It seems like all I've been doing lately is shopping. But who cares how much money I've spent lately - I got the cutest shoes ever! They have cats on them! They even have tails!
I wasn't 100% sure that these shoes would be totally "work appropriate", but I wore them to work today anyway. All the ladies at work seem to like them. :)
If anyone's wondering, they're the Anarchic cat head shoes.
I know I said I'd post a picture of the view from my new cube... but I don't think I ever got around to it. (not surprised, are you? lol) Well here it is. The sunset tonight was spectacular. This picture doesn't do it justice. and I didn't even have to get out of my chair!
It seems like it's been forever since I blogged. I can't even remember what happened to the month of November. It just kind of disappeared. Well, maybe I just don't want to remember the things that happened in November.
I finally got around to putting up the few pictures I took in November. I've added a few slideshows to the right side of my blog - do you like those or are they just annoying?
I just got an exciting email. A very exciting email. I've been offered a window cube.
A window cube! YES!
Now I know that probably doesn't seem that exciting to you guys, but these window cubes are highly coveted here at work. Back at our old building, when we were talking about moving, there were a lot of really pissed off people. Management made the mistake of posting a map of where people would be sitting in the new building. There was a lot of talk about who should get a window cube - should they assign cubes by seniority? or by position? or just group people together by department? Oddly enough, the admin woman who helped create the map got the best window cube. (How did that happen, hmmm?) Incidentally, I had one of the worst cubes in our old building - I was in the darkest corner imaginable with the mailboxes, hallway, freight elevator and kitchen on the other side of the cloth cube divider. It was sooo loud there. Although I did enjoy hearing all that gossip.
I have a nice cube here now - I'm on the end of the room so there's a conference room behind me instead of more cubes. But it's also kind of noisy with people coming and going to meetings all day. I don't know if it will be much quieter in my new cube, but the view will be much better. Right now I see the hallway and the kitchen. From the window cube I'll get a floor-to-ceiling view of the St. Paul Cathedral, the James J Hill house, the Summit neighborhood, winter sunsets, and, on a clear day, the skyscrapers in downtown Minneapolis. Plus I'll get direct sunlight most afternoons (hello dark tropical tan! ha ha - who's going to be making fun of me for keeping sunscreen in my desk now, huh?).
And just think of all the weather watching opportunities!
I'm actually kind of excited. lol Now the paperwork better go through ok or I'll be REALLY disappointed.
Pics to come later this afternoon, after everyone else who sits over there has left - they all think I'm strange for taking pictures of things like that. :P
Oooh - crazy knife guy will no longer know where I sit! And he won't be able to leer at me every time he walks around the corner! bonus!
p.s. - I know I haven't blogged in a long time. But I'm still alive. And I have something else really cool to blog about too! :)
You guys know I'm not really into sports, right? Sure, I'll go to a high school football game or a baseball game at the dome, but I really only go because they have nachos and lots of goofy people to watch and there's nothing good on tv anyway. But, oddly enough, this summer I've really been in to tennis. I watched the US Open on tv pretty much all Labor Day weekend (although I'd also like to point out I had a nasty cold and was coughing a lot - so no one wanted me to go out anyway).
I'm excited because Andy Roddick is playing Roger Federer tonight. Andy's my favorite. I'm not quite sure why. He's cute, but not in a you-should-be-an-underwear-model way. He's cute in a you'd-be-a-lot-of-fun-to-hang-out-with way. He's often funny in interviews. He's got a wicked serve - he holds the record for fastest serve (155 mph or something like that).
No one expects Andy to win over Roger Federer. Federer is a great tennis player. Some people argue he's the greatest player ever. On tv they keep showing clips of people saying "I'd really like Andy to win, but he won't." Andy has some things going for him tonight - he's been playing well and the crowd will be cheering for him.
But can Andy win? It's not probable, but it is possible. And that's what makes it fun.
Spike and I are rooting for you, Andy!
Are you surprised? Me, obsessed with a sport? lol
p.s. - Unfortunately Spike and I do not have cable tv. We'll be rooting for Andy while listening to live internet radio. *sigh* It's just not the same. I so need to get faster internet - then I could just watch live online.
A few weekends ago my family went up to Lake Miltona near Alexandria. We were all ready for a fun weekend playing on the lake. But it rained pretty much all weekend. We were a little disappointed. oh well - there's always next year, right?
I could be desperately in love with you, I really could, if only you would send me an email.
Or maybe start blogstalking me.
Would it help if I offered to bake you some cookies? I'm good at that.
I walked into work yesterday and was told I was supposed to go to an all-day digital government summit thing. right now. I had to cancel all my meetings, cancel my lunch plans, and shuffle all my plans for cat feeding (I'm cat sitting) and running errands. I spent all day at the Saint Paul Hotel with 200 people in business attire while a t-shirt, wearing jeans and tennis shoes with skulls on them. (on their website the hotel describes itself as the "most elegant hotel" in St. Paul.) I was wearing a name tag that said I was the Business Planning and Development Manager (my boss couldn't go at the last minute so I was pretending to be her so the registration fee wasn't wasted). Despite the fact that I was a good ten years younger than everyone else there and I was dressed like a teenage boy, no one questioned my manager status. Vendors were really interested in talking to me - they must have been reading everyone's name tags. (I only wore the name tag because I wanted to prove to people that I really did belong there and wasn't just someone of the street trying to scam free tote bags and pens. (but I did get a very nice free tote bag. and pens.))
and in case you've been wondering, I'm still alive. I just haven't been blogging. I was busy... and then I was kind of overwhelmed by all the pictures and stuff I have to go through for the whole month of July, so I haven't done them yet.
And I found out a few weeks ago that one of my uncles is seriously ill. It just makes me so sad because these are people I really care about a lot and I don't think things are going to get any easier. I know a little of what they are dealing with because I've experienced some of it myself when my mother had lymphoma 10 years ago, but we had it easy compared to what they are dealing with now. I'm worried about them.
This has also been hard for me because my feelings are linked, like sticky spiderweb threads. I get caught on one and then there are more and more and suddenly I'm completely stuck. I like to pretend aren't really there. But they always are, waiting. and while I know it is inevitable, I don't want to go back there.
Let me tell ya - it can get pretty wild in the city. ;)
a cardinal...
... and an albino squirrel! (I've never actually seen one before!)
I walked down to get my free coffee drink with some of the ladies from work. (I nearly called them "the girls from work", but earlier they were talking about being treated like an adult at work so it that just didn't seem like a good idea.)
The long line...
The coffee drink didn't last too long. Yum!
That's 4 repeats of the Print O' the Wave stole too. I didn't even bother with a second swatch. I'm going with the Size 3 needles - if it turns out too holey I'm just going to tell everyone that was what I wanted. I'm really not in the mood to work with anything smaller.
Some very strange looking clouds.
I was over at my parents' house last weekend and we kind of celebrated Father's Day. We ate and I gave him a coffee shop gift card. Unfortunately my budget does not stretch to $800 tree trimming things like he wanted.
And then my dad worked on my car. Do I have a cool dad or what? :)
Checking out the front brakes
The old (bottom) and new brake pads. You can see the old one is really thin compared to the new one!
Putting it all back together
I love getting mail, but I've only been checking my mailbox once or twice a week lately. I rarely get good mail. 80% of it is ads I don't want, 15% of it is bills and the other 5% is ads with coupons. So I was really happy to get the escrow statement from my mortgage company yesterday. I've lived here for 5 years, and in those five years my monthly mortgage payment has gone up $200 a month just because of property taxes. yes, $200 a month! So I was really pleased a few months ago when I got the property tax statement thing in the mail and it showed mine were going to go down a little this year. According to the escrow statement I got yesterday, my mortgage payment will be $40 less each month. I have a rather tight budget, so $40 a month is pretty darn exciting.
Then I flipped to the second page and found a check for $265. That totally made my day. (I just wish I got surprise checks in the mail more often. Although I'd be smart enough to not cash a check for $2.5 million without calling someone to ask why they were sending me that much money. unlike some people who have received surprise checks in the mail lately.)
So... what should I spend it on? This is going to be tough. It should probably go into my savings account or to pay off my credit card, but I could buy one of these. or maybe this (but not unless the price comes back down to $199!). hmmm... decisions, decisions.
You know how I always have about 50 projects going on at one time? I have decided that is Not A Good Idea. I have a tendency to have lots of good ideas. Then I make plans (and sometimes buy supplies, because that is one of the most fun parts of doing things). Then I start the project. Then halfway through I have another great idea I need to start planning for right now. I decided to set a few goals for this week in an attempt to keep up with stuff.
A bit o' knitting...
I am being good for once and blogging about what I'm knitting so I'll have a record of it. Most of the time I just go at it and never write anything down so two years later I have no idea what I did and why it looks so different than the one pictured in the pattern. Well, either that or I leave pages and pages of cryptic notes with lots of math and no idea which version of the math I used. (For someone who never really liked math, I sure do a lot of it lately!)
These facts, while impressive, could not be accomplished without your diligence and hard work.This sentence is just wrong on so many levels. It just doesn't work. It doesn't even make sense! Since when are facts accomplished by hard work? They're facts - they just are. And don't you expect something negative after "These facts, while impressive..."? It's like saying "These facts are impressive, but..."
I met up with a bunch of the guys I used to work with last night. It was fun. I talk to some of them online all the time (even though it's been at least three and a half years since we worked together! can you believe it's been that long?!?) but I rarely see any of them. Last night everyone was there. Well, a few of them were missing, but all of the guys I worked with - the ones I think of when I remember working there - were there. Doug even came all the way up from Georgia just to see us. ;)
I miss working with all of you guys!
I am so cold today. I am starting to hate summer because you have to have two wardrobes to wear - one for the freezing cold office and one for the sweltering oven that your car has become while you've been shivering in the office.
Would my Wallace in The Wrong Trousers suction cup action figure look out of place stuck to the windshield of a Buick?
I got really frustrated yesterday trying to figure out what I spend all my money on. I am trying to come up with a budget but I can't figure out how much money I need to allocate to certain things, like food and necessary household stuff (toothpaste, clorox wipes, toilet paper, cat food, etc.). I could categorize a lot of my spending just by looking at my bank statement. $22 at Kwik Trip = a tank of gas. $50 at Kohl's = new walking shoes. $4.15 at Caribou Coffee = well... you know. But I buy almost everything else at Target. $32.67 at Target could be almost anything. milk. minutes for my cell phone. clothes. Captain Jack action figures. my prescription copay. season 2 of The Office. cat food. cat treats. coffee filters. eyeglasses. peanut butter. a pair of cute cat mugs. oil for my car. crackers to stash in my desk at work so I don't starve. a copy of In Style magazine. a box fan. giant plastic tubs to organize yarn in. heck, I've even gotten yarn at Target. It's really hard 3 months later to look at one number and figure out how much of that charge was for cheese and grapefruit and English muffins and how much of it went towards the electronic sudoku game (love it!). I may have to resort to keeping all my receipts and sorting through them at the end of the month to see just how much money I spent on groceries this month. And the chances that I could actually do that for a whole month is pretty slim. I'm starting to think I'm never going to figure this out.
When I get stressed out or really frustrated I tend to get obsessed about things. other things, like not the stuff I'm really worried about or the things I should be thinking about. And this time I'm obsessed with this - the Print o' the Wave Stole. While mine won't be quite as delicate as hers (I'm using tiny lace weight yarn instead of the so-small-it's-almost-invisible cobweb weight yarn she used), it will be a long, extremely involved project. And since I chose to do it in some almost-black yarn I know I will be really glad I have one of those lovely OTT lights. I rolled one of the hanks of yarn into a ball last night. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about (which is probably all of you) rolling yarn into a ball is kind of like winding up an extension cord. Except we're talking about 440 yards of yarn that tangles and knots easily and is really hard to unknot if you pull the knot tight by mistake. Plus it's alpaca yarn so it kind of sticks to itself. and I wind it into a ball on my thumb, which means I cannot set the half-completed ball down so I can use both hands to untangle knots. And of course Spike had to be right in the middle of the action. He kept walking back and forth over my lap - and on/in/through my loose hank of yarn - and butting his head against my hands trying to get me to pet him. Knitting this is going to be an adventure for me. and for Spike because I am rarely able to do anything without him (literally) sticking his nose in.
Maybe I can have the stole done before next summer so I can use it to keep warm while I sit here at work.
So this blog post # 324 today or something.
OMG Did you guys see The Office last night? Did you see who got the job at the end there? lol And also ER - Ray! oh no! (I hope this doesn't mean they're writing him out of the show. I like him. and I like Neela. and it's not Neela's fault! so there.)
And because you guys know I like free stuff and food and, especially, free food:
Free Caribou Cooler day is June 21st 2 - 3. (you don't need to bring a coupon - they'll give you one when you get there. and you may want to get there a few minutes before 2 - the line was super long last year!)
crud. Someone just dropped off another an updated draft of a 45 page document. It's 2:15 on a Friday afternoon and she wants to meet Monday at 9 to review it. I think I'm going to be bringing my red pen home with me. I snapped the little clip thing off of my red pen in a meeting today. It was really loud. I never really noticed this before, but I must do it all the time - look what I found in my drawer.
My Aunt DeAnn was up in Minnesota this week visiting family. I think the last time I saw her was back in 2003! She is such a nice lady. It was fun to see her again.
DeAnn, Viv & Dave
I've been looking for a dress or a nicer outfit - Sam's baptism is coming up and I need something to wear. Everything I have is either jeans (or goes with jeans) or black. Plus I have a spend $50/get $25 off coupon too!
I have been to two malls in the past week. I have looked through many, many stores and tried on many, many things. And nothing fits right. I'm really annoyed.
I got really frustrated and gave up. And then on my way out of the mall I passed GapBaby for the 5th time. I succumbed to temptation and hit the clearance rack. I found something really cute that will fit. It just won't fit me.
I feel like I have a ton of stuff to talk about here - so I'm probably going to do a couple different posts. Because it sounds like fun. :)
I'm a little hyper this morning. I got up really early this morning. About 5:30. I was awake so I got up. Really unusual for me lately, especially since the whole radio/car stereo disaster*. I got all the normal stuff out of the way (shower, dry hair, de-cat/de-wrinkle shirt, etc.) and I think I did all of the extra stuff I needed to do this morning. I'm going to spend the night at my parents', so I needed to pack a bag and make sure the cat would be ok (extra food and water, clean litter, pulling the blinds up high enough for him to be able to watch the birds, etc.). I even had time to pack up my knitting and hunt down the battery chargers.
I even made it to work on time! and by that I mean I made it to my desk on time, even after stopping in the cafeteria for coffee. (impressive, huh?)
My mood became somewhat dampened after my 8:30 meeting though. I spent a half an hour listening to people tell me that what I do is a waste of time. I've been hearing this a lot lately and it's starting to get old. It's hard to be motivated to do your job when everyone tells you there's no point to it. :P
I'm still in a good mood though - I've decided I'm going to take my cute new Captain Jack action figure on an adventure in my building. There's a sea of cubicles here, he should feel right at home.
and OMG - did anyone watch The Office last night? I loved it. (water cooler talk here is more likely to be complaining about how Lawrence Welk is no longer on the air. *sigh* I really do feel like I have no one to talk to here sometimes! (although I could actually talk about LW. It's just kind of boring!))
* The radio/car stereo situation: The CD player on my car stereo has been slowly dying all winter. Well, a few weeks ago it finally gave up. I listen to a lot of CDs in the car, so I was pretty disappointed. I started listening to the radio. There are about 4 stations I listen to (I change stations almost every time an ad comes on) but I mostly listened to Drive 105. Well, they changed Drive 105 into Love 105 - love songs from the 60's through the 80's. No thank you.
This severely limits my options. I want to listen to my mp3 player in the car, but my car stereo is 7 years old. I remember asking Sig the Saturn salesman if they had any radios that had a line in port. He hadn't even heard of a line in port. Everyone kept telling me to get one of those FM transmitter things. I kept saying "I had one ten years ago - it was crap!" They kept saying "I have one, it's great!" So I bought one. It's crap. Everyone owes me $20. It works pretty well if I hold the short cable between the transmitter and my mp3 player in my fist all the time. Which makes driving kind of awkward (and forget about eating a gas station doughnut as I drive to work...).
So - my options are: get a FM transmitter thing that connects directly to the wires going in to the back of my car stereo ($70); buy a used Saturn factory radio to replace my old one and hope the CD player still works in it ($100); or buy a new car stereo with radio, CD, and line in port ($100+). I don't actually want a new car stereo because they are all so ugly. (well, they are!)
This radio station problem is also causing me to be late for work. I had to set my clock radio to a different station. But when my alarm goes off at 6:30 instead of getting the station I want I get some faint version of CBS radio news. Which I sleep right through because it's boring. Cities 97 usually comes in full strength about 10 minutes later, but half the time I sleep through that too (they talk sooo much! I want some music! and something besides Paul Simon's Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes! (and I actually really like the Graceland album)).
Really the solution to all my problems is to get the 30g MP3 player I want ($200), a new car stereo with a line in port ($100+) and a docking clock radio/mp3 player thing ($100+). Unfortunately my budget is about $20 - $50. If you know of a better/cheaper solution please let me know!
Yesterday someone was firing a cannon every hour on the lawn in front of the capitol building. No one here seems to know why and I couldn't find anything about it online. It happened last year too, so it's got to be to commemorate something. (I'm assuming they don't just let you set off cannons in front of highly visible government buildings on a whim.) Want to see some crummy video of it? You know you do.
I spent Friday evening with Dan & Sara and Sam. I didn't actually take any pictures of Sam (I forgot, ok? next time, I promise!) but he's awfully cute. He's getting big so fast. He's gotten good at controlling his hands now and he likes to grab things(including glasses!). He also likes to clap his hands. He seems to think that's pretty exciting and it makes him smile. He's still pretty wiggly. He's always kicking his legs or patting something with his hands. If you hold out your hand palm up he'll pat it. I kept saying "Give me five!" and holding out my hand. We're halfway there - he's got the action down, we just need to get him to connect the action to the words. lol He's pretty good at sitting by himself now too - except when he gets excited he starts kicking his legs and tips over. And he still likes to jump and be tossed in the air. He watches everything - he kept looking at me, just looking. Probably thinking "who's that weirdo?" I can't wait until he actually recognizes us. He's a fun baby - he's always pretty calm and happy, he smiles easily, and in general he only ever cries when he's hungry or needs a change. He sure knows what he wants though - if you interrupt his dinner to switch him from cereal to the bottle or to burp him he starts shrieking. "I'm not done yet!" He's a good eater too (which may explain why he seems to double in size every time I see him - he's eating cereal and some fruits and veggies now. And he seems to love it.)
Anyway... I had a nice time Friday night playing with Sam, checking out thier new ping pong table and laughing about The Office (they missed the best part Thursday night - when Dwight dressed up as Jim at the end. very funny.) Dan and Sara always seem to be willing to let me take goofy pictures of them.
Remember how I was talking about the plant at work last week? Well, on Friday there was more plant drama. The plant guy showed up and he was not happy about the rouge plant waterer. There was some heated discussion (including threats of litigation!), some foot stomping, a little swearing (!) and after all that - some plant removal. I find this totally hilarious.
It feels kind of empty here now though.
