Amazing

 It's amazing how much you can get accomplished having just one extra day off.  I won't go into all the sordid details of my housework, but I got a lot done over the Labor Day holiday.  Alas, it's not to be this coming weekend.  They've already put the schedule out for Saturday.  Sigh, we just can't get a break, can we?

Except that I can.  Thanks to judicious scheduling of my vacation days, this will be my last Saturday for the year -- unless I choose to come back and work one.  I'd started back during the last recession, when we were working 24 and 32 hour weeks, so I started saving my vacation days to make up those hours.  I got kind of spoiled having those long weekends every Fall, so I kept on doing it even after the recession ended and we were working full 40 hour weeks again. 

Frankly, I'll be glad when work slows down some.  Don't get me wrong, I love the paychecks I get with all this overtime, but boy these long, long hours are wearying.  It feels like you don't have time to do anything.  By the time you get home, eat a little bit, take a bath, it's time for bed.  That's why you didn't get a post yesterday. 

I was going to post.  Really I was, but there is activity in the tropics.  Any time there is activity in the tropics, I have to watch the governor's press conferences to hear MEMA director Greg Michel give his report on the activity in the tropics.  I like Director Michel.  He is very no nonsense and to the point.  He's like:

This is what's happening.

This is what we're going to do about it.

This is how much it will cost.

This is who you need to contact to get it done.

And this concludes my report. 

By the way, if you want to follow a really good weather man on Facebook, look up Scot Pilie'.  He's out of New Orleans and gives a lot of information on hurricanes and such. 

But I digress...so, there I was watching the press conference and they were talking about changes to the DMVs that will make it faster and easier to get your driver's license renewed, including a line cam, so you can go to the website and see how long the line is before you go all the way down there, plus they're adding the ability to make an appointment ahead of time.  Of course, you can still get your license  renewed online.  That hasn't changed.  This isn't state wide yet, but is currently limited to certain areas so they can work the bugs out.  They hope to have it rolled out state wide by sometime next month (if I remember right.)

They also said that firearms permit renewals will be mail in only.  He said there's no need to go down and get fingerprinted again for renewals, because you did that the first time, so they are eliminating that step.  All you have to do now is mail in your renewal application and fee, and they'll mail your permit back.  And first time firearms permits are no longer limited to Wednesdays.  You can go in any day of the week. But double check me on that, in case I'm telling you wrong. 

I'd only just got finished watching that when the daughter in law of my across the street neighbor messaged me and asked me to keep an eye out on him.  He's got dementia, and it's started to really progress in recent days.  They've had to disable his truck so he couldn't drive any more, and they also  have home caregivers coming in a few times a week.  She was concerned that he might call someone to try to fix his truck, thinking it was just broken down or something, so she asked me to let her know if I see someone over there working on his truck.  I said I'd help when I could, but I felt kind of bad, because I'm still up at the plant 11 hours a day.  

After all that, had just enough time to practice my piano and go to bed, so you didn't get a blog.  I was going to tell you that despite having to go back to work, it was still a good day, because my stalker wasn't there.  It's always a good day when he's not there. 

The day was made even better, because when I got home, I had a bottle of invisible ink waiting for me!

Thanks to my friend and enabler Kristine, I suddenly realized I really needed some invisible ink.  Naturally, I did what any red blooded American would do.  I got on Amazon and ordered some.  And of course, invisible ink isn't any good without an ultraviolet light with which to read it. 

Just a word of caution, however, make sure your fountain pen is completely clean before you fill it with this ink.  I thought my pen was, but alas, it had just enough black ink left in it to ruin the glow in the dark properties of my UV ink. 

On the other hand, if you dip a cotton swab into the ink bottle, then turn on your UV light, you will practically blind yourself.  Ask me how I know.  

The long and the short of it is, if you end up receiving a blank piece of paper in the mail....it just might not be blank after all...

Well, I got brave and put up a bunch of unbreakable decorations up on my mantle.

Can you see my Uncle Si tea glass back there?  Normally I use a glass vase for those flowers, but I didn't want to risk it being the mantle isn't actually attached to anything.  

The only thing I'm not sure about is those two plates.  I like the way they look, but for the last several years, I'd been putting them on this shelf, behind these decorations. 

I'm debating on whether to move them back or not, since the shelf looks kind of empty now, and finding something else to put on the mantle.  Or maybe I could find some other sort of back drop for the shelf, and leaving the plates on the mantle.  I don't know.  I'll look next time I go into the store. 

That's about it for tonight.  It's almost my bedtime and I still haven't practiced my piano.  Sigh, I hate feeling so rushed all the time.  Maybe it's time I started looking for a new job -- one that didn't drive us into the ground like a bunch of dogs.