It's All About Pennies and Inches

Mood: Tired but accomplished 
On TV: King of the Hill (I tell you what)

It's mid-January, it's freezing (like REALLY freezing) outside and there is absolutely nothing to do except sit inside our tiny cramped apartment and get more annoyed at the fact that it seems to be getting tinier and more cramped by the minute - this is a time honored winter tradition in our household.

So it was probably inevitable that when the hubs asked me what I wanted to do with our Saturday I suggested rearranging and de-cluttering our apartment (in an effort to keep the walls from completely closing in and smashing us in our sleep) - but it was surprising that the hubs not only agreed but jumped up to get started.

We spent hours today - purging our closets - getting rid of old clothes, shoes and generally useless crap that the two of us somehow manage to collect over the course of a year. We added storage and organization solutions to our closets and rearranged things until we'd gained a few inches of storage space in each closet.

A few inches may not sound like much but when you're living in such a small space a few extra inches can make all the difference in the world. It means that things that were tucked in corners can now be properly stored on shelves in the closet - it means that furniture can be shifted ever so slightly, eventually making room for:

MY NEW DESK!!!!!!

Turning the end table and moving a few things into the newly created spaces in our closet gave us room for a tiny desk all for me! I'm so excited to finally be able to move from my previous work space (otherwise known as the corner of the futon) and into a proper (although small) desk area. 

One of the things we moved to make room for my new work area was our jar of change. We hauled the jar to our local supermarket and dumped the contents into the Coinstar machine - watching in awe as our pennies (literally - it was more than 50% pennies) started to add up. At the end of the count we had nearly $22.00 - all from pennies and a few nickels. Who knew that we had $22 dollars just sitting in a jar in the corner? 

So, a few extra inches and I gained my own workspace. A few extra pennies nearly paid for the desk (what can I say - we're all about the craptastic cheapness that is Wal-Mart do it yourself furniture). 

All of this started me thinking about my edits - which are currently so massive that half the time I don't even know where to start. It's a huge job and, no matter how much I do, it doesn't seem like I'm really getting anywhere but really? Isn't it all about the pennies and inches? One word, one sentence at a time and eventually I'll get there. And this time I'll do it at my super cool new desk! 

Another Year, Another Award, Another Blog Entry

Mood: Tired (spent the whole weekend w/ the hubs celebrating his 40th birthday...which technically isn't until tomorrow...but who wants to celebrate on a Monday?)

What I'm Watching: NOT the Superbowl (suspect we might be the only ones in the US who aren't)

WoooHooo!! I got another bloggie type award from Natalie over at The Sound of Rain. This one is super cool because, well, just look at it. It's an award for being creative and it's decorated w/ old school writing tools and a flower! What's not to love here, really? As usual I'm super excited about a new piece of shiny blog bling and this one doesn't even come with the usual "embarrass yourself" requirement that seems to accompany so many of these awards so squeeeee!!!

I would have posted about this award sooner but we've been super busy this weekend celebrating the hubs upcoming 40th birthday. Because it was his birthday weekend, we did all the things he likes to do: watching a movie and eating. What can I say? He's really easy to please.

Our weekend at a glance (from my point of view):

The movie. Sherlock Holmes.

We went to see it in an older style theater. Sure, the seats aren't as comfortable as the seats in the newer theaters but it's totally nostalgic. Will soak up the atmosphere, taking note of the period fixtures and the exposed brick walls. But the seats? Still really uncomfortable. Right. But this is for the hubs and he loves this place...will just adjust self a bit. Humph. Hope movie is short.

Bummer, more people coming in and we no longer have theater to ourselves. Oh.My.Goodness. They're crunchers. You know, the people that sit right behind you and crunch on their popcorn like pigs at a trough? Yep, that's them and hell. Now they're going for a refill. Sigh. Adjust self again in an attempt to 1. find better position for aching back and 2. move self away from worst of crunchilicious cacophony.

Oooohhhh! Looky, time for the movie. Preview, preview, preview. Boring, boring, boring. Wonder briefly if Hollywood is completely out of any good original ideas. Try to ignore crunchers behind me. Am doing this for the hubs. Happy for hubs. Hubs is going to be 40. Need to celebrate.

Finally, the movie starts. Sherlock Holmes. I've read some of the stories, this should be decent. Crap. Crunchers? Are also talkers and not interesting talkers...talkers who insist on stating the obvious the entire freaking time. Barely restrain self from killing them w/ their own popcorn and settle instead for a death glare. Death glare does little good.

Movie? Boooorrrriiiinnnnnggggg. I'm sooooo bored. Sooooo bored. Seats? Still uncomfortable. If they were more comfortable, I would take a nap. Looky, an explosion. Maybe Holmes is dead and movie is over. He lived? Crap. Movie not over. Still bored. Still bored. Another death glare to cruncher/talker couple. One more completely obvious comment and I'm going to be forced to resort to the totally called for "no shit Sherlock" response. More explosions...still not dead. Movie still not over.

Wait, wait...movie is...OVER!!! Party in my head. Kiss my arse crunchery talkery people. I'm so outta here!!!

The Food: Red Lobster (the hubs all time favorite...sea food)

Returning to the site of my first major panic attack...the things I do for love. Really. Once a year I take the hubs to Red Lobster and let him order whatever it is that he'd like. He loves lobster, scallops, crab legs, shrimp scampi, etc. I? Prefer turf to the surf so I order steak and lobster tail...give the lobster tail to the hubs and eat my steak and my small portion of mashed potatoes. So, no surprise, I manage to finish eating my small meal far before the hubs manages to finish eating half the ocean that is sitting in front of him (seriously, even the waitress was impressed with the amount of seafood he consumed). Bored and not wanting to interrupt hubs in the midst of his feeding frenzy (by this point his eyes have glazed over and he no longer has the ability to engage in proper conversation), I start eavedropping on the large group at the table next to us.

First, Mr. Pretentiously healthy goes on for nearly 20 minutes on how health conscious he is w/ his food choices. He goes on and on about how he will only eat fish from certain places and won't eat any food w/ preservatives, etc. Which probably would have been far more impressive had he not washed his chicken and rice down with about 6 beers and topped it off w/ a huge slab of cake and ice cream.

Then, Sister Perfection spends 15 minutes explaining with great pride how, when she goes to visit 'brother who was smart enough not to show up for this family shindig' she takes her own linens and towels because he's so very clean that she's sure he prefers it if she brings her own stuff. Uh, okay? Or maybe he's so freaking obsessed about cleaning when you come because you bring your own linens like his aren't good enough for you? Just a thought.

Finally, they finish this all up by taking various family pictures with Aunt Olna (who's approx. 106 years old) and then invite the entire wait staff over to sing happy birthday to her. People, she's 106 years old...she doesn't need to be embarrassed in the middle of freaking Red Lobster!

And no, I didn't have the staff sing to the hubs. For the record, I absolutely loathe the 'happy birthday' singing in restaraunts tradition. Seriously. Loathe.

Finally, the hubs finishes eating his ocean's worth of seafood and we're able to pay the check and leave.

Everything Else:

We also went to the mall and bummed around. Lesson learned: don't buy anything edible from the Dollar Place...it was all outdated. Also? Don't trust the hubs when he says "it's fine" because he then follows it up with "well, it does taste a bit funny, but it's fine." Uh...it's NOT fine if it tastes funny.

We briefly stopped at Barnes and Noble. Lesson learned: not all B&N's are created equal. This one was much smaller than the one I'm used to, had a limited selection and had far creepier people hanging around.

We also had a free night at a nice hotel. It was good to get away but the beds...OY!! My back still isn't talking to me. Seriously, we have the cheapest, crappiests, oldest, hardest mattress on the face of the planet. I never have an issue sleeping on it. Put me in a nice, new, adjustable bed with a fancy memory foam thing going on? And my back totally turns into a pretzel. Lesson learned: I'm supposed to be poor because my body is already adjusted to inferior merchandise. :)

At any rate, we had a decent weekend and the hubs is happy because he's had fun and eaten his favorite foods...that's what really matters, right?