Friends – Page 12 – Not Content to Crawl

College Buddies, Free Food, & Petting Snakes

Posted onJanuary 5, 2015

Joe had to work on Friday so I spent a good portion of the day spending time with the rats and cleaning all their cages.

Before doing that, though, I called an old college friend of mine and we had a nice hour long conversation. We hadn’t spoken since last July when I drove out to visit her and meet her kids. She’s very busy with three young kids and doesn’t do social media so it’s tough to keep in touch. I sent her a Christmas card which had triggered her to write me a very sweet letter that included asking me to call her. She thought I had changed my number since she had texted me awhile back but didn’t hear back. I never got those texts though so I’m not sure what happened. I wish we were able to see each other more often. She’s one of the very few people I feel comfortable enough around to be myself and not feel weird.

Saturday it was alternating between raining and snowing so we spent most of the day at home just watching stuff on Hulu and Netflix. We got a free two month trial of Hulu for buying the Chromecast and I signed up for a month trial of Netflix. Neither seems to have any current movies we haven’t already seen, but they are great for binge-watching old TV sitcoms and clips from SNL. Netflix is especially great for watching comedy specials, so we watched the latest from Chelsea Peretti, Aziz Ansari, and Bill Burr. We also watched a movie called Peep World that wasn’t as good as the trailer promised. So many familiar faces too, but it seems like that’s how most of the IFC films go. For instance, I had been dying to see Skeleton Twins starring Kristen Wig and Bill Hader ever since I heard about it, which we rented it from Redbox the first week it was out. While it was better than Peep World, because it actually had a plot, it still was pretty disappointing. I guess I just prefer action and comedy movies instead of weird independent film dramadies.

We did leave the house briefly to get some groceries at Aldi, pick up Joe’s repaired sweaters from the tailor, and grab some Qdoba. They sent me a BOGO coupon for my birthday and a coupon for free chips and guacamole because it was also my anniversary signing up for their rewards program, and they let us use both coupons together which was nice. They were also extremely generous with the food portions, almost too much. I decided to try the pulled pork burrito bowl and there was too much pulled pork in it! It’s been awhile since we’ve eaten there so I was surprised to learn that you can get their three cheese queso and guacamole on your burrito for no extra charge. Needless to say, I had them load mine up and I swear it weighed a pound! It was so filling that I didn’t end up eating dinner, though, so that helped a bit with the calories.

Our first stop on Sunday was at Jamba Juice so I could get my free birthday drink. I also got two $15 gift cards from Groupon for only $15 total, so we used one of them for Joe’s drink. Then we headed over to the arboretum since we had always talked about seeing it after a fresh snowfall which had happened the night before. The road in the arboretum was a bit slippery in places and one of the cars ahead of us actually got stuck. Everyone in “line” had to back up so they could back up to try and make it up the small hill they were getting stuck on. Three bicyclists who were sharing the road actually had to push their vehicle to help them gain traction.

After that we decided to leave instead of visiting the other half of the arboretum. We ended up going to Willowbrook Wildlife Center. I love the two resident gray rats and got some cute photos of them.

One of the volunteers offered to take one rat out so I could get a better photo of her since their aquarium glass was smudged, but she was so hyper she would barely stay still! Her fur was so soft though! I also can’t believe how small she is compared to my boys especially since she’s full grown.

After that the same volunteer brought out a milk snake that I was able to pet. It felt a lot softer than I was expecting! Unfortunately I couldn’t get a great photo of it because it too wouldn’t stop moving.

We picked up some litter from Petco, some carrier oil from Whole Foods (to be used with the jasmine essential oil Joe gave me for Christmas), and then had lunch at Noodles & Company (free bowl of noodles for my birthday). Gluttons that we are, we headed over to Red Mango after lunch to cash in my free $5 of yogurt they put on your membership card for your birthday.

So if anyone is keeping track, so far I’ve consumed the following free items for my birthday – Red Robin burger, Qdoba burriot bowl, Jamba Juice five fruit frenzy, a bowl of pesto cavatappi at Noodles & Company, and frozen yogurt. The irony? My one goal this year is to lose weight. Hahaha!

I Wiied Like You Wouldn’t Believe

Posted onSeptember 7, 2014

This past week was rather weird because Joe was in Texas for work from Tuesday morning through Friday night. I got a taste of what it would be like to be single and I gotta say, no thanks. I mean, I can handle taking care of myself and all that, but I missed Joe. And texting just doesn’t cut it. We talked a bit on the phone but the reception in his hotel room sucked. I could never do a long-distance relationship.

Friday I had a friend over for lunch. I made my awesome baked mac and cheese earlier that morning for the occasion. Then we went upstairs so she could see the rats. After that we played on the Wii until she had to leave just before 3 pm. Brother #2 was working in the area so he came over shortly after and we went out for tacos and then played on the Wii.

Joe’s plane was delayed two hours so he didn’t end up getting home until 11 pm. E’s band played at the high school football game that night and his mom was supposed to drop him off after, but she called me just after Joe’s flight home took off to say she’d be dropping him off in the morning instead. I texted her shortly after to get a time and she replied 10 am. Surprisingly, he walked through the door at 10:01 am. To say I was surprised is an understatement!

We went to the library Saturday afternoon and got Angry Birds Star Wars for the Wii which was a lot more fun than I anticipated. I think we played it for close to two hours. I played on the Wii more this weekend than I’ve played all year, hence the title of this entry.

After dinner Saturday we made a special trip out to Sonic only to learn their half price shakes promotion had ended. Joe and E still got shakes, and I got a lemonberry slush since I’m lactose intolerant, but none of the drinks were as good as the last time we went. The flavor was fine but the consistency was off. I guess they did us a favor as we won’t be as likely to visit again anytime soon ($9 for three drinks is rather high anyway).

Sunday morning we all stopped for breakfast at a place called Stacked (they have amazing banana bread french toast) before dropping E off at home. Joe and I hate going out for breakfast because the food is a ridiculous markup compared to lunch and dinner (when you think about how cheap eggs and bread are), but agreed that we shouldn’t get up in arms about it since we rarely go out for breakfast (McDonald’s being an exception). It was funny because E usually orders orange juice at breakfast but only wanted water. I have to wonder whether he did that because he knows Joe’s thoughts about orange juice prices (when they go to McDonald’s they will bring orange juice from home for E). The best part, however, is that as I opened my wallet to get out my credit card I spotted a gift card for $100 I had forgotten we had, so breakfast was actually free!

Cleaning Up The Emotional Clutter

Posted onJuly 21, 2014

A girl I used to think of as a friend sent me a friend request on Facebook the week before last and it really pissed me off. This girl was someone I worked with over two years ago who I helped extensively at work despite her annoying tendency to literally break down in tears about anything that frustrated her. Despite that, I felt we were becoming friends. We’d often have lunch together and we both wanted to lose weight so we’d go on walks during our lunch breaks as well. After she was fired she only replied to my email/texts twice before completely dropping all communication with me. Now, two years later, she thinks I want anything to do with her? Screw that! I don’t need “friends” like her.

Maybe it was because I was already feeling rather cranky that particular day, but her popping up like that made me evaluate all my friendships and question why I still had certain people in my life. Nostalgia maybe? I had a friend from high school who disappeared years ago who I had friended on Facebook last year. I thought she’d be excited as I was to be in contact again, but she never replied to my message asking to catch up, nor did she interact with me in any way. Why she even added me as a friend is beyond me.

I feel like for some people social media is just a way to “collect” people they really have no interest in. Maybe it shouldn’t bother me to have people on my friend list who never say two words to me, but it does, so I decided to do something about it. I deleted 14 people from my friend list (which is a lot since my friend list tends to hover around 100 people) and I deleted about half of the contacts on my phone. I would have deleted more, but I didn’t want to cause issues over deleting family members so I stuck to so-called friends. These people are clearly not interested in communicating with me and seeing them on FB or in my phone was causing needless hurt feelings on my end, so I decided to let the past go and delete them from my life. Out of sight, out of mind, right?

I had contemplated this purging many times in the past, but my curious nature prevented me from letting people go because I liked knowing what they were up to, or so I thought. But I realized that spending that much time keeping tabs on people who want nothing to do with me was wrecking havoc on my own mental health. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction for me emotionally. It probably doesn’t hurt that lately I feel like I’ve got more true friends in my life so the need to hang onto the past has lessened.

Mother’s Day & Beyond

Posted onMay 17, 20141 Comment

Last Sunday (Mother’s Day) we went to the Morton Arboretum and Cantigny Park & Gardens. We ate breakfast at the arboretum where a cute and fearless red-winged blackbird pestered us for food. I would have loved to get a picture but it was the one time I left my phone & camera in the car! We spent about two hours driving and walking around the arboretum because the weather was so nice.

We went to Cantigny afterwards because we hadn’t been there in years. Unfortunately, admission is no longer free with our arboretum membership so we had to pay $5. It was ok, but very crowded by that time (after noon), so I’m sure it will be awhile before we make a return trip.

On Monday I had lunch with a gentleman who was a temporary manager at my employer last year when my boss quit a week after I started. He helped out until they hired my current manager. He’s in his 60’s and really nice. It probably seems odd to many that I’d be having lunch with an “old man”, but we actually have a lot in common. He’s retired and does all the cooking and cleaning while his wife still works and he’s also into gardening and watches many of the same shows I do so the conversation flowed freely. I guess sometimes I get along better with people older than I am. One of my closer friends is in her 60’s also, and one of the women at our most recent game night is in her 50’s. I guess I just can’t relate to younger people as well sometimes.

Game Night

Posted onMay 17, 2014

Last Saturday we hosted a game night that included two women I met through the cat rescue I volunteered with last year and two people I’ve known since the mid-90’s thanks to a bulletin board system (known as a BBS) that was THE place you’d meet local people before IRC & social networking sites became popular.

Anyway, the interesting thing about this couple is that the guy is actually an ex-boyfriend of mine whom I dated briefly between Jan & Mar 1997 and the girl used to date a good friend of another ex-boyfriend whom I dated the summer of 1996. You know, back when I was a mad whore (kidding)! Both exes are pre-Brian so even long-time readers of this blog wouldn’t know who I’m referring to so sorry if this is confusing. Anyway, I’m not even sure how the two ended up meeting but they are a cute couple and have two kids now! They are both super nice people too so, Joe being the awesome husband he is, agreed when I asked if we could invite them over. I hadn’t seen either of them for over 17 years (wow, that makes me feel sooo old) but we kept in touch online, most recently thanks to Facebook, so it wasn’t awkward at all. Everyone had a great time and no one really wanted to leave. Everyone arrived between 6-7 pm and didn’t take off until well after midnight.

I’m glad it went well because it’s hard to find people I actually like and feel comfortable around. I definitely plan to host another get together sometime
this summer during the day so we can grill burgers and whatnot.