Celebrate Good Times, Come On

Today is a day to celebrate. Sure it's Friday but it's also my 200th post which means I accomplished one of my New Year Resolutions!

Truth be told, this post almost didn't happen. Shortly after my 1 year blogiversary I got bored with my blog. Writing wasn't fun and I felt no motivation to keep it going. I decided I would continue posting until the new year then call it quits. It was during this period that you, that's right, you made a difference. I saw that people were actually interesting in my random thoughts; more readers started commenting; the blog became a hobby again.

Thank you to each reader!

And now to celebrate...Although this blog is a collection of my random thoughts, I want to know more about you. I want to know where you would spend a $20.00 gift card. Oh, did I mention I was giving away 200 dimes to help celebrate? Well, I am ~ in the form of a gift card. Twenty dollars. It's like a stimulus check except it's not $300, I don't care if you filed your taxes last year, and you don't have to be a US citizen. Twenty dollars. That's almost 3 gallons of gas. That's a night at the movies for two. That's 20 items from McDonald's $1 menu. It's a pair of socks on clearance at Abercrombie.

Okay, so $20 isn't much anymore but I'm still curious where you would spend it. Leave your store of choice in the comments. (One entry per person). Next Friday I'll pick a winner using random.org. Lurkers, now is the time to shine...that means you Mama Mia.

Resigning

I was a cashier during college and a pet peeve was customers who continued their cell phone conversations while at the register. For this reason, I will either end my call or ask the person on the other end to hold when I check out.

The other night I was in line behind three carts at Wally-World. The cashier was scheduled to go on break soon so she turned the register light off indicating the line was closed after my cart. While waiting, my bestest friend Elke called to tell me some exciting news. I chatted with her, hung up, and continued waiting. The line moved rather slowly since the three carts in front were each filled to the brim. Realizing I still had some waiting time, I called Mama Mia quickly to relay a message. Occasionally I had to tell some stranger trying to squeeze in behind me that the line was closed.

My turn finally came. In an attempt to start a casual conversation I joked,
"I bet you're glad that I'm the last person in your line so you can go on break now."
"Mm huh. My light has been off for over 30 minutes."
"I bet. That couple had quite a bit in their cart."
"Mm huh. And you weren't very helpful either. Miss Chitter - Chatter on her cell phone...I really needed your help to tell people my line was closed but I couldn't get your attention."
"Hey, I told about 3 or 4 people."
"Yeah, and I told 10!"
"Well, my best friend just got engaged ten minutes ago. Of course I had to get the details!"
"You get excited about people getting married? Well...I suppose you ARE still young."

Whoa. I've never felt inadequate in my role as customer but since I apparently performed so low on my Wal-Mart Volunteer Performance Evaluation, I humbly submit my two - week notice effective immediately. I only hope Target recognizes my potential.

Jean Torture

A few weeks ago, I discovered my jeans had outgrown me. Usually this would be good news - not for me. This means I had to go jean shopping and I'm not fond of shopping. I am very content with my body - don't get me wrong - but according to the rest of the clothing industry, I'm odd shaped. I have a normal waist for my weight but a rather long inseam. Since I enjoy biking, my thighs are a bit thicker.

Normal waist + long legs + thick thighs = Odd size that's difficult to find.

I knew I would be in Atlanta for the weekend and planned to shop during some down time. A friend called to see if I wanted to do something. I explained that buying new jeans was on the agenda - he was welcome to join me at the mall.

He agreed. Poor, poor guy.

We arrived and "Mission (Impossible) Jean" began.

Store #1: "Okay, I'm wearing jeans size 10 long. Let's start with that size and try a few styles." He helped and I went to try on a few pair. I couldn't even zip them up. Confused, I went back and asked him to help me locate the 12's. That size didn't fit either. I refused to go up another size so we left.

Store #2: "Okay, help me find a 9 or an 11." "Wait...," he said, "What happened to the 10s and 12s?" "They don't use that sizing system at this store - here it is odd numbers instead of even." The 11 was tight. Humbly I tried on the 13. It fit fine. Not convinced this was the pair of pants for me, I noted the name of the store and we left to try some other stores.

Store #I'm getting hungry: "Another store and they use even numbers. Let me try a 12. " This time, the pants fit like an over sized parachute! I had to go back and get a 10 - still too large. The 8 - too snug.

Store #Let-me-just-look-real-quick: This store was having a 50% off sale which meant the jeans were now affordable. They only had regular length jeans - which looked like capris.

Store #Are-we-done-yet: "Whoa, I can buy an iPod cheaper than this pair of jeans. Never mind."

I'm not sure exactly how many stores we entered. The total was enough: enough for me to find a decent pair; enough for him to appreciate the simplicity of male standardized pant sizes.

And that is why pants that no longer stay up without a belt is bad news.

Green with Envy

Black Friday: I think it's appropriated named actually since the sky is still black when the shopping frenzy starts. I actually didn't go this year. P2 and I attempted to purchase a laptop last year. We left the house around 4:30 and headed to the store opening at 5. The line not only wrapped around the front of the store, but also around the corner, and around another corner, and to the edge of the parking lot, and into a neighboring parking lot, and then some...

SERIOUSLY?!

We obviously had never ventured out into the Black Friday craze.

This year I went shopping on Wednesday. It was a little windy and dark ~ would that make it Gray Wednesday? Anyway, I had one item on my list: a camera. I decided it was time to get with the rest of the digital world and discard my antique. I told the associate what features interested me and my budget. He found the perfect camera and took time to explain the bells and whistles. I was thrilled. I wanted to purchase the camera right then and there...but that's now how Gray Wednesday works. I asked the sales rep if he could give me a better deal on Friday. He explained that he would match any competitors ad and I made a mental note to scour the electronic ads the following day for any camera sales. I then asked him to put the camera in the back with my name on it and that I'd be back on Friday.

Friday I woke up, enjoyed my morning, put in three hours of work ~ construction doesn't stop just because the rest of the world is shopping ~ then headed to the store around noon. All I had to do was ask for my camera and hand over a piece of plastic that represents my financial worth.

5 minutes. That's how I shop on Black Friday.

Oh, check this out: in fiddling with the camera for two days straight and already going through one set of batteries (I really have fiddled a lot), I found this cool feature where the camera takes a black and white photo but leaves in a color I specify. I realize this is a common Photoshop technique and old to some of you but I couldn't resist taking some pictures.

This was a quick painting I did a few years ago when I started filling my fish tank. I painted what I wanted and posted it near the tank.
I got frogs instead.

If you look closely, you can see my green eyes. Obviously the color pops out to me but I've been looking at my eyes for 20-something years. You may have to squint to see it. :o)



Bamboo is supposed to be good luck. Wish me luck with this new camera.

(I promise, the pictures will get better!)