Catching Up

I've most definitely been a somewhat absentee blogger lately. Which is a bit depressing because I miss blogging, and I miss catching up with all of you, my blogger friends. So I'm going to try my best to get back into it lately, which basically means I need to stop passing out on the couch! Although I do only have one more month of needing to pump at night which will definitely help since it means I can go to sleep early instead of needing to stay up later just to get those extra ounces.

As for the lack of posts, it's been over a month since I last posted a Project 365 update. I was behind when I was still posting them, which means I'm even more behind now. I am still take a photo most days so part of me would like to get back to them, but I'm not going to stress to much if that doesn't happen.

Also, on the topic of not finishing things, last month wrapped up my 101 in 1001. I most definitely didn't complete all 101 tasks, but I would still like to post updates on the things that did happen. So add that to the to-do list!

As for things that have actually been accomplished, we made it to a pumpkin patch earlier this month!
Instead of driving all the way out to the big pumpkin patch with all types of rides and attraction, we found one at a church that basically just had pumpkins and was much more our style. Elley seemed to take it all in stride and had fun looking around, likely wondering who decided to place all the orange balls in an open field.
Of course I made sure the pumpkin we brought back with us got carved up. I had actually found online the pattern I used to carve every year growing up, Trick or... EEK! and was so excited it was as awesome I as remembered. Just the prefect mix of cute, with Minnie, and scary, with a monster.
To finish things up, I'm actually participating in a children's book swap right now, which you may have already seen going around facebook, but if you want to join in just let me know and I'll send you the details!

I do have adorable Halloween pictures I plan on sharing as well, hopefully I'll be back to bring them to the blog soon!

A Day in the Life...11/19/14

I've always loved reading Day in the Life posts and always have wanted to write on myself. (It's even on my 101 in 1001 list!) I really wanted to get one written before the baby arrives since I know life is about to change drastically and I'll look back on these days and wonder just what I did with all my time. But it wasn't till reading DIL posts by Amber, Amber, Nora that I finally felt inspired enough to make it happen myself. So here it is, a DIL of me, on November 19, 2014 at 37 weeks pregnant.

6:24AM - My alarm goes off and I hit snooze, then hit it again, and again...
7:15AM - The boy calls to tell me he just witnessed an accident around the corner from my work so I really need to get up and leave now, plus take a slightly different route than normal. Although honestly at this point I should be getting at out bed anyways.
7:25AM - Ten minutes later, I'm dressed and ready to go. As you can tell, I'm really not a morning person, and basically stay in bed till the last second possible to then get dressed as quickly as possible.
7:30AM - I throw a pumpkin English muffin in the toaster and start unloading the dishwasher while I'm waiting to finish. I never actually used to bother with breakfast, but once pregnant I realized I was so hungry I needed to. Then of course after getting gestational diabetes had to change up my routine from salted caramel or caramel apple granola bars to a healthier, but much more boring English muffin.
7:45AM - I knew it was cold outside, but didn't realize quite how cold till I saw all the frost on the grass. I realize this may not be that bad considering where you live, but for Louisiana in November, this is kind of crazy.

8:00AM - I'm at work ready to start the day.
9:33AM - I test my blood sugar two hours after eating. At 95, it's right on target. I was initially testing about 4 times a day, but as my results have stayed pretty consistent my doctor told me I was fine to cut back on it a little.
10:30AM - I snack on a handful of nuts because I'm hungry, but also since eating small snacks hopefully means I'll eat less at meals and keep my blood sugar down.

11:30AM - Wednesdays are my current doctor appointment day, so I'm sitting in the waiting room reading, although thankfully not for very long.
11:45AM - I actually think ultrasounds are kind of creepy, which is why till now I haven't shared any photos. But since this is my DIL post, and I did have an ultrasound this day, here's a glimpse of the baby-to-be.
12:00PM - I'm back to waiting, this time for the doctor, but keep myself busy reading about Kate and her pregnancy.
12:20PM - I grab a Subway sandwich in the lobby at the doctor's office and eat it while driving back to work.
3:00PM - Hungry again, so I munch of a few pieces of seaweed snack.

5:00PM - I head home for the day. Once home I'll work out, which basically just consists of some squats, pelvic thrusts, and leg lifts. I really only started doing this once I picked up gestational diabetes to keep my sugars down a little more, plus these exercises are supposed to be good for delivery too. Once finished I jump in the shower to clean up a bit.
6:20PM - I'm on my computer looking at my current blog stats, updating goodreads, and other general blogging stuff.
6:40PM - The boy and I have some pasta with his homemade arugula pesto along with a few pieces of rotisserie chicken.

7:00PM - I'm in bed watching this weeks episode of Survivor. The boy and I can't agree on tv shows, so most nights he's in the living room watching what he wants to watch and I'm in the bedroom watching what I want to watch.

8:00PM - I'm back on my computer, this time writing a review of Linger by Maggie Stiefvater.
9:00PM - Back in bed, to watch an episode of Nashville.
10:00PM - I make a cup of Sleepytime teat to drink on the couch while reading my current book (The Happiest Baby on the Block). Tea is pretty much the only think I use my Keurig for now since I cut out coffee early in my pregnancy, then had to cut out hot chocolate and apple cider when the whole gestational diabetes came along. But at least in a few weeks it should be back to normal use!

10:30 - Since I missed Top Chef when it aired at the same time as Nashville, I'm watching the repeat now.

11:30 - I'm off to bed, ready to start the whole thing again in a few hours.

Obviously I realize that I don't lead the most exciting of lives, but really, do most people on an average day? Except this is my current normal, and I'm happy to have it all written out, especially since someday not too long I'll likely look back with envy at all the time I used to spend on my computer or watching tv.

How often do you spend with downtime in the evenings? Or what are your thoughts on DIL posts?

Sneaux Day

I remember the first time I was ever in Louisiana, in August, driving across a bridge and seeing the sign "Bridges May Freeze in Cold Weather," thinking it was ridiculous. After all, as hot as it was in the summer, there's no way it could get that cold in the winter. Especially knowing it was never this hot in California, and we never had snow by the beach. Except in 2008, it did snow.

December 2008And again in 2009.

December 2009And yet again, in 2010.

February 2010Except despite what these picture may prove, snow isn't that common in Louisiana and until this stretch it hadn't snowed since the 1980s. And we haven't had any snow since 2010. Which is why everyone was so excited when snow was predicted last Friday, and all the schools were closed.

My car before leaving work FridayExcept it didn't actually snow. Instead there was frozen rain with freezing temperatures, and those bridges I mentioned, they did freeze. Unfortunately for me I still had work Friday morning. Knowing that all the schools were closed I had imagined that the roads would be empty. But I didn't factor in the bridges. From where my house is there's 3 ways to get into town, each involving bridges. Except Friday morning, two of those bridges were closed, which turned my normal 30 minute commute into one of 2 hours.

Ice in the backyard, Saturday MorningOne the way home I was under the impression that was still the only bridge open, as was everyone else. Which meant I waited 2 hours trying to cross it, until hearing on the radio that they were closing that bridge to salt in hopes of being able to reopen it. But turns out there was a second bridge, the one furthest out of the way for me, still open. That meant I had to turn around and go all the way back into town to get back to it. All in all, I got home after 4 hours of driving, which means my daily commute which is normally under an hour both ways, was 6 hours long!

The Interstate, Saturday MorningEven Saturday morning they still hadn't managed to reopened everything, but thankfully by Sunday things seem to be back to normal. So yes, while it might not be real snow depending on where you live, we did still get our fill in Louisiana. And yes, bridges definitely do freeze in Louisiana!

EDIT: I wrote this post originally on Sunday thinking this was our one snow storm for the year. I definitely wasn't expecting to be at home today because of snow. No way was I going out in it again after last Friday's craziness. The snow and ice is supposed to stay around till tomorrow afternoon, so we'll see if we leave this house tomorrow either. But for now, here's a look into our backyard today, around 4pm.

Lights, Camera, Action

You may have noticed that the pictures I've been posting lately have been less than stellar. Most often they're too blurry or too dark or who knows what else. I've posted about it before but sometimes the flash decides to stop working, and most times it starts again after a few days. But I'm approaching a week or so without it. And of course that's assuming I can even turn the flash on, since half the time the button to turn it on doesn't want to work either.

This isn't to say I haven't had my fair share of use out of my little Sony Cybershot. I've had it since May 2005, and I know most people don't use cameras for that long, so I've definitely made the most out of it. But for a while now, it's been time for me to upgrade too a new camera. I just haven't been quite ready to take the plunge yet. (Even though owning and learning to use a DSLR is on my 101 to 1001.)

Except I guess the boy got tired of me complaining. And I might have had a mild breakdown a few days ago after frustratingly taken blurry photo after blurry photo. But in hope of calming me down, and from his point of view making his life easier, the boy gifted my with a new Canon Rebel T3i.

My new camera photographed by my old camera.
See how dark and blurry it looks?I'm still figuring out how to use it, and haven't even attempted to shoot on manual yet, but I'm already loving it. No more worrying about whether the flash will go off or not. No more blurry photos. And there's the fact I can actually delete photos off the camera, some my cybershot was failing at lately. While these in no way really show what the camera is capable of, they do at least prove I'm finally using a camera that's not half broken!





What's the longest you've used a camera? And any tips for me on learning to use my new DSLR?

Curl it Up

I've been using my current hair gel forever, or really winter break senior year of college. That's when you know a hair products made an impact, when you know exactly when you started using it. I bought it on a whim, I figured with such a name I knew actually what it would do.
And sure enough, Curls Up, did exactly what it promised and held my curls throughout the day. (And just ignore the messy counter in the background. I'm sure it's no worse than yours, right?) It doesn't leave my hair hard or crunchy and yet yet manages to keep them throughout the day. Plus it smells a little bit like grapefruit.

So when I ran out recently I went to the drugstore to pick up some more as normal. Except I couldn't find any. I stopped looking and walked around the store hoping I would find it somewhere else, or when I got back it would magically appear. But still back in the hair product section, no Curls Up. I had my droid phone with me, so took it out to check the manufacturer to see if they carried anything else by them. After confirming it was made by FX, and reading everyone else rave reviews online (I guess I'm not the only one obsessed), but also complaints that others hadn't been able to find it either. I thought I was going to have to officially switch to a new hair gel, except...
I found it just with brand new packaging. You can see around it's neck there is a little tag with the old bottle on it, but obviously I didn't see it at first. I do like the new bottle, and thinks it makes it look a little more high class, but honestly I was just glad to had found it.

Anyone else use Curls Up or any other FX products? (And FYI, I have tried their Straighten Out as well, but wasn't a huge fan) Or what do you use in your hair?

And in case you were confused this post was all me. You would think if this was a sponsored post it wouldn't be about my difficulty finding it, right?

Wine and Love

I have a few friend's that partake in Nora's weekly Wine & Love, but this is my first time joining in on the fun.


Wines

• It has been so ridiculously hot lately. I'm saying high 90's to 100's and that's without the heat index. We've gotten to the point where we (the people who refused to turn on the heater until it was practically freezing) are leaving the air conditioning on 24/7. I can only imagine what our next electricity bill will look like.


• I just know I'm going to be completely tired at work tomorrow that it's going to be hard for me to function because...

Loves

• I'm going to the midnight showing up Deathly Hallows tonight! It's my 4th HP midnight showing (all of which have been with the boy meaning our relationship is half as old as the HP movies), and I can't wait!


• Speaking of movies, we're also supposed to take the boy's niece to go see Winnie-the-Pooh weekend. Is it silly, that part of me is just as excited to see Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, and the rest of the gang?


• I e-mailed my first potential photographer recently. I haven't heard anything yet, but hopefully it works out so I can move onto the next task

What's on your Wine & Love list this week? Be sure to head over to Walking with Nora to join in on the fun!

Not Quite Triple A

Every since I could drive I've been on my parents triple A account. I remember once in college calling, and the women on the other end saying, "I'd like to thank you for your 30 years as a member, but I don't think you've actually been a member that long." But I always kind of assumed I would be a member just as long. So when my parents sent me the bill so I could actually start paying on my own, I was a little surprised that he advised me not to renew. His reasoning was that if anything went wrong with my car he would be able to take car of it all.

Well that got put to the test this past week, when I went to start my car and it wouldn't start. I doubled checked my AAA card just in case, the actual expiration date of the card was a few weeks ago, but I do still have the renewal bill sitting behind my computer. The boy was still in bed sleeping, so I woke him up freaking out a little.

He got dressed and dropped me off at work, and I was there on time and he was able to get to campus in time for his class as well. At the end of the day he stopped by the Toyota dealership, which is around the corner from my work, and picked me up. He had a night class and due to timing I wound up having to head back with him. I had One Day, which I was reading at the time, to keep me occupied. I also was able to check out some of the renovations to LSU student union that have been completed since I graduated. I'm definitely a fan, and wish parts of it were there while I was still working on my Masters. After class we headed back to the house, where he was able to put the new battery and my car was good as new the following day.

So basically I was able to easily get through car trouble without triple A. But on the other hand what if this had happened on a day when the boy had left before me. I would have pretty much have been stranded. So the question is, do have have triple A or not? And if you have it have often do you really use it? Or if you don't have it, what do you do when you have car troubles?

~Shoshanah

An Annonomous Phone Call Away

A few weeks ago I was driving to work when a light came on in my car. I called the boy freaking not sure really what to do. I tried to describe what the light looked like over the phone, but couldn't quite get the message across. He told me to pull over and look up in the manual what the light meant. After a little research it meant either I had forgotten to put the gas cap on (No), or there was something wrong with the engine.

We made plans that the boy would meet me on my lunch break and we'd drop my car off. But while I was a block away from my office I noticed my car dealership, that I hadn't realized was so close to my office. I dropped my car off and then made my into work.

By around lunchtime they called me to say what was wrong with my car was... nothing. They couldn't figure it out. They turned the light off, and since they couldn't figure out what was wrong it would be free of charge. Just if it came back on I was supposed to head back.

Two weeks go by...I'm driving to work, and the light comes back on. This time I know what it means and where to go. So I head back to the dealership. Luckily the girl working the desk remembered me since I had only just been there. Again they called me around lunchtime, but this time they knew what was wrong, or at least they had an idea. They told me my air filter had to be replaced. (At least I think that's what it was. It was at least some type of filter.)

They gave me an estimate, and I called the boy since I had no idea if the estimate made sense. He called around to a few other places, and confirmed that the price they gave me was ridiculously high. He wanted me to call the dealership back and anonymously get a quote on the cost for the part and the service.

So I called the dealership back anonymously. The parts center easily gave me the cost of the part. (Around 1/3 of the estimate I received.) Then they transferred me to the service desk. I told them that was looking for an estimate of the service for this specific part for this specific model. I'm guessing this wasn't that common of a service, because I'm pretty sure they new it was me. "What did you say your name was?" she asked me. Except I didn't want to tell them my name, because they would probably tell me exact what I had been previously quoted. Finally, she told me she'd have to check with the mechanic and the service would be based on the length of the repair. I could give her my phone number and they could call me back with an estimate. Since I didn't want to identify myself, I told her "Thanks, but no."

Not too surprisingly, about 30 minutes after that call I received a called back from the dealership. "We just wanted to call you back with good news! It turns out the mechanic had overestimated the amount of time it would take to fix your car. And it's going to cost you less!" This new estimate? Over $150 less than the original. I guess my anonymous phone call did the trick.

So at the end of the day I went to pick of my car. And they even gave me a free mint! Or on the other hand, a mint I paid a few hundred dollars for. Hopefully, this fix does it, and I won't be heading back to the dealership after another two weeks!

Anyone else had any interesting dealing with getting your car fixed? Did they at least throw in a mint for free?

~Shoshanah

To The Birds

Normally in the mornings I leave the house while the boy is still asleep. But the other day (which really means a few weeks ago, but this it's taken me this long to blog about it) the boy had to leave before me. I was up and getting dressed while he left the house, but seconds after he walked outside my phone rang.

"You need to get outside right now!" the boy almost screamed on the phone. So even though I was practically half dressed I ran out front. And what did I find when I was out there?
This baby bird just hanging out on the roof of the boy's car. The bird clearly didn't want to move, since it waited for me to run into the house so I could have a quick photo shoot. It was a little eerie that with us so close the bird didn't move once. I thought it was because it was still just a baby, and wasn't able to fly yet. I didn't think we should touch the bird (although according to the boy the stories of mommy birds abandoning their babies because they smell like humans aren't true). So instead I made the boy grab a towel from the house.

Luckily as the boy approached with the towel, the bird got a clue. I guess it wasn't as much as a baby as I had thought, because once the boy got close it flew away on its own. And now that we had no fear of harming any animals we were both able to head out and start our day.

~Shoshanah

Hair Spaghetti

The other night the boy got out of the shower with a very profound thought, "That conditioner you use is really just like olive oil." Umm, what? Yeah it made no sense to me either, so I asked if he could elaborate a little. "See you add olive oil to spaghetti to get the strands to stop sticking together. And you add conditioner to your hair to get the strands to stop sticking together. It's the same thing"

"I guess I see how they're similar, but that's not all conditioner does."

"You should still just save money and use olive oil in your hair," he replied back.

"That's crazy! It would make my hair all oily. They may have a similar function, but there are definitely not even close to the same thing. I would never want to put olive oil in my hair"

Do you know what he did then? Out came the conditioner bottle so he could look at the ingredients. Can you guess what one of the ingredients to my conditioner is? Wouldn't you know they use "Olive Fruit Oil" in it. The boy wanted to be sure I mentioned that he was righteously vindicated and that olive oil and conditioner are practically the same thing. However, I don't plan on taking olive oil into the shower with me anytime soon!

~Shoshanah

Who Turned Out the Lights

I had my post for tonight all thought out, and knew exactly what I wanted to tell you all. Except the drive home from work today was in the pouring scary rain. And instead of being 10 minutes as normal, it took my over 30 minutes get home. The main reason being that the stoplight closest to my apartment was out, which backed up traffic completely.

But not only was the stoplight out, the entire block had no power. It seems the combination of extreme rain and wind and thunder and lightning had downed a power line or two, and my apartment was without power. (Yes, there were other places without power, but clearly the fact MY apartment had no power is the most important!) Luckily, since it was Hanukkah, I still had matches on the table as well as Hanukkah candles. So I lit candles for the night (along with any other candle I could find in my apartment).

So I now had light, but no power. Without power I wasn't sure what to do. No power meant no TV, no internet, and no computer. I called people on my cell phone, until I realize the smart thing to do would be to save my cell's power, just in case. But since I had managed to light up part of my apartment I was able read until the boy got home.

Once he arrived home we figured the smart thing to do was to try to find somewhere with power that could feed us dinner. After a very leisurely dinner at What-A-Burger who headed home fingers crossed. And.... the power was back!

Its funny how helpless you can feel without something like electricy. And a little crazy to think that a hundred or so years ago, there was never any power. I mean how did they survive back then without the internet?

~Shoshanah

Tricks and Treats

They sent out an e-mail at work warning yet again about the dangers of swine flu H1N1 virus. They reminded everyone of the obvious to wash your hands, to not sneeze into your hand, silly things like that. Then to get us all in the health spirit HR came around and passed out a box of Kleenex to everyone. (I went with a red decorated box. I need to keep my desk color coordinated after all.)

The someone else from HR came by with a plastic pumpkin jack-o-lantern filled with packs of anti-bacterial gel. Sort of like trick-or-treating in reserve. Except you don't normally trick-or-treat for anti-bacterial gel. Although they had a few different scents. I wound up going with atomic apple.

And coincidentally HR also brought me my birthday cupcake not to long afterwards. Once a month they give out birthday cupcakes to everyone who had a birthday that month. They had a few different standard flavors, and I wound up going with red velvet. The cupcake was so pretty. It even had a chocolate fluer-de-lis on top. I even went to take a picture, but realize my camera was sitting next to my computer at the apartment. You'll have to trust me on how pretty it looked. And the cupcake itself tasted absolutely amazing. Although looking back now, I really want to try one of those chocolate chip cupcakes. I guess I might just have to pick up a chocolate chip cupcake myself!

~Shoshanah

Not Quite the Weekend's End

I finally got to lay out at the pool today! Its been so rainy every weekend for the past, ooo month, but today it was nice and sunny out. Of course, it'll probably wind up pouring before the night is over. But I made sure to take advantage. Not too sure how many more sunny days are going to be left this year. So I feel the need to take advantage. I have to admit one thing I'm going to miss most about not living in this apartment will be the lack of a pool.

Also this weekend LSU won their football game. It was an ugly game, and overall a little ridiculous. I wound up watching the game myself while the boy was at work, and even so there was quite a bit of yelling at the tv going on.

In a few hours I'll be at Kol Nidre services. And them tomorrow I'll be spending the day at temple for Yom Kippur. Its nice not going to work, but I wouldn't say its really a holiday. Several hours and fasting doesn't quite seem relaxing to me. And if you're curious from my Rosh Hashanah post, I've decided to go to both services at the more religious temple. I guess its off to start getting ready. And to anyone else whose observing Yom Kippur, I hope you have a quick and easy fast.

~Shoshanah

My Frog Prince

Last night as I was getting ready to go to sleep I noticed something small and dark on the carpet. I looked closer and realize I was staring at a tiny little frog. Now if I had been outside I would have looked at it and said, "Aww how cute! It's a little baby frog." But I was not outside I was in my apartment. Which mean there was a frog in my apartment!

Let's just say a freaked out quite a bit. There was a little yelling involved. I made the boy get off the couch to safe me. Of course the frog didn't want to be caught and hopped into the corner behind furniture.

"That's it," he said, "I can't reach him there."

"But what if the frog is pregnant and has babies and we wind up having and apartment full of frogs!"

"It's a baby. It's not going to have any babies of its own." But I insisted and he moved the furniture out of the way, and was able to corner the frog. He caught the frog in his hands, and I ran to the open the back door where he threw it outside. And our apartment was frog-less once again.

On a slightly similar note. I can't wait to see Disney's The Frog Prince this winter. Not only is it the first Disney princess movie in forever, it also takes place in New Orleans. I'm really really hoping they do a good job, and don't disappoint.

~Shoshanah

Good-Bye Cosmo

I received my October Cosmo recently, which is my last issue. No, nothing is happening to the magazine, I just decided not a renew my subscription. Its a little bittersweet. Ever since high school Cosmo has been my favorite magazine. I used to say I couldn't fly without one, and every time I flew home from college I would buy one. I soon learned that as long as I was buying 2 or 3 Cosmos a year it was far cheaper to just subscribe, and that's what I've been doing for the past 3 years.

Why did I decide not to renew, considering most of the time you can get a subscription for around $15? Partly because after reading it for almost 10 years it each article seems to be strangely familiar. It's kind of hard to come up with brand new material year after year, month after month.

But mainly its because a lot of it no longer applies to my life. I don't really feel like I need to read dating tips and no longer need to read articles telling me "Why He Hasn't Called," or something similar. Which I guess means I'm leaving a life stage behind. Look at it this way. In elementary school I used to subscribe to American Girl Magazine. After a few years I grew out of that and started reading Seventeen. And by high school I moved onto Cosmopolitan.

Which brings up the question, what now? Don't get me wrong I'll still be receiving Entertainment Weekly and Glamour in the mail so I won't be magazine free, but part of me thinks I should replace Cosmo with something else. I do like reading Redbook, which I feel is somewhat similar to a married person's Cosmo, but I'm not married. On a similar note I like reading wedding magazines, but I'm not engaged and would feel awfully silly subscribing to one. So basically I'm not sure what the next step is. Anyone have any good suggestions? What magazines do you subscribe to or enjoy reading? Anyone else feel a little guilty when you choose to stop receiving a magazine you almost seemed to grow up with?

~Shoshanah

He's almost a Prince Charming

Over this past weekend we went to dinner at VooDoo BBQ & Grill. It's one of those semi-fast food places. Were you order at the front and they give you a number to take back to your table. There is a "waitress" mainly to bus tables and to make sure no one needs anything crazy.

We'd been sitting down and were both almost done with our brisket when the waitress came up to our table and asked if we needed anything. "Maybe a refill?" The boy responded back, "I don't need a refill on my drink, but I'd take a refill on my brisket." She laughed and and said no go. Her manager happened to be walking by and she told her manager laughing, "Don't go over to their table. He asked for a refill on brisket." Both girls walked away laughed, leaving the two of us alone at our table.

After they left the boy jokes to me, "If I wasn't here with you, I bet they would have brought me a brisket refill." I of course agreed, he can be pretty charming when he wants to be and we both went back to eating what we had left. And then the manager came back out with a hot plate of brisket! Seriously! He heartily thanked her, and laughed over the whole situation the rest of the night.

Then today, he called me on my lunch break, "What do I need to pick up the football tickets you bought?" It turns out there were still a few tickets left for the LSU home football opener in few weeks, so I went online and bought us tickets. The tickets were at will call on campus, since I figured it'd be easiest if he picked them up between classes. I told him the website said he would need the credit card I used and my id.

"Well, I'm halfway there, so I'm going to try to get them anyways. I printed out the confirmation e-mail so we'll see what happens."

He called me back about 10 minutes later saying he'd been able to pick up the tickets. I was awfully surprised, "Didn't they at least ask for the credit card that was used to purchase them?" To which he responded, "There was a girl working the window."

I'm sure there might be girls out their who'd be jealous if their boyfriend was able to charm other girls so easily. But my point of view is more that if I'm actually benefiting then there's isn't really anything wrong. There's also the fact I trust him completely.

How would you feel if you were in a similar situation? Jealous or almost slight amused by it all like me?

~Shoshanah

Is It Worth It?

The other day I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things. I just went to the slightly ghetto-ish one down the street instead of driving all the way to Fresh Market or Whole Foods. I really only needed to buy potatoes and milk, and didn't really seen the need. (Potatoes to make mashed potatoes, and milk for the boy to drink.)

I don't think its really a shopping trip unless I go down every isle so of course I wound up with a few extra items, a jar of pesto, some different cheeses, a bag of lentils, and a bag of Stacy's Pita Chips (parmesan, garlic, and herb flavor). This is pretty much why I try to avoid going grocery shopping myself. I like going with a boy because I get a 2nd opinion, and someone to veto purchases I put in the cart. (Like the fact I probably do not need to buy ice cream, cookies, and 2 kinds of Little Debbie snack cakes.) But I was by myself, so I got to make all the decisions.

Now I've never actually tried Stacy's Pita Chips before this. I remember seeing them featured on the Food Network, and thinking they sounded really good. And I see them all the time, but this was my first time actually deciding to see what they were all about.

I go to check out and the girl scans my groceries she tries to make conversation, "Wow, these chips are a waste of money." Seriously, I thought? I wasn't sure really how to respond. Clearly I didn't think they were a waste of money since I had made the decision to buy them. I'm not sure what she was expecting to happen. Maybe I should have said something like, "I had no idea they were a waste of money. I must not have been thinking when I decided to buy them, and now that you have let me know I'm wasting my money I've decided to buy them." Or instead I could have said something really mean like, "I think your whole store is a waste of money," and just left without buying anything.

Instead, I just kind of smile and laughed with her, which was probably the polite thing to do. I guess I should only buy "waste of money food" at places like Whole Foods and Fresh Market where that's what they expect you to do.

And the chips themselves? I will admit there's not a lot of chips in the bag. But they are really yummy. Definitely not a waste of money to me, and its that the only opinion that matters?

~Shoshanah

Laundry Day

Yesterday after the Boy got home from work he said he wanted to do laundry. Probably a first from him, since I'm normally the one who insists its time to do it. We didn't have a lot of laundry to do, but since he's out of school for the summer his job schedule has changed. So instead of needing to wear a black polo shirt two days a week, its closer to 5. Besides the black polos there wasn't a whole lot else, only 1 load of clothes plus our sheets. The problem wasn't the amount of laundry we wanted to do, it was that everybody else wanted to do their laundry Sunday night too!

This is a problem since we don't have a washer and dryer in our aparments. While our apartment does have washer and dryer hook-ups we haven't made the big purchase yet. Luckily the laundry room is right by our apartment, just on the other side of the pool.

We carried our laundry over and there were two men currently put clothes in the dryer. Now our apartment has about 8 dryers, of which 2 require quarters, and the other 6 take money cards. The two men had already filled 4 of the 6 money card washers. We were able to put the sheets in one washer, but when they started filled the last washer we could use before us (since we had money on our money card, but no quarter). So we let out sheets wash, and brought the clothes back to our apartment.

One hour later we brought the clothes over, and moved the sheets to the dryer. No problems there.

One hour later we went back. Turns out someone had needed the dryer our sheets were in. The sheets were sitting on the table, still warm even. But all of the dryers were full, which meant we had no where for our clothes to go. The next dryer to end was in 30 minutes, so we brought the sheets back, made the bed, and waited.

30 minutes later we went back to move the clothes to the dryer. We checked the dryers, there was one open. Success! So we went to move the clothes. Except someone else's clothes were currently being washed in the washer we had used. But where were the clothes. The weren't on the counter. They weren't sitting in any of the dryers. They was a woman doing her laundry, but she said she didn't know, and there was no one in the room when she got there. On a whim we decided to check the washer we had used. The Boy pulled out a pair of jeans from the hot water (not fun I'm sure). Of course it was his jeans! Someone had decided our clothes still looked dirty maybe? And paid the $1.25 to wash our clothes? I'm not sure how that happened, but at least the clothes weren't missing.

Luckily, that was the end of our problems. A hour later we went back and move the clothes to the laundry. An hour after that we moved the clothes to the dryer.

But to sum up, two loads of laundry which should normally take 3 trips to the laundry, instead took SEVEN separate trips! Seriously! We've already decided our first big purchase as a couple will be buying a washer and dryer, and after yesterday I'm ready to buy one now! So we'll see, hopefully sooner rather than later.

~Shoshanah

P.S. The Bachelorette stars tonight! I'm so excited! If you really want to get ready feel free to read all my past Bachelor recaps! I can't wait to see Jillian, and here's to hoping she finds what she's looking for!

100% Chance of Rain

I talked about my morning routine before. How I leave my apartment before 7:40 and am at work 5 or 10 minutes later. Well today I left by 8:40 and didn't get into work until... get this FORTY MINUTES LATER. As in 4-0. Seriously.

Turns out last night a severe thunder storm high Baton Rouge. I do remember waking up once or twice, but promptly fell back asleep. When I did finally get up I couldn't remember if that really happened, or if I had dreamed it. I had no idea how bad it was until I started my drive.

I turned out of my apartment complex and there's a light about half a block down. It took me TWENTY minutes to go to that light. Half a block in 20 minutes. I started counting light cycles and I believe once I was close enough to see the light, and believe I saw it change 6 or 7 times. Each time there was only room for 2 or 3 cars to get through because traffic was so backed up.

With not a whole lot else today I spent my time listening to the radio. The DJs were of course talking about the weather and traffic. They said there might have been some tornadoes in the area, but they hadn't been confirmed. Several communities had lost power. A woman called in and said there was a street blocked off because a roof had blown off.

Once I finally got to work (20 minutes late of course) there were more stories to be had. One employees looked into her back yard to find all her patio furniture had blown away. One of our sales leaders was in town at a hotel. He said he got out of bed after patio furniture hit his window for the second time. Also, his hotel lost power and he had to use his laptop as light in the bathroom. The boy said he drove down a street where a tree had blown over onto 2 cars and part of a house. One employee's daughter had her school day canceled. Most schools were open, but this one had lost power. This means this past year school was canceled due to a hurricane, a snow storm, and now a thunder storm!

Thankfully, no one cared I was late, becuase they all were too. My supervisor didn't arrive until about 30 minutes after myself. The radio also said there is a 100% chance of rain tonight. And yes, it is currently raining.

~Shoshanah

P.S. Don't forget to stop by later tonight for my Frozen Thursday post!

Wake Up You Sleepy Head

Earlier today Amber on Amber Alert posted about her morning routine. Can I say that I am the exact opposite. Ummm, I think the only time I ever wake up before 6am is when I have a flight to catch. Here is my normal morning.

7:04 My first alarm goes off. Yes, the alarm is set for 7:04. I am weird about what time I set my alarm for (the crosses over to what number I have the TV volume on). I need it to be an even number. But I can't have a number ending in zero. For example, 7:00 would not work. The alarm goes off at 7:04, I turn it off and reset it and then go back to sleep.

7:08 My second alarm goes off. I can't just hit snooze when the first one goes off, because it would go off 5 minutes later at 7:09, which is an odd number. I turn the alarm this alarm off, and lay back down. I figure I have a good 5 minutes still to stay in bed.

The is probably the worst decision in make in the mornings, since I lay back down and don't set a third alarm. On a good day I manage get myself out of bed by 7:15. Today was not one of those days. I didn't make it up till 7:30. Thankfully, I have always gotten up, so I guess it is working for me.

Thankfully, I am able to get dressed and ready pretty quickly. I'm always out the door between 7:30 and 7:40. Even when I don't get started till 7:30!

I literally live 10 minutes away from work, which is the only reason I'm able to do this. Even today, getting out of bed at 7:30, I was able to clock in 5 minutes early at 7:55.

However, on a good morning I can fit in a Starbucks run. I actually have to drive by work in order to get to Starbucks. I've figured out that in order to make it work on time and go to Starbucks, I need drive past the driveway to my office by 7:45. If its before 7:45, then I know I have time to drive the extra block for a latte. Otherwise, I'll turn in to the office.

I definitely have been cutting it close the past few mornings by stying in bed so late. My goal for tomorrow? Get up with the second alarm at 7:08. Then I'll have time for Starbucks. I'm at least willing to sacrifice my sleep for that!

~Shoshanah