Aren't days off supposed to be relaxing?

I don't know when I've been more exhausted. (So staying up blogging at 1:00 AM instead of sleeping is a brilliant move, I know. I hear ya.)

Since I got the bad news from AIG last week that Carlotta was officially declared a total loss and I had to bid farewell to my baby, I have had yet another difficult goodbye. The keys to my beloved rental car were pried from my very reluctant hands on Monday evening, per the insurance company. They decided my time was up, and Lord knows I couldn't afford to pay for it myself. I had come to really love the sleek, stylish Toyota Rav 4, fully loaded, with all the amenities. I had even named her Inga, because she had a Scandinavian beauty about her.

Yes, the Lord taketh away, but He also giveth. Not even a full week passed after receiving the call about Carlotta before I got a lead on a car that was in really good condition, in my price range, and (most importantly) was my favorite color, red. But before I could slide behind the wheel of Reba (the first redhead I could think of to name her after- the name is probably temporary, don't worry) a whole lot of tedious paperwork had to be done. As of right now, she is in my possession, but without tags, so I can't drive her. In the meantime, I have been staying at my mom's house so that I could beg, borrow, and steal her car, Goldie.

I love my mom dearly, really I do. And we do get along famously. But I have to say, I will be glad to return to my apartment. Now I know how children of divorce feel... everything I needed at any given point within the last week was at my OTHER home.

After finding out that I still had three vacation days left for this year at Job #1, I had scheduled one of them for today. I was excited; I have missed a lot of work for my acute hypochondria this year, but rarely just to take a day off for the heck of it. And I haven't had a lot of time to be as prepared as I would like for Christmas, so today seemed like an excellent opportunity. For the two weeks before Christmas, Borders is open until midnight, but they are kind enough to let me go at the regular time when I have to work the following day. I was determined last night not to spill the beans that I had today off, so that I could still leave at 10:30. But when I arrived at the store, the manager was all afrenzy because HER boss was paying our store a visit today, and there was a lot of preperation to be done. I tried to stop the offer to stay until close from spewing from my mouth, but alas, my conscience would not allow it. After all, my department (children's) was trashed, and I had to make sure it was well represented.

That put me in bed at about two this morning. (Well, yesterday morning really, but let's not get technical.) My plans to sleep in this morning were thwarted by a phone call just before 9:00 that my new old car was ready and would be delivered shortly. Then came the tasks of transferring the title and the registration. I came home and had a few minutes to work on the Christmas cards (which will be received by most about two days after Christmas at this point) before I had to get ready for lunch and shopping with my big brother.

We had a great time. We tore up the highways and byways of the greater Memphis area in pursuit of Christmas presents galore. My savvy bro also taught me that it is not the impossibility I would have thought to haggle and negotiate Wal-Mart's set, already low, low prices! I got 10% off my biggest ticket item, which pleased me to no end. My frugal friend Jenny would be so proud...

The traffic on the way home from our lucrative excursion was more than we bargained for, and it put me back at Mom's with exactly four minutes to spare before I had to leave for my shift at Borders. Even so, once again, I was foiled by traffic and was ten minutes late. I couldn't even blame work, because they knew I'd had the day off!

So five hours of helping customers find Twilight merchandise has brought me to my current state of bone weariness. And now, blog, that I have brought you up-to-date on recent happenings, the time has come to sleep. I hope to regain consciousness somewhere around noon tomorrow. (Today...)