I love to treat myself!

And I really treated myself this week. I ordered new carpeting for my office. I had called the carpet cleaners who said they specialized in removing pet odors... (Maybe I should have called someone who specializes in housebreaking recalcitrant dogs?) It would have cost me $300 to get the room cleaned or $450 to put in new carpet with a spill resistant (interpret that as pee resistant) pad. Plus, they're going to treat the wood underneath that might have been stained, so to speak, if it soaked through the pad. At first the guy said, we can take up the carpet, clean it, replace the pad..." Oh no, I don't think so. For one thing, when they remodeled that room I think they used the old carpet that had been in there before because there's a bump out area by the window now and the carpet there is gray, while the rest of the room is blue. At least now the whole room while be the same color! Also, if I'm going to go through all the trouble of taking everything out of that room and closet and rip out carpet, I'm going to get new carpet! I got nylon, which if course is more expensive than polyester, but it should wear better. And yes, it's stain-resistant.

Then, I've been looking at getting a Kindle for quite some time, so I finally bit the bullet and did it. When they first came out they were $400, but the price has come down a little. I went to Border's last weekend and spent $60 on books. I figure the most you pay to download a new book from Kindle is $9.99, so it'll probably pay for itself by the end of the year. I had looked at Sony readers too, but they were more expensive and I just liked the Kindle better. So I bought it. I felt kind of guilty - for about 5 minutes and then I got over it! I used the Super Saver shipping at Amazon, so shipping was free too - although I use it all the time and I've never had it take longer than the normal regular shipping. I'm just anxious to get it now! And download my first book! I love the fact that it actually holds over 200 titles, more if you add a memory card, but even if you have to delete one of your selections to make room for another you have a "library" at Amazon.com that keeps all your selections, so you never had to pay twice for the same book. Wish I could say that about some music I've downloaded over the years and then lost. :-(

We had some storms come through last night, nothing as impressive as the Hurricane of '08, but when the Weather Channel said it was going to be followed by a cold front they weren't kidding! It's supposed to get down to 55 tonight, absolute heaven for July in Nebraska!

We went up to Fremont today for John C. Fremont Days, celebrating the birth of the town's founder - you guessed it, John C. Fremont! We midwesterners are clever that way. Anyway, the weather was gorgeous! We strolled around Fremont Park and Steve got a kick out of looking at the old tractors and steam engines. I skipped the food area - yay! Even though I'm sure there was a funnel cake out there with my name on it, I ignored it. We stopped at Gambino's on our way out of town, I was starving since I had skipped breakfast, I did have a ham and cheese sub, but left most of my chips. I don't have a scale, so I can't give you pounds lost, but my jeans aren't cutting me in half any more, I consider that a positive. I skipped my chips today too! For dinner I ate the other half of my turkey wrap from Jason's Deli and the rest of my fruit plate, so not a bad day.

Next week is going to be absolute hell week. Maureen - my coworker at night, is going to be on vacation, so I've got the whole place to myself from 3:30 until probably 4:30 when Barb comes on. I imagine I'll have the on call hours too. Oh well. That's why they pay me the big bucks... ROFLMAO!!!! Seriously, I'm just glad I still have a job, I'm not going to complain. I took the last week of July off. I have to work the weekend before, so I only have to use 4 vacation days and then Friday is my regular day off, so I'll end up with a whole week. I'm not going anywhere. My plans are to do a lot of scrapbooking, which I've neglected dreadfully this past year, make some picture frames, and get the office and the hobby room cleaned up and livable. The carpet in here really needs to be replaced, but I'll be damned if I'll pay for that too. Pardon my French. I'm not the only one who lives here. That doesn't mean I might not just get a huge new area rug to cover the icky gray carpet that's in here, though.

I've been talking to my brother a lot lately about some of his thoughts about the church he attends in California. It's called the Universal Spirit Center, and while I can't exactly share all of his beliefs, I think they have some very interesting and insightful people in his church. I've gotten to really know my brother so much more in the past year, and I'm certain he's learned a lot more about me. It's sad that we've waited to so long to really talk and get to know each other - welcome to our dysfunctional family unit! I actually look forward to the years ahead and the chances that we'll have to get to know each other better. He's been a real blessing in my life the past several months! Thanks brother!

I guess that's about it for this week. I finished 2 of the 4 books I bought last Friday, so I'm going to get started on the next one. I'm anxiously waiting for Mel to finish a book she bought that she's going to loan me and I ordered 2 from Amazon (before I bought my Kindle, darn it!) that my brother had recommended to me, so I have to get the ones I already have read, so I can enjoy theirs!

My new work-related toys

I got some new headphones from Transcriptiongear.com. They were a little more than the plain old black ones, but a portion of the cost is going to fund breast cancer research. Since Steve's Aunt Phyllis, who shared my birthday, passed away from metastatic breast cancer more than 20 years after her initial diagnosis and mastectomy, I felt this was a worthy cause. And in girly pink, I could I refuse? lol!