Blame it on the rain...

I have two cats. They don't get along so I have a gate up between my livingroom and the rest of my apartment. One cat on each side of the gate. One cat is scared of thunderstorms. It is storming tonight. He is hiding in the bathroom (I won't tell you exactly where because he's TRYING to hide... not exactly helpful for me to give away his location, right?)

Earlier this evening, I was passing through the gate and the Scaredy Cat came slinking down the hall. Lil Bit was waiting eagerly to dart into the "forbidden" part of the apartment.  They passed each other without growling. This is unusual.  As I write this, scaredy cat is back in the bathroom, Lil Bit is curled up under my desk. The gate remains open.  I am thinking that I will just leave it that way unless there is a throwdown during the nighttime hours (which, knowing my luck, will take place ON MY FACE).  Then, in the morning, I will put them back on their respective sides of the fence and let them ponder whether, after nearly 6 months, maybe they can live a peaceful life together (or at least not smack the crap out of each other) which would make my life infinitely easier.

I am, once again, miffed at Panda Express because they are not carrying the Peppercorn Shrimp at the location near work which I didn't find out until AFTER I was in line and so I settled for a much less satisfying than anticipated lunch and I wish they'd just bring back the Golden Treasure Shrimp because that was really good but, of course, since I liked it they don't have it anymore.

That's all I've got for tonight. Hopefully when I go out to go to work in the morning I won't need a jet ski to get to my car.  I tell you, the weather has been BIZARRE lately.

Evaded The Grim Reaper Yet Again!

I have managed to evade The Grim Reaper for yet another year and had a very nice birthday in spite of the fact that The Bloggess still doesn't know I exist and Lisa & I didn't hang out at Teavana sipping tea and plotting how to get into the room where they keep all of the tea monkeys.  Sometimes you just have to settle for spending a nice day with friends and family (not that I am, at all, complaining about having done that!)

Tomorrow I go back to work after having been off work for several days (because I like to drag out my birthday celebration... a multi-day excuse to eat cake should always take place around one's birthday!)  Since there are only three work days left this week, it will be exceptionally busy.

I should try to get to bed early tonight because I have been averaging 4 hours of sleep for the past several days and it is not going to work well to try and go to work tomorrow if I can't stay awake.

I don't make resolutions at New Year's but I sometimes set some goals around my birthday (see, that gives me additional time to come up with a list of things I will probably not follow through on!)  I hope to get to meet The Bloggess and/or Lisa this coming year.   If I could have lunch with both of them I would probably die of happiness which would be bad because I know The Bloggess doesn't want to have to bury another body in her backyard  (to clarify, she buried a pet, not a human.. well, at least, not that we know of.... but that isn't the sort of thing someone would blog about... burying humans in your yard is generally considered to be illegal).

Also, by my next birthday (assuming that the latest Doomsday prophecy predicted does not turn out to be true), I hope to have written something (a novel) worth reading.  Of course, if Doomsday happens, I suppose it won't matter.

I should be around more now that my birthday has come and gone and the company has gone home and everything will return to what passes for normal.  Possible changes (not in a bad way) on the horizon.  But nothing I can talk about yet (no, I am not pregnant.  I shudder to even THINK of that).

Have a stellar week!

Tiaras &Teavana

Ended up at the Galleria today.  Went to Teavana where they still don't seem to have monkeys available (but still sell monkey-picked Oolong which I am starting to doubt is picked by actual monkeys due to the lack of monkeys for sale at Teavana).  I mean, they have everything else tea-related, it seems, so I don't understand the lack of monkeys.  Maybe I've just got overly high expectations, though.

I've written here before about tiaras and how much I want one.  Well, I happened to find & purchase a couple this afternoon and while I love them (yes, I got two) I feel weird having had to buy my own tiara.  Tiaras are bestowed, they are not bought by oneself. *sigh

I am suddenly exhausted... I don't know if it was the nearly three miles I walked today or if fighting oxidants was harder than I thought...

(since apparently BLOGGER was feeling lazy and didn't actually post this when I WROTE it)

Saturday we went to the Art Museum where we walked and walked and walked some more. We had a simply lovely lunch in the atrium where my friends gave me very lovely gifts and then we went and got cupcakes and then came home.  Between late lunch and cupcakes, we decided to skip dinner and plan on lunch on Sunday which will likely be a very late lunch since I am not setting an alarm clock and we are "sleeping in".

Monday... well, I am not ready to start thinking about that yet....

But I do need to think about getting some sleep.

A Couple of Days off of Work

It's my birthday this weekend and my Mom and my Daughter are coming to visit me (assuming all goes as planned).  My mom still uses DIAL UP AOL and complains about how expensive it is ($9.99 a month, I think). So, she does not understand my "addiction" to the Internet and will be less than happy that I do things like check email whilst she is visiting. She cannot fathom why I cannot go 4 days without checking email.  She does not have The Facebook (her term) or That Tweety Nonsense (her term) and so she gets a little put out by the fact that my Daughter (who is 17) text messages almost constantly (I figure she will be first in line if they ever come up with the technology for direct human interface with the 'Net...)

I hadn't really considered until today what a bummer of a "vacation" this is for my Daughter... She "gets" to spend time with her (to her) old Mother and her even OLDER Gramma.  And there is really nowhere for her to escape to because I live in a teeny, tiny apartment (ok, it's not a STUDIO, but it's not huge).  So, yeah.  Gotta sortve be a bummer for her but she's coming and I hope we will have a good time.

The weather is going to be less than optimal.  It's been gorgeous lately but this weekend is scheduled to be cold and rainy.  Not cool.

I am hoping I will get the chance to solve a mystery today... there was a FedEx slip on my door last night and I am not expecting anything... They are supposed to reattempt delivery today so I hope they don't do it whilst I am vacuuming or something because I'd like to get my package.

I've also discovered, via the amount of noise that my neighbors make, that apparently NO ONE who lives here except me has a job.   Or, at least, not a job where they work during the day. Because it is NOISY and sounds like a big ol' social club around here during the day. Exactly like it sounds on the weekend.

I need to get back to vacuuming!  Have a fabulous weekend, y'all.  I'll check back in as soon as I can.

Wedding Officiant Heartbreak

I have a friend who is getting married in June, near Boston.  Due to unforseen circumstances, her wedding officiant has had to drop out of the wedding.  The first line replacement also cannot make the journey. I, being a clergy member + friend of the Bride was asked if I could step in.

No, they are not getting married in a church. No, they are not members of an organized religious group. No, they don't want a Judge or JP to do the ceremony, they want someone who means something to them to officiate.

My reality, at the moment, is that I live paycheck to paycheck.  I don't say that seeking pity, it's my reality right now and there is a light at the end of that tunnel (a major expense is going away probably this year, certainly next year).  But I don't have money sitting around nor do I have sufficient available credit to be able to plop it onto a credit card  (Yes, I know that is totally fiscally irresponsible).

I cried as I wrote the email telling her I can't do it. Not little tears... a big, ugly cry.

I want so much for some miracle to occur that would make it possible for me to be able to do this. I know that it isn't forthcoming, but it doesn't stop me from wanting to be able to write her back and tell her the situation has changed and I can and will be there.

They say if your problems can be solved with money, that you really have no problems. Again I say that apparently the people who say that never have any money-related issues.

Coupon Pondering

Compared to other people who I follow on the internet, I am a weak couponer.  But I was pretty happy to save $16.97 today including a pillow I found on sale AND had a 20% off coupon for.  I could do tons better with my shopping and I do try to stay on top of the coupons but I haven't started the shopping 2-3 different stores to get the absolute best deals which is mainly because I normally shop on the way home from work on Mondays.

I am a tich ticked off at Target where I usually shop right now because they HAD Welches Fizz grape drink a couple of weeks ago and this is the second week in a row that they don't have any in stock and my coupon expires soon.  I think maybe because there was both a Target Coupon and a Manufacturer's Coupon and so people were able to get it for FREE, Target just decided to not restock it until after the coupons have expired. *sigh  And I am sure that the folks from Target would tell you that that simply isn't true but this has happened in the past with products that you could end up getting free/really, really low priced.  For a while, they had Ozarka Sparkling Water out of stock which was, coincidentally, at a time when there were coupons that were buy one, get one free AND a coupon for $1/1 so you got 2 bottles of Sparkling Water for free.  Now, I know some people probably only buy a product when they can get it free like that but the reality for me (since I don't have a SodaStream even though I DESPERATELY want one) is that I will buy the Sparkling water at it's normal price (albeit grudgingly).  I will buy more of it if I have ANY coupon for it (even the 50 cents off two that I used today is still SOMETHING).

I think one of the things that gets coupon users a bad reputation is the people who go in and only get what they can for free. And I'll be clear about this, there is NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT but I think it leaves the cashiers feeling like the store isn't making any money (because they don't understand how the store DOES get paid for those coupons) and so they get a little surly towards all coupon users.  The other people that become an issue are the folks who go through the store removing coupons from items they aren't even buying (I actually saw a woman one day at Target take ALL OF THE COUPONS OFF THE MEAT IN THE MEAT DEPARTMENT... meat she wasn't even buying....)  And you know what? I haven't seen a coupon on meat at Target since then (thankfully, I eat pretty much salads and smoothies these days, so I don't buy much/any meat).

There are things that I like that, without coupons, are cost prohibitive.  For example, Starbucks Double Shots (sold in small cans, in 4-packs).  The shelf price was something like $5.79.  That's something I will usually pass up no matter how much I like them because I just can't justify almost $6 for 4 small cans, but today I had a $2/1 coupon and I bought them because with the coupon, the cans were less than a dollar apiece. 

Many times I will try a new product that I might not have tried if I have a coupon.  Philadelphia Cooking Creme is one such product.  A while back I had a coupon for it AND I had a recipe that someone said it worked well with.  I might not have tried it but the coupon made the product a low enough risk that if I didn't like it I wouldn't feel I'd wasted a lot of money.  Turns out it DOES work very well in that recipe.

Unfortunately, there is no coupon for a good night's sleep.  I'd pay to get one of those! And it is way past bedtime so goodnight and happy bargain hunting!

Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate with Truffle Filling

The lovely people at SheSpeaks sent me some delicious Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate with Truffle Filling.

Ghirardelli makes some awesome chocolate and this product just continues to fuel my love for what they do.  They have several kinds of  Filled Squares in their product lineup and I have yet to try one that I didn't love. However, I am now a huge fan of the Milk Chocolate with Truffle Filling because they're good for my diet.

I can see you rolling your eyes in disbelief and thinking I am nuts for saying that CHOCOLATE is GOOD for my diet. Let me explain...

I can break one of these squares into four pieces.  And they are so deliciously chocolatey that I really only need to eat one to feel like I've had delicious chocolate and have satisfied my chocolate craving. Could I sit and eat the entire bag in one sitting? ABSOLUTELY.. but they are too good to wolf down without savoring and if you can enjoy a treat and not go crazy, so much the better. 

If you are not a Milk Chocolate lover, don't despair.  They make a Dark Chocolate with Truffle Filling Square, too.

I was thrilled, when I went to San Francisco a few years ago, to get to go to Ghirardelli's store there.  If you ever have the chance to go to one of their stores, take the opportunity.  I had actually been introduced to Ghirardelli chocolate back in the 80's by a young man I was dating.  Knowing good chocolate is an absolutely wonderful way to impress/woo a ladyfriend!

Thank you to SheSpeaks for the opportunity to enjoy something tasty.

You can find these tasty treats (at least where I live) in Target or at Walgreens.




Disclaimer:  I was sent this product free of charge and all opinions contained herein are my own