Category: Shopping

Categories
Miscellaneous Shopping

Tax refund season!

I’m getting a decent tax return this season. I wasn’t expecting it, because I planned to do my taxes myself, but I let a friend talk me into going to her accountant, and lo and behold, a refund! Woot!

Sadly, it’ll all be going to a credit card, but that doesn’t stop me from daydreaming about what I’d rather be doing with the money:

* A vacation! My friends are going to Ireland in a couple of months, and omigod I wish I was going, but it costs twice what my refund is, and it would be ridiculously irresponsible of me to try to meet that price tag. And while it is enough money for another cruise, another week at Disney World, a week in Aruba, or even just a week in Yosemite, I’m still stuck on “financially irresponsible”. I might try to swing another few days at Zion in July, though (it’s waaaay cheaper than Yosemite!).

* Every book on my Amazon wish list. As awesome as that would be (and it would be AWESOME), I can’t even finish reading the books I already own.

* A Kindle. (See above about not finishing the books I already own.)

* Security deposit on a new apartment. I think this is the only one that could tempt me away from putting it towards a credit card, except that moving scares the death out of me. Like, anxiety attack, pass the xanax, scares me. Hopefully I’ll get over that before the ceiling in my living room caves in.

* New laptop. I’m only thinking of this one because lately, even though I have a nifty new router that made video streaming so much faster and easier, for some reason my laptop keeps losing the web connection, and worse, DOESN’T TELL ME. All systems are, “What? Everything’s working fine! Seriously.”, even when nothing loads, and only corrects itself when I reboot the modem, the router, AND the laptop. So!annoying! But logically, it works pretty well under most circumstances, so a new one is just a pipe dream.

* New furniture. Oooo, I really want this one! If I’m not going to move, I’d really like to at least freshen up my current place. Everything is over ten years old, which is fine for the shelves and the tables, but less fine for the couch. Plus I could definitely be using the space in the bedroom more efficiently, and the kitchen could use a few extra shelves on the wall.

* Cable. This is definitely a luxury, though. I’ll only go there if AT&T’s new bandwidth limit curtails my Hulu streaming.

* An elliptical trainer. Ha! Let’s be honest, I’d use it maybe a week, then it’d become another thing taking up space.

But these are all pipe dreams, ’cause the money will really be most useful if it can help me cut ties with Bank of America just a little bit sooner.

Categories
News Shopping

cruising to drupal camp on the feathery wind of the hill (how's that for nonsense?)

I suck, I know. Moving on….

19 days away from my birthday cruise, and I can hardly wait. I’m spending way too much on accessorizing my trip (two new cameras, six new tops, three new bathing suits, two pairs of sandals…), and I’m not finished yet, if my list is any indication. Good thing I have one freelance project in progress and another waiting in the wings. I’ll be travelling with nine others, and yes, in case you were wondering, we’re going to have a BLAST.

I’m going to Drupal Camp L.A. this weekend. I hope. I’m planning on it, but new situations sometimes trigger panic attacks. We’ll see. My two projects are both in Drupal, so it would be very helpful to learn some of the basics, and network with the experts so I’ll have someone to beg for help when I break something.

ION, my department moved from one building to another last month, so that’s been an adjustment. Like any change, there are pros and cons, and one of the pros is getting so many opportunities to wander the campus when there are no museum visitors–in the morning before the museum opens, in the evening when the visitors all leave, all day Monday when we’re closed to the public. This place is so quiet, peaceful, serene, and a dozen other words that all mean the same thing. Walking across the plaza after work and not seeing another soul, hearing only birds and maybe the soft whisper of the wind? It’s a special moment that I cherish every night it happens.

And speaking of, I should get going. It’s supposed to be a gym night, but I’m sooo not in the mood. I’ll go Thursday, and make up for tonight by walking down the hill to the parking garage (another perk, although it’s hell on my bad knee and hip).

 

Categories
Links Shopping

Talk to the Palm

Yesterday I learned that the lovey Palm green Bernat Satin that I’m using for Hailey’s star afghan has been…wait for it…discontinued. Can you say panic? My usual supplier (Stitches from the Heart) was sold out, and had been out for quite some time (damn you, tedonitis, for making me skip the summer!), so when I got home last night I’d barely put my keys down before heading for Google.

Fortunately not everyone is sold out yet, and I found a lovely store in Tennessee named Decherd Needleworks that was still listing it. I ordered five skeins, not because I expect to need five skeins, but because I love that green and want to stock up before they’re all gone. They emailed me today to let me know they only had four skeins left and did I still want them (Hells yes!). Here’s to hoping their follow-through is as quick and efficient as their follow-up, since I only have two more rows to go before I need the green again (although I probably have enough left to last me about three rows before running out).

Honestly, I’ve been using that green for nearly four years now, about as long as I’ve been knitting–never in a million years would it have occurred to me that they’d discontinue it! Such a pretty color. *sigh* Sad now.

Categories
Shopping Whining

Well, it's happened.

close up photo of a woman stretching her wrist
Photo by Kindel Media on Pexels.com

I have a bulky black brace on my left wrist/forearm, thanks to a nasty case of tendonitis in my elbow. And yes, this means no knitting or crochet for the time being. This is very unhappy making, not to mention painful. I’ll confess I did pick up a crochet hook, just to see if it was possible to manipulate it around the brace. The attempt, had you seen it, was laughable. Heck, I couldn’t even pick up a little hot dog wrapped in a pastry puff at the Sex and the City event I went to on Sunday–it made a hilarious series of bounces off my brace, my right hand, and my friend Kristen’s hand before rolling across the floor towards the bar. (Smart blanket-wrapped-piggy!)

So what should I talk about instead, during this enforced separation period between me and my hooks and needles?

Well, my latest obsession involves bicycles. I recently rejoined Weight Watchers, and this time I signed up with a group near my home instead of near my office, which is going to force me out of the house on Saturday mornings (a period I usually reserve for quality time with my couch). The meeting is about a mile too far for me to walk without my bum knee collapsing, yet close enough to make me mourn the gas usage. The answer? I must buy a bicycle! I’m not sure why I’m possessed with this sudden desire to ride a bike–many bikes have languished in many garages in my past–but really, I can barely restrain myself from running to Target and buying whatever I can afford.  I haven’t done this yet, because my friends have convinced me to test-ride one of their bikes first (which I hope to do this weekend) before committing to anything. Instead, I’ve been relentlessly combing the internets, researching bikes and frames and gears and customer reviews. Ideally I hope to find something on craigslist, because I can’t afford the $400 beauties I’ve fallen in love with, but so far no dice. I can no longer grab the first $50 comfort bike I find–I now know it needs to be aluminum framed and have at least seven speeds, or I risk becoming discouraged by trying to get a heavy bike up even a modest incline.

Also, I have returned to PT (did I mention this already? I can’t remember, and am too lazy to go check) in an attempt to cure my stupid knee once and for all. This includes making an appointment with a new doctor who will take new xrays and MRIs, and this time I picked someone *in* my insurance network, so I won’t still be paying off visits three years later. (I’m two payments away from being free of the last doctor, woot!) Here’s hoping they’ll find something concrete this time, something that can be fixed with more than a vague, “Physical therapy should fix that right up.” Give me more! I need an actual diagnosis this time, dammit!

Ahem. Anyway…. Work is hellish, but it’s of my own making. I really must get over my jealousy and possessiveness. Of course, I’ve had those traits for about 38 years now, so I don’t see how I’ll be divesting myself of them anytime soon. Yay. At least my review went well.

Ok, that’s all I’ve got. Nice to see the brace isn’t getting in the way of my typing skills, at least. 😀

Categories
Knitting and Crochet Shopping

Off the yarn wagon….again

knitting supplies and cup of coffee placed on bed
Photo by Flora Westbrook on Pexels.com

So last week, as I had mentioned, I went yarn shopping at Stitches from the Heart, and as we all knew would happen, I bought more than I’d planned. That’ll teach me to carry my vacation credit card with me when I’m no longer on vacation! First it took me forever to decide on a yarn for Haley’s blanket–cool colors, soft texture and machine washable is a tough combination to find!–but I finally chose Universal Yarn’s Classic Worsted LP (20% wool/80 acrylic) in the variegated “purple allure” (aka 11418) palette. But before I decided on that, I’d kept returning to the Bernat Satin wall o’color. So many bright and beautiful colors! I’d been wanting to do some amigurumi work, but you need a good acrylic for that, so the stitches don’t stretch and leak stuffing all over the place. In the end, I couldn’t resist all those beautiful colors, and ended up with twelve balls of Bernat Satin, in twelve different colors.

Of course, now that I have all I need for a cute amigurumi doll, I can’t decide on a pattern. Sigh.

But yes, I bought a ton of yarn last week, so hopefully that’ll carry me over the summer. There have been many yarn sales lately–at WEBS and at Unwind (one of my LYSs), but I haven’t even glanced at either one, so as not to tempt myself.

So back to Haley’s blanket–I started a crocheted log cabin, but so far I don’t love it. The yarn is great, but it’s the pattern–no matter how many of these I do, I still can’t nail the right number of stitches to add when crocheting across the side of a row, so some sides are longer than others, and there’s a folding/pinching issue where I picked up too many/didn’t pick up enough. I’m thinking of frogging it and making a star afghan instead. If I do that, then I think I’d switch to the Satin, ’cause the pattern would benefit far more from different colored yarns than from one variegated palette. And the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of a “Haley’s Comet” blanket. Hmm….

In other yarn news, I haven’t done anything lately with the sparkly market shawl, the too-big pink slouchy hat, the pseudo fair isle tam from Knitty, the scratchy my so-called scarf, or Kristen’s hat. I really suck at finishing, yo.

And finally, on a completely unrelated tangent, I rejoined Weight Watchers this week, and had my first meeting yesterday. My plan is to relearn how to eat properly. Lindora did great things for me the first six months I was on it, but it just went downhill from there, and I’d like to be able to look at a potato again without freaking out or binging on them (or is it bingeing?).

That’s all I got for today. Have a great Memorial Day tomorrow!