Rambly

I am not feeling overly wordy today.  I feel like I've way over-exerted my introverted self today.

The apartment maintenance guys showed up today to figure out what is making the god-awful constant thump-thump-thump noise from downstairs (not to be confused with the normal every day thumps of bodies slamming into walls or floors).  The one guy stated "Well, if it's a thump-thump-thump sound, it may not be mechanical" and gave me The Look so I knew he was suggesting our downstairs neighbor might be having sex.  I looked him straight in the eye said "If that's true, she has my deepest sympathy.  Because it's 16 hours straight of the steady thump-thump-thump with absolutely NO changes in tempo or rhythm.  She would be bow-legged if that was what was happening."  That shut him pretty quickly.

Then I talked to a stranger on the telephone (I seriously LOATH speaking on the phone) to set up a very cool, behind-the-scenes tour of the Abilene Zoo.  My mother and I are taking the Rhino Tour -- where we get to get up close and feed and possibly touch a black rhino -- and the Reptile Tour (of course!).  But that did require me to speak on the phone to a stranger, who was a typical Texan -- super polite, super friendly, and SUPER chatty.  Exhausting, but I am quite happy to be doing both of these behind-the-scenes tours.  And I'm pretty sure it's just going to be my mother, myself, and the keeper, which would be beyond awesome!

And then I had to be overly friendly and cheerful and all that bullshit at the after school program.  And now?  I am just exhausted.

I have taken a nice quiet walk with Ole Lady Dog.  I have lit some candles.  And I am writing.  I am hoping this soothes my tired Scorpio soul.  Because once David is home, we will most likely pick up dinner at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries and I will need to pop into Starbucks to pick up my tips for the week and my coffee mark out.  Knowing that I will most likely be quitting that job come January, we are attempting to really stockpile as much of the Verismo pods (similar to a Keurig) as we can while I am still getting my free weekly coffee mark out.  And once I am no longer working there, and not getting the Partner Discount, we will not be going as often as we do.

Which, honestly, we discussed in great detail last night.  We go way too often.  We spend way too much (even with the Partner Discount).  We have set the goal to aggressively save as much as we can between now and January because we want to get a house.  Not saying we will for sure be moving into a house when our lease is up in April (because nothing moves that fast), but we certainly want to be able to afford to do so.  Hopefully, we will at least be moving into a new apartment complex that will be a bit cheaper (if possible), and can then begin aggressively looking for a home of our own.