Today will be a much needed day off. Even though most of it will be spent doing laundry, taking out the trash, cleaning, and catching up on randomness, it's still better than having to worry about my truck starting for work or rude customers ruining my day.

I'm also expecting a package sometime soon. My mom told me on Tuesday that my graduation cap/gown and invitations had arrived at their house, and that she would forward it on to me here. I had to have it shipped there when I paid for it, because the bookstore didn't offer delivery confirmation with their shipping options. And I really don't feel like paying $187 dollars again because it got lost.

Hopefully it will come today, because if not, I will have to go one day before work to the post office and pick it up, and Lord knows my mornings are hectic enough without another stop. I also need to hurry up and get the invitations in the mail to the people who I am actually inviting to attend. And of course, the sooner I send out the "announcement" invitations, the sooner people can send me graduation money.

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Puppy Update: He is doing good so far today, although it's still really early. We made it out this morning for #1, and then after he ate, for #2. It's harder for him to concentrate when he can hear traffic on the nearby interstate, or people walking down the road, or birds chirping, etc. I feel kind of ridiculous sometimes, because I will be so excited that he's about to go, and then all of the sudden a weird bird will chirp and he's completely alert and totally distracted from his task.

The only problem we're still having is the time right before bedtime. I take him out just as much (or more) then, but we have yet to have a no-accident night. I can't figure it out, because I only give him water when I first get home from work, with his food. Maybe when BF gets here and I don't feel quite so alone, we will work on moving the crate to the bedroom and letting the pup sleep in there.

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Speaking of BF... he finally broke the news of his moving to his boss at one of his jobs. He works two part-time jobs, one of which he just started about two months ago, before we knew I'd be moving. I feel horrible about it really, because he seems to really like the job itself and could probably get a good full-time job there within a year if we stayed. Anyway, it has been stressing us both out (especially him) to think about what they will say when he leaves.

He told the boss man yesterday, and apparently it went great. He said the guy acted a little shocked at first and just said "Oh, really?" like it was no big deal. Then BF explained that I am up here by myself, with alot of stress and worry, and the guys says "Oh yea, I completely understand, man."

Then BF tells him that he hopes nobody is mad at him, and that he really liked the job and wouldn't quit for anything less than this reason. And his boss told him "Oh, I'd take you back in a heartbeat."

Yay!!! Even though we're not sure where my next move will be, or if we'll ever end up close enough to that area for him to work the same place again, it's nice to know that he does have the job if he wants it. And I know it makes BF feel better to know that nobody thinks badly of him.

Honestly, we have decided that if my next move (to be an assistant manager) isn't within 3-4 hours of our hometown, then I will quit and find something else. I really don't want to have to do that, because we've both sacrificed alot for this so far, and it's a WONDERFUL opportunity for our future (plus a stable job), but I also can't justify letting them drag us wherever they want for the rest of our lives. We want to be close to our family and friends, and they have enough stores within 3-4 hours of our hometown, that it's not ridiculous to ask for.

It's important for us to be near our families when we start having children of our own, etc., especially for BF. He has told me before that he doesn't want to live so far away that he can't decide to go watch a ball game with my brother, or visit our parents' houses on the weekend. So right now our timeline is, within 3-4 hours away for my assistant manager position (about 9 months), and then when I take the first manager job, within 2 hours. I'll do that and try to transfer to a store closer to home, but if I can't do it in 2 years, then I'll have to find something else. We'll just take it as it comes I guess.

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Today should be a NSD, unless I pay some bills. I could go grocery shopping, because I really have nothing to take to work for lunch, but I think I'll use today to get together a list of what I REALLY need to get, and see how much of my food budget is left for the month. Then I will just look at it as a challenge, to see what I can be creative & come up with for lunch and dinner for the next few days, out of what I already have. It should be interesting.

And finally... there is a website that I just remembered, and I thought I'd share it with my fellow SA'ers. It's called BookCrossing (www.bookcrossing.com), and I think it's about the greatest idea since sliced bread. Although I've only had limited participation to this point, I'm hoping to get more involved.

The basic idea is that, members of the site (it's free to join) use either old books that they have read already, or an extra copy that they have, and "drop" them places to be "hunted" by other BookCrossing people. It's like a scavenger-hunt version of a library. But, every book that you hunt, you go and make a journal entry about it after you read it. Most of the books already have a little BookCrossing label on the inside, which identifies the book to the site. But if you want to drop a book of your own, you can go there and print out a label for it.

You can go to the site, search the area where you live, and most likely there are already books "dropped" somewhere near you. When you go hunt them down, you can read & journal about them, and then you go drop them off somewhere yourself, for someone else to find. Most of the time, people will announce when they've dropped a book so that it's easy to find, but some people just randomly drop them, making it even more random when someone finds it.

Anyway, it's a fun site, and pretty much free to do. An exciting version of the library, and every book you get has a story of it's own.

*On a side note, I've also decided to track my credit score on here, although it will only be about every three months or so.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thursday!