$$: Sleep Study edition

Posted on | November 25, 2008 |

Total Spent Today: $228.48

I spent last night in the local hospital’s sleep lab.  The hope, now that my thyroid has been completely removed and my throat (for the most part) healed from the surgery, was that I’d no longer suffer from obstructive sleep apnea.

Let me assure you, there is very little sleep done during a “sleep” study.  If the probes they glue to your head aren’t enough to keep you awake, what about the things they tape to your forehead and throat and chest?  Or the tight bands they clamp around your chest and stomach?  Or maybe the large infrared light in the ceiling and the knowledge you’re being videotaped?  Or the too-cold room, the too-hard bed, the plastic pillow, or the insistence that you sleep flat on your back?  No problems, you say?  Okay, so you’d probably also have no problem being woken up in the middle of the night to put on a face mask and hook up to a machine that constantly pumps air into your nose via a strange, uncomfortable systems of straps and plastic tubes.  And you’d certainly not be disturbed by the tech’s remote adjustments to the air flow into your face mask, ranging from mild to near hurricane.  After all that fun, they wake you up at 5:30 and expect you out by 6am.

Well, I’m light sleeper — in the best of conditions.  For me, a sleep study is akin to torture.  Today I am severely sleep-deprived.  Someone without any sleep issues, like The Husband who could sleep soundly in the middle of a busy airport taxiway, would have simply taken a nap today.  Taking a nap is a completely foreign concept to my body.  It’s not that I don’t nap; I can’t nap.

The worst part is I have a strong suspicion that I’m doomed to a lifetime of sleep apnea and CPAP dependency.  *Sigh*  But you know what?  I’m actually not as crushed as I expected myself to be.  Sure, I’m really disappointed but not crushed or despondent.

So, enough of my whining.  Here are today’s expenditures:

Safeway — $15.81
The Daughter filled up the Impreza’s tank today.  She pumped 9.475 gallons at $1.669 per gallon.  She did not log the car’s odometer reading.

Langston’s — $59.94
I own one pair of jeans.  Okay, let me clarify that — I own one pair of jeans that fit (I know you women know what I’m talking about).  Middle-age spread has been kind to me (so far) but has not bypassed me completely.

Now, I know that there are some people out there for whom a single pair of jeans would be more than sufficient.  The Husband, for example.  I, however, wear nothing but jeans.  Okay, in the summer I wear shorts but when the weather turns cold, it’s jeans, baby, jeans.  It’s what I wear.  Thus, having only one pair is a bit, well, a bit of a pain.  A logistical nuisance.  And now that we’re half way through November there’s nothing for it but admit to myself that I’m not going to lose any more weight or tighten up the glutes any more this winter.  This is the size I will be for the duration — of the current jean-wearing season, at least.

It just happened that Langston’s sent me an email today announcing free shipping with no minimum order.  I figured it was a sign from above (remember, I’m severely sleep-deprived; maybe it was just a well-timed coincidence).

I paid $29.97 for a single pair of 33×36 Levi’s 501 shrink-to-fit jeans.  After consulting with The Son and exacting a solemn promise to get good wear out of them, I ordered him a pair of 31×34 Levi’s 559 dark finish jeans.  They were $29.97 as well.

You know you’re a budget geek when you take pleasure from entering a transaction into your budget where you can split the total amount between two budget categories by entering the purchase price only and not have to do any extra calculations to split the tax or the shipping.

Ace Hardware — $0.95
We have a Moen toilet paper holder in the master bathroom that months ago lost the set screw.  Every time you take some TP off the roll, the roll hanger threatens to (or does) fall and clangs onto the tile floor.  I’ve been at a loss for months as to where to turn to find a new set screw.

Tonight I finally took myself in hand and took the first step — I stopped at Ace to see if they could help.  Since I can’t get the holder itself off the wall, we had to guess as to what size screw I’d need.  Or, the Ace guy guessed and I crossed my fingers.  He was wrong.

Now I have two different sizes of set screw along with two coordinating allen wrenches, none of which is what I need.  Both of the set screws he sold me were too big.  They do sell smaller set screws but, amazingly enough, they don’t actually sell allen wrenches small enough to fit them.  What good’s a set screw when you don’t have a corresponding allen wrench?

The Husband’s suggestion was duct tape.  We shared a good laugh over that and I thanked him for his input but I think I’ll leave that as a last-ditch answer, just after replacing the entire fixture.

Whole Foods — $48.00

• 2 bottles of organic sparkling cider — $2.99/ea.
• quart of Organic Valley buttermilk — $2.50
• 0.87# of fresh ground peanut butter — $2.60 (thanks to the kindness of strangers, I didn’t have to touch it to get it into or out of the cart)
• 3 thick-cut pork loin chops — $12.88
• 4.38# organic garnet yams — $8.72
• 3 large artichokes — $2.99/ea.
• 2.35# organic Granny Smith apples — $4.68
• bag credits — ($0.20)

Kroger — $26.39

• 2 boxes Arm & Hammer baking soda — $0.79/ea. (saved $0.20/ea)
• Cascadian Farms Concord Grape spread — $3.49
• pint of Organic Valley whipping cream — $2.99
• C&H brown sugar — $2.50 (saved $0.19)
• 200′ Glad cling wrap — $2.49 (saved $0.70)
• 2 half-gallons of Horizon chocolate milk — $3.69/ea.
• one gallon of Horizon 2% milk — $5.19

Vitamin Cottage — $77.39

• large bag of organic rolled oats — $2.46
• Kashi cinnamon harvest cereal — $3.59 (currently the lowest shelf price in town)
• Spectrum organic canola oil — $6.99 (saved $2.66)
• Applegate Farms sliced roast beef — $5.19
• Dr. Oetker’s oatmeal muffin mix — $2.15 (saved $0.60)
• 2 boxes of Dr. Oetker’s chocolate brownie mix — $2.15/ea. (saved $0.60/ea.)
• Hain (cornstarch-free) baking powder — $4.19
• Horizon cottage cheese — $3.25 (saved $0.34)
• last 2 cases (24 bottles) of Santa Cruz lemonade — $0.99/bottle
• bottle of Probiotic capsules — $18.69

Related Posts for Further Reading

• $$: Coyote Sighting Edition
• $$: Chocolate Milk, Chocolate Candy & Snow Pants, etc.
• Day 185: BIG Expenses Today
• Day 126: Gas, Flannel PJs, Mouse Traps, and Ground Beef
• Day 101: Definitely NOT a No-Spend Day
• $$: Dec 8 - Medical Expenses and Christmas Gifts

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