As if I didn't know this already...plus, I'm not going anywhere for awhile

I've been curbing my addiction to caffeine--haven't had a caffeinated soda in a couple weeks now, and I've even avoided my beloved Southern sweet tea and green tea--but this makes me wonder if I'm neglecting a more important problem.

Leanne Ely's Saving Dinner has helped me to make more nutritious (and delicious) meals this year, but I'm still falling into the trap of fast food and ordering in. And hell, I work every day for a restaurant marketing company, so I deal with images and descriptions of food all the time. Could this be as harmful to my figure as thinking about babies (specifically, multiples) all the time seems to be to my emotions?

(I'm exaggerating, of course. I love my jobs, and it would be ridiculous to blame them for my own issues.)

In other annoying news, my car is acting up, so I won't be able to go to DC this weekend as planned. A few weeks ago a car electronics service technician diagnosed the problem as being an old/faulty headlight switch--without actually looking at the car. I was a little skeptical, and I had Reid look at it for me before I left for Kentucky. He replaced some fuses, and everything worked fine again, so I was able to make my trip with no problems.

Yesterday, though, as I was heading out of work, and just as a pretty piano piece came on, suddenly the radio just stopped functioning. I clicked the buttons and fiddled with the volume for awhile, but it was just dead.

"Oh, shit," I said, because I had a premonition. I flipped on the headlights.

Nothing. No headlights, no dash lights.

This was pretty damning evidence already, but I checked the interior lights just in case...and they didn't come on either.

Looks like I need a new headlight switch after all.

I guess I will be calling the car electronics guy today. He knows how to order the part, and install it of course. I doubt very seriously that this work will be done by the weekend, though, so I've gone ahead and cancelled with Noelle and the Sushicam people.

This is rather disappointing...I was looking forward to seeing Noelle again, and DC, and meeting Jeff from Sushicam (and, of course, taking pictures). But bleh. What can you do?

I was frustrated yesterday, and thinking that we should go ahead and buy a new car...but we really can't afford it. Some stuff has come up at Sean's work that may mean he'll have to change jobs, taking a pay cut in the process. He was hoping that he'd be able to stick it out until his security clearance came through, but it's sort of out of his hands now...which sucks. So...no new vehicle for awhile.

Does anyone out there have job security? Lately everything feels so impermanent. While I love being flexible, ultimately it's also nice to know that I can afford it.

The sooner I get my raise, the better. And the sooner I can get going on my own business venture, the better. There is a lot of work I'll need to do just to get started, but I need this. We need this.