pictures

No Point, Really. (Picture)

3 March 2007 / aidan, books, life, pictures, survey

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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CHICAGO! (Pictures)

20 February 2007 / chicago, life, pictures, vacation

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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Adam Selzer’s Book Signing (Pictures)

16 February 2007 / adam, authors, books, chicago, pictures

The display that’s right by the front door of the Borders in La Grange, IL.

Adam’s in place.

Reading.

Q&A

Signing

Just so you know, Amazon only has 3 copies of Adam’s book left, so ORDER IT NOW.

Seriously, it’s really good, and really funny. You’ll enjoy it. So order it.

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Random Whining and Stuff (Pictures)

16 February 2007 / chicago, pictures

Just after I did that feeling so lucky post, I checked my bank account and realized my paycheck is nearly $200 short. I called ZB payroll and didn’t get an answer, or a call back. Looks like I’ll be going directly to them on Monday to see what the deal is. SOMEONE’S giving me my money!

And if they don’t… well, I can think of at least four bills that won’t get paid this month. And I have to think of something to sell.

It’s not like I’m spending incredible amounts of money here in Chicago. Actually, the only purchase I made was 3 pairs of leggings to wear under my pants so my legs wouldn’t freeze to death. But my budget is just SO tight, that losing $200 is a BAD BAD thing.

I get to call Gateway to see why the hell my laptop keeps shutting off any time it feels like it. I understand that sometimes it overheats, but recently, it’s not been hot AT ALL and it’s been just randomly shutting off. You know how people can sit their laptops on their beds and work on them? I’ve never able to do that–it’ll shut off. I think it’s time to back up the most important files, take it to Best Buy and expect to get a replacement. I bought the service plan–I just have to make sure I have the paperwork around somewhere. I know one thing, though. I sure as hell am NOT getting a Gateway ever again. Ever. Ever.

I wish I could afford a MacBook, but um, yeah. Not happening anytime soon. I can barely afford peanut butter. But I guess lately, that’s not really a bad thing–however, I do take consolation in the fact that I don’t buy Peter Pan. I’m a Jif girl! And it’s not even because I’m a choosy mom. It’s because the Jif was just the cheapest at the time.

*sigh*

I swear, it’s always one damn thing after another.

I am SO GLAD I planned this trip before I went broke (oh, those were the days), or else it would not have been possible. I am having a great time here, but as always, when the end nears, I start to feel melancholy. If only there was some way to better merge my life in Columbus with my life HERE, get a publishing contract, AND make lots of money, life would be excellent.

Went to a book signing last night. adamselzer‘s book signing, to be exact. He read passages from his book and signed lots of copies. He’s got a manificent presence, and he did really well. 🙂

Here are a few pictures from the event!

The display that’s right by the front door of the Borders in La Grange, IL.

Adam’s in place.

Reading

Q&A

Signing

Just so you know, Amazon only has 3 copies of Adam’s book left, so ORDER IT NOW.

Seriously, it’s really good, and really funny. You’ll enjoy it. So order it.

My long vacation in Chicago is winding down. 🙁 Only two more days. I hate that the week seems SO LONG when dealing with regular life, but THIS life, the good life, makes the time speed by. Not fair. Why does the universe work like that? Anyone have any insight?

SIGH

Right now, it’s negative 3 degrees, not counting the wind chill. It’s cold.

I’m not really smiling in that picture. That’s um…a side effect of the crazy cold. Because I hate the cold. I do. But you know what? My blood is getting way thick. Hasn’t been this thick since my Ohio State days, trudging to class in 0 degree weather. Brrrrr.

I left my car in the ZB lot. It hasn’t been started since last Friday. I’m planning on sleeping at ZB Sunday night, because I don’t think it’s gonna start. I have the electric heater and I have a full suitcase, so I should be okay. Except for breaking the whole “not being in the building when management is not present” rule–but the thing is, I’ll just freeze to death in the parking lot and then they’d REALLY lose an employee so hey, pick your battles, I say.

Much longer recap, complete with pictures, when I’m *sob* back in Columbus.

Later.

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Sunday (Pictures)

28 January 2007 / books, life, pictures

Earlier, I was writing a LJ update on my laptop when it overheated and shut off. 🙁 I can’t wait to get the notebook fan I ordered from HiPoints. I’ve been a member of Harris Poll online for years, and I’d accumulated over 13,000 points. I wasn’t impressed with anything in the 10,000 point folio, so I decided to get several little things. So here’s what I ordered:

1. programmable wireless optical mouse
2. notebook fan thingy
3. 1-year subscription to Glamour magazine
4. cordless Dirt Devil vac

I love shopping when I don’t have to spend any money. They even cover shipping!

That also means getting packages in the mail over the next several weeks, so yay for that.

Spent the weekend with little Aidan. He’s so cute. He gets so wound up over the smallest things sometimes. He totally got that from his dad. 😉 Other than that, he’s hilarious. Some of the things he comes up with, I’m just amazed. And watching him fall asleep at night. It’s the most precious thing to see. I’m so lucky to have such a cuddly, beautiful little boy. 🙂

He left about 10:30 this morning, and I immediately went back to bed, and read. Then I took a nap, and read some more. Today, I read Peeps by Scott Westerfeld. I loved it. I immediately went to the library website and put the sequel on reserve. And I added Peeps to my Reading Pleasure Wish List.

Then I read Then Again, Maybe I Won’t by Judy Blume. Believe it or not, I missed a LOT of Judy Blume books as I was growing up, but I’m making up for it now. Thank GOD for public libraries!

Friday, I watched High School Musical and LOVED it. It’s so fun, and Aidan had me watch the “We’re All In This Together” video over and over. He enjoyed it, too. I return it to Netflix tomorrow, just in time to cancel my free 2-week trial, but I added it to my wishlist in case someone wants to randomly buy me a present. LOL.

It’s COLD out. Temps in the teens. That’s frightening. I hope this doesn’t continue for too long. Looking forward to Spring already.

Weekends go too quickly. Another LONG work week ahead. Oh well. Such is life.

See ya.

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