Day 120 - April 30

Sorry for the size - I wanted you to be able to read the back of the truck.  "I'm going to buy a new one! Just as soon as I can ware [sic] this one out.  I've been waiting 21 years for a new one."

It made me laugh.  I was glad to be sitting at a red light so that I could grab my phone and take a picture.

Day 119 - April 29

I recently added some coupon blogs to my Google Reader that alert me to some good deals and freebies.  This is my first freebie to arrive via mail.  Since I go through teeth grinding guards on a regular basis, it was a good freebie to get.

Some links to try: (Several post the same things on any given day, but there are some differences)
http://www.centsablemomma.com/
http://www.consumerqueen.com/
http://dealseekingmom.com/
http://freebies4mom.blogspot.com/
http://hip2save.com/
http://ingoodcents.com/
http://moneysavingmom.com/

Not only do they alert you to the coupons, but they tell you how to combine them with advertised sales to get stuff super cheap or free.  If the stores are in your regular shopping rotation, it can really help.  If we still lived 30 seconds from Target, I'd be taking advantage of a lot more deals.  But our new house is 30 seconds from a Rite Aid, CVS, *and* Walgreens, so we're doing ok.  Can't wait to see what other things we get!

Day 118 - April 28

This is a nice framed picture of an old Italy map.  It was a Christmas present for me the year we were engaged and planning our Italy trip.  Right now, it's on its side in the empty dining room waiting for a home.  There are also a zillion other pictures behind it that don't have homes.  We think we are in the market for some new stuff, but we're not sure what we want and we don't want to make holes and then change our minds after all the time we spent painting.  I do like this Italy picture though, so it needs a home. 

Day 117 - April 27

This box belongs to my husband.  It is one of about 5 boxes floating around this house that are his from the single life.  It contains 7 binders of various sizes full of Magic cards.  I have never seen a single binder be opened.  I'm told these things are worth money.  My response is usually "only if you sell them."  So they continue to sit. :)

Day 116 - April 26

This is about 1/3 of the front bedroom.  (AKA My favorite room.)  It's really big, but it's the weirdest shape room, and not particularly useable due to that fact, but I love it.  It's basically decorated like my room pre-marriage. :)  It has my Tommy-Hilfiger-I'm-Too-Poor-To-Buy-This-At-The Real-Price-So-I'll-Hunt-Through-Bargain-Bins-At-Every-TJMaxx-And-Marshalls-Until-I-Have-The-Full-Set-For-Less-Than-The-Sheets-Alone-Cost-Regularly bedding, the headboard my mom made for me, my pictures (There's us with the dolphin on top!) and my Mini-Me.  It also has 3 front facing, afternoon sun getting, huge windows. 

And thus ends a lot of run on sentences. :)

Day 115 - April 25

This is the back corner of the back bedroom.  As you can see, it's where things go to die. :)  The stuff in this room falls into the category of "can't get rid of, but don't use once a week."  Some stuff we don't even use once a month!  But the bookshelves are in here to hold our old picture albums, my children's books, stuff like that.  Also all the junk I took from my parents when they moved like my American Girl doll stuff that I'm not going to give away.  The room is a dump because every other room is put together and we never go back here, so it's hard to be motivated to care.  Eventually I'll have a weekend where I'm not gone both days and I can at least semi organize it!

Day 114 - April 24

This week, I came across a coupon for $10 off a $10 purchase at aeropostale.  I don't wear their clothes normally but I thought maybe I could pick up something small.  Much to my dismay, many of the things I wanted were on sale for $9.75 and they didn't have any of that cheap stuff like lip gloss or whatever to bump me over the $10 mark.  So I got some socks.  Each pack has 3 pairs so my grand purchase deal was 6 pairs of socks for $2.10!

Day 113 - April 23

I got chosen by a local company to be a tester for some of their new products.  We got this in the mail this week with a recipe.  We're supposed to follow the recipe to a T and then fill out a survey.  I got to pick from several different recipe options, and this is similar to something we already cook, but with a little added flavor.  All I need now is chicken and I'm good to go ....

Day 112 - April 22

Goodbye and good riddance, apartment!  Can you believe that a month ago, this picture would have shown:

• kitchen table
• 6 kitchen table chairs
• big kitchen card
• smaller kitchen cart
• pink living room chair
• 2 couches
• an end table
• a coffee table
• a desk
• a computer
• a computer chair
• a pantry
• 2 DVD/Video game racks
• entertainment center under the tv (just barely to the right of the picture - you can see the TV's cord)

It was like a clown car in there.  And now it's empty!

The final "big, fat lie" they told us was that we had 2 choices.  #1 - pay $150 for their cleaning service which included the whole place and the carpet.  Basically, move out, say good riddance, and leave it messy.  Or, #2 - pay $50 for the carpet cleaning service and spend the hours cleaning it ourselves.  We thought we'd save the $100 and spent a Friday night several weeks ago scrubbing it.  Imagine our surprise when we called to make the carpet arrangements and it was $125!  There were many bad words spoken that day. 

And to this day, nobody can explain to me why it was cheaper to steam clean a whole house than the stupid apartment.

So - anyone who finds this via Google - DO NOT RENT AT DOMINION CONSTANT FRIENDSHIP IN ABINGDON MARYLAND.

Summary:

• We put a hold on an apartment, but another leasing agent rented it an hour later.
• We signed paperwork to move in, then the previous tenant decided not to move out and we no longer had an apartment.
• They "found" us an apt, but we had to pay more, it was in a different location, and we had to pay 10 days extra rent to move into it.
• They did nothing to take care of the cigarette smoke and wouldn't come and smell it
• They charged us more for water per month than the house's water bill per quarter
• They charged us almost $300 to join their "swim & exercise" club, even though we belong to a gym down the street
• The pool was only open 1/2 the times we attempted to use it (since we had paid, we figured we'd try)
• Their version of "2 months notice" to move out is actually 60 days - so if the end of February falls in there, be careful about when you give your notice cause you'll have to pay 3 extra days.
• The apartment we just left is on the market for $600 MORE than we were just paying for it.  If that doesn't scream rip off, what does?
• Every leasing agent gives you a different story every time, and it's never the same person twice.  The turnover is insane so nobody can help you because they're "Just helping out from another property."

Good riddance, indeed. :)

Day 111 - April 21

Hardwood floors are pretty.  However, I never thought about how much it would affect my hips to walk on a hard surface all the time.  (I take my shoes off first thing when I get home.)  I started wearing my shoes all the time, but that made me need to clean the wood every couple days.  So this is attempt #2 - wear my old lady blue fuzzy squishy slippers inside, and shoes outside. :)  It helps my hips AND keeps me from having to clean the floors more than once a week!!

Day 110 - April 20

Last Easter, I missed out on Starburst jellybeans because of biggest loser.  This Easter, I was still on the food restrictions for my bladder.  By the time I was released, I couldn't find any!  I bought these Lifesavers ones instead.  The white ones are pretty good, but I'm one of the weirdos that thinks white lifesavers are good. :)  I'm more into standard flavors than the tropical style.  Next Easter, I am buying in bulk! :)

Day 109 - April 19

While we lived in the apartment, the sound system lived in a box.  (I only wish our upstairs neighbors had been so thoughtful & considerate of people they shared walls with!)  Of course one of the first things Mike did when we moved here was to set it all up with the TV.  We bought the TV & sound system at the same time and they're both Samsung, so supposedly one remote will work them.  After much button pushing, we made that happen.  But there are so many button combinations that I can't keep them straight and half the time I get sound from one thing and picture from another.  (Then I have to use the cable box remote for channels and DVR, but at least that's straight forward.)

Nothing is what it seems.  There is no blu-ray option on the tuner, so the blu-ray is DVD and DVD is CD and some stuff is HDMI and some isn't even though it is .... confused yet?  I am.  Always.

Enter - my cheat sheet.  I used a Sharpie on the back of the pink coaster so that I always know where it is.  Hopefully now I will be able to make everything work!

Day 108 - April 18

Today I headed down to the Hippodrome to see the touring cast of Phantom.  I saw it on Broadway 17 years ago, and I was shocked at exactly how little I remembered of the story.  The cast was great and I was impressed with the amount of special effects that they have on the tour.  However, I think I'm just not an Andrew Lloyd Webber fan.  Or maybe it's the era the show comes from, I don't know.  I feel like the production is great but the storyline kinda lagged for me.  Also, I'm not into the falsetto opera style singing that most of the show entails.  But everyone definitely impressed me with their skills.  Especially because the Phantom guy has done the show literally thousands of times.  (Well, as Raoul, but still. Thousands. Of. Times.) And the girl that played Carlotta has played that particular role something like 5,000 times.  It's gotta take some serious stamina to achieve that. 

(To get a grasp - I'll have to teach almost 28 years to say that I've gone to work 5000 times.  Yowza.)

I remember being impressed with just being at a Broadway show back in 1993, but I have always remembered so little of the show that I was curious to know if I'd like it as an adult.  So I'm glad I went.

Shows I want to see right now:
-Memphis
-American Idiot (from Green Day, but getting great pre-reviews)
-Next to Normal (Music is great, and it just won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama)
-In The Heights (It came to Baltimore but I couldn't make my schedule work)
-Promises, Promises (Mostly because of the cast)
-Addams Family (I've never been a fan of the actual storyline of the Addams Family, but the cast sounds great)
-La Cage (When it opens with Kelsey Grammer)
-Enron (A play - because Norbert's in it and I really want to see Norbert in something at some point)
-Rock of Ages (it's coming to Baltimore next year)
-Les Mis (for the 2nd time - because it's coming to Baltimore)
-Jersey Boys (for the 3rd time - again in Baltimore)

Day 107 - April 17

Since we were up bright and early to wait for Comcast today, we went to the farmers market after he left.  We bought one of the variety packs from the beef guy and I can't wait to dig in.  We got 3 lbs of ground beef, 6 hamburgers, a london broil, a couple steaks that I can't remember the name of, and a HUGE roast that will either have to wait for a big family thing or get cooked as more than one thing, because it could feed half of North Dakota.  Plus, we got some coffee cake to eat and bacon to cook for breakfast.  On the way out, we grabbed this beautiful bouquet of tulips and lilacs for just 5 bucks.  Rock on!  We are a ton closer to the market than we used to be, so maybe we'll remember to go more often now.  Last year by the time it was good and yummy fruit time, we weren't around or we were busy on Saturday mornings.  This time of the year it's mostly plants and asparagus (um, yuck) so I'm looking forward to when it's more fresh stuff we'll eat.

Day 106 - April 16

Our deck, post crazy storm.  We had a lot of rotation going on - lots of mini swirls of pink petals.

Day 105 - April 15

One of the radio stations I listen to plays a game every morning at 6:45 called "You Can't Win."  They give you crazy questions and you have to be a serious detective to figure them out.  Only a few people get to try each day, so it takes months to get through all 5 questions.  For a long time, they've been going through #1 and #2.

#1 - Approximately 5% of people do this.  (Answer is dream in color.)
#2 - This ways almost exactly a ton. (Then we got a clue that it was weather related, then weather CHANNEL related)  On Wednesday someone FINALLY guessed that it's the Weather Channel's hurricane tracking computer. 
#3 - This famous person was allergic to carrots.

I grabbed my phone because I KNEW THE ANSWER.  Right away.  I've never called a radio station before (even though I regularly try to get on Smarter than Reagan and I never get through.)

Anyway, just got a busy signal.  So Thursday morning I made sure I was up and ready to go on time, and called the show and got put on hold a few minutes before the game.  (Guess not as many people call for this one.)  And the guy before me got it right.  Seriously?  It takes months to get #1 and #2 and I just happen to know #3 and someone else does too??  Poop.

#4 is "This takes a half hour."  Mike did some googling for me so we'll see if we come up with a good answer.  I didn't have one.  Bummer.  It doesn't matter though because it's only the person that answers #5 that wins the money.

But I got to be on the radio.

Oh, and the answer is Mel Blanc - Bugs Bunny's voice.  I learned that when he died and I tucked it away in case I ever needed to win Jeopardy.  Or, you know, a local radio station contest. :)

Day 104 - April 14

Tonight was the monthly Duclaw beer release.  But more importantly, tonight was a night I got to enjoy a Duclaw Brisket sandwich.  Hooray for being able to eat BBQ sauce! :)

Day 103 - April 13

My cats are somewhat trained.  But it's very specific, you see.  They have to be trained to not scratch that particular PLACE on the carpet.  So living in this new house has brought out the spray bottle for training once again.  At one point I even slept with it in my hand dangling it over the edge of the bed because the side of the mattress became a picking place.  But anyway.  Since the green bottle is out and accessible, Mike & I have started using it - on each other. 

(spray!) You left the basement light on!
(spray!) You didn't throw out the packet of taco seasoning once you used it!
(spray spray!) Why is the TV on when you are cutting the grass?
(spray!) You got me twice so I have to get you back!

Thank goodness the weather is warm. :)

Day 102 - April 12

These sweaters used to take up most of a dresser.  Now, thanks to my super closet & handy dandy sweater holder, they fit in this much space.  I love it!  And I also love that my closet's size lends me to not having to switch out clothes for summer/winter stuff.  Excellent.

Day 101 - April 11

 21.  That's how many loads of laundry it took to de-smoke-ify our wardrobe & linen closet after leaving the smoking den apartment.  Luckily our new place has a bigger washer & dryer, because it would have been more like 30 loads at the other place!  This is the last 2 loads from today.  Now that they're clean I can put them into my awesome closet.  The good thing is that I can organize by size & season since I'm doing it little by little.  My next door neighbor & I had a conversation about our closets today.  We don't understand why the builder made them big & left out a 4th bedroom.  Funny to see what matters to builders at different points of time throughout history.

Day 100 - April 10

Happy 100th day of 2010! 

These pictures are from our London/Paris weekend a couple years ago.  We climbed to the top of both of these structures.  The top one is St. Paul's in London & the bottom one is the Arc in Paris.  I survived and am here to tell you that the stairs that take you to the top of the Arc are SCARY.  They are spiral stairs and there is nothing to keep you from falling to your death except a wobbly metal railing.  My hand was orange for 2 days after the death grip I had on it.  Plus I made Patti walk right behind me the whole way up.  I guess I had more faith in her ability to walk up stairs without falling? :)

So why are pictures I took in March of 2008 my pictures for the 100th day of 2010?  Yesterday, Snapfish was having a "free 8x10" offer if you picked it up at Walgreens.  (There's one right around the corner from my new house!)  And then, Walgreens photo site was also having a free 8x10 offer.  I have a lot of these black float frames empty, waiting for enlargements of our favorite vacation shots so I filled both orders & picked the prints up today. 

And now I want to go on vacation to take more pictures.  But since I can't afford to do that this week, I shall instead decorate my new house with memories of days where all my extra money funded my around the globe galavanting. :)

Day 99 - April 9

Yesterday and today I was the Bee Master for the school spelling bees.  Yesterday's went FOREVER ... a 4th grade boy and 3rd grade girl kept alternating getting easy and hard words so they kept going but it took awhile for someone to win.  Today's was much quicker because it was only 6 fifth graders.

Just before the bee, this kid's parents showed up in the office.  When I saw his dad, I said "Oh I didn't know you were back!" And surprisingly, the dad's reply was "Neither does he."  So the office called him down so that he could see and say hi to his dad before it was his turn to spell hard words on stage. :)  AND ... he won.  So that was exciting for him.  Good day for that family all around, and they have the state tournament of another activity the kid is involved in tomorrow so it gives ya the warm fuzzies. :) 

Day 98 - April 8

Someday I'll go through and take pictures of the really done house with the good camera.  Once we have things on the walls and actual decorations as opposed to just furniture.  This is the front room girly man cave.  Notice the Longaberger baskets holding the remotes on the shelf. :)

Day 97 - April 7

May I present a few things that I may or may not have enjoyed after my doctor's appt today.

After my surgical procedure a month ago, the urologist said I had "classic IC."  He was basing that on the way my bladder reacted to the test.  (They fill it with something to high volumes & see if it causes blisters & hemorrhaging (sp?) - simplistic terms.)  He also did a biopsy, but that was to rule out worse diseases.  Then he said "here's the meds, take them for life." 

Fast forward to today - my appt at Hopkins with the director of Women's Pelvic Health.  (Fancy title, totally not fancy guy.  He was awesome and very down to earth and spent a lot of time with us.)  He said that he could make those reactions happen to anyone while they were under (it does cause considerable pain if you do the test awake.)  He also said people like teachers & truck drivers drink less in general due to their jobs and train their bladders to be smaller and to hold smaller volumes.  So that explained that part of the test result.  He also said that he truly doesn't believe someone has IC if they don't have the go-all-the-time problem.  (Which I don't.)  He said if you're not getting up several times a night then the medicines won't help. 

So - he believes it's basically just my fibro manifesting in a different way and that being off my meds for this long made it pop up.  He also believes in the mental connection - doctor said there was something wrong with my bladder and that I should drink lots of water.  Which I did.  Which then makes me have to go more. :)  Plus, once someone tells you there is something wrong with a part of your body, you think about that part of the body more. 

He said that the 2 meds the other guy wanted to put me on do nothing to help with pain, they just help with frequency issues, which, (all together now) I don't have.  Also he told us that normal people heal (get all the way to 0 pain) from bladder surgery in 3-4 weeks and that with my fibro it'll probably take me longer just like every other injury I get.  AND...diet and meds are no big deal, I can take whatever I want and eat whatever I want as long as it doesn't get worse like it did with the margarita that one time.  He suggested avoiding alcohol & caffeine but other than that eat normal and healthy.

So what did I do?  Drank a gatorade and ate a bunch (a BUNCH) of tagalongs.  Didn't get to the sour patch kids because it was dinner time. :)  Not healthy, but normal. :)

Day 96 - April 6

The old couches we inherited don't match our lifestyle, so we are eventually going to change that - but we wanted the marigold walls gone and went with green.  So for now, they just don't match. :)

Day 95 - April 5

Today, we painted the kitchen & family room a pretty green color.  Yes, I know we painted a different green room blue on Friday, but what you gonna do? :)  Mike's dad came over to help, so he and my mom did a lot of the painting while Mike and I taped ahead of them and worked on some other things.  A list of what has happened in the last week:

Monday (Settlement day)
-Lowe's run
-Target Run
-Clean fridge & freezer
-Clean bathtubs/showers
-Clean toilets
-Replace toilet seats
-Clean bathroom floors
-Vacuum all carpet in house
-Move boxes

Tuesday - Nada

Wednesday
-Mike moved boxes while I packed them

Thursday
-Mike took the day off and moved a few more boxes

Friday
-My mom & I painted the front room blue (Which only gets one line on the list, but took forever)
-Waited for Comcast (Fail!)
-Moved the cats

Saturday
-Target run
-Moved
-Put together bathrooms so we could shower
-Got kitchen, Family room, and living room in perfect living order with tables, couches, etc.
-Spent hours figuring out how the stuff in the kitchen was going to fit in the cabinets
-re-built computer desk in office

Sunday
-bought dressers & nightstands
-put together dressers & nightstands (the rest of the set we started buying a couple years ago)

Monday
-painted family room & kitchen
-painted trim in blue room (cause every section was a different color)
-Home Depot run
-Wait for comcast again (fail, again.)

Day 94 - April 4

I didn't get my camera out fast enough ... but a split second before this was taken, those two heads in the car in front of us were kissing.  Repeatedly.  While driving.  We were going slow, but we were not at a standstill.  Stay in NJ, you crazy drivers!!!!

Day 93 - April 3

Today was moving day!  There will be pictures of an actual home to come, but for today you get a silly moving picture.  Lots of people move their Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, even PS2 or a computer.  But how many of you people lug boxes with an Atari and games from 1982? :)

Day 92 - April 2

Today we made a green room blue. I know, big surprise! :)

Day 91 - April 1

It's Spring!  And that's no April Fools Joke!