Once is ordinary, twice is interesting, third time would be really kind of creepy.

I'm back from the absent.

If you have been kind enough to be sending good vibes my way with regard to my quest for a raise at work, thanks!  And please keep doing it just a little while longer!  I finally sat down with my boss (and a nice bottle of red wine) last night.  We talked and drank for about 90 minutes.  Long story short, he offered a 20% raise, I countered with 30% with another meeting in six months -- other than I have earned all that and more, inflation has gone up 15% in the past six years and I definitely have earned more than an effective 5% raise.  Plus right now I have three weeks vacation plus paid sick leave, he wanted to change that to three and a half weeks paid leave which would include any sick leave.  I think we have settled on four weeks, incorporating that change.  Which would mean I'd now have five weeks of vacation banked since I only managed to eke out two weeks last year.  Oh, and the pay raise would date back to November 1, 2011.  We're supposed have this all settled by Monday since he leaves for ten days in Hawaii on Tuesday and I've told him he's not getting on a plane until we get things resolved.

And I am to get a bonus for 2011 "some time in the first quarter."  Which is annoying but since bonuses are at his discretion and I never count on getting one anyway -- even though I've gotten one seven out of the past eight years, at least something -- I figure I can't be too grumpy about it. 

I ended up with 33 hours of overtime on this month's paycheck.  Yay!  I accidentally overdrew my checking account today so at least that will be covered.  After paying the last vet bill and a couple of other things that need taking care of, I'm planning to spend next weekend at the beach (hoping to score the two for one night deal which would be about $100 for two nights with an oceanfront balcony room) and now I'm thinking I might just make a quick four day trip down to my grandparents' and my dad's the following weekend.  I ran estimates on flights and a rental car (they live 90 minutes from the airport) and I think I swing that for about $300 even.  Not bad, and I know they'd love to have me back again. 

As for the retroactive pay increase, I'm planning to bank that and do that trip back east in late October that I've been hoping for.  For the extra cherry on top I'll also get into the Marine Corps Marathon (registration is in March and this year's race is the day after my birthday) and get to do that as well!  I've never been to D.C. and I have a friend who lives there so built in tour guide and a place to stay.  Then I'd like to drive up to D.C. (yikes!) or maybe fly, to see friends there, and then drive or maybe take the train to Rhode Island for a friend there.  I've only been to the east coast once and that was for a whirlwind four days. 

So, about the title of this post.  About a week or so ago, I had a dream that involved this guy and we were married.  Not we were married in terms of we walked down the aisle in the dream, but that we were already committing matrimony.  In other words, the dream involved this guy who was also my husband.  And I won't try explaning what happened in the dream beyond that; it always seems logical in your head and then you try to explain it to somebody and you realize you may be mental.  Anyhow, a day or two ago, I had a different dream but with the same guy.  We weren't married in this dream, more like we'd recently met and just started dating but I knew we would be getting married.  Everything else in the dream I don't remember at all so I won't even bother thinking about explaining this one.  The important thing is, it was the same guy in both dreams.  Except I don't know this person.  He kind of reminds me of two other men I know, in the way where if you met them you'd ask if they maybe had a cousin.  But isn't it odd that I would dream about exactly the same person who I don't know, two separate times?  If he shows up again, I'm going to think the cosmos is trying to prepare me for something.

Or maybe I am just mental.

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl