Aggrafretted & Blah

"Aggrafretted" is a made-up word my mother's boyfriend use to use.  Yes, he was an old country boy who never finished high school and he had a habit of making up his own vocabulary.  I believe it's a combinations of aggravation and being frustrated.....at least it seems to me to be that.

So again, I have been feeling aggrafretted lately!

*  Dealing with high school cashiers at Weis(PMITA)Markets.  I should know better than to set food into Weis on a weekend, when these young part time job cashiers are working.  They generally don't know the store policies and are likely more than not to screw something up.  I just should avoid the grocery store on weekends and save myself the aggravation!

*  Again, with the cashier incompetence......bought some items at Ollie's end of the week.

These Country Time sparkling lemonade packs were 75% off, reg. $1.99 each, on sale for .50¢ a pack of 8 cans.
So I checked my receipt after checking out and the cashier had rung up 5 packs instead of the 4 packs I had bought.
I got back in line(no CS desk at Ollie's)to get this corrected and that's when the wheels fell off of that bus!lolz
Cashier seemed to know what she was doing in general but since it was a clearance return she didn't seem to know what to do to credit me .50¢ back on my c/c.  After what seemed like hours, she arrived at a return of $1.58.  $1.49 + tax of .09¢(even though being food there was no tax charged on this item to begin with).  I wasn't about to stand there another half hour while the line grew behind me(only cashier open)and the sighing got louder and louder so I just signed the danged receipt and left, paying a total of .42¢ for ALL 4 packs of lemonade.  8-)))

*  I have been off the crazy pills almost a month now after weaning off them slowly over 2 weeks time.  The good news is I haven't killed anyone(though the voice in my head does yell, "Off With Your Head!" at certain people, in certain situations....but then again, isn't that normal?!?).  I also don't go off on manic or depressive jags. 
I do however suddenly get teary at unexpected times.  I am not one to cry at sad movies, etc. but I began to blubber while watching "The Voice" last night at one moment.  This happens infrequently and isn't a big deal but now I am wondering if I have PBA(pseudobulbar affect)and I had a brain injury or stroke I don't know about.
Yes, it's always something around here. lolz
The bad news with going off the crazy pills is that I am still experiencing shaking.  I just have a suspicion that the shaking is neurological so I've got testing in my future.
FUN.

*  I can not WAIT for my daughter to graduate and LEAVE!  I love her but.......
She's 26 years old.
She's highly opinionated(gee, where does she get that from!?!?)
She's a smart ass(ditto the last comment).
She's got Senioritis.
She's been a big old PITA lately.

Hubs and I are constantly looking at each other when she leaves the room and commenting, "When is she leaving?!".

She has been difficult to live with lately and I am already making plans in my head for making changes in the house once she has left the building.


*  I gave Hubs a gift card to Dickey's BBQ at Christmas.  Hubs went out earlier today to run some of his errands and I mentioned it would be a good thing for him to take that gift card and pick us up some 'cue for lunch to bring home.
So I go online to see what I want him to bring me and dadgummit!! our Dickey's has closed up!!!
BBQ places just don't have a chance around here as they all go the way of the dinosaurs.  The only place here is Smoky Bones(a Darden chain)and I don't consider that either bbq or a good deal for the price.
sigh. Now we have to save that gift card to use on a trip.
 So aggrefretting..........

Thank goodness I am a woman of simple needs so I can balance out what aggrafrets me with simple joys like sleeping in, finding change, playing with Chester, keeping track of our spending(math geek!), blogging, etc. and a good stiff drink now and again.

            Chester with his "girlfriend" in his bed.

What keeps you sane in this crazy world?

Sluggy, who is counting the days until Graduation

Wednesday Stuff

Well I finally got around to paying the February bills. Let's just say for now that my Feb. totals are NOT going to be pretty. ;-)
Last week put me off my game a bit so I am behind doing lots of paperwork.  At least with so few trips to the grocery store, I have less paperwork to get to, right?
You would think.....
But Oh NOOOOOOOOO!
All that free time this month was taken up with the TONS of extra paperwork thanks to Uncle Sam x 9 filings, plus FAFSA......and then plus PHEAA(for PA state grants)for Daughter.

For her to attend her 1st choice school she is going to be around $12 thousand.....yes I just said 12 THOUSAND!!! dollars short for the academic year AFTER we pay what we have allocated for her.  We are crossing our fingers for lots of scholarship money from the University to take up a heap of the shortfall.  I doubt it will be enough to cover it all so we are applying for whatever aid we can find.  The PA state grants are limited to around $4500 a year so that won't be enough even if she gets a full grant from them.  I see many Many private loan dollars in her future.....  It will be her choice and her burden to bear moving forward but I still worry because that's what us Moms do. ;-)

My youngest turned 15 years old yesterday too.  He's firmly entrenched in full blown Teenager-itis now!
When did my always happy little man who loved to cuddle, suck his thumb and carry his blankie everywhere and would watch Blue's Clues and play with his Power Rangers grow into the surly lifeform who feels that grunting is a sufficient form of communication?!
And who gave him permission to transform into this, because I certainly did not!

I am having a hard time concentrating and getting things done this week.  I just want to crawl back into bed and hide from the world.
I guess I am just dog tired....or is that tired of the dogs?
I'm dwelling in a full-on state of Ennui....


Sluggy

Trying to Get Back into a Groove

I've been all out of whack lately.

Besides the July 4th holiday weekend, it's also the 1st anniversary of my oldest brother's death.  Last 4th of July was spent driving a 1000 mile triangular route in the span of 3 days from NE PA to VA to NW PA back to NE PA and included a funeral and picking up #2 son up from summer camp.  It was like a high speed rollercoaster ride through an emotional amusement park those 3 days.
Long story short, my brother had been in a vegetative state since Jan. '08 after suffering a hemorrhagic stroke.
His body gave out last June 29th, 18 months after the stroke, without him ever regaining consciousness.
Needless to say, we didn't feel much like partying this year either and I've felt a tad not myself.

This 4th of July weekend involved trips across the state to pick up a kid from summer camp and trips to the ER at 3am.  BIL's foot will be fine btw.....  Now we are into the July pre-Band Camp rehearsal season. 

Between feeling out of sorts and this unseasonably hot weather I am finding it difficult to get anything accomplished.  I start plenty of stuff but I just don't have any 'umph' to follow through to the end lately.
Plus I've been cranky and irritable.....not that DH or the teens will say they can NOTICE a difference there. ;-)

I just don't feel like doing anything.
And everything & everyone annoys me.
About the only thing I can concentrate on is whining to you all.....aren't you lucky??lol

I'm trying to find my groove again.  Maybe tomorrow will be better...

Sluggy