February 2015 – Page 2 – Not Content to Crawl

Valentine’s Day & Games

Posted onFebruary 16, 2015

Joe and I agreed that we weren’t going to exchange gifts for Valentine’s Day this year and instead just have a nice dinner at our favorite Vietnamese place. We changed those plans slightly when my mom asked if we wanted to come over to hang out and play games. So we just got the food earlier. Plus Joe totally broke the pact – this was waiting for me when I walked downstairs Saturday morning.

I’m not sure what to do with the suckers since I’m more of a chocolate candy person, but they are very cute! And the Russell Stover dark chocolate & marshmallow heart that was included in my gift basket was actually very tasty. I’m not a huge fan of Russell Stover chocolates so I was pleasantly surprised.

Joe also sent me these two ecards. LOL!

Of course, I didn’t keep our pact either and ordered a cute lady-bug Valentine cookie for Joe from Cheryl’s but it was never delivered! I just got off the phone with them and I’m getting a refund. I don’t trust that the replacement will get here either since it started out with UPS and then disappeared once it was transferred to the post office over a week ago. Our asshole mailman probably ate it. ;)

Anyway, after a visit to Costco that was intended just for me to check out their optical department, but ended with us spending $32 on four items (which we had to haul around because we didn’t bother grabbing a cart), and a stop at two pet stores in search of a larger affordable rat cage (which was a bust), we relaxed at home for a bit before heading over to my parents.

When we first arrived we worked on transferring all their files from their old computer to their new one. We tried doing it the last time we were over but Microsoft OneDrive sucks. I had uploaded a zip file to my account but it kept failing when I tried to download it. And until the other day we both had completely forgotten that Joe has an external portable hard drive (and I just remembered today that I have two external hard drives – doh!). So we transferred the files there and then it took mere minutes to get them on the new machine. Derp!

We had no luck getting their old ink jet printer to work, though. The drivers are too old for Windows 7 and my parents refuse to get a laser printer even though it’s so much more economical for the majority of the population who merely prints forms and coupons. Ink jets make about zero sense to own unless you want to print photos and/or color documents (although even for the latter I’d suggest a color laser printer).

My mom gave us some Valentine chocolates, and Brother # 1 gave me a belated birthday present (the Dove chocolates pictured). I tried that extra dark bar last night and it is way too bitter for me! I guess I don’t like daaaaark chocolate, just semi-dark.

I hadn’t intended on us staying at their house past midnight, but we brought along Cards Against Humanity, which we had ordered online a few weeks ago and hadn’t played yet. Holy crap is that game fun! Brother # 1 in particular just loved it (Brother # 2 was out with his girlfriend so it was just Joe, me, my parents, and one brother). We played for hours!

We also ordered Apples to Apples the other day and it was delivered on Sunday (and the Post Office wonders why they are going bankrupt). We plan to play that with E since Cards Against Humanity is way inappropriate (although based on a few things he has said it sounds like he’s played it before with his friends. Oh boy would his mom be horrified if she knew that).

Incidentally, I updated my Excel list of games we own the other day and we have no less than 50 non-video games, including a handful we haven’t even played yet – Boom-O, Bunco, Friends Trivia (a card game), Mad Gab, Scene It Deluxe, and Scattergories. I think it’s safe to say we’re a bit addicted to games in this house. But I’m sure we’ll play them eventually – they are much more fun that video games in my opinion. I really need to host another game night soon!

Depression Free

Posted onFebruary 13, 2015

I fired my therapist yesterday. She didn’t do anything wrong; in fact she helped me with some very useful mental exercises to help keep negative thoughts at bay. Oh, and just for the record, despite what I’ve been told by different people over the years, I am not a negative person. My therapist explained that I grew up in a negative environment, but that I’m actually a positive person. So f-you to all those people who tried to make me feel like I had a personality flaw just because I was realistic about things. I’m actually an optimist even though I don’t necessarily run around acting all happy go lucky all the time (because to me that is just bizarre).

Our insurance is changing in March which means I might not be able to see her anyway, and even if I did, it would likely cost more per session than it does now. But the main thing is I don’t need to see her at all because I haven’t felt depressed in two months. I’m just not sure why. That’s the big mystery, and what scares me because I feel like I have no way to control how I feel.

Needless to say, I decided not to start taking the Lexapro after all. I was Googling info on it and some people felt sick for weeks when they first started taking it. And based on my experience the one day I did take it, that would totally be me! Plus it bugged me a little how many people had to go back on it when they tried to taper off. I don’t want to be stuck taking any medication long term if it isn’t absolutely necessary. That’s not to say I will never try it, but right now I’m not feeling crappy enough to want to deal with the side effects. Even my anxiety has lessened. I just wish I knew how to control all this.

Rat Shenanigans

Posted onFebruary 9, 2015

The other day I had Marshmallow out on the bed while I was talking to my mom on the phone. Unlike Gizmo and Milo, Marshmallow doesn’t like to stay on the bed because he knows he can jump off. Usually when he’s out I close the bedroom door, but I forgot. Marshmallow started chewing on an empty box I gave him when I realized there was some glue on the piece he was chewing so I took it away so I could pull off the glue spot. I completely spaced out at that point since I was still on the phone and suddenly realized I hadn’t been keeping an eye on Marshmallow. Sure enough, he was nowhere to be found! I checked everywhere in the bedroom but he wasn’t there. As I started toward the doorway to check the loft, I yelled, “Marshmallow, where are you?” and he came running from the loft back into the bedroom. What a cute little stinker! I’m just glad he didn’t try to go further away and get lost or hurt somewhere.

Friday I decided to give Milo and Gizmo a bath because their white fur was looking a bit yellow. Milo had a bath once before when I tried introducing him to Marshmallow, but Gizmo had never had a bath before. Both of them did pretty good, but Milo “cried” (squeaked) when I was rubbing shampoo into his fur. At least he didn’t claw my arm to death trying to get out of the tub (although he did make an attempt)! Their fur looks much better now.

These two crack me up because every morning I feed them oatmeal but they prefer to eat it out of the palm of my hand verses from their food bowl.

Chocolate Expo & Snowpocalypse 2015

Posted onFebruary 2, 2015

After checking the weekend forecast, and seeing a blizzard was heading our way, we crammed all our errands into Saturday. We started the morning with a stop at McDonald’s for breakfast and then went to the Chocolate Expo at the Morton Arboretum. I only found out about it a week prior when one of the vendors who I happen to follow on Facebook mentioned they would be there. We got there at 9 am when it started so it wasn’t too crowded. I did kick myself, however, for getting McDonald’s when I saw that their restaurant was serving breakfast and had my favorite, eggs benedict. Oh well.

The place quickly got crowded and by the time we left an hour and a half later you could barely get close enough to a booth to garner a free sample. Interestingly enough, the only thing I ended up buying was toffee. I don’t even like toffee, but this stuff was really good (we tried a sample when we first arrived).

Next we headed to Petco so I could get a new hammock for Milo and Gizmo since they weren’t using their new one (and of course before I could switch them, they suddenly decided to start using it, grrr) and then Costco for a few things. After that we stopped at the library to pick up a couple of holds that were waiting for me. I got this book which was super cute and made me laugh. I also got a few back issues of my favorite magazine, ShopSmart. I just learned this week that you can put magazines on hold so I plan to catch up on all the issues I missed during the holidays since they are never available. You can only read the most current issue since that one isn’t allowed to be checked out.

After the library we also stopped at Walmart and nixed Target. I was just done with running around at that point.

That evening we ended up watching Gone Girl and I was reminded again how much I hated the ending; it was the same as the book since the author wrote the screenplay. I loved the book so much when I read it years ago but felt the ending was a big cop-out. That’s all I will say lest I spoil it for someone.

Sunday we slept in and just hung out watching tv and reading while it snowed. When all was said and done there was 19″ of snow on the ground although it doesn’t look like that much from this photo I took.

I read that this weekend’s storm was the 5th worst in Chicago history. I guess it’s hard to feel affected when you’re holed up inside the entire time, though.

Due to the weather Joe worked from home today and I just went about my normal Monday cleaning routine. I’m so glad I didn’t have to worry about trying to get to work. I’ve been lucky this winter that all the bad weather seems to be falling on my days off.