QVC - Philosophy

I found myself watching QVC lately.  It all started a couple weeks ago when my sister mentioned to me that their "Today's Special Value" was a Bare Minerals collection called Champagne Diamonds (I think).  Now I have been watching it on the weekends.  Today is a great day because it's all gifts.  Last weekend, I watched it and I bought a jar that you can collect change in and it counts it for you!  I got in in blue.  It is supposed to be delivered this Tuesday or Wednesday.  Then I was watching this morning because there wasn't much on, I didn't feel like watching Hannah Montana, I am a bit burned out of Miley Cyrus.  So this morning when I was watching, they said that they had an entire hour of Philosophy products coming up at 1:00pm.  Well, that didn't do me any good, I was meeting Lisa and Savannah for lunch at 1:30.  So then they mentioned that the Philosophy hour was on again at 9:00pm, which brings me to now, I have been waiting all day for the Philosophy hour!  Now Philosophy has nice stuff and I have used their facial care line before, but I am back to mixing it up with Origins and The Body Shop.  But they do have a nice fragrance line and they have yummy smelling shower gels.  So I might accidently buy something.

I think that I really need to find a boyfriend, or I am going to go even more into debt than I already am!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope that you have a great turkey day!  Enjoy the company of your family and friends and try not to eat too much :)

Some People's Kids

Ok, so it is November, which means that it gets dark a little after 5:00pm, and one thing that your mom should teach you when you are growing up is that when it is dark outside and you out running or walking, you should not wear all black clothes!  When I was driving home this evening, I almost hit 2 different people at 2 different times because they were wearing dark clothes.  The one lady was cutting through a parking lot while I was driving and she was jogging and the other guy was not paying attention to oncoming traffic.  Dumb-asses!

On another note, one of my favorite authors, Jen Lancaster (check out her blog at jennsylvania.com) has a new book coming out!  Woo hoo!  It's not until May, but still, that is only less than 5 months away.  Her last book, Such a Pretty Fat, is frickin' hilarious!  If you have not read it, I highly suggest doing so.  She also has two other books, Bitter is the New Black, and Bright Lights, Big Ass.  They are all memoirs.  The newest one is called Pretty in Plaid, which is about her time in college while she was in a sorority. Now, if you don't know this, I was in a sorority when I was in college and I was pretty involved with it.  I was the President and I also served on Panhellenic Council, which is the governing board of the sororities.  So I am pretty sure that I will thoroughly enjoy this book.

Oh and I did finish reading the Twilight series.  It was pretty good, but I feel that she left is open for another novel.  I also went to the midnight showing of the Twilight movie this past Thursday.  I felt kinda old and out of place.  There were a ton of teenagers there - um didn't they have school on Friday.  And there were a ton of people wearing shirts, many of them were Team Edward shirts.  There was even a person (not sure if it was a guy or a girl) wearing a werewolf costume.  Now this person should have known better, the werewolves don't show up until the second book.  I won't say who is one, in case you haven't read it yet.  But they play a big part in books two through four.

Ok, I suppose that I have babbled on long enough.  I am trying to get back into the writing thing because once I start I seem to have so much to say.  I promise to try to be better about it!!

I'm Back!

Ok, so I have been gone for a little while.  Sorry about that!  I have been busy with the new job and my Tastefully Simple business.  But I need to write some more.  I would think of things while I was out and about and then when I got home, I couldn't remember what I wanted to write about.

I am reading Breaking Dawn, which is the 4th book in the Twilight series.  I have about 250 more pages to go.  I really wish that I knew someone that has read it or is reading it because I really would like to discuss some things about it, which I won't say here in case you haven't read it yet and want to.  I am getting people addicted to the books though.  So far, my mom has read the first three and is patiently waiting for me to finish the last one.  Christine from work, has read the first and is on the second and I have two other co-workers waiting to read Twilight.

So I was a Target yesterday, and when I go there I pretty much always browse the book aisle, not that I need another book, but it's always a good time.  So I was walking down the the aisle and there was a lady around my age looking at the "grown-up" version of Twilight, basically it was a normal size paperback with a smaller font.  And I said to her that if she reads it, she won't be able to put it down.  She says, Oh I have already read it, I was just looking at how they fit the whole thing into this book.  She then said that she read the first two, but needed a break, but she is excited for the movie.  So I replied that I am in the middle of the fourth book and that I am excited for the movie, too.  In fact, I have the day off work, so I am going in the afternoon, so I can see it before all the high school kids.  She thought that was a great idea and she might do the same thing.  So I know that I am not 15, but I am really enjoying the whole Twilight series and I am really excited for the movie.  In fact, I may even see it more than once.  I am hoping that it will be that good.

Alright, I better get some reading done.

Twilight

So I finished Twilight over the weekend.  It was pretty good.  I didn't look at it as others have seen it as Bella not being able to think for herself and doing everything that Edward says.  First of all, she's 17 and it's her first boyfriend, of course she is going to hang on every word and everything he says and does!  I am sure that this would have happened even if he wasn't a vampire.  I started New Moon last night, I read the first 200 pages before I went to bed.  I think that I might have a problem.  The beginning of that book is kinda shocking, not what I expected at all.  I will probably finish it in the next couple of days, so I will let you know what I think of it.

I do have to say, that I am excited for the Twilight movie to come out. I will probably be there the weekend that it comes out, I don't care that I am not a teenager!!

Neighbor Update

Ok, I just heard yelling again, this time only from him.

"What'd you say?  Did I eat another doughnut?  I haven't eaten any doughnuts!"

Ok, if she's concerned about him eating doughnuts - why are they in the house?!?!

The Neighbors

I don't really know too many of my neighbors.  I say Hi when walking by but that is about the extent of it.  The couple that lives kitty corner from me yell all the time.  I have noticed even more since the windows have been open.  The other day they were yelling and I heard her say something about him eating something that she didn't want him to eat and then I didn't hear his response then she said F*$# You!  Now I just heard her yelling at him again.  I think that I need to side with the guy on this one, she sounds like she is annoying bitch.  One of those women that gives other women a bad name!

The Secret

I am a big believer in The Secret.  In case you don't know what it is, it is a best selling book, that is also a DVD and it teaches you the Law of Attraction and how to use it in your life.

I just bought the CD, so that I can listen to it in the car.  I have been trying to apply it every day and thinking positive thoughts.  Here is what has happened over the past couple days that tells me that I am doing it right!

On Monday, I really wanted to take my break at work from 7 - 8 pm.  When it came around for me to pick the only times were for half hours at 5:30 and 8:30.  Which I took, because that's better than no break at all!  Then I was talking to another co-worker and she asked me to switch the areas that we were working in and I did, so then guess what time my break was..... 7 - 8!!  Woohoo!  All that I did was think while I was driving to work that I wanted to take my break from 7 - 8 and the universe answered!

Another thing that I have been trying to get a good parking spot (and let me tell you that in a  story parking structure that is an impressive feat!).  So I just think while I am driving to work that I would like a good parking spot and low and behold I had 2 parking spots that opened up when I pulled in yesterday!

The Secret says to start out with small things and then you can move up to bigger things.  All that I have to do is think positive thoughts!  Think of what I do want as opposed to what I don't want.  

The moral of the story is, try The Secret - it works!!

A Trip to Parisian

This weekend at Parisian they are having an event where if you bring something for Goodwill, they will give you a coupon for 20% off.  So my mom and my sister Alicia were going to go.  Alicia called me last night to see if I wanted to go, too.  I told her that I had lunch plans with Lisa but call me in the morning and we'll see.  So Alicia called me this morning when I was on the phone with Lisa making plans for our lunch.  We ended up going to lunch at Red Robin on Hall Road by the Parisian store at Partridge Creek.  So I call my mom to see if they are still shopping and they were, and I told her that I would stop by.

Ok, so now I get to Parisian.  I am walking around trying to find them and I couldn't.  I call my mom and she tells me that they are in the back of the store by the men's section.  I was in the back of the store and do not see a men's section.  My mom says that she is going to send Alicia to find me.  Ok, so then I am kinda hovering in the area that I was in.  Then my phone rings, it's Alicia and she says, "Marco."  (As in the Marco Polo game that you play in the pool when you're little.)  Then she asks me where I am.  I told her that I was in the front by the purses.  She said that she was, too, and she would come find me.  So then I stand around for a few minutes waiting for her and I don't see her.  So then I call her again to see where she is.  She says that she is by the Godiva chocolate by the escalators.  I am walking in that direction and tell her that there is no Godiva by the escalators.  Then she says that mom is calling her and she probably thinks that we were both kidnapped.  While I am waiting for Alicia to come back on the line, I decide that maybe they are on the second floor, even though I have already asked several times if they are on the first floor and they said that they were.  And also at this time, I am laughing so hard that I am crying because it is really funny.  So then when I am talking to Alicia again, she asks me which Parisian am I at.  I told her the one at Partridge Creek.  She says oh well we're at the one in Rochester.  So that's why we can't find each other, because we're at completely different stores!!  So I did not end up buying anything at Parisian today.

Tabatha's Salon Takeover

Bravo is a great channel.  There is a show that I DVR called "Tabatha's Salon Takeover" and it has a contestant from the first season of "Shear Genius" (another great show) and she goes to struggling salons and helps them get back on their feet.  So the show today is in New Jersey and these women are all stereotypical NJ girls.  They have big boobs, too much makeup and they are rude!  There is this one woman though, her name is Stacey and she is a trip.  She got all mad at Tabatha and stormed out of the salon and called her an animal.  Tabatha is like the Simon of hair styling, she tells it like it is.  If you get a chance you check it out.  It's on Thursdays at 10:00pm.

Books I am Reading

After the overwhelming response to my post yesterday about books,  (not really, the only people that I even know that read this are my mom, Alicia and Vicki!  If anyone else is reading, I would love to have my first comment - hint hint) I thought that I would share my current reading list with you.

I am currently reading "Oxygen", it is about an anesthesiologist that has a child die during surgery and what happens after.  I am only about 5 or 6 chapters into it, but it is good so far.  Then I am going to read "The Host" by Stephenie Meyer, then the Twilight books, then I might read the Stephanie Plum books.  Hmmm... it sounds like I am only going to read books that involve some version of my name.  I also have the Peter Walsh book about organizing, "It's All Too Much".  I really think that I should be on his Clean Sweep show - I am sure that my family will attest to that!  I also have Emily Giffin's new book "Love the One You're With".  She is a good writer, so I should read that one soon.

Books that I am excited about are:

Jen Lancaster's new memoir.  I think it's called "Pretty in Plaid" it's about her time in high school and/or college - that comes out spring 2009.

Jodi Picoult's new one "Handle with Care" it's about a little girl (I think) with Brittle Bone syndrome and what happens when she is advised to sue her Ob/Gyn, which is also her best friend, for wrongful birth.  This basically means that you wish your child had never been born.  I read the excerpt on her website and I couldn't wait to read more.  That comes out in March 2009.  I may have to take the day off work to read it, I know that I won't want to put it down!

Chelsea Handler's new book - I saw that she has another book that she is writing with Chuy, that will just be funny.

I think that I need to get a life, since I am excited about books being released months from now.  I will keep you updated on my reading list!

I Have Jumped on the Bandwgon

Ok, so I have a problem.  I am seriously addicted to books, not just reading them, buying them.  One of these days when I don't have anything better to do, I am going to count the books that I have yet to read.  I am sure that the number is at least 100 or so.  My biggest problem is that I discovered buying used books on Amazon - that started it.  So now, I can buy a book for a penny!

One of my favorite authors and bloggers - Jen Lancaster - just was blogging about some books that she was currently reading and asked her readers to post what they liked to read.  Jen posted that she was going to read "Twilight" which I had bought to see what all the hype was about, but it's still in the pile.  A ton of comments were about "Twilight" and how good the series was and that you should make sure that you have all 4 of the books before you start reading because you will not want to put them down.  So, I just went to Amazon and bought the other 3 . (Mom, I can see you now rolling your eyes - but I am sure that you will like them, too!)  I accidently bought a couple other books that she recommended, too.  As soon as my shipment comes, I will start reading this series and let you know how it turns out.

New York Trip

So this past weekend, I traveled to Buffalo, NY with Ann and Lynn for some TS training with Vicki and her team.  We were able to meet some new team members and a returning favorite - Holly!  Yay!  It was so good to see Vicki and Holly again.  We had a marathon training session, it was around 5 hours.  Then we decided that we were going to go to dinner at 8:30.  We decided on the Olive Garden.

Vicki called ahead to see what the wait was and it was about 40 minutes.  We were starving, and didn't really want to wait that long.  We were going to go to Applebee's instead.  We had to stop at CVS so Lynn could pick up something and by the time we were leaving CVS, it had already been a half hour, so Olive Garden it was.  

The wait was going to be about 15 minutes when we checked in and someone noticed an open table in the bar area.  We told the hostess that we were going to sit there.  There were glasses all over the table and the waitress didn't seem to notice or if she did, she didn't care, so Lynn started cleaning them up.  The waitress, who was moving at a turtle's pace took our pager and put it aside and said she'd be back to take our order.  Then Lynn said ,"Our vibrator is going off!"  So we decided to get a regular table.  We sat in Kevin's section.  He was a great server and we were glad that we didn't sit in the turtle lady's section.

It was a great trip to New York, but I was very tired when we got home, so I took a nap!

Stupid Car

As some of you may know, I live in a condo.  We have assigned parked spots.  My spot is next to two guest spots so many times I come home and someone is in my spot.  Sometimes I leave a note which says something along the lines of, "Hey, you parked in a reserved spot, next time park in a GUEST spot."  Depended on my mood, I can write it kinda feisty.  Like one time I called the person a genius for parking there.  I usually find the note crumpled up on the ground.

So Sunday night, I get home from work around 10:55pm like usual and there is a car parked in my spot.  My neighbor doesn't live in her place, so I just parked in her spot, no big deal.  I didn't even leave a note this time. Monday, I leave for work and the car is still there.  Same thing when I get home.  Tuesday, still there.  I am not really caring too much, since I can park in my neighbor's spot.  But I decided to call our management company to report it.  Now I felt kinda stupid calling, because it is a petty thing.  But here's the reason.  We had work done on our parking lot today and all cars had to be out by 7:00am, or they were going to tow at the owner's expense.  I was calling the management company to let them know that it wasn't my car and I didn't want to be held responsible if it wasn't moved when they started the work.

The lady that answered the phone didn't seem like the sharpest knife in the drawer.  When I told her there was a car parked in my spot since Sunday, her response was, "Are the spots assigned?"  Now would I be calling to say there was someone in my spot if they weren't assigned?  I am not 12!  Then she was trying to get me to send an email in to them, but I explained my situation and then she took the info.  Then, I stop at my mom's house on my way to work and she tells me that the management place called and left a message on her cell phone about needing me to call back to answer some questions.  This was at 12:25.  So I call back and they are closed for lunch from 12:30 - 1:30.  Wouldn't this have been a good thing to say in the message?!?!  I call back at 1:30 and talk to the lady to give her the info about the car and also let her know that she had called my mom instead of me.  

This morning, I left about 9:00 to run some errands and the car was still there.  When I got home around 1:30, they were working on the parking lot and it was gone.  I kinda wanna know whether or not the car had to be towed and if it was, I really would like to see when the person comes back and sees that it's gone!

Sorry, I guess that wasn't too exciting of a story, I will try to make the next one a little better!

Happy Labor Day!

I hope that everyone has a fantastic Labor Day!  I will be working, but that Holiday pay is pretty nice.

Hee Hee

When I was driving home from work today, there was a truck with the name of the company on the side of it:

Ho Snow Removal and Landscaping

Now I know that I am 31 and laughing at this is something a 13 year old would do.  But you have to admit, it is still kinda funny.

Spam (Not the food)

Every once in awhile I will check my junk email folder to make sure that nothing that I actually wanted to read went in there.  When I checked it earlier this was the subject of a message:

A Vibrator is Born (Or How a Cucumber Grew Up)

By the way,  in case you were wondering, this was not one the messages that I wanted to read!

Good things are happening!

I can feel that some good changes are coming up for me.  I can't reveal them right now, but I will as soon as I can.  Think good thoughts for me!!

My Hair

I had my hair chopped off a couple of months ago.  It is so much easier to deal with and it now takes me about 5 minutes to blow dry it.  It's great.  And I do think that it looks nice and everyone that I know has told me that they like it.  But the strange thing is that I am getting a ton on compliments from strangers.  Patients and family members at work tell me that they like my hair.  It is almost embarrassing.  It makes me wonder did it look like crap before?  This weekend, I have been with my mom 3 times when strangers complimented my hair.  The first time was when we went out to eat after the Dream Cruise.  Then today we were shopping and at two different stores the sales clerk told me that she liked my hair.  My mom said that she thinks it's kinda creepy that so many people are complimenting me.  It is almost becoming comical.  One lady today even asked me where I got my hair done.  Way to go Maurica!!

Adventures at the Dream Cruise

So it was the Dream Cruise this weekend.  For those of you that don't live in Detroit, it is the biggest 1 day car show in the world.  There are usually over 1 million people in attendance.  Every year for the past several years,  I have sold the official Dream Cruise shirt with the YMCA.  It is our biggest fundraiser of the year.  I was there both Friday evening and Saturday afternoon and evening.  The "official" logo was not all the great this year, so some people were not pleased about it and they told us about it.  Like we had any hand in designing it. I kept saying , "Talk to the Dream Cruise committee."  For anyone that likes to people watch, it is a great place to go.  You see all kinds of people there.  Here are some of the funnier comments that I got from people.

Guy walking by the booth - "Are these free?"  (Pointing at the t-shirts, let me also qualify this comment with it was 4:00 in the afternoon and if they were free, don't you think that they would have been gone by now?)

Me - "No, but they are only $15 and the money goes to charity."

Guy - "Well then I don't want one"

So did he mean he didn't want one because the money went the charity?

Lady walking by the booth - "How much are these?" (Pointing at the travel coffee mugs)

Me - "One for $3, two for $5"

Lady - "I will give you $2 for one"

Me - "No, the money goes to charity, they have already been reduced from $5 a piece.  They are $3 for one."

Lady - "I only have $2, I will go get another dollar."

Teenage girl holding three $5 items in her hands - "Are these free?"

Me - "No, they are $5 a piece."

Girl threw them back on the table.

Man looking at the Hotwheels car - "I don't want this, it's a Ford, I drive a Chevy."

I am thinking OK dumb ass, then don't buy it.

One of the best things that I heard though was from another one of my co-sellers.  She had someone trying to barter with her about the price of something.  She looked at him and said , "This is not a flea market."

The best part of the Dream Cruise is all of the people that are there.  You see some interesting clothing and hair.  There are also people that totally don't look like they go together.  So if you have never gone and enjoy people watching, this is the event for you!

Phatty out!  (Yeah, I tried to sound like Ryan Seacrest there, I don't think I will try that again)

I am going to find a man!

I was out running errands today and I saw sign at a church for the St Anne's Sausage Festival!  Do you think if I go, I can find a boyfriend?

My $67 lunch

I went to lunch yesterday with my friend Andrea.  We went to this Coney Island place that I haven't been to in forever.  I had a ham and cheese omelet with some wheat toast.  My bill was $6.  I had $5 in cash that was mine, $20 in cash that was Dream Cruise money and then my debit card.  So I decided to use my debit card rather than embezzle the Dream Cruise money (I would pay it back!)  Andrea paid with her credit card and the lady was having a problem with the machine, so that should have been my first clue that I should have paid cash.  But I went ahead and paid with my debt card anyway.  This would be a good time to tell you that I had to have Andrea back to work by 1:30 and it was already 1:29.  They did have the little machine where you enter your PIN, so I paid my bill and walked out.  Then I looked at the receipt.  I was charged $67.40 for my lunch!  Ahhh!  I didn't even have that much money in my account.  I only had $40-something in it.  So I went back in and the lady that did it started freaking out because she didn't know how to fix it.  She had her co-worker come over and refund my money.  As she was doing this I asked her if they would pay my overdraft fee since I knew I didn't have enough money in my account.  She told me that it shouldn't go through because they haven't cashed out the machine yet.  She said that if there were any charges to bring it in and they would refund it to me.  But I had a feeling that I would be charged.  Isn't the point of entering the PIN that the money comes directly out of the account?  I then decided to pay with the Dream Cruise money rather than dealing with another transaction with my debit card.

Last night, I got home from work and checked my account - of course there was an overdraft fee.  Now luckily, because I have a credit union, it was only $5, but still, that almost doubles the cost of my lunch.  So now I am going to print out the statement and cross off the transactions that are not relevant and bring it into the Coney today to get my $5 back.

The moral of the story is: don't use your debit card at the Coney!

Strange Things are Afoot at the Circle K

I was driving to work this afternoon, minding my own business and singing to the radio and all of a sudden my sunglasses broke in half!  And yes, to answer your question, I was wearing them!  At first, I couldn't figure out what happened.  Half fell in my lap and the other half were still on my head.  They broke right where the nose piece attaches to the lens.  There's no fixing them because the lens is broken.  I guess that I am happy that I didn't pay a lot for them.  I have a small head, so I buy kid's sunglasses, so they're not too expensive.  I guess that I have to head to Target tomorrow to buy another pair.  So if you see me with some Dora sunglasses, you will understand why.

Or, I guess that I could start a new trend - sun monocles!  I could have a sun monocle for each eye!

RIP - cute sunglasses 2007 - 2008

PS - Points for you if you know what movie the title is from (I think that I quoted it right)

McDLT Commercial

Ok, in my curiosity about the McDLT, I googled it and found this commercial on YouTube:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTSdUOC8Kac

I have not quite figured out how to upload to the blog yet, so you'll have to copy and paste the link into your browser to watch, but I will try to figure it out soon.  If it wasn't 12:30 at night , I would spend some more time trying to figure this out, but I am sleepy.

80s anyone?

Gotta love the thoughts that come from my co-worker Jason.  This is the thought he told me about yesterday...

You know how there's a Renaissance Festival?  Why don't we have an 80s festival?  No one really knows what people dressed like or acted like during the Renaissance, but we know what we did in the 80s, there should be an 80s Festival.  That would be really great!

Back to me - Just think of the ripped jeans, cut up sweatshirts, several pairs of socks, side ponytails, Tie dye, I could go on and on.  Maybe before we start a whole festival, we could just do a theme party.  What kind of food is specific to the 80s?  The only thing that comes to mind is the McDLT.  I think that is what it was called.  I am thinking of the special Mickey D's hamburger that "kept the hot side hot and the cool side cool" with a cool double box.  I remember going there one time for a meal and that's what my parents ordered.

Am I a Mind Reader?

Sorry that it's been a little while - if anyone is even reading this.  I know that I am bummed when my favorite bloggers don't post.  So I apologize!

Today at work, while on my break I was sitting in the lobby reading a book.  This man comes up to me and asks if I work there.  First of all - can you not see the badge on my shirt?  So I tell him yes and he says that he is looking for a patient.  I directed him to the information desk where there is a phone that goes directly to the operator for questions when it is not staffed.  He then tells me that he does not know the name of the patient.  I am thinking - what a dumbass!  So I explain that we can't help him find a patient if he doesn't know the name.  He tells me that he thinks that his patient is in the cath lab.  I tell him that we can't help him unless he knows the name of the patient, so he says that he's going to call someone and walk away.

Here's what I was thinking during this conversation.  Why is this guy coming to visit someone if he doesn't know their name?  Obviously you don't know each other very well.  And does he really think that someone is going to let him traipse all over the hospital checking in rooms for someone?

The guy was still sitting in the lobby when I went back to work, so I don't think that he was having much luck finding his patient.

The moral of the story is: only come to the hospital to visit people you know and if you don't know them, you should at least know their name!!

I'm Green, or Trying to Be

So I am trying to be green.  I have not bought water bottles since last year.  I have been using a refillable bottle so I am trying to save the landfills!  I am also trying to be better about bringing my own bags to the store.  I have a great reusable bag from Target that goes over the shoulder, so it's much easier to carry.   I also have 3 bags from Meijer for groceries and I even brought one of those into the drugstore yesterday.

My new thing that I am going to get is the dual flush toilets.  For anyone that doesn't know, those are toilets that have a separate flush for number 1 and for number 2 if you get what I am saying.  I have seen segments about these on Oprah and on Good Morning America.  It saves water.  I don't actually pay for water in my condo, but I figure I should try to save it anyway!

I also have been unplugging things when I am not using them.  These include my phone charger and PDA charger, my hair dryer and kitchen appliances.

If you have any other suggestions, let me know.

Chi - Cago!!

Woo hoo!  I am in Chicago on vacation with Alicia (my sister).  We have been here since Thursday and we are having a fine time.

Thursday night, we saw Wicked.  I saw it last year when I was here and Alicia saw it for the first time.  We both loved it.  There was a high school church group in sitting in front of us and there was one girl that was actually sleeping during both acts!  Now this is not exactly a quiet show, I don't think very many musicals are.  But, she was sleeping, I guess that she didn't like it very much.  

Friday, we went to the Taste of Chicago.  It's a big street fair where there are 65 different restaurants that have booths set up.  You buy tickets and purchase food with the tickets.  The tickets were priced 12 tickets for $8.  I figured that for 2 of us, we would need more than 12 tickets, so I was buying 24 tickets, which was a total price of $16.  I pulled a $20 and a $1 out of my wallet, thinking that it would make life easier for the cashier - meaning that I was giving $21 and since the total was $16, I would only need to get a $5 rather than counting out singles.  Well, this cashier was not the sharpest knife in the drawer, he handed me back the single and proceeded to count out $4.  I told him that I gave him that so he would only have to give me a $5.  He sounded surprised and said ok and then gave me $5.  The worst part about this interaction, was that he was wearing a Rush shirt, which means he is/was in a frat and has attended college!  You are telling me that he couldn't figure that math out!

Friday night, we wanted sushi, so we asked the concierge for an idea and we went to a place called Sushi Wabi on Randolph - that was quite yummy - if you're ever in Chicago and want good sushi check it out.  But I would suggest reservations, because we had reservations and still had to wait a few minutes for our table.

Saturday, we headed to the Field Museum, that's where Sue the T-rex lives.  Then we saw Wall-E in the afternoon.  Wall-E was very cute and was somewhat of a commentary on how people are getting larger and lazier and what will happen if it continues.

The best part of Saturday was that we saw these 3 ladies that all had bags from the Oprah Store.  I didn't even know that there was an Oprah store.  Alicia asked that and they said that it was several miles away, they went as part of the Ethnic tour.  So today we looked into a tour and we're going tomorrow!  I am going to see Oprah!!  Alicia keeps laughing at me because I am excited about Oprah.

I will let you know how things go with her.

Phew, the Final is Over!

I had my philosophy final this morning. I took philosophy because I thought it would be interesting, it wasn't. We had a take home essay that was due today, the topic was God and Evil. That actually was interesting, but the rest was not.

So yesterday, I decided to go to Caribou to study. I was sitting in a nice comfy chair, getting some work done and this lady decided to sit in the chair next to me. Then, she starts talking to me:

Lady: Are you studying? Do you have a final coming up?
Me: Yes, tomorrow.
Lady: Oh, I had a final on Thursday, it was the hardest class I have ever taken. We had so much work to do, I hardly got any sleep (blah, blah, blah)

Meanwhile, I am trying to keep looking at my book, to hopefully give her the impression that I can't talk right now, I AM STUDYING!

Lady: (still going on and on). Did you have a lot of work for your class?
Me: Just a lot of reading.
Lady: Still keeps talking (blah, blah, blah)

It was getting to the point where I was going to have to tell her that I couldn't talk right now when...

Lady: Well, I think that I'll go outside now.
Me: Good idea

Then, she came back in a little while later and sat in the chair again, but got up and moved someplace else. Do you think she got the picture?

Today, after my final was over, I went to sell my books. I had 2 philosophy books and a biology book that I had never sold back. The philosophy books, I got a good amount back, but the biology book was only worth $7.50 because there is a new edition coming out. The clerk said that I could try selling it to a friend that was taking the class to get more money. But I told her that I really didn't, so I would take the $7.50. Then a guy in line behind me said that he had a friend that was taking it and he would buy it for $20 and sell it to his friend, since it's a $100 book even to buy used! I was like heck yeah! So I got $20 instead of $7.50 - that's almost triple! Woo hoo! And, since I am good girl, I am depositing the money in my checking account and transferring it to my credit card! So thanks for the extra bucks, random guy!

Cat Vomit

During the storm that we had a couple weekends ago, Simon threw up all over my condo.  (Well not really all over, just 2 spots on the floor and one big spot on the couch)  He is  little bit skittish anyway and I think the fact that I wasn't at home and it was noisy outside freaked him out.  But the worst part about it was that he had a big mess on my new couch!

I bought the stain protection for it so I cleaned up what I could and then I called the store to set up an appointment to get it cleaned.  Here is how the conversation went:

Me : Hi, I needed to set up an appointment to have my couch cleaned.

Lady: What happened to your couch ma'am?

Me: My cat freaked out during the storm and he threw up on my couch

Lady: Well, I am sorry but we can't guarantee pet stains

Me: I am sure that the sales lady told me that pet stains were covered when I bought the couch

Lady: I apologize if she did, but if you read the fabric protection brochure it says (blah blah blah - do you think I read the brochure?  Of course not!)

Me: Ok, then can you change it so that it says I threw up on the couch?

Lady: Oh no, ma'am, these calls are monitored

So I guess that she had no sense of humor!  I couldn't get an appointment for a week and a half to have it cleaned, which brings me to today...

The guy gets here at 8:15 am (way too early!!) and he looks young, like in his early 20s.  I show him the stain and he starts cleaning it.  It's a little bit awkward with both of us sitting there is silence, so I decide to make conversation.

Me: I guess you guys have a lot of stains to clean, I couldn't get an appointment for a week and a half.

Him: Well, that's our job.

And that ended the conversation.  I was wondering should have asked him about the strangest stain he's had to clean?  Or what about the biggest stain he's had to clean?  But it didn't seem like he wanted to talk about anything, so I turned on Good Morning America.

When he was finished, I had to sign a form and he had written on and this is an exact quote, "Cleaned cat puke".

And, in case you're wondering, the couch now looks great.  The cushion is still damp, so I had to haul it to the bedroom and close the door so that the cats wouldn't sit on it.  But now I have a vomit stain free couch!!

The moral of that story is: people that work at a furniture store have no sense of humor.

Too Many Books!!

I have a lot of books and by a lot, I mean a lot.  I should count sometime.  A couple weeks ago, I decided to start selling my books on Amazon.  As a result of this, I have been at the Post Office almost every weekday since then.  

Yesterday, I had 4 books to ship.  I had the same clerk as the day before.  He told me that I must read a lot.  So explained that I just started selling books and that I have posted over 50 on Amazon and they keep selling.  He said that he never really reads.  Then another postal clerk began taking packages from the stack behind my clerk.  She commented that he was a very good stacker.  I said, I guess that you played with blocks a lot as a kid.  He said yeah, cause I didn't read!  Then when I was leaving, he told me to read another 4 or 5 books tonight and come back tomorrow!

But so far, I only have 2 to sell today.

I'm famous!

Well, not really, but I feel like I am.  One of my favorite bloggers is Karyn Bosnak, she is so funny.  She has written 2 books, you should check them out if your haven't, Save Karyn and 20 Times A Lady.  I read her blog daily and sometimes comment on it.  Well, she wrote a blog about a GW quote about being disappointing and there were a couple people that commented they weren't going to read it anymore because she wasn't a fan of the Pres.  I posted about "My Cat is Smarter Than the President" bumper sticker and one person asked me where I got it.  Woo hoo Phatty is helping someone out that I don't even know!!

In case you're interested in getting one, go to cafepress.com

Something New to Try

Yesterday, my co-worker Jason told me that he found the perfect online dating website for me. He heard a commercial for it while listening to the radio. Guess what it was farmersonly.com. So I laughed. Then he told me that there are over 200 people listed in the Metro Detroit area. That was shocking to me - I didn't that there were that many farmers around here. Maybe I should check into that, or not.

I am trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up and it has not been easy. I am currently taking a Philiosophy class, which is not really something that I needed to take, but I thought that Philosophy would be interesting. I have found in taking the class, that it is not. Today was the last day and we have our final on Monday. There is this girl that sits next to me and we chat, but that's about it. She has not been coming to class very often, pretty much only on quiz or test days. On Monday (when she missed class) the prof handed out some readings that will be on the final next week. So I was telling her what she missed and she asked me, "Have you read them yet?" I replied, "No." Then she had the nerve to ask me, "Are you going to or can I have them?" Um, hello - if you would come to class, you would get the readings. So I suggested that she ask the prof for them. What nerve!

My Bumperstickers

So, I am not really the biggest fan of this administration. So I have a couple of politcal bumperstickers on my car. The first has Bush's Last Day on it and the second says "My cat is smarter than the president". With that, I mean Simba, not Simon. Simon is cute, but I think he's not all that smart.

Which brings me to my point. I had to stop at the post office after class today and when I was getting out of my car an old man was driving by in a pick-up truck. I stopped walking so he would not run me over. He stopped behind my car and yelled out the window, "Your cat is not that smart!" and then drove off. I started laughing, but the worst part was that I couldn't think of a good comeback.

Now I need to find a good anti-McCain bumpersticker. I think that I will head to northernsun.com, they always seem to have good ones!

Welcome

So here I am starting a blog.  In case you're wondering where the name came from, it's from one of my sorority sisters from college.  She was drunk one night and that's what she called me.  Well, I actually think she meant fatty (although, I wasn't back then, she was larger than me) but I think that phatty is better!

I really enjoy reading other people's blogs, so I figured why not start my own.  I have funny things that happen to me on a regular basis, so now I can share them with you.