Category: Life

When it rains, the money pours

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We had all these plans to visit different nature areas this weekend but the constant rain and storm clouds ruined all that. Instead we spent money. Between yesterday and today, we bought:

New hair dryer (mine went up in smoke, literally, Friday morning) ($12.49)
Travel hair dryer ($8.49)
1st season of How I Met Your Mother on DVD ($19.99)
2nd season of The L Word on DVD ($19.99)
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader DS game ($19.99)
Wii Fit ($90)
A faux leather storage ottoman ($59)

That doesn’t include the little items like food and diet pop. Yeesh, it’s expensive to spend a weekend without anywhere to go!

We also rented two movies:

The Bank Job – I give it four stars (****) because it was fairly entertaining and Jason Statham is nice eye candy.

I Am Legend – I give it five stars (*****) because I love doomsday movies and Will Smith is a terrific actor. One of the best movies I’ve seen this year by far.

So far I am liking the Wii Fit. I got 20 minutes of workout points in my Wii piggy bank, which is so cute by the way! My BMI is in the normal range but we had to add the extension legs to the Wii fit board before it would calculate my weight correctly. At first it had me pegged 8 lbs. lighter than I am. Shoot, I wish! Oh and the hula-hoop exercise? Much harder than it looks. I’m not nearly as coordinated as this chick.

I need a maid

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Cleaning the house is such a pain in the ass. I don’t even clean as often as I should because it’s so damn annoying.

I’m particularly annoyed with mops. I cannot find a good one to save my life. I like the Mr. Clean mop, but it seems you need a fresh mop head after every use. At $5.99 a refill, that’s some expensive mopping even if you only do it once a week like I do. It would probably be cheaper to pay a maid. Does anyone have a mop suggestion? Maybe I should do the Swiffer? I have the dry cloths for the laminate in the dining room, but they have wet ones I could try on the tile in the kitchen. Suggestions? Comments? Concerns?

One thing I have learned is that scented fabric softener sucks. I spent 15 minutes cleaning up the residue from my washing machine where you put the softener. There was all this green goo in the dispenser. I can only imagine what it leaves behind on the clothes. This doesn’t happen with the kind that has no dyes and perfumes, plus my clothes end up smelling fresher because they’re left with the detergent smell. Whereas when I use both scented products it’s like they cancel each other out. So let that be a lesson to us all.

It’s pseudo Friday

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We were allowed to leave a little early from work today which was a blessing since my stomach had been bothering me. Plus it was a boring day – two coworkers had the day off and the other one took a half day, and like it always seems to happen on the day when you least feel like working, I had a higher than usual volume of requests while I was also trying to prepare for my big billing cycle that starts on Monday.

On my way home I got stuck behind two garbage trucks for a good two miles on a one-lane road and it literally smelled like shit but even that could not ruin my good mood. How can you not be happy with three days off?

Although I am finding it difficult to mentally prepare myself to get up at 3:45 am tomorrow so we can see, and photograph, the hot air balloons at the Eyes to the Skies Festival in Lisle, Illinois. We haven’t gone since 2005 thanks to our love affair with sleep. I wouldn’t mind attending the balloon glow in the evening but that requires festival admission and at $15 per person that is just ridiculous. I can’t even understand why you’d have to pay for the opportunity to spend even more money on rides, games, and food. That’s just dumb!

I’m getting all the camera equipment ready tonight and in the car so in the morning all I have to do is shower, do my hair and makeup, and go. Last time I didn’t shower and it wasn’t such a big deal because my hair was longer and didn’t look like a disaster when I woke up. Plus we didn’t spend the whole day out. This time it’s different – in addition to the balloons, we have a parade to attend because Joe’s son is in a marching band, and after that we might hit a fest as well, so it’s going to be a busy, but fun, Friday.

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I need to buy more compact flash cards for my digital SLR because I’ve decided to start shooting in RAW only. I’ve been shooting in JPEG+small RAW but the small RAW files are pretty much useless (I think they are only 2 MB compared to the 10 MB the camera is capable of) but I love how you can change the white balance and other things that cannot truly be fixed in a JPEG file. RAW files are huge so one 2 GB card is just not cutting it for me. I tend to take 200+ photos at one location. Many of those are later deleted, but I’d rather take 5 shots of the same scene and get one good one than try to conserve space and end up with all crappy photos. I’m leaning toward Sandisk 2GB cards but if anyone has a better suggestion, I’m all ears.

In the news

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Cops pay 3 a.m. visit to tell man his door is unlocked – This guy is a total moron. I hope we don’t see a follow-up article saying he is suing the police department for invasion of privacy because I will go over there and personally slap him. As far as I’m concerned he’s lucky child services wasn’t called on his dumb ass. In this day and age I think it’s very stupid to leave your doors unlocked at night. I don’t care where you live. It doesn’t take much effort to keep your home secure and you’re just inviting criminals into your home otherwise. I’ve lost count of how many horror stories I’ve read about people being murdered by someone entering into their unlocked home. Even criminals are lazy, so please, don’t be easy pray, people!

Scuba diver charged in wife’s underwater death – So how greedy does one have to be to murder their own spouse? The sad part is she never added him as sole beneficiary anyway so he murdered her for nothing! Sick fuck. Why do people still think they can get away with murder? With DNA testing and all the technology it’s much harder to get away with it.

Thunderstorm

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I’m on my own for dinner tonight because Joe is at a work gathering. That’s very unusual for a Friday evening but I think I will survive!

Right now I’m making chicken tacos and doing laundry while I catch up on blogs. I’m thinking about playing on the Wii later since it’s been awhile, provided the power doesn’t go out. There’s a good storm brewing but I love thunder so it’s all good. Last time the power went out we quickly realized just how dependent we are on electricity for almost all forms of entertainment. Then we went upstairs and found our iPods and Nintendo DS and forgot all about it.