Good Luck, Bad Luck, No Luck at All

Last year about this time, things were not going very well.  But a month or so later, my luck had changed, and things were going extremely well.  Earlier this year I mentioned that Mercury was in retrograde, and that effect has continued, as we just got a shipment that was missing two of the items we ordered. They were not on back order. They were just missing.  Luckily, we were not billed for them, and the company has agreed to send the missing items without charging us the extra shipping charges. 

Other than all the frustrations with the mail, I've had three of the nasty bugs going around since the beginning of January.  And yes, I did have my flu shot, and a pneumonia shot for good measure.  I'm a big believer in the flu shot, but while I got off extremely lucky last year, with not so much as a sniffle, this year I had a stomach flu, a cold and then this latest flu with the nasty cough that just won't quit. I say it's a flu as I had a fever for a couple of days in the beginning.  I have no idea what the difference is between this year and last.

On other fronts I've been quite lucky so far this year.

As I told you,  I won a hundred dollar gift card from Subway, and since then, a book about Joint Health For Life (that likely will tell me not to eat such things) and a big box of tea from the Bigelow Tea Company.  I've never actually heard of them before, but I got very excited when this package came.  I was expecting 16 assorted teas, but what arrived was 6 boxes, each containing 16 teas each.  Two black, three green and three red tea flavours with two of each flavour in each box. 

I've already sampled the Vanilla Peach and the Strawberry teas, both of which were red varieties. They don't come in the normal tea bag, but rather in unique swizzle sticks that you put in the cup of hot water and stir around until you get the strength you like. There could not be a better prize for someone with a nasty cough.  Once I get over this bug, I plan on having a lovely tea party with my friends.

I got an e-mail from a friend out west who says I've always been fortunate, and lucky enough to win a lot of things.  I had just read an article that says you make your own luck by taking advantage of opportunities that present themselves. Well, I win a few things now and then, but that's because I enter a lot of contests. I'm not sure that makes me lucky. It's just the odds. If you enter enough times, you are bound to win something, sooner or later. I think that hundred dollar gift card is likely the most valuable prize I've ever won. 

Still, it's unusual for me to win three things in such a short period of time.  It does help balance out the other things that have been going on in my life since the beginning of the year though. Mercury is supposed to move on and leave me in peace later this week, and really, I can't wait!

Who Needs the Ides of March!

Yesterday was NOT a good day.
I was trying to load my Tax software. The first time I did it a week ago, I
got the payment made but before I could print the receipt and get the access
code, the computer froze up and shut down.

Once I made sure they didn't charge me, I tried again yesterday. I got the
payment made, got the access code, and did the download. Then the program
wouldn't open. All I got was a notice saying it was not a Win32 application.
So I contacted them again, and they said the file must have gotten corrupted
so I was told to delete it and download again. But I accessed all this
through a disc, and the disc, wants payment before you can go any further.
I'll have to go online today and see if I can get my access code to work
with the downloads from there. .....though from what I can see so far, they
want payment before a download too.

And that was just the beginning of my day.

I wanted to submit my latest Art House Co-Op project.  We were supposed to draw a portrait of someone we know, in just 5 minutes time. I'm not used to drawing people from a live model as it is, and mine managed to wander off before my time was up, so it's not my fault he looks 30 years older in this rendition.  Then I discovered the link to upload it had disappeared. Art House tried to tell me it was due two days earlier than my records indicate, but since they have removed it, I couldn't see for myself. They did let me put it up on the Flickr page though.  After that I wrote their techies a note saying that part of the fun in doing these projects was in the sharing, but since they now have decided to delete all the latest projects on the list after the due date, nobody will ever find them.

The day progressed.
My hubby needed a prescription refilled but since his doctor had recently told
him to take a whole pill instead of a half pill, he ran out sooner than expected and the
the insurance won't pay for them.  I had to deal with the medical centre
and the druggist.  Hopefully that's all sorted out, but I won't know until I
go and try to pick them up today.

I got so frustrated with my day that I decided to take a pot of tea and a
book and go have a nice hot soak in the tub ... even if it was at higher
energy rates at that time of day. I just nicely got into the water and the
light bulb blew out.

Later I went to Zumba. We have no actual instructor there, but follow a
video projected on the wall. The lady with the projector didn't come, so we
had to try to follow it from a laptop screen.

That was my day yesterday.
And now it's the Ides of March.
Heaven help me!