Photos – Page 9 – Not Content to Crawl

Memorial Day Weekend

Posted onMay 30, 2017

Friday was cleaning day, although I had to go into work for a couple of hours to make up some time I missed earlier in the week. I got to partake in the Friday treats they bring in weekly, though, so that was nice, especially because they brought in cinnamon rolls from a bakery that were so delicious I practically inhaled mine.

Friday night Joe and I had dinner at Noodles & Company since they just opened one near us. I had a gift card so it only cost a few bucks out of pocket.

Saturday we did a little grocery shopping at Target and then headed to my parents’ with Wookie. On the way there we stopped at K’s apartment to drop off our old printer and some glassware. Her guinea pigs have gotten so big! She had them in a playpen which is cute.

I purchased a booster seat for Wookie from Amazon earlier in the week and it seemed to help her motion sickness as she didn’t throw up on the car ride to my parents, or on the ride home. In fact she was so relaxed at one point she fell asleep.

She had a lot of fun running around the yard most of the afternoon and evening. My mom had gotten her two toys which she really liked too.

We put her in her crate in the garage with the big door (yard side) open a crack to get fresh air while we ate or played a game. Being the paranoid person I am, I kept checking on her out the window. We finally played the Logo Trivia game I had gotten at Savers awhile back. It was interesting, although hard. We only played one game as by then Wookie was getting restless in her crate and we decided to head home (at 10 pm). It was a fun night and we had tasty Long John Silvers amongst other things, although I feel guilty that my mom spent so much money on food.

Sunday we went over to Savers for their Memorial Day sale and I ended up with a tank top and Joe got a pair of shorts. I pretty much hate most of my summer clothing so it sucks I can’t find any t-shirts I like. I don’t feel comfortable wearing tight clothing since I’ve gained some weight and feel self conscious. After a few more stores we spent the rest of the day at home. We let Wookie run around out back secured to the tie-out. I need to find a shorter tether since she gets into too many things with the 15 or 20 ft cord we have now.

Monday we planned on taking advantage of a local Asian place’s lunch specials but they weren’t offering them due to the holiday so after a walk at the park with Wookie we got Taco Bell. I wanted to try their Naked Chicken Chips which I really enjoyed, but not the bean burrito I also decided to try. They stuffed one half with just beans and the other half mostly rice so the ratio was all off. I could make a tastier burrito at home and for cheaper. I really like making my own burrito bowls, in fact, even without any meat. I just add some beef stock to the rice and top it with black beans, cheese, rotel, and sour cream. Probably not very health conscious since it’s high in calories but it’s very yummy, not to mention quick and easy!

I grilled burgers for dinner… and that was our holiday weekend. The end.

Garage Organization, Arboretum, Wookie’s Leash Manners

Posted onApril 24, 2017

Saturday (4/22) we finally got rid of some stuff we were unable to sell last year at our garage sale. Since it was Earth Day our town was having an electronics recycling event so we got rid of four old computer towers (but first made sure no hard drives were inside). Then we took two boxes of donations to Savers. I had done a little organizing on “my side” of the garage on Friday so between these two actions it’s already looking less cluttered, not to mention there will be more room in front of my car which is critical since I should be getting a new one in the next few months and it’s likely going to be a longer length than the Jetta which was a little cramped as it was. Some days I feel like chucking everything because clutter makes me so anxious. It doesn’t help when we pass by people whose garages look barely used. I feel like I have way too many boxes of decorations for various holidays/seasons and have been purging the stuff I never use but continue to keep for some strange reason.

We took Wookie with us on our errands since our last stop was Petco to snag a free bag of food thanks to a coupon Joe found online. It was all gone, though, so we walked out empty-handed. Wookie didn’t get to really socialize either since Petco doesn’t get the volume of traffic Petsmart does. After we got home and ate lunch I took her on a longer than usual walk to try and tire her out so she wouldn’t be so bored when we headed to my parents’ house to celebrate Easter and J’s birthday. I love going over there but feel guilty leaving Wookie at home for 8+ hours. It’s weird because I never felt bad leaving Bella when she lived here. I think it’s because she doesn’t really do anything but lie around anyway so what’s the difference? Wookie likes to play and interact with us so I feel like I’m neglecting her when she’s left home alone for too long.

There was much food to be eaten Saturday night, including a strawberry cake I baked specifically for J. It wasn’t homemade, and was originally going to be cupcakes, but after all the cooking and baking I did last weekend I went the easy route and made a 9×13 sheet cake. It came out good, though.

We didn’t get home until midnight and played with Wookie for 45 minutes before going to bed. Despite still being tired we got up a little after 8 am Sunday (4/23) morning so we could get to the arboretum at a decent hour. We stopped by Starbucks to try the unicorn frappuchino that has been all the rage this week but was told the unicorn ran away. That was disappointing since Sunday was the last day to get them. Guess it was the universe’s way of stopping us from wasting our money.

It’s a good thing we didn’t get to the arboretum until 10 am because there was a huge 10k at 8 am and part of the grounds were shut down to vehicle traffic to accommodate it. Luckily we missed all that craziness and for once NOT being the early bird paid off. Speaking of birds, we made a beeline over to daffodil glade on the west side of the arboretum where we spotted some bluebirds.

That was unexpected since I was actually looking to get photos of the tree swallows that live in the area. I also got some decent pictures of the flowering crabtrees and a couple of the daffodils which was nice considering they were already starting to die. They only seem to last a week or two which sucks.

On the way home we stopped at a different Petco and were able to snag a 5 lb bag of food for only $1.28 using the “free” coupon (you have to pay tax).

I took Wookie on a walk after lunch and she’s doing so much better on the leash. I didn’t have to stop once because she was pulling too hard. It’s nice to see we’re making progress. We also set up the tie-out in back so she could roam around but she was getting it tangled on stuff and going on the neighbor’s patio, plus eating stuff off the ground. We moved to the front of the house but it wasn’t much better. It was supposed to be relaxing hanging out outside but not with a puppy to constantly monitor. I love her dearly but sometimes it stresses me out having her around 24/7. I feel bad even saying that but it’s true. I give lots of credit to people who not only have a dog but kids too. How they manage that is beyond me.

Posted onFebruary 13, 2017

After my doctor visit Friday (2/10), I did a little shopping. One of my stops included Party City where I snagged this cute bunny cutout for 99 cents and this St. Patrick’s Day sign for $1.99. Both are for the front door.

I wanted to get a nicer Easter sign but they all had glitter on them which looks nice at first but makes a mess in the storage bins, not to mention eventually wears off.

I made a few other stops to grab some stuff for Joe for Valentine’s Day as well.

Friday night we watched Neighbors 2 which I thought was better than the first one.

Saturday morning we went to the arboretum for their Chocolate Expo and spent about $30 on goodies.

1st photo: jalapeÃ±o chocolate covered Slim Jims, a mint Oreo, cherry bombs, pretzels, chocolate covered Bullseyes.

2nd photo: dark chocolate toffee and an oversized turtle.

We tried everything so far except the pretzels and the turtle. The toffee is always good, the bullseyes were just ok, the mint Oreo was awesome, as were the Slim Jims. I think Joe really liked the cherry bombs too but I didn’t just because I’m not a fan of twizzlers.

We stopped at Chipotle for lunch and then went home to pick up Wookie to take her to Petsmart for their special Puppy Love event. She met some dogs and people and seemed to react better than last time. She also got some free treats!

In addition, I bought her an Easter toy. I love that the free Greenie’s she got are worth $10! We won’t be giving those to her until she’s 6 months old, however.

We signed her up for their 6-week puppy training course which starts next Saturday. I think she’s going pretty great with her training overall, but she could definitely use more socialization and it will be interesting to learn what we are and aren’t doing right with her too.

Sunday we did some grocery shopping super early in the morning. I couldn’t sleep so we found ourselves at Meijer just after 7 am.

We went to an 11 am showing of The LEGO Batman Movie which was, as expected, awesome! I can’t get enough of how cute and clever the LEGO movies are, and even though I’m not into the series, after seeing the preview I’m really looking forward to The LEGO NINJAGO Movie as well.

We made a stop at home to feed Wookie and then went to Beef Shack for lunch and then to Fermilab for their open house. However, once we got there and learned it was just science experiments set up for kids in this one building we’ve already visited before, we left. I thought we would be able to see the offices/labs in Wilson Hall so that was disappointing. I think it was a bit misleading to call it a open house vs a special event.

We wrapped up the weekend by watching The Grammys. I don’t know what the deal was with Beyonce but I couldn’t stand her so-called performance. She acts as if she’s the only woman who has ever been pregnant. It just reeked of self importance and it made me look away. I’ve never been a huge fan but she’s really rubbing me the wrong way lately. In contrast, I did like Lady Gaga performing with Metallica even if James’ mic wasn’t working. My favorite performance, however, was the tribute to the Bee Gees. Growing up my parents had a record player and a limited number of albums, one of them being Saturday Night Fever. We listened to it a lot so along with Creedence Clearwater Rival and the Carpenters, so the Bee Gees hold a special place in my heart even though I don’t really listen to their music very often.

Weekend Recap

Posted onJanuary 21, 2017January 23, 2017

Friday 1/20

Made Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes for dinner. Came out pretty good. Need to use more steak sauce next time than recipe dictates for more intense flavor.

Went to play Bingo with friend E at the church. Didn’t win squat, as usual, but had fun nonetheless being silly.

Saturday 1/21

Purchased a cute Nightmare Before Christmas purse from Hot Topic. Was BOGO so Joe got a Nightmare Before Christmas t-shirt.

Had $10 of Kohl’s cash burning a hole in my pocket but couldn’t find anything I wanted the weekend before. Was about to give up when we came across dog beds on sale 50% off. So this CuddleDuds bed was under $13 when all was said and done.

Checked out the new Mariano’s. Super busy! Used coupon for a free reusable grocery tote. Bought some cheese and crackers after sampling it with pesto. New delicious combo we never thought of trying before.

Went to Petco to use $30 off 30 lb bag of dog food but they only make the puppy variety in a 15 lb bag. Employee said “let’s try the coupon anyway and see what happens” and it worked! So what was normally $40 was $10 plus tax and I used my $15 egift card so it was nothing out of pocket.

It was almost 60 degrees outside so we took Wookie for her first park visit. We used the new seat cover and seatbelt hardness I had purchased at Amazon and although she wasn’t quite sure how to sit at first, she was much calmer than when we put her in the crate. We chose Armstrong Park because it tends to be less crowded. We came across people on the path and she was more afraid of them than the dogs they were walking. As soon as they’d get close she’d stop hauling ass (we need to work on leash etiquette) and hide behind me. What a drama queen! One guy had his teacup Yorkie in the basket on his bike. He stopped to chat with us a bit. It’s funny how much friendlier people are when you have a dog. Got lots of “he’s so cute” comments when people walked by too. She definitely is a cutie! This is her after her walk with the wind blowing through her fur.

We made sure to wipe down her paws when we got home so she wouldn’t pick up any diseases.

Joe took care of some stuff around the house:

Installed our new wireless doorbell I got off Amazon. We haven’t had a functioning doorbell in years and normally I wouldn’t care but it helps with package deliveries, especially on those rare occasions where they require a signature.
Replaced a pipe under the kitchen sink.
Took apart the dryer to see if he could determine why it doesn’t heat up consistently. We were hoping just taking it apart would get it working reliably but it isn’t so he’s going to order one of the parts it could be from Appliance Part Pros. They have a 365 day money back guarantee so if it’s not the correct part we can send it back and try another.

We planned on going to the Oswego Light Festival but felt too lazy to drive all that way so stayed in and watched Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates instead. I used my free birthday code from Redbox.

Sunday 1/22

We went to Drury Lane for a Home and Garden Show and ended up scheduling three estimates this week for replacing our patio door. I really hope they are affordable, otherwise Joe is going to do it himself.

After the show we walked around Oak Brook mall. It wasn’t bad considering it was under 50 degrees. We missed an entire section of stores, however, so I didn’t get to check out this Aritzia boutique I keep hearing some YouTubers fawning over. Maybe next time. We got all excited when we spotted a DMK Burger Bar there but it’s actually still under construction. I did find a black pair of sneakers for $22 at Sears – Fila Windstar 2 is the brand/model. I’ve been needing to replace my black Nikes for awhile (they are literally five years old because I really take care of my stuff) but didn’t want to spend $70+. They are running shoes but for me they are walking around and shopping shoes.

We were pretty hungry but couldn’t think of any place good for lunch so I decided to make some tuna salad at home instead.

We also used the newer playpen (which Joe separated into two sections earlier in the week) to keep Wookie contained to the living room and put her crate, bed, water and food bowls, plus the pee pad, on the tile by the fireplace, and let her hang out with us all evening. She was really good (no accidents) and even played by herself and napped (although not as long as she usually does because she was probably worried about missing so much since she’s not used to be out that long). I hope we can do this more now that she’s older (she turned 4 months old on Saturday) because we were actually able to watch TV without her having a fit for once. Some nights we’d haul ass upstairs just to get a break from her since even though she can hear us up there if we turn off the lights downstairs she stays quiet.

Monday 1/23

Cleaned the upstairs, did laundry, went to Aldis for groceries, and kept an eye on Wookie. She has thrown up bile three times over the past few days. Initially we thought maybe it was the chew bone we gave her so we took it away. Now we’re not sure what it is but since it’s only once in a given day and she acts normally otherwise, we’re not sure whether we should be too concerned just yet. She wouldn’t eat lunch today and slept a lot, but her poop is normal. She kept refusing food unless I gave her just the hard food. Suddenly she doesn’t care for the wet food which she once loved. I’m a bit worried since the hard food might be upsetting her stomach but I guess we’ll see since that’s all she would eat all day.

Rogue One

Posted onDecember 18, 2016December 18, 2016

This past week was pretty stressful. On Joe’s first day of work he had to fly to Denver for training so I was on my own with Wookie until Thursday evening. Running home during my lunch break sucks! Even though only 20 minutes of the hour are used for driving, the remaining 40 minutes flies by taking care of Wookie and I barely get time to scarf down my own food. Ugh! I guess it could be worse – at least it’s only three days a week.

Thursday when I got home from work I was super pissed off to find our garbage can lying on the ground AGAIN. I swear the garbage men hate us because ours is the only one on the block on it’s side half the time. It was already cracked and duct taped and now there’s a huge hole in it. I had to call to request a new can.

Friday morning after baking a batch of sugar cookies (I love those Betty Crocker pouches) and starting some chili in the crockpot, I headed to Target to look for some stocking stuffers for Joe. I couldn’t believe how busy it was at 10 am; people were pissing me off leaving their carts in the middle of the aisles so I got what I needed and got the heck out of there.

I had lunch plans with a friend at the mall food court. Last time we met up I had a Great Steak because they are so good but this time I decided to try teriyaki chicken from the Japanese stand in the food court. Other than the long wait for the food, it was ok even though the fried rice was rather oily. The mall was pretty busy – there were a bunch of kids singing Christmas songs for guests and once they were done they descended upon the food court so we left since we couldn’t hold a conversation over the noise anyway. We decided to stop by Bath & Body Works; their $12.50 lotions happened to be on sale for $3.50 so I got Vanilla Bean Noel since I love that scent in the soap and body wash versions. I thought it would be perfect to apply after using the body wash.

We headed back to my place so my friend could meet Wookie. She’s funny – whenever she meets someone new she is very timid until she determines the person isn’t a threat. So in other words she was very sweet until my friend had been there for an hour and then she started getting rambunctious. She hung out with us in the living room while we chatted and eventually ended up falling asleep on the floor. It was so cute, and unexpected, since she never falls asleep when Joe and I let her run around.

After my friend left I made corn bread to go along with the chili. Joe was working from home in the rat room so once he wrapped up we had a very nice dinner together. I also applied the new lotion and promptly realized I hated it. I don’t know why, but it doesn’t smell quite right.

Saturday morning we stopped at Walmart to return some fleece lined leggings I had purchased a few weeks ago. I was really excited when I got them because they were only $9 for two holiday-themed pair but they didn’t fit. We also brought all our change along to cash in for a gift card but it turns out the Coinstar in Walmart doesn’t give out Amazon gift card codes and we don’t like getting cash because Coinstar takes a 5% cut.

There’s a Bath & Body Works a few stores down from the Walmart so I ran in there quickly and swapped the yucky Vanilla Bean Noel lotion for a different scent. I was going to get Twisted Peppermint since I like the soap but that lotion smelled weird too. I think for the most part their lotions suck. Luckily I was able to find one I like that I’ve actually used before – Sea Island Cotton.

Then we headed to Jewel to use their Coinstar and ended up with $196.76 in Amazon credit. We’ll see how long that lasts. We’ve been ordering off Amazon like crazy lately!

From there we headed to the library where Joe donated blood, then to Culvers to get gift cards for the kids, Aldis to grab groceries, and Lou Malnati’s for a gift card for the year. I love that for $100 they give you a free $25 gift certificate since that pays for an entire large deep dish pizza. We stopped at home for lunch (I made chicken salad) and to feed Wookie before heading back out to get gas for my car and to buy gift cards for the kids at Half Price Books.

Saturday evening we had planned to go out looking at Christmas lights but neither of us felt like it so we watched Sausage Party instead. The movie was ok, but like everyone else who had already seen it told me, the ending was just weird.

Sunday we were up fairly early so we could see the 9:10 am showing of Rouge One. It was a good movie overall, although I enjoyed The Force Awakens more. The thing I didn’t like the most will be below at the end so I don’t spoil the film for anyone who hasn’t see it yet.

After the movie we browsed Payless Shoes but didn’t see anything we liked. Then we had lunch at Red Robin. They currently have a buy one get one 50% off deal and I had a gift card. Their burgers never disappoint and they seem even tastier when they’re free! Our waitress was wearing a Darth Vader Christmas sweater and I mentioned to her I saw the same ones at Target the other day. She wanted to know if we had seen the latest movie and whether it was any good since she hasn’t had a chance yet and was looking forward to it.

On the way out we stopped in Kohl’s so I could look for a sweater but I didn’t end up liking any. I did spot my favorite bras on sale (buy one get one 50% off), so I got two. I wasn’t entirely thrilled that even with the 15% off coupon I found on the Retail Me Not app my total was $53, and the cashier must have felt the same because she gave me some scratch off promotion that reveals an additional percentage discount. I scratched off 15% and she had me try again because she wanted me to get a bigger discount, but that too was 15% off, but hey, that brought the total down to $44. $22 per bra isn’t bad when they are the comfiest bras I’ve ever worn (Warner’s Women’s Cloud 9 Wire-Free Contour Bra)!