When Things Were Rotten

Today was not a good day. No, I never made it to Yogawood. I slept too late. I walked over to Dad's and gave him his share of the Christmas and Easter pictures instead. (There were a few shots of my porch in the fall and during the only snowstorm we had last year, and three pictures of Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations I took to remember how I did them so I can do them again more-or-less the same way this year. Obviously, Dad didn't get those.) Dad was still cleaning the pool, this time sweeping the bottom. I caught him at a good time. He, Jodie, and Jessa are going on a trip to Bethlehem, PA to visit relatives and to do some work for Campbell's Soup for Jodie. (Campbell's has their headquarters in Camden and Jodie is a tour guide and head of phone operators there.)

I went for a walk around the neighborhood after I left Dad. I wandered down some side streets behind West Clinton and ended up at the Oaklyn-Lions Park. I rode a few slides and goofed around a little at the playground, then headed home across the large lawn/baseball field. I wasn't even half-way there when I felt something small and sharp sting one of my toes. Sure enough, there was a huge bee dripping nasty stuff on my toes and sandal. Ugh. I managed to get both the bee and the stinger out, but I limped to Doria's Deli for roast beef and a Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi soda, and then limped home.

I remembered Mom used made a paste out of baking soda and water and apply that to bee stings, so I did that as soon as I got in. It still feels a little sore, but not as bad as when it first happened. I must have gotten the stinger out in time. I spent the rest of the afternoon looking up Free Library of Philadelphia Branches near the PATCO stops without much luck. Apparently, most of the people in the Philadelphia area who read are in northern or western Philly. I only found four anywhere close to the PATCO - one in Chinatown, two on South Broad Street, and one in South Philly. I was hoping to volunteer at one of them.

Work was going fine until an hour and a half before my shift was done. I took off my glasses to wipe them and accidentally bent the wire frames. When I tried to pull them back into shape, one side of the glasses snapped off the nose piece! I was so upset. No matter what nice things my customers said, I still felt embarrassed. I had to work almost literally blind as one of my co-workers tried to glue them back together. It didn't work. The glue just got all over the lenses. There just wasn't enough to reattach. (Good thing I can pretty much do the register by rote now.) I ended up having to call for a ride home. One of the teenage girls managed to tape them together long enough for Jodie and Jessa to get me and my bike home and for me to go over to Dad's house to see if anyone there could help.

Dad and Uncle Ken finally used something hot and smelly called Nassau to get them to stick together temporarily after duct tape and more super glue didn't hold. Rose and her boyfriend Craig were there, too. Rose offered to take me to the Lens Crafters in the Cherry Hill Mall tomorrow to get new frames and maybe even (finally) get my eyes examined. That's something else I've put off for seven years. I haven't been to the eye doctor or had new glasses since 2001. I haven't had the money! I was seriously broke for at least two years after moving to Wildwood, which was not helped by the sudden death of my laptop.

This means I'll have to do the laundry later than planned. I can't do it on Friday morning - I work at 11PM. It means I may not get into Philadelphia like I'd hoped, which means I won't be able to for the second week in a row.

This is just so, so frustrating. It's what happens when you procrastinate. I shouldn't have put off getting glasses and doing my teeth once I did have the money. It might not have cost so much now.