So, with the economy down, I've been trying to watch my spending habits as well. Still a work in progress there. I'll do really well and then have a weekend like this last one.
Friday:
Pretty good except I paid for dinner, and who knew Red Lobster could be so bad! Boyfriend and I split household costs by switching off on items (I'm a very lucky girl and it's definitely not a 50/50 split, but I also wouldn't want to feel like a "kept woman"). So it was my turn for dinner.
Saturday:
IKEA! one of my weaknesses! But we were on a rare trip into the big city and it could not be passed up. I was really good though and only bought a few small items (candle sticks, art shelves, a hammock, a shoe holder), and got out for less than $100!
Well, unfortunately dinner reservations weren't until 5:30 and we finished shopping a lot quicker than expected, so on to the adjoining mall...and WHITE HOUSE BLACK MARKET! my favorite clothes store. I was actually wearing WHBM from head to toe when we walked in (something every attendant noticed). I usually don't walk into the store any more, because I'm not a masochist and like to stay away from temptation, but Boyfriend knows its my favorite and tries to be "sweet" and take me in. A whole "style session" (their term not mine) began and I tried on a few sale rack items plus a few things the "stylist" chose. She kept having to run things by Boyfriend to see if I owned it already. Honestly, not the best stylist I've had, the ones at my local store seem to get me a lot better (possibly because I'm there so much), I only bought the skirt and the top I picked out myself. Then we went to the Sony store for Boyfriend, but I ended up buying an e-reader that was on clearance for $50 (review on that later! Along with all the books I've been remiss at reviewing here).
At dinner Boyfriend paid, so I got out there...really funny about dinner coming soon.
Then we went to go see Wicked. I've seen it before in Boston, but it was almost just as enjoyable the second time! I've finally found culture in this sunny state!! It was off, off, Broadway with a touring company, yes I know, I'm a snob, but it was pretty good! They're doing Shrek next month and I want to see it. Even put season tickets on the gift wish list. My only issue was with Fiyero, he just wasn't manly enough for me. He's supposed to be a hot prince and all the girls swoon. I was defiantly not swooning. I could definitely see more of a Gene Kelly type playing Fiyero: athletic style of dance, and pleasant but still masculine tenor.
Sunday:
We head to the WHBM near our house to RETURN a pair of shoes - love the shoes but this is my second pair and the leather sole keeps wearing off in the first wear, I feel like one of the 12 dancing princesses but without the fun! Well somehow, my well laid plan of exchanging for the exact amount of shoes went out of the window (probably because I remember them being $98 and they were actually $80)
Next stop was Fredrick's of Hollywood. Get your mind out of the gutter. I bought a DRESS! It was a dress that was pretty similar to a dress that WHBM had that I missed when it got to the 60% off rack. It's one shoulder, completely sequin, and made out of some magic material that minimizes what should be minimized and enhances what should be enhanced. As a pretty curvy lady, I never expected the sheaf dress to look good - they never do. The dress was UNBELIEVABLE! Boyfriend's eyes bugged out (after 2.5 years, that's not so easy to do) and he told me that if I didn't buy it I was crazy.
So far this week I've only spent $5 on Coke while at work, so I'm doing well! But I'm supposed to go to Disney with the girls this weekend....guess it's time to cash my credit card rewards into Disney Dollars!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
New Job...oh boy
So Monday I started a new job. It's a 4 month contract position at a local corporation. Well while I was at my parents' house, Boyfriend started a new 9/80 schedule - which means we now get up at 5:30 am so he can get to work on time. No problem, its dark out still and the thought of breakfast makes me want to puke, but plenty of time to get ready and get there for 8 am! Outfit looks great, lunch and to-go breakfast packed, got my passport...all set to go!
Chapter 1: The Arrival!
The final email from the recruiter with the first-day instructions says to go to X address, so I do. Well there's 7 buildings, eany meany....I pick the main building! Ask for the person I was told to...The receptionist has never heard of her...she guesses to go to a different building. I totter back to the car in my heels....great now I'm late. Second building is the charm and I'm ready to start!
Chapter 2: The Paperwork.
Per the instructions I got, I filled out all of the paperwork ahead of time. I questioned some of the paperwork, as it seemed it needed to be done on the first day, but was told to just fill it out. Ok. I get there...nope, wasn't supposed to fill it out ahead of time. It asks for phone numbers of contacts - all information I do NOT have with me. Gotta totter back to the car and get my cell phone so I can get numbers out of my cell. Finally fill the paperwork out and now I need to wait for someone with clearance to come escort me to my desk....except they seem to keep forgetting about me.
Finally I get to my desk, but my supervisor wasn't given the right password to get me in...and the help desk isn't picking up...The next few hours speed by as I go from meeting to meeting and run all around the building in my heels. I don't get to my desk until almost 2pm...and of course none of the computer programs my superior requested are ready. I have had to call the help desk every day this week!
Don't get me started on the cubical village I'm currently housed in either. There are soooo many stories about that. There are 35 cubicles in the same room as me - I counted on the map. I'm in the overflow area - even the switchboard is in the same room as me!! I could have a whole blog just devoted to the one sided conversation I hear from my cube. There should be a site like "FML" or "Texts From Last Night" devoted to the crazy stuff you hear from your cubical..... more on that later
Chapter 1: The Arrival!
The final email from the recruiter with the first-day instructions says to go to X address, so I do. Well there's 7 buildings, eany meany....I pick the main building! Ask for the person I was told to...The receptionist has never heard of her...she guesses to go to a different building. I totter back to the car in my heels....great now I'm late. Second building is the charm and I'm ready to start!
Chapter 2: The Paperwork.
Per the instructions I got, I filled out all of the paperwork ahead of time. I questioned some of the paperwork, as it seemed it needed to be done on the first day, but was told to just fill it out. Ok. I get there...nope, wasn't supposed to fill it out ahead of time. It asks for phone numbers of contacts - all information I do NOT have with me. Gotta totter back to the car and get my cell phone so I can get numbers out of my cell. Finally fill the paperwork out and now I need to wait for someone with clearance to come escort me to my desk....except they seem to keep forgetting about me.
Finally I get to my desk, but my supervisor wasn't given the right password to get me in...and the help desk isn't picking up...The next few hours speed by as I go from meeting to meeting and run all around the building in my heels. I don't get to my desk until almost 2pm...and of course none of the computer programs my superior requested are ready. I have had to call the help desk every day this week!
Don't get me started on the cubical village I'm currently housed in either. There are soooo many stories about that. There are 35 cubicles in the same room as me - I counted on the map. I'm in the overflow area - even the switchboard is in the same room as me!! I could have a whole blog just devoted to the one sided conversation I hear from my cube. There should be a site like "FML" or "Texts From Last Night" devoted to the crazy stuff you hear from your cubical..... more on that later
Friday, March 11, 2011
DING! The Captain Has Turned Off the Safety Light. You are Now Free to Hate the Airline.
I think the flight back from Massachusetts was the WORST flying experience I have ever had - and I fly a lot.
First the flight was delayed due to the previous flight being late and they kept subtly changing the depart time without announcements. The only indication that you weren't crazy and misremembering the time was the TIIIIIINY yellow announcement on the flight monitor. Thankfully, they made boarding go faster than normal so that we could all get on only about fifteen minutes late.
Ok, so now we're all packed in like sardines. I'm sitting next to a guy who looks like a cross between Jersey Shore and European Man Today- stubble, undershirt showing, fur-lined jacket, jeans, and men's leather boots - on his cell phone speaking not so happily to a phone carrier. Whatever, if nothing else it will be entertaining. Then the worst thing imaginable...
"Bing! Hey folks, this is the captain. It seems while they were closing the cargo hold the handle broke off, [inner thought: WTF!? I feel safe!] so we need to get maintenance out here to fix it. Just hold tight [where am I supposed to go?? I'm belted into an airplane!] and we'll fix it as soon as we can. I'll give you an update soon, this should only take about a half hour." The woman across the aisle starts flipping out. Calling the airline, demanding to be put on another plane, another airline.
A half hour later..."Hey folks, the handle is completely broken and they need to replace it, they got the part now and it shouldn't be too much longer, I'll keep you posted". more screaming from across the aisle....another half hour...the guy next to me starts calling for free shots, the woman has sent her husband to the front of the plane twice and rang the call button, but no word from the captain and the flight attendants are hiding. At this point I know that even if we take off immediately, I'm going to miss my connection...another 15 minutes..."Hey folks, I've been down there checking it out. They got the handle on, just need to fill out some paperwork and tighten a few things. They're hurrying so we can take off as soon as possible. We'll get out as soon as we can, if you have a 5pm connection you should be ok"...another 20 minutes..."Hey folks, still working on the paperwork and final check, it should be soon...if you missed your connection we automatically rerouted you..." he then rattles off destinations and new flight times, except for my destination - but the attendants are still hiding so I can't ask about it...another 20 minutes after that we finally left - almost two hours late.
During takeoff, a piece of molding over the window comes loose and flaps in the breeze over some passenger's heads. The attendant runs over with MASKING TAPE to hold it back up. They couldn't even use duct tape?? The guy in front of me recorded it on his phone, but I can't find it on youtube to show you. The attendant gave him a bad look when she realized he'd taped it.
Here's the only good part of the flight: while coming down the aisle with the beverage and food, I look at the menu and decide I'm splurging for some alcohol and a $5 adult lunchable. They don't have the snack advertised in the sky magazine, so I get a different one, but when I go to hand the attendant my credit card she shakes her head. BOO YA! free booze and food. Small victories, my friend, small victories.
So we land at about 4:35, my connection took off at 4:05. Now there's no room for us at any gates because we're so late, so we have to wait AGAIN on the tarmac. Of course angry lady to my left gets on the phone screaming to the airline again (with the attendant strapped in two seats over). Finally pull into the gate at about 4:50 and people clamor over each other to get out and to their next flight. I know I'm screwed so I hold back and let people go in front of me. I scan my boarding pass at the "Missed your flight? Scan and Go" counter...7:35 flight....standby...excuse me? Yup, standby. Great. Check the gate, decide to go check it out and cry to the booth person. After 2 gate changes and running all around I finally get to the right place, they're boarding a different flight, so I get some nasty airline food and look for a book store since I finished my book due to the delay. No book stores in this terminal. No book, dead ipod, no free internet for laptop...so not happy. I'm forced to get a trashy romance novel at the newsstand. I get to the booth, tell he guy my sob story, he says he can't tell me if there's room on the flight for at least an hour. So I go angrily eat and wait. When I go back in about an hour, whine some more, and get a real ticket! YAY! Then things start looking up as I find someone I know on my dinky flight to my little town, so I sit and talk to them for the hour until boarding...then this flight gets delayed too...o well I'm now numb to all this and just wait it out talking to my friends.
We board...I have a middle seat, of course, whatever I'm going home. There's drunk people galore across the aisle. I wouldn't care so much if my Lenox Mickey Mouse, that I carried on so it wouldn't break, wasn't above their heads and they kept knocking around their bags and re-opening the compartment even after the attendant closed it for take off. I begged the man to my right to get up and close the hatch, explaining about the Mickey, he does it since what am I going to do, climb over him? Nice short flight, I read my new trashy book the whole time, the drunk people slept, and its good, I even get the guy to jump up and get my mickey before the drunk people knock it on the floor - he made a comment about it but I just didn't care at that point. Time to call the boyfriend to pick me up....I text him I land and when I go to answer him calling while at baggage my phone dies...crap. They flight friends are mutual friends! I ask them to call him, they only one that has his number has a dead cell too...crap. So I go outside and hope he just circles until he finds me. He does! With Riley in tow, he picks me up. Its almost five hours after I was supposed to be home, but I'm finally home and it's wonderful.
I just got an email from Delta asking me to give feed back on my flight experience...this is going to be fun!
First the flight was delayed due to the previous flight being late and they kept subtly changing the depart time without announcements. The only indication that you weren't crazy and misremembering the time was the TIIIIIINY yellow announcement on the flight monitor. Thankfully, they made boarding go faster than normal so that we could all get on only about fifteen minutes late.
Ok, so now we're all packed in like sardines. I'm sitting next to a guy who looks like a cross between Jersey Shore and European Man Today- stubble, undershirt showing, fur-lined jacket, jeans, and men's leather boots - on his cell phone speaking not so happily to a phone carrier. Whatever, if nothing else it will be entertaining. Then the worst thing imaginable...
"Bing! Hey folks, this is the captain. It seems while they were closing the cargo hold the handle broke off, [inner thought: WTF!? I feel safe!] so we need to get maintenance out here to fix it. Just hold tight [where am I supposed to go?? I'm belted into an airplane!] and we'll fix it as soon as we can. I'll give you an update soon, this should only take about a half hour." The woman across the aisle starts flipping out. Calling the airline, demanding to be put on another plane, another airline.
A half hour later..."Hey folks, the handle is completely broken and they need to replace it, they got the part now and it shouldn't be too much longer, I'll keep you posted". more screaming from across the aisle....another half hour...the guy next to me starts calling for free shots, the woman has sent her husband to the front of the plane twice and rang the call button, but no word from the captain and the flight attendants are hiding. At this point I know that even if we take off immediately, I'm going to miss my connection...another 15 minutes..."Hey folks, I've been down there checking it out. They got the handle on, just need to fill out some paperwork and tighten a few things. They're hurrying so we can take off as soon as possible. We'll get out as soon as we can, if you have a 5pm connection you should be ok"...another 20 minutes..."Hey folks, still working on the paperwork and final check, it should be soon...if you missed your connection we automatically rerouted you..." he then rattles off destinations and new flight times, except for my destination - but the attendants are still hiding so I can't ask about it...another 20 minutes after that we finally left - almost two hours late.
During takeoff, a piece of molding over the window comes loose and flaps in the breeze over some passenger's heads. The attendant runs over with MASKING TAPE to hold it back up. They couldn't even use duct tape?? The guy in front of me recorded it on his phone, but I can't find it on youtube to show you. The attendant gave him a bad look when she realized he'd taped it.
Here's the only good part of the flight: while coming down the aisle with the beverage and food, I look at the menu and decide I'm splurging for some alcohol and a $5 adult lunchable. They don't have the snack advertised in the sky magazine, so I get a different one, but when I go to hand the attendant my credit card she shakes her head. BOO YA! free booze and food. Small victories, my friend, small victories.
So we land at about 4:35, my connection took off at 4:05. Now there's no room for us at any gates because we're so late, so we have to wait AGAIN on the tarmac. Of course angry lady to my left gets on the phone screaming to the airline again (with the attendant strapped in two seats over). Finally pull into the gate at about 4:50 and people clamor over each other to get out and to their next flight. I know I'm screwed so I hold back and let people go in front of me. I scan my boarding pass at the "Missed your flight? Scan and Go" counter...7:35 flight....standby...excuse me? Yup, standby. Great. Check the gate, decide to go check it out and cry to the booth person. After 2 gate changes and running all around I finally get to the right place, they're boarding a different flight, so I get some nasty airline food and look for a book store since I finished my book due to the delay. No book stores in this terminal. No book, dead ipod, no free internet for laptop...so not happy. I'm forced to get a trashy romance novel at the newsstand. I get to the booth, tell he guy my sob story, he says he can't tell me if there's room on the flight for at least an hour. So I go angrily eat and wait. When I go back in about an hour, whine some more, and get a real ticket! YAY! Then things start looking up as I find someone I know on my dinky flight to my little town, so I sit and talk to them for the hour until boarding...then this flight gets delayed too...o well I'm now numb to all this and just wait it out talking to my friends.
We board...I have a middle seat, of course, whatever I'm going home. There's drunk people galore across the aisle. I wouldn't care so much if my Lenox Mickey Mouse, that I carried on so it wouldn't break, wasn't above their heads and they kept knocking around their bags and re-opening the compartment even after the attendant closed it for take off. I begged the man to my right to get up and close the hatch, explaining about the Mickey, he does it since what am I going to do, climb over him? Nice short flight, I read my new trashy book the whole time, the drunk people slept, and its good, I even get the guy to jump up and get my mickey before the drunk people knock it on the floor - he made a comment about it but I just didn't care at that point. Time to call the boyfriend to pick me up....I text him I land and when I go to answer him calling while at baggage my phone dies...crap. They flight friends are mutual friends! I ask them to call him, they only one that has his number has a dead cell too...crap. So I go outside and hope he just circles until he finds me. He does! With Riley in tow, he picks me up. Its almost five hours after I was supposed to be home, but I'm finally home and it's wonderful.
I just got an email from Delta asking me to give feed back on my flight experience...this is going to be fun!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Cleaning Out the Attic
I traveled to my parents house in still snowy Massachusetts. As someone who detests the cold, I was very unhappy to find at least three feet of snow STILL on the ground - but with sweat pants and plenty of fuzzy socks in hand, I was able to get to business - cleaning out my stuff!
It is an eventual part of life, your parents realize you are never coming home, and they want to reclaim what was once your space for purposes of their own: a craft room, a yoga pad, or Grandma's new diggs. My mother has been after me for a while to come get my stuff...though that isn't the word she uses.
Task 1: Polly Pockets. I forgot how awesome these are! I have most of the village, including the mansion, the pop-up drama house, and the magnetic play set where Polly "walks". I lined them all up on the kitchen counter and had a great trip down memory lane. This trip was double the fun because my mother admitted how cool they are - WINNER! Quick search on EBay and they are going for $6-$12 a set. Nice. These are definitely coming home - either I save them for my future girl, play with them, or realize they are a horrible choke hazard and sell them online.
Task 2: BARBIES. Again, great trip down memory lane. I decided to get rid of the cheap plastic sets (i.e. the Stable and similar sets of snap together, minimally colored plastic sets from when Mattel stopped trying making cool things and went for mass-produced cheap things), and kept the awesome "they don't make them like this any more" things, like the Tyco Little Kitchens play set. Oh yea, this spoiled little princess had the stove, the refrigerator, AND even the kitchen sink! The stove makes cooking sounds, and the front two burners have magnets of opposite polarity so that you can flip a special pancake! I think I now understand why I went into engineering! The refrigerator was slightly less cool, but had a real ice dispenser that made nose and shot out little clear plastic ice cube blobs. The best thing about the refrigerator was the FOOD. Amazingly detailed packages of real brand-name foods, like Wonder bread, and Pepsi soda (though I'm a Coke girl). The kitchen sink was attached to a wall of counter and cabinet space for storage with a dishwasher and a sink that sprayed real water (if you filled the special tray in the back). So awesome! Those are all safely packed away with a few of my all time favorite barbies to pass on to my daughter (or pull out and play with when I feel like reverting to an 8 year old)
Task 3: Beanie Babies. My high school friend came over and helped me go through them all. We tried to do some research for a list of the top value beanies. The engineer in me was determined to apply the 80/20 rule: 20% of the items would make up about 80% of the total value of the whole bunch - much better than doing the work on that 80% and only getting 20% of the money!! So many lists were contradicting themselves that we decided to sort by release year - all 160 of them, yup, I counted. Finally found one list that said the original beanies were usually worth the most - if they were also first generation. How the heck do you tell? Find an obscure website that lists out which tag design is which generation. ALL of my beanies are 4th or 5th generation. So how much are they all worth? About $80-$160 for ALL of them...before eBay fees. So not worth it, I donated them (except for specific ones to give to friends, a couple holiday ones for decorations, and one that looks like Riley). At least now they will benefit someone! Karma points beat out dollars in this case.
So now all of my items have been sorted at my parents house; now we just need to figure out how to get it the 1300 miles to Florida!!
It is an eventual part of life, your parents realize you are never coming home, and they want to reclaim what was once your space for purposes of their own: a craft room, a yoga pad, or Grandma's new diggs. My mother has been after me for a while to come get my stuff...though that isn't the word she uses.
Task 1: Polly Pockets. I forgot how awesome these are! I have most of the village, including the mansion, the pop-up drama house, and the magnetic play set where Polly "walks". I lined them all up on the kitchen counter and had a great trip down memory lane. This trip was double the fun because my mother admitted how cool they are - WINNER! Quick search on EBay and they are going for $6-$12 a set. Nice. These are definitely coming home - either I save them for my future girl, play with them, or realize they are a horrible choke hazard and sell them online.
Task 2: BARBIES. Again, great trip down memory lane. I decided to get rid of the cheap plastic sets (i.e. the Stable and similar sets of snap together, minimally colored plastic sets from when Mattel stopped trying making cool things and went for mass-produced cheap things), and kept the awesome "they don't make them like this any more" things, like the Tyco Little Kitchens play set. Oh yea, this spoiled little princess had the stove, the refrigerator, AND even the kitchen sink! The stove makes cooking sounds, and the front two burners have magnets of opposite polarity so that you can flip a special pancake! I think I now understand why I went into engineering! The refrigerator was slightly less cool, but had a real ice dispenser that made nose and shot out little clear plastic ice cube blobs. The best thing about the refrigerator was the FOOD. Amazingly detailed packages of real brand-name foods, like Wonder bread, and Pepsi soda (though I'm a Coke girl). The kitchen sink was attached to a wall of counter and cabinet space for storage with a dishwasher and a sink that sprayed real water (if you filled the special tray in the back). So awesome! Those are all safely packed away with a few of my all time favorite barbies to pass on to my daughter (or pull out and play with when I feel like reverting to an 8 year old)
Task 3: Beanie Babies. My high school friend came over and helped me go through them all. We tried to do some research for a list of the top value beanies. The engineer in me was determined to apply the 80/20 rule: 20% of the items would make up about 80% of the total value of the whole bunch - much better than doing the work on that 80% and only getting 20% of the money!! So many lists were contradicting themselves that we decided to sort by release year - all 160 of them, yup, I counted. Finally found one list that said the original beanies were usually worth the most - if they were also first generation. How the heck do you tell? Find an obscure website that lists out which tag design is which generation. ALL of my beanies are 4th or 5th generation. So how much are they all worth? About $80-$160 for ALL of them...before eBay fees. So not worth it, I donated them (except for specific ones to give to friends, a couple holiday ones for decorations, and one that looks like Riley). At least now they will benefit someone! Karma points beat out dollars in this case.
So now all of my items have been sorted at my parents house; now we just need to figure out how to get it the 1300 miles to Florida!!
Monday, February 28, 2011
My Latest Distraction
I've been too busy using my new Cricut to update this blog. I bought it President's Day weekend on SUPER Sale. I actually got almost 60% off of everything I bought! Any Crafter knows that Cricut products almost NEVER go on sale, and those amazing 40% off coupons never apply to them. I saved twice what I spent!! Call me Ms. Master Saver!
So I bought the original small Cricut, my crafter friend said it was a good one to get started with. I also got two cartridges: Lyrical Letters, and Everyday Paper Dolls. I've made the cutest pages! I'll scan a few and update this post with them. This thing is so addicting though! So easy to use too! I had my non-crafty girlfriend using it within a half hour. She loved it so much she now has her own crafting envelope at my house - she's even talking about buying her own stack of paper to leave here and buying the next cutting mat!
In order to improve my crafting experience, I claimed a corner of the office as my craft corner. Unfortunately the office is so small that this means putting a table IN FRONT of the closet door, but we hardly use the closet right now anyway, after I make sure this addiction sticks I'll make a better, more permanent spot for my crafts.
My Cricut addiction brought on another new addiction: EBAY. I haven't eBay'ed (yes I'm making that a word) since high school. I've bought two new cartridges (still waiting for them to be delivered) - Storybook and Dress Up Paper Dolls. The Storybook one is great for embellishments, swirls, corner decorations, etc - I played with it at my friend's house. The new paperdolls one has outfits for the dolls - cowboy, cat, dog, etc - I figure its a good investment as all my friends are having kids. I'm actually planning on making a storybook for Boyfriend's goddaughter - I don't have any nieces or nephews of my own (and my friends' kids are all really little) so she gets to be spoiled, she's so sweet that she's worth it. If it goes well, I might make more for my friends' kids as they get older, or make them and sell them on eBay - see I can make an addiction pay!
Be prepared for craft ideas to come!
So I bought the original small Cricut, my crafter friend said it was a good one to get started with. I also got two cartridges: Lyrical Letters, and Everyday Paper Dolls. I've made the cutest pages! I'll scan a few and update this post with them. This thing is so addicting though! So easy to use too! I had my non-crafty girlfriend using it within a half hour. She loved it so much she now has her own crafting envelope at my house - she's even talking about buying her own stack of paper to leave here and buying the next cutting mat!
In order to improve my crafting experience, I claimed a corner of the office as my craft corner. Unfortunately the office is so small that this means putting a table IN FRONT of the closet door, but we hardly use the closet right now anyway, after I make sure this addiction sticks I'll make a better, more permanent spot for my crafts.
My Cricut addiction brought on another new addiction: EBAY. I haven't eBay'ed (yes I'm making that a word) since high school. I've bought two new cartridges (still waiting for them to be delivered) - Storybook and Dress Up Paper Dolls. The Storybook one is great for embellishments, swirls, corner decorations, etc - I played with it at my friend's house. The new paperdolls one has outfits for the dolls - cowboy, cat, dog, etc - I figure its a good investment as all my friends are having kids. I'm actually planning on making a storybook for Boyfriend's goddaughter - I don't have any nieces or nephews of my own (and my friends' kids are all really little) so she gets to be spoiled, she's so sweet that she's worth it. If it goes well, I might make more for my friends' kids as they get older, or make them and sell them on eBay - see I can make an addiction pay!
Be prepared for craft ideas to come!
Friday, February 18, 2011
The valentines that almost wasn't
We celebrated valentines last weekend (early because I had a conflict on the actual day). Another day of one thing after another.
1. Special Skin Treatment
I decided to go all out! I used my special oxidizing rejuvenating facial cream. It tingles and cleans out the pores and brightens up your whole face. It takes 10 minutes, so I decided to do my legs and eyebrows while I waited. When I washed the cream off, my skin was glowing and rosy. A little TOO rosy. Time for lots of foundation to even out my now blotchy skin.
2. I can see! NOT
When I went to put in contacts, I realized I'm all out. So glasses it is. So not the look I wanted. Oh well, the date must go on.
3. The dress
Boyfriend bought me a dress after Christmas from my favorite store (White House Black Market). The dress just wasn't right for me. There was an abstract bow on one side, with gathering to it. It's a nice dress, my best friend has it and it looks good on her - not me though. It emphasizes all the wrong parts. So the day before, I went with a friend and exchanged it for a little black dress unlike any other I've ever had. Short, with sparkle and embroidery in a band down the middle. So not like me, perfect for Vday! New pair of shoes to go with it too. Unfortunately, although my friend and the saleswomen and I all loved it in the store, day of, I had second thoughts. Just had to go with it though.
Next year, I will check my contacts a week early, use any skin treatment a day early (or at least a few hours), and ALWAYS have a backup dress!
1. Special Skin Treatment
I decided to go all out! I used my special oxidizing rejuvenating facial cream. It tingles and cleans out the pores and brightens up your whole face. It takes 10 minutes, so I decided to do my legs and eyebrows while I waited. When I washed the cream off, my skin was glowing and rosy. A little TOO rosy. Time for lots of foundation to even out my now blotchy skin.
2. I can see! NOT
When I went to put in contacts, I realized I'm all out. So glasses it is. So not the look I wanted. Oh well, the date must go on.
3. The dress
Boyfriend bought me a dress after Christmas from my favorite store (White House Black Market). The dress just wasn't right for me. There was an abstract bow on one side, with gathering to it. It's a nice dress, my best friend has it and it looks good on her - not me though. It emphasizes all the wrong parts. So the day before, I went with a friend and exchanged it for a little black dress unlike any other I've ever had. Short, with sparkle and embroidery in a band down the middle. So not like me, perfect for Vday! New pair of shoes to go with it too. Unfortunately, although my friend and the saleswomen and I all loved it in the store, day of, I had second thoughts. Just had to go with it though.
Next year, I will check my contacts a week early, use any skin treatment a day early (or at least a few hours), and ALWAYS have a backup dress!
Monday, February 14, 2011
EA Active 2 for PS3 - Review
I'm an average woman, which means I want to get in better shape. I figure, I'm in my 20s, if I'm not in shape now, I never will be. Plus I have some dresses I'd love to look better in...like my Valentine's dress. So when I bought Boyfriend the Move, I picked up the EA Active 2 for myself.
You start out by designing yourself, wish there were more options on hair colors but still kinda cool. You then pick a workout program or pick as you go individual workouts. I decided to start the 9-week program, and chose the woman for my trainer - the woman is better for aerobics and the guy is better for pushing yourself according to the cd book.
I did the first workout today. Man, that trainer is mean! She kept yelling at me to push harder. Squats, skipping rope, MOUNTAIN CLIMBING (running, squatting, and jumping when prompted), even arm curls with a provided resistance band (or substitute your own hand weights). The planks almost did me in. A couple times, I wasn't sure if I wanted to hurl or cry, and I know I did more flailing when running than "pumping" my arms.
Riley seemed to enjoy watching mommy panting and jumping all around. During the planks and the cool down stretching, Riley seemed to think it was play time and kept getting into my face. We'll see if I loose any weight, I also ordered some magic supplement from Vitamin Shoppe that's supposed to help me "make the most" of my efforts.
You start out by designing yourself, wish there were more options on hair colors but still kinda cool. You then pick a workout program or pick as you go individual workouts. I decided to start the 9-week program, and chose the woman for my trainer - the woman is better for aerobics and the guy is better for pushing yourself according to the cd book.
I did the first workout today. Man, that trainer is mean! She kept yelling at me to push harder. Squats, skipping rope, MOUNTAIN CLIMBING (running, squatting, and jumping when prompted), even arm curls with a provided resistance band (or substitute your own hand weights). The planks almost did me in. A couple times, I wasn't sure if I wanted to hurl or cry, and I know I did more flailing when running than "pumping" my arms.
Riley seemed to enjoy watching mommy panting and jumping all around. During the planks and the cool down stretching, Riley seemed to think it was play time and kept getting into my face. We'll see if I loose any weight, I also ordered some magic supplement from Vitamin Shoppe that's supposed to help me "make the most" of my efforts.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
PS3 MOVE, Little Big Planet 2
For valentine's day, I bought Boyfriend the Move for PS3...did a lot of research before I bought it. Our parents have wii's so we are familiar with those, but we already have his PS3 and my Xbox360 so we wanted to get one of those. The PS3 was better rated (especially for our smaller living room), and less expensive ($99 for the starter bundle compared to $150 for Kinect)
I bought him the bundle (which comes with the motion camera, one wand, and a sports game) and an extra wand so I can play too. We decided to not buy any navigation controls because the games we got didn't require it, and we figured we could get one later.
It took a little bit to set up (due to blond moments on our parts), but once it did it was pretty easy to figure out. It is WAY more responsive than wii. I will say that I recommend buying a flat screen mount adapter for the camera if you are tall or have a smaller living room (will be picking one up soon). We've played table tennis, boccie, and volley ball. A lot of fun, and we both worked up a little sweat while playing!
He also got himself Little Big Planet 2, we'd played it at a friend's house and he really enjoyed it. I find the multi-player part of the game frustrating at times. If you get separated from your team you "die" and have to wait for a resurrection portal to play again. Very annoying. Though Boyfriend and I can be very competitive when we play against each other, which doesn't help...there was much muttering and gnashing of teeth. Riley slept through the whole thing. In a few hours we completed the first section of the game and will continue on together soon.
Tomorrow I'm going to start a new workout plan. I have a shakeweight, the palate's zone (both as-seen-on-tv products) and I picked up the Active 2 workout system for PS3 as well. We'll see if I can get in shape by my May 6th graduation! I want to try to wear the same dress I wore for my middle school AND high school graduation! Lofty goal huh?
I bought him the bundle (which comes with the motion camera, one wand, and a sports game) and an extra wand so I can play too. We decided to not buy any navigation controls because the games we got didn't require it, and we figured we could get one later.
It took a little bit to set up (due to blond moments on our parts), but once it did it was pretty easy to figure out. It is WAY more responsive than wii. I will say that I recommend buying a flat screen mount adapter for the camera if you are tall or have a smaller living room (will be picking one up soon). We've played table tennis, boccie, and volley ball. A lot of fun, and we both worked up a little sweat while playing!
He also got himself Little Big Planet 2, we'd played it at a friend's house and he really enjoyed it. I find the multi-player part of the game frustrating at times. If you get separated from your team you "die" and have to wait for a resurrection portal to play again. Very annoying. Though Boyfriend and I can be very competitive when we play against each other, which doesn't help...there was much muttering and gnashing of teeth. Riley slept through the whole thing. In a few hours we completed the first section of the game and will continue on together soon.
Tomorrow I'm going to start a new workout plan. I have a shakeweight, the palate's zone (both as-seen-on-tv products) and I picked up the Active 2 workout system for PS3 as well. We'll see if I can get in shape by my May 6th graduation! I want to try to wear the same dress I wore for my middle school AND high school graduation! Lofty goal huh?
The chicken disaster
So I gave in to the urgings of my girlfriends and made "Engagement Chicken" for dinner. For anyone who doesn't know what this is, its a recipe that appears in Glamor Magazine every so often, which consists of a roasted chicken that you shove a couple lemons up its rear. So why is it called "Engagement Chicken"? The dish is supposed to have magical properties! Make this for your boyfriend, and within two months he will be your fiancee. There have been over 22 reported successes with this dish, including the girlfriend of the proclaimed bachelor Howard Stern. Figured why not give it a whirl, if nothing else I could successfully roast my first chicken!
So you take a roughly 3 pound bird. Wash it out in and out, drown it in lemon juice (inside and out), salt and pepper, then shove 2 medium lemons up its butt. Roast in a 350 deg oven BREAST DOWN for 15 min, then FLIP IT OVER! and roast for 35 more min. I know what your thinking; you think I dropped it on the floor when I flipped it over...WRONG! That is not the disaster of this story!
First issue: I don't need to rely on timing, I have a thermometer timer that Boyfriend bought me. Just select the meat, insert the probe, and wait for it to beep when the meat is at the safe temperature. Well...as I put the chicken in the oven - with probe inserted - the timer part of the piece falls off the counter, hits the floor, and dies! The thing won't turn back on. Ok, guess I'll do it the old fashioned way and just time it.
Second Issue: Ok, 35 minutes breast up, should be done. Slice by the thigh, blood gushing out. NOT DONE...ok put back in.
...Ten Minutes later...
Use non digital stick in thermometer....150 ok still not done
....Ten Minutes later...."Honey, is dinner done yet??" grrrr...Cut the breast...still pink...throw it back in....five minutes later....pull it out, carve it up...well SOME of it is edible... Half the breast is cooked, half isn't, one thigh is done, one isn't. Throw carcass back in oven and serve what I can. We eat what we can off of that dish and nuke the rest when Boyfriend wants seconds.
Third Issue: When I went to get the wish bone...it was already broken.
I'm taking this as a sign...I have no luck or wishes to come true...and I'm not going to get engaged any time soon....which was confirmed at valentines dinner when Boyfriend said he didn't see us getting married until at least 2013
Maybe he's trying to keep me on my toes again? Seriously doubt it though!
So you take a roughly 3 pound bird. Wash it out in and out, drown it in lemon juice (inside and out), salt and pepper, then shove 2 medium lemons up its butt. Roast in a 350 deg oven BREAST DOWN for 15 min, then FLIP IT OVER! and roast for 35 more min. I know what your thinking; you think I dropped it on the floor when I flipped it over...WRONG! That is not the disaster of this story!
First issue: I don't need to rely on timing, I have a thermometer timer that Boyfriend bought me. Just select the meat, insert the probe, and wait for it to beep when the meat is at the safe temperature. Well...as I put the chicken in the oven - with probe inserted - the timer part of the piece falls off the counter, hits the floor, and dies! The thing won't turn back on. Ok, guess I'll do it the old fashioned way and just time it.
Second Issue: Ok, 35 minutes breast up, should be done. Slice by the thigh, blood gushing out. NOT DONE...ok put back in.
...Ten Minutes later...
Use non digital stick in thermometer....150 ok still not done
....Ten Minutes later...."Honey, is dinner done yet??" grrrr...Cut the breast...still pink...throw it back in....five minutes later....pull it out, carve it up...well SOME of it is edible... Half the breast is cooked, half isn't, one thigh is done, one isn't. Throw carcass back in oven and serve what I can. We eat what we can off of that dish and nuke the rest when Boyfriend wants seconds.
Third Issue: When I went to get the wish bone...it was already broken.
I'm taking this as a sign...I have no luck or wishes to come true...and I'm not going to get engaged any time soon....which was confirmed at valentines dinner when Boyfriend said he didn't see us getting married until at least 2013
Maybe he's trying to keep me on my toes again? Seriously doubt it though!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Blogging Bug
This blogging business is dangerous. Its really addicting just putting your thoughts out there; you can say what you want and not have to look people in the eye while doing it! Perfect for anyone who is too shy to speak up all the time.
I've really gotten into forums too. Well one. If you go to the Blackveil page on Amazon.com and go to the discussion board "Plot Shock...", the three posts that are by "Bethany" are all me. One person even referenced me in one of the follow up posts! So exciting...so sad that it's that exciting...
I'm happy to report though that there is someone who is very delusional regarding the plot of the series, but another poster and myself are trying to put her in her place!
How do these, basically public online diaries start? How do they catch on? Why do we all get caught up on the most meaningless things! This one discussion thread on Amazon has 90 posts over 8 days....most of them in the last couple of days. Over 10 posts a day on ONE book, one not even vastly popular book! Yet my forum for science fair project help has ZERO posts over a few months! Wouldn't you think help on a school assignment or learning project skills that will help over your life time would be more popular or more important than a sci/fi novel?
Then again, I bet there are a million times more high school students who have seen "Numa Numa" on YouTube than have read Jane Eyre. And there I will stop, because I'm starting to sound like my mother.
I've really gotten into forums too. Well one. If you go to the Blackveil page on Amazon.com and go to the discussion board "Plot Shock...", the three posts that are by "Bethany" are all me. One person even referenced me in one of the follow up posts! So exciting...so sad that it's that exciting...
I'm happy to report though that there is someone who is very delusional regarding the plot of the series, but another poster and myself are trying to put her in her place!
How do these, basically public online diaries start? How do they catch on? Why do we all get caught up on the most meaningless things! This one discussion thread on Amazon has 90 posts over 8 days....most of them in the last couple of days. Over 10 posts a day on ONE book, one not even vastly popular book! Yet my forum for science fair project help has ZERO posts over a few months! Wouldn't you think help on a school assignment or learning project skills that will help over your life time would be more popular or more important than a sci/fi novel?
Then again, I bet there are a million times more high school students who have seen "Numa Numa" on YouTube than have read Jane Eyre. And there I will stop, because I'm starting to sound like my mother.
Peanut Butter Cups
On Friday, I made peanut butter cups from scratch - they are Boyfriend's favorite, and we're doing low-cost valentines day this year (though he already broke that by buying diamond bracelets for me...so pretty)
I followed these directions,*NOT* as easy as they look. Making the initial shell took some practice. I'd recommend using foil mini cupcake holders, or maybe actual candy molds. I used V-day themed mini cupcake from the craft store - VERY THIN. I ended up having to hold the liner in my hand and smooshing around the edges with the spoon, practically folding the thing in on itself in the process. The final chocolate cap was a lot easier and more fun. I also got pink melting chocolate to put little hearts on top or to differentiate different fillings - but the one filling was hard enough that I didn't want to try another batch so I didn't use it. In the end, very worth it. They are delicious! The filling tastes just like Reese's (I used "Great Value" reduced fat smooth), and I prefer the richness of the semi-sweet chocolate over the milk chocolate. We've been eating them out of the refrigerator, which occasionally hurts the teeth, but, again, SO WORTH IT.
I followed these directions,*NOT* as easy as they look. Making the initial shell took some practice. I'd recommend using foil mini cupcake holders, or maybe actual candy molds. I used V-day themed mini cupcake from the craft store - VERY THIN. I ended up having to hold the liner in my hand and smooshing around the edges with the spoon, practically folding the thing in on itself in the process. The final chocolate cap was a lot easier and more fun. I also got pink melting chocolate to put little hearts on top or to differentiate different fillings - but the one filling was hard enough that I didn't want to try another batch so I didn't use it. In the end, very worth it. They are delicious! The filling tastes just like Reese's (I used "Great Value" reduced fat smooth), and I prefer the richness of the semi-sweet chocolate over the milk chocolate. We've been eating them out of the refrigerator, which occasionally hurts the teeth, but, again, SO WORTH IT.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Blackveil - The Review
The book finally came at 7pm on Tuesday....so I waited to start it Wednesday morning because I knew once I started I wouldn't want to stop. Read all day Wed, had to stop to go to class, and then half the day Thursday.
I find myself very unsure of how I feel about the book - I probably won't know until after a long discussion with my best friend who also reads the series. It definitely draws you in. I was so engrossed that I laughed, cried, and fumed right along with the characters. Also, I about jumped out of my skins a couple times when someone knocked on the door or the dog jumped on me.
The book is not being received well by the fans of the series though. As of this morning, there are 22 reviews on Amazon, and even the best are less than positive, and the worst are SCATHING: "too little too late." Many are yelling that they will not "waste" their money on buying the next books in the series. All are less than thrilled about the long wait between books, as Kristen Britain averages 3-4 years between books. According to Ms. Britain's blog, she is already at work on book 5, so I'm hopeful it will only be 2 years. The last book was released 3 years and 4 months after its predecessor, so if she can shave 9 months off her process again (especially since she started writing 5 before 4 was published), then hopefully in 2013 we'll find out what happens.
I will agree with the other reviewers that it feels a little unfinished, that it was definitely not a lighthearted read like some of the past books. In a lot of ways, it reminds me of Harry Potter book 6 - a lot of character development, a lot of things you don't want to happen, and a set-up book.
I disagree that "nothing happened." I know many would have preferred an all action book, but its hard to have plot and character development with nothing but swashbuckling action. I found many questions from past novels answered, and many of my predictions fulfilled. Also, for all the "it wasn't happy, I want happy-go-lucky" unfortunately, not all stories go the way you want. Even though I had a way to fix everything perfectly during the book, in hindsight, if that had happened, I bet just as many people would be angry. If everything went perfectly, it would feel empty and pointless. The characters need to suffer a little to feel real, and coming from ME - the queen of happy plots all tied up in pretty bows - that's saying A LOT.
Hmm...what to read or cook next...I'm supposed to make peanut butter cups for Boyfriend for valentines day...and I was thinking of working on my long-standing DIY project - refinishing the bathroom - only the floor is left to do!
Wednesday at 8:32am
page 1 of 663 :-)
Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 12:15pm
page 178....so freaking good...dog finally passed out and stopped bugging me
Wednesday at 4:13pm:
REALLY doesn't want to go to class...why couldn't the book have come
YESTERDAY when it was supposed to and I didn't have class???
on page 393...i better not bring this to class with me...
Thursday at 7:23am:
page 416...hopefully Riley isn't sick all day so I don't have to
keep stopping
Thursday at 11:04 am:
hopefully there will be no more interruptions! page 524...NO CLUE
how they're going to wrap any of this up in 140 pages!
Thursday at 12:04 pm:
page 663....no comment...I find myself very unsure of how I feel about the book - I probably won't know until after a long discussion with my best friend who also reads the series. It definitely draws you in. I was so engrossed that I laughed, cried, and fumed right along with the characters. Also, I about jumped out of my skins a couple times when someone knocked on the door or the dog jumped on me.
The book is not being received well by the fans of the series though. As of this morning, there are 22 reviews on Amazon, and even the best are less than positive, and the worst are SCATHING: "too little too late." Many are yelling that they will not "waste" their money on buying the next books in the series. All are less than thrilled about the long wait between books, as Kristen Britain averages 3-4 years between books. According to Ms. Britain's blog, she is already at work on book 5, so I'm hopeful it will only be 2 years. The last book was released 3 years and 4 months after its predecessor, so if she can shave 9 months off her process again (especially since she started writing 5 before 4 was published), then hopefully in 2013 we'll find out what happens.
I will agree with the other reviewers that it feels a little unfinished, that it was definitely not a lighthearted read like some of the past books. In a lot of ways, it reminds me of Harry Potter book 6 - a lot of character development, a lot of things you don't want to happen, and a set-up book.
I disagree that "nothing happened." I know many would have preferred an all action book, but its hard to have plot and character development with nothing but swashbuckling action. I found many questions from past novels answered, and many of my predictions fulfilled. Also, for all the "it wasn't happy, I want happy-go-lucky" unfortunately, not all stories go the way you want. Even though I had a way to fix everything perfectly during the book, in hindsight, if that had happened, I bet just as many people would be angry. If everything went perfectly, it would feel empty and pointless. The characters need to suffer a little to feel real, and coming from ME - the queen of happy plots all tied up in pretty bows - that's saying A LOT.
Hmm...what to read or cook next...I'm supposed to make peanut butter cups for Boyfriend for valentines day...and I was thinking of working on my long-standing DIY project - refinishing the bathroom - only the floor is left to do!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Green Rider ...countdown to Blackveil
9:00 AM
It's 9 AM...been up since 6:30...though in my defense, I was up to make Boyfriend breakfast before he went off to work. Just finished Book 1: Green Rider. For some reason I had the brilliant idea to read the books in reverse order. Its been about 3-4 years since book 3 came out, so I wanted to re-read all of them again. Originally, I was going to read them in chronological order, but my parents had just left after a long Christmas visit, Boyfriend was on a trip, and work wasn't going well, so I was impatient and Book 1 wasn't holding my attention on the 5th read, so I decided to skip to Book 3: High King's Tomb. About half way through, I realized I didn't remember Book 2: First Rider's Call as well as I thought, so I read that next, then finished up with Book 1. As crazy as it sounds, I'm really glad I read it this way. It made the character development, inter-character relationships, and plot twists more interesting and deeper some how. For Book 5 though, I'll probably read in the correct order - and make a map and full character log! How is there no map for a book where the main character is constantly traveling across the country!?
There is already a review up on Amazon for Blackveil. I'm hoping the person is either a critic and got an advanced copy or went to a 24 hour store at midnight - because reading 720 pages in an hour or two would just be insane. He/She gave it a 5 star review and said they couldn't put it down. Lots of plot twists, character interactions/development...can't wait. Here are my predictions:
SPOILERS (if you haven't read books 1-3)!
Click to show/hide.
Well... UPS says its still on the truck to be delivered...guess I'll get some real work done while I wait...then start the trips to the mailbox right before lunch...this is worse than a 5 year old waiting for Santa to come...
1:00 PM
Still no book...I checked 50 minutes ago...getting ready to check again...next time I think I'll just drive to the store...though when I ordered it I didn't think I'd be home today....Seriously though about going out and buying it and then returning the Amazon copy to the store...but that seemed wrong
3:00 PM
Still no book...I've checked 3 times. The first time I took the dog and he tried to get in a fight...this last time I met a couple neighbors also checking for the mail, they all said the mail usually comes between 11 and 12...why does the universe hate me??? Got a meeting at 6...better pick up the Redbull because it is going to be a late night now. At least there is still only ONE review on Amazon so its not taunting me as much that other people are reading it and I'm not.
3:04 PM
....just realized the book is coming UPS not USPS....so its not coming to the mailbox...at the community center...that I've walked to 3 times...its coming to my house...sometime between now and 6 pm....FML
I really hope the don't do extended hours around V-day like they do around Christmas....
5:00 PM
REALLY!? still not here... I jump to the window with every car sound...Hopefully Boyfriend gets home before I have to leave for the meeting so that I can ask him to wait to go out until AFTER the package gets here, don't want it outside...Even if it comes in the next five minutes I'm going to wait until after I make Chicken Picaitta for Boyfriend...don't want to get too deeply into the book and burn dinner...
It's 9 AM...been up since 6:30...though in my defense, I was up to make Boyfriend breakfast before he went off to work. Just finished Book 1: Green Rider. For some reason I had the brilliant idea to read the books in reverse order. Its been about 3-4 years since book 3 came out, so I wanted to re-read all of them again. Originally, I was going to read them in chronological order, but my parents had just left after a long Christmas visit, Boyfriend was on a trip, and work wasn't going well, so I was impatient and Book 1 wasn't holding my attention on the 5th read, so I decided to skip to Book 3: High King's Tomb. About half way through, I realized I didn't remember Book 2: First Rider's Call as well as I thought, so I read that next, then finished up with Book 1. As crazy as it sounds, I'm really glad I read it this way. It made the character development, inter-character relationships, and plot twists more interesting and deeper some how. For Book 5 though, I'll probably read in the correct order - and make a map and full character log! How is there no map for a book where the main character is constantly traveling across the country!?
There is already a review up on Amazon for Blackveil. I'm hoping the person is either a critic and got an advanced copy or went to a 24 hour store at midnight - because reading 720 pages in an hour or two would just be insane. He/She gave it a 5 star review and said they couldn't put it down. Lots of plot twists, character interactions/development...can't wait. Here are my predictions:
SPOILERS (if you haven't read books 1-3)!
Click to show/hide.
Well... UPS says its still on the truck to be delivered...guess I'll get some real work done while I wait...then start the trips to the mailbox right before lunch...this is worse than a 5 year old waiting for Santa to come...
1:00 PM
Still no book...I checked 50 minutes ago...getting ready to check again...next time I think I'll just drive to the store...though when I ordered it I didn't think I'd be home today....Seriously though about going out and buying it and then returning the Amazon copy to the store...but that seemed wrong
3:00 PM
Still no book...I've checked 3 times. The first time I took the dog and he tried to get in a fight...this last time I met a couple neighbors also checking for the mail, they all said the mail usually comes between 11 and 12...why does the universe hate me??? Got a meeting at 6...better pick up the Redbull because it is going to be a late night now. At least there is still only ONE review on Amazon so its not taunting me as much that other people are reading it and I'm not.
3:04 PM
....just realized the book is coming UPS not USPS....so its not coming to the mailbox...at the community center...that I've walked to 3 times...its coming to my house...sometime between now and 6 pm....FML
I really hope the don't do extended hours around V-day like they do around Christmas....
5:00 PM
REALLY!? still not here... I jump to the window with every car sound...Hopefully Boyfriend gets home before I have to leave for the meeting so that I can ask him to wait to go out until AFTER the package gets here, don't want it outside...Even if it comes in the next five minutes I'm going to wait until after I make Chicken Picaitta for Boyfriend...don't want to get too deeply into the book and burn dinner...
Monday, January 31, 2011
Reviews: Green Hornet
Had a busy yet uneventful weekend...
Saw the green hornet on Saturday. It was ok...a little too "stupid comedy" for me...and rather slow at points. The premise itself was great. Good guys pretending to be bad guys....great potential!! Fell short though by relying on stupid humor, cool car, and flimsy character development. Guess I expect too much
I'm excited that one of my favorite author's latest book comes out tomorrow. Kristen Britain's Blackveil is coming out tomorrow. The last book came out my sophomore year of college....that was about four years ago. I'm absolutely hooked though. Its one of those stories where you see no way for it to end the way you want, but you just keep hoping. This is where my dork tendencies really shine. I keep trying to come up with a way to make everyone happy, then I run them by my best friend who also reads the series.
I pre-ordered on Amazon and got the shipping so that it is guaranteed to come tomorrow (on release day). In hindsight...I probably should have just planned to get up at 8 and be at Barnes and Nobel at opening so I could have it and go home and read all day. Now I already paid for it and it will be in my hands "before the end of day" according to UPS. I do hate B&N and would rather not give them the business, and last time I went on release day for a book they didn't have it and didn't know what I was talking about or when it would be in. We'll see if it was worth it or not...I might just need to buy redbull so I can stay up all night binge reading! Boyfriend doesn't understand, he says I should SAVOR it and read it slowly...It's not really a CHOICE though...once I start I can't put it down!! I'm like that with all good books!
Saw the green hornet on Saturday. It was ok...a little too "stupid comedy" for me...and rather slow at points. The premise itself was great. Good guys pretending to be bad guys....great potential!! Fell short though by relying on stupid humor, cool car, and flimsy character development. Guess I expect too much
I'm excited that one of my favorite author's latest book comes out tomorrow. Kristen Britain's Blackveil is coming out tomorrow. The last book came out my sophomore year of college....that was about four years ago. I'm absolutely hooked though. Its one of those stories where you see no way for it to end the way you want, but you just keep hoping. This is where my dork tendencies really shine. I keep trying to come up with a way to make everyone happy, then I run them by my best friend who also reads the series.
I pre-ordered on Amazon and got the shipping so that it is guaranteed to come tomorrow (on release day). In hindsight...I probably should have just planned to get up at 8 and be at Barnes and Nobel at opening so I could have it and go home and read all day. Now I already paid for it and it will be in my hands "before the end of day" according to UPS. I do hate B&N and would rather not give them the business, and last time I went on release day for a book they didn't have it and didn't know what I was talking about or when it would be in. We'll see if it was worth it or not...I might just need to buy redbull so I can stay up all night binge reading! Boyfriend doesn't understand, he says I should SAVOR it and read it slowly...It's not really a CHOICE though...once I start I can't put it down!! I'm like that with all good books!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Meet Riley
My almost-2 year old forever-puppy is a constant source of entertainment. He's a 4 pound shih tzu yorkie mix. Sometimes, he is too smart for his own good. Within a three weeks, he learned how to climb over the puppy gate.
Don't worry, I was just out of sight to catch him. He's also learned how to open doors that are not fully latched, get toys or food off the dining room or coffee table...and many other things to make him a rascal.
I'm pretty sure he's a dog trapped in a cat's body. He loves to perch on the back of the couch, or in a sunny windowsill. His growl sounds more like a purr. He'll climb the boyfriend's computer chair to the window and growl at the people walking by thinking he's a big dog. Now that winter has settled in, he's decided that it is so much better sleeping *under* the covers with mommy and daddy. Unfortunately, he has *us* trained; I'll wake up to him pushing at the covers and find myself automatically lifting them for him to crawl in.
Don't think you can ignore him either, if he wants to play, he'll pull toys out of his toy box and toss them at you until you give in. Or crawl into your lap and flop onto your laptop when you are trying to work from home. Also, make sure you hide all the squeaky toys really well when you're on the phone - and that doesn't mean the pub-height table, because he'll just jump on the stool and climb up to get it.
Things however, don't always go according to *his* plan either. After he learned to climb the gate, I had to go MacGyver on the gate to try to keep him in place. This meant adding more and more cardboard to the front to eliminate any puppy footholds. The little rascal figured out to work his paw under the cardboard and scale the wall instead. So I added more tape. One morning, I'm trying to get out the door for work and I hear thrashing and crying. I go back to check on the puppy...he managed to tape himself to the gate and wall. He didn't even learn a lesson, and suffice it to say the gate didn't last long. Neither did the crate which he always Houdini's out of.
Well today things didn't go according to plan either. I'm working on my business, ScienceFairGirl.com, and he's been hanging out in the window as usual. I hear a strange thud and him crying. So I run across the room to investigate. He somehow rotated the chair he was using as a ladder, missed the seat, and fell between the chair and the wall. So there he is, trying to pull himself back up and giving me the most pathetic look. So I scooped him up, gave him loads of mommy-love, wedged the chair closer to the window, and went back to work.
What a handful!
Don't worry, I was just out of sight to catch him. He's also learned how to open doors that are not fully latched, get toys or food off the dining room or coffee table...and many other things to make him a rascal.
I'm pretty sure he's a dog trapped in a cat's body. He loves to perch on the back of the couch, or in a sunny windowsill. His growl sounds more like a purr. He'll climb the boyfriend's computer chair to the window and growl at the people walking by thinking he's a big dog. Now that winter has settled in, he's decided that it is so much better sleeping *under* the covers with mommy and daddy. Unfortunately, he has *us* trained; I'll wake up to him pushing at the covers and find myself automatically lifting them for him to crawl in.
Don't think you can ignore him either, if he wants to play, he'll pull toys out of his toy box and toss them at you until you give in. Or crawl into your lap and flop onto your laptop when you are trying to work from home. Also, make sure you hide all the squeaky toys really well when you're on the phone - and that doesn't mean the pub-height table, because he'll just jump on the stool and climb up to get it.
Things however, don't always go according to *his* plan either. After he learned to climb the gate, I had to go MacGyver on the gate to try to keep him in place. This meant adding more and more cardboard to the front to eliminate any puppy footholds. The little rascal figured out to work his paw under the cardboard and scale the wall instead. So I added more tape. One morning, I'm trying to get out the door for work and I hear thrashing and crying. I go back to check on the puppy...he managed to tape himself to the gate and wall. He didn't even learn a lesson, and suffice it to say the gate didn't last long. Neither did the crate which he always Houdini's out of.
Well today things didn't go according to plan either. I'm working on my business, ScienceFairGirl.com, and he's been hanging out in the window as usual. I hear a strange thud and him crying. So I run across the room to investigate. He somehow rotated the chair he was using as a ladder, missed the seat, and fell between the chair and the wall. So there he is, trying to pull himself back up and giving me the most pathetic look. So I scooped him up, gave him loads of mommy-love, wedged the chair closer to the window, and went back to work.
What a handful!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Guilty Pleasure
Our guilty pleasure is American Idol - but only during auditions, after Hollywood week it gets boring.
I am LOVING the addition of Steven Tyler...with his off the wall comments like "Well hellfire, save matches, *BLEEP* a duck, and see what happens." Plus, how he hits on every young girl - or wonders if they could be his daughter. Zaney, Cooky, but absolutely adorable.
Though as we've been watching, I've been thinking he looks like something or someone I've seen before...and today it hit me....
Is it just me???
I am LOVING the addition of Steven Tyler...with his off the wall comments like "Well hellfire, save matches, *BLEEP* a duck, and see what happens." Plus, how he hits on every young girl - or wonders if they could be his daughter. Zaney, Cooky, but absolutely adorable.
Though as we've been watching, I've been thinking he looks like something or someone I've seen before...and today it hit me....
Jen from Jim Henson's Dark Crystal
Is it just me???
Mini Pecan Pie
One of my favorite things to do is cook or bake. Lately I've been doing a lot more than usual - and I've been in a from-scratch craze because a) it saves money and b) I'm too lazy to drive to the store. So far the home-made biscuits were pretty good, and the pasta was too hard to roll (that's right, I was too lazy to go down the street to get dried pasta so I tried to make my own).
The boyfriend loves pecan pie, so the other day I made mini-pecan pies.
Dough:
I followed the traditional easy crust recipe, 1.5 cups of sifted flour, dash of salt, 1 stick of COLD butter, and 4 tablespoons of cold water. Just throw the sifted flour and butter and salt in a food processor (NINJA to the rescue again!) and pulse until you get a course consistency, then add the water and pulse until it combines into a nice dough. From there just dump it out on a floured surface and roll away.
This makes enough for an 8-9" pie or 6 mini pies.
I used mini-ramekins (I love entertaining serving-ware and have a mini-collection). I cut the dough a little larger than the ramekin and then rolled it a little more, then I fit the dough into the ramekin and used my thumbs to smoosh the overlapping edges and work the dough up the sides - like a pinch-pot in elementary school. Rip off any excess over the top, or roll into a fluted edge - your choice.
Filling:
Usually, I follow the Pillsbury recipe for pecan pie. Again, laziness being the theme, I winged it.
I used the rest of the pecans I had leftover from my cheeseball the previous week, a few glugs of light corn syrup until everything was coated, a beaten egg, and a cap of vanilla extract. Then I mixed and filled the cups. In hindsight, I didn't use enough corn syrup, but they were still tasty.
Bake at 375 deg for 30 minutes or so...until the filling looks like a toasted foam, but before the crust burns - or the pecans, as they can burn too.
I treated myself to one last night, it was really good with whipped cream on top of it. Boyfriend has been smiling since. Today I think I will whip up a vat of my every-cheese-in-the-fridge mac & cheese. So good! But first, I got to get my crafting on.
The boyfriend loves pecan pie, so the other day I made mini-pecan pies.
Dough:
I followed the traditional easy crust recipe, 1.5 cups of sifted flour, dash of salt, 1 stick of COLD butter, and 4 tablespoons of cold water. Just throw the sifted flour and butter and salt in a food processor (NINJA to the rescue again!) and pulse until you get a course consistency, then add the water and pulse until it combines into a nice dough. From there just dump it out on a floured surface and roll away.
This makes enough for an 8-9" pie or 6 mini pies.
I used mini-ramekins (I love entertaining serving-ware and have a mini-collection). I cut the dough a little larger than the ramekin and then rolled it a little more, then I fit the dough into the ramekin and used my thumbs to smoosh the overlapping edges and work the dough up the sides - like a pinch-pot in elementary school. Rip off any excess over the top, or roll into a fluted edge - your choice.
Filling:
Usually, I follow the Pillsbury recipe for pecan pie. Again, laziness being the theme, I winged it.
I used the rest of the pecans I had leftover from my cheeseball the previous week, a few glugs of light corn syrup until everything was coated, a beaten egg, and a cap of vanilla extract. Then I mixed and filled the cups. In hindsight, I didn't use enough corn syrup, but they were still tasty.
Bake at 375 deg for 30 minutes or so...until the filling looks like a toasted foam, but before the crust burns - or the pecans, as they can burn too.
I treated myself to one last night, it was really good with whipped cream on top of it. Boyfriend has been smiling since. Today I think I will whip up a vat of my every-cheese-in-the-fridge mac & cheese. So good! But first, I got to get my crafting on.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Swimming with the Fishes
Yesterday, I took the Aqua Tour at the Living Seas at Epcot. I highly recommend this to anyone! It starts off with a behind-the-scenes look of the aquarium facility, including the manatee and dolphin habitats. The tour also includes about forty minutes of scuba-assisted snorkeling in the giant tank - and I mean giant, Spaceship Earth (the huge "golf ball" ride) could fit in the tank with seven feet all around to swim in. Scuba-assisted snorkeling means that you are provided with a small compressed air tank and regulator instead of a snorkel - which is awesome for those of us that always manage to get water in the snorkel tube.
So we get suited up in the provided wet suits, and the first issue arises. As I put my contacts in so that I can see all the fishes, the contact rips IN my eye, leaving a small piece which refuses to come out. So, feeling like a one-eyed pirate, I finish getting ready. You're probably wondering why I didn't just wear my glasses - no jewelery or glasses are allowed in the tank. Plus, if you've ever had contacts and lost one during the day you know that you can trick yourself into only really seeing out of one eye. As we walk to the tank though, I finally get the small piece out of my eye, and issue one is taken care of.
We get into the water, souvenir photo taken, and we're set loose to explore the tank and its inhabitants. Right away I start struggling with this whole breathing under water thing. My brain keeps telling me "what are you doing!? you can't breath under water, I don't care what they tell you about that mouth piece" but the fishes are calling and I really want to find my boyfriend on the other side to take a picture. Its a slow start, I keep getting a mouth full (and occasionally a lung full) of salt water, and have to come up to cough it up - my boyfriend described the whole thing as "flailing". My girlfriend that I'm swimming with is a certified scuba diver, and she's doing just fine, and I feel like an idiot. After about fifteen minutes of flailing, choking, and hyperventilating underwater, my friend asks to check out my regulator. She tries it out, and TA DA takes on water. Turns out it was my equipment and not me! YAY! So we swim back and get a new regulator for me.
Before we make it back, the next adventure happens. While swimming, I feel something brush up against me. I ask my friend what it was - it should be noted that my friend has worked in this tank and knows it intimately. She starts to say nothing and then says "Oh my god, its Whitney". Now, I don't think I mentioned yet that there are stingrays and sharks among the creatures in this tank, and that I had to sign a waiver to get in, so "oh my god" is not what I want to hear. "What is Whitney?" I ask, instead of answering my question, my friend pulls me back and yells for me to move. As I swim backwards, a HUGE sea turtle comes to the surface right where I was. Since the turtles are endangered, my friend was trying to keep me from getting in trouble for accidentally touching Whitney. My boyfriend said it was quite humorous to watch me being "attacked" by the turtle.
Now with a working regulator, I roam all over the tank, looking at all the amazing hidden Mickey's that you would never see from any other perspective, and the beautiful animals. It was absolutely beautiful - I didn't want it to end. I love stingrays, they are my favorite aquatic creature. Disney has three varieties of stingrays, including a giant spotted eagle ray who just gave birth to pups. Gorgeous! The only creature I made sure to stay away from was the 300 pound groupers. I don't know why, but I HATE big ugly fish. I've gone helmet diving in the Bahamas, Snorkeling in Hawaii, and big, ugly fish just freak me out. Yet I love stingrays, go figure.
After the swim, my friend and I took the boyfriend to the Mexico pavilion for margaritas and nachos as a "thank you" for letting us abandon him for two hours while we swam. He then took us out to my favorite Disney restaurant - Artist Point at Disney Wilderness Lodge - the cobbler is to DIE FOR! I am going to try to recreate it at home. After dinner, we wandered to Downtown Disney. There's a new store by Disney Quest where you can build and customize your own R/C car - VERY COOL! Then we went to see a movie at the AMC theater. This movie theater has a bar inside! There's drink specials inspired by current movies - such as "the Hornitini". Considering how drunk some of the patrons were, how long were they waiting for a movie!! One flushed man, who looked a little like Sean Austen, kept trying to tell me how beautiful and intelligent I was and that he'd never tell me what to do....I just asked if he had a recommendation for a drink!
Overall, an amazing day!!
So we get suited up in the provided wet suits, and the first issue arises. As I put my contacts in so that I can see all the fishes, the contact rips IN my eye, leaving a small piece which refuses to come out. So, feeling like a one-eyed pirate, I finish getting ready. You're probably wondering why I didn't just wear my glasses - no jewelery or glasses are allowed in the tank. Plus, if you've ever had contacts and lost one during the day you know that you can trick yourself into only really seeing out of one eye. As we walk to the tank though, I finally get the small piece out of my eye, and issue one is taken care of.
We get into the water, souvenir photo taken, and we're set loose to explore the tank and its inhabitants. Right away I start struggling with this whole breathing under water thing. My brain keeps telling me "what are you doing!? you can't breath under water, I don't care what they tell you about that mouth piece" but the fishes are calling and I really want to find my boyfriend on the other side to take a picture. Its a slow start, I keep getting a mouth full (and occasionally a lung full) of salt water, and have to come up to cough it up - my boyfriend described the whole thing as "flailing". My girlfriend that I'm swimming with is a certified scuba diver, and she's doing just fine, and I feel like an idiot. After about fifteen minutes of flailing, choking, and hyperventilating underwater, my friend asks to check out my regulator. She tries it out, and TA DA takes on water. Turns out it was my equipment and not me! YAY! So we swim back and get a new regulator for me.
Before we make it back, the next adventure happens. While swimming, I feel something brush up against me. I ask my friend what it was - it should be noted that my friend has worked in this tank and knows it intimately. She starts to say nothing and then says "Oh my god, its Whitney". Now, I don't think I mentioned yet that there are stingrays and sharks among the creatures in this tank, and that I had to sign a waiver to get in, so "oh my god" is not what I want to hear. "What is Whitney?" I ask, instead of answering my question, my friend pulls me back and yells for me to move. As I swim backwards, a HUGE sea turtle comes to the surface right where I was. Since the turtles are endangered, my friend was trying to keep me from getting in trouble for accidentally touching Whitney. My boyfriend said it was quite humorous to watch me being "attacked" by the turtle.
Now with a working regulator, I roam all over the tank, looking at all the amazing hidden Mickey's that you would never see from any other perspective, and the beautiful animals. It was absolutely beautiful - I didn't want it to end. I love stingrays, they are my favorite aquatic creature. Disney has three varieties of stingrays, including a giant spotted eagle ray who just gave birth to pups. Gorgeous! The only creature I made sure to stay away from was the 300 pound groupers. I don't know why, but I HATE big ugly fish. I've gone helmet diving in the Bahamas, Snorkeling in Hawaii, and big, ugly fish just freak me out. Yet I love stingrays, go figure.
After the swim, my friend and I took the boyfriend to the Mexico pavilion for margaritas and nachos as a "thank you" for letting us abandon him for two hours while we swam. He then took us out to my favorite Disney restaurant - Artist Point at Disney Wilderness Lodge - the cobbler is to DIE FOR! I am going to try to recreate it at home. After dinner, we wandered to Downtown Disney. There's a new store by Disney Quest where you can build and customize your own R/C car - VERY COOL! Then we went to see a movie at the AMC theater. This movie theater has a bar inside! There's drink specials inspired by current movies - such as "the Hornitini". Considering how drunk some of the patrons were, how long were they waiting for a movie!! One flushed man, who looked a little like Sean Austen, kept trying to tell me how beautiful and intelligent I was and that he'd never tell me what to do....I just asked if he had a recommendation for a drink!
Overall, an amazing day!!
Friday, January 21, 2011
How NOT to Clean Up Pepper Flakes
The other day I was making hummus using the Ninja I got for a Christmas present (I really love it and recommend it!). I had chickpeas but no fresh garlic, so I decided to use dried. Then I decided to spice it up a bit with some roasted red pepper powder. As I was putting the motor down on the container, I saw there was a lot of spice sitting on top of the blade and motor attachment. So I decided to blow it off...you can imagine the result...roasted red pepper and garlic flew into my eye. My only excuse is that I was on the phone and therefore distracted by what a bad idea that was. Too bad my phone call didn't distract me from the burning.
So there I am, with the phone cradled in my ear, yelling "OW it burns! it burns!" My best friend was rather confused and concerned. She couldn't stop laughing when I explained. She then got to listen to more cursing and yelling as I tried to rinse my eyes out in the bathroom.
Next time, I'll use a pastry brush instead...
Worst part: didn't even eat the hummus! after all that it tasted awful...which is when I realized the chickpeas had been in my pantry for about a year. Great practice for using my Ninja though!
So there I am, with the phone cradled in my ear, yelling "OW it burns! it burns!" My best friend was rather confused and concerned. She couldn't stop laughing when I explained. She then got to listen to more cursing and yelling as I tried to rinse my eyes out in the bathroom.
Next time, I'll use a pastry brush instead...
Worst part: didn't even eat the hummus! after all that it tasted awful...which is when I realized the chickpeas had been in my pantry for about a year. Great practice for using my Ninja though!
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