LATE BREAKING NEWS                                         NOVEMBER 2, 2015

Now about today, October 31, 2015, even though it was dark when I woke at 5 AM, it felt brighter (YES, 5 AM! – not a typo error) maybe because my feet and legs were wide awake without the usual aches and pains. I ordinarily lay in bed about an hour waiting for them to catch up to the rest of me. I wasn’t a bit sleepy so just lay there mainly because it was still dark outside – that will change with the time going back to regular PST tonight, but I have things to do, and jumped out of bed — a truthful adjective would be “crawled” out.

First, I grabbed the dark clothes out of the “dirties” basket, and soon had them whirling about in my 20-year old Kenmore washer. (Those Kenmore’s last forever. ADV) [You can read about another great wash day story in my book, What a Life. It’s called “Home Alone”, and you will find it on Page 112 (Another ADV) complete with picture showing the ‘must’ have items which load me down – the phone, and the alert thinga-ma-bob.]

After getting the wash going, I had a cup of coffee to wake up the whole entity, which is “I,” and in fact, I had another cup of Hawaiian coffee for good measure. I figured the old brain needed a jump start to get on with the day and be able to take on the bookwork which had fallen into severe chaos over the past few months. Well, no wonder there was all this mess — take a peek at the 2 photos accompanying this saga. (Not an ADV.) There were, and still are, as a matter of fact, these piles of paper work – Medicare Statements galore (I practically live at the EMC Wound Center), piles of mail begging for a small, or large, donation, etc., etc., etc. You get the idea. In case you don’t get the idea, I’ve already lost you.

The 3 check registers that I oversee (maybe change “oversee” to “overlook?”) were in disarray, so I started pawing over and under some of these stacks, and whaddya know, my Friends — underneath and amongst the jumble, I came up with a check #4523, written out very nicely and attached to its statement, but neither of which were inside the envelope with a stamp. So that’s why that check was “outstanding” for a couple of months, and I couldn’t imagine why Consumer Reports hadn’t cashed it. The check was not just outstanding, it was out laying on my office “incoming,” which never got to “outgoing.” No wonder they were hounding me about this, and I kept ignoring them.

Now finding that check and making the corrections in my check book (and writing another check – and get it mailed to cool them down) helped a little, but the bank said I had $200 more than what they had. Where else did I err? After investigating further, I discovered the error of my ways, but it took the LED light in the brain to turn on and come to the conclusion that I had posted the entry in my check registers for the Discover (my card) and Staples (household card) statements, but failed to go to the web sites to ‘MAKE PAYMENT.” Thank the Lord, and pass the ammunition that the Staples amount was just a measly $2.98, or the Warden would have cut off ALL olives from my diet. It’s bad enough that she has them on the highest shelf right now, where I can’t reach them — I don’t do stools anymore.

If you, the Reader, made it through this highly technical lesson on finance, I have to tell you I just had to get this off my chest. I have another story which was ready, so you will be able to read it next week. It’s about 2 Old Ladies. Exciting!

Moral to this story: One should not leave it up to an old Person to take care of money matters. You just never know —-

MELITAS FORSTER                                    MONDAYS WITH MELITAS