Category: Life

Puddle Jumper

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The other day we ordered Red Robin for curbside pickup and it had just stopped raining so it was pretty wet outside.

As we’re waiting outside for them to bring out our food there was an older woman with a toddler. At first we were like “oh look how cute she is walking with her hands behind her back like a little old man” before we realized it was because she didn’t want to hold the woman’s hand to walk through the parking lot back to their car. The little girl briefly took the woman’s hand but then let go and ran back onto the sidewalk. Then she ran into the lot toward the closed Sears (this restaurant is attached to a dying mall) and started jumping in the puddles near the curb, getting her pink leggings soaked in the process.

The woman looked completely defeated and got on her phone, so we started making up her side of the conversation to entertain ourselves. We imagined she was saying “I’m never babysitting this little bitch again because she DOES NOT LISTEN”. All the while the toddler just kept running in and out of the puddles having the time of her life.

I really wanted to film it since they were far enough away they wouldn’t have noticed, but it felt like an invasion of privacy so I decided to write about it instead.

Notable Purchases (Or Items Acquired)

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Just wanna start this off by documenting the fact that I washed our thick reversible comforter this morning to prepare it for summer storage and the washing machine ate it. There are several holes and there’s really no way to repair it since those holes aren’t along the seams. I guess we’ll be donating it to the recycling event this Saturday where they can cut it up and use the fabric for other things.

I’ve washed it in the past without issues, so I don’t know what happened. The only thing that makes me feel better is that it was purchased through Groupon with points I got from our Discover cash back so it didn’t actually cost us anything. And we have a replacement comforter, although it’s not as fluffy. Oh, and it also had a little pink staining on the grey side as if it came in contact with bleach at some point even though I don’t use bleach.

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Roku

Last month Target had a Roku on sale for $25 so we decided to grab one; we wanted to watch TV in the bedroom with a remote. Bonus was that I could access my free Apple TV subscription on it; I ended up binging the entire season of The Morning Show within a short time, and we also started watching Central Park as well.

A couple of weeks ago we lost our T-Vision cable services through T-Mobile. They decided to get out of the cable tv business which was probably a good decision since they were not doing it well. There were so many things about how their services worked that annoyed me.

We had purchased their streaming device, which was similar to the Roku, and it was on the living room TV. We decided to swap the devices so we could watch Apple TV shows downstairs instead and ended up binging Ted Lasso within two days.

Ted Lasso

That show is so good! I can’t wait for subsequent seasons, although my free subscription will likely be gone by then. It was only supposed to last through last November but Apple kept extending it at no charge. I believe it’s due to expire in July.

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The following are items we bought last year that I never wrote about.

Air Fryer

I never talked about how back in October Joe’s former employer said he had earned a free gift to pick from a catalog. Nothing much stood out to us, so we ended up selecting an air fryer even though we didn’t really want another kitchen appliance to find storage space for. But we didn’t have one, so we thought it would be cool to see what everyone else was talking about.

Air Fryer

We’ve been pleasantly surprised by how often we make use of it. It’s great from re-heating leftovers like french fries, fried pickles, even small slices of pizza. We’ve made nuggets, bacon, and roasted veggies in it too. I would love to have a larger one that looks like a toaster oven one day. It also made me think – is that type really the same as a convection oven? So I googled it:

While a full-size convection oven and an air fryer both use a fan to move hot air around, an air fryer circulates the air more rapidly inside a small chamber, speeding up the cooking process. Air fryers also employ a basket to more evenly circulate hot air around the bottom of your food.

Good to know. Also, we made space on the counter for it since we use it so much.

Winter Coat

Also in October I took to Facebook for help finding a good winter coat since I’ve spent years looking for one without success:

Does anyone make a winter coat that fits the following criteria?
Lightweight, but warm (like a puffer coat)
Long enough to cover your butt
Zips up
Detachable hood
Outer pockets that zip closed
Inner pockets to hold your phone
Comes in black
I seriously can only find a mishmash of these things but none that fulfill all of my requirements.

In late November I posted an update:

In case anyone is curious, I ended up buying the Columbia Women’s Heavenly Long Hooded Jacket (in black) from Dick’s Sporting Goods.

I gave up on the idea of needing inner pockets for this type of jacket, since I realized I wouldn’t want to be unzipping it in the cold to access the pockets anyway. And even though the hood isn’t removable, it’s not oversized or heavy, so it isn’t a nuisance like it was on my old jacket.

It’s on sale now @ Columbia ($112.50 which is what I paid at Dick’s) if anyone is in the market for a nice long coat that covers your butt.

I also got a black jacket that’s a little shorter from Costco a few weeks ago for only $25. It has two inner pockets and the outside ones are lined with fleece. I am now set for many winters to come.

If anyone knows where I can donate my old coat, please share.

My only complaint after wearing the coat a few times is that it’s not a very deep/dark black and almost looks navy blue in comparison to the jacket I got from Costco which is my everyday coat. The Columbia one is very warm, though! I wore it when we visited Cosley Zoo and Lilacia Park to see the Christmas lights in December.

I also donated my old coat via Burlington Coat Factory. They have a donation box set up inside.

Sheets

Kohls had Cuddl Duds microfiber sheet sets on sale back in November so I ordered a set. Not only is it thicker than the cheapie sheets we currently had (which had holes in it), but it was soft and comfy. Plus they were so deep I was able to fit them over the thick mattress and mattress cover with ease which wasn’t possible before (we had one sheet on the cover and a different one over the mattress which looked rather junky). I liked the set so much I bought a second set later that month when they were on sale for even cheaper (first set cost $38.24 and the second set was only $26.03).

Life Update

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Yikes, it’s been awhile, hasn’t it? I’ve been so busy, haha!

Ok, the crappy stuff out of the way first –

Unemployed
As of January 15th Joe will be officially unemployed. We knew this was coming for months since his company decided to eliminate his department. He will be getting a generous bonus for staying until the end, plus severance which includes his company covering our insurance premiums through May. His company has been good to us so he’s been looking internally but so far nothing has come up. He is also looking externally but between COVID and it being the end of the year he’s heard nothing back from anyone at this point.

Left arm issues
A few months ago my left arm started giving me trouble. Mostly it would just hurt if I tried to grab/reach for something. I figured it would just eventually go away on it’s own. It did not. In fact, it slowly lost it’s range of motion and now I can’t even lift that arm up past my chest or put it behind my back. This has made washing my hair or shaving my armpits difficult. I saw my doctor (really the nurse practitioner since the doctor is always so busy) and she determined it was likely a rotator cuff issue which could progress into frozen shoulder syndrome. Yay!

I’ve been going to physical therapy since the at home exercises I was given by the nurse weren’t making any noticeable difference. PT has been good, especially once another therapist started dry needling the area. The pain is much less since then and even my range of motion has improved ever so slightly. It still blows my mind that I just can’t move that arm normally anymore. Hopefully it’s just a temporary issue. I have to wonder if moving a bunch of cases of water to prep for our spare room makeovers is what started all this.

Ok, now on to the positive stuff –

Master Bedroom Renovation
Our bedroom makeover has been “done” for awhile but I haven’t posted it because we were on the fence on whether to replace all the furniture. It could use a refresh, as it’s 16 years old at this point. Many of the clips in the dresser drawers have long since broken, so if you pull the drawers out too far they fall out of the track. We are tired of how high up the bed is in the frame, plus I am really starting to hate the footboard. We went to IKEA weeks ago but nothing really struck us, nor did Ashley furniture. So we’re at a standstill right now.

We did get a beautiful shag rug and matching runner and small rug for inside the closet. Speaking of, Joe still needs to install our new mirrored closet door. He’s going to install molding around the opening first, though, because the builders left it rough and just did a really crappy job. It will look much nicer when he’s done. I don’t think I have a before photo, though, which is a bummer. We didn’t put the bed back into the frame so that is hanging out in the loft right now. Wookie can get on and off the bed easier with it being closer to the ground which is nice. I predict the bedroom won’t be fully finished until spring. In the meantime, I am loving the lighter colored walls (we went with Sandstone Cove by Behr, which is the same color in the loft). The bedroom is just way more inviting now. During the day it’s so nice and bring in there, particularly because we haven’t put the blackout curtains back up. I tend to wake up at sunrise anyway so there really isn’t a need for them now.

Wookie’s Health
Wookie has had this bile vomiting issue for as long as we can remember. It usually occurred in the mornings and the vet suspected it was tied to her having an empty stomach and the digestive juices upsetting her stomach. We’ve tried changing dry foods and limiting her treats to narrow down the culprit since some things seem to trigger it more than others (such as dental chews, of course). When she had two bouts of mysterious diarrhea this year we noticed when she was on the special canned food diet her vomiting stopped. So we’re in a trial run right now to see if it was a fluke or not. Unfortunately the food is hella expensive (a week’s supply is $23) so if it does the trick we’ll have to see whether it’s just the dry food that’s the issue and see whether we can find a more frugal food. It would be nice to no longer suffer from the anxiety of worrying she’s going to vomit on the nice new rugs or damage the new flooring if she vomits and we don’t notice right away. She seems not too bothered by the vomiting but I’m sure she too would be happier if it stopped.

Good Deeds

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After spending way too much time feeling like I wanted to die, just feeling a little better has made me so grateful and wanting to give back. These are the things I’ve done recently to try and be a good citizen. And yes, it does feel good, which makes the good deed not completely altruistic, but who cares?

Awhile ago I signed up with Be My Eyes which is an app blind people use to request help. Volunteers are sent a message when someone needs assistance and the first one to respond is connected to the blind person’s phone so they can be their eyes. I finally got a chance to help out a few weeks ago when I answered a call from a woman wanting to check whether her rice cooker was on.

While walking Wookie one day I spotted a pair of purple glasses in the grass near a bank of mailboxes in our neighborhood. They blended in quite well, and if not for keeping an eye on the ground like I do now, I wouldn’t have even noticed them. I didn’t touch them, assuming the person who dropped them would come back to that location looking for them. However, the next day they were still there, so I put them on top of the mailboxes and posted a message on Nextdoor in the hopes it would be seen by the right person. Luckily it was, because I received a reply not too long after thanking me. Apparently the glasses belonged to a neighbor’s daughter and were lost on a walk a week prior. Since they don’t live on the block where they were found they had no idea where to even look. I know from personal experience how expensive glasses are, so I’m glad they were able to get them back (luckily no one stepped on them). I wonder if the girl had to go without seeing clearly that entire week or if they bought a new pair. I guess at the very least they have a backup pair now.

We made a monetary donation to Feeding America after the Parks & Recreation special aired (which was really good all things considering).

We dropped off a full bag of unopened dog food at a local rescue’s donation area. Long story short, it was expiring in July which is before Wookie would be able to eat it all, but instead of shipping it back to Chewy they said to keep it. We bought a new bag with a better expiration date for Wookie so we donated the other bag.

I shipped a care package to my friend K weeks ago which included a toy for her dog and Idiocracy on DVD. (Side note: doesn’t it seem like it’s a prediction of our future?) Yesterday, Joe and I took a drive and dropped off a box of stuff for her by her door. Inside I had gift-wrapped our old copy of The Wedding Singer on DVD (since we now have it on Bluray) and some copied movies (shhh don’t tell on me) she had been talking about wanting to watch. I also gave her a container of Clorox wipes since she was running out, some homemade dog treats, some homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies I made on Saturday, and some dog toys Wookie no longer plays with. (Not everything is pictured below since I thought of the dog treats and toys right before packing up the box).

She was over the moon happy with the surprise and said it made her day, and that in turn made MY day. I know it shouldn’t matter, but I really love it when someone shows appreciation for something thoughtful I’ve done. Plus, it definitely makes it more likely I will do it again. My family (Joe excluded) doesn’t seem to get this and doesn’t really show enthusiasm for stuff so I feel let down. I love that my friend was so excited. If someone did that for me I know *I* would be thrilled too.

Home/Life Maintenance

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Just a quick list of things we’ve taken care of in the past month for future reference.

Bought a new Winex air purifier from Costco for the master bedroom.

Reorganized part of the garage.

Switched my car’s floor mats back to the fabric ones for the summer.

Repainted the numbers over the garage.

Purchased vehicle stickers and Wookie’s city tag.

Planted wildflowers in boxes on the patio. Used Dollar Tree ones so who knows what will come of that.

Joe’s dad visited for a few days.

Purchased license plate sticker for Joe’s car.

Had HVAC inspected/cleaned. Unfortunately they couldn’t find source of musty smell I keep noticing. So $90 not necessarily well spent, but I guess after seven years it was due for an inspection anyway. They didn’t think our air ducts were dirty enough to justify a cleaning so $350 saved I guess?