A Wee Bit Productive

A blustery cold front hit Houston, Thursday afternoon and evening, accompanied by the ever-dreaded 'sleet'. I was aware that it was a possibility, so I arose earlier than usual to check the weather and road conditions before heading to work.

At 6:30 a.m., there were five wrecks on Houston highways caused by ice on the roads, and the roads leading from my little apartment to my office were hella iced up.

I emailed my supervisors and our receptionist to tell them that I would not be in the office, due to ice. Did I mention that the drainage runnel that flows through the middle of my apartment complex's parking lot was also full of ice? And that the funny fabric awning over my balcony had icicles danging from its scalloped edges in a slightly obscene manner?

No? Well, there was ice and icicles everywhere.

So. Home.

I did get out around 1:00 pm to pick up a feather-bed I'd had dry-cleaned, and I briefly considered going in to the office. It didn't happen, though. Instead, I will be in the office on a Saturday - hopefully with heat, but possibly not. I'll make sure I take my gloves and a hat.

Instead of going to the office, I stayed home, cleaned my kitchen, un-bagged tons of dry cleaning that never quite made it into the closet, and pulled a few things out of my closet that I can't wear, these days (mostly because my chest decreased in size, along with my waist and twigs - er - thighs, and so they're now obscenely low cut).

Saturday morning, prior to going in to the office, I will run to the recycling center and then to a goodwill depository, because I'm not going to bother trying to consign two silk blouses.

In repentance for staying home from work, I worked on my taxes, too.

Did you know that $10,000 of medical expenses when you've made more than $40,000 in a year will get you absolutely jack squat of an income tax return? But add in $6000 of tuition paid, and voila! Enormous return.

Hopefully, that return will pay off the $3000 of health expenses that have been sitting on my credit card, accumulating interest, for the past few months. And, hopefully, TurboTax's return estimator is as accurate as it seems.

After I pay all of that business off, I'm going to try to go credit-card free for a while.

I've been paying for everything with credit cards, but I'm starting to realize that I don't pay as much attention to my monthly spending as I do when I pay with a debit card or cash. So I'm considering switching to a debit card, even though it means I won't get all of the free money - er - points, that I get when I use my credit card.

We'll see if this actually happens, because those points sure are handy when I want to buy, say, two chairs and a ceramic garden stool so I can sit out on my balcony on beautiful days the week before we get an ice storm.

Hooray, Houston.