There was a time when I was extremely diligent about these things. I paid bills as soon as they arrived; I did the math in the checkbook register immediately after writing the check; and I reconciled my checkbook as soon as I got the bank statement.
Working at 3GI, we got paid twice a month, and so that's when I paid the bills. I got lazier and lazier about doing the reconciliation - perhaps because doing it in Quicken made it so much easier. Or maybe just because I got lazy. I don't usually leave the math in the register for more than a week or so, and I've never bounced a check yet... But I've been late with the bills enough to have paid perhaps $20 or so in late fees.
I know, I know - hardly criminal. After all, there are plenty of people who are perpetually late paying their bills, who never do their math or reconcile their statements, and these people seem to get along just fine.
But it bothers me a little. So anyway, when I realized how long it had been since I reconciled my checkbook, I lugged everything upstairs to the computer, scrounged up the bank statements back to December, and started entering checks into Quicken. This took well more than half an hour since Matt came home while I was in the middle of it. I entered everything, then went through three reconciliations, and when I looked up, I'd been home for almost two hours and had been working steadily the whole time - but everything was neat and clean again.
Working on our computer in the late afternoon and early evening means fighting the sun that comes in through the window to read the screen. As a result, I had a mild headache when I headed down to the kitchen to start dinner. The headache didn't go away.
After dinner, I got back on the computer and - much to my delight - found several e-mails from Braz, who'd finally found the time to get caught up on the various e-mails we've been sending around on the Hall plot. While I was answering those, he logged on to IM and we chatted for a while.
I'd promised Matt he could check his mail, so when I finished answering the e-mail, I said good night to Braz and called Matt to come and take the taunting Braz wanted to give him about the Cubs.
I went downstairs to watch TV. Nothing was on. I pulled out the next Babylon 5 tape, but when I saw what the next episode was, decided it was too much for my aching skull. I took a couple of Advil, then laid on the couch and idly watched the Cubs/Cardinals game.
A little while later, Matt came down and told me K.T. wanted to talk to me on IM about her recent Hall plot, so I dragged myself up and went back upstairs. My eyeballs were beginning to throb.
While I was chatting with K.T., I tried to crack my neck, and instead of a quiet pop! and a release of tension, I got a sudden muscle spasm and the sensation that the muscles in my neck were one gigantic bruise.
"If I didn't know better," I told K.T., "I'd swear I had the flu."
It occured to me to wonder whether I had a fever - the symptoms were certainly all there. I shuffled into the bedroom, found the thermometer, and stuck it in my mouth. Then I pulled it out of its case and tried again.
A couple of minutes later, I pulled it out. 100. And this after a dose of Advil. The headache was not subsiding. I made my apologies to K.T., wished her a good night, and went to bed.
It seems to be mostly gone this morning. I've still got a whisper of a headache and my neck muscles are still stiff, but I feel much better. I have no idea what that was, or where it came from. I recall Becky complaining a few days ago that she felt sick, but she wasn't feverish; she just had a sore throat.
Spring fever, maybe.
Word of the Day: ambrosia - food or ointment of the gods; something extremely pleasing to taste or smell
I made a new recipe last night, courtesy of Braz's wife, Kris: Apple Chicken. It's not a combination I'd have thought of on my own - especially putting cinnamon on chicken - but it turned out fantastic. I adapted the recipe very slightly, cubing the chicken before I cooked it and then using a little corn starch to thicken the sauce, but Matt and I both agreed, it was a definite "keeper" recipe.
The onions, which had been cooked in apple juice and cider vinegar, were almost sharp to the taste, contrasting perfectly with the cinnamon on the chicken. A hint of brown sugar kept the sauce from being too tangy, and the sauce lent flavor to the rice.
If I'd used a tarter apple, it would've been pure ambrosia.
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