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Ladies and Gentlemen, SIR ELTON JOHN!!!
Friday, December 3, 2010
Ladies and Gentlemen: SIR...
Guess who we get to go see in February?
Ladies and Gentlemen, SIR ELTON JOHN!!!
Ladies and Gentlemen, SIR ELTON JOHN!!!
Thursday, December 2, 2010
I swear he's alive in this photo.
After mentioning in my last post this morning about Rumpole LOVING the heater, I came across him in this pose this morning.
Obviously, I needed to post.
Obviously, I needed to post.
The cat that had 7 toes and purred like a hummingbird
Paddington is my bud. With 7 toes on each of his front paws (rather than 5 on each), he looks like he has mittens. Or seal flippers. And his purr is so loud and flittery (like a happy hummingbird) and ongoing that the vet last visit could not hear Pad's heartbeat.
No joke.
And let me just say: He is the most grateful cat. I don't know what he came from, but he's sure happy to be here.
I took this yesterday. The real cuteness begins at 0:20, but you can hear his loud purring before that point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwmLzMRsDCU
Meanwhile, Frankie (the gray cat) has a cold or allergies. He's been walking around, sneezing. We're keeping a close eye on him.
And Rumpole (the deep orange one). He's recently discovered that the oil-filled radiator emits warmth. He's currently passed out next to it with this look of joy on his face.
No joke.
And let me just say: He is the most grateful cat. I don't know what he came from, but he's sure happy to be here.
I took this yesterday. The real cuteness begins at 0:20, but you can hear his loud purring before that point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwmLzMRsDCU
Meanwhile, Frankie (the gray cat) has a cold or allergies. He's been walking around, sneezing. We're keeping a close eye on him.
And Rumpole (the deep orange one). He's recently discovered that the oil-filled radiator emits warmth. He's currently passed out next to it with this look of joy on his face.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
The house exploded. Because of groceries.
Ok, maybe not really explode, but I've been taking advantage of some deals.
First off, I've become a coupon queen. I actually really enjoy it, hunkering down with my scissors. I don't go all out crazy with online things, unless there's a great deal or something's just way too expensive to fathom spending full price on. Though I do always look up coupon codes when ordering online. SO, those things have been helpful. I don't just purchase straight-out because I have a coupon. There's an analysis. Do we need it? Do we need it now? When's the expiration?
Secondly, there have been a lot of "Spend $50 and get $10 off"-type coupons in the newspaper recently. B found one today and gave it to me. I stocked up on some things that were on sale, carefully counting my total to aim for the around-$50 mark anyway. Done. $10 off.
Next, one of our local supermarkets had a "buy $150 worth of gift cards and get $15 back on your next shopping trip" deal. Normally? Not my style. BUT, they had $150 worth of gift cards to places we'd be GOING TO ANYWAY, so I did it. $15 thank you. If it's somewhere we'll be spending money ANYWAY, it's nice.
Finally, my dad called me to tell me Albertson's (grocery store out West... dunno if it's national) had a deal where if you buy $100 worth of giftcards, you get $20 back. Even better than the other supermarket's deal. The main card worth the hassle for? GAS STATION. Um, yes please. Sign me up for two. So, hopefully (haven't done it yet) we're spending $200, getting $40 back, and now our gas is paid for the next month or two. I say "hopefully" because the deal is only down at my dad's store, so he's hopefully getting it for me.
I should also add that before you buy anything big at any department stores, LOOK ONLINE. B fell in love with a $475 coat that WE THOUGHT was $99 (a GREAT price for a new, heavy, Ralph Lauren coat). However, the $99 price was a mislabel on the rack, pertaining to OTHER coats. DRAT. Real sale price (on black Friday no less)? $199. Nope, no can do. We went home, went online, and found it on the department store website for $154. Luckily, we waited a few days, because that Sunday in the newspaper, there was a coupon for $25 off $100 or more purchase. So, the coat ended up costing us $129, and B has a coat that will last him for years, if not decades. The thing is GORGEOUS. GORGEOUS!!! We did have to bring in the online ad printout, but it was pretty easy peasy from there.
Happy shopping!
First off, I've become a coupon queen. I actually really enjoy it, hunkering down with my scissors. I don't go all out crazy with online things, unless there's a great deal or something's just way too expensive to fathom spending full price on. Though I do always look up coupon codes when ordering online. SO, those things have been helpful. I don't just purchase straight-out because I have a coupon. There's an analysis. Do we need it? Do we need it now? When's the expiration?
Secondly, there have been a lot of "Spend $50 and get $10 off"-type coupons in the newspaper recently. B found one today and gave it to me. I stocked up on some things that were on sale, carefully counting my total to aim for the around-$50 mark anyway. Done. $10 off.
Next, one of our local supermarkets had a "buy $150 worth of gift cards and get $15 back on your next shopping trip" deal. Normally? Not my style. BUT, they had $150 worth of gift cards to places we'd be GOING TO ANYWAY, so I did it. $15 thank you. If it's somewhere we'll be spending money ANYWAY, it's nice.
Finally, my dad called me to tell me Albertson's (grocery store out West... dunno if it's national) had a deal where if you buy $100 worth of giftcards, you get $20 back. Even better than the other supermarket's deal. The main card worth the hassle for? GAS STATION. Um, yes please. Sign me up for two. So, hopefully (haven't done it yet) we're spending $200, getting $40 back, and now our gas is paid for the next month or two. I say "hopefully" because the deal is only down at my dad's store, so he's hopefully getting it for me.
I should also add that before you buy anything big at any department stores, LOOK ONLINE. B fell in love with a $475 coat that WE THOUGHT was $99 (a GREAT price for a new, heavy, Ralph Lauren coat). However, the $99 price was a mislabel on the rack, pertaining to OTHER coats. DRAT. Real sale price (on black Friday no less)? $199. Nope, no can do. We went home, went online, and found it on the department store website for $154. Luckily, we waited a few days, because that Sunday in the newspaper, there was a coupon for $25 off $100 or more purchase. So, the coat ended up costing us $129, and B has a coat that will last him for years, if not decades. The thing is GORGEOUS. GORGEOUS!!! We did have to bring in the online ad printout, but it was pretty easy peasy from there.
Happy shopping!
Fun with punchers extends to the bathroom
Armed with a Martha Stewart 50% off coupon and a Michael's 40% off coupon, I hit up Michael's (craft store) yesterday. I bought these two punchers (!!!):
A beautiful botanical scallop:
AND, a NUMBERS punch that will really come in handy:
After having so much fun with the number punch last night, I'm kind of loving this alphabet punch. It's a lot more expensive though, so it'll have to wait. For now.
I really wanted to show B what the scallop puncher did, so I took two pieces of notebook paper and punched one side.
Then off to show B. But B was no where to be found.
Ah ha! In the bathroom with a magazine, door locked. What to do... wait for him to come out to show him the puncher? NAW.
Jess: gets out one notebook piece and writes "I love you" on it and holds it under the bathroom door.
Notebook piece is grabbed by B, who laughs and sends it back.
Jess: Takes notebook piece and writes "this is fun, messaging under the door on cool paper."
BUT, upon sending it back under the door, it is grabbed and kept by the bathroom occupant.
DANGIT!
But, Jess has an extra sheet.
Jess: Takes extra sheet and writes on it "Ha, I had an extra!" Instead of pushing it under the door 100%, it's pushed in 70% and held on to by Jess.
B: Attempts to grab the paper.
Jess: Pulls the paper back in time. Of course, then she has to write "Ha, I held on to it!!" on the paper. Back in 70%.
B: Must have snuck up to the paper this time, because it's suddenly yoinked out of Jess's hands.
Jess: Rolling on the floor laughing.
A beautiful botanical scallop:
AND, a NUMBERS punch that will really come in handy:
After having so much fun with the number punch last night, I'm kind of loving this alphabet punch. It's a lot more expensive though, so it'll have to wait. For now.
I really wanted to show B what the scallop puncher did, so I took two pieces of notebook paper and punched one side.Then off to show B. But B was no where to be found.
Ah ha! In the bathroom with a magazine, door locked. What to do... wait for him to come out to show him the puncher? NAW.
Jess: gets out one notebook piece and writes "I love you" on it and holds it under the bathroom door.
Notebook piece is grabbed by B, who laughs and sends it back.
Jess: Takes notebook piece and writes "this is fun, messaging under the door on cool paper."
BUT, upon sending it back under the door, it is grabbed and kept by the bathroom occupant.
DANGIT!
But, Jess has an extra sheet.
Jess: Takes extra sheet and writes on it "Ha, I had an extra!" Instead of pushing it under the door 100%, it's pushed in 70% and held on to by Jess.
B: Attempts to grab the paper.
Jess: Pulls the paper back in time. Of course, then she has to write "Ha, I held on to it!!" on the paper. Back in 70%.
B: Must have snuck up to the paper this time, because it's suddenly yoinked out of Jess's hands.
Jess: Rolling on the floor laughing.
So that's the lesson to be learned: Buy Martha Stewart's Botanical Scallop puncher, and you'll be on the floor, in front of the bathroom, laughing.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
The Peaceful Approach
Something got me really riled up the other day. I was talking to my mother-in-law on the phone yesterday, and I mentioned it. There I was, ready to scream my lungs out, bang head on the wall, and throttle a person or two.
My MIL's response? Pray for them.
Say what?
But it makes sense.
And it got me thinking about the more peaceful approach to problem-solving, no matter what the problem is. If you're like me, certain things irk and irk you, until you feel like your blood is boiling. But instead of focusing on the annoyances, look at what is causing them. Generally, it's a sad or unfortunate thing that is causing the situation or causing the person's behavior.
Oftentimes, I think the use of prayer is way overdone. Not everyone wants to be prayed for, and not everyone is comfortable having that much religious influence in their lives. But stepping away from actual prayer, just using REFLECTION to look at the situation and it's provokers causes one to see the situation from a different perspective.
It's a very peaceful approach.
I thought about it last night when a friend of mine was going through some major problems with a landlady. I wasn't involved in the situation, which perhaps made me better realize why she was acting a certain way. Her motivators weren't to screw him over. Her motivators were the possible loss of money, poor financial planning, and desperation. Unfortunately, that lashed out in a nasty way against my friend. But, by seeing what caused the situation, hopefully my friend could realize that it wasn't about him. Reflecting on things, we both realized why she was acting the way she was, and that it wasn't personal. We could have gone on for hours, ranting and raving about her indecency. But being consistently mad is incredibly overrated.
Peaceful approach. Reflection. Hmm. There may be something to this.
My MIL's response? Pray for them.
Say what?
But it makes sense.
And it got me thinking about the more peaceful approach to problem-solving, no matter what the problem is. If you're like me, certain things irk and irk you, until you feel like your blood is boiling. But instead of focusing on the annoyances, look at what is causing them. Generally, it's a sad or unfortunate thing that is causing the situation or causing the person's behavior.
Oftentimes, I think the use of prayer is way overdone. Not everyone wants to be prayed for, and not everyone is comfortable having that much religious influence in their lives. But stepping away from actual prayer, just using REFLECTION to look at the situation and it's provokers causes one to see the situation from a different perspective.
It's a very peaceful approach.
I thought about it last night when a friend of mine was going through some major problems with a landlady. I wasn't involved in the situation, which perhaps made me better realize why she was acting a certain way. Her motivators weren't to screw him over. Her motivators were the possible loss of money, poor financial planning, and desperation. Unfortunately, that lashed out in a nasty way against my friend. But, by seeing what caused the situation, hopefully my friend could realize that it wasn't about him. Reflecting on things, we both realized why she was acting the way she was, and that it wasn't personal. We could have gone on for hours, ranting and raving about her indecency. But being consistently mad is incredibly overrated.
Peaceful approach. Reflection. Hmm. There may be something to this.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Subway stop
Ok, it's not a true subway-style sign, but I decided to take one of the boards from one of our old shelves and make a subway sign. I'm only about 1/3 of the way done.
First, I had to measure the length of the board (36") and then take the phrases I wanted (26 lines of phrases) and space them out on the board. Since the subway style has phrases of all heights and widths, this was actually pretty complicated because everything had to fit, but it wasn't uniform size. And I wanted to leave 1/4" inch in between each row of text.
Then, there's a matter of writing the words in. I suppose I could have just printed out text and mod podged the letters on, but I actually like the idea of the entire thing being MY doing, not a computer's. So, I'm printing out the phrases, line by line.
I'm trying to do mostly straight-line fonts (not fancy cursive or roman-style fonts). But, that means I can still mess around with the width of certain letters and make each line look similar but different than the last.
My plan from here:
1) Finish the lines. I'm only on like line 7, so there's a lot more work to do.
2) PAINT! I want the letters to be dark, and I don't know yet what I want the background to be. The purple I like? Maybe. I haven't decided whether this is going in our home or in my office. The painting will be time-consuming, since there is a LOT of detail work around the letters.
3) Paint in the letters. I have been trying to figure out how to do this, since a paintbrush doesn't generally create the straightest lines. I THINK I'm going to try using a fine felt pen and a small ruler. That way, I can be precise and not have to worry about paint.
It's really a calming project. We watched a movie last night, and I just hunkered down with my board and a pen. Nice.
First, I had to measure the length of the board (36") and then take the phrases I wanted (26 lines of phrases) and space them out on the board. Since the subway style has phrases of all heights and widths, this was actually pretty complicated because everything had to fit, but it wasn't uniform size. And I wanted to leave 1/4" inch in between each row of text.
Then, there's a matter of writing the words in. I suppose I could have just printed out text and mod podged the letters on, but I actually like the idea of the entire thing being MY doing, not a computer's. So, I'm printing out the phrases, line by line.
I'm trying to do mostly straight-line fonts (not fancy cursive or roman-style fonts). But, that means I can still mess around with the width of certain letters and make each line look similar but different than the last.
My plan from here:
1) Finish the lines. I'm only on like line 7, so there's a lot more work to do.
2) PAINT! I want the letters to be dark, and I don't know yet what I want the background to be. The purple I like? Maybe. I haven't decided whether this is going in our home or in my office. The painting will be time-consuming, since there is a LOT of detail work around the letters.
3) Paint in the letters. I have been trying to figure out how to do this, since a paintbrush doesn't generally create the straightest lines. I THINK I'm going to try using a fine felt pen and a small ruler. That way, I can be precise and not have to worry about paint.
It's really a calming project. We watched a movie last night, and I just hunkered down with my board and a pen. Nice.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
The night where I sing "Hockey Monkey" at the top of my lungs
Me: What are you putting on the computer?
B: Oh, just a series I think you might like.
(B loads up the computer but then leaves the room for a few minutes)
Me: "The Loop"?? We watched this series. I can't believe you forgot this.
B: (Nothing. Quiet in the other room)
(Meanwhile, after a minute or two, the theme song for the series comes on...)
Me (at the top of my lungs):
All the scientists are running around
looking for the monkey, but he can't be found,
'cause he's down by the pond
playing hockey with the kids.
And all the mothers are running around
looking for their children, but they can't be found,
'cause they're down by the pond
playing hockey with the monkey.
And it's 1, 2, 3.
The kids love the monkey.
And 4, 5, 6.The monkey's got a hockey stick.
And 7, 8, 9.Havin' a good time yeah.
B (after a few moments of shocked silence from the other room): But have you seen SEASON 2?
Me: Oh. No.
B: Then watch.
Me: But can I rewind it and sing "Hockey Monkey" again?
B: Yes.
B: Oh, just a series I think you might like.
(B loads up the computer but then leaves the room for a few minutes)
Me: "The Loop"?? We watched this series. I can't believe you forgot this.
B: (Nothing. Quiet in the other room)
(Meanwhile, after a minute or two, the theme song for the series comes on...)
Me (at the top of my lungs):
All the scientists are running around
looking for the monkey, but he can't be found,
'cause he's down by the pond
playing hockey with the kids.
And all the mothers are running around
looking for their children, but they can't be found,
'cause they're down by the pond
playing hockey with the monkey.
And it's 1, 2, 3.
The kids love the monkey.
And 4, 5, 6.The monkey's got a hockey stick.
And 7, 8, 9.Havin' a good time yeah.
B (after a few moments of shocked silence from the other room): But have you seen SEASON 2?
Me: Oh. No.
B: Then watch.
Me: But can I rewind it and sing "Hockey Monkey" again?
B: Yes.
Gratefulness.
Today I am grateful for many things.
My wonderful husband who cracks me up, loves me, cares for me, and (usually humorously) occasionally drives me nuts.
Our life. Sure, I often wish our house wasn't constructed the way it is, but we're pretty happy where we're at. It's a home.
Money. More specifically, how we handle money. Over the past few years, as our incomes have gone up, dipped, crashed, and then gone up again, I've come to realize what money we truly need to live on. What decisions we make on what we "need" versus what we "want." We cut corners on many things, but I think we've done so in a graceful way so as to not feel like we're penny-pinching college kids eating ramen in a freezing studio apartment. B and I save. We save so we don't have the haunting money issue following us around and causing us to be curt with each other. We save for security. We save for our future.
Don't get me wrong, we're not the perfect couple. We don't do most things in perfect ways. But at least for now, I can be grateful for the choices we've made and the paths we've taken. They say a good marriage is built on a good foundation. I see what they mean now. The decisions we're making today will impact us tomorrow... but moreso, the HABITS we initiate and follow today will make our tomorrow (hopefully) better.
So that's us. Far from perfect, but yet striving to make a better life with each other. And grateful along the way.
My wonderful husband who cracks me up, loves me, cares for me, and (usually humorously) occasionally drives me nuts.
Our life. Sure, I often wish our house wasn't constructed the way it is, but we're pretty happy where we're at. It's a home.
Money. More specifically, how we handle money. Over the past few years, as our incomes have gone up, dipped, crashed, and then gone up again, I've come to realize what money we truly need to live on. What decisions we make on what we "need" versus what we "want." We cut corners on many things, but I think we've done so in a graceful way so as to not feel like we're penny-pinching college kids eating ramen in a freezing studio apartment. B and I save. We save so we don't have the haunting money issue following us around and causing us to be curt with each other. We save for security. We save for our future.
Don't get me wrong, we're not the perfect couple. We don't do most things in perfect ways. But at least for now, I can be grateful for the choices we've made and the paths we've taken. They say a good marriage is built on a good foundation. I see what they mean now. The decisions we're making today will impact us tomorrow... but moreso, the HABITS we initiate and follow today will make our tomorrow (hopefully) better.
So that's us. Far from perfect, but yet striving to make a better life with each other. And grateful along the way.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
The bathroom is not that cold. Use it fast.
Spouse of mine: What?! You turned off the bathroom heater!!!!?
Me: Yes. We were gone for 4 hours. It's only 40 outside. It's not like the toilet is going to freeze over.
Spouse: But it's COLD!
Me: FOUR HOURS.
Spouse: But it dries our towels and is all warm and such with it on.
Me: We were gone four hours. Use the bathroom quickly. Your behind will survive.
Spouse: But---
Me: Four house of heater use. Quick! GO!
Spouse stomps off to the bathroom, and turns the heater on (what I'm guessing is) full blast. And brings a magazine.
SIGH.
Me: Yes. We were gone for 4 hours. It's only 40 outside. It's not like the toilet is going to freeze over.
Spouse: But it's COLD!
Me: FOUR HOURS.
Spouse: But it dries our towels and is all warm and such with it on.
Me: We were gone four hours. Use the bathroom quickly. Your behind will survive.
Spouse: But---
Me: Four house of heater use. Quick! GO!
Spouse stomps off to the bathroom, and turns the heater on (what I'm guessing is) full blast. And brings a magazine.
SIGH.
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