Coups Coups Coups

A friend and I have an unnatural obsession with coupons. Before I left Phoenix, we'd call each other on almost a weekly basis proudly boasting our savings for the week. She'd call way more than I would... because her savings were always MUCH better. She'd say, "Guess whaaa-at, this week I spent $56 and I saved $64!" How do you DO that??!! I still don't understand it. I really think this is a science. It must be-- there's no other option. I've tried and tried, but have only been able to achieve a total of a 43% savings on my bill. Still nothing to shake a stick at, but I have a ways to go. Sure, sure, people think that coupon-clipping is the ultimate prerequistite for becoming an old spinster lady who collects a lot of cats and saves aluminum foil and the little rings from gallon milk bottles. Not so! No one's going to be laughing when I can show my year-end savings, now, are they? How about nearly $1200 in savings a year or more, huh? How about that?! I mention coupons again only because in my own nerdy way I was looking forward to my first Sunday edition of the Chicago Tribune ONLY for the coupons. I really need to find another hobby. I LOVE when there are not two, but three savings booklets in the paper. Worth their weight in gold, baby, gold!!

So things at work have been insane this week, and it's only Tuesday. We're doing an internal move whereby they're constructing new cubicles and offices, so all of us have had to pack our things and move temporarily to the building across the street. Allegedly this should be finished in a week, but after how long it took them to finish the painting, I'm not convinced. There are about 6 of us sharing an oval conference table in a very small, cramped room. There is one phone to share and one computer which doesn't have internet access or access to the client software we use everyday. Nice. And of course, as luck would have it, it's been very busy. I'm already exhausted. Normally Tuesdays I don't see clients, but today I took several because we were so swamped. This one particular woman received an eviction notice at the beginning of the month, and goes to court on Thursday. She is unemployed with two kids, has a boyfriend who makes $7 and hour, and recently took in her unemployed sister who also has a child. I called four homeless shelters and they were all booked. Three of them had waiting lists, which I think is bunk. What is the point in a homeless shelter having a waiting list? I mean for the most part, people don't generally plan in advance for homelessness to be able to get themselves on a waiting list. I also called four different landlords none of whom returned my calls. My client was clearly frustrated and started to cry. I need to be aware of my boundaries and not let my client's crisis become my own, but in just over a day she and her kids are going to be on the streets and it's getting cold out. A high of 34 tomorrow expected. It's very troubling to me the number of young people I see who, at age 25 or younger, are single parents with at least three or more kids. One woman I saw a few weeks ago had SIX kids. I just don't get it. I've come to realize that most of the people we see either just don't realize what they're doing, or don't care. There are the genuine crisis situations that happen, of course-- the things that could happen to any one of us at any time. I hate it, though, when I find out a client has lied or twisted a story, and I have bent over backwards to try and help them and plead their case. I recognize that it's not personal, but it makes it very difficult sometimes. None of the people I work with seem burned out, which is really important, but I think we all need a little refresher on boundaries.

On a happier topic, our bedroom is painted!! It went from this awful pale lavender to a very rich, warm, velvety, suede-y brown. LOVE IT! I'm the slowest painter on the planet, but after 8 short (?) hours on Saturday, it was finally finished. Hey, it takes a long time to tape and do the edging before actually painting! I have just one room left to do-- the dining room. The prior owners used this "blood" red and a semi-gloss paint, so it looks awful - very shiny. I'm not sure why anyone would use a semi-gloss for a dining room, but I'm sure they had their reasons. I might keep the red if I can find something else that isn't so haunting.

I'm hosting Thanksgiving next week - on Friday. I'll make my "famous" turkey and my sausage/apple stuffing, along with my cranberries and pumpkin pie, but everyone else is bringing an "assigned" dish to pass. Should be fun!

Winter is finally beginning to find us. I finally upgraded from my "stage one" jacket to my stage two COAT. Brr. I had wanted to take pictures of the autumn colors, but... guess I'll have to wait until next time!