Month: January 2023

January 2023 Recap

Posted on

Egg prices were outrageous. $7.50 for two dozen at Costco which is considered a deal.

Discovered the Unsolved Mysteries podcast and started binge-listening like a mofo.

Put my Robert Smith Funko Pop on my Cure shelf above my computer desk.

Bitched on Facebook about the fact that you cannot add McDonald’s Arch Card to their mobile app for payment. So stupid!

Made cream cheese strudel for breakfast one day and dare I say it, was tastier than any stupid coffee cake you can buy at the store.

Found the cutest and comfiest slippers on clearance at Walmart ($6 each).

Started tracking my sleep with my Apple Watch in an effort to prioritize it. Gamifying life is the way to go!

Made zucchini bread with walnuts that made me question why I do not make it more often as it’s delicious!

Finished, and started, a few TV series:

Finished Better Call Saul. Final season was a bit of a slog.

Started three new series:

That 90’s Show (Netflix) – 7/10 – Love the nostalgia factor & the one girl reminds me of Alana from Broad City

The Last of Us (HBO Max) – 6/10 – Olivia from Fringe is in it. Based off a PlayStation video game

Night Court (Peacock) – 7/10 – Bernadette from Big Bang Theory is the judge & John Larroquette reminds me of an old Billy Eichner. Loved watching the original when I was at my grandparents house.

Culver’s ruined my day, and all future trips, by switching rom Pepsi to Coke in all their restaurants. Coke is too sweet and rips up my stomach so it’s a sad day that yet another restaurant only serves Coke products. I normally do not get soft drinks when dining out anyway, but the kids meal at Culver’s comes with one and I looked forward to a little Pepsi with my burger. I refuse to buy soda for at home when a case of 12 is $8 and you used to be able to get a case of 24 for $5!

The main tv in our living room (a Samsung 55″, which we got in June 2015) developed the purple spots of death meaning we’ll need to replace it relatively soon depending on how quickly the rest of the backlit LEDs burn out (or how much it starts to annoy me seeing a purple cast on everything). So far it’s just in two spots along the top and left side so they aren’t always noticeable.

Discovered our new favorite ice cream brand – Favorite Day by Target. All the flavors we’ve tried thus far are delicious (Cookie Dough, Peanut Butter Fudge, and Mint Cookies & Cream). Didn’t think to check the ingredients until the third container, only to realize there’s high fructose corn syrup in them. No wonder! Will probably still get it, but won’t go as hard on them moving forward.

Finally added Wish to my vinyl collection. It’s a re-issue that I preordered from my new favorite record store, Mile Long Records. The prices are a bit higher than you’d pay on Amazon or Walmart, but I like supporting a local business and it’s owner, Mike, is really nice.

Decided to stop spending hours every night scrolling TikTok and get back into reading instead. Set a goal of 24 books this year and was ahead of schedule after reading 4 books in January alone. Since my eyes suck and I’ve yet to get bifocals or progressives, I dusted off my old 2010 Kindle and started using that again. Other than needing to be charged more frequently than when it was new, it’s been great!

Birthday Weekend 2022

Posted on

Saturday (01/07) I wanted to do something for my birthday, so we visited the new location of the Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art.

Our first (and only visit) in 2014 was when it was housed in a very small building in Elmhurst. They moved to a new building in Oak Brook in 2019 so we were interested in visiting again. It’s really nice inside and since it had been so long since our last visit, most exhibits felt new even though they haven’t really added much to their collection outside of the special exhibit hall.

Even with taking our time and reading a lot of the placards, we were only there about an hour before we had seen everything. On the drive back we stopped at Disc Replay in Downers Grove. I’m glad I had opened my birthday gifts that morning before leaving because I found a copy of Season 8 of Scrubs at DR and would have gotten it if I hadn’t been given a brand new copy from Brother J. We left empty-handed and then picked up lunch from Egg Harbor in Wheaton (where I got the Door County Melt – my favorite dish on their menu).

I had placed a mobile order and since we arrived prior to pick-up time, we stopped in nearby Mile Long Records, which was surprisingly busy. The store isn’t very big, but they have a decent vinyl collection. They definitely have more new releases than old stuff, though, and the prices can be a bit higher than online, although at least you’re supporting a local business by shopping there. They had re-releases of several Cure albums, including Entreat, which I hemmed and hawed about buying for $35. I finally decided against it, but I know the owner can snag me a copy if I do end up changing my mind.

The rest of the day we just relaxed at home. As previously mentioned, I had opened my gifts earlier that day. Brother J had given me presents on Christmas Eve since he knew he wouldn’t see me for awhile. He got me a McDonald’s gift card, Seasons 5 & 8 of Scrubs to completely my collection, and Fever Pitch on DVD (although it’s the full screen version so I’m trying to find out whether the 3rd party seller on Amazon can exchange it for the widescreen edition).

Here’s what Joe got me.

(Body scrubber, Simple Modern drink tumbler, Cloud-shaped key station, coconut incense, and stretchy cable ties)

These were all on my wish list because he was burnt out trying to come up with ideas so soon after Christmas. That is definitely another drawback to having a birthday two weeks after Christmas. The key holder isn’t going to work how I envisioned, so I’ll be returning that.

Sunday (01/08) we went to Aldi for groceries and then stopped at Kohl’s to look at blankets. My cousin had sent me one last month that I really loved but ultimately returned once I learned it was dry clean only. They gave me merchandise credit which I was going to combine with the $5 Kohl’s cash Joe got for an Amazon return, but I really wasn’t liking the selection or prices. I found a black beanie on clearance for $4.80 so I used the Kohl’s cash on that since it was due to expire. Apparently the item is supposed to be over $5 so I got a talking to by the cashier (lol) but she gave it to me anyway.

We ordered pizza in the afternoon and spent the rest of the day relaxing. Honestly, leaving the house these days is tough. I’m not a fan of the general public and I hate the cold, so winter is the worst. I’m already dreaming about spring and being able to visit all the nature areas. It cannot get here soon enough!

NYE & New Years Day

Posted on

As usual, New Years Eve was super chill. We split two small specialty pizzas we picked up from Aldi and watched Glass Onion on Netflix. I liked it just as much as Knives Out, and rated them both 8/10.

The pizzas weren’t great, although I liked the goat cheese on the one labeled Caprino Verde (the other was called Buffalo Mozzarella and we mistakenly were expecting it to have buffalo sauce on it).

We were both in bed by 10ish but I didn’t actually fall asleep until 1 am partially because I wasn’t tired, but also because people were setting off fireworks from midnight until 1.

New Year’s Day we went over to K’s house to celebrate Christmas and my birthday. We stopped and picked up some munchkins from Dunkin on the way there and arrived around 11 am.

She got me so many awesome things, including a heating pad that can be snapped together to form a pouch for your feet. I love it!

She also got me a keychain that says “Guess Who’s Got Anxiety?” (haha), a pair of socks with flames on it because I’m always telling her to set it on fire when she doesn’t like something, some soft socks with reindeer on them, a Bath & Body Works gift card, and a few things from my wish list – a pair of slippers, a bluetooth remote for my phone (I intend to use it for TikTok scrolling), and the recently released Robert Smith Funko Pop. My friend also gave Wookie a Chewbacca dog toy “from” her dog, and Joe a Dunkin gift card.

I also bought her “dog person” mug I found at Target the day before, which she loved. I loved it too, so much so that I went back to Target yesterday and got myself one.

My gifts to her:

A pair of socks with dog bones on it, a eyeglass holder for her nightstand (which is just like one I got a few months ago and love – luckily when she looked at the listing she mentioned which pattern she liked), a box of mug cakes, a single serve blender, and a pan of cherry pie bars which I had made the day before. I joked that I’m her sugar dealer. I was worried whether she’d like the blender, but luckily she loved it, and the color I picked out too. Yay!

I made sure to have Joe take some photo of K & I together since we don’t have any after all these years and still need to look through them. I hate pictures of myself, but I wanted to have some of us together since she’s like a sister to me.

We ordered lunch from a local Thai place and shared a Crumbl cookie for dessert. (She had given me the coupon she got for her birthday so I picked out one on Saturday called Galaxy Brownie which was pretty good).

It was a nice day, other than Wookie constantly pestering us to leave. She was a real pain on this visit in general. First off, the second she came through the door she immediately starting eating my friend’s dog’s food which she’s never done before. She acts like we starve her even though I’m feeding her the recommended amount of food daily. She also peed on the floor right in front of us, and then pooped down the hallway despite us making sure she went to the bathroom before we left and Joe taking her out frequently. Luckily my friend is understanding as her dog often goes where he isn’t supposed to, as do many of the dogs she looks after when she dog sits, but it was still embarrassing.

Usually Wookie will just chill by us but this visit she kept going to the door and whining. She really didn’t want to be there to the point I’m not sure I’d bring her with us the next time we visit unless it’s nice weather and we’re outside in the yard. She still gets restless, but it’s not as bad.

We ended up leaving around 3:30 so we got home just as it was getting dark outside. We watched Road Trip for the umpteenth time since we had been discussing it with my friend, plus we wanted to destress and not have to pay close attention to anything.