Resolution: Day 1

My alarm went off this morning at 7:45 and after rolling over and doing grumpy kicks of the sheets, I got up at 7:58. I got up and had breakfast. Internet.

As promised, I did unplug my fridge last night and it was nicely thawed this morning. I took out all the shelves and drawers and washed them in the sink with Mr. Clean and water. I rinsed them in the shower, and let them drip dry. I then washed all the surfaces of the fridge. Dryed the shelves and drawers and reassembled eveything.

Then I took a shower and shaved. I used willowherb aftershave balm on my face, and then went through the unpleasant task of applying lotion to my skin. Apart from the greasy sticky feeling that followed me for the morning, I actually think that it's going to do some good. In time I'm hoping that my skin doesn't burn constantly.

After dressing I headed upstairs to see the baby and to talk to my sister. She and her husband are moving to the suburbs for some dumb reason and they have just purchased a bedroom suite. I had no idea that a few pieces of furniture could cost so much, but a dozen grand later they have furniture for their house. They had purchased it at The Bay and they suggested that I use the purchase receipts to earn HBC Rewards points. I got the receipts and headed out to get some work done.

First stop was The Bay Yorkdale. I needed to get a pair of gloves and tuque, but couldn't find anything that I liked. That's the way it is with me and shopping. Hundreds of tuques; all unacceptable. I did manage to get the rewards points put on my card and went from 200,000 points to over 1.3 Million. I'm not sure what I can get, but the digital camera that I want costs 7 million points so it isn't like I won the lottery or anything. I can convert to 6500 Air Miles, which might get me somewhere warm in February.

The next stop was the OHIP offices for health insurance. For the first time in recorded history I managed to have all required documents, and the entire thing was relatively pain free. There was no queue and I waited patiently as the attendant entered the information into her computer. She printed me a receipt and told me that I'll get my card at the beginning of December.

I headed to the Ontario DriveTest location to get my Ontario Driver's License. There were a lot of unhappy people there. It is a shockingly depressing building. I overheard a man talking to his friend: "I know I ain't stupid, but this piece of paper says I'm stupid. Why can't I pass this thing?" I saw a young teenager run to the bathroom with her eyes swollen up with tears. I began to get very nervous that I might have to take a written test, and with everyone frantically cramming the handbook, I wondered how I would ever survive if I managed to fail my written test. It's bad enough being a teacher for three years and being told that you're not qualified, but to drive for 14 years and then fail a written test?

Since I was already licensed in Saskatchewan, and since I was licensed in Ontario as a teenager, all I had to do was transfer my registration. It involved providing a few documents and paying $75. No written test, fortunately. I was happy to find out also that my $75 covers me for five years, whereas my Saskatchewan license costs $25 a year.

After that I made a few phone calls about getting my car safety and emissions tested and I've scheduled them for Friday. After that's done, I can get my plates. The hoop jumping continues.

With those jobs done, I headed to the grocery store to stock up on food. It was about as good as the grocery store gets, but I managed to keep my blinders on so as not to see the wretchedness around me. Many, many unhappy people at the grocery store. I got everything I needed and headed home.

When I arrived home, job one was to feed the cat. I ran out of his food on Sunday morning, so he was quite hungry. Then I put everything away and made dinner. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy cooking, and it makes me feel better to have a clean fridge with lots of food in it.

So that's it. I'm sticking to my plan. Thanks to everyone who phoned today with concern. It isn't everyday that you realize that you've got to crawl out of a rut, but I'm going to keep at it. Self-improvement is my specialty, right?