My Uterus Hurts

God, who knew going off birth control would be so painful?

Christmas First

I am a huge sucker for after Christmas sales on Christmas stuff.  Huge!  Just ask the hubster.  I refuse to buy Christmas stuff at full price unless it's super extra special*.  All my wrapping paper, tissue paper, ribbons, lights, decorations, all at 50% off or more!

So imagine the surprise at my own will power when I have only spent $20 on Christmas stuff.  It helps that I don't have a house to decorate anymore or a place to store anything I buy.  So far I've purchased

• One movie ticket stub ornament
• 3 rolls of wrapping paper
• 2 packages of gift tags
• 1 package of small boxes
• 1 package of slipper boxes
• 1 package of pill boxes
• 1 package of tissue paper
• peanut butter m&ms
• holiday mint m&ms

I walked away from two ornaments at Kohl's today too.  I've even perused the sale stuff online and have turned it all down.

* The hubster and I pick one ornament a year to purchase that kind of represents the year or something important to us.  We usually buy full price so it doesn't sell out when we do find "the one".  This year it was an Eiffel Tower ornament from Anthropologie.  Normally, we'd buy ornaments while we are on vacation, but apparently, Christmas ornament souvenirs are not popular in Europe as they are in the States.  One of my favorites is a snowboarding bear I bought in Vail over Fourth of July.

Chew toys

I bought a chew toy for the dogs for Christmas. It was so popular that they all fought over it. My mom and I bought three more so each dog would have their own. They have no interest in their individual toy, they just want the original.

*sigh*

Ticking Time Bomb

And so the countdown begins...

Not the countdown until the hubster arrives in San Diego (that has been going on for almost 6 months and it'll hit zero soon enough).  This countdown is a much more explosive one.  I'm not saying that things have been a breeze being separated from the hubster.  We were thrown back into our long distance relationship days and it has been tough.  Things were easier back then.  We had hardly spent more than a few long weekends together.  For this separation, we had been living together for over 7 years.

Now that the hubster arrives on Jan 1, the time bomb between him and I will have defused, but now the fuse has been lit for the time bomb between us (hubster and I) and my parents.  You can almost cut the tension with a knife and once the hubster is here permanently, you will be able to cut it with a knife.

What we need to have happen is:

1. hubster finds a job
2. we find a tenant to rent our place (hopefully, a good one who wants to stay forever *keeps fingers crossed*
3. Find a house to buy or a place to rent

All this needs to happen within the next few months or who knows what state my relationship with my parents will be once I leave their house for the second time in a decade.

Dog hater

Does this look like a man who hates dogs?

I think not.

Dog picture of the day

Chew toy... What chew toy?

I'm not hiding anything.

Timekeeper

Yesterday at 3pm:

Mom: Why are you home so early?  You went to Target, you must have left even earlier!

Today at 4 pm:

Mom: Why are you home so late?

WTF, why don't you tell me when I should come home and leave at...  Apparently, I'm doing it wrong.

Willful disobedience

Sounds much more negative than it is. So dramatic!

So I was at yoga this morning and it was a flow class which means you go through a sequence slowly to learn it and then go through the last few times in rhythm with your breath. I.e. One movement per breath. Anyway, we were going through our second sequence and I heard the instructor say what to do, but I just zoned her out and did my own thing. So I was that one person in yoga who did not look like the others! How embarrassing except I was right, but wrong at the same time. The instructor missed a section in the flow and my pose reminded her, but I was not in the right pose. Like I had missed the sequence to get into the pose I was in.

Either way, it gave me a chuckle. Not a very hard class today, but I'm not complaining because Tuesdays kicked my butt. Enjoyed a leisurely shower and now to finish off the day at work.

I haven't decided if I want to get my eyebrows threaded today or not.

Christmas cheer

Kristina and I went Christmas shopping on Saturday again. I needed to return a gift and find a replacement. We popped into Victoria's Secret because they were having a sale. I picked up to new undies and while waiting in line to pay, a nice woman gave each of is $10 secret rewards cards! My purchases ended up being $3! By far the second cheapest visit. Cheapest visit is when I go in for free undies.

Then we went to roadrunner to get Kristina new running shoes for our 15k in March. Since I found some lightly loved wave riders for $45, I let her use my $25 off coupon on top of my 10% roadrunner VIP discount.

Passing on the savings!

Successful shopping day or so I thought

I went Christmas shopping with Kristina last night and crossed a lot of people off my list.

I got the husbter's gift which was kind of surprising since I thought I'd be searching for it down to the wire. Nice to know it's done and I don't have hours of fruitless driving ahead of me.

I bought gifts for 4 other people, but have to rethink one or two of them. I realized after the fact when I was discussing my shopping haul with the hubster that I bought a leather journal for a friend who is vegetarian and goes out her way to by vegan shoes. Yeah, don't think that gift will go over well. It's so cute though. If I journaled at all, I would splurge and keep it for myself.

I did manage to pick up some stuff for myself. I capitalized on 60% off coats and jackets at the limited and grabbed a navy blazer. I wear the crap out of my black one so this should be a good addition. I also picked up a belt from there too. I rounded off gifts to myself with some ocean spray salt scrub from lush, a yummy smelling candle from anthropologie, and our yearly ornament from anthropologie.

My credit card is singed after this.

Still need to buy for mom, dad, and brothers.

Ohio love

I'm watching Scandal and Netflix and I really do love how often ohio is mentioned, especially Franklin County!

I guess my vote doesn't mean as much anymore.

Travel agent

After I open my own wedding planning business, I think I'll be a travel agent. I always end up planning trips. I do insane research for Europe, for snowboarding, for everything. I always want the best deals. I track flights and sale religiously almost.

For example, I've been checking car rentals. I originally booked at what I thought was a good price. I've been periodically checking and have rebooked two more times. I saved $35 by doing so. I think its worth the few extra minutes every few weeks.

Netflix

I've been burning through shows on Netflix - Law and Order, Law and Order: SVU, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Dexter (caught up with hubster, cannot go any further), Copper -  and I've been struggling to find new things to watch.  I really need to find shows that have more than one season so I can just mindlessly go through episodes unlike Copper which was one season. I started Scandal last night and while it was entertaining, I feel like it's going to get old fast.

Enough with Olivia Pope's "My gut is always right" and her matter-of-fact mini speeches that always get her her way.

Starting episode two...

Reverting to a homebody

I realized last night that I had reverted to my habits as a homebody which I had picked up when I first moved to Ohio when I didn't have any friends. It makes sense because I've lost touch with a lot of people and I don't even have my husband.

I spend my days going to work, eating dinner way too early and then watching tv. I never leave the house after getting home from work. I'm getting tired of it, but it's hard to find the motivation to go out when trying not to spend money. It would help if my husband was here. Who wants to go out by themselves?!?

I can't wait for the hubster to come out and for us to find our own place!