Ahoy Mateys

I am alive..... I have not drowned..... yet.....

Here's the thing, I have been lazy, eh hem hem, I mean busy. With my new schedule at work I am no longer working on my own. This means I am watching someone else or working with them. I am sure they do not appreciate not being able to check their gossip websites while I am around just as much as I hate not being able to check my blogs. It is all for a good cause though. I have been chosen to learn about all the parts of my division at work. It is really interesting and I am enjoying it lots. And it should do good things for my career. And it is only until the middle of May. Then I go back to my old job and can work by myself and get lots of stuff done, like reading and keeping up with blogs. Sure I know I could blog from home or on weekends, but honestly I have been too lazy. I have not had things to say lately. And when I do find time to even read blogs at home, somehow I never get around to writing on my own. I am a slacker, and I know it.

So, I suppose I just wanted to say Hello and let you all know I am okay. Fortunately everything is going really well for me right now and it is not something bad causing me not to blog. I will probably not be blogging much for the next few months. I can say I will try to blog more from home but I am not making any promises.

On a good note I did visit a Mall here in Houston for the first time last weekend. I finally went to the Galleria. You know that 3 story mall with all the designer stores and an ice skating rink in it? Yeah that one. I have to say it is not somewhere I would normally shop and all I bought there was candy and a new watch. But it was pretty neat and I can see why it is a tourist attraction. I still prefer the Woodlands Mall closer to my house, but the Galleria is interesting.

Umm and I planted some bulbs on my back porch. I cannot wait for them to grow. They are lovely white Christmas caladiums, you know those white and green elephant ears. Hopefully they sprout soon. Also I will be planting some really gorgeous purple and yellow calla lillies at the house in Louisiana. Go LSU! I hope the Penguin can remember to water them often enough...

So things are good and hope you all are doing well too!

All I Want for Christmas...

All I want for Christmas is the two things I said I wanted and didn't get.


That makes sense right?


Did this happen to anyone else? Does anyone else feel kind of gypped right about now? Did anyone else go through months of trying to find the right presents for their family because they knew it would make people happy? Did anyone else not even get what they asked for but rather got something useful and boring, or nothing at all? Did anyone else watch people open presents from you and scream with joy and then open your own present and go wtf?


Yeah that was my Christmas. I feel kind of bad for complaining about what I did get. I feel downright grinchish. I mean I know that there are plenty of people who could not afford presents for Christmas this year. I wish everyone had the chance to have a wonderful Christmas. I am sure plenty of people would absolutely adore the things I got. And actually I do like the things I got, I like them bunches. I just... well... I wanted what I asked for or something else fun and present-like. Some things are great and while you want them, you do not want them to be your Christmas present. Birthday maybe, but not Christmas. I mean granted I do like to cook and so the cooking items I have gotten for the past few years have been quite useful. But there is just something about opening a really big present on Christmas morning only to find a pot inside, woo hoo. I mean now I am all ready to go and slave over the stove and fix a huge meal in my wonderful new pot, thanks let me get right on that for you.


Am I wrong to think Christmas presents should be fun? I mean I know I said I needed a pot like that, but I hadn't actually asked for one. (And yes hypocrite that I am I bought someone a pot for Christmas too, but to be fair he had mentioned wanting one and I got him other gifts as well to offset the boringness of the pot as a present.) I went through a lot of trouble trying to find gifts for my family that were practical as well as fun. I even helped family members figure out what to get each other and bought those things too! Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, I love giving, I love finding the right presents for people, I have a good time doing it. I just wanted at least one cool, sparkly, fun, laugh-out-loud kind of present. And yes I know I may not be the easiest person to buy for, but gift cards are awesome! And this year I actually did have a list of things I wanted, and I showed them to people in person so they would know exactly what I was taking about and where they could get a good deal on it. I even showed them to more than one person to up the odds on actually getting what I wanted, and yet nada.


I am not totally bummed, and this post is not meant to sound like me complaining at all. Actually the Penguin and I had decided that we were going to go shopping for each other after Christmas and try to get some good deals. We just didn't find any good deals on the stuff we wanted. He is actually in the process of trying to get me the camera I wanted at a really good price and I am excited about that! And I need to take him shopping and get whatever it is that he wants this weekend coming up.


What this entire post is leading up to is the fact that I went out and bought myself a present that I absolutely adore. Since I did not get it for Christmas and pretty much knew it wouldn't be happening for my birthday either (my birthday is in a week) I went ahead and bought a little something for myself. I went shopping the day after Christmas and my mom was going to meet up with me later in the day. I had plans to show her what I wanted again and ask her if she would buy it as a late Christmas/Early Birthday present. I knew she would get it for me but I just couldn't wait. I walked in the store just to check and make sure they still had one, and then like magic it was on clearance. I mean seriously on clearance, at like 1/3 of the normal price. And it was the last one they had, and it might not be there later if I came back for it. So I bought it! And when I told my mom she said Yay! Merry Christmas! tell me how much it was and I will pay for it. So bonus! It was not only 1/3 of the price, it is actually going to be free for me, and I feel good about saving mom the money. I am so happy about my purchase! And trust me if you got such a great deal on the ring you have been wanting for months you would be happy too.


See? See how gorgeous it is! I love it! It is getting sized as I write this and I can pick it up in a couple of days. I am very happy with it. I might even wear it on my left hand just to mess with people! But probably not.

So I hope you got all you wanted for Christmas, even if you have to go out and buy it for yourself!

P.S. If you like the ring too, I got it for $62 at the store in the mall. I am not promising it will still be on sale for that price but that is much cheaper than the website price right now!

Black Friday

So I spent the day with the Penguin's mother and sister. We had a quite a good day. We did not wake up early by any means. Matter of fact we were quite lazy, but it worked for us. We did go shopping and it was not absolutely crazy like we were expecting. Then again were were in no hurry at all.

We were successful in finding the cutest strappy red shoes to wear for Christmas parties, with no lines at the checkout, woohoo. We found a few Christmas presents for family. We managed to avoid long lines everywhere we went. I actually had a really good time.

So if you went out shopping today I hope you had a successful trip. I know I enjoyed it more than I dreaded it.

Color me Black

It has been a pretty good weekend. I am ready for the coming holiday. I am ready for cold weather. I am ready because I got a wonderful black pea coat yesterday. It looks a little something like this:

I love this coat. I have been wanting a pea coat for years now. Seriously I have always adored pea coats and been envious of the really nice ones. I just never could make myself break down and buy one, they were too pricey. Well I finally found one I liked. And it was on sale! I got it for about $75 and was sooooo happy. It is black, does the whole double breasted thing as pea coats do, and has this "belt" around the middle which is sewed directly onto the coat so I don't have to worry about losing it. I quite adore it.

I took it out of the closet today to pack for my trip home for thanksgiving. And I noticed something was not quite right. They left the freaking security device on the coat, you know the ones you can't remove on your own because they have the dye in them and will explode all over you and ruin your clothes and make you look like you just robbed a bank? Yeah one of those, still on the coat. I was not happy. Now I have to go back to another store on my way home today and hope that they will take it off. I hope I can find the receipt! Anyways, I started to think about how they could have left this on my coat, I mean this has never happened to me at this store before. Well the lady who was checking me out was a little older and really nice and was all chatting me up and we had some trouble with my gift card and she got distracted, which is totally acceptable. But she was not even the one who bagged my coat. Another person, a manager I think, came over to help with the gift card and then proceeded to bag my coat for me. So I had to laugh at the fact that two people missed this security thingy. I am not however laughing at the prospect of having to go out of my way to get to another store to have the device removed. It is in such a spot that I cannot wear the coat without it being noticed. So I have to find a store to remove it before I can wear it. I was so looking forward to wearing it, like today.

Oh well, such is my life.

Tired Equals Meme

Today was great.

We ate Breakfast here:

And went shopping at an outlet mall and La-Z-Boy.

Then we ate lunch here:

Then we went shopping here:

And I got lots of neato kitchen gadgets.

Then I went shopping here and here:

Then I made french bread pizzas for dinner. And now I am too pooped to come up with anything else good to write so...I am going to do a meme. I stole this one word meme from hokgardner because I liked how simple it was. My brain needs simple right now.

Where is your cell phone? pocket

Where is your significant other? home

Your hair color? brown

Your mother? knitter

Your father? cook

Your favorite thing? home

Your dream last night? none

Your dream/goal? happiness

The room you’re in? living

Your hobby? reading

Your fear? loneliness

Where do you want to be in 6 years? together

Where were you last night? Houston

What you’re not? perfect

One of your wish-list items? ring

Where you grew up? country

Last thing you did? packed

What are you wearing? jeans

Your TV? tiny

Your pet? boyfriend

Your computer? ancient

Your mood? sleepy

Missing someone? Penguin

Your car? reliable

Something you’re not wearing? shoes

Favorite store? Wal-Mart

Your summer? crazy

Love someone? duh

Your favorite color? royal

When is the last time you laughed? tonight

Last time you cried? Wednesday

Shopping Trip

My parents are in town for the weekend. They do not get to come visit me often and I am glad they could make it. We are going shopping! The main purpose of this visit is to make a trip to IKEA tomorrow. They have never been before and I think they will like it. I know I am going mainly for cool kitchen gadgets but I think we will enjoy the whole place. So this post is short because I was busy at work today, cleaned up when I got home, then took my parents to dinner. And now I am going to bed. But I am going to bed happy, dreaming of IKEA.

P.S. My spaghetti and cheese turned out well, mother approved, and I promise to post the recipe with pictures soon!

Smell Me!

No this is not a joke. I smell pretty good right now. I just got back from the mall and a visit to Bath & Body Works. I am looking for a new perfume and I smell pretty good after testing them out. Plus I need advice.

I like Bath & Body Works because they have some good fragrances. I do not like them for being a corporate pain in the you know what. I mean what is this fascination with discontinuing fragrances? Just when I find one I like they discontinue it. And of course it was like the only one in the store I really liked. And of course I only figured out it was discontinued after they had no more in the store and could not stock up on anything. But maybe it will come back for the semi-annual sales. Or maybe you can still get it online. Or maybe it is just gone for good, ha ha ha ha. Or maybe you should try this other fragrance that smells like the old one, only it really doesn't. Blarg!

Years ago I loved Juniper Breeze and they discontinued it. Then it took me a while to find Country Apple, but oh how I adored it. I honestly think this was my all time favorite, ever. Then that only came back for the stupid semi-annual sales. Sometimes, if I was lucky. Until they came out with some new crap they called Irresistible Apple, which is NOT the same I do not care how many times you try to brainwash me into believing it. It is quite different and not what I want, though it may be growing on me. Next, I moved on to the Breathe, pink colored lotion which was the only acceptable scent at the time for me. Which I still have some of because since R saw me buy some he went ahead and bought me some for my birthday. And when he bought it they were having the 3 for $18 sale or some nonsense so of course I got 3 or 4 of the exact same thing which I had just purchased 2 of, so I still have plenty. After that I had a very brief stint with the Calming, blue body wash because our introduction came by way of a sale bin because it was being discontinued as was my pink Breathe. Tonight I went looking for some of my current fave, Magnolia Blossom and well of course it was discontinued and they had absolutely nothing. Not only did they have nothing, the sales lady was so frank about telling me it was gone for good I was almost speechless. I asked her if it might come back for the sales and she said probably not. I was devastated. I mean why do they discontinue all the ones I really ever liked. I do not like any of the other signature fragrances they have right now. I think I smelled them all.

I do not think that "discontinuing" items is the smartest sales tool. I guess it might get you more income when you bring things back for a limited time only and people want it so they come and stock up on it. But this has never appealed to me. I have never wanted to try a McRib, no matter how many times it comes back. I know I will get sincerely pissed off when I have kids because I will want to buy them a certain Disney movie which will be "in the vault" and unavailable. Why don't them have them all for sale all the time? I mean I am a bargain shopper. I do not buy things full price unless I really really really want it. And that does not happen very often for me. I will wait until what I want goes on sale and then if they are out by that time or if they no longer have my size then it wasn't meant to be. So I am not going to go out of my way to remember when your semi-annual sale is taking place so I can stock up on full price items, maybe, if you have them. Because I have tried that route before when I really wanted the Country Apple. And I was too late because one woman had bought the entire case the first day of the sale and that is all they were getting. Screw that. I mean even if you take it out of the store and only sell it online or something would be better than having it gone completely.

So now that I have vented about my discontentment with the whole discontinuation process I can tell you why you should smell me. I think I might have found something I like. I did not buy it tonight and they better still have it when I go back next week to test it again and make sure I like it. And then they need to keep it forever. Along with bringing back my faves full time. But back from dream world, I did find a new something something. There is this Pink line of stuff. Apparently it is from Victoria Secret. They have a clean smell and a fruity one and I like the fruity one. It kind of smells like apples and that makes me happy. My only hope is that if I do start really liking this one that if Bath & Body Works discontinues it that I might still be able to find in the the Victoria Secret smell good store. I suppose I should determine if this is true before falling for the fragrance. I am tired of being let down when my favorites disappear. Smells can be soothing and help you feel good. I want to feel good again.

So do you think I should do it again? Should I trust that Bath & Body works will have this fragrance long enough for me to get tired of it first before it gets discontinued? Would you go for it or would you find a real perfume somewhere else that probably won't get discontinued? I want to like this fragrance. I really do. But I don't want to be let down again.

I Like Shopping, Sometimes

I do like shopping, I really do. But only sometimes. Normally I am content to just go shopping. I like looking at things, picking up a few, putting most of it back, and buying what I really want/need/have to have. I am actually kind of frugal and like to wait for things to go on sale before I buy them. The reasoning behind that being that if I really like a shirt but it is $50 I will come back to the store later and if they still have my size on the sale rack then it was meant to be and I get it, Yay! If they no longer have my size on sale, oh well, no great loss. This generally works pretty well and I am not a very impulsive buyer. I am an impulsive want-er, and often see things and think, Ooo I want one of those! But then I stop to think do I really need that and will I really use that, or do I need that much of that? And usually this stops me from ever putting the item in my shopping basket. Then near the end of my shopping trip I do a mental tally of what I would be spending if I bought everything in my basket and if I do in fact really need everything in there. Inevitably I always pull a few items out and leave them behind. Usually this works just fine. Sometimes though I will get home and a few days later start looking for what I think I bought, only to remember I never actually bought it.

And I don't mind shopping as long as I am happy. If I am happy and rested, I love shopping. Let me stay in one store too long though and I will get bored and tired and just want to leave. This happens often in large stores like home improvement stores and malls and whatnot. I just start to get tired and my back hurts or my feet hurt and all I want to do is sit down. Or I get hungry because we have been there too long. Or my head just starts to hurt form thinking about things too much and I don't want to talk about ideas and potential uses for such and such anymore. Some stores are better when you take them in small doses. But those stores are also some of the best because almost everything you could ask for is already there in that one store. I like going to stores like that alone so I can take my time to look at what I want and then leave when I get tired of the whole charade.

Well this past weekend I discovered a new humungo store that I can have a love/hate relationship with. It is one of those stores that is a warehouse store. It is so big that they have more states in the U.S. than they do stores, and I just moved to a city that has one. It is a European company. People take trucks on day trips to other states just to visit this store and be able to carry home all the stuff they will buy. They have everything you could think of that you might ever need to furnish your home. They have fairly good prices and are all about the space saving capabilities and versatility of their products. Have you guessed it yet?

Well here it is!
Dun Dun Dun! Yes I have discovered IKEA and I love it. I spent 3 hours there this past weekend! We walked around until we were exhausted. We really only saw everything on the top floor in the showroom. I will have to go back to look around the ground floor which held kitchen and bath accessories and other nick knacks. We were so tired we just kind of glazed over everything downstairs on our way out. I was silently happy that my boyfriend actually got tired of a store too, and before I ever asked to leave! So yes, I am declaring my love/hate relationship with IKEA official. It is one of those stores that I will have to take in small doses but that I know I cannot help but patronize. I love it and all its great design. If you have the opportunity I suggest a trip here. They even have a cafe with super cheap prices like Sam's Club and an awesome playland where you can leave the kids. So when you have a few hours, or a day to spend, make a trip to your "local" IKEA. I promise you will be overwhelmed and satisfied!