I know it's been confusing for them. To begin with, I was not eating processed meats - sausage, ground anything, bacon, hot dogs. They would sometimes get confused or come to ask me, "Now,what DO you eat?"

My brother found my bracelet. That's cool. It was on his front porch steps. We had gone out there a couple of times to talk while he took a few drags off a cigarette. That's his new thing. He has quit all his other vices, except the occasional marguarita or beer. He tells me that with everything going on, he needed *something* to calm his nerves. I'd have never thought he would smoke cigarettes at all. Our parents smoke, and me, Allan, and my other brother, Scott, have always been disgusted by smoking. We would make huge displays of it - coughing excessively when they lit one, saying "yuck" or "ewww", or whatever.

Friday I rushed around like a headless chicken to get my refinancing application and all the necessary copies sent back. They make you jump through hoops. I still will probably have to get a letter from my current mortgage company explaining the 2 delinquent monthly payments in '99. We had decided to let them foreclose, rather than be fully responsible for the severe termite damage. (We couldn't just sell it like that, though that's what was done to us.) When an agreement was finally achieved with the bank, my husband was told that it would not be put on our credit report. Guess we should have gotten that in writing, too. It sure got their attention, though. A guy called my husband to tell him he heard we had stopped making payments. Jeff said something to the effect of, "Yep, you can take the house and deal with it." That's a whole other long story.

I finished my shopping. I may have to get my boss and office mate gifts. Or, I may not. I don't have to buy them gifts just because they get me something, do I? I'm kinda short after sending money to Visa and sending a check for the appraisal to the mortgage broker, anyway. They'll understand.