Y9 D134

I have a love hate relationship with coupons. There are some places where I explicitly tell them not to give me their 'world o bucks' money, or their '40% off your next purchase of something you'll never buy!' pieces of paper. They go to waste. B, coming from the backgrounds she comes from, loves coupons. But inevitably they go from back to fridge to trash. Prior to us leaving for Vegas today, I cleaned up the fridge inside and out. I took down the 10 coupons that has expiration dates ranging from last week all the way back to August 30th. Sigh. At the same time, every now and then I get a coupon I can use. Especially if I am smart enough to use it right when it comes. Yesterday was a good example of that. Sleep Number does this thing where if someone says you referred them, you get $100 voucher. Apparently 2 people used our name in the last month because I got a $200 coupon from them PLUS another $25 from a recent ad. Cool. We ended up getting a winter blanket and new a pillow for B for $210. I ended up leaving $15 on the table, but okay. It was free money to begin with and I was doing my best not to have out of pocket. Score.

The rest of the day was spent prepping for this week. Laundry, packing, animals, documents, check ins, you name it, we did it. Side note - the trip to the ER was worth it. B woke up for the first time in a week actually smiling. It was a Christmas Miracle Charlie Brown. We got everything done including me dealing with the annoying people at my work.

I am having a rough time with this trip because I am used to solo travel. Traveling with B is okay and it's not that part of the equation that's the issue. It's my co-workers. I am not used to being onsite with other people. I do my own thing. I stay at my own hotel, I don't go out at night, I don't interact. They keep trying to send me booth schedules and dinner plans and I am trying to be nice but am having a hard time with it. I really need today to be mellow and not be bugged. Otherwise I may lose my shit.

We didn't get an upgrade on this flight since it's a partner flight, but whatever. It's only 2.5 hours. A couple of TV episodes and a nap will handle it. I did call the hotel to arrange for an early checkin. Hopefully they can honor it. We are staying at Hilton's Grand Vacation Time Share properties which means for once, there is a higher status than mine. Normally I would be treated well but owners come before me. It's going to be a long week.

Driver comes in about 90 minutes and then we board at 6:30. Time for a snack in the lounge.