Turning the clocks forward this morning brought me great joy- Spring is a couple weeks away and we're inching closer with each sunset to the longest day of the year. Yay!
Spring also means the yearly changing of my wardrobe between closets and.... the dreaded spring cleaning. I don't have a garage, attic, or basement to focus on during the "big clean", which is a blessing. Three extra rooms would give me liberty to collect three more rooms full of clutter and stuff I probably don't need. I did some major cleaning this fall- clothes, papers, and just overall junk. If I hadn't used it or couldn't justify a reason for the space it was taking up- in the trash it went! I used when I moved in as a benchmark; I wanted not much more than I had when I moved in almost 7 years ago (yes, it's been that long!!). Sure, there are things I've collected since then, but living in a small space really makes you prioritize what stays and what goes on a daily basis.
So I'll give this cleaning another go. Probably on a weekend when I can open the windows and really do a thorough job. Sometimes the mood has to strike me to take on a task like this, and then I'm a nonstop machine for 8+ hours until every single thing is perfect. Thankfully, this mood doesn't appear save for once or twice a year. (But think how amazingly productive I'd be were it a constant occurance!) I'm all prepared with my natural cleaning products. Cleaning can be fun with scents like spearmint, eucalyptus, and lemon.
The goal is really to live as organized and clutter-free as possible. It clears your mind and creates an overall peaceful environment when all the "stuff" is cleared out. It will also make moving that much easier when the day comes... hopefully sooner than later.
Totally off-topic here, but Bob's Burgers is on Fox in the background (waiting for my weekly Family Guy fix) and this show is just plain...odd. I won't turn it off though. It's quirky humor and all the characters seem to be lacking chins, but the humor is desert dry, and that is what keeps me watching. They can't touch Family Guy, not even close... but the jury is still out on this one.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Thumbs up POTUS
Definitely a good thing to see the Obamas recognize the epidemic of bullying. It's a huge problem, and often ignored, but bringing national attention to this issue will hopefully help stop it. I know my school has a zero tolerance policy on this, but I can't even imagine what goes on inside and outside schools today, especially at the "cyber" level.
Of course, everyone agrees it's wrong, terrible, shocking, and so on... but it's still going on. It's sickening to hear of elementary age kids killing themselves because no one listened or reported things they witnessed at school.
There has to be a way to stop this; not overnight, but quickly. You can only put so much blame on the parents. I could go on forever... but I think this says it best:
Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive. -Dalai Lama
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Beyond Ridiculous
So I get the mail today and see the usual Bed Bath & Beyond ad. I always page through it, since there's a store 2 miles from me, and see if there's anything I need.
Hold on a minute
Am I the only one who flips through their colorful pages, brimming with fantastic household and bath items you can't live without, and thinks "Who needs any of this stuff??"
Let's browse the ad, shall we?
1. A fabric shower curtain. $39.99. Fair enough. We all need one of those.
2. A Yankee Candle in "Fluffy Towels" scent. What? How does this differ from their "Clean Cotton" scent? If you do laundry on a regular basis and throw a Snuggle sheet in there- bam!- there's your fluffy towel scent wafting through the house. Do some more laundry and save yourself $20.
3. Sensor Soap Dispenser. For $39.99 and 4 AA batteries, you can have a countertop soap machine that dispenses an adjustable amount of soap so your lazy ass doesn't have to push the regular soap pump. Really? So by the time the batteries and soap are purchased, you're looking at $50 to wash your hands.
4. Shake Weight. Not even going there.
5. Double Microfiber Floor Duster $19.99, Microfiber Swivel Mop $17.99, and Angled Broom $14.99. Who needs three different things to clean the floor? Everyone knows those floor dusters and mops do nothing but push the dirt around. Nothing gets clean. If you have the expensive, real hardwood flooring you need special cleaner and some elbow grease to do that job right (or a housekeeper).
The point of my story is TOO MUCH! We use too much, live in a world of too much, and keep creating new items to brainwash people into thinking their house (and life) will be clean and organized if they have the right mop and container for everything.
Stop the insanity!
I think this really hit home when a few years ago I saw all these "containers" near the Christmas decorations. A plastic wreath holder. A plastic case to hold the Christmas lights and extension cords. A long plastic cylindrical tube to store wrapping paper. You know where I keep my wrapping paper? Behind the couch! Go ahead and look next time you come over (for any of my friends actually reading this). No extra container needed, I throw all those rolls back there and next year there they are, ready to wrap all my presents. Feng Shui is destroyed by clutter, and although I'm guilty of being a "saver" on occasion, I refuse to buy more junk to store, organize, or clean my already existing junk!
I'm not trying to tear up BB&B, but they're totally guilty of a store who sells 25% essential items, and the rest is just frivolous garbage! So the next time you need a container to hold your other containers or 85 varieties of mops, hangers, brooms, or shoe racks... you know where to go.
Hold on a minute
Am I the only one who flips through their colorful pages, brimming with fantastic household and bath items you can't live without, and thinks "Who needs any of this stuff??"
Let's browse the ad, shall we?
1. A fabric shower curtain. $39.99. Fair enough. We all need one of those.
2. A Yankee Candle in "Fluffy Towels" scent. What? How does this differ from their "Clean Cotton" scent? If you do laundry on a regular basis and throw a Snuggle sheet in there- bam!- there's your fluffy towel scent wafting through the house. Do some more laundry and save yourself $20.
3. Sensor Soap Dispenser. For $39.99 and 4 AA batteries, you can have a countertop soap machine that dispenses an adjustable amount of soap so your lazy ass doesn't have to push the regular soap pump. Really? So by the time the batteries and soap are purchased, you're looking at $50 to wash your hands.
4. Shake Weight. Not even going there.
5. Double Microfiber Floor Duster $19.99, Microfiber Swivel Mop $17.99, and Angled Broom $14.99. Who needs three different things to clean the floor? Everyone knows those floor dusters and mops do nothing but push the dirt around. Nothing gets clean. If you have the expensive, real hardwood flooring you need special cleaner and some elbow grease to do that job right (or a housekeeper).
The point of my story is TOO MUCH! We use too much, live in a world of too much, and keep creating new items to brainwash people into thinking their house (and life) will be clean and organized if they have the right mop and container for everything.
Stop the insanity!
I think this really hit home when a few years ago I saw all these "containers" near the Christmas decorations. A plastic wreath holder. A plastic case to hold the Christmas lights and extension cords. A long plastic cylindrical tube to store wrapping paper. You know where I keep my wrapping paper? Behind the couch! Go ahead and look next time you come over (for any of my friends actually reading this). No extra container needed, I throw all those rolls back there and next year there they are, ready to wrap all my presents. Feng Shui is destroyed by clutter, and although I'm guilty of being a "saver" on occasion, I refuse to buy more junk to store, organize, or clean my already existing junk!
I'm not trying to tear up BB&B, but they're totally guilty of a store who sells 25% essential items, and the rest is just frivolous garbage! So the next time you need a container to hold your other containers or 85 varieties of mops, hangers, brooms, or shoe racks... you know where to go.
 |
| What's inside all those containers? Trash |
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Too much
This is going to be a bit of a rambling rant I have a feeling... so be prepared
So I just got home from a really frustrating commute home. Thanks to the folks at PennDot for jamming up 476! (clapping) I have no idea what they're doing or trying to accomplish, but I think they play switcharoo with the concrete barriers every single night... for fun! It's like a new road every day when I drive home. God help the out of towners or those people I loathe completely who lack any kind of merging skills.
My Yankee 'Spiced Pumpkin' air freshener decided to work OT today, bringing back memories of the Thanksgiving dinner table (not exactly the smell I want on Mardi Gras...but what smell do I want on Mardi Gras? Beignets, or some of those delish donuts perhaps? Yes, much more so than the spiced pumpkin...I do love pumpkin though... OK run on sentence getting out of hand...)
Anyway
The pumpkin, the traffic, all this combined with the powdery smell of 120 baby diapers in my back seat created an almost nauseating 35min driving experience. (Note: the diapers are part of the gift for the baby shower I'm going to this Sun. NOT mine)
Anyone who knows me, knows I can smell anything, at all times. This can be a good thing, but many times it's a baaaad thing. Baaad with multiple As. I'll spare you the details. Point is, the trafficky, pumpkin-diaper-smelling drive home was... not relaxing!
There should be a life-size version of Febreeze for the entire world. Not that I believe spraying your clothes/fabrics/whatever-they-advertise-you-can-spray-it-on is any substitute for actually washing them, but imagine if, with just one spray, we could Febreeze all the unplesant smells away! Like the woman who came in my office today smelling like Chinese takeout (Febreeze her!), or the kitchen the next morning after you cook some bangin tacos the night before (cause you know that lingers til the next morning) Give me life size Febreeze, or a magic wand, something!!
I will say though, I'll take the spiced pumpkin/baby powder smell any day over the smell of cigarette smoke. I won't even start with that one.
OK
I'm done.
And breathing in through my mouth the rest of the night.
So I just got home from a really frustrating commute home. Thanks to the folks at PennDot for jamming up 476! (clapping) I have no idea what they're doing or trying to accomplish, but I think they play switcharoo with the concrete barriers every single night... for fun! It's like a new road every day when I drive home. God help the out of towners or those people I loathe completely who lack any kind of merging skills.
My Yankee 'Spiced Pumpkin' air freshener decided to work OT today, bringing back memories of the Thanksgiving dinner table (not exactly the smell I want on Mardi Gras...but what smell do I want on Mardi Gras? Beignets, or some of those delish donuts perhaps? Yes, much more so than the spiced pumpkin...I do love pumpkin though... OK run on sentence getting out of hand...)
Anyway
The pumpkin, the traffic, all this combined with the powdery smell of 120 baby diapers in my back seat created an almost nauseating 35min driving experience. (Note: the diapers are part of the gift for the baby shower I'm going to this Sun. NOT mine)
Anyone who knows me, knows I can smell anything, at all times. This can be a good thing, but many times it's a baaaad thing. Baaad with multiple As. I'll spare you the details. Point is, the trafficky, pumpkin-diaper-smelling drive home was... not relaxing!
There should be a life-size version of Febreeze for the entire world. Not that I believe spraying your clothes/fabrics/whatever-they-advertise-you-can-spray-it-on is any substitute for actually washing them, but imagine if, with just one spray, we could Febreeze all the unplesant smells away! Like the woman who came in my office today smelling like Chinese takeout (Febreeze her!), or the kitchen the next morning after you cook some bangin tacos the night before (cause you know that lingers til the next morning) Give me life size Febreeze, or a magic wand, something!!
I will say though, I'll take the spiced pumpkin/baby powder smell any day over the smell of cigarette smoke. I won't even start with that one.
OK
I'm done.
And breathing in through my mouth the rest of the night.
Monday, March 7, 2011
iCan't... or can I?
First off let me just say- if you've never had Parmesan Goldfish crackers (green bag), you don't know what you're missing. So good I can literally eat a bag a day... but I don't. That doesn't happen with any other flavor; not pizza, cheddar, Xtreme pizza or cheddar, etc, etc. Only the parmesan! Like I really need goldfish on top of the PF Chang's feast I had for dinner.
But anyway
My BBerry is fading fast. Let's hope the trip to Verizon and the software update at 2am will hold me until April 8th when I get a new phone with one of my options being... the iPhone! Something I swore I wouldn't get! I need a phone with serious email capability, and the Bberry was designed just for that. Yeah, the apps are fun and silly, but I can't tempt myself with more games and a bigger phone addiction. Times are tough in my smart phone world right now- I couldn't even do a Facebook check in at Changs tonight : (
So this means I have exactly 4 weeks to do my research and pick the best phone from Verizon'slimited and crappy selection.
Heard a pretty awesome cover this morning. Rivers Cuomo of Weezer doing 'Tomorrow' from Annie. Always loved his voice. I love musicals too, so this was a perfect combo. He sounds so effortless and natural. It's a simple but very recognizable voice. Trying to think of my favorite Weezer song. 'Island in the Sun' really shows off his voice, I think.
Jimmy Eat World has also been making many appearances on my iPod. 'My Best Theory' is quite worthy of a few repeats.
This one got the most plays today though
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPE9uSFFxrI
Time to browse the Kindle for my next read...
But anyway
My BBerry is fading fast. Let's hope the trip to Verizon and the software update at 2am will hold me until April 8th when I get a new phone with one of my options being... the iPhone! Something I swore I wouldn't get! I need a phone with serious email capability, and the Bberry was designed just for that. Yeah, the apps are fun and silly, but I can't tempt myself with more games and a bigger phone addiction. Times are tough in my smart phone world right now- I couldn't even do a Facebook check in at Changs tonight : (
So this means I have exactly 4 weeks to do my research and pick the best phone from Verizon's
Heard a pretty awesome cover this morning. Rivers Cuomo of Weezer doing 'Tomorrow' from Annie. Always loved his voice. I love musicals too, so this was a perfect combo. He sounds so effortless and natural. It's a simple but very recognizable voice. Trying to think of my favorite Weezer song. 'Island in the Sun' really shows off his voice, I think.
Jimmy Eat World has also been making many appearances on my iPod. 'My Best Theory' is quite worthy of a few repeats.
This one got the most plays today though
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPE9uSFFxrI
Time to browse the Kindle for my next read...
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Rainy Day
So it seems I was slackin a little this week. I did have 4 jobs between 7pm Thursday and 6pm Saturday sooo I'm not too mad. Happy to report I'm not nearly as tired as I thought I'd be. Usually after working job #1 for a full week and more than 2 other jobs on top of that, I'm feelin it by Saturday. I think the key is not to overthink it. Just get through each one instead of trying to figure out all 4 simultaneously.
Rainy Sunday = boo! Not that I had anything planned, but anything outdoors is certainly out of the question. So looks like I'll head to good ol' LA Fit in the next hour. That's what I love about Sunday nights at the gym- no one's there!
Finished another book on the Kindle. Judging by my indecisiveness in choosing another book, I'll just keep reading the free classics on there until I can make up my mind. I haven't read them all, so now's as good a time as ever. Maybe I'lllook up Google one of those "Books you must read before you die" lists and go from there. This Kindle will be real handy on my next vacation... which is still TBD!!!! Ahhhh! No one to blame but myself... still can't decide where to go and who to go with, if anyone. For now, tentative plans are a weekend in NYC next month and a trip to LA sometime in May possibly. Can't wait to see what the flights will be with gas prices near $4/gal. I feel like pointing in the direction of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave and saying "Ummm... it's your job... fix this!"
Time to keep with the plan and hit the "road to nowhere" (the treadmill). Let's hope my plan to run 10 miles in May without ever actually running 10 miles training for it doesn't backfire! Adrenaline will carry me the last 3 or so, right?
And P.S.
By the very "scientific" tracking software associated with Blogger, this past week people reading this blog are from Singapore, Germany, Canada, and Thailand (???) I still haven't opened the flood gates and notified my Facebook info page of this link (not sure if I ever will), but I hoped at least for some more local fans. Then again, I can't compete with the likes of Charlie Sheen, so in comparison, this blog rates alongside grass growing and paint drying.
...but I'm stickin with it!
Rainy Sunday = boo! Not that I had anything planned, but anything outdoors is certainly out of the question. So looks like I'll head to good ol' LA Fit in the next hour. That's what I love about Sunday nights at the gym- no one's there!
Finished another book on the Kindle. Judging by my indecisiveness in choosing another book, I'll just keep reading the free classics on there until I can make up my mind. I haven't read them all, so now's as good a time as ever. Maybe I'll
Time to keep with the plan and hit the "road to nowhere" (the treadmill). Let's hope my plan to run 10 miles in May without ever actually running 10 miles training for it doesn't backfire! Adrenaline will carry me the last 3 or so, right?
And P.S.
By the very "scientific" tracking software associated with Blogger, this past week people reading this blog are from Singapore, Germany, Canada, and Thailand (???) I still haven't opened the flood gates and notified my Facebook info page of this link (not sure if I ever will), but I hoped at least for some more local fans. Then again, I can't compete with the likes of Charlie Sheen, so in comparison, this blog rates alongside grass growing and paint drying.
...but I'm stickin with it!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Long Day
Thought I'd sneak in a little post today in between jobs. Bet all the people who are aren't reading this thought I was falling off the blog wagon again, right? Not so fast...
8 hours at LM then 2 more jobs tonight. If it wasn't 30 degrees out and the 2nd bar didn't permit smoking, it would be perfect. Tomorrow's Friday (and pay day!) so I can handle it... and get through the 2 more jobs this weekend. Next week will be in the 50s and 60s, so we're gettin there!
Having a little bit of a hard time deciding which book to read next on the Kindle. So many choices, it's hard to narrow down.
Time for some Guinness and Zwack tonight... Pouring pints and extreme air hockey!
8 hours at LM then 2 more jobs tonight. If it wasn't 30 degrees out and the 2nd bar didn't permit smoking, it would be perfect. Tomorrow's Friday (and pay day!) so I can handle it... and get through the 2 more jobs this weekend. Next week will be in the 50s and 60s, so we're gettin there!
Having a little bit of a hard time deciding which book to read next on the Kindle. So many choices, it's hard to narrow down.
Time for some Guinness and Zwack tonight... Pouring pints and extreme air hockey!
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