OK, just writing about today, not doing catch up right now.

Some days just seem harder to deal with than others.

I knew I needed to get up and do things, but really had a hard time getting out of bed this morning.

The morning started with an annoying challenge.  There was lots and lots of my roommate’s hair in the tub and in the drain was clogged with hair. I have a thing about gagging when dealing with hair, but did very well today and got it flowing a bit better, but not perfect. After my shower, I put some baking soda and White Vinegar down the drain in hopes to get it flowing better soon.

And there was an email regarding an ad with a deadline of today that needed some input. I had not responded to a couple of other ones, so felt needed to respond to this one.

I realized last week that my Peak Vista Card would run out sooner than I thought. So needed to get rejected from Medicaid again to go apply there for next year. But things are different this year, so had to start with Colorado Connect and get rejected there first.

I got on the phone about 10:05, my roommate wasn’t home and I had forgotten she has a conference call usually at 10 am and wants to use the home phone. She came in about 10:35, but I had been on hold for quite awhile and again, wasn’t thinking about her call. She did have her cell phone with her, and went to go get it. When she returned, I remembered her call. But she waved me away, so I stayed on hold. And glad I did. About 10 minutes later, almost 45 minutes on hold, a really great person came on the line. He was very helpful, and it helped a lot that he had been self-employed and knew the challenges of what I was trying to do.

These programs don’t want the info or final line from one’s taxes, they want income and very little expenses are allowed to be deducted. So while I don’t even hit the poverty line with my taxes, I look like I have a good income when I can’t deduct most of my expenses for my businesses. And I don’t just have one business, I have many and have a couple of rentals. So it is very complicated.

At the end, I was thinking my Festival meeting was at 2:30. And as this call ended about 1pm, I went into rush mode to get the food ready and the things that needed printed. I usually walk to the Co-op and use the copier there to save ink in the home printer, but didn’t have time. Didn’t print as many items as I normally would, so people would have to share.

I really wanted to do a gluten-free apple crisp using the apples gathered a couple of Sundays ago. When I went to get the silver variegated knive I use every day, it was no where to be found. This had me in a tizzy. I looked in my roommates room as she has a habit of keeping dirty dishes there to wash later. It was too chaotic to really do a search.

This is the knife my last crazy roommate packed when he was moving and told me it was his. He blew up when I told him it was mine and I wanted it back. A few days later, he came into the cottage while I and a friend were working to get it ready for a new tenant. He had his hand behind his back and said something like “Guess what I found?” And he pulled out a knife that looked sort of like mine, but not really. He had found his knife. Then he said “I guess we were both a bit crazy.” and turned and left. Weird.

So now it is missing again, and I am not happy. None of the other knives I have fit my hand as well and it is always sharp. It is the perfect size to peel apples and chop them. So I tried using a couple of others ones, but kept almost cutting myself and having to switch between the size of knife I used for peeling to one to chop them.

Then as I was putting together the recipe, first I could not find my Vanilla, but knew I had some. Went on to gather the other ingredients, and eventually found the Vanilla.

The recipe said to use an 9″x13″ pan, but just reading it, knew that was way to big. Even the smaller pan I chose was too big for the amount of “crust” and topping that was called for. At the last minute, I added some extra melted butter, oats and brown sugar to get enough topping to actually cover the apples. Put it in the oven, and went to do some printing.

When 2:30 came around and I realized no one was showing up, went and looked at my emails to everyone, and realized the meeting was at 3:30. So decided to change the litter box and do a small bit of vacuuming. And was able to get some things more straightened out in the area we meet. Took some boxes out to the car and some recycling to the bin outside. And all the yucky compost plus the apple peels to the compost bin.

I was in a very shaky state. Feeling frustrated with myself about the ASM program, not being able to find products in the US that I would like to sell other than just wholesalers. And on Sunday, my mastermind partner had got me thinking about working with local women to create a product. But that is just CRAZY thinking. It would mean starting another business, or directing them in a business that would mean they would be doing just one thing over and over, which I doubt would entice them. And yes, this energy was coursing through my mind on and off all day long.

Cut up some cheeses, put out salsa, gluten-free chips and crackers. Left the Apple Crisp in the oven to stay warm.

Everyone arrived on time. And a new person showed up. And she is #3 of gluten intolerant members of my committee.

The jeweler brought me some earrings I had admired, not sure if I need to pay her for them, or how much. Took me by surprise and I was in a rush mode to get the meeting started as everyone had a deadline of time to leave. So got it stared and then hurried through the agenda and the 2015 budget items a bit. Had to be very clear why it is not a good idea to cut back on any of the advertising if we wanted to have more artists next year, and keep them happy with being able to bring customers to them again. Just moving back to Memorial Park is not going to totally regain the momentum we had and lost by moving it to a safer, but not so accessible park the last 2 years.

The cheese and crackers were totally consumed by hungry committee members. Brought out the Apple Crisp, not knowing how it would turn out. Everyone loved it!

When they left, decided I needed a break, so watched Survivor and then did some searches for frog images for Sinister Frog.

But the worst part is my feeling very overwhelmed and not on track these last few weeks. ASM program took the second payment today. I need to look at the guarantee to see what I actually need to do if I can’t get myself on track with it. And the health insurance challenge is really wearing on me also.

So time to head to bed and sleep the night away. Have a very busy day ahead and I should do the next step of calling the Medicaid office to get rejected there so can go to Peak Health later this week and get reinstated with that program, or so I hope. It did take a very creative person on the staff there to look at my income and expenses so I could be in the program.

And I really just want to write some more books . . . what have I gotten myself into with ASM? Will the knowledge be worth having to use just for my Nephew’s business? Or where am I going with this? Need to sleep on it and wake up focused tomorrow to handle all the things I need to do before the Chamber Marketing meeting, then a fun event that is a thank-you for advertisers hosted by KRDO. Will miss my Tony webinar, but need the night off and this event was very fun last year.