OK, I finally had to get headphones with music (NPR). The sniffling, snuffling woman still hasn't learned how to blow her nose, and she's here again, at the same time.

My dog vanished, the person who volunteered to take my kids to school yesterday didn't (I can't get too upset about this since they had no reason to do so except generosity, but it would have been nice to know if they weren't going to), the kids messed up the house while I was at work, and I just feel... all unsettled inside, sort of restless, distracted. Probably it's related to drinking lattes towards the end of my shift (about 8PM). I'll cut that out and see if it helps.

Trouble at work seems to be resolved now: apparently my register was routinely coming up short of money, sometimes as much as $200 short! There is no way I'd ever steal from the store, and when they mentioned this problem to me, they said that they suspected that perhaps I was making mistakes. Mistakes involving deficits of $200??! I asked if the register was ever over, and the answer was no, not really. It seemed that overnight, the bosses and managers were aloof, suspicious, unfriendly, cold......and I could tell that they were getting ready to fire me. I asked all kinds of questions, trying to figure out how in the hell I could be making mistakes like that on a daily basis that woudl lose large amounts of money but not ever add any, and the longer I brooded on it, the clearer it became that it just could not have happened. Someone was/is stealing, and it sure as hell wasn't me, but I had no way to prove it.

I think I have it all figured out. The girl who worked right next to me almost every day was a crackhead...we all knew that (I really think the store out to do mandatory drug testing on all new employees), and she was constantly cleaning my area when I was on break or lunch. Spare money was (isn't anymore, thanks to my bringing the problem to the attention of the bosses) kept in another, unlocked drawer in case we ran out. The amount was enough that yes, $200 could easily have gone missing in a single day. Anyway, this gal disappeared one day, just never showed up for work, and since she's been gone my register has balanced out just fine. The bosses are friendly and relaxed towards me again, and I'm not sweating every second of the day, worrying if this will be the end.....

Lastly, of three large ponderosa pines which are all coming out (orders of the landlord), one is down, and the next two will be coming down this week. He just told me to dig that they're pretty much coming down right on top of my perennial bed. :-( I don't know what to do about that yet....