Merry Christmas to me

I stopped at the CVS by my house on the way home from work today. It's the only place around here that sells Hagen Daz chocolate/dark chocolate ice cream bars, and I buy them all the time. I mean, ALL the time.

The manager was ringing me out, and I said to her "You've been out of those for a couple of weeks. You got them just in time for Christmas for me." And she tells me they aren't going to carry them any more! They got a new ice cream distributor, and this is just an old box that she found in the back freezer so she put it out.

As I'm digesting that shocking news, she runs my ice cream thru the scanner and says "You aren't going to believe this."

What, the price went up to $5.00 or something?

She tells me it scanned at 57 cents!! And if I want more, run back and get them now before the price is corrected. WOW, Merry Christmas!

So, I got a whole box of them. Now I just have to put a note on them in the freezer before somebody else eats them.

That figures...

I had a jillion errands to run and doctor's appointments today. I had scheduled everything for one day so that I could have Tara take a day off from her job to work in the store and I could get everything done.

Believe it or not, the electricity went out in the mall at 10:00 am because of the storm we had today, and they closed the mall and sent everyone home. (Oh, yeah, did I mention that I ran around all day in the pouring rain and got soaked every time I got in or out of the car?) If I had scheduled everything for any other day, I would have actually had a real "day off" today!!!!

Why can't stuff like that happen when I'm there?

And......speaking of doctors....

In one day, today, I spent $400 on co-pays for doctor appointments and prescriptions. And that's not including the $325 check I mailed yesterday for my monthly insurance premium. 2 days, $725! Can you imagine if I didn't have insurance?

Cat

I'm still alive, barely

I know it's been a long time, eons even, since I've updated The Cat's Meow. I just want to let you all know that I have not:

• Died
• Fallen off the face of the earth
• Been captured by aliens
• Been committed to a mental hospital
• Been eaten by a large animal
• Or otherwise removed from this planet

I have, however, been extremely remiss in writing in my blog. If any of you are still checking this page for updates, I promise to make a much better effort beginning today. Scout's honor.

Cat

Company Loyalty

Now this is what I call dedicated to your job. She didn't even take time off to give birth!

Read it here.

Cat

¡Va que va!

Well, guess what? Can you believe it?

Someone actually reads my blog!! I mean, a real person! And I met him! (well, I guess it would be ´he met me´, right?)

How cool is that?

Cat

What an idiot!

As Hurricane John lashes out as a category 3 against Mexico's Pacific coast, there are still some stupid American tourists in Puerta Vallarta who don't think they need to take any precautions.

"We have tornados in Iowa. This can't be worse than that," said Hal Nissen, 75, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as he walked along the oceanfront with his wife, Bonnie, 73.

I don't even know if I can say anything that illustrates what an idiot he is better than he already did.

Cat

And the panic begins...

Already, the lines at the gas station are 10 deep, and the shelves at the grocery stores have been emptied of water, beer, and anything you can eat without cooking it. Forget about buying batteries.

The tourists have been sent packing, and the Florida Keys have been evacuated.

Yes, Florida is in a full-fledged panic over hurricane/tropical storm Ernesto.

I'm blaming it all on Tara. I think it's been three years now that we have spent her birthday sitting in the dark eating tuna sandwiches, and maneuvering our way around the patio furniture in the living room.

Oh, well, Ernesto, bring it on. At least I'll find out if my new roof leaks.

Cat

How much is your blog worth?

My blog is worth $0.00.
How much is your blog worth?

Well, I could have predicted that outcome. I have no idea what the value is based on, but whatever it is, I guess I have none.

But then again...

my other blog fared pretty well with the calculator...

My blog is worth $47,421.36.
How much is your blog worth?

Test your blog today! hehe

Cat

Color Quiz

Cathi took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test! "Wishes to find her stimulation in a voluptuous atm..." Click here to read the rest of the results.

Cat

Hurricane blahs

OK, time for a rant, or whine, or whatever you want to call it.

Now that hurricane season has officially started, I'm even more pissed off than I was last year.

Why, you ask? Well, because last year's damage isn't even fixed yet, and you can't even get anyone to come out and give estimates. Because our insurance rates have skyrocketed to quadruple what they were last year. Because our economy in Florida has taken a very serious hit ...and nobody even knows!!!

Why is it that Katrina and the people of New Orleans have received so much media coverage and help, but no-one outside the state of Florida even knows that Wilma was a very serious storm? Because we were not standing on our rooftops waiting to be rescued? We had no rooftops to stand on! Most of them blew off!

Look at an aerial picture of South Florida today. You will see many of the homes still with blue tarps on the roof from Wilma. And these homes are supposed to withstand another storm? There are still road signs missing or damaged, trailer parks that look like ghost towns, and piles of debris laying around. You can see remnants of Wilma everywhere. There are people to this day living in condemned homes, hoping they don't get caught, because they have noplace else to go.

Every insurance company has cancelled our policies and pulled out of the state, leaving the government to insure us, at whatever rate they want (and they want a lot!), because there is no competition.

We have had layoff after layoff, as our economy depends on tourism, and there was nothing here to attract tourists last season. And the people who live here don't have any money to keep the economy going. We've spent it all on shoddy repairs done by companies who came to Florida after Wilma, and then left when their repairs started falling apart.

Am I bitter when I hear stories about the people of New Orleans squandering their FEMA money on prostitutes and booze, while I remember standing in a FEMA line for hours, then being told there were no funds available? Not even a hot meal? You bet I am! I went home from the FEMA station to sit in a dark house with no electricity and with water rolling down the walls, while the people of New Orleans lived in hotel rooms and bought food (or whatever) with FEMA vouchers. And everyone I talk with here in Florida tells the same story.

I pray that we do not have another serious storm this year. We are not prepared for it, economically or physically. And not mentally, definitely not mentally.

But we do know one thing. If that storm does come, we will have to take care of ourselves. We learned that lesson very well last year.