Year End Spending

Okay....so I did a bad job of keeping track when I was at home...but I only used cash, and I only had $350 when I left Pennsylvannia - and I came back with about $10....so you do the math. I'll be back to keeping track again now!

12 year olds! YUCK!

And people wonder why I don't want kids....well....its more because I'm afraid of kids like my little brother....but this contributes....

I'm very annoyed by my littlest sister at the present time. Those of you that know me well, know I've been concerned for sometime at how she would grow up. She's quite spoiled, and my dad and stepmom provide almost NO discipline (ie - failing science class - is told she's grounded - but still gets to watch tv, use the computer, use the xbox, and have friends over. Oh...and if she pulls her grades up to a C then she gets a cell phone of her very own). My sister has always acted quite differently around me than she does around her mom and dad - because at a VERY early age I taught her that I would not tolerate poor behavior. I'm talking...when the kid was like 2 and she smacked me while I was carrying her through a shopping mall - I set her down on the ground and told her if she would hit she had to walk. And thats the last time the child struck me.

Lately I've been growing more concerned though. My sister is now 12 years old. At one point this year when she was mad at my parents and sister she just didn't come home one night. Her logic was, no one would know she was missing anyway (sadly that was true). But when she did return at 4pm the next day - there wasn't even a big fuss of any type made about it. Then in October she came out to visit me and we spent the weekend ind Philly. My stepmom had given her the cell phone so that we could keep track of her in the airports because she was flying alone (and without airline escort) for the first time. I was apalled at the complete lack of cell phone manners. We'd be in a museum in a theater that specifically said to turn off all light emitting devices....but still she'd open it up to talk or message. I made a comment to my dad about that the same weekend and he didn't really say anything. Then LAST weekend we were in Chicago for the day, and my sister had my stepmom's cell in her pocket. We went to the theater and then to a VERY nice french restaurant for a long dinner. She got up from dinner and dissappeared to the bathroom for a good 10 minutes - and my other sister and stepmom commented that she must be on the cell phone. I said something about the poor cell manners to my stepmom then, who said that unfortunately kids learn how to be mature with things like cell phones by using them, and that as her big sister I should try to teach her proper behavior. Isn't that her parents job?? So then my sister comes BACK from dinner and after a few minutes the cell rings and she answers it right at the table. I'd had enough of it then and told her to close the phone immediately, which she did. But when we discussed later that I wasn't mad at her, but the cell phone at dinner was completely innapropriate she actually said to me "Whatever".

And of course probably the thing that prompted my rant in the first place - her attitude this week. The day we were in Chicago last weekend I'd actually been home a whole week at that point. She asked when I got home, and when she found out I'd been home a week she was upset that she hadn't seen me yet. I reminded her that she'd been in school all week (to which she said "oh yeah") and that we'd have all of THIS week to hang out....because normally when I'm home I spend every day with her when she's not in school. So on Monday when I was leaving to head to spend the remainder of Chistmas Day with my mom, I asked what the plan was for the week. She said she hadn't made any....so I told her to call me when she woke up on Tuesday because I didnt' want to drive out while she was still asleep. Tuesday she calls me at noon and tells me she's too TIRED and I shouldn't come over. I remindered her that she was leaving on Thursday for Wisconsin, and I wouldn't be in Illinois still when she got back. She responded that we'd still have Wednesday to see each other. And then she never called on Wednesday...and now she's gone and I leave to go back to PA on Saturday morning.

I know that any child I have wouldn't be the same, because I would certainly not let them grow up the way my sister has....but this still demonstrates to me that my patience is not improving with age.

A Very Merry Coach Christmas

I did get some non-Coach items for Christmas as well...but this is what I'm particularly excited about this Christmas!


This first pic is my square legacy stripe scarf (it was a surprise gift!) along with the Legacy Striped Katy Travel Tote.

Next is some of my accesories: Legacy Stripe Ipod Case, Legacy Stripe Hair Scarf, Star Loop Cell Phone Lanyard.
You can see the Ipod case and Cell Lanyard again, along with two pairs of gloves I got, the ones on the left are the ones I actually asked for. The second pair came from my mom (funny enough I bought her the exact same ones!) and will get exchanged at the outlet for something else since I don't need two pairs of black leather gloves!.
And all my new babies together!

12/21/06 Spending

$15 at JoAnn Fabrics on more finishing touches for Christmas presents and stuff for holiday cupcakes
$25 on groceries
$6.50 to see The Holiday - very cute

12/20/06 Spending

$0

Happy Again!

My replacement purse came yesterday! Yeah!!!!!! It seems a little dirty so I'm taking some time to clean it...but very happy to have it back!

12/19/06 Spending

$20 for dinner at STir Crazy YUMMY!
$50 on groceries

12/18/06 Spending

$28.95 on Visa gift card for christmas present
$26.28 on more crafting supplies for Christmas presents
$11.21 at Bath and Body for Christmas present
$4.30 at Taco Bell for lunch

12/17/06 Spending

$14 on lunch at Red Robin
$20 on assorted supplies at Jo Ann FAbrics to finish off Christmas presents

Sad for now...but will be better soon!

So my new Coach legacy leather shoulder bag in the dusty rose (see October 1 blog entry) is defective. I noticed earlier this week that the turnlock was missing....I knew coach would take care of it as soon as I could get into a store...and was more bummed that I couldn't use it for a while.

Mom decided we needed to go to OakBrook after my long day in the car so I could walk around some - so we brought the purse into the Coach store there. Unfortunately they'd just sold out of it in that color earlier in the week. BUT...a nearby store had them...so they processed a return on my damaged bag and are having the replacement shipped to my mom's house for me. They say it will ship Monday and I should have it 2 days after that. YEAH! I was afraid they'd be sold out and it would have to get sent back for repairs and then it would be WEEKS before I got it back.....but instead i'll have a brand new bag in just a few days....... And some of you wonder why I spend so much money on Coach!

12/16/06 Spending

UG! What a long day...drove from Harrisburg to Naperville....exactly 700 miles from my garage to my mom's driveway.

$6.01 at starbucks for venti cinnamon latte and diet coke
$5 for breakfast at McD's
$8.95 for the Ohio Turnpike
$5 for lunch at McD's
$4.15 for the Indiana Turnpike
$.80 for the Illinois Tollway before I realized my EZ Pass works with Ipass
$35 at Sephora for face wash
$45 at Walgreens for contact solution, cleaner, a GIANT remote control (christmas present) and milk for mom's house

I also had tolls on the PA turnpike and 2 more in Illinois..but not sure how much they were since I used the EZpass.

12/15/06 Spending

$4.97 for lunch at McD's

Office Remodel

So....we started remodeling our office a few weeks back...and we're kinda stuck because our new cubes/furniture which was suppsoed to be delivered this week...is MIA. The furniture dropped off temporary desks...but look how funny it looks.....

Hmmm...now I just need a partner.....

Your Kissing Technique Is: Perfect

Your kissing technique is amazing - and you know it. You have the confidence to make the first move. And you always seem to know what kissing style is going to work best. Sometimes you're passionate, sometimes you're a tease. And you're always amazing!

Are You a Good Kisser?

12/14/06 Spending

$6.25 for breakfast at starbucks
$54.95 for visa gift card for my admin who is looking in on Joey and Zella while I'm away for the holidays
$16 on bowling and drinks

12/13/06 Spending

$6.05 for breakfast at Starbucks

12/12/06 Spending

$28.50 at UPS Store to ship Christmas presents and buy stamps
$80 at Salon for Highlights and Cut - including a larger than normal $25 tip for the holidays
$19.07 for Netflix

Boy am I beat...is it really only Monday?

So....I've been to 4 days of various holiday parties now..... Friday and today were luncheon's that were work related. Saturday was my office Christmas party, and Sunday was the meetin.org Christmas party. To top that off...I spent the weekend with a KILLER headache...and had an emergency vet visit on Friday.

Where to begin....Tuesday of last week I got home late..and noticed Joey's one eye wasn't open all the way....occasionally I see that...but usually a few minutes later its fine...so I didn't worry too much. Wed AM I noticed he still wasn't opening all the way...but had a long day away and by the time I was home to check on him it was too late to call the vet. Now....just the eye not opened may not seem like a big deal....but he's been sleeping a LOT more than normal lately...and he was snoring a lot LAST weekend when he was sleeping...so I was a bit worried. When I called the vet on Tuesday...they couldn't get me in until Friday....I wasn't thrilled...but I took it. Thursday I had a CRAZY long meeting...7:30am til after 6pm...with almost no breaks.....so I was BEAT when I came home...but did notice the eye was looking a little better. Friday morning his eye looks fine...but I decided better safe than sorry...so off to the vet we go. Where for $35 I learn that if I hadn't told the vet anything was wrong she would have said he's perfectly healthy...so whatever it was it had passed. Unfortunately she ALSO told me he has a tooth he needs pulled....she didn't want to do it right away in case he HAD been sick...so I have that too look forward to in a few months.

Saturday I was maybe supposed to meet some folks to see Apocolypto early afternoon -so I had enough time to make my mac and cheese and get to my bosses house...but I woke up with a KILLER headache...like..ready to vomit bad. So I spent most of the day sleeping, woke up to make my mac and cheese, when back to sleep, showered and took off for the party. And although I was a little better by party time...I really wasn't in the mood....and the night just seemed to drag on.

Sunday was my meetin Christmas party...I was still in serious headache mode...and knew I wouldn't be drinking due to an early day Monday....but I went and had a pretty good time. We definitely took some extremely silly pics that I cannot wait to see. And I stayed at the party way later than I'd planned....so allowing for my "settle down" time and laundry time...I didn't crawl into bed until 11pm..and despite my aromatheraphy sleep patch...I think I got about 4 hours of sleep last night.

Today I was in the car by 6am for the three hour drive to Pittsburgh. I had morning meetings, another Christmas luncheon....and then more fun. The folks needing to be at my afternoon meeting didn't bring what they needed to lunch...and the VP didn't want to do our meeting at their location...which meant that they didn't even get back to have our meeting until almost 3pm. So......the whole time I'm annoyed that that means I'll be on the road later than I wanted...and at the same time..the one girls computer crashed....so the whole time I'm annoyed...I don't even know if we're going to be able to DO what we were supposed to during our meeting. Finally the arrived (minus working computer) and we got through SOME of what we needed to do....at least as much as they were prepared for...and I got on the road by 4:45 for the three hour drive back to Harrisburg.

Thank God tomorrow is an office day, and the office is still closed for rennovations...which means tomorrow is a HOME office day. It will give me time to rest up before having to be near DC for a 7:15am meeting on Wednesday! Hm....better get Michelle and Mandy's christmas presents in the mail tomorrow too!

12/11/06 Spending

$0

12/10/06 Spending

$27 at Target

12/09/06 Spending

$29 for Curves

12/08/06 Spending

$0!!!!

Some of my Christmas projects

So I got asked this week to share some of my recent knitted projects....so here are some pictures.

The first is a little purse I knitted and then felted for my little sister for Christmas. For those of you who don't know what I mean by felted.....have you ever accidentally shrunk a sweater in the wash? That's felting!!!!! You agitate your wool knitting in very hot water and the fibers grab onto each other and shrink up. This purse was twice the size before felting!


The next picture is one of the felted poinsettia's I made. I actually have a few finishing things to do to these...but I made several and have some pins I want to put on the back so they can be pinned on to show holiday spirit. I'm giving away I think 5 of these for Christmas this year. Tey were actually made in 4 separate pieces and then felted and then attached together (you were supposed to sew but I got lazy and glued!).


Hope you've enjoyed my knitting!!!

12/07/06 Spending

$51 on my student loan
$126.56 to comcast

I wonder if this would have turned out this way if I hadn't lived with guys in college?

You Are 80% Boyish and 20% Girlish

You have a tough exterior - and usually a tough interior to match it. You're no nonsense, logical, and very assertive. Sometimes you can't understand women at all, even if you're a woman yourself. You see things rationally, and don't like to let your emotions get the best of you.

How Boyish or Girlish Are You?

12/06/06 Spending

$ 20 Dinner at Red Robin

I also called comcast and dropped my HBO and 30 of my digital channels - will save me about $20 a month.

12/05/06 Spending

$49.95 for annual Myfico kit (gets you all three credit reports and credit score and some "coaching" on how to improve your credit scores)
$18.50 on set of 15 naturopatch sleep aid patches (naturopath.com)

12/04/06 Spending

$73 at Ann Taylor Loft.com (but only because I had a $25 of $50 purchase coupon and the dress pants were on clearance).

Also, I ended up with extra money IN my checking account yesterday! I decided to return a pair of shoes to Coach that I bought in NYC back in Sept and hadn't worn yet. Turns out I'd paid for them with my DEBIT card..not my credit card....so I added $236 back into my account yesterday! Yeah me!

Advancing my knitting skills

So yesterday I hosted a Stitch n Bitch for my MeetIn group. There had been a request that a couple of people wanted to learn how to knit and I volunteered to teach....because I felt I could....and I'd been thinking it would be nice to have some girls in the area to start a Stitch and Bitch with.

So yesterday I had just one student. And she'd actually learned a couple of things from her mom before...including continental knitting. Now, I'd tried continental knitting once before...and I did something wrong that made all my stitches backwards....and I'd not attempted it again since then. We had our class....my willing student let me show her how I did a purl stitch and she continued using continental method for her knit stitches. Before we finished I told her she was going to have to learn how to purl in continental and then she could teach me BOTH next time we got together.

So today...i was inspired...and did some experimenting and figured it out for myself, at least for knit stitches. YEAH ME! What's most interesting...is using the "throw" method that I've always done, if I knit too long the pinky to middle finger on my left hand always go numb...and if I keep knitting them swell a bit as does my hand. When doing "continental" style knitting...my left had stays perfect...and after a while my right hand gets a bit tingle and twitchy when I stop knitting for a minute to pick up the remote or something. And its not really the kind of thing you can switch back and forth on because then the gauge of what you're knitting (that means the number of stitches and rows that make up a 4x4 inch square) gets totally different because I tension the yarn differently from throw and continental methods.

Anyway...just wanted to share because I was so excited to have taught myself a new skill!!! I've attached some pics of the two methods for those that are interested.

Continental Method

"Throw" or English Method

Pictures from

12/03/06 Spending

$24 at Walmart on gift boxes, yarn for christmas gift projects, and pillow protectors (for felting knitted Christmas projects)
$60 electric bill
$110 to cingular for first month service and new acct activation fee

12/02/06 Spending

$17 on more knitting needles for Christmas present projects
$103 at target on various cleaning supplies, personal items, a 27 foot lighted length of garland (for only $10!), and gift wrap.
$16 on dinner and comedy show

A little survey for those of you bored with my spending history....

69 Questions to Start the Winter.

1. Are you in a relationship?
nope

2. If no, would you like to be?
um...I wouldn't avoid it if I met the right person, but I'm okay without it


3. How often do you visit your MySpace profile?
once or twice a week

4. What is your favourite candy bar?
hershey bar

5. What are your favorite shoes?
anything from coach!

6. Have you ever tripped going up steps?
yeah...but I hurt myself a lot worse when I fell down them

7. Where did you go on vacation last summer?
LA for Mandy's wedding

8. Would you bungee jump?
no

9. Do you own a Fallout Boy CD?
I don't buy CD's since itunes...but I do have some Fallout Boy songs downloaded

10. Do you like amusement parks?
LOVE THEM

11. Do you ride rollercoasters?
Hell yeah, and who'd have though the best coaster I've been on is right here in Hershey!

12. What is your current favorite CD?
The soundtrack to wicked (the entire thing) takes up most of my top 25 most played songs on my ipod...so I'm gonna say that!

14. When was the last time you were in the ocean?
earlier this year on horseback, 2 thanksgivings ago in Maui was the last time my SKIN touched the ocean!

15. Do you like beer?
sokay

16. Would you kiss someone of the same sex?
does my mom count??

17. What is the most embarrassing CD you own?
A disney dance songs CD

18. Are you sarcastic?
I try..not sure I pull it off.....

19. Is there anything you wait for every summer?
not so much

20. In your opinion, what is the best summer smell?
flowers in bloom

21. Socks or sandals?
uggs

22. Who was the last person to go to the movies with you?
mom and I went to Happy Feet last weekend

23. What's one thing you really hope to do this winter?
make a serious dent in my debt

24. Do you like to go Mini-Golfing?
yup

25. Are you moving this winter?
nope...will wait til NEXT winter

26. Are you going to be starting a new job this winter?
nope....again, next winter

27. Have you ever slapped someone?
I can't recall...but I feel like the answer should be yes....

28. Do you get poison ivy?
I never have.

29. Do you plan on going camping next summer?
prob not

30. What was the last restaurant you ate at?
Dang....Chilis at Ohare on Sunday....did I really not eat out once this week? I'm so impressed with myself!

31. Favorite pizza topping?
cheese, tomatoes, roasted garlic

32. Pants or shorts?
pants

34. Do you use Chopsticks?
if the occasion calls for them

35. What's the last movie you watched?
most of Batman and Robin last Sunday

36. Are you currently fighting with anyone?
no

37. Are you too forgiving?
no-probably I'm not forgiving enough...I'm not big on second chances

38. How many pets do you have?
two currently.....joey and zella...my crazy black and white kitties

39. Own any clothing from Hot Topic?
nope

40. What is your favorite breakfast?
Egg Beaters omlet with tomatoes, bacon, avocado, and cheese, with hashbrowns and a buttered english muffin

41. Where was the last place you drove?
to the coach outlet this afternoon

43. Where will you be in 24 hours?
probably at Doc Holliday's for dinner and a comedian

44. What did you do 3 nights ago?
watch tv and go to bed

45. Last time you went to a fancy restaurant?
early october, dad took me and little sis to the Capital Grille in Philly

46. Last thing you bought?
Coach gloves for mom for Christmas

47. Have you ever been in a foreign country, if so where?
yup..but only Mexico so far...hope to visit many more

48. Anywhere you want to visit?
everywhere....

49. What's the farthest you've ever traveled from home alone?
to Hawaii

50. What have you done today?
work work work work work, go to the coach outlet

51. Do you own something from a sex shop?
a few....

52. Are you thinking of someone right now?
no

53. Have you ever thrown something out of a moving car?
hehehehe...funny question...but no

54. Do you smoke cigarettes?
never

55. Would you date someone who smoked cigarettes?
I've kissed people who smoked before...but I don't think I could date someone who does.....the kissing experience was only bearable due to my extreme intoxication

56. Are you happy with your life right now?
its okay.....I'm not unhappy...but I could be a lot happier

57. Whats the last thing you ate?
lean cuisine lasagna and cupcakes

58. What's the next place you have to go?
Doc Hollidays tomorrow night...or if I bail then Cracker Barrel on Sunday

59. How many hours do you usually sleep per night?
7-9 depending on how I'm feeling

60. What's the next important date on your calendar?
Dec 16 when I leave for HOME for the holidays

61. Who last called you?
a co-worker

62. McDonald's or Burger King
McDs

63. Who last messaged you?
Michelle

64. Are you closer to your mother or father?
Mom

65. Do you like to quote things?
I would...but I'm not good at pulling that stuff out to quote at a good time

66. Are you afraid of the dark?
Not the dark...but I am afraid of not seeing

67. Do you swear?
too much

68. What is the most expensive thing you ever bought?
a house

69. What should you be doing right now?
wrapping christmas presents and cleaning up around the house

12/01/06 Spending

$963.xx for primary mortgage payment
$64 for leather gloves at the coach outlet for mom for Christmas