Friday, August 17, 2007

I've spent two tropical storms at work now

The first tropical storm was Allison. 36 inches in about 8 hours. The place wasn't his yet, so we had to watch the other guys' employees walk out the door while hungry postal workers milled around, complaining about their hunger and thirst.

This time, I told Ron I didn't care how early we had to get up, I wanted us there and gone early. We had to get up at 5 AM but we got home before the rain hit. Thunderstorms, flooding, the usual with any kind of tropical event in Houston. We went in today, too. I was sure glad we did. In the first 30 seconds I ensured "Soda 2" would accept bills - it has a trick validator. It won't take bills if we get a storm. Now it did. Then one of the food machines was hinky; a coin jam AND a dead validator. Fixed that. Snacks were pretty dead (the machines were full and didn't require stocking), so I helped Ron out by stocking soda machines, etc. Even though rain is forecast, AND it's the tax-free-weekend (insane shopping and traffic), we're going in tomorrow, too. Early-ish, so I'll live.

Onto the knitting part. Today, after work, we went to Burger King. Ron and I had a ritual of going to Cracker Barrel every Friday because he loves their fish. He's reading Dave Ramsey's Money Makeover book and realized the Cracker Barrel was costing us over a thousand a year. I told Ron, frankly, that I'd rather go to Burger King today. Two meals, and 4 extra tacos for Ron - $13, about half of a Cracker Barrel visit. My aunt and uncle originated the $2 date, so Ron was thrilled we cut the cost of our Friday date in half. I told Ron that Stacker was the tastiest thing I could have imagined eating. It was good!

A nice side effect of my Lexapro - I'm not compelled to gorge on carbohydrates. I ate some fries, and stopped. I've been blessed, the Lithium side effects haven't been as bad recently. I hope it keeps up, I'll sure enjoy it while it lasts!

And onto the knitting. Ron hung out at Burger King while I went to Half Price books. I found a very interesting garter stitch hooded sweater pattern, I envision a zipper and a few minor changes (3/4 sleeves instead of full-length). I also found some other fun books and a boatload of my favorite "wholesome" romance novels. I got 21 of them for a little under $10. I also got some Christian biographies and an NIV concordance for $5.

After we got home, I thought on it for a while and decided to buy some yarn online, along with a few other vest patterns (one is a hoodie design, with pockets and a zip-front - perfect!). I plan to start on a very easy beginner vest, finish that up, wear it around a while, and then maybe make some other things if I feel inclined.

As I type, thunder booms and I see crashes of lighting all around. It's sure nice to be safe and warm, inside, in a storm like this. I'm glad I have a well-equipped disaster kit. It looks like we may have a full-blown hurricane headed our way next week.

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