Domestic Geek

I checked out the weather forecast before bed last night. I knew a cold front was coming in and we'd be nowhere near yesterday's mid-60 temps, but I opened my door to leave for work this morning to snow! The weathercasters on the radio were, "Oops, we totally didn't see that coming." No shit, Sherlock. Of course, it also happens to be the same day I left my phone at work the day previously, so I couldn't even call to say I'd be late. Since nobody expecting it nor was ready for it, the streets were yucky. Sheer ice in some spots. As per typical Colorado, it warmed up enough that the drive was absolutely no problem for Marcus a couple of hours later.

Every year I try to find an ornament that signifies something special that happened the previous year. I haven't been able to do it due to finances the last couple of years, but I hit the Hallmark store today to see what I could get for this year. I didn't find squat. I was thinking something to do with knitting since I finally learned how. No dice. Nothing really signified a full time with benefits job. Other than that, no major milestones happened this year. Well, except for having to put our beloved Skippy down, but who wants an ornament to remember that?

I have noticed a lot of ornaments from various manufacturers out for A Christmas Story this year. I thought maybe it was a 25th anniversary thing or something, but according to IMDB, the movie came out in 1983.

I've been slowly trying to get DomesticGeek.com configured so that it can go live on December 1. It sucks when you've got your blog home set up the way you like it and can't remember every step and configuration you made to get it to the point you are now on a new server on an updated version of your CMS. Marcus got me EE 1.6 a while back and I installed it over there, figuring I'd be up and running there soon. Ha! All those little tweaks I made here and there over the years are now a necessary part of my blog operation and I can't remember what I did or how I got there. I'm documenting everything from here on out.

Man, it's only a little after 8 and I'm pooped. Dad and I got our shopping done. It was a bit of a pain, though. We headed out at 7:30 am and thought the store would be empty. The King Soopers over in Green Valley Ranch is the one at which he likes to do our feast shopping. The place was full of shoppers. Also, either people on their night crew called in or their truck got in late, because there was merchandise all over the place that needed to be put on the shelves. They were out of Honeysuckle White turkeys, so we left turkeyless. Dad had to open up a carton on a cart to get me some cream cheese for the cheesecake. The bake aisle was so jammed up that you couldn't even get a cart down it. I went out later and after hitting a couple of King Soopers and not finding a turkey, gave in and went to a Safeway. It still wasn't as big as I'd liked (I usually cook a bird upwards of 25 lbs to get the most leftovers possible), but it was a HW and was 20 lbs. I'll deal.

We got part of the Christmas lights up, but there were two sets that are toast. I'll have to pick up a couple of strings at Hobby Lobby this week so I can finish up.

I haven't started my table runner yet. I can't find the fabric I know I have that was to be the background color or the fabric I was going to use for the backing. I think I might know where they are, but I'm too pooped to look tonight. I also found out the blade in my rotary cutter is super dull. While I'm at Hobby Lobby, I'll have to get a replacement blade.

Since I can barely keep my eyes open, I'm off to bed. It's going to be a busy week and I'm not going to skimp on sleep and risk getting sick.

A little bit ago I was getting myself ready to go to bed since I'm exhausted and I need to get up early to go Thanksgiving shopping with Dad in the morning. It dawned on me that I hadn't made my shopping list yet. D'oh! Fortunately, since I have a Standing Shopping List, it didn't take too long to get it ready, but that could've been a big problem come tomorrow morning if I hadn't gotten it printed out.

With all of the OT I've been putting in this last week and a half, I figured out this afternoon that it's totaled almost a whole extra week's salary. Cool. I decided that because of that it was ok to splurge on the cutest scarecrow decoration I saw at Hobby Lobby today. They had just marked down all their fall decorations to 80% off today, so this item that was priced at $99.99 only cost me $20. It is three stuffed scarecrows with a wheelbarrow. It is absolutely adorable! I'll take a picture tomorrow to share when I have better light. When I got to the register with it, the clerk scolded me for buying it and even joked that she refused to allow me to purchase it. I guess she wanted it and had hidden it behind others so that she could get it after her shift. Well, it was out in the open when I saw it, so someone else must've been looking at it as well.

I just watched a program that I tape every Saturday on PBS called Knit and Crochet Today. There's a style called Tunisian Crochet that I'm interested in trying. Note to self to find out more about it. It takes a special hook and stitches stay on the hook in one pass much like knitting. The pattern the stitches make is more sturdy than crochet, much like knitting.

I wrote almost a year ago that I wished that the Tootsie Roll company would put out packages of only Vanilla Tootsie Rolls.


Well, a voice mail on my phone from my friend Nina (Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!) alerted me to the fact that I have gotten my wish! Target is carrying limited edition bags of Vanilla Tootsie Rolls for only $1.99 each! I picked up two today and will probably grab a couple more later this week. I'm going to be good and ration them, though. Don't want too much of a good thing.

Edit: I just found that you can get the Vanilla Tootsie Rolls at Amazon.com for $2.99 a bag if you want some and can't get them near you.

I've been out looking the past three days for replacement cannisters for my kitchen counter. Why is it that I can't find what I want? I want a simple set, preferably square, not metal, two of them large enough to hold a whole bag of flour and sugar. I'm not asking much, but apparently this style is not popular right now. I'm been to the Container Store, WalMart, Target, Linens 'N' Things, Bed Bath and Beyond. I've even looked on Amazon and Overstock. My next stop is a cooking store out in Littleton sometime next week. If they don't have any, I don't know where else to go. I've even started looking at plastic storage containers that I could put up in the shelves, but I'm not finding anything quite right, either. Grrr.