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New Year’s Resolutions

December 30th, 2005. Published under General. No Comments.

I’ve never really done a “New Years Resolution” list before. Oh sure, I’ve done the “I want to lose X number of pounds this year” - but we all know those never work.

So inspired by another posting I saw, I’m going to do my “resolutions” in the same fashion:

Carolyn’s 2006 List of Things

HEALTH
I want to become healthier, which will involve consistent exercise and a concentrated effort to eliminate or cut back the bad things in my diet currently.

I also want to lose weight, but I’m not going to assign a number to that goal.

PRACTICAL LIVING
I want to be better at meal planning to eat healthier and save money.

I want to learn how to do my own repairs around the house.

FINANCIAL
I want to be financially independent, and buying the house is going to be a good start on that.

I also want to adhere to my budget as closely as humanly possible so I can get some savings built up for emergencies.

I also want to have a part-time job so I can save money for home improvements.

SOCIAL
I will not be a hermit.

I will also try to expand my group of friends.

RECREATIONAL
I want to run in a 10k this summer.

I also want to join a volleyball team.

With that said, the last thing I want to do in this next year is to find my center, my peace, my bliss in myself. I only have this life - I have to learn how to love it again.

Renewal

December 30th, 2005. Published under General. No Comments.

I was going to write about something else today, but the latest snowfall sidetracked me.

Right now, I live in downtown Minneapolis and I walk to work. Lots of asphalt, glass and urban landscape. Nature is a minority in this concrete jungle. Most times, even at its best, things are pretty monochromatic, dingy and blah. Over the past two weeks, it’s been pretty warm and most of the snow that we’ve had has melted away and left the road grime, salt and general dirt all over everything.

We got about 4-5 inches of fresh snow overnight.

What a difference! Everything looks fresh, bright and new.

Even though I had to slog through piles of snow that the snow plows left at each intersection and almost wiping out a couple of times, the sight of renewal made me happy.

I’ve been thinking a lot about renewal lately. I’ll have more to say on the subject later today - for now, I need to get some of this stuff off my desk, a renewal in its own right.

If I ran the world …

December 29th, 2005. Published under General. No Comments.

… Marshall Fields would sell this.

I’ve turned into a Consumer Zombie!

Unnnnn……waaaaaaaannnnnttttt………buuuyyyyyyy……rrrnnrrrrraarrr……

Heh.

Paperback Writer

December 29th, 2005. Published under General. No Comments.

I’m debating the idea of writing a book.

It will be one of those fantastic, insightful and helpful books that will stand the test of time and will be referred to for years in the future as the turning point of communications.

My idea?

A book explaining cats to people who don’t understand cats.

Brilliant, isn’t it?

I’ll give you a brief synopsis of what cats really are - and therein lies the key into really understanding them and their behavior.

Cats are little furry obsessive-compulsive scientists with a God complex.

Sounds fishy, doesn’t it? But trust me, with my research and my own scientific study, you will come around to my way of thinking.

Once things calm down and I can devote more time to putting this burgeoning idea down on paper, I will publish it in chapters on here (Creative Commons, you know) for you all to read. Don’t expect anything of substance before the spring.

Money…it’s a drag.

December 29th, 2005. Published under General. 3 Comments.

After my plea for Miss Manners-type assistance yesterday, I got a great comment - anonymous, which is too bad because I can’t properly thank them - which helped change my perspective about the Marshall Fields gift cards.

Ever since I took the leap into buying my own home, I had to change my perspective and mindset about money. Money that in the past, I could spend freely on clothing, entertainment, whatever. Now, that my housing costs will be doubling - not to mention being completely on my own again - I’ve put the clamp down on frivolous purchasing and have fine-tuned my focus on buying only the things I need and not the things I want.

For instance, I need a microwave for my new house. In my apartment, I have a built-in microwave - obviously I can’t take that with me. A new coffee maker would be nice, but I have one already that works just fine. I would like to get a new toaster, but the one I have works just fine. Getting a Kitchen Aid mixer would be awesome - but I barely use the cheap hand mixer I already have. The only thing I could see myself buying are some new Wüsthof knives - but again, it’s not a necessity, but a luxury.

I guess I have to get over it and just enjoy the freedom to buy some nice things for my new place and a few things for myself too.

I still need a microwave, though.

Where’s Miss Manners for this one?

December 28th, 2005. Published under General. 2 Comments.

I am having a dilemma.

How do I tactfully ask one of my bosses if he would be able to use the Marshall Fields gift cards, thus buying them from me (or getting a Target gift card for the amount)?

I’ve been trying to find a place online where someone would WANT to trade for a damn Marshall Fields gift card (Hint: nobody wants them), but to no avail. I’ve been trying to find people I know that would possibly shop there and could afford to buy them off me. So far - nothing.

If I spend it there, I will make myself sick thinking that I could have bought most of my bedroom furniture for the price of a damn Kitchen Aid mixer, toaster and coffee maker at Marshall Fields. It’s sick how much they charge for shit - and it makes me sick that I can’t use this gift the way I want to.

I may have to bite the bullet, swallow my pride and just ask. I just don’t have the luxury to spend the money like that. Especially since I’m going to be buying so much OTHER stuff, it would be awesome to be able to use this gift (which was CASH last year) for what I really need.

Goddammit.

Gift Cards, Part Deux

December 27th, 2005. Published under General. 2 Comments.

I’m back to work after my extended vacation.

And what to my wondering eyes should appear?

A gift card from all the partners in my department!

A $350 gift card!*

All sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?

But it is not.

It’s a gift card … from Marshall Fields.

Marshall Fields?

When in the hell do I buy anything at Marshall Fields? Never, that’s when. Well, unless there’s a HUGE SALE on clothing, but now with the house/car purchase, I’m not buying clothing for a while, so that defeats THAT idea.

Yeah, yeah … I know MF has housewares and stuff, but compared to Target or any other place I normally shop, I think they’re way overpriced. I’ll have to go on a scouting run this noon to see what is available there, and if it’s comparable price-wise, because I’m not 100% sure on that angle.

I wonder if there’s a gift card exchange program somewhere out there on the internets? Trade it in for an Ikea card or something.

But DAMN the boys were generous this year! Way to go! I guess me giving one of my partners shit for forgetting a present last year (they did individual gifts rather than a group one) finally paid off! Now I just need to start turning the screws for Administrative Professionals Day - which he forgot this year too.

Just more proof that gift cards are the best thing ever. I should add, however, that the giver should do a bit of research to see if the recipient actually shops at the store they’re giving a gift card to. Otherwise, there’s lots of angst involved.

Not that I’m angst filled. Not at all! I’m just saying …

———

* - I just found my gift from the Senior Managers and Managers! A $140 Marshall Field’s Gift Card! Holy shit!! I have $490 to spend at Marshall Fields?!?!? Damn!

Post-Christmas Angst … and Shopping?

December 26th, 2005. Published under General. 2 Comments.

I woke up to only a pile and a half of cat puke this morning - thanks Roxy! But it was just on the carpet, so my hand carpet shampooer took care of it pretty fast.

In other news …

Today, I did the unthinkable: I went shopping.

Yes, I went shopping.

To Ikea.

Some may say “My GOD, Carolyn, have you lost your fucking mind?!” Others just shake their heads in disbelief. All are puzzled.

Not being well-known for my love of shopping during busy times (I like to shop otherwise … just get the fuck out of my way!), I decided to brave the traffic and the crowds and to go do more research for the new house, and perhaps buy if the prices were right … there was an ad on the TV announcing “50% off selected items” at Ikea. So I decided that if one of those items was something I was going to buy when I moved, then I was going to buy it now and keep it in the box until I moved.

Brilliant, eh?

Want to hear something funny? The traffic from my apartment to Ikea wasn’t bad, and Ikea wasn’t packed at all … and I went there at 1:30 in the afternoon! Everyone must have been across the highway at the Mall of America returning everything their families bought for them.

(Again, the glory that is the gift card! No returns!)

Before I went, I had made an extensive list of the items that I found in both the catalog and online to see if the items looked as well in person as they did in print. I’m happy to say that they do! Through my research, I’ve decided to not go with the original Malm bedroom set that I was originally keeping my eye on, but going with the wrought iron Noresund bed frame, mirror and night stands and the Hemnes 6-drawer and 8-drawer chests (in the Antique stain) instead. It’s about $60 more than the Malm set I was looking at, but I think I will like these better in the long run.

I also figured out a TV stand solution for the “nook” in my living room: the Billy corner bookcase (in brown-black). I measured it at it’s widest point, and it will fit beautifully - in addition to matching my media shelves perfectly. I’m also going to paint everything but the kitchen and my office right away. The woodwork I plan to paint a dark brown to match the bookshelves. I’m thinking of painting the kitchen cabinents the dark brown too, but we’ll see.

All I ended up buying was a picture frame, three unfinished wood magazine racks and a tub of the black-brown stain to stain them and my Hol storage chest to match everything else.

Can you tell I’m excited about decorating the new place? Hee!

The gift that keeps on giving!

December 25th, 2005. Published under General. 2 Comments.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my cat Roxy decided to give to me:

Twelve piles of cat puke

Seriously, I don’t know what’s wrong with her, but I’m starting to get very worried. I thought changing her cat food to the sensitive stomach stuff would make a difference. I did have some of the new Science Diet “indoor cat” formula in their dishes too … perhaps that’s what made her sick.

But the little shit decided that the following needed cat puke on it:

• My couch
• My bed
• My couch blanket
• My striped rug
• My carpeting
• My PURSE
• And finally, my quarterly IRA statements.

Roxy, do you think you could puke on the LINOLEUM in the KITCHEN for once? Or at least vomit on something that can either be 1) thrown away or 2) easily cleaned? My bedspread can’t be washed in my tiny fucking washing machine - only in a full size one. The ones in my building are $1.50 per wash and per dry (and it takes TWO dry cycles to get that bedspread dry). That would be fine, but guess who can’t find her change bin? Either that or Dan decided it was his and took it. No matter that I’ve been putting change in it for months.

So all I have is a fucking $20 bill on a day when NOTHING IS OPEN.

Merry Fucking Christmas to me!

Happy ChrisMaHanukKwanZaKah!

December 25th, 2005. Published under General. No Comments.

Go to Kuntz Manor, click on “Commercials & Videos”, and click the “Virgin Mobile” video between Federal Express and Fox Sports (8th down in the list).

Watch.

Laugh.

Eat food.

Drink something.

Happy ChrisMaHanukKwanZaKah to you!