You ever have one of those days, where nothing seems to go right? One of those days where even long into your day, you think, �I should�ve just stayed in bed.� And Murphy�s Law keeps coming back to haunt you? And all through out the day you find yourself repeating over and over in your head as you sigh in utter frustration the law which holds true time and time again: Whatever can go wrong- will?� Yeah. You know the kind of day I�m sure. Well, for me, that was my day today. It started in right from the get go and even now, at 3:30 a.m., is still going wrong.

I haven�t heard from Hope since she told me she was marrying her foreigner. No e-mail, no messages and no phone call. And for one reason or another, she had neglected to give me her celly number. Imagine that. So I have no way of contacting her to see if she�s alive, or dead. Or to know what�s going on. She was supposed to be coming home this weekend� but she never said when. So she�s been on my mind a lot lately- more than ever. And in my prayers.

I slept restlessly last night. I don�t know if it is because I went to bed with a lot on my mind and a heavy heart, or if I was suffering from one of my known bouts of insomnia. But when the alarm started chirping it�s oh so loud and annoying wake up call, I all but had a heart attack. And I was nowhere near as rested as I wanted to be. I snoozed it three times, but that never seems to make much difference. So I got up and started my daily �morning� routine. (At 1:30 p.m. LOL)

I got dressed, let the dogs out, got Shawn up. We had to get the Rug Doctor we�d rented back to the hardware in town before we left for work so I packed that up. When we were snuggled into the heated car, we went to pull out of the driveway and got stuck. Right at the end. I got out and pushed for all I was worth- which let me tell you wasn't much of anything. And we stayed stuck. We tried every means possible to escape our snowbound prison to no avail. So Shawn decided to warm up the truck and pull out the car. Great idea. However, out toe strap has come up missing. And both vehicles are plastic (don�t make �em like they used to!) and we couldn�t push the car with the truck. By this time, we were running later than we should have been and we were nearing being late for work. I can not! miss any time or be more than 5 minutes late until like March 12th, and I had one 4 hour emergency vacation window left to use. So I told Shawn I was gonna call it in for both of us. Only, my celly was missing! I rummaged through the car and house for what seemed like an eternity, having panic attacks the whole time (only to find it in my purse.) We MUST call in our emergency day 30 minutes before the start of our shift. So I thought well, I�ll call my Dad on the WATTS line at his work (toll free) and give him the call in number and have him call us in. Pick up the phone, dial 1-800 and hear :

Your phone line has temporarily been disconnected. You may call 811 to reach an operator or 911 for emergencies. Thank you and have a nice day!

If ever I wanted to choke an operator, it was right then-right there. I threw the phone and screamed a slew of cuss words as I stepped back out onto the porch and glared at Shawn� who by the way has taken over paying the bills. I stomped off to the car knowing I had just lost my job. I reached in my purse for a much needed �smoky treat� and then I found my cell. I made the call with 9 minutes to spare. I think I sang an off key verse of �Thank You, Jesus!� Then I called his Mom. She and his sister Samantha showed up to help push us out about 20 minutes later. Just after we had unstuck the truck from the huge snow bank Shawn thought his studly GMC Sonoma could overpower. (And it probably could have� sans the BALD tires!)

So felling pretty excited at this point that both vehicles were unstuck, and we had 4 hours before we had to be to work, I asked Shawn if he wanted to treat his Mom, Samantha and Nicol out to lunch. He agreed as did they and we went to the local bar for lunch� enjoyed a game of pool conversation and good foods. Then we realized it was � to 5 p.m. If we wanted to make it to the phone company before they closed for the weekend, we had to scoot. Thank goodness for bar time. We made it. Damn good thing or we�d have been minus Internet for an entire weekend. Not that it matters, because our DSL is down. Keeps going down right after it gets up. I called the help desk but they don�t work at night� ARG! If ever I wanted to choke an operator� (notice the pattern?)

So after we left the phone company, we headed into the city. But we still had almost 2 hours before we had to be to work. So Shawn and I stopped at a local mobile home dealer. We explained our situation with horrible credit and all� she�s going to see what she could do. I think we were in her office fore maybe 20 minutes. Long enough to sign the credit check reports, give her any needed info and then she scooted us out. I left a bit irritated and feeling like we got the boot. We never even got her name! Some saleswoman eh? But Shawn says maybe she saw what we were driving at. Who knows. We DON�T have good credit. It�s rather ugly. I told her I didn�t wanna look at homes, get my heart set- all to be heart broken later. I told her we have property that�s owned outright and a very substantial CASH down payment, which both combined total HALF of the price of the lowest housing loan we�d need. And that if they can�t finance us, I want to know what it will take to get financed. Even if I have to have 20,000 dollars cash down. I want to know where I stand. I actually think in all her hustle and bustle, she admired our honesty. Perhaps that�s just what I expect. Either way�

We need a new home. I don�t care if we have to resort to a single wide trailer. And they have one, a lot model, last year�s model to be exact. Which has the perfect layout. Only downfall is I don�t get to pick my design. But it�s CHEAP. And NEW. And it�s NOT FLOODED! You see, we don�t have heat ducts in our living room as it�s an addition. Stick built one added to our 30 year old piece of shit trailer. So we use a kerosene heater to keep it warm if it gets too chilly. Well, I guess from using that too often, all the snow build up on the roof? It melted. Seeped right down the inside of the walls and all into the carpet. When you walked through my living room you hear each footstep splatter and squish. And if you watched your feet, you saw the water displacement. We reached our wits end. That was the last straw. No more hopes of trying to milk this trailer along until we get our credit back where it should be. We simply can�t afford to wait. This place is falling apart at the seams� literally. So with any luck, we�ll be in another trailer by the next winter. Zippity fucking doo dah. It�s not what we want. But it might be what has to be. Le sigh.

Then came a highlight to my day, I finished my book Prime Cut by Diane Mott Davidson, the latest in her serious of culinary mysteries. And as if on cue, Border�s called to tell me the next book in the series I had ordered was in. So now I am the giddy owner of Tough Cookie. So at least there was one good point to my day. Not to mention one book more and a few more pages closer to my 25,000 for the book club I signed up for. (See my links page or back track a couple of entries)

We finally made it to work, endured the harassment of our coworkers that always follows a tardy appearance at any rate. And made it through the 4 hour workday. (Not bad for a Friday) We stopped at Taco Bell for a quick bite- Shawn�s treat so I didn�t have to cook, bless his heart and came home.

I settled in and hopped on line in hopes of some game time tonight� but alas, such was not meant to be since our DSL is on the fritz. So now, here I am� typing to you, my loyal readers, in my trusted Microsoft Works in hope that at some point, I�ll be able to cut and paste this saved entry into my diary.

And I think that if you have made it this far into this entry, you deserve a reward of some sort. And you have my thanks�

Wishing you all happier days�.

Simply,

Sara- who by the way, according to an elderly gentleman I ran into at the bar during our lunch told me that I spell my name wrong. Imagine that! In my almost 28 years, you�d think someone would�ve corrected me by now� heh. Old geezers. Heh.