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I Had To Make Some Changes

July 31, 2006 By

You’ll notice that I made a change to the layout of my blog. I had to be different. I’ve been searching and searching for different templates, looking for something different and not like millions of other blogs out there. Of course I have my standards – I like clean, elegant, sophisticated designs with colors I like. None of this trend-of-the-moment stuff or the kind of incoherent design that some eleventeen year old puts up. No, I need something much more indicative of the (im)mature woman that I am. However, as many of you may know, changing over to a completely new template requires a bit of work, especially if you have customized the sidebar up the wazoo. I tried a few, previewing them before deciding whether or not to save the edits or clear the edits. Don’t get me wrong, I do like my template, but like I said, I don’t want to be exactly the same as everyone else. (If anyone has any power to tell blogger to add tons more templates, now would be the time.) After hours of playing, researching, and playing some more, I decided on something simple for now – I swapped the sidebar and main posts to the opposite sides. So now it looks a little different, and I didn’t have to spend hours making sure the sidebar and other content transfers.

I also decided to change my profile picture. I love all things having to do with the road, and this collage fits for now. Eventually, I’ll have a not-so-revealing picture of myself, but that may take some time since I don’t really care for pictures of myself.

I also have one more thing I’d like to change – the actual background of my blog. I have what I want on my computer and my Flickr account, but what I don’t get is where to put it in the code on my template. So if anyone knows how to do this, please let me know!

Now I must get myself some dinner and get to bed. I’ve been playing around too long, plus Officer Friend called and we chatted for an hour (he always calls me when he’s at work – he works in Mayberry) so even though the timestamp shows when I started this post, it’s now 10:45pm. If I want to get up on time tomorrow (see previous post) then I’d better get my ass in gear, get some food in my stomach, and get to bed.

Filed Under: My Blog

Fastest Shower in the West

July 31, 2006 By

Ok, I may not have set any world records, but I have so got to stop oversleeping. I have 2 clocks set up – one next to my bed and one in the bathroom, the second one with the idea that the first thing I do is get up and pee. But lately I’ve been turning off both alarms and resetting the 1st one to a later time, then when that goes off turning it off again until I finally wake up 1/2 hour before I’m due at work, yelling “Shit!” then rush around getting ready in a half asleep stupor, forgetting half the things I’m supposed to do or meant to bring to work. So that’s my next goal – to have a little self-discipline when I get up in the morning. I’m getting a handle on the financial stuff, so now to work on the time stuff.

Yesterday was super busy at the store. Besides a boatload of shipment that we were trying to work, we did double what our sales plan was for the day, and that was with a selection of shoes at 80% off. I picked up an extra half hour just to help clean up because the store was trashed way more than usual (I think it was slob shopping day) plus we have corporate visitors in this week. There was still more that I wanted to get done but Shoe Boss threw me out. I hope she didn’t stay too late, because she’s well known for being there 2 hours after closing.

I also had a nice little surprise at work yesterday. In June we had a sales contest to see who could have the highest percentage of handbag sales. I won! It was effortless, really – I worked Memorial Day weekend when we had a great selection of 80% off handbags, so they sold themselves, really. Then I followed up the month of June with weeknights when I didn’t sell much of anything at all, so my win was all based on those 2 days when I would rather have been unpacking, since, if you remember, I had just moved. Anyhoo, I won $20 and it finally appeared in my locker yesterday. It came in pretty handy too, because I forgot to bring work snacks with me yesterday (yes, I overslept). It will also come in handy today because I never got around to making my salad for the week, therefore I have no lunch today.

So here’s the spending breakdown for yesterday:
$15 – offering at church
$3.60 – lunch
$20 GAINED!
$4.49 – mall snacks (mall food not cheap!)

Today it’s just me and Time-Flying Dudette in the office, since Mad Scientist is on a church mission trip, Colorful Texan is on vacation, and Pretty Lady Dammit has a monster migraine. Fun day today, hopefully I’ll be able to get a nap in.

Filed Under: Sleepy, Work

A Good Day for Savings

July 29, 2006 By

I went to drop the pile of stuff off at Salvation Navy and decided to look around a bit. I usually don’t have the patience to dig through all the crap that they have, but I decided to look anyway. As I was pawing through the clothing racks, I found it. A pair of khaki pants, my size, in excellent condition, for only $4. I figured that since I had been wanting to buy a pair anyway, and would have spent $20-30 on them new, that this was a pretty good deal. I brought them to the cashier, who rang them up and told me my total. I was a bit surprised, because it wasn’t what the sign said. She said they were – are you ready for this – $1!!!!! One whole dollar! Woot! I am so glad that I picked today of all days to actually look around in there.

Then I headed out to the pharmacy to pick up the drugs. Gotta have drugs. Apparently my insurance company has changed the price for generics, but I never got a notice. Now they cost me $7 each instead of $10, so it’s a monthly total of $14. More savings, yay!

I also did my grocery shopping, so I’m pretty sure that the food I have will last until I go on vacation, so I shouldn’t have to go again for awhile.

So here’s the spending breakdown for today:
$1 – pants
$14 – prescriptions
$5 – more money on my laundry card
25 cents – gallon of water
$27.73 – groceries

So even though I spent money today, I feel pretty good about it because I got a pair of pants I needed for next to nothing, and everything else I bought was stuff I needed. Now I just need to find the motivation to do some cleaning around here. My desk is a mess, my filing pile is growing bigger every day, and I still have a bunch of stuff still straggling around looking like clutter. Oh well. I’m getting to the point where I’m starting to think more about packing for my trip, seriously hoping I don’t forget anything. Last year I forgot my camera. I definitely don’t want to do that again!

Filed Under: Shopping

Bill Paying Time

July 29, 2006 By

First of all, I am never sleeping with the blinds closed again. I didn’t get up until noon today! I need a little light to tell me when to get up.

I spent the first hour or so checking email, forums and of course blogs, then I decided I’d better get down to paying my bills, so here’s a rundown:

Paychecks:
$848.10 from main job
$289.19 commission check that Mad Scientist paid me again on. This is earmarked as vacation money
$190.30 from Job#2

Bills:
$540 rent
$88.89 electric bill. Will work on this one a bit
$106.04 cable/internet bill
$5 for magazine subscription renewal. Great deal, and this is the only one I pay for.
$200 to big credit card. I realized today that the available balance exceeds the amount due for the first time in a long time. Of course, this is partially due to a credit limit increase, but still, it’s a good sign.
$14.88 life insurance payment

I moved the vacation money out of my checking so I don’t see it, and therefore don’t spend it. With yesterday’s gifts costing $32.28, that leaves $256.91 for vacation money. Also, I wrote the checks for the next couple weeks offerings at church, so I don’t forget and spend the money now. But I’ll post that spending on those particular days, since that’s when I actually hand it over.

Also, yesterday I purchased breakfast to the tune of $1.08 (love the dollar menu!) Today I need to grocery shop and run a couple other errands, so I’ll post that spending when I get back. But first, I need to get off the time vacuum (internet) and take a shower so I can do that stuff before it’s too late!

Filed Under: Work

Post “66″

July 28, 2006 By

Just a nod to my Dad, since his business is called Salem 66. He also has a ’66 Corvette Stingray, which is restored, and a ’66 Mustang, which is still waiting for restoration. He also advertises in the local paper’s holiday songbook, on page 66 of course. So welcome to my 66th post.

I called Bad Part Company this morning. They transferred me to the rep for that particular manufacturer. He put me on hold after I described my problem, then came back on and told me that the particular defect was from 2 years ago, and he’s surprised that I got one of the defective parts. He told me to return it to his attention along with a copy of my invoice and proof of payment, and he’d issue me a refund check. (Since he does not directly work for the company I ordered the part from, he couldn’t refund my credit card.) He did mention that his company no longer deals with Bad Part Company, though he didn’t mention why. I bet I can think of one or two reasons. He also can’t reorder the part to me, so he suggested I order it from a different company. When I told him the name of another company I found online, he said it was a thumbs up. I sent out the bad part to him today, and am eagerly awaiting my refund check. But now that I’ve moved and gotten settled, I am not in immediate need of a cordless drill so I can wait until after my vacation to order the part.

I went to the souvenir shop to pick up a few things for the folks back home. Most people have already gotten a treasure trove of Vegas souvenirs, but when you live in a major tourist destination, you gotta come home bearing gifts. I got a tiny t-shirt for my niece, who will make her grand entrance at Christmas, and t-shirts for my foster brother and sister. I also found a great gift for my aunt, which I will tell you about after I give it to her. I don’t want to spoil the surprise just in case she’s reading this, but this particular thing is great!

Work was busy today. First of all, I just had a hard time getting to sleep last night, and started my day off with only 4 hours of shut-eye. Then, Mad Scientist is getting ready for another week away. This time he’s heading to Mexico to chapherone the church youth group on a mission trip to build a house for a needy family. Of course, Mad Sci being who he is, and me being his ever-efficient assistant, I took care of a lot of the things he was charged with on this trip, plus some personal things associated with it as well. Van rentals, trailer rentals, Mexico insurance for the cars, and of course getting a huge list of things to do to keep the office under control while he’s gone. Oh, and as he’s running out the door he’s giving me a rundown of his schedule going into the first half of August. He leaves tomorrow morning for Mexico, and arrives back in town Saturday afternoon. Saturday evening he hops a plane to Wisconsin for a buddy’s wedding, and is back in town either Sunday night or Monday morning (I forget which, my head was starting to spin at this point). Then, as he’s running out the door sometime after 4:00, he asks me to book a ticket and rental car to Denver for August 13-15 for a team-building cheerleading type group he’s a part of for work. In my haste, I accidentally booked the tickets for August 6-15, and once I realized my mistake quickly called the airline to try to get a refund. Since only about 5 minutes had elapsed, I got a full refund, and the agent helped me with the correct reservation, which, lucky me, was $20 less than my wrong one. Then I got the car booked, double and triple checked my work, and emailed copies of the reservations to Mad Sci. Now don’t forget, I’m on vacation August 10-16, so there will be 2 days that neither Mad Sci nor myself will be in the office, possibly more as his schedule evolves. I’d better make sure the rest of the office has my mom’s home number as well as my cell number.

Tomorrow I’m off, for real, and I already told my boss at Job#2 that I am not available. I’ve got stuff to get done. I’ll also pay bills tomorrow, since I got paid today, so I’ll just give you a spending update then. Right now, I’ve got dishes to do, tv to watch, and dessert to eat.

Filed Under: My Blog, Work