Just Plain Frustrating

At the very least, the day began well. It was absolutely gorgeous this morning, sunny, windy, and in the 60s - maybe the upper 60s. It was so nice, I was able to sweep the sticks and few leaves leftover from last night's huge storm in just a short-sleeved blouse and work pants and no coat.

The repair men appeared around 9:30. I was able to show them the windows that were drafty and my tub, which badly needed to be re-caulked. They went off to find supplies, and I worked on last month's budget. (Bought a lot more food than usual last month, but that may have been a combination of Thanksgiving and the last gasps of the Farm Market.) The repair guys reappeared around the time I was leaving for work.

Work mostly went fairly well, except for one incident around 4PM. As with last week, it once again involved the newly revamped WIC Checks. A woman threw an absolute fit because she couldn't buy the baby food she wanted on the Checks. She wanted the fancy kind with DNA or whatever and mixes of foods. The Checks apparently only accept plain flavors or mixes of fruits or vegetables - no fancy additives, no organic, no mixes of cereal or meat. "But my daughter won't eat the plain!" she kept complaining. She finally took the whole thing over to customer service. I was upset, but not crying - just annoyed. I feel so bad when this stuff happens, even when it's not my fault.

These redone WIC Checks are going to be an absolute pain in the rear. First of all, the holidays are a bad time to be revamping anything, much less government programs that frazzled parents rely on. Second, people never read the pamphlets when they were just buying milk, juice, eggs, cheese, cereal, and baby stuff. Adding other things, like produce, bread, and baby food, is an understandable idea but only seems to be creating more confusion. Third, you can only buy certain items - only certain kinds of whole wheat bread, the plain baby food, certain kinds of cereal, certain juices in plastic bottles (they apparently no longer require the canned kind), certain kinds of orange juice cartons, etc. I wish people and governments would learn to be less picky.

My first errands after work were an improvement. I rode over to FYE to continue my holiday shopping. Picked up the Night at the Museum sequel that my best friend Lauren requested for Christmas and a DVD copy of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol on sale for me. I'm trying to get all of the Sony Wonder/Rankin Bass Holiday specials on DVD after I found most of them for cheap at Dollar General last year. The only one I can't find is Cricket On the Hearth; I'll try Philly.

Had dinner at Fat Jack's Barbecue, probably my favorite of all the restaurants in the Audubon Crossings Shopping Center. I had the Shredded Chicken Pita Pocket again with a side of Kentucky Slaw. They toasted the pita this time, which worked much better for actually keeping the contents in the pocket (and tasted better, too). Alas, the slaw wasn't nearly as good. It tasted a little too sour, like someone had overdosed on the Miracle Whip. I kept the rest and stuck it in my fridge when I got home. Maybe I'll find ways to improve it for lunch tomorrow.

(And I was disappointed to see that my two favorite sides, the Collard Greens and Green Beans, are no longer on the menu.)

I'm not crazy about clothes shopping in general, but shopping for bras is one of my least-favorite things to do...but absolutely necessary for someone with my chest size. Why are so many bras padded now? Isn't that for skinny kids who want to add a little to their bust? That's the last thing on the planet I want to do! My bust is a lot more than I need. Fashion Bug didn't seem to have my size in the regular underwire bras, either. I went over to Avenue, but they were a lot more expensive.

I finally bought a red underwire bra to replace the pink one that lost its wire in the laundry on Monday and a white one to replace the old white bra that is yellowing, stretched, and way too big for me. The white one was exactly the same design as the one that lost its wire. The red one was a flimsy lace deal with a silly little rhinestone pendant between the cups. I cut off the pendent when I got home and may use it on the Sailor Soldiers' Christmas tree.

The repair men may have been good at their jobs, but they weren't good at cleaning up after themselves. They'd locked the wrong lock (although Miss Ellie said this was her fault - she'd forgotten which lock I use) and I had to get the key from Miss Ellie. They left debris from covering the exposed lining on my front door on the porch. They hadn't put the Sailor Scouts and Winter Cinderella dolls back where they belonged. They broke the holder for the stick that opens and closes the window shades closest to the front door. They left muddy footprints on my bathroom floor and in the tub.

On the other hand, they duct-taped the window around the air conditioner (which is bolted to the window and too heavy to take out and put away every few months). The windows do seem less drafty, and they did fix the caulking around the tub. Miss Ellie had mentioned leaks in her ceiling, and I suspect the rotting caulking around the tub was to blame.

And while it's remained windy all day, clouds moved in shortly after I arrived at work, and it was partly cloudy and gloomier for the rest of the evening. They're talking about possible snow on Saturday or Sunday; we'll see what happens.