Less than I thought

This spring has totally sucked so far, in terms of relief from the winter weather. Yes, it hasn't been as cold, but it hasn't been pleasant. The warm, sunny day always appears to be forecast the day after tomorrow. Today has always been rainy, tomorrow has always been damp but cold, and two days from now have always had a warm, sunny forecast. Weather is inherently unpredictable, but who would have thought in the midst of Global Warming we'd see this?

I went out Friday on various errands and got soaked. I took the Metrolink out to Microcenter. I got a tax credit, so I had a little extra in discretionary funds to spend. I got a couple of geeky items: a power screw driver, a USB Hub, then walked to Target for socks, a new pair of pants, and an umbrella. Elsewhere I bought a fire extinguisher and vacuum belts; then Skype auto-renewed for premium service, which is important since I have limited minutes on my cell and no landline phone.

All told, I spent a little more than $200. I woke up this morning to watch Orphan Black on Amazon (it's a show I highly recommend), and Amazon couldn't get approval for the $1.99 I wanted to spend. It turned out the bank put my card on a security hold suspecting fraud, because spending $200 is so unlike me. Really, it looks like I spent like a fraudster, too. People steal credit cards to buy power screwdrivers, USB hubs and fire extinguishers all the time, I imagine.

I know I look cheap when the credit card company stops my $1.99 purchase because spending so much is unlike me. I'm not cheap. I'm just poor, disabled and on a fixed income. I came into a little money which freed up a little pent-up discretionary spending. Most of it was for practical items.

After mucking and drowning Friday, I've hid indoors this weekend. Things tend to stretch out, meaning I get a lot less done than I expected. I only have about 600 words to read for the writers' group tomorrow. The total isn't going to change since I have jury duty tomorrow. Late this afternoon I tried to manage my passwords. I don't have a password manager program. I have my own method. It seemed like it would take just a few seconds. Unfortunately, something about permissions got me hung up. It took a total of an hour before I finally gave up.

Tomorrow is supposed to be warm and sunny. I'll be waiting in the jury pool room with a stack of books to speed read.