What the Junk?!

I just got a ton of letters taken care of! It's been almost a year since I last wrote any of my penpals. I'm so happy to actually be caught up. I got them all enveloped up too late to run to the post office today. I'll try to run and mail them tomorrow or Sunday. I have a huge stack. It's a bit crazy! I didn't work a puzzle today, I spent a lot of time on the letters. I also got some writing done. I still have no idea what I'm doing for NaNoWriMo. I really need to decide. I'm sort of leaning toward another book in the zombie series. I have an idea of an event to happen and I might go with that.  The ice skating story will have to wait a bit because I need to do more research on the Olympics part of it.   Hmm, I haven't written on the zombie series since 2019! I just checked. I think I could get right back into that. I just need to do some quick re-reads and go through my notes and sse if I can get another 50,000 words out of those characters. I'm pretty sure I can. I just have to decide what to name book five!  I think I'll take some time this weekend and look over the previous stuff and see if that is what I want to do for this year's NaNo. I think it will be good, but I need more than that one event isn't enough!

What did I do to celebrate?  I went to mail back my old phone.  I checked my box and had some letters.  I washed my car because it needed it and I was too lazy to do it at home! I left there and went to Starbucks.  I got my birthday drink.  I sipped on it and went to the park to sit by my favorite tree for a bit. I hung out in the park a bit and then went and got gas for my car.  I filled it up / topped it off and it was only $8 so that was nice.  I did take some pictures.  Two in the post office and one of the darkening sky when I was sitting in the park.

I thought it was going to rain, but it never did. The sky was pretty though!  My friend texted me from work and said he was bringing by a hoagie from a local place.  Steak and cheese. It was delicious!  It was a good birthday lunch.  What's for dinner?  My favorite, hash brown casserole! :D. Yum.  That is too delicious meals today.  The Starbucks was pretty darn good, too! :p

I finished the puzzle today. I also wrote 7 pen pal letters and mailed them. I received two more in my box. Yay for more letters. I am glad to be caught up. I plan to write back soon to the ones that I got today. 

Yes, that is an extra piece to the side!

How you ask?  Well, I went to mail off my letters.  My mailbox was full but not one of the things in there was a pen pal letter. D'oh!  I left the post office and went to Starbucks. I thought starting the month off with a cascara latte would be a good thing since the syrup is going to be gone soon. I'm going to miss my cascara syrup. I'm glad I was able to get one more. I hope to get over there before they are totally out.  The Barista told me that the last bottle they have runs out on the 7th, so I hope to get one more.  I know they won't run out of the syrup because I'm the only one that orders it. lol

I was fixing lunch today and the power went out.  Luckily I was using the gas stove so I was able to finish my food.  The power was out for a little over an hour.  While it was out, I was sitting at my desk watching for the mailman.  I had a package coming today and was looking forward to it.  Well, I go to get it after I see the mailman leave and there is no package!  I get dressed and walked to his truck.  Thankfully he hadn't left the street yet.  He said he didn't have a package for me.  WTF? Really?  He said maybe it was on another truck?!  Really?  Okay.  So, I go back home and check my package tracker and it still says 'out of delivery'.  I check it a little later and it says it was unable to be delivered. That is odd considering that I was sitting watching out the window for the last half hour.  There was no 'attempt' to deliver my package.  I was not a happy camper.  They better hope they deliver tomorrow.  I think the guy probably DID have the package and forgot to deliver it and after I asked about it, he put the 'could not deliver' notification in there.

I've only had that notification one other time and that was last winter after a huge snowstorm.  It was in the 60's and sunny today so that wasn't the issue. While all that was going on, I was working on NaNo.  I only got a little bit done when I saw him go by and all the other stuff ensued.  I finally got back to my NaNo and got more done after my power came back.  I did a bit over 2000 words today so I'm now well over the 10,000 mark. Yay!  

I got everything on my list done today!  I was able to get two of my books and my DVD back to the library.  I recycled my plastic and paper, too.  I then came back home and did some things around here.  I finished the puzzle.  I also sat down and wrote fourteen letters!  That took several hours, but I did it.  After I finished those, I got them all stamped and ready to mail and headed to the gas station.  My gas light came on as I was coming back from the library today.

I got some gas and then headed to the post office.  I mailed that huge stack of letters and then checked my box.  I had some ads, some junk mail, and six letters! Yay!  I am going to set aside a day of the week to answer any letters I get that way I won't get behind again.  I'm go glad to get that huge stack answered.  Whew!  I felt so bad for letting them get so behind.

Now I just need to get my but up and walking again! Hopefully soon.  I need to get back to it before the beach trip in September or I am going to be so out of shape.  I walk a lot of places in Myrtle, so I really need to get back to that.  We are either staying at Myrtle at a new place or a North Myrtle at a place we've stayed before. My friend hasn't decided on which yet.  Both are in decent walking distance of a Starbucks. :p

Isn't this puzzle pretty?  It had all the pieces, too! Yay! Thank you to whomever donated this puzzle.  They put the pieces in a Ziploc bag inside the box.  I was so glad to have all the pieces. Whee!

How I am using Evernote today:  I am making templates to use!  I made a template for my word count for NaNoWriMo the other day and today, I made a penpal letter tracker.  Cool, yes? :) I love my Evernote!

Well, Google actually did get rid of Inbox today.  I'm desperately looking for a replacement that I like, but so far I haven't found it.  I don't know why they had to get rid of it.  I've used it since the day I got it and I have loved it so much.  Nothing else comes close.  Not even the original Gmail app!  I'm going to miss it.  Google has made me a sad, sad, girl!

I didn't walk today because my weather app said it was going to rain / or said it was raining, during my walk.  It didn't rain. D'oh!  Oh well,  I'll walk tomorrow.  It was pretty chilly today too, so I didn't feel too bad not walking.  I did get a lot accomplished.  I got my mail backlog taken care of.  I have a HUGE stack of mail to go out in tomorrow's mail.  I'll mail them on my walk.  I went out this evening and went by the post office.  I had two new letters.  One was from a pal that I already had a letter from in the pile I was working on.  I added an additional letter to her letter.  Now, I only have the one letter to answer.  That is from a new pal and I wanted to wait to write hers.  I was a bit burned out after getting through that stack!  I'll get hers done in a day or two.  I'm going to stay caught up on my mail.

I worked on my puzzle for a little bit today.  I didn't get a lot of it done, but I did get all the pieces laid out around it so it would be easier to do.  Here is what I have so far:

As you can see, I didn't get a lot more done today, but I got some done.  I am going to walk tomorrow and then I need to go to the grocery store.  I am out of everything good.  I have been able to get my car started every time I've driven it lately, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to start it after getting my groceries tomorrow.  Wish me luck!

I went to the post office tonight. I needed to check my box so I could see how many letters I have.  I got six new ones.  I also wrote nine letters.  I'm all caught up on the ones I got and now I just have the new ones.  While I was out, I went to Starbucks.  Luckily, they still had some cascara syrup.  The last time I was there, the barista said she thought they were almost out.  When I went tonight, I asked if they still had some.  They said, yes! I got my cascara latte.  When I got to the window, he told me that they had to go in the back and look.  I think I got some syrup from the last bottle.  I'll try to get over there and get more before they run out!

I brought my latte home and wrote my letters.  I have a nice stack of them to mail out on tomorrow's walk.  I'll get to the new ones in a few days. I'm trying to get this year off right and keep up with my letters and answer them quickly.  Of the six I got today, one is from my favorite penpal and one is another new letter from an inmate. ~_~;  I probably will pass on that one.  I have written (and do) write to a few inmates, but it's really not that great.  We don't have anything in common.  Plus, even though I mention in my welcome letter that I'm single and like it that way, they all seem to think I want a boyfriend.  NO THANK YOU!  If I did want a relationship, it sure wouldn't be with someone in jail.

I walked today and I actually walked a bit further than usual because I needed to go to the post office.  I had a stack of mail again.  I am writing all my letters tomorrow.  I stopped one more time on my walk to look for an item I needed, but I couldn’t find it.  I’ll try somewhere else after the snow.

It’s supposed to start snowing tonight at 3 or so and snow al the way into Monday morning!  They are saying 6-12 and then I heard 12-18. Yikes! Lol. I am not sure how much we will be getting, but I’m definitely not walking tomorrow. The streets are salted and some of the sidewalks, but it will still be a few days before I’m able to walk again.  

I totally forgot to pick up stamps today. I have a lot less stamps than I have letters at the moment.  I’ll still write my letters. I never meant to get this far behind and then today I got anotther stack of them. Oops!  My new year’s resoluation is to not get behind on pen pal letters!

So, I got up today and I was getting ready for my walk.  I was going to toss something in the dryer for a bit.  I had already started my bed linen in the wash.  The dryer wouldn't start!  Oh no!  I messed with it for a bit but I had to leave it and ate breakfast and went for my walk.  I figured if I couldn't get it started when I got home, I'd have to carry my linen to the laundry and dry them there.  I really didn't want to do this as I am extremely short on funds this month and that would have taken money I didn't ned to be spending. Plus, I'd have to go somewhere and get cash back since I never carry cash.  The dryer had done this exact same thing before and my friend came and unplugged it, took it apart, couldn't find anything wrong with it and put it back together and plugged it in.  It worked! LOL!  So, I decided, I'm going to do that too!

I didn't take the back off, but I did unplug it and check the 'hose' that goes into the wall.  I re-seated that and cleaned out some of the lint.  I put the dryer back carefully, turned it on and it worked! YAY!  I didn't have to go to the laundromat and I didn't have to leave.  I was a happy camper. It's nice when something actually goes right for me every now and then.  I put my bed linen in and it dried it.  

I did other errands around the house that needed doing and I ran out and got some gas.  I plan to go to Starbucks at least once to write during NaNo and i was low on gas.  I didn't get a lot, because like I said, I'm low on funds.  I had extra bills this month and it's really screwed me up.  I need to buy stamps.  I need to write letters, too!  I'll write my letters tomorrow and get them mailed off.

As for NaNo, I did get that done for today. I wrote 2022 words!  I have been on a roll.  I am glad to get several early days with extra words in case I have days later that I need the buffer.  It's always good to have it.  Sadly, my pizza tradition after I hit 10,000 words will not be realized this month.  I don't have enough to do that as I'm already going to struggle to make it through.  Oh well!

Please tell me why I can get ebooks and audiobooks online through my local library, but I can't renew my library card online.  What is this, 1995?!  LOL . I had to go down to the library today to renew my card.  It took all of 2 minutes. Why they can't do it online is beyond me.  Oh well!  It actually expired recently and I went to put a book on hold on Overdrive and it said the card was expired and I'd have to go to the library.  I didn't want to have to go all the way down there, so I asked online if it could be done online.  Sadly, no!  The lady from the library told me that she would extend my card until November 1 so i could use it and it would give me time to come in.  I was glad to get that done.  It used to be you had to renew it every year.  Now it's two years, so I won't have to worry about this until 2020!

While I was downtown, I went by the post office.  Good thing I did.  My box was stuffed!  I had eight pen pal letters! Yikes! LOL!  I thought I had about four, I was not expecting eight.  I also had an ad or two.  I got all that and then swung by McDonald's.  I had a game piece for a free snack sized McFlurry.  Yummy!  I got that and came home.

I walked today and afterwards, I ran to get my car inspected.  I, for some reason, thought my inspection was in February.  That was my old car from eight years ago! LOL!  I looked in my journal at the beginning of February this year and didn't see anything about inspection.  I got out last's years journal and there is was, in October. Oops! LOL!  The place I usually go only does cash for inspections. No checks/credit.  I went to another place I've been before and asked if he had time to do one and if they took credit cards.  He said yes to both so I was able to get it done.  I felt bad going at the end of the month.  I am not one to wait until the last minute!  I was so glad to get that done and not have to worry about it.  One less worry on me is a good thing!

I bet you thought I forgot to post yesterday, didn't you?  Well, I didn't!  I had power issues.  My power went out around 2:30 pm yesterday and it didn't come back until 5:15 pm today!  Believe me was I glad to see it back.  Yesterday was one crazy thing after another.  I went out at my regular lunch time and nothing was open.  The power was out all over the city.  We had a LOT of rain in a very short time and some extremely high winds.  It was nuts.  I think a tornado touched down here but I don't know if that has been confirmed.  The first time I went out to try and find something open so I could get food, it was insane.  It was still raining and nasty.  There were roads under water, trees across roads, waterfalls where there are no waterfalls, etc.  It was very exciting, but very scary!  I actually had to drive UNDER two trees that were across the road and then drive around another tree on the same road.  Luckily that was back near my neighborhood so my happy ass went home!

After the worst of the storms were over and it was only raining a little, I went back out to go to two different areas of the city that I didn't get to last trip.  One area was completely without power and the other area was blocked due to water in the road.  I had to go a crazy round about way, but I finally got back home.  That time, I decided I should just stay in!  I wrote a stack of pen pal letters on the MBP but of course, I couldn't mail them!  I also couldn't charge the MBP or my phone.  Oh and my data that I usually can use in a power outage decided to not work too!  I couldn't even get on to post that I couldn't post! Lol

So later, my friend texted and asked if I had power yet.  No, I said, what about you?  He didn't either.  He asked if I wanted to ride somewhere and try to find something open to get food. I agreed immediately!  We found two fast food places that were open but they were backed up like crazy.  We found another one that had people inside eating, but when we got to the drive thru, they said they were closed. BOO!  He mentioned a gas station / convenience store that usually had deli sandwiches and stuff.  We went there.  They were busy busy, but they had sandwiches!  I got two bacon, egg, and cheese croissants.  They were so delicious.  After not eating all day, they were ambrosial!  I got a bag of chips and a Mountain Dew.  I also got a bag of mini chocolate chip cookies and a bag of Funyuns to have for today.

So, I had to sleep with no air conditioning last night.  Luckily it wasn't too hot.  I am a person who likes to have my bedroom as an arctic climate when I sleep because I like to snuggle under covers.  I can't sleep unless I have some kind of cover on me.  I toss most of my bedding to the bottom of the bed and only used a light sheet and a blanket.  I finally got to sleep. One good thing about the power being out was that it was totally dark. I like it to be as dark as possible when I sleep.  I got my wish for sure last night.  I couldn't see anything.  

So, today, I get up when my Fitbit alarm goes off, actually I was awake a bit before it did.  The power was still off, so that meant no coffee. OH NOES!  I drank a room temperature Mountain Dew. BLEAH!  I love cold soda. I DO NOT like warm soda.  I had to have the caffeine though!

I decided to walk since I missed the last two days and there was nothing to do here anyway!  I got in a good walk.  I had to walk carefully in some areas because of downed lines and downed trees, but it was mainly okay.  The whole business section I pass when I'm walking was without power and still is as of about 20 minutes ago.  I had to run out to mail a package.  

I was able to get a cold Coke (Thank the Goddess) at my turn around point. I came home and my power was still out.  Boo.  I noticed last night when I went out with my friend that my other friend that lives at the top of my street had power! WHAT?!  UGH.  Her street is on another transformer or something.  So, today, when I walked by there, I noticed that her son was home.  He is 21 and in college to be a doctor and I love him to pieces.  I called and asked if it would be okay for me to come up and charge my phone and my laptop.  He said sure so I went.  I charged my Macbook to about 80% and my phone to almost 100 and headed home.  They have power and they have a coffee maker.  I made myself a cup. LOL . 

So, I had a nicely charge phone and MBP.  I came home and was trying to decide what to do about food.  I checked my phone and my data was working again so I was looking to see if I could find out what was open today.  A lot of city was / still is out.  My friend texted me and said if I could wait a bit, he'd pick me up and we'd go eat.  I did, and he did.  We ate and then he dropped me home.  While I was waiting for him to show, my power came back. YAY!  His didn't, though.  Sorry, friend!  

So, when we got back and he dropped me off, his power was still off.  I went out just a few minutes ago to mail off a package from one of my ebay auctions and a business that is a few streets over from his house had power when they didn't earlier and it looked like several houses on his street had power.  He had gone out to a friend's house since they had power.  I guess he'll head home soon.  I know I'm glad to have mine back!

While I was at the post office mailing that package, I also mailed off the letters I wrote last night. I was able to print them off today. I had to type them because it was the only way I could see to write them. LOL . OH!  After today's walk, something was hurting me on my chest right below my shoulder. It's way dark in the house without lights even in the daytime, so I couldn't see what it was.  I reached and a felt what felt like a flying stinging insect. I still don't know what it was or if it's still in my house.  It put a nice sized hole in me and it HURT.  Oh man, did it hurt. I'm pretty sure it was a wasp or a yellow jacket or something of the sort.  It's actually feels hot right now.  Not good! 

Ah, well, I just wrote my book for Nano in this post. LOL Well, I didn't get to post yesterday so there you go.  I should be able to sleep well tonight with the air going. Yay!

I was able to get out and take some pictures of my purse today.  Here are a couple:

It also has a clip on strap so it can be carried cross body.  It's so pretty.  I still can't seem to get a picture of the true color of it. lol . To me it's a deep rose color.  

It was sunny today as you can see in these pictures. I was able to walk without worrying about rain.  That was nice, but at the same time, it was really hot.  I came home and cooled off before doing my workouts.  I had to run out for a couple of errands and then came home and I've been here since.  I meant to go to the post office while I was out, but I never made it.  I am planning on writing letters tomorrow.  I might run those and drop them off tomorrow evening and pick up any new ones.  I think I have two or three waiting for me.

Boy was it hot on today's walk! I swear it was a lot hotter than yesterday.  I made it home and had to cool off a while before I could do my workouts.  I got those in and my French lesson.  I need to do today's squat challenge.  After lunch, I went to the bank on a quick errand.  I didn't stay out because my car is still acting up badly.  I was able to make it there and back, so that was good.  They are re-paving the streets around the bank (and along my walking route) and it's a big mess!  I will be glad when they are done with that.  I think they might get it done quicker if everyone was working.  I'll see one or two guys actually working and five or six standing os sitting watching.  Really?  It's so annoying.  

Right now, I'm getting my blog post in so I'm not rushing later to do it.  I am also watching Homicide Hunter.  I am thinking of working on my pen pal letters tonight although I'm not sure.  As long as i get them all written by the weekend like I said before, I should be good.  I don't want to get behind again!  All the letters I got yesterday are from regular pals except one.  I got a letter from a potential new one! I sent her full friendship book back and she wants to be pals. Yay!

I'm still listening to the Oz books on my walk.  They are so good. I love these series.  I am not sure what I'm going to listen to after these are done. I'll search Librivox and see what else I can find.  I think at one time, I got Dracula on there.  I'd like to listen to that again.  They also used to have, and may still have, A Houseboat on the River Styx.  That one is excellent.  It's been a long time since I listened to or read it.  I'll have to look that up!

Yes, I'm missing that beautiful view of the ocean.  I also miss being able to walk outside and walk on the beach!  I hope to get back there soon.  I still haven't uploaded the majority of my trip pics to the Macbook.  The reason being is I'm running out of room on it!  I did clear off a bunch of stuff to make more room, but I really need a new computer.  I'm looking at different used/refurbished ones online.  I hop;e to get one that is newer, but not so new that it's expensive.  I've found some really decent ones in the four hundred range.  I have to pay off my Fitbit and then I'll have $500 worth of credit at Paypal.  I would love to have a brand new Macbook Pro, but that isn't going to happen!

I got in my walk today and it wasn't too hot.  I didn't have any stops on the way back, so that was good.  I came home and did my workouts, did my French, had lunch, and then got some things together.  I went to the grocery store and got my monthly groceries.  They are in a remodel and they were actually taking things out of the freezer to put in the back so they can take out the old freezers and put in new ones. ~_~;  I couldn't even get all the things I needed.  That was frustrating!  Another thing that made me frustrated was the fact that I earned $5 in rewards last month that should have come off of my groceries today.  I didn't get any discount at all. :(  I was not happy!

I did make it to the post office.  I had a stack of letters.  I'm going to write everyone by Sunday at the latest.  I'm not going to allow myself to get behind again.  I have two letters from before the beach trip. One, from my favorite pal, I actually took with me to the beach and still didn't write! I'll definitely be sending her some goodies to make up for it!  If by chance she is reading this, the initials are AB and she is from New York state. I promise to write soon!

In other news, I actually mentioned this in the post that disappeared at the beach.  I forgot to add it to the repost! I'm following along with Cassey from @blogilates and I'm going her #100SquatChallenge I missed day one, but doubled up on day two and I've been doing every day since.  OUCH!  LOL I love squats, but I'm so feeling it!

I ran out of episodes of a another true crime show on Hulu! lol Today, I started watching episodes of Homicide Hunter.  I used to watch it on ID, but got behind on the episodes some time ago.  I'm watching them on Hulu.  It starts at season 4 and I'm pretty sure I was in or done with season 3 before I got behind.  I'll watch all of the episodes they have and go from there. I just looked and I have 49 more episodes after the one I'm about to watch.  I'll be good for a while! ^_^