1, 2, 3, 4... Sunday, January 17, 2010
Somehow this year I sort of managed to avoid the New Years Blues. Maybe I got a little sad but it's been much better than it has in years past. I'm attributing it to having done so much in the last year, checking things off my to-do list.I'm not a fan of resolutions, because most don't seem to stick. But to-do lists seem different. So far I've gotten a couple of them already taken care of, granted they are simple easy things but totally worth it.
1. Call and cancel HBO and see if there is a special running to lower my bill.
Done. I used to watch HBO all the damn time, then I got a DVR and started watching a ton of regular tv on it and never used it anymore. Plus True Blood isn't going to be back on until June. With the special I qualified for I've knocked almost $40 off my bill. HELL YEAH!
2. Reduce my Netflix plan
Done. Again the DVR is to blame for this, I just haven't been watching as many movies. At the moment I'm only saving $4, but I might drop down to 1 disc a time.
3. Figure out what to do about my damn cell phone.
Partially. I spend about 4-5 hours yesterday looking at plans and contemplating options. My brain hurts. A lot. I'm thinking of upgrading to a smartphone but holy jesus, plans are expensive. Do I really need it? Probably. Then again, maybe not? I'm really hoping to lower my bills but this is one area where it seems like almost any change I make is going to make it go up. Which annoys me and my cold, penny pinching heart.
The issue is that my family, whom I talk to the most, is on Verizon which gives me opportunity to call them without using my minutes. Bad thing about them is their free calling doesn't start until 9pm, so I'd be limited in my calling to everyone else.
ATT is an option since you can add earlier nights and weekends for $9 (starting at 8pm instead of 9pm). Plus you get the pretty iPhone. The con is again, my family is on another network.
Both plans are about the same cost, and I can't fucking make up my mind. I made a spread sheet and I still can't decide.
Part of the reason I'm leaving my current carrier, Sprint, is because they sent me a notification that from here on out I'd be charged an extra $5 a month for having an Account Spending Limit. Which means that should I accidentally go over my minutes or texts I'd could only run up a bill to $200 before they would cut my phone off. This has never happened but I like the added protection and have had it since I became a customer with them 10! years ago. They'll remove the fee from my account if I give them access to automatically withdraw from my bank account. Which is a big, fucking hell no. I pay my bill every month, but I know that giving someone access to your account is a huge mistake and there are horror stories of people's accounts being wiped out when the company accidentally charges your account multiple times in a month. Which has overdrawn people's accounts and taken all their money, then it's a fight to get it back.
There is no administrative cost associated with this, it's all computerized and they've never charged for it before so it pisses me off. It doesn't help that their coverage in my area can be sketchy and their options for cells phone upgrades is limited to 5 options and all of them suck.
Holy hell, did I just write a freaking Trieste on cell phones? Sorry, but I did. Suggestions or flat out telling me who to chose would be appreciated as I am uncharacteristically frozen with indecision.
Eep! Thursday, December 20, 2007
I feel that rising panic inside, the kind that can only come from having entirely too much to do and too little time to accomplish it all in.And yet, I still procrastinate and write blog posts about it.
I'm leaving tomorrow for 6 days spent in Cleveland, at the end of which I'm sure that I will be desperate to get back to my life in Athens. I still must clean my apartment, which of course was on the agenda last night but instead I baked brownies for the beer tasting I'm going to tonight. Because a girl needs to have priorities and a sink full of dirty dishes and pantaloons thrown onto the floor do not take precedence over beer and deep, velvety brownies.
Lets not even discuss the shopping bit of my week, since Athens is woefully lacking in places to shop besides BigLots or Wal-Mart I've put off shopping until I go to Cleveland. I had planned on going to Columbus this weekend to tackle it but then there was that massive storm they were calling for. The storm that never materialized, which in it's own way was probably a blessing because it allowed me to nurse that tiny hangover I had on Saturday with fountain coke and a nap.
So there is the cleaning, the shopping, the beer party, oh! and the blasted holiday cards. Cards that are so fucking hilarious and awesome I cannot wait to send them out. But one should actually order cards if one expects to send them. So instead I've revised the damn photo 50 times because I'm obsessive-photographer like that and still not sent them to the printer. People will get them late but they will laugh till they cry when they get them.
Of course my one coworker left for vacation and I'm literally left holding the bag of delicious baked goodies I made for him. I don't want these fucking cookies and must find someone else to pawn them off on. I'm sure I could shove them onto the overfilled table in the break room and they would disappear in a flash. Yet, part of me doesn't want to do that? Just chalk it up to my little Grinch-y heart.
And still my mind keeps shooting back to the sink full of dishes, an occurrence so rare in my apartment that it keeps filling me with panic. Is this really what my life has become? Have I fully turned into my mother? The woman who cannot stand a sink full of dirty dishes?
I worked out my shitty week by shopping. Monday, June 04, 2007
Because I've got zero self control lately I bought 2 dresses, one pair of knee length shorts, and a bra. Plus I exchanged my expensive jeans for a different pair of expensive jeans.First, lets talk about the shorts. Knee length shorts have been eschewed in my wardrobe since I was in 8th grade, I was already growing out the trend that had been sweeping my middle school (knee length shorts worn with tights, so wrong) when my grandparents and aunt bought me a pair of cranberry corduroy knee length shorts, a white and navy stripped button up shirt (it hurt your eyes to look at it) and a navy vest with lots and lots of embroidery on it.
The outfit hit the perfect trifecta of ugliness. They on the other hand thought it was "sharp!", a term I still abhor when it comes out of someone's mouth in reference to clothes. Regardless of what they are actually referring to I see that goddamn outfit in my head. Usually if it is a elder family member that says they found a "sharp!" outfit for me I am pretty much guaranteed to hate it.
So it was with MUCH trepidation that I tried on these formal looking, knee length shorts. But they were cute, and made my legs look hot. So I'm going to give them a whirl, I might hate them in a couple of weeks but for now they might be the perfect thing to beat the ungodly heat we've been having. If anyone doesn't believe in global warming then they should stop on by and explain to me why for the last month we've been cruising along in 90 degree average heat. IN MAY.
As for the rest of my purchases, every lady should run out and buy the Victoria's Secret Secret Embrace Push Up Bra. It seriously hoists the ladies up but is so unbelievably comfortable I want to wear it everyday. Plus it is on sale right now, so hey! $10 off is not shabby.
Expensive jeans, everyone is doing it- you should too. I wear jeans nearly everyday to work. It is a fact. So why shouldn't I spend $100 on them? Enter Lucky Jeans. I've coveted a pair of Lucky Jeans since I was a freshman in high school. Because there is nothing cooler to a catholic schoolgirl than a pair of pants that when unzipped say "lucky you" on the fly.
Another youthful dream realized. Awesome. Plus, being only 5'4" (or technically 5'3.5") they make a 'short' jean that isn't too short or too long. Perfection. Plus the sales people really know their shit about their pants. It was entirely my fault for buying the wrong pair before, I fell in love with the fabric and not the fit. I made sure this go round to make sure the fit was fantastic.
Dress #1 I've been searching for about 8 months now. I wanted a patterned 3/4 length sleeve wrap dress that hit at the knee. The one I bought this weekend is a lovely Nine West black background with thin white circles, found at TJMaxx for $60. Which is half off it's original price. More than I wanted to shell out but this piece is a classic which will be in my closet forever.
And dress #2 was an impulse purchase. It is a forever21 t-shirt dress in kelly green. Anyone who has ever shopped at Forever21 knows that their stores are a perpetual mess and most of the clothing is hit or miss. Plus their lines for the dressing room are a nightmare, which is why I try stuff on in the middle of the store. I just pull whatever it is on over my tanktop.
Except I was concerned that this dress was making me look too wide in the hips. My friend pointed out that it was probably the jeans under the dress that was adding to my hippy bulk. So what do I do? I drop trow in the middle of the store.
Yes, I was standing in the middle of the store with my pants around my ankles.
Whatever. I don't care about the shocked glances I got from other shoppers, it isn't like I was parading around with the skirt hiked above my waist flashing my lady business around (ahem!, like Paris Hilton).
Wearing that pretty green dress to dinner at a friend's house made me feel shockingly hot, perhaps because is cut a bit shorter than other dresses I own- several inches above the knee. I hope to hell I'm not looking like some inappropriate cougar in it.
