Whoopsie--made a mistake in my hurry to catch the bus, and posted this in my Roasting David Tennant blog. (Yes, I'm mildly chagrined.)

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I'm knackered--but, got the check cashed! The guy who was supposed to take me never showed up--and I was panicking, 'cos I'd only bought groceries to get me through to Wednesday...figuring I could pick up something from the convenient store for Thursday, til' my shopping day on Friday...but when the guy didn't show up, I really got worried...no food for either me or the cats in the house...and I paid a small bill that was due yesterday, leaving me a net worth of 87 cents exactly, until my check came this morning.

But, all's well that ends well...well, sort of. See, I promised this guy some cash if he'd help me cash this check, and he did finally show up--after someone else went out of her way to help me...so I told him it was okay, never mind--but, god, I thought the guy was going to cry. He's in a wheelchair and he's got two kids, so I guess he'd been counting on the money...so, even tho' he didn't come through as promised (he admitted he forgot about it), I still will give him half the money, because...maybe I'm a sap, but it's Christmas, and hell, it's not like I've got a big family to buy for or anything...and he's struggling financially, I believe, so I'll just write it off as 'paying it forward'---people have helped me out, so I think it's my turn to pay life back a little by helped a couple of other people out. And, this guy is really a sweet guy, in fact if he wasn't already married with kids, I'd probably have a crush on him...he's really a nice man.

I'd give him the whole thing originally promised, if I could, but I had to pay this other person to help me out instead of this man--and, I'm not Donald Trump, I do still have to look after myself, no one else will do it. I hate being like that, by the way, but I really have to follow reality sometimes, instead of my heart--if I did win the lottery, I'm probably one of these people that would have to hire someone to manage my money, or I'd be giving it to every poor person going, truth to tell.

So, I did go to the mall--I hadn't hardly had anything to eat today, so I treated myself to an Arby's roast beef and cheddar. They had phone cards on sale for 2 dollars off at one of the department stores, so I got a phone card--and, popped into TJ Maxx to window shop...really, just to window shop...I told myself...ha! I walked out with a pair of black designer jeans for 16 dollars. I bought cat food--found my nephpew a small gift...Spiderman 3 for 10 dollars, he still likes Spiderman, apparently (doesn't everybody?)

I also bought a set of outdoor lights for my balcony--been wanting to do that for 2 years, but never could spare the cash--they had lights on sale for under 10 dollars--all kinds of funky and unusual light...got them home, got them all out of the box...and cut my hand! One of the bulbs was broken, and I hadn't noticed until I was unraveling them. Greeat. It's hard as hell to get to the mall--the buses only run every 45 minutes, and cab fare is 11 dollars round trip--that's without the tip.

And, I get home, and once again the hallway and back of my apartment is filled with those noxious fumes again--of course the landlords don't give a flying fig--chav redneck yuppie bastards.

Well, gotta' trudge back to the mall, before I lose the recept and have to eat my 6 dolars--bus just went by so I have to hustle on down to the bus stop.

PROLOUGE:

Well, I'm back from the store--and glad I went back...found some nice lights on sale for less than the one's I bought, and saved a dollar--and going out the door, spied some thermal longjohns (thermal underwear bottoms) on sale, and snagged them--an item I do truly need, after last weeks bout standing in the cold, playing "guess where my legs have gone" 'cos they got so cold I lost all the feeling in them. 9 dollars, on sale--5 dollars off! Playwrite27 is very happy about that, you have no idea. I was wondering where I could find an affordable pair (last pair I looked at was 23 dollars--Geez! I want to keep my legs warm under my jeans and trousers, not wear 'em to the bloomin' office!) And, these are nice--they can double as pyjama bottoms, with a tee shirt..they're navy blue with little skiers and snowflakes on them. I would love an actual pair of pyjamas, but not going to spend another penny on myself--I'll wait to see what's on sale after the New Year.

And, I went to get my snow boots off of layaway--and they LOST them! I hung around for 20 minutes, while the kid searched the back room--they were no where to be found, apparently, and the boots I had picked out are now out of stock in my size (naturally)--but the manager was very nice and apologized, and even gave me a special rain check--noting that I'd already made a partial payment on the boots, and when they come in, she'll call me. It's not that big a shop, dunno' how they could lose my package, but somehow they managed it. Good thing there's only flurries in the forecast--and, I've still got my ugly black rubber wellies, in a pinch. They won't keep my feet warm, but they will keep them dry.