Diverse Ponderings

When Fio was young, she wanted to live her adult life in luxury, but circumstances thankfully intervened, and she's a better person for it.
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When Fio clutches at her bosom to locate her credit card in her bra and the young male clerk looks politely in the other direction....
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When Fiorella wakes up each morning, her refreshed  brain floods with inspiration, and she immediately reaches for her yellow list and stick pen (su lista amarilla y su boligrafo) which she keeps by the side of the bed (la cama). But as the light is low in at that time of day, she has to spend the rest of themorning trying to decipher her chicken scratches.
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When Fio was born, she checked "heterosexual" on her sexual choice card and started looking for her mate. The paperboy, the principal's son, the older brother of a boy in her first-grade class--they all attracted her. She can even still remember the names of her crushes from kindergarten on.
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When you think about it, it's interesting how different we humans are from each other, not only in how we look or speak, but also how we choose to live our lives--our occupations. We're so much more diverse than, say, butterflies. Mabe that's why we've become the dominant species.

Lost Again

Fiorella's card case is gone, the one from the 2015 New York RWA conference, the one she keeps her professional cards and her credit cards in. She knows she lost the case in the house, probably in the den or the front room, maybe the kitchen, and she's been searching up and down for it, with Minnesota son right behind her, but no luck. Now, Fio is no stranger to lost credit cards, and she lost the case at H-E-B once, but how can one lose a card case in one's own home?

What's Happenin'

Fio found Husband's wallet and hearing aids, which have been missing since he came home from the hospital. Now to find her credit card and wedding ring, which disappeared within the last few days. She had to use cash in Target and her checkbook in H-E-B. Talk about back to the Dark Ages.
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Time to haul out the Christmas decorations. Not only Austin son and his wife, but nephew Barrett and his wife have volunteered to help Fio decorate this year. And Minnesota son and his wife will be coming down from winter wonderland to join us for the big holiday dinner.
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Stand in line--Fiorella is giving away her treasures piece by piece. She wants to simplify her life.    

Odds and Ends

Fio's credit card and Husband's driving glasses are off somewhere together having a good time.  We can't find either of them.
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If Starbucks gets any healthier, I'm not meeting anyone there any more.
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The more wealth a person has, the more people he has to hire to take care of it.
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The hands, the feet, the eyes, the ears--driving is like playing the piano.
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The older women used to be the ones in dresses while the younger generation wore pants. Now it's reversed:  the older women are in pants and the young'ns are wearing dresses.

Another Problem

I thought the bad luck was over, and then yesterday evening, Facebook wouldn't let me on line and informed me that I wasn't using the correct password, which had supposedly been changed three months ago.  Could whoever hacked my credit card have done this too?

Hard Luck Story

Fiorella and Husband are going through a bad stretch.  First her credit card was hacked, which meant she had to cut it up and has to wait for a new one to be mailed to her.  Then she lost her key ring, which meant she couldn't start her car and didn't have a house key.  Then, despite the fact that Fiorella bought a new car key and had it entered into the Mazda system, her baby car conked out again after bringing her and Husband home from dinner.  At the same time, not only did Husband lose the keys to the loaner car he was using because his car was in the shop getting a damaged rear view mirror replaced, but he forgot to bring his charge card to the restaurant.

Husband paid cash for our dinner, and we did make it home from the restaurant safely, which is when Fio's car went out.  Husband has found his credit card and his missing keys, but your Fio still lacks a house key and a usable vehicle.

And she wonders why it takes her so long to grind out a book.

Ding-danged Out!

Let's look at Fio's score for the week.  Monday, as she remembers, was okay, but on Tuesday she arrived at Chili's an hour late, only acceptable because Friend Katie, whom she was supposed to be meeting, didn't show at all because her daughter had pink eye.  What was not acceptable was that Fio left her credit card at Chili's and had to pay cash for purchases for the next couple of days instead of adding to her frequent flyer miles.  On Wednesday she got a sudden a migraine aura driving home from ARWA which splintered her vision so badly that she nearly plowed into a light pole. On Thursday, she forgot a medical appointment, but did manage to overbalance herself and fall splat down onto the road while trying to retrieve rocks from the dry creek with which to line her driveway.  She also realized she had written the wrong amount on a big, important check.  On Friday, she discovered she was down to two pills of her blood pressure med, then learned her insurance will no longer cover that particular brand and had to make a couple of calls to get a different one; mismanaged her schedule and was out retrieving her credit card at the time that she had told Son she'd be home and help him pack; and accidentally ate her temporary crown along with a bagel.

And her hair won't work and she's tired, but she can't sleep, and that mountain range of cedar mulch still looms in the north yard, and she hasn't heard from her agent so that means Kinkaid House is still an orphan. 

Had enough?  Bet you wish Fio were still writing about her concepts of God.

Blast from the Past

Fio paid for her gasoline with folding money yesterday, the first time in forever, and it felt weird.  Also, just to show you how out of date she is cash-wise, Fiorella was momentarily concerned that ten dollars worth of gas would overfill her tank.  Heh-heh-heh--she ended up handing over a twenty--which took her barely over half-full.

Yeah, it's a whole new world out there while Fio waits for her replacement credit card to arrive.

Dogstruction

Fiorella's never had a dog who ate her homework, but she now has one who's invalidated her credit card.  Yes, Sonia applied her strong mastiff jaws to Fio's magic card, and it is now a miniature terrain of hills, valleys, and pits.  In other words, it'll never slide through a card reader again so your Fio is reduced to writing checks till the new card arrives.

How weird.  Fiorella, who scoffed at the prediction that folding money would become obsolete and plastic become the new new legal tender, is now party to the process.  She loves being able to prance into a store with nothing but a card in her paw and pay for whatever she needs with a single swipe.  Of course, it's more commit than pay--Fio has to write an old-fashioned check the next month to keep the credit card bank largesse flowing. On the other hand, she gets "benefits" from each dime she spends and hasn't paid for air travel for years.

Viva la brave, new world.

Fraud Alert!

Fiorella is so excited that she hasn't even read the newspaper yet! Husband's credit card was rejected at the gas station so Fio called the credit card company and learned there was an alert on the card because of some suspicious recent purchase attempts. Fio checked these out with Husband, who confirmed that he had not attempted to buy paintball supplies on line yesterday.

Anyway, all is now well. The old cards are canceled and new ones will be issued, which will be a big hassle since Fio had the old number half memorized. But, what the hey, Fio is just grateful that Capitol One spotted the fraud attempt before someone bought the Taj Mahal on her nickel.

Although she is still wondering what Husband intended to do with the paintball supplies.