Monday Musings......

Also known as "random thoughts."

The word "musings" makes it sound more erudite. But don't let it fool you.

Our neighbor across the street still has electric Christmas candles in her bedroom windows. They are behind the blinds, and I'm sure like us they never open those blinds because they face the street. So she may be blissfully unaware that her Christmas candles are still burning. And they're orange to boot. The fact that they are still burning would bother me even if they WEREN'T orange, but they are, so that makes it so much worse. She's not the kind of neighbor I can go up to when she's out in the yard smoking her nasty cigarettes and say, laughingly of course, "Hey Judy! Christmas was over a month ago! Enough with the orange candles!" I don't think Judy even knows my name. She and her husband have lived in their house just a little longer than Hubby has lived here (around 38 years), but we aren't exactly friendly with them. It's not that we're UNfriendly. It's just that I've tried to have a conversation with both of them, and it's an exercise in futility. I can't follow their train(s) of thought, especially when they go off on so many different tracks at one time. Judy's husband, John, thought we had a new dog because Gus got a haircut. See what I mean?

I was looking through a cookbook today and saw a recipe for fish tacos. That's a concept I haven't been able to wrap my head around. I like fish, and I like tacos, but I cannot imagine them together. I'm sure the recipe is delicious, but I don't think I can bring myself to try it. It's sort of like beer and chocolate. I like both of those, but not together. Strawberries and chili. Lasagna and watermelon. Ice cream and corn chips. Swiss cheese and popsicles. Wine and pop-tarts. Green beans and cinnamon rolls. Asparagus and potato chips. Pasta and maple syrup. Honey and stir-fried rice. I'm sure you get the idea.

Every month or so, some phantom person (I've never seen him) drops off a collection of books and other things in our copy room. We have a week or two to look them over, and we can order whatever we want from the collection. We leave our checks in the envelope, he drops off our purchases, and someone in the front office sends an email that our books are there. It's such a nice surprise, because I usually forget what I've ordered. It's like Christmas all over again. He has other things besides books: a huge bouncing glitter ball (I now have an $8 toy in my cabinet at school that I won't let the kids play with), stuffed animals that sing/dance/make noise (almost bought one but restrained myself), craft kits with a bajillion pieces (bought one of those bad boys and sent it to my great niece, tee hee), beautiful handmade greeting cards (that are almost too pretty to send, which might explain why I now have 3 boxes of them). Hubby commented a couple of times on the fact that every time the book dude comes, I buy a cookbook. My lack of interest in the cooking department has been well documented here. Yet I continue to buy cookbooks. And mark recipes that sound like something I might like. I can only imagine what Hubby's comment will be when he discovers that today's book dude purchases include a package of specialty cleaning cloths.

I checked my bank balance over the weekend to make sure I wasn't close to being overdrawn. January is such a loooooooooooooooooooooooooong month for teachers. We got paid on December 17th and not again until today. I realize it's the same money and it should last all month, but that's not the way it works. And $2.90 isn't really THAT close to being overdrawn, is it? (Note to self: It helps to write EVERYTHING down when you use your debit card like it's a bus pass.) I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my deposit had gone into the bank on Saturday, fully two days before payday. I was even more pleasantly surprised when I checked the bank balance this morning and my monthly check had been deposited AGAIN. I haven't seen that much money in my checking account since ..... well, ever. I knew it was too good to be true, so I didn't get overjoyed about my windfall or book a cruise to Europe or anything. Still, I checked several times throughout the day, and every time I saw the money was still there, I sort of "heh heh heh"ed under my breath. I just checked a few moments ago, and sure enough, it's gone. They say you can't miss what you never had. But they're wrong. So very painfully wrong.