places, that Halloween can create divisions between those who celebrate it and those who do not. Hopefully, that will not be the case here.

It's Alive!

This past week felt so strange to me without my laptop. I did fire up the desktop one day so I could check my email, make sure all was well with our ING and Smarty Pig accounts, and scan the news headlines. I moved some of our furniture around so that the desktop computer is now back in the "master bedroom" which we are using as the study/computer/kitty room. The cats were kinda annoyed with me being back there, as they had gotten used to having that room pretty much to themselves during the day. They are both grouchy old ladies who prefer a warm and quiet room for their numerous naps.


I'm still working on unpacking boxes. It's going slower than I had hoped as I keep finding boxes that I can't do anything with at this point, and if haul too many boxes around in one day, my back starts giving me fits which affects what I can do the next day. *grumble grumble* The closet in the "master bedroom" is a work in progress. It will eventually be my main kitchen pantry, various storage, and where I put the clothes that won't fit in the small closet in our bedroom. I've got two of my food storage racks arranged in there the way I want, but I'm having trouble getting a third one put back together. I need to remember NOT to take that third one apart before the next move as it's a real bear to get back together!


 The dress code at Mr. Hairball's new job only lets employees wear jeans once a week, so I also spent some time hemming and taking up some of his dress pants that were too long and too big in the waist for him.


As for bad news, it seems that the portion of Mr. Hairball's paycheck discrepancy related to getting credit for all of his education and work experience will take longer to resolve than we had hoped. In the good news column, I think I'll be able to finish this month about 10% under budget for groceries, so that's more money we can put towards the "New Laptop For Mr. Hairball Fund". I've been putting my grocery store receipts up on the refrigerator as a reminder of what I can do when I put my mind to it. *grins*


We don't have cable at our new place, and the local channels I can currently receive seem to be paid up primarily of Judge XYZ, talk shows, televangelists, infomercials, and programming directed at small children. Needless to say, when I found my box of DVDs I was really excited to have some more viewing options! I spent the last week in a nice retro bubble as none of the DVDs I watched/listened to during the day contained movies or TV programs made after 1980.


I was thinking maybe I should start doing theme weeks where at least one movie/program a day fits into a theme.  I own this set, so the theme for next week will be Joan Crawford movies. I'll watch them in chronological order so I'll start on Monday with The Women.

Hope all of you have a good week!