Protected: All Mixed Up
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life
A Potluck Entry
I have problems.
First one is that I like JoJo’s new song “Too Little Too Late.” Why is this a problem? Well, the thing is, I never liked JoJo. I have a problem when it sounds like there are 20 of the person singing (unless it’s Enya singing Anywhere Is—she can do whatever she wants!). And I thought most of her songs were popish and boring. But I LOVE “Too Little Too Late.” And on that note, I love “Fergielicious” or whatever it is, also.
Second one is that I don’t know how to contain myself when I am at the library. I was in the library for maybe 10–15 minutes today and came out with SIX items. Seriously, I just pluck them off the shelf, one by one. Plop, plop, plop. One of the items is the movie Mad Hot Ballroom, which I’ve wanted to see ever since I saw the preview on one of my other DVDs. Granted, I had a couple of things on reserve, but what about the others?
Third one is that if I read the back of one more teen novel that says “So and so is freaking out because she doesn’t have a date to the prom” I’m going to SCREAM! I guess part of it is that well, I like teen novels and I guess teens are really hung up on prom? I never was hung up on it, so I don’t know. I decided two days before mine to go, wore a borrowed dress, and my mom dropped me off. Needless to say, I did not have a date. Anyway, the best book I read about the prom was well, Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson.
Fourth one is that I finished reading Impulse by Ellen Hopkins today on my lunchbreak and totally lost it right there at my desk. I had to go to the bathroom to compose myself. Thank you, Ellen, for being the author of the first book in 2007 to make me cry. Although I did come close with Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Weiss. But the point is that CRYING AT WORK IS NEVER COOL.
I think that’s all for now, as far as problems go. Now onto other stuff.
My jeans—my beautiful, expensive jeans that I cannot afford to replace—are not ruined after all!! Vigilant soaking and scrubbing took care of the *ahem* problem, and now they’re as good as new. Well, sort of. The point is that I can wear them again! YAY! Okay, I can wear them after I lose about five pounds, but the point is that I don’t have to mourn the loss of the only pair of expensive designer jeans I’m ever likely to own. And I CERTAINLY won’t mourn the loss of those five stupid pounds once they decide to leave me alone.
My laptop is working pristinely now. Got all that mean spyware off (there were no viruses) and now it’s no longer overheating and shutting off. It’s also running a lot faster than before. I’m still excited that I saved $130 because I have friends who are geeks smart. 😉
I found an awesome shortcut for my after-work commute. I take back roads—one of which conveniently lets me off right the library. I’ve managed to cut two minutes off of my commute by going the back way. Well, on days I don’t go to the library, anyway….
I NEED SOCKS. I have four pairs that don’t have holes in them. I love socks from Aeropostale, I do, but they’re cheap. I need some good socks, but cute ones. Once upon a time, I was able to buy L.E.I. socks at Meijer, but when I checked last night, there were none. Now I have to find a new place to find decently-made, cute socks. Any suggestions?
Also, I’m looking for a copy of Avril’s new one, “Girlfriend.” Such a bitchy song, but so much fun to sing. A little help, please?
It’s a bad thing when your electric heater falls and sounds like it’s going to break in March. The problem is that it’s almost impossible to get a replacement. The stores have replaced their heaters with grilling equipment, even though it’s still winter outside. Thank goodness for places like Home Depot. They seem to have heaters all the time.
Did you know that it’s National Sleep Week or something of that nature? And here I was going to feel guilty for wanting to take a nap all evening when I got home. But it turns out—well, sleeping is ENCOURAGED this week! How awesome!
If you are in the mood for some BIZARRE humor, watch The Fuccons: http://www.thefuccons.com
And finally, here is a way to get money while shopping and possibly save money too. Ebates is this cool site that gives you cash back if you use them as a portal of sorts for shopping. In addition, they have TONS of coupons you can use. And the stores are not wimpy. For example, you can get 4% cash back from Barnes and Noble. There are rebates for shopping at amazon.com as well. You also get cashback if you book travel from United or Expedia. Basically, just do your regular online shopping, but you get money back if you go through Ebates. Awesome, huh? If you want to sign up, use this link: http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?id=32695696 Once you make a purchase, we both get $5!
Holy cow, Ellen Hopkins just commented on my MySpace. *swoooooon* I love authors. Can’t wait ’til I’m one someday.
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No Point, Really. (Picture)
I got Aidan yesterday, and even though I am broker than eight bitches on a bitch boat, I treated us BOTH to McDonalds. One, because I know he loves it, and two, because I’d had such a stressful week that fries were about the only cure at that point. And hell, if I owe the IRS almost $2K, then spending $6 at McDonalds is not going to make much difference in how much my financial situation sucks.
Anyway, we went to the McDonalds at Eastpointe in Reynoldsburg. I HAVE NEVER LAUGHED SO HARD AT A MCDONALDS IN MY LIFE! It was very slow, so the employees were in rare form. One girl was cleaning the tables and cleaning the seats really well, so they were teasing her about santizing the seats so everyone would have clean booties. And Aidan’s response to that? “My bootie is already clean!” The banter and everything was cracking me up. Aidan also turned on the charm big time in there. Everyone loved him. He flirted with the girl they called Pippi (she had two long, red braids), and he played with another girl who’d taken a break before her shift started. Those kids totally made my week. Aidan and I had a good date at McDonalds.
Afterwards, we went to Target because I had mad prescriptions to pick up. The total of all that came to a cringeworthy amount. Stupid UHC and their stupid deductibles. 🙁
Then the weather got really cold really quickly, so I was glad to be home for the night.
Aidan and I went to bed at 9:37, but he didn’t get to sleep until a little after ten. We lay in bed and talked about silly stuff. I asked him if people opened the light or turned on the light. Then I asked if we opened the water or turned on the water. He giggled and said “Do you open the TV or—” and he didn’t get any furthur before we both collapsed in giggles.
Unfortunately, the little bugger has a cold. He could barely breathe last night, and I didn’t even think of that when he and I walked to the library today. He had a blast there, though. He played with a little girl named Maggie and a little boy named Ian. Ian might be back next week, so I will try to take Aidan again too. It has to be a good thing when you try to get your child to leave the library and the child cries. I remember when my father would drop my sister and me off at the Shaker Heights library and leave us there for hours. I LOVED it. I’d read Our Bodies, Our Selves over and over and over. THEN I’d check it out! I used to check out twenty books at a time. Funny thing is that I haven’t outgrown that, really…but anyway, Our Bodies, Our Selves was MY Forever. I didn’t read Forever until early last year.
Speaking of reading, I just read the latest Princess Diaries book and HOLY HOT BANANA. WTF?????!?!??!? Yeah, no words. None. Anyone else keep up with that series? And even more so, does anyone know the name of the font they use as the journal headings? I NEED THAT FONT!
I tell people that I’m 19 at heart and do they believe me? Well, maybe my obsession with Mia Thermopolis will convince them so.
ANYWAY, Aidan played hard at the library, so besides being really stuffy and coughing occasionally, he’s okay. We went BACK to Target and I got him some cold medicine, though. Doesn’t seem to be helping much. Serves me right for getting the generic stuff. AND I FORGOT THE TISSUES. He did eat soup for lunch, but he ate oatmeal for dinner and he refuses to drink orange juice. He’ll be going to bed really early tonight, because that medicine, of which he’s already had two doses, is making him super drowsy and somewhat cranky. Plus, he’s already had his bath.
There was an endcap of movies for $5.50. I asked him if he wanted Elmo in Grounchland. He said “No, it’s too expenfis.” One thing I have to say about him. If I tell him that something is too expensive and he can’t have it that time, he’s usually pretty understanding about it. He doesn’t get mad and throw fits like I probably would have. I just say “Mommy doesn’t have the money for that this time,” and he usually says “Okay.” Another unique quality about him is that when I DO get extra money, I enjoy spending it on him. There have been times I’ve been dying to buy him something, a little car or airplane or something, and he’d say “No thank you. I don’t need it. I already have cars.” Isn’t that amazing? And I’d ask “are you sure?” because what kid turns down getting new toys for no reason? But he does, because he’s amazingly considerate and non-greedy. He’s also very appreciative of surprises. And… he gives gifts! He gave me the cutest Valentine’s bear on Monday. “Mommy, I got you a gift!”
I am so blessed!
Anyway, here’s my most recent picture of him, taken today outside of the library:
So cute, isn’t he?
I’m pretty sure the laptop is A-OK now, and I didn’t have to spend $130 to get it fixed! Wooo! I’m so glad I know SOMETHING about computers, and what I don’t know, I have friends who DO know. See? There is an advantage to being best friends with nerds and geeks. They save you money!
I’m getting sleepy, believe it or not. I’ve not even finished my dinner yet. I’ll bet Aidan isn’t done either. He gets his slow-eating traits from me, that’s for sure.
And now, a survey! Admit it, you’ve missed them.
I originally did this one October 13, 2005. See my original answers here.
SECTION ONE: THE FACE
1. Do you wear makeup? If so how much and where? All I wear is face powder.
2. Do you use face creams/moisturisers? Yes.
3. Do you pluck/wax your eyebrows? No, but I probably should.
4. Have you made any permanent changes with surgery? No.
SECTION TWO: HAIR
1. Which brand of shampoo do you use? Optimum Care.
2. Do you condition? Every time I wash.
3. Do you blow dry/straighten/curl your hair? My hair is chemically relaxed. I sometimes wear it curly, sometimes straight, sometimes wavy.
4. Do you use mousse/hair spray/any added volumisers etc? I use spray sheen for shine sometimes, and I use this botanical oil. I sleep in it, and then I put some on my hairbrush and brush it through in the mornings.
5. How often do you go to the hair dressers? Never.
6. Is your hair coloured? No.
7. Have you got streaks/highlights? Natural. 🙂
8. How do you usually wear your hair? Down.
9. Ever had extensions? No.
SECTION THREE: THE BODY & CLEANLINESS
1. Any piercings? If so how many and where? Two in each ear. One might be closed now.
2. Any tats? If so what are they, where are they, how many? None yet.
3. Do you wear jewelry? How much? I wear my Tiffany necklace, my Tiffany bracelet, a Mickey Mouse watch, and rarely earrings.
4. How much of your wardrobe contains brand names? (as a percentage) Um…probably most of it. But the problem is that I can no longer fit it. Stupid weight gain.
5. Favourite item of clothing: My 7 jeans. Although they might be done for now thanks to a STUPID surprise visit from a certain …. I don’t even want to get into it. 🙁
6. Do you own any fur? No.
7. Brand of deodrant: Secret.
8. Perfume/Aftershave: N/A.
9. Shaving foam/shaving gel/wax/ugar/soap and water? I actually use hair conditioner!
10. Do you shave/wax your legs? I shave them.
11. Do you shave/wax your arm pits? Yes.
12. Do you shave/wax your arms? No.
13. Do you shave/wax bikini line? Yes.
14. How often do you shave? I plead the fifth, especially during the winter.
15. Do you use talc? Sometimes.
16. Do you use a body moisturiser? I try to remember to, but I often forget.
17. Brand of bubble bath: None.
18. Brand of soap: Caress (bar)
19. Brand of washing powder: N/A.
SECTION 4: FOOD & DRINK
1. Do you prefer fizzy/still drinks? Still.
2. Favourite hot drink: Chocolate.
3. Favourite cold drink: Kool-Aid.
4. Favourite snack: Depends on my mood!
5. Favourite meal: Spaghetti.
6. How many meals do you eat a day? 1 or 2.
7. Do you eat out? Not really, unless someone else is treating.
8. Convinience food agree/disagree? Agree.
9. Favourite fast food outlet: McDonalds.
10. Regularity of eating out: Erm, when someone else is paying, could be a lot. But usually, about once every couple months or so.
11. How often do you cook? 2–3 times a week.
12. Milk: semi skimmed, full fat? I HATE MILK.
13. Bread: white/brown/wholemeal? White.
14. Butter/marg? Either.
15. Do you own a food mixer? Yes.
16. Slice your own veg/buy ready prepared? Slice my own.
17. Oven/Microwave? Depends!
SECTION 5: OUTDOORS
1. Favourite sport: Gymnastics.
2. How often do you work out? Uh… 😡
3. In any clubs/societies for sport? No.
4. Own a car/vehicle? Yes.
5. How often do you drive? Almost every day.
6. Prefer to walk/drive? Either.
SECTION SIX: TECHNOLOGY
1. Own a computer? Yes.
2. Email/Hand Written Letter? Both.
3. Hand written notes/typed up? Both.
4. Broadband? Wireless? Dial up? Broadband and wireless.
5. How often do you use your computer? Every day.
6. Have a fax? No.
7. Have a mobile phone? Yes.
8. How often do you use your mobile? Almost every day.
9. Is it just the one mobile phone? Yes.
10. Average bill monthly? Someone else covers, so I’m not sure.
11. Pay as you go/contract? Contract.
12. Ever used your mobile over the landline to save time walking? No.
13. Cable/Sky/Freeview? No.
14. Do you own a DVD Player? Yes.
15. How many DVDs do you have? NO CLUE.
16. VHS? Tons.
17. Stereo system? Small one.
18. Laptop? Yes.
19. PDA/Blackberry? No.
20. How many game consoles you do own? Two but one doesn’t work. I think I need a new cable.
SECTION SEVEN: PERSONAL THINGS
1. Smoke? How many a day? No and None.
2. Brand of cigarettes: None.
3. Drugs? No.
4. Drink alcohol? Rarely.
5. Favourite alcoholic beverage: Amareto Sour.
6. Pick litter up/leave it? Pick it up, if it’s my own.
7. Turn off lights/appliances or not bother? Turn off.
8. Leave the tap running when cleaning your teeth? Yes.
9. Sort trash into seperate bins? Yes, at work.
10. Recycle? Yes.
11. Worry about the world? Yes.
I looked through my LJ folder and found tons of surveys that I had meant to do and post. One of them was a Valentine’s Day survey. Oops. Maybe next year?
See ya!
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Sunday Afternoon Randomness
My friend crimsonghost_oh visited me for the weekend. It was fun. I made him watch The Boondock Saints, and now he wants to go buy it. YESSSS, another convert! 🙂
My laptop is home from the doctor. The Geek Squad said they’d need $130 to do an “XP Reimage” because it had spyware and viruses on it. As if I have $130 lying around to give them for something I can do myself?
I just finished The Geography of Girlhood by Kirsten Smith. There are blurbs all over the back of the book, and one of them is from Julia Stiles. My first thought: How in the FRESH HELL did a first-time novelist get a blurb from JULIA STILES? Well, turned out that this author co-wrote some very famous screenplays—one of them being Ten Things I Hate About You, which if I am not mistaken, Julia Stiles played in, so yeah. Ha. Can you imagine, getting blurbed by an A-list actress? Well, she’s A-list in my eyes, anyway.
Speaking of writing, I entered that contest over at Gather.com, and I haven’t been back in two days to check my score or any comments. I kind of just want to forget about it now—if I obsess over it, I’ll be miserable and stressed. I’m proud I had the balls to enter, but now I just want to block it from my mind.
In the meantime, adamselzer‘s book is kicking butt in reviews. I saw it at the library the other day, and when I looked it up, the Columbus Libraries had 14 copies, 9 of which were checked out. Now, the library owns 16 copies. Go Adam! (If you can’t guess, I’m doing my favorite thing again—reserving books at the library! It’s like shopping, only FREE!)
Last week, I finally got through Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. I had a HARD time with it, only because it was very stressful to read. It felt like a continuous assault to me. Description, action, bang bang bang. I like fast-paced novels with strong voices, but this one was too much for me.
And now I am reading My Brother’s Keeper by Patricia McCormick, and Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares. After that, I will read Monster by Walter Dean Myers, and maybe I’ll try Envy by Robin Wasserman again. Actually, I might do Monster before the Sisterhood book because I’ve had that one longer.
Firefox updated itself on my computer and now none of my fun extensions and themes work. Let me tell you how annoying that is! As far as FF is concerned, my computer has no freakin’ clue. I can’t even import the bookmarks in another browser because the computer doesn’t know they’re there, although THEY ARE VERY CLEARLY IN FIREFOX. I don’t know what to do, I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled a million times, deleted directories and all that good stuff. It’s just a hot mess. Which is a shame because I love Firefox normally. Flock is okay, but the backward and forward arrows are just that. There are no drop-downs to get you to the other pages you visited. But all of my Firefox extensions are working in Flock so maybe I’ll just switch to that one, once I get all the bookmarks moved over somehow.
Tomorrow, I see Aidan for the first time in about 20 days. So weird, not seeing him for so long, although I did talk to him on the phone.
Here is a question I have: Why in the world would someone pay $249 for an 8 gig iPod nano, when one can get a 30 gig regular iPod for the same price? I mean, the logic should be obvious here, right? And yes, I am dreaming of a new iPod. Mine stays charged for about 20 minutes these days, IF I am lucky, and it’s not color nor does it play videos. I want a NEW one. I also want a MacBook Pro. Just because. I can’t afford any of these things, but I sure do want them. All because I love technology. Blah.
I have a coupon for a free panty from Victoria’s Secret. I’ll go on Tuesday to get that, yee-haw. I also have one for a free aromatherapy thing from Bath & Body Works, but of course, THEIRS is with purchase. Poopheads. But here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to buy a $2.50 bar of soap or something and then get my $13 value aromatherapy thing. I love their Cherry Blossom scent, so I’ll probably get a bar of the soap. Mmm. Soap.
I’m hungry, but I can’t decide if I want spaghetti, or a turkey sammich. I guess my stomach will decide for me before long.
Til next time!
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CHICAGO! (Pictures)
I promised you guys a recap with pictures, and I don’t like breaking my promises.
Just so you know, this is totally out of order and random. So here goes. 🙂
On my flight out to Chicago, there were some snafus. Firstly, there were tons of people going into O’Hare for some reason, so they asked us to reroute. But the pilot wasn’t sure we had enough fuel. So that possibly a delay (we were already 30 minutes late). This is the face I made when I heard that news:
We had enough fuel to take the reroute. But when someone asked the flight attendant if they were SURE, the flight attendant answered “I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out!”
That’s SUCH a Southwest Airlines response!
But, I eventually made it there. The flight was scheduled to land at 6:15pm CST, and I landed at 6:30pm CST, so it worked out because the reroute ended up being quicker.
I spent several days and nights in Chicago. It was balls-freezing cold, but I enjoyed it anyway. I ate well, got a lot of exercise (let me tell you how hard it is to walk through 12 inches of snow, especially unshoveled!), and hung out with a lot of great people: adamselzer, saintscribble, jebbyk, ralinad, projectlost1 just to name a few, and of course, the awesome Mr. Mike Smith, who so graciously went along on a journey to Hot Doug’s for my first Chicago-style hotdog, which was THE BOMB.
The line for this place wound around the block. It was freezing outside. I’d trudged through lots of snow to get here. I really did walk uphill in the freezing cold and snow to get there.
It was SO worth it.
On the left—The Dog. An all-beef hot dog with a bit of a snap to it, tomatoes, relish, mustard, celery salt, and a pickle, all on a poppy seed bun. There are supposed to be onions but you know I asked that those be held. I also didn’t get the sport peppers, which you really aren’t supposed to eat anyway. You’re supposed to throw them at cars.
OMGz THE YUMMERZ!!!!!! It was my first Chicago-style hotdog, will NOT be my last by any means.
On the right—Smoked Chicken Cordon Bleu Sausage with Apple Ale Mustard and Applewood-Smoked Cheddar Cheese. Interesting flavors. It was okay, no where near as good as The Dog, though. Mmmmm.
On the very far right—duck fat fries. Only available Saturdays and Sundays. Mmmmm.
A blizzard hit the city on Tuesday, which made trudging through the snow to find adamselzer‘s newly released book a challenge. It was that stinging snow, too. The kind that hurts when it hits your face. Yow.
Among the other things I did: took the Metra train out to Naperville to attend the Children’s Literature Breakfast. I’m glad I went because not only were there ace donuts, but I got a bag of free stuff, and I was surrounded by authors, some who said they’d tried submitting up to ten agented manuscripts before they finally sold. I immediately stopped being so hard on myself and felt compelled and ready to get back in the game. In addition, I got to hear best-selling author Brian Selznick speak, who wrote the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret which is pretty much like an epic novel if I’ve ever seen one.
The weird part was that at the Metra station, you wait by the tracks for your train to come, of course. There are these speakers with this weird, haunting voice: track number six, track number ten, track number eight. They say it over and over and let me tell you, at 6:15am, that’s CREEPY.
A huge group of people celebrated jebbyk‘s 30th birthday at a fancy restaurant called Marche. I didn’t eat much, BELIEVE ME. Anyway, Jen looked stunning:
Of course, there was Adam’s book signing:
A snowy sidewalk:
And goood memories all around. I can’t wait to go back, when it’s warmer, and take more pictures. I saw many gorgeous opportunities, but it was just tooo dang cold. However, ralinad is an AWESOME photographer, and he got some beautiful pictures despite the chill in the air, so check out his LJ or his flickr pages.
And yup, that was my trip. In a nutshell of sorts.
Eventually, I’d like to post a video from Adam’s book reading/signing, but I’m having computer drama at the moment. Seems as though all of my USB ports have been disabled for some reason.
Later.
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