In which I usher my money out the door

Two things I want to say about money in this post:

One: I have discovered the joys of thrift store shopping! Last weekend I spent three very fruitful hours hitting various Goodwill and other thrift stores in the city with B. I have never been much of a thrift store shopper. Certainly it never occurred to me to shop for clothes there. I hate pawing through racks of stuff, and I've always assumed that the clothes at Goodwill were from the Nixon administration. But I've changed my mind.

For the first several shops, I was just futzing around, laughing at the checkered sports coats and run-down sofas. But then we got to the Goodwill at 50th and MacArthur and I started singing a different tune. I picked a random pink skirt off the rack and found it was an Ann Taylor in my size, like new, priced at $2.99. Suddenly my interest was seized. I started paying attention, and when I left an hour later, I left with five new skirts, all brand names and in perfect condition, for under $11.

I'm a convert. I'll be back very soon to paw through their collection of tops and jackets.

It makes sense. Goodwill is where I used to take the nice stuff that I was sick of or too fat for or whatever. Most of it was in fine condition, I'd just gotten sick of it or outgrown it. So of course I'm not the only one doing that, and there are plenty of ladies with a lot more money than me for clothes in Oklahoma City. B ribbed at me a little, told me I'd come full circle -- from donating to Goodwill to shopping there, and I guess he has a point... my lifestyle has certainly changed. But $2 for an Ann Taylor skirt that probably sold for $60 or more is not to be scoffed at.

The other thing I have to say about money is that I got my tax refunds today and have been playing traffic cop with the money today... doling it out to various deserving institutions, like Chase credit card, for example. I took my car in to get the brakes fixed this morning, paid off one credit card and a big chunk on another one, moved money into my savings account where it wouldn't be so easy for me to get my grubby little hands on it. and went to get my eyes examined. So the money is mostly all gone... in just over five hours.

Ah, but it was a heady feeling while it lasted, paying people off, checking things off my list. Tomorrow I'll rejoin the gym, clean my carpets and take Flower to the vet and then the windfall will be really and truly gone. But I'll feel so responsible!

Oh, I have another update, as well. Yesterday, after a seven month wait, I finally went in to see the rheumatologist. There's good news and no news, but no bad news. The No news is that, based on my current bloodwork and the examination the doctor did, he can't confirm any definite diagnosis. But he said he doubted it was lupus, and based on what I told him, it sounded more likely to him that it's fibromyalgia.

Now, under other circumstances, I might not be so chipper about a possible diagnosis of fibromyalgia, but it sure beats lupus! Fibromyalgia hurts, yes, but it doesn't do any damage to the body (your joints hurt, but it's not hurting them, if you know what I mean), and it's not degenerative... it's not going to get worse over time. There will be times when it goes away, times when it flares up, some times worse than others, but it's not going to gradually become more and more debilitating. Flare ups I can deal with. I was terrified at the prospect of gradually getting worse until I was incapacitated. So Hooray for Fibromyalgia! Hip Hip Hooray!

Of course, I've no definite diagnosis there, either. Doc pulled more blood to do a more detailed screening, and told me to come in if I have another flare up, so he can look at me while it's active. He also told me that Effexor, which is the antidepressant I've taken for something like seven years, is commonly prescribed for treatment of fibromyalgia. So it could have been screening symptoms for some time, and that would explain why I had my first bout with whatever-it-is during the time when I was trying to go off the Effexor. So I am, in a sense, already being treated. He prescribed nothing, just told me to wait and see and come back in 6 months. So there's a bit of a load off my mind, anyway.