November 19, 2002 - 12:00 p.m.

i called my bank in california this morning, and they agreed to get rid of $42 worth of overdraft charges. that leaves about $160, plus whatever they're going to charge me while they wait for the wire transfer.

i guess the good news is that i actually had enough money in my australian account to cover it. barely. thank goodness simon and i already did a gigantic grocery shop (one of our marathon two-trolley sessions) over the weekend. we will be able to eat for awhile.

i'll bet you're still wondering what happened with my bank account, right? well, it turns out that my california account had $1,000 in overdraft protection!!! hello! so i could have taken out more money - up to the point of $1,000 - before they would have stopped me. and i never would have seen the negative symbol on any atm slip. so now i've got to call my mom (whose name is listed on my account, for just such occasions) and tell her to go to the bank branch and remove all overdraft protection. yikes. i don't know about you, but i've never had an account like that before.

in food news, simon and i ate a platter of roasted veggies and some fabulous sweet potato cornbread the other night. last night, simon made a very elaborate green-bean casserole, and tonight i'll be making homemade cinnamon-raisin bread. wouldn't you like to come over to our house for dinner? well, you've been invited. what are you waiting for?