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Another Year Wiser
Apr. 19th, 2015 05:48 amI finally signed all of my refinance documents this week, so my new mortgage has gone into effect. I should now have my house paid off by 2030, several years earlier than it would have been before. It's gratifying to see that the amount of my payment going toward interest will be much lower every month.
An unexpected occurrence was that my neighbors picked up a stray dog. She's really adorable, and quite friendly. She didn't have a collar or microchip, and she wasn't spayed. Based on how white her teeth are, they're guessing she's probably not much more than a year old. They're trying to find someone in the neighborhood to take her (so she can still play with their dog, Sadi), and they're hoping that I will be willing to keep her. I would have to get my fence fixed first...it currently has a gate that won't latch and another gate with a gaping hole that Sadi ripped open.
As I mentioned last week, I planned a dinner party for my birthday. I started preparing for it on Thursday by cooking all the items that would be used as fillings for the main dishes, such as beans for the tamales, potatoes and carrots for the enchiladas, and butternut squash for the empanadas. I even steamed a bunch of freshly picked artichokes for dip, though I ended up running out of time and never made that. I'll have to freeze the cooked artichokes for later.
I started cleaning on Friday morning, giving all the living areas and kitchen a thorough scrubbing. Once that was done, around lunchtime, I started in on the food. I made tamales, enchiladas, empanadas, refried beans, Mexican rice, salsa, and guacamole. I was just putting the finishing touches on the condiments when everyone began arriving just past 7pm. It was a huge spread, so much that we had to eat on the coffee table, because my dinner table was covered with all the serving pans. After eating, we concluded the evening by playing a game of Roll for the Galaxy, which is one of the games my family sent me as a present.
Unfortunately, I must have picked up a bug somewhere, because by the end of the night I was coughing uncontrollably. By the time I got up in the morning to get ready for work, I felt like a zombie. I thought about calling in sick, but it was my day to clean the kennel, and I didn't want to skip out on that. Also, the chief is on a crusade to eliminate "corruption," and one of the things she's taking a close look at is people who abuse sick leave by using it to, say, take a long weekend, when they aren't actually sick. Considering that I am A) actually sick, and B) have only used one day of sick leave in six years, she'd have a hard time proving anything, but I don't want to give her any more cause to be suspicious of the canine team than she already is.
So, I spent a pretty miserable day at work. After I got home, I managed to force myself to shower and eat something, but that was my limit. I crawled into bed at 5:30pm and pretty much stayed there until my alarm went off in the morning. I'm still plagued by intermittent bouts of intense coughing, but at least it hasn't gotten any worse. With luck, I should recover soon.
An unexpected occurrence was that my neighbors picked up a stray dog. She's really adorable, and quite friendly. She didn't have a collar or microchip, and she wasn't spayed. Based on how white her teeth are, they're guessing she's probably not much more than a year old. They're trying to find someone in the neighborhood to take her (so she can still play with their dog, Sadi), and they're hoping that I will be willing to keep her. I would have to get my fence fixed first...it currently has a gate that won't latch and another gate with a gaping hole that Sadi ripped open.
As I mentioned last week, I planned a dinner party for my birthday. I started preparing for it on Thursday by cooking all the items that would be used as fillings for the main dishes, such as beans for the tamales, potatoes and carrots for the enchiladas, and butternut squash for the empanadas. I even steamed a bunch of freshly picked artichokes for dip, though I ended up running out of time and never made that. I'll have to freeze the cooked artichokes for later.
I started cleaning on Friday morning, giving all the living areas and kitchen a thorough scrubbing. Once that was done, around lunchtime, I started in on the food. I made tamales, enchiladas, empanadas, refried beans, Mexican rice, salsa, and guacamole. I was just putting the finishing touches on the condiments when everyone began arriving just past 7pm. It was a huge spread, so much that we had to eat on the coffee table, because my dinner table was covered with all the serving pans. After eating, we concluded the evening by playing a game of Roll for the Galaxy, which is one of the games my family sent me as a present.
Unfortunately, I must have picked up a bug somewhere, because by the end of the night I was coughing uncontrollably. By the time I got up in the morning to get ready for work, I felt like a zombie. I thought about calling in sick, but it was my day to clean the kennel, and I didn't want to skip out on that. Also, the chief is on a crusade to eliminate "corruption," and one of the things she's taking a close look at is people who abuse sick leave by using it to, say, take a long weekend, when they aren't actually sick. Considering that I am A) actually sick, and B) have only used one day of sick leave in six years, she'd have a hard time proving anything, but I don't want to give her any more cause to be suspicious of the canine team than she already is.
So, I spent a pretty miserable day at work. After I got home, I managed to force myself to shower and eat something, but that was my limit. I crawled into bed at 5:30pm and pretty much stayed there until my alarm went off in the morning. I'm still plagued by intermittent bouts of intense coughing, but at least it hasn't gotten any worse. With luck, I should recover soon.
