NaBloWriMo

Well, 80% isn't bad. That's still a passing grade and slightly above average ;)

Yup, I missed 6 of the 30 posts I should have done this month. Considering I don't always have that much to write about, or that much time, I did a little better than I thought I would. I'm going to try to keep up with writing more often though, for multiple reasons. One, I think it'll be fun to try and keep a record of my thoughts and what's going on in my life. Another being that maybe *maybe* I would give this blog address to the boy so he could keep up with everything too. However, there's always the thought that there's some posts on here that have a lot to do with him. Granted, he already knows the majority of what I've felt/thought/still feel but it might be a little much for him to view it all out there for the world to see.

I still have so much that I want to get done for myself in the next 3 weeks and the next 3 months and the next 6 months! I have things that need to be accomplished before I leave to Montana for a week, things I'd like to do before I see him again, and things that I'd like to have ready for when he gets back. I know a big help in that would be getting to work earlier so I got off earlier so I had more time at night to clean and work out and do projects. I realllly need to call my sleep doctor and see if I need to come in to figure out what's going on with my sleep patterns right now. I'm having some serious troubles where if I don't set an alarm I'm sleeping at least 14 hours...usually 16. Plus I'm apparently sleeping THROUGH my alarm sometimes for a half hour or so while it's going off. I'm going to start setting the alarm on my cell phone too so that I have a back up. I don't think I could sleep through both...

Speaking of getting more sleep though, it's time to go to bed!

So, here goes...

I'm going to attempt to cover what happened just over two weeks ago with "the boy". I'm not going to go in to as much detail as I normally would, just because this is a topic that is pretty personal for me and I know that not everyone understands why I still feel the way I do...

Anyways, Friday the 13th - I'd already known that he was leaving that day to go to rehab and though he'd said that he wanted to come see me to say goodbye before he went, I wasn't all that surprised that he'd never shown up. I was headed to work early (for me) that day and was driving to the park and ride annoyed that some car was riding my ass. Finally we got to a red light and I looked in my rear view mirror to glare at them - and was shocked to see that it was him honking, waving, and motioning me to pull over into the gas station on the corner. I did and he pulled in right next to me, jumped out of his car without even turning it off, and quickly got into my passenger seat. Apparently he'd been following me all the way from my house! He'd just pulled onto my street when I pulled out of my driveway and since I didn't know what his new car looked like I hadn't recognized it. He laughed that he'd been honking at me most of the way down Evergreen Way but could see me singing so he figured I must have my radio up too loud. I was just so happy to see him, and I could tell a real difference in him from the last time I'd seen him. We talked about where he'd been, what he'd been using, and the fact that he was now 5 days clean and leaving for rehab in 2 and a half hours. We agreed that he'd come back to my place since he had some time so we could really talk all this out. It was all the little things that showed me that he was truly getting back to being the guy I met - the stupid little jokes, the way he actually looked me in the eyes, how he held me. And to me this one moment was so amazing...We'd been just standing in my living room, holding each other and talking when he pushed me out a little, put his hands on the back of my neck and said "I need to ask you something. Look me in the eye and tell me...do you want to be with me when I get back?" That question and the way he said it showed me something more...he wasn't asking because he needed me, or wanted me to take care of him or fix everything, or was scared. He was asking because he wanted me. And he wanted to make sure that I wanted him too. We spent the next two hours curled up together and talking.

Now I get that no one understands why I'd want to put myself into a relationship with a recovering addict. I will say that he said he wanted to be sure I knew he already knows he doesn't plan to drink again for the rest of his life. He said that it was "a pretty big catalyst that set me off" but that he just doesn't want to do it. I think he said it that way to try and tell me that he didn't want me to worry about having to keep watching him forever. I know it'd be the third relationship with an addict in my life, but I look at it that he wasn't using when I met him and that he at least realized he had a problem and he isn't looking to me to fix it - he's doing that himself. My first boyfriend I think knew he had a problem but didn't care at the time. He is in fact now sober and a born-again Christian. My second never thought he had a problem with weed even though he smoked multiple times a day nearly every day and went back and forth on whether or not he thought of himself as an alcoholic - but as far as I know he's still never done anything about it. To me it's a different situation to be with an addict in recovery because it's someone who doesn't want to use again. Also, he knows that I won't put up with someone that's using, I just can't and won't put myself into that situation again. So the countdown is on...another 75 days until I can talk to him again.

Hopefully everyone can be supportive of me. And him. And us. I know that everyone just wants what they think is best for me...but somehow I feel what's best for me is to be with someone that makes me happy, loves me for who I am, and just wants me for me.

Seriously!

Time to get off this train! I've been gobbling fast food for nearly one meal a day which has been taking a toll on both my $ and my waistline. I know part of it is just a lack of motivation to cook, part of it is that I don't have any clean pans (or want to wash them), and part of it is that I'm totally PMSing and that I just want fat and salt and everything bad for me. You know, I keep saying that I have 6 months to get my crap together and 6 months to do this and that. But the reality is there's a chance that I'll be seeing the boy in just 3 months! Not that I've gained a ton of weight in the past month (since I started gaining before he left) but I need to stop gaining now and start losing to get back to where I was. And not just for him, but more for myself. I look at my little 25 pound star that I earned in Weight Watchers and I know that most of that 25 is back...and I'd really like it to go away again! Another thing is that the 2010 Out of the Darkness Overnight was just announced. It's in Boston this year and I really want to go even though it would mean missing my nieces 3rd Birthday. Well, actually it ends the morning of the 27th so I could fly back that morning and be home in time for an afternoon party if that's the plan :) Anyways, if I do go I haven't decided if I'd want to go as a volunteer or as a walker. If I walk that's 18 miles and I'd like to be in much better shape this time around since I was literally crying for the last mile during the 2008 walk...

Dammit...

Well, I've missed two days now for NaBloWriMo...oh well! Saturday I remembered at 2:30 Sunday morning when I went to bed and by that point there was no way I was getting back up just to write something. Last night I went to bed pretty quickly after getting home because I wasn't feeling that great.

I still need to write a blog about what happened on the day the boy left for rehab and how that's going, but it'll be a pretty long and emotional blog to write and I just really don't feel like doing it tonight. For now I'll just say that things are good, I have a lot of hope for the future, and am very proud of him for doing what was right. 10 days down, 80 more to go before I get to talk to him again. =)

There's no flipping E

So maybe about a month ago my dad emailed me and I noticed that he had my full name in his address book with one of my middle names spelled wrong. Now, it's not like he had a typo and put a q in the middle of it - he spelled Ann as Anne. I was annoyed, but decided to ignore it. This week he sent me another email to both my personal and work email address and lo and behold he had my full name in his address book for my work address too - with the flipping E! So, it became obvious to me that that's how he actually thinks my name is spelled. There's been so many things in my life that I haven't called him out on that I felt like I *had* to do this...I replied to his email answering the question he asked and then added this little note at the bottom:

"It really bothers me that my name is apparently spelled wrong in your email address book for both of my emails...I noticed it the past couple times but didn't really know what to say. Can you please fix it?"

Well, he still hasn't answered me so either he hasn't checked his email all week or he is still trying to figure out what he spelled wrong in my name - so if you know him, and he asks you, don't tell him!

And the winner is...(spoiler alert!)

Meana Irina! I liked Carol Hannah the best and out of the final three I definitely wanted her to win - I think her dresses are amazing. But, like they said, her collection wasn't really that cohesive. As for Irina, her collection was pretty great but since she'd been such a bitch on the show I wasn't really rooting for her.

If you know me, you know that I <3 Project Runway though I'm not sure that I'm ready for a whole new season to start in just two months! I've had multiple people tell me that I should try out for the show but really, I know I wouldn't be able to handle the pressure. At least not at this stage in my life. Maybe in another 10 years depending on where I am in my life...

Really what I should do is just start sewing again. Even just making clothes for Alexa and Baby 2.0 would be good so I can get the thought process working again and get back into the groove of things.

Time for a change...

well, starting next week that is.

I used to weigh myself every day - for years that's been my habit. I stopped doing it daily when I stopped going to the weight watchers meetings. Even before I'd quit going to the meetings some of the weight that I'd lost had started to creep back on, but then I was staying pretty steady. I weighed myself this morning though and yeowch! I know I've been especially bad the past 2-3 weeks, but I've gained 4 pounds and it along with everything that I've re-gained, needs to go away again soon. I also need to reign in my spending habits because my finances are getting a little crazy. This goes hand-in-hand though because fast food is expensive both in dollars and in calories! I don't think I'm going to go back to the actual weight watchers meetings ($$) but I am going to read through my booklets again and start calculating my points and figuring out what I can do to work this better. Unfortunately right now I have too much "crappy" food in my house to just throw it all out - I can eat it in moderation though. The finances are definitely going to have to start next week instead of right away...beauty bonanza starts tomorrow and I'm going to get that perfume and the eyelashes. Then House Party is this weekend and I want some new bed pillows and see if I can find some sweaters...maybe a few little Christmas presents too - an outfit for Preston? something special for Lexi?

So this deserves some comments...

So like everyone else in this world I've got money troubles. Like not so many people I have over 50 pairs of shoes. I've been cleaning them out though and there's several pairs that I haven't worn for over a year and probably will never wear again either because they're no longer in style or uncomfortable. Here's where the moral/ethical/creepiness factor dilemna comes in...there's a guy that posts in the wanted section of craigslist now and again looking for used shoes. It's pretty obvious that it's a fetish type deal but should I really care if some weirdo wants to pleasure himself or whatever he does to my used shoes if he's willing to pay me $15-20 a pair? For some of them that's probably more than I even paid for them new. The thing that makes it a little extra weird for me too is that I hate feet so the idea of someone getting off on where my feet were is more than awkward. But, again, would getting $100+ be worth meeting the guy for the exchange and having the occasional creepy thought?

Uck

Sorry, not writing tonight. Just posting so I can count this for NaBloWriMo. I've got the start of a migraine, I'm exhausted, and it's super stormy out which is making my house unreasonably cold. I'm gonna go crash and hopefully I'll feel better in the morning.

Helloooo?

Okie - admittedly no real blog today. Just a request I guess...leave me comments please =) Even if you're someone I don't know and you just stumbled upon my blog let me know what you think about what I have to say. What would you do in my situation? What do you think about the music, shoes, whatever that I'm writing about. Just say something please, it makes it a little more interesting to write to think that someone is actually reading it!

*blurb*

So just a few little updates for tonight...

I did end up getting those Harajuku Lovers shoes from my earlier blog. I was finally convinced by two major things - I tried them on and they were actually *comfortable*. Which is of course unusual for 5" heels. The second thing was that I was able to get them for an incredibly low price of $27 after tax!

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I figured out why I needed a larger size than normal in those jeans from Old Navy - it's the special little 1% of Lycra! My other jeans have all been 99% Cotton 1% Lycra and the pair that I bought was just 100% Cotton so there wasn't that extra bit of stretch =)

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I got a little spritzer sample of the Michael Kors Very Hollywood perfume. I'm pretty convinced that I'm going to buy it next week during Beauty Bonanza, but I wanted to be able to actually wear it for a few days in a row to make sure that I really *love* love it.

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I've decided to take the next 6 months to get my life back together. This means getting healthier - eating better, exercising, losing weight. This means getting my house cleaned and organized and doing what little projects I can around the place to improve the looks of it. I'm also going to do my best to start controlling my finances more. Things didn't go how I thought they would with Q's "cost of living" going down so I'm going to need to really step it up to start paying everything off. And, obviously, it's not just a coincidence that the boy will be back in 6 months. While he's working on bettering himself and getting his shit back together I'd like to do the same.

My Current Life in 90 Questions

Yup...don't feel much like writing today - have to think it out before I can write it out...so here's a fun little survey of goodness.

1. What was the highlight of your week? this morning when I got some answers
2. Whose car were you in last? my own...before that, umm...kristen's?
3. When is the next time you will kiss someone? from the sound of it...six months. maybe 3.
4. What color shirt are you wearing? charcoal grey
5. How long is your hair? getting to be shoulder length - I really need to get it cut.
6. Are you good looking? i'm fair looking. gonna start working on getting back in shape.
7. Last movie you watched? i lovey ou man
8. Who were you with? when i watched the movie? no one.
9. Last thing you ate? a donut
10. Last thing you drank? water?
11. When was the last time you had your heart broken? really truly broken hard? 3 years ago.
12. Who came over last? "the boy" =)
13. Are you happy right now? yes.
14. What did you say last? "love you" when i hung up from my mommy.
15. Where is your phone? right next to me on the table
16. What color are your eyes? hazel
17. Are you left-handed? nope
18. Spell your name without vowels: lss
19. Do you have any pets? yup my lil qbear
20. Favorite Vacation? it's been a really long time since i had a real vacation...
21. What do you dislike currently? judgement
22. What are you listening to? the soup presents greatest talk show moments
23. If you could have one thing right now what would it be? money
24. What is your favorite scent? warm vanilla sugar, vanilla peppermint, or MK Very Hollywood
25. Who makes you happiest? family, friends, and love
26. What were you doing at midnight last night? trying to fall asleep
27. When is your birthday? may 21st
28. Who has the same phone as you? honestly i don't know anyone else that has an alias
29. Last time you went swimming in a pool? this summer when i did water aerobics with carla
30. Do you read your horoscope? sometimes
31. Where was the last place you bought something? starbucks this morning =)
32. How do you feel about your hair right now? like i said, really needs a cut
33. Do you bite your nails? nope
34. Do you have any expensive jewelery? yeah, but just stuff i need to sell
36. Myspace or facebook? facebook (where's 35??)
37. How fast have you driven a car? close to 100 but never over
38. Have you ever smoked? nope, filthy habit
39. What was or is your favorite subject in school? draping
40. Do you have Verizon? yup
41. What type of boy or girl do you usually fall for? rockers...which is why this boy is so different
42. Do you have any hidden talents? i can look at a piece of fabric and tell you what it would be best made into
43. Favorite Song? i've got a lot...but right now i'm digging "Little Bit" by Lykke Li
44. Do you like to sing at all? Only alone in the shower or in the car
45. Dream Job? to own my own boutique with my designs and other local designers stuff.
46. Where does most of your family live? Northwest - Washington, Idaho, Montana
47. Are you an only child or do you have siblings? one sissy growing up - multiple steps now
48. Would you consider yourself to be spoiled? nope.
49. What was the first thing you thought when you woke up? ugh i want to sleep more
50. Do you drink? occassionally.
51. Know any other languages? i can speak a teeny tiny bit of french and spanish
52. Ever write a coded message? what?
53. Have you ever been IN a wedding? yup. twice. flower girl when i was little, MOH for my sissy
54. Do you have any children? just a furry cat-child
55. Did you take a nap today? nope. worked all day.
56. Who has the same birthday as you? Mr. T
57. Ever met anyone famous before? Yup, met Gwen Stefani this summer.
58. Do you want to be famous one day? not really
59. Any Pet Peeves? multiple but for some reason i can't really think of any to list
60. Are you multitasking right now? only if watching chelsea lately and taking a survey counts...
61. Do you like Britany Spears? no. not even a little.
62. What is your least favorite chore? all of them...but prolly dusting or vaccumming.
63. Last place you drove your car? home from the park and ride
64. Ever been out of the country? for the first time this summer - went to canada woo hoo!
65. Where were you born? redmond, wa
66. Could you handle being in the military? no
67. What is your average cell phone bill? same every month - $52
68. Who are you thinking about right now? the boy
69. When was the last time you laughed REALLY hard? dwarf time with Laura last Friday
70. How many pairs of shoes do you own? too many. over 50
71. Are your toes always painted? not right now
72. How many piercings do you have? just my ears
73. What are you doing today? the days almost over. spent my morning with the boy, then worked
74. Have you ever been gambling? yup. i was up for awhile but then played it all away.
75. When is the last time you updated your page? couple weeks ago
76. Do you like rollercoasters? only little ones
77. Have you ever been to disneyland or world? disneyland twice
78. Do you have a favorite cartoon character? buttercup from the powerpuff girls
79. Last thing you cooked? halfway homemade pizza
80. How's the weather? COLD! actually had to use my ice scraper tonight!
81. Do you e-mail? seriously? who doesn't?
82. What's the stupidest thing you ever did with your cell phone? dropped it in a huge puddle - but it lived.
83. Last time you were sick? a couple weeks ago
84. What states have you lived in? just washington
85. Do you wish you could move? YES! closer to seattle
86. Do you take all the QuizPox.com quizzes? um. no.
87. What is your dream car? 66 mustang
88. Have you ever wanted someone you cant have? who hasn't?
89. If you could be anywhere right now where would it be? too many places!
90. Are you happy with your life? yeah, i really am. i feel hopeful and motivated and like things are right.

So this new song "Russian Roulette" by Rihanna is really bothering me. Now if you just listen to it and take it at face value for the words written it's kinda saying that death and a game that potentially ends in suicide is scary but in the end something that's okay to do. If you're not familiar with the lyrics, here they are:

Take a breath, take it deep
Calm yourself, he says to me
If you play, you play for keeps
Take a gun, and count to three
I’m sweating now, moving slow
No time to think, my turn to go

(chorus)
And you can see my heart beating
You can see it through my chest
And I’m terrified but I’m not leaving
Know that I must must pass this test
So just pull the trigger

Say a prayer to yourself
He says close your eyes
Sometimes it helps
And then I get a scary thought
That he’s here means he’s never lost

(chorus)

As my life flashes before my eyes
I’m wondering will I ever see another sunrise?
So many won’t get the chance to say goodbye
But it’s too late to think of the value of my life

(chorus)

and then at the end of the song is a freaking gunshot.

So maybe I just initially see the suicide part because of my history and involvement with that. I actually googled "Rihanna Russian Roulette Meaning" and was able to find a quote from Rihanna herself on what the song is about.

"It was about being in a relationship and being afraid of getting hurt in the end," said Rihanna. "Which is kind of the same feeling you go through playing the game of Russian Roulette. You know that somebody could get hurt in the end, and you're just terrified that it's gonna be you."

I get that she obviously went through a lot in a very public spotlight with Chris Brown and that we write what we now...but here's an idea for a better ending to the song - "click". SURVIVE. Don't take the flipping bullet. Regardless of what this song is meant to represent it really bothers me every time I hear it - honestly I'd rather listen to Britney sing about threesomes *shudder*

Not how I'd planned...

So Quentin had his ultrasound today to determine if he can go off the chemo. Well, the good news is that he's basically done with chemo - I'm supposed to finish out the bottle of pills that he has now and then he's done. Unfortunately, that's the only part that's stopping. I guess I didn't remember everything correctly, but he still has to take the prednisone every other night and go in for ultrasounds every 3 months. That means I'll still have basically all of the expenses as before. Most people think the chemo is what's expensive but really that's only about $35 a month - the cost is in the ultrasounds, blood work, and vet visits. It sounds like he won't need to go in for the blood work as often but the ultrasounds are still nearly $200 each time :( I forgot to ask what to do about the week I'm in Montana in December. With him still needing the prednisone every other day that'd be going 3-4 days without it...

Short & Sweet for 11/10

Yup, here I am again with the after midnight blog. So I'm keeping this short and sweet because I have to wake up extra early tomorrow because Quentin has an ultrasound at his oncologist which means I need to drop him off there before 9am. Most days I'm not even *awake* before 9am! My goal is to actually wake up super early and be fully ready for work when I drop him off so I can go straight there since I'll most likely end up only working a half day. I hate making him stay in the kennel all day after he's done since he's so miserable there plus I'll need to actually meet with his doctor to discuss where we're at with his treatment. Like I said yesterday, with any luck I'll start weaning him off the chemo which will mean a lot less vet bills and the fact that I'll actually be able to be away from home overnight. It reallly better happen because I already planned a week long trip to Montana for Christmas and there's no way he'll take his meds from anyone but me. So ni night and keep your fingers crossed that all goes well!

Hard Times

So it's obviously no news to anyone that the economy sucks and everyone is having hard times. I may have a job, own my home, and have a car but I, like many others, suddenly found myself accumulating credit card debt. Now for me, it was a personal decision that started the majority of what I currently owe. When Quentin, my kitty, was diagnosed with cancer there was absolutely no pause in whether or not I should treat him. I took a deep breath and handed over my little piece of plastic, same way I do every time he goes in for blood work, an ultrasound, or when I need to refill his prescriptions. On Wednesday he goes in for an ultrasound and if everything goes according to plan he'll be weaned off the chemo and be done with his treatment. But really, this blog isn't about Quentin, it's about people begging for money...

The other day I was walking through the parking lot of Fred Meyer back to my car when a guy in his early to mid-twenties approached me and said that he was really sorry to ask but he was running late to pick up his daughter but he was out of gas and did I have a couple dollars I could give him so he could get her. I said my usual "Sorry, I don't carry cash" and kept on walking. Here's the thing. Tonight I was walking through the parking lot at Target to my car - same guy, same line. I shook my head, laughed, and said "You just used the same line on me two days ago at Fred Meyer." He just mumbled something about how he was supposed to get paid and his check didn't come and blah blah blah. I work hard for my money - so hard for it honey! I work two jobs, six sometimes seven days a week. I'm sorry, I understand that jobs are hard to come by right now but asking me to *give* you my hard earned cash in what turns out to obviously be a scam is redunkulous.

Working in downtown Seattle and waiting for the bus I run into a lot of people asking for "spare change". I've been known to give my leftover lunch to someone sitting on the street, but I will almost never give money. The only exception to that is kids. I know that for kids it's different. For some of course it's just the rebelling and the drugs and the getting away from the parents...but for others it's because there really does seem like there's nowhere to turn. Whether it's abuse, having a family that doesn't accept your sexual orientation, whatever...those are times where I know often the streets seem a lot more appealing than foster care or some of the other options. I still don't like to give money, there's always the thought that it'd be used towards something along the lines of drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes, but the kids I feel a lot worse for because I know that usually it means they've been through something pretty bad.

Don't get me wrong, I know homelessness can happen to anyone. Volunteering at the United Way Community Outreach last year was heartbreaking and eyeopening. Homelessness can be unavoidable - but begging for money is always a choice.

Christmas Countdown!

In just over six weeks I will be on my way to spend a week with my mommy. I'm soooo excited to get to see her and spend Christmas with her and my step-dad. On the one hand, it was a really hard decision to make - either spend the first Christmas ever without my mom or the first Christmas without my sister. I'm still reallly sad and actually kinda upset over us not all being together for the first time in my life. Christmas is my very favorite time of year - the food, the decorations, the music...but most of all the family. The only way I could even really make my decision was knowing that I can see my sister much more often than I have chances to see my mom and my sister will have her husband, daughter, and baby 2.0 to spend Christmas with. My mom of course has my step-dad so it's not like she would be alone, but I know that she was pretty upset as well about not getting to see any of us. It'll be hard celebrating the holiday without everyone around and I know that if it was possible for them my sister's family would have traveled to Montana with me. I'm just going to try to focus on the fact that with my mom moving to the Wenatchee area in the spring that next Christmas we'll all get to be together for sure!

I don't know why I'm smiling...

Wow, so last night I slept for 16 hours pretty much straight through. Then I took a nap this afternoon for almost another 4 hours. I'm seriously going to try and call my sleep doctor this week because I should *not* be sleeping this much!

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Anyways, now for my real bloggy for today:

Don't ask me why but I'm really kinda at peace with the situation with "the boy" right now. Yesterday I caught myself just smiling kinda goofy while thinking of him... Even though he said he was going to come and see me "soon" before he left for rehab and the last time I've heard anything from him was on Halloween I'm just...calm. I know there are three basic options for what happened.

1.) He went overboard knowing he's about to go into rehab and he od'd, got in an accident, etc.

• Obviously this would be incredibly horrible but if that's what happened I will never know.

2.) He decided not to go to rehab and is still using.

• If that's the case I can't have anything to do with him anyways.

3.) He went to rehab without saying goodbye.

• While that would be sad, in a way I can understand.

The first two options of course mean never seeing him again, the last however does have some options of hope. I don't feel like I'm blindly holding on to the possibility of a relationship...I'm not going to put my own life on the back burner waiting for him, but part of this calm is a sense of knowing that I will see him again. I know that a lot of my thinking on the situation has to do with past relationships with addicts/users. Not just romantic relationships but friends and even family. I know that when someone is using they're not concerned about anyone but themselves. Promises they've made, obligations, the "right" thing to do...none of that matters to someone who's more concerned about when they'll get their next drink and how to numb the pain.

So here I am smiley and just kinda moving along with my life. Because here's the thing - while everyone thinks I've got my shit together, truth is I don't. And maybe, crazy as it all seems, I can get my shit together while whoever it is I'm meant to be with gets their shit together and then we'll come together with our nice clean shit ;)

*Zzzzzzzzz*

I've been asleep since 7:30 tonight. Just got up when my cell phone alarm went off so I could take my Rx's. Back to bed. So sleepy.

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Yes, I'm aware this barely counts as a blog for NaBloWriMo

So Disappointed!

I hate when I go shopping actually planning on spending a decent amount of $ (for me anyways) and walk out not even spending $20. I seriously need some new jeans and sweaters because I only have two pairs of jeans that fit right now and not many warm tops. I have another two pairs of "skinny" jeans but well, my skinny days are few and far between right now. I've got a couple good winter sweaters but a lot of my ones from last year are starting to look really pilly and worn. So, I went to Old Navy tonight with the plan of buying 2-3 pairs of jeans and a couple sweaters. I can usually get jeans there on clearance plus I had my 30% Stuff & Save coupon. Unfortunately the sweater situation was crap - nothing cute at all! And there were almost *no* jeans on clearance, there was only one style I thought was cute and they were still $18.99. So I grabbed them, a top that was on sale, a cutie pair of grey corduroys, and another style of jeans that were also on sale. Now normally at Old Navy I wear either an XL or XXL top depending on fit and a size 10 in jeans. In fact, the jeans I was wearing today were a size 10 and I absolutely must wear a belt with them or they're falling off halfway through the day. The top I tried on was an XL and I was swimming in it! I didn't even bother grabbing a L to try on because it was obviously just not cut to fit right. The corduroys weren't cut for my body type - the waist fit fine but since I basically have no hips and thinner thighs they were super baggy in those areas. The clearance jeans I had grabbed were actually a 12 but were so skin tight I could barely breathe. Lastly I tried on the sale jeans, the 12 was a little snug but I know how Old Navy jeans stretch out so I decided to get them. The price tag said $34.50 but they were on a rack with a sale sign for $25. When I took them to the register they rang up full price - luckily I always know to watch the register at Old Navy because half the time sale stuff doesn't actually ring up at the lower price. I said that they should be on sale and ended up even walking the clerk over to the display that clearly said "Diva Flare Cut Distressed Jeans $25 - Normally $34.50". She agreed they should be on sale and called across to her manager to do a price override. Well, this other clerk grabbed my jeans out of her hands and said "No, these are SUPER Flares. They're not on sale". I quickly pointed out that they were the *only* style of jean on that rack and so had to be the sale style. Then I had to walk the manager over and show her and finally got my stupid jeans for the sale price. And, since I'm so thrifty, I used my 30% off so got the jeans for basically half their regular price - barely worth all the trouble it took though! I definitely need a few more things to get through the winter, but at least now I have another pair of jeans!

But I waaaant it!

*sigh* it's that time of year again...the temptation of Half Yearly, Beauty Bonanza, and House Party are all before me. Now, there's not really anything here that I actually need to purchase right now but there are several things catching my eye.

I really like these Harajuku Lovers "Paley" Pumps. The heel is a little treacherous - a serious 5" - but these babies are *gorgeous* in person.

Then there's the fact that I've been searching for a new fragrance. Initially this was brought on by the fact that I wore what "the boy's" ex-wife wears...however I smelled a sample of "Very Hollywood" by Michael Kors in a magazine recently and really liked it. I started thinking about the fact that I've been wearing the same scent for nearly 10 years and maybe it really is just time for a change. I stopped by the downtown store today to smell it for real and try it on and I'm not quite decided. I do like it a lot and the bottle is beautiful but it's very different from the plain and simple Warm Vanilla Sugar that I've worn for years.

Lastly is something I'd buy just for some serious funsies. God knows where I would ever wear these Eyelashes by Shu Uemura but aren't they fabulous??

Here's me trying to justify these purchases - my extra discount expires at the end of this month. So, those fabulous shoes would only be $44. Beauty Bonanza is in two weeks and that means a much larger Beauty/Fragrance discount than normal...so that fragrance gift set is $40 and the eyelashes only $13. In a way I could buy all three items for less than the shoes originally cost!

Umm...we're counting this as Nov 3rd!

So of course this post is going to show the 4th since it's after midnight, but I'm counting this as my Nov 3rd post so I can still count it as a blog-a-day!

Anyways, today was kinda frustrating. I had a doctors appointment at 10 to try and figure out what's going on but I was running late so I called in to let them know I was going to be 10 minutes late. Luckily the Dr. actually had a 10:15 appt available so they just moved me in to that slot. Well, I got there and had to wait until 10:30 for her to see me. It's not like she could have been running behind from her 10 o'clock since that was *me*. To make it even more special she still had no idea what's wrong with me and actually went and pulled a textbook from another room and flipped through it in front of me trying to figure it out. So I wasted an hour of time just to be referred to a dermatologist that I can't even see until next week. I want to know what's going on, but obviously I hope this is all cleared up before then. Of course my step-dad is kinda freaking me out by suggesting the possibility that it's Cushing's Syndrome. Now when you look at the list of symptoms for Cushing's the majority of people could probably check off "yes" to most of them so I'm definitely not convinced that's what's going on but it still is kinda weirding me out. I guess if the dermatologist can't figure it out I'll ask if it's possible that I have Cushing's...I don't want to seem like a hypochondriac but then again maybe everyone isn't putting all the pieces together.

Clean Sweep!

So I've said this a few dozen times now, but I think I finally really am on a kick to start cleaning out my place and getting things back to "normal". If I get everything picked up and reorganized then it'll make my life so much easier and calmer. Unfortunately winter isn't really the best timing for me to be doing this. I hate taking out the trash as it is, and having to do it in the constant rain and sometimes even snow makes it an even less enjoyable task. I guess I should explain that the complex I live in is fairly large and I live in the first building while the dumpsters are a long ways away at the complete opposite end. Honestly, I usually throw the garbage bags in my trunk and drive them down because I'm too freaking lazy to walk that far (plus, bags full of kitty litter are heavy). So doing a clean sweep resulting in extra trash won't exactly be a lot of fun...but maybe it'll distract me from everything else going on.

NaBloWriMo...Count Me In!

Okay sissy, I think you've talked me into it! November is National Blog Writing Month and I'm going to do my best to write a blog every day for November. And hey, since it's technially after midnight this can count as Nov 1st!