November 13, 2008
I went outside exactly zero times Sunday. Not to enjoy the sunlight, not to bask in the gusty windiness of the day, not to buy eggs. And I needed the eggs for breakfast.
Instead, I read the news. For hours. Read blogs, commented, read emails, even replied to a couple of them. Received multiple Twitter-like phone calls from a friend whose day out seemed more traumatic than my day in, thoroughly justifying my recusal from the outside world: I’m at the mall with my significant other, and her relatives. They’ve been shopping all day. I’ve abandoned them for the Apple store. They’ve been invited to dinner, can I hide out at your place later?
Instead, I spent hours on the internet, perusing sites that needed perusing, completed online tasks (3 of them!) that needed completing. Even initiated another project that I don’t quite have time for but will be good for me, I think. Discussed plans with a girlfriend I’ve not spoken to in ages. Chatted with another friend who I have snailmailed recently. Nearly completed a letter of recommendation for yet another friend, which probably doesn’t count since I’m not actually done with it. Unsuccessfully tried to initiate a GChat with another friend who is probably still trying to figure out GChat. Ah well.
And, discovered that in the recesses of one of my bookshelves, I still. Have. These. Does anyone on earth still have an old GameBoy that plays these games??
Filled a sack of Things to Discard, and Things to Give Away.
And collected stacks of books that I can bear to part with. I even found my old retainer! Which makes me think, I should call my old orthodontist, my teeth are … er, on the move again after many years of freedom and I should hate to think all that expense (thanks Mum!) and pain (thanks, Mum) were for naught. (I’m a little irritated that my dentist removed my permanent retaining wire two years ago without so much as a by-your-leave. That’s why the teeth are shifting.)
In my own little world, progress was made. Not a ton, but y’know. Enough to justify a day, almost.
October 12, 2008
My darling friend is curled up asleep as I scan my next to last batch of files. I’m calling it quits here because I feel bad that she’s been hosting me for the last 3.5 hours on Leg Two of the Scan-a-thon. Planning on treating her to dinner, if she’ll let me. In the meantime, a seven-day spending report:
Monday: $6 lunch, necessary but unsatisfying. A shame, but I hadn’t any time to grocery shop over the weekend. C’est la vie.
Tuesday: Managed some leftovers, and received both the latter half of the $400 I loaned my dad, and another $130 in reimbursements for some of their spending. Notice that he’s been a lot more on the ball with that sort of thing.
Wednesday: $3.79 sandwich, quite satisfying. There’s a place we can get enormous burritos and sandwiches which are totally worth the price [the sandwiches even come with sprouts as part of their extensive veggie selection] but if I eat there too often, my stomach gets accustomed to their serving sizes.
Thursday: office lunch to belatedly celebrate my birthday. That evening, shopping [$17.68, two white tank tops] and a dinner to see an out of town friend cost and $11 after tax and tip. I had a coconut veggie curry at PF Cheng’s and was pleasantly surprised. Was also quite pleased that my friend “stole” my order option of the Szechwan tofu and broccoli because it was hothothot. Received another lovely purse, this time a green and olive tote by NineWest that I cannot locate a picture of to share. Nonetheless, it’s lovely and holds everything I need in a day, and is smaller and lighter than the red leather behemoth I’ve been toting. Note on the tank tops: I probably could have gotten them at Old Navy for cheaper but I already knew that these tops fit perfectly. Coupled with the need to find skirts for friend before dinner, we didn’t have time to waste. Y’all should be impressed: we checked three stores, bought two items each, and were on our way to dinner within 20 minutes.
Friday: Leftovers for lunch, went straight home after work and stayed there: no spending!
Saturday: Lots of spending – $11, eyebrows: they look smashing now. Previously: awful.
$13, hair cut: not so smashing. She cut it too short and didn’t manage the bangs well. Am glad I have nearly two weeks before anything important.
$9, soups and pasta at the grocery store. These will make for some very cheap lunches this week. The Progresso veggie soups will be bases, combined with penne pasta, either in the soup or separately, and chicken. We’ve been getting whole chickens for about 79 cents a pound, so for a dollar/can of soup, and < $1 per serving of chicken, the lunches will be something like $3 per. I might get some broccoli to throw in the pasta or soup midweek as well.
Sunday: No spending of money, spent time working on work-stuff, helping a friend with homework, and scanning. I’ve a pile a foot high ready for shredding. Sweet!
All in all, about $71 in personal spending all week. And the eyebrows were totally worth it. The hair? Not so much.
September 30, 2008
It’s not like this is a new phenomonen, but I’m sad that I have only a few dollars left in my wallet after the weekend.
BF actually looked at me like I’d sprouted a new head when he realized I’d paid:
$4, movies on Saturday – they requested CC use only for transactions over $5 and since they’re an independent and I want them to thrive …..
$5, tip/part of the bill for lunch on Sunday
$15, dinner at a cash-only on Sunday
all in CASH. And now I’m back to a few dollars and jingling coins.
September 29, 2008
I wouldn’t be opposed, myself.
Saturday was packed, and yet felt like I didn’t get much done. Friend and I finally tackled the nagging car problems and mid-way through diagnosing the window issue, the car battery died. Excellent timing. $80 later for a new battery, and $8 for Mcdonald’s as payment for the labor, my car was ready to run again, and we’re ready to research and order new parts. Our best guess, since we’re clearly not mechanics, is that since it’s not an electrical problem, and the fuses are ok, it might be the window regulator.
We’ll use his mechanic as a resource to price the part and the estimated (recommended) labor. That’ll be compared to the warrantied used-car-parts place that Friend uses as well. We’ll decide what to do (go with a new part, and personal labor, a used part and personal labor, or either part and mechanic labor) when we’ve got all the angles covered. Bonus: It’s amazingly refreshing to know that the cost is covered by my auto maintenance fund.
Working on the car took four hours. I was pretty beat, so instead of getting right to work when I got home, I talked in the phone for an hour. Lunch with the friends at a new sushi restaurant ate up another 2 hours, and food coma quickly took care of the next hour and half. I’ve been making my way through Neil Gaiman’s Fragile Things (a birthday gift) and fell asleep somewhere between a short story or poem.
The pressing need to do laundry, work, cleaning, organizing, more online research and submissions of things, blog posts, etc. fueled a bit of guilt, but honestly, I needed the time to become human again after a long week of work.
Becoming more human included having a spot of dinner with friends, and watching Run, FatBoy Run that night. I like Simon Pegg, and the movie was amusing, but it didn’t have the unpredictable plot or twisted humor I’ve come to expect from him. It was a bit disappointingly predictable, really. And I know, it wasn’t his movie, so I can’t really blame him. Happily, I continued to honor my strike against Blockbuster and their ridiculous prices by renting from the local independent video store. They charge $1.79 per movie, per day. Since I rarely watch movies, and don’t have any need to keep the DVD for more than the day it takes to watch, I love this kind of rental. Actually, it’s an ingrained preference since I grew up renting from an independent store for a dollar a day, per video. None of this chain, $5/five days for a single movie nonsense for me! $4, two movies, one go. Good stuff!
Sunday was even more jam-packed: started working as soon as I got up, did laundry, met up with a friend to lend a sympathetic ear, took loads of recycling to the center, and tried to compose some general letters. Also, watched the second movie, dodged a possible birthday party out in the city because I couldn’t stomach the idea of another sushi meal so soon after the last, and and and …!
I think, perhaps, the better idea than to try to squeeze more hours or days out of the weekend, better time and task management is in order. It’s not that I find any of the above tasks distasteful, so it’s more a matter of proper distribution throughout the week so that I’m not cramming a thousand and one tasks into each day, and wonder why I’m so tired on Monday. Something like SavingDiva’s cleaning schedule. While saving up all the tasks makes it seem like everything gets done in a single go, the truth is, they’re all just waiting until the end of the week, and if we’re lucky, most of it’s completed.
Taking into consideration I don’t get home before 8 pm most nights, there are still ways to incorporate micro-versions of some of these chores into each night.
1. Laundry always takes about an hour and a half per load, so that’ll remain a weekend chore.
2. Letting mail pile up, though, has recently become a bad habit. I’ll open and read the mail, but won’t file it for a couple of days. That needs to stop. I’ll discard (appropriately) as I go, daily.
3. Cleaning: I will pick up after myself as I go, each day. Jackets get hung up, laundry goes into the basket or hung up again (jeans) each night. No more letting it pile up so I can “decide” later.
4. Letters/correspondence/career related writing: Pick one item, just one, and focus on it every other day.
September 23, 2008
Or at least, a little bit wiser. I got back home last night from a long weekend and boy, am I in pain.
Saturday was a day o’ adventuring. First up was the Embarcadero Farmer’s Market where I was treated to a ridiculous amount of … treats! A cone of salami, shockingly expensive but oh-so-good aged Irish Gouda, a huge round of whole wheat and walnut bread from Acme Bread company. Throw in a couple pieces of fruit, and our hikers’ lunch was complete.
I’d so been looking forward to getting out and about that, unfortunately, I never questioned our destination or trail. We invited a rather veteran hiker to lead the way, and many belated regrets ensued. The terrain was absolutely gorgeous, and I’m sure the unfamiliar scent in the air was freshness. At some point, I felt like a Hobbit, packing my way through nature and conquering vast mountains. It really was fun, as long as I didn’t think about the pain. We hiked from Stimson Beach all the way into the Ranger’s Station — which was originally sold as a 6-mile loop, tops — only to find that we had another 3 miles to go before we were back to the car. The worst was that the first 6 miles was continuously uphill, and when the ranger told us it’d take another 1.5 hours, I had a horrifying vision of having to go another 3 miles upcountry. “Our parents were right, you CAN go uphill both ways!!” It was funny for about a minute.
Your resident deskbound homebody was absolutely dying at that point, but refused to show weakness, so trotted off after the others with a stiff upper lip and wobbly knees. Nary a word of complaint passed through my lips, but I sure wish that I’d asked for more than the 2 one-minute breaks that we took, because, oy vay, I was utterly destroyed by the end of that trek.
In retrospect, that was utterly foolish pride. Who cares if my two fellow hikers didn’t want to turn back? I could have taken the car keys and waited for them at the car! Yes, I would have looked like a wussy in my mind, but they knew I’d not hiked in years. *sigh* So very foolish. Luckily for me, 12 Motrins and 4 Tylenols later, I was able to hobble along to a late brunch the next day, and then turn in for a looooong nap before my birthday dinner, thus avoiding the ruination of an entire weekend.
I’m still regretting the (length of the) hike a little. I’d taken Monday off, and it was a relatively quiet day. We visited a friend’s new stable, and I was offered the chance to ride any of their horses …. but had to decline because I could still hardly walk normally. It was heartrending, I miss horseback riding so much, but I’m realizing that perhaps part of being an adult is making fewer foolish decisions, or trying to avoid compounding previous poor decisions. (*cough* bailout! *cough*) Can you imagine adding saddle soreness to the cripple’s hobble I’m sporting now? *eyeroll* That’d be dignified. Instead of riding, we went ’round to pet all the horses, and discovered which of them were “lickers.” At least three of them had developed the hilarious habit of licking visitors’ hands like dogs.
It was a perfectly lovely, refreshing weekend, and while I’ll be sore for another week, and be even longer recovering mentally from the brutality of that hike, I’m proud that I made it through.
Now, for a good long week of work!
I need another day off ….. 🙂
September 15, 2008
I put all other stressful parts of my life on hold yesterday starting at 2 pm. I didn’t take work with me, as I always do “in case of down time,” and I resolved not to even worry about getting back in time to put in another two hours of work. I was going to spend time with friends, end of story.
It was amazing.
I had organized a mini-massage day at a girlfriend’s house since we sickies were in sore need. My masseuse friend was happy to make a house call for me and two other friends, and a fourth came over just to spend time with us because she couldn’t afford the massage. She was recently laid off due to governmental budget cuts, so hosting friend and I agreed to split the cost of her massage to treat her.
At $40/hour, it was the right thing to do: she’s been searching for a job since July, on unemployment, and I could swing half the cost, as could hosting friend.
All in all, masseuse friend worked for four hours, with a nice break in between, so I know that helped her financially. I got to catch up with masseuse friend during my massage, we spoiled four hung out, chatted, ate Godiva chocolates and potatos chips and watched football. And a LOT of Food Network. Did you know that Alton Brown has yet another “Feasting on …” show? And I finally saw Dinner Impossible.
After the massages, we had an impromptu pizza party, AND I made use of hosting friend’s multifunction, multipage scanner to scan two inches worth of auto insurance and Rollover IRA documents. Which, I hasten to add, was not work, it was organizational and I loooove organizing. It’s good for my soul. As are good friends, massages, chocolate, potato chips, and maybe one less slice of pizza for dinner. Four slices of Pizza Hut pizza plus honey barbeque wings were, perhaps, a bit much.
Massage, mine: $40 (I’m not allowed to tip, masseuse friend scolds me when I do)
Massage, friend: $25
Pizza/wings: $6
Scanning services: 1000 calories burnt, running up and down the stairs from scanner to computer
Total: $71
Lucky me, the massages will come out of my FSA/medical account, so I don’t even have to feel guilty. And coming home without a single nagging bit of guilt about how much work I didn’t get done that day? Priceless.
I hope everyone had a great weekend! And if not this past weekend, then this next one!
August 17, 2008
Whew. Home again, and it’s a bit of an oven here. The wedding was gorgeous, the food was delicious and dancing was good ole ’60s music, with a dash of Prince and Jackson (Michael) for the young ‘uns. Must have got some weird taste in music sinceI knew just about every song the DJ played, while our retired friend kept exclaiming, “this is my kind of music!”
I got a lot of career advice from said retired friend. She was pretty high up the chain in the corporate world before she retired and had a lot of insight and opinions to share. Also, a book recommendation, and an introduction to some of her good friends who are in business or banking. She’s very intent on mentoring us and helping us expand our networks through her contacts, which is mighty generous of her.
Have discovered the Furminator and absolutely love it. Thirty dollars for a dog brush?? But it works so well! *internal debate* This would be dead useful for my big fuzzball of a dog, she’s so furry that she gets clumpy when I don’t brush her enough. Will consider it.
Time for bed to start the week off right, hope y’all had a great weekend!
