October 31, 2001 -
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!
October 30, 2001 - When it rains, it pours ..... Mary Ann was looking forward to getting back to work today, but she had accidentally flicked some finger nail polish remover into her eye yesterday. She washed it out as best she could, then our neighbor gave her a ride to the Urgent Care Clinic. She burned the eye and was wearing an eye patch when I got home. We went to her regular doctor today and he gave her the okay to remove the patch and it appears her eye is much improved. We also brought Heather in for a school physical. She wants to try out for gymnastics and Mary Ann has worked a deal with her providing she keeps her grades up. Let's all hope she does well. We visited with Zephen and Nancy and Dave last Friday. Zephen is doing well, but they've really struggled to get him into the routine of doing his work. He daily takes 6 hours to do homework that should be done in 30-60 minutes. He's being a lot of work for them and I'm really feeling guilty at all the trouble he is. But, they have him on the right track and let's all hope things improve.
October 28, 2001 - Today is my brother, Tim's, birthday. Happy birthday, Tim!!! I tried to call him but to no avail. I hope they are having a good celebration.
October 25, 2001 - No extra hours this week. Mary Ann had an accident at work yesterday. She's okay, just bruised up her left leg on the thigh and shin with some swelling of the knee. At her work, they break down cardboard boxes and place them in a machine called a baler. The baler compacts the boxes and wraps a strap around them. The bale ends up being a 2-300 pounds. Mary Ann had picked up a bale with a hand dolly and was moving it outside. Her workmate went to close the baler and she had subsequently tripped on some debris outside the store's backdoor. Her leg was stuck in the upper portion of the dolly between the top and its center support bar. Her leg was twisted with the dolly on her thigh and shin and the bale crashing on her knee. Fortunately, a clinic is right next to her store and I went to meet her there. Nothing is broken, put she does have a lot of pain from it. She'll be on crutches for a few days and is out of work until next Tuesday.
October 19, 2001 - Another week with lots of overtime. I finally got a day off today and it looks like I'll have about 40 hours of overtime on each of my next 2 checks. I haven't had time to do anything around the house, but I'm sure I'll have some time off soon. We received copies of Mary Ann's TV advertisements for Bartell Drugs and she has been beaming about them. The ads are real cute and she plays a big part in each of them. There are six all together. She actually is at the end of most of them, closing out the spots with enthusiastic "BIG, BIG SALES!!" or "MONDAYS!!" I'll have to put copies on here real soon.
October 12, 2001 - Looooong week!! I was called into work every day this week but today. I also went in today for exams, though, and will now start my regular scheduled 3 days tomorrow. 31 hours of overtime, YEAH! But ten straight days at work and I'm back on call at the end (I have one scheduled OT day next week on Thursday as well). I am not a fan of overtime and a lot of people are sick at work, but I plan to bust my butt through the rest of the year and beat down a few of the bills we've got. My next paycheck will allow me to pay off one outstanding bill for $757, and I plan to use most of the OT money to get rid of more. I'm going to put a few $100 away each paycheck for Christmas if I can. We won't have much this year, but I'm not going to be putting anything on credit. It's been raining today, so I came up with an idea. We are about to perform a blind Root Beer taste test. We bought 9 different varieties of Root Beer today and some saltine crackers. We're having our neighbor, Angela, and her kids over. Between tasting each root beer, each of us will rinse our mouths with water and chew a saltine so as to clear our palettes. I'll let you know what the best one is.
October 10, 2001 - Mary Ann was recently a part of several Bartell Drug television advertisements, and they just now started airing locally. We haven't seen it, but lots of people have told us they've seen them. Mary Ann will be getting a tape of it from work real soon, so I'll put it on here as well. In addition, I was taped at work yesterday while transporting a patient and, go figure, I was on the news last night. One of my work mates, Catherine, actually taped the news last night (she tapes Oprah and she accidentally went into the newscasts) and said that she saw Mary Ann's commercial during Oprah and me on the news immediately after. She's going to lend me the tape and I may put it on here if it's worth it.
October 7, 2001 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!! Today is a special birthday for my mom (I'm not going to tell you which one). Marla flew up to Fairbanks on Friday to surprise her and I gave my gift to Marla to bring up with her. Marla in feeling a financial pinch at the moment as well and we, unfortunately, will all be making sacrifices this Christmas holiday. To make matters worse, I have a slow leak in one of my tires and I really need to get new tires all the way around on the Suzuki (just did the van last month). I got some OT yesterday and I'm hoping for a few days next week. I'm just feeling pretty overwhelmed at the moment, but I should see some sunshine soon :)
October 2, 2001 - I hooked up with Nancy and Dave today and we went to meet Zephen's new Doctor. He seems like a pretty good guy and we had a good visit. I'm going to get some overtime this week and we're really needing it. After paying for the doctor, covering the prescription cost, and giving Nancy and Dave $250, I found myself looking at about $60 to live on the next 10 days. I had a whole bunch of bills at the top of the month. Fortunately, we got a lot of food in the freezer. It's going to be a tough week I guess.
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