Domestic Geek

Current mood: busy
Sorry, I've had no time to post lately. Since I've been mostly working and making a little cash, I'm not going to complain (much). Yesterday sucked a little. I was finally to the point at work where I had all available dough trays filled. I even went in a little early yesterday to stay caught up. When I get there, the water is turned off, the back of the store was a disaster and I couldn't do any work. They didn't drain the lines when they turned the swamp off, so with the freezing temps of late, end result is broken water pipes. Of course, this happens on the busiest lunch rush of the year (teachers that can't teach bribing kids with pizza on the last day before winter break--peeve of mine that I'm sure I've ranted about before). A quick phone call from the manager saying, "Hey, why don't you stay home since you can't do any work here" would've been really nice. Argh!

There was no way to run home and get back in time to drive with Friday rush hour traffic. I toodled down to Paulino Gardens and picked up some poinsettias. I got four plants for $10. Not too shabby. To me, it's just not the Christmas season unless I have a live poinsettia. Weird, I know. I saw this cool arrangement there where they had taken several varieties and planted them in the same pot. Very pretty. I'm going to try that with the ones I bought. Every year I try to save them so that I can get them to rebloom the next year and every year I manage to kill them. This year will probably be no different, but hey, I've got to try. Traditions.

I'm curious. On "Everybody Loves Raymond," the family members fight to get the last one when Marie makes biscotti. I saw some in jars last weekend at the Atlanta Bread Company (we actually got to try the soup!). What is it and is it any good? I wasn't really willing to spend $3 for a piece only to find out it was totally nasty.

I saw this really neat quote on someone's blog the other day and had to post it before I forget it:

Always do what you want, and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.

-- Dr. Suess

Has anyone heard the song "The Christmas Shoes" by a group called Newsong? I guess it came out in 2000 or something. Well, I never had until the day before yesterday. I was listening to holiday music at work on KOSI and after listening to that song, I was bawling like a baby. I guess the song is based on a book and they turned it into a movie on CBS this year.

I guess Lockergnome Chris Pirillo and his wife, Gretchen, have split up. That was a bit of a shock to me.

I'm going to the Christkindl Market I wrote about earlier tomorrow (last day of the event, so I'd better go!). Tuesday I'm going to Wildlights at the Denver Zoo with Mike and Nina. Add work, decorating, baking and present-shopping (I've bought absolutely nothing to date) to that list and I'm going to be veeeerrrry busy the next few days.

Well, I guess that is all I wanted to post about for now. I'd better get to work since I've got a lot of dough to do today.

Current mood: determined
Sorry about that outburst yesterday. Blame it on NyQuil withdrawl, my menstrual cycle and the lack of sunshine due to the snow

I'm feeling a whole lot better today. It helps that the sun is out! I'm still totally broke, but I know I'll get through this all somehow (I always do) and I'll be better in the end for it. Finally got my butt in gear and turned in the Starbucks app today that I had meant to do last Monday. Hopefully I'll hear something soon. As soon as I get home from work this afternoon, I'll put up a bunch of junk on ebay.

I'm feeling pretty industrious today. I started cleaning off my desk looking for a receipt for a battery core I need to return (I still had receipts from last Christmas on it). I went to Discount Tire and got the nails out of my front tires so I can quit wasting change on air machines. My friend Nina had me try Tazo Chai when I turned in the app and I really liked it. I've cut a few tiles for my backsplash. Today is turning to be a decent day, I think.

The only really bad thing is that there is a horrible burning plastic smell coming from my car. I ran over a shopping bag on the highway a couple of days ago and I thought it had gotten caught under there. I looked under my car and didn't see it. Marcus thinks it is probably melted on the top of my catalytic converter. With the snow on the ground, there is no way anyone can crawl under there to see. I'll have to wait for it all to burn off or have my mechanic look at it when I get the money to get my brakes fixed. In the meantime, the smell is making me nauseous. Ewwww.

Well, I'd better get to work so I can get back home and get more stuff accomplished. Go, me!

Note to self: Start a new craft blog.

Current mood: gloomy
I'm tired, but I can't sleep. I guess I went and got myself addicted to NyQuil again. I ran out last night and can't afford to get any more. Now, when I lay down, all I can think about is having no money and a broken car and I start crying and can't stop. Now, in addition to cramps, I have a headache, puffy eyes and a stuffy head. Oh, and I've got a tooth acting up and no money to see a dentist. So, here I sit. I don't want to keep Marcus awake since he has to go to work in the morning. I am feeling like the worst loser in the world right now.

Oh, and I hate snow.

Nothing like getting your paycheck to put a damper on any holiday spirit.

Current mood: sick
It's not fair. I've got time to get my house ready for the holidays and I get sick. Booooooo! I don't have the flu, luckily. It's just a flare-up of the viral infection I've had for the last couple of weeks. I have no energy, I can't breathe. This sucks. Oh, well.

I tore the backspash behind my kitchen sink apart. I should've taken pictures of what it looked like before. I thought we were getting tile backsplashes. They even had me pick out a tile color. Anyway, we ended up with these laminate things. That would be fine except that they didn't caulk them right and they're made out of pressed board. The laminate didn't stick, water got up in there and the board has been slowly disintegrating (plus the mildew that has been growing). The other day when I was wiping the counter down, most of the front piece popped off. I decided it was time to do something about it.

The hard part was getting the board off. They used liquid nails to attach it to the wall. I only ripped the wall board in a few places. I've been using "Goof Off" to get the liquid nails and caulk off the wall. I used wallpaper glue to secure the tipped paper edges. If I feel up to it today, I'll go pick up my tiles. I should be able to put them up tomorrow afternoon. The toughest part has been finding tile that I like that I can still afford. I had an idea of what I wanted, unfortunatley, that's not in style right now. If I had money, no problem. I could order just about anything I can think of from the tile stores. Sadly, I'm on a Home Depot budget. I'm still torn about buying these tiles that have fruit on them (2.49 /ea) or buying plain white 12 cent tiles and painting them myself (do I have time, will I actually finish them?) or puttng some decals on them that are on eBay. I'll probably make that decision when I'm out actually buying the tile. I wanted blue tiles. A Lowes I went to had a few remnents of a discontinued tile in the color I had in mind. Of course, not enough to do my kitchen (eventually I'll have to do the other counters so they'll all match). I checked out all the Lowes nearby and none of the stores had any of these tiles left. Oh, well. I think I'll do a green tile instead. I'll post a picture when I finish it.