shopping

Right Then, It’s On

/ cats, dork, happy, shopping, work

I’m surprised my brain is even functioning enough to write this post. But here Iam.

I am currently in the middle of a seven-day work week. I went in on Sunday, and I’ve been at work every day and will work Saturday as well. Yesterday, I was so exhausted and sick-feeling that I went home a couple of hours early, and those extra few hours of sleep REALLY helped. I figured that if I didn’t rest yesterday, I’d be crap for the rest of the week. This morning I felt back to normal and worked a regular day with no problem. Tomorrow is Friday for most people, but honestly, I don’t really know which day is which these days anymore.

The upside of all this working are the following things:

It’s nice not to have to worry AT ALL about money for the next several weeks. And all the frugal living I’ve had to do the past two years has really helped me not lose control of my spending. My biggest splurges this month? Some clothes for Aidan and my Disney Photopass CD, both of which I snagged at substantial discounts. I still take my lunches to work (except for the occasional McDonald’s treat), still reread books at home or get them from the library.

The people I work with are generally pretty great. The permanent employees are used to this fourth quarter madness and most of them take it in stride. They buy us lunch when we work on the weekends. The guys have a great sense of humor. I mean, anytime someone says “moot” and five or six people all start going “moooooot” like cows–that’s just my kind of place. Not only that, but they don’t look at me weird because I love Disney so much. In fact, I know of at least two other people there who are fans, and someone brings his/her lunch in a Disney World bag every day.

The culture of the place is one of the best I’ve ever worked at. Not only is there the Tuesday and Thursday popcorn, but I can listen to my music, and I’m pretty much to the point where I can get through entire days without having something pointed out to me that I missed or just didn’t know yet. I can wear jeans every day, and my “boss” has an Obama paper doll on her office window, and his clothes get changed often.

Did I mention that I know ahead of time what the sales are? Yes, that’s pure WIN. Not that I shop a lot, of course, but it’s nice to know. I am getting ideas of Christmas gifts for people.

The downside is:

No weekends, or very short weekends. I’ve pretty much accepted that I’m going to be working 6-day weeks until Thanksgiving. TGIF means nothing to me now.

I keep DREAMING about work and those ads. Other people say it’s normal, so I don’t feel like much of a freak, but still. I often have to force my mind to go other directions at night.

I haven’t had time to read a new book in weeks. So I just re-read old books. Now I’m going through the Casteel series by VC Andrews. I might skip the last two, though, and go to the Dollanganger series.

My room is a hot mess. I WANT to clean but I just don’t FEEL like it. I figure life will return to normal soon enough, so I’m not too worried about it. Except when I’m trying to find stuff. Or when stuff constantly gets knocked over.

Our Internet connection has been iffy again. Adam finally broke down and ordered a NEW service which will be active Monday night. I’m looking forward to stable Internet again.

Why are people so resistant to change on the ‘net? Flickr has a new homepage and people are in an uproar about that. The new Facebook–oh Lord. People lost their minds. I happen to like the new pages, and I’m getting used to the new iGoogle in the meantime. Good times.

The other night, I went on an online shopping spree. But the only thing that I actually paid for that night was Aidan’s clothes. I got him $100 worth of clothes from The Children’s Place for $26. The Photopass CD had been pre-paid. I also FINALLY dipped into the $45 worth of Amazon gift certificates I’ve had for months to preorder a couple of CDs, a DVD, and a book.

HOLY CRAP. The water heater guy left his sweatshirt here by mistake and Helena just peed on it. WTF. She pees on our bed every chance she gets and she tries to sneak in our bedroom just so she can pee on the bed. Lucy at least had a reason to keep peeing everywhere–she was sick. But Helena is just being a bitch and I’m getting annoyed by it. Ironically, she’d been taken back to PAWS in the past because of the same problem. But when we first brought her home, she used the litter boxes with NO problem at all. I don’t understand the problem. And I don’t understand why our vet charges effing $300 to look at a urine sample. Besides, she’s perfectly healthy, doing her billion windsprints all morning, and she poops in the litter boxes and pees in them when the bedroom door is closed or random sweatshirts are not on the floor. And she eats like nobody’s business. I don’t understand the peeing, though. It’s obviously behavioral, but I don’t know anything beyond that.

Anyway, I guess that’s all for now. I need to take a bath and then get ready for the bed that is not made, incidentally, because Adam was washing the sheets and comforter AGAIN because you-know-who peed on it. Again. Sigh.

Til next time.

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

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Starlight, Star Bright, First Star I See Tonight (Picture)

/ aidan, conversations with aidan, disney world, pictures, shopping, to do, work

!!! Disney in just a couple days !!!

And I’ve been SO busy, I haven’t even had time to make lists of the stuff I need to do before and for the trip. I’m hoping that Saturday, after my hair appointment, I can come home and square things away. I’m supposed to work late tomorrow night, so that’s out. Eeek. However, my paycheck next week will be very nice! I’m purposely waiting until near the end of the trip to do the bulk of my souvenir shopping. (Don’t worry, Rosa, I haven’t forgotten about your Alice pin!)

I think I’ll get it together, though. I am almost done with all the shopping I need to do. I’d like to get another memory card for at least one of the cameras (although we’ll have at least three cameras total!), I got some cute new shirts and a pair of shorts (for $5!), a new necklace, and some earrings. I am so happy we have an Aeropostale downtown now. SO HAPPY! Hmm… I want to get more sunscreen, although I do have a can of nice spray on stuff. It’s a few years old, though, so I don’t know if it’ll still be any good. I do NOT want to get burned!

Here are some things I need to do:

– clear off memory cards
– recharge camera batteries
– buy sunscreen
– load and recharge iPod
– sync iPhone (although I tend to do this every night anyway)
– choose a bag to carry around the park
– gather up Disney stuff (confirmations, Disney dollars, Magical Express tags, ears, etc.)
– PACK!!!!

Yes, EARS! Melissa and Eli bought us the bride and groom ears! I’m so happy about that! Adam looks SO cute in his. I’m sure I’ll look cute, too.

I’m so very excited to be going to Disney World. I have the Wishes song on my iPhone as my default ringtone.

Tonight, I talked to little Aidan on the phone. He and his dad were on speaker, and Aidan was getting tired and a little bit grouchy. Anyway, he was trying to say he wasn’t sleepy.

Aidan: I’m not sleepy. I’m like an owl.
Ronni: Aw, he’s a night owl.
Chris: Yes, just like his mommy. Aidan, are you nocturnal?
Aidan: Yes, that means I wake up in the night.
Chris: Do you hibernate?
Aidan: No, I’m not a bear!

He’s so freakin’ smart. I miss him so much. Earlier this week, I mailed him a package full of cool stuff, and he got it today. He said he likes everything in there. :) Among the things I put in the package:

– butterfly bath bomb from Lush
– 2 shirts from Old Navy (he said he LOVES them and can’t wait to wear them!)
– sour gummy worms
– fruit snacks
– blue self-stick notes in the shape of an A

Schawk! is still going well. Fourth quarter officially starts this weekend, though, so they’re already asking people to do overtime. I can’t this week–I’ll be preparing for Disney World. But soon enough, I’ll be working 10 hour days and Saturdays too, probably. I’ll be loving my paychecks as a result of all that work. It’s a decent place to work. But I am glad tomorrow is Friday. This week was a bit tiring.

Hmm, what else? I want to get it all out while I’m here, because I don’t know if I’ll have time to blog again before I go!!!

OH, I know. Check this out:

Stuffed Animals

See the big giraffe? Yeah, I TOTALLY want it. I went up to it in the store today and hugged it. So cute.

Oh, I know. Yesterday, I went and saw Romney at her job. She works a BLOCK from me. Takes me like, 2 minutes to walk there. She’s SO CUTE. :) I adore her.

OK, I need to go because I’m typing like crap and losing my train of thought, AND I am getting sleepy. Plus Crookshanks just plopped his big butt on my lap. Please forgive any typos. I’ll try to blog tomorrow or Saturday, if I have some time. But for now… good night!

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

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Finally, An Update! (Pictures, Long)

/ friends, horoscope, life, living in chicago, pictures, ronni, shopping, to do

I’ve been chastised about not updating, so here I am. The thing is that I simply didn’t (and still don’t, really) have much to talk about. Sometimes it’s just like that.

I’ve been highly enjoying the Olympics. In fact, now my body clock is WAY messed up because I stay up late watching them and then just don’t make it to bed after. I’m back to being a total night owl. Sleeping all day and staying up all night. I only get to bed at about 3:30 or 4:00 am because I force myself. I’d easily stay up all night if I could.

However, I am anticipating starting my assignment next week (actually, as this week winds down, I’m kind of losing hope of starting until after Labor Day which wouldn’t be good for my wallet AT ALL), and I NEED to get my body back to “normal” hours. Frankly, I believe MY normal hours are like this, because it’s too easy for me to slip back into this pattern of staying up all night and sleeping all day. I wonder if I moved to the other side of the world, would I be on a “normal” schedule, then?

So, the biggest news?

I got new glasses!

Wanna see? Of course you do.

New Glasses!

Cool, huh? I decided to go for a more bold look than I’ve had the past few years. I like them. Adam LOVES them. ♥

The cats have been great. Helena is an EATING MACHINE, and they’ve gone through an entire HUGE bag of Kit & Kaboodle. That used to last Crookshanks quite a while (and a bag of food that big would last Little Lucy months!), but now with Helena here (who is incidentally, wailing for more food at this moment!), I get the feeling our cat food expenses will go up drastically. I hope she doesn’t get fat! The only annoying thing about her is that she is very loud, and unfortunately, she’s usually loud around 6am. She does that terror-running and she wails, especially if the food bowl is empty. She’s very sweet, though, and she often curls up beside me on the couch when I’m on the laptop or reading or watching TV. She used to try calling me to bed, but I think she’s given up on that. SHE is a night owl too, but she’s also a very early riser, and she’s a cat, so she gets to sleep and take naps all day. Lucky girl. I do like mirroring her life, but I need to make money, dang it.

This is one of the pictures from our wedding weekend. Kelly took this one. I haven’t been able to take one this great of Helena yet:

Beautiful Helena

Here are some more of the professional wedding pictures taken by Kelly. [LINK]

My friend Libby said she likes when I detail my grocery purchases on my blog, so this is what I got today yesterday:

1 carton of Edy’s chocolate ice cream · $2.50
1 bag of Lay’s potato chips · $2.50
1 bag of Malt-O-Meal Tootie Fruities (generic Froot Loops) · $1.89

I also went grocery shopping Monday, but I don’t know the prices. I know I did get two containers of lunch meat (one ham, one turkey), some Lay’s potato chips (yes, I had to get more b/c I’m clumsy and well, let’s just not talk about it), Tropicana Twister, Dean’s french onion dip (I hate onions, but I like the flavor, and I love certain French onion dips), and that’s all I can think of for now. At Target, Adam got granola bars. I’m not used to having people eat the foods I eat. I’m used to buying granola bars and having them stay until I’m ready for them; but Adam likes granola bars and he likes Trix, too. Eek. Anyway, I made him buy granola bars at Target, and we found these dark chocolate cherry ones. MMMMM! I’m pretty sure they’ll be discontinued soon, as this happens often when I find something I love to eat. *sigh* I haven’t been able to find Granola Dipps in the grocery for weeks now. :(

I went to the library last week and I’ve already read all but two of the books I’d taken out. Eep. The guy behind the counter recognized me. He said that I come in every week and check out sixty books. I have to go again soon, actually. I got to read Lisa McMann’s WAKE (awesome book) and Sophie Kinsella’s REMEMBER ME (which I also enjoyed). I’ve also been poring over Disney World travel guides. Not much longer ’til we’re there! :)

This is my daily forecast for August 20 and 21:

You feel very centered, calm and in perfect harmony with yourself Your inner communication is flowing quite smoothly, regardless of what’s going on around you. Your life has reached a point of balance and equilibrium and you’re feeling the satisfying effects of getting all those disparate elements to work together. Your creativity is also quite high, which you should certainly take advantage of. If you already have a creative project underway, get to it! If not, give yourself some time to dream and let images and feelings come to you; then go get started bringing them to tangible form. If you tell others of your ideas, you’re likely to notice you receive lots of positive feedback. If you’re an artist by career, you might even have some pieces accepted by a gallery or a film invited for a festival screening. Now is a good time to blend your artistic abilities with your confidence and people skills; get out there and tout your work, because others are in prime mood to appreciate whatever you show them.

It really does mirror how I feel. I’m head over heels butt crazy about Adam. Did I mention that he sometimes brings me breakfast in bed? And he makes good meals, and he is so nice to cuddle. ♥ I guess I’ll stop before I get all sappy and make you all go EW GROSS!

Instead, I’ll make my to-do list.

TO DO
thank you cards
upload and order wedding pictures
send wedding pictures to my mom
mail Ivy’s & Rosa’s stuff

Well, the list seemed LOT bigger in my head. I’m sure I’m forgetting stuff. Speaking of Ivy, she sent me cookies again. Adam ordered me to keep him away from them or else he’ll eat them all. THEY ARE YUMMY! I love Ivy’s cookies. Everyone I know likes them, too. I also just finished editing her latest project, and I stayed up until 4am because the book got SO GOOD that I had to see what happened. I’m having a hard time breaking my reading up into healthy chunks. I keep on devouring them in one gulp. Eeep.

I guess I had a lot more to say than I thought. Huh. Funny how that works. Anyway, I am going to try to get to bed a LITTLE bit earlier than normal. Let’s see if I can pull it off.

‘Til next time!

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

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A Potluck Entry

/ books, living in chicago, shopping, Uncategorized, work

I don’t know about you, but the opening ceremonies blew me away last night. China does not play around when it comes to pyrotechnics. I LOVE watching the Parade of Nations. Yes, it takes hours, but I enjoy watching the outfits and the different faces and the different people. Amazing. At first, I was grumbling because there were many times that Bush didn’t seem to even TRY to be looking interested, but when I saw other world leaders SLEEPING, I stopped being so critical. At least W stayed awake, even if he was checking his watch. Sigh.

In a little over a week, I start a temp assignment at Ambrosi, an advertising firm. I am very excited about this assignment. Not only does it pay really well, but I get to look at some really cool stuff. I’m nervous, of course, but I’m also excited. Plus, the train stop is right across the street from the building, and there is an Argo Tea downstairs! One of the best things about having the chance to temp this summer is the fact that I am getting so much experience in different fields. When Ambrosi is completed, I can say I have agency experience (I actually do have a little bit with Trisect and S2) as well as educational publishing experience. Not to mention the flexibility that comes from being able to state my availability. It’s been quite a blessing.

I love when I’m lying in bed, and I feel a little thump next to me, then tiny footsteps walking across my legs and back. I know that means Helena is settling in for the night, or at least a few minutes.

I recently decided that I wanted to get used to wearing contacts again because I do not want to bother with glasses (other than sunglasses) when I am in Disney World. So, while I was out yesterday, I stopped at an America’s Best eye clinic to see about getting an exam. I hadn’t been examined in two years, and I knew that my glasses were not as effective as they used to be. :( My vision did deteriorate a bit, but it’s still not too bad. Anyway, now I have new contacts coming in, and soon, I’m going to go get new glasses. YAY. Let me tell you, it’s weird wearing contacts again–not having my glasses on and being able to see clearly all the way to the back of the apartment. I pick up my boxes of contacts in a few days, but he gave me a trial pair to wear home.

I love it when I’m sitting on our new loveseat, typing away on my laptop, and Crookshanks comes and curls up right next to me. Yes, he usually plops his big butt right where I need to move the mouse, but it’s still very sweet.

I finally got to read Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr. I thought the book was beautifully written. I got to meet Melissa in April of this year at an author signing in La Grange, IL. It’s so easy to see that this woman LOVES writing and creating stories, that love definitely comes through in her writing. I really enjoyed this book. I did have a hard time with all the faery names–trying to work out pronunciations in my head and such (and she thankfully has a guide on her site), but that didn’t make the book any less good.

I also FINALLY read Rainbow Party and while I can understand why some people were like “whut” over it, I think the book handled the matter in a very responsible and well-written way. Other books I recently read include Meg Cabot’s Airhead and April Henry’s Shock Point, which is actually a re-read because I enjoyed it so much the first time around.

My allergies haven’t been that nice to me. I have a hard time sleeping because of all the gunk in my throat, or the itchiness. This was probably not the smartest time to try wearing contacts again, seeing as my eyes get itchy and tired too. I’m constantly sniffling and clearing my throat these days.

And here is something interesting I’ve found out. Some groceries at Target are a lot cheaper than the grocery store, even my beloved Strack & Van Til! What a nice, pleasant surprise. Although this particular Target is SCARILY crowded, and yesterday, I remembered WHY I hate driving in Chicago. Seriously, UPS trucks and random SUVs that park and take up whole lanes REALLY irritate me. I usually end up behind those idiots and I can’t get around them because everyone behind me sees that I’m stuck and they just jut on out, thus keeping ME from getting around those losers. I also hate that it takes 25 minutes to go four miles because of all the stupid traffic lights. This city is NOT driver friendly at all. Especially not to people with Ohio license plates. :(

I didn’t get a lot of normal groceries yesterday, just snacks/junk mostly. And cereal. Edy’s Dibs were on sale, two for $5. Trix was $2. Doritos were two for $5. I also got us some treats. Reese’s miniatures and Pop Tarts. Yeah, not the most healthy of foods, but I wanted them. Ha.

Anyway, I want to go relax a bit before Adam gets back from the farmer’s market. ‘Til next time!

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

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Nothing, Really

/ body and soul, car, living in chicago, shopping, weekend

Today, I had a doctor’s appointment. I love this doctor, and I’m not dreading going to see her again next month. And for not having insurance, the cost wasn’t prohibitive at all. Thank God I have a wonderful finace who cares about me and who takes care of me. I’d have never gone to see her without his insistence. Basically, I have been emotionally off for months now, and although I realize that most of it’s because I’m going through a million different adjustments at once, the fact that I am ALWAYS feeling an underlying sadness, irritable, and impatience among other stuff is a problem. So it’s time to see what I can do. I have two months worth of prescription samples, and the other prescription I had to fill cost me only $10.99. 🙂 We’ll see what happens.

After that, Adam, Aidan, and I hit Strack & Van Til for some name brand groceries (oh shoot, I forgot lunch meat!). Strack & Van Til is less expensive than the other stores around here (except ALDI); the prices are comparable to what I paid in Columbus for groceries. They also sell Granola Dipps there, but I don’t know how long that is going to last. I think I got the last box. :O And Vitamin Water is 10 for $10. Some places charge $1.99 for one bottle. Now, if they only had BBQ Fritos….

Then we did a bad thing. We went in to Best Buy. And I got that pink camera I’ve been wanting for months. Adam stood there and convinced me to get it, telling me that I was going to end up buying it before Disney anyway, and that I should get it while it was on sale (it was $20 off today), and that it would be GREAT to have in the Disney parks, especially at night, when I might not want to tote around the SLR. SO, I got it. I’m still not convinced I won’t talk myself into returning it, so I haven’t opened it yet. But I probably will open it and enjoy having a little camera to carry around with me. 🙂

(Adam is telling me to stop feeling guilty about buying it).

I’m sure the bank is scratching its head, because I don’t spend money like this regularly.

Today I drove again for the first time in several weeks. For some reason, I feel a great deal of anxiety driving here, and I really shouldn’t. I mean, I KNOW how to get to the grocery stores and to Target and Kohl’s and Best Buy. And anything else, I can take the bus or the train or walk because those stores are downtown. I’ve been very tempted to sell the car, pay off the balance with the money, and go to not owning a car anymore. Someone broke into my car AGAIN over the weekend and stole my emergency roadside kit. I am getting frustrated with having to get windows replaced every six weeks because people are assholes. This time they broke the window that goes up and down, but Adam found a place that charges only $65. More than half what the other places charge. Still, it’s an expense that’s ridiculous and annoying. Plus insurance (although mine has gone down woo!), and the car payment, plus the $120 yearly fee one has to pay JUST for owning a car in Chicago, and the same for registration. I don’t drive it enough to justify all that, so we were thinking of doing the iGo or Zipcar thing (car sharing, about $15 a month for three hours of usage, which is perfect for groceries and such, and the fees cover insurance, gas, etc.). I’d be sad to get rid of my car…. seems like I’m constantly giving up something by living here, but it would be good for the environment and good for my wallet. But I kind of want to hold on to it until I find full-time work. If I can’t find a job downtown and have to commute, I’ll need a car for that.

Anyway, that’s all for now. I’m eyeing the camera, still in the bag and in its box, and inching a little closer to opening it. 🙂 I’ll let you know.

‘Til next time!

ETA at 5:40pm I opened the camera and I LOVE IT. 😀

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

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