I hit Michael's again

And I'd advise anyone who hasn't gotten all of their Halloween stuff to do the same.

I found these stamps from Martha Stewart

Regularly $9.99 for the set, they're 50% off making them a very affordable $4.99

Of course, who can't use another set of alphabet stamps? huh Jibii????

Labels anyone?

I found these at the local Staples. $.50 each. Now, I wish I could tell you to run there and get yours, but if you live near my local Staples, don't bother. I cleaned them out.

Rockstar!!!!

I found this "Rockstar" paper from DCWV at a local Michael's.

They'd marked it down to $15.00. I had a 40% off coupon, which they applied to the paper, bringing it down to $9.00 for the full pack.

For anyone who's interested, they also had individual sheets for $.25 a sheet.

This is gorgeous paper that IMHO would go well with alot of the pirate themed stuff I've seen out.

Update on the pens

I stopped by the local Staples last night, they've marked down these pens to $.50 for a box of twelve. If you use the coupon I linked to, that brings them down to $.44 a box. And for those of you wondering, I bought four boxes when they were $.60 a box and then last night, I decided to stock up and bought a total of 30 boxes. But please note, I work in an office that deals with the public. We go through at least a box of pens a day.

for the witch in your life

What witch wouldn't love to have her broom with her at all times?

Get the witch in your life her own broom pen. She'll love being able to show off what a witch she is.

I found these for $1.50 for two. They made really nice pre-Halloween gifts for the office witch.

Kisses anyone?

I found these at Big Lots. Given that the guys I work with will go through more than two pounds of chocolate a day, $6.00 for this big bag is a good deal for us.

Not a bad deal

I'm known as the professional shopper at work. So I thought I'd start posting some of the deals that I get so other's can jump on the bandwagon.

This was today's deal. On clearance at my local Staples. $.60 a box. Which is a good deal all by itself. But if you go here , you'll find a coupon for 12% off, good until October 20th. Now it's not worth going just for the pens. But with Staples literally around the corner from work, and having to pick up some other things while I was there the bottom line of $.52 for a box of twelve, or .05 each, is worth it for a good pen.

update

just to piss Jibiibear off.
Here's an update to my blog.
I suck at blogging, regular blogging that is.

Here's what everyone's missed.
I went to visit Jibii in Australia for three weeks.
We managed to jam about three years worth of stuff in that three weeks.

I came home exhausted and now need a vacation to recover from my vacation.

There.... now I can't get yelled at for not blogging.

I know how to do that!

Chris over at notes from the trenches has a this post up about a new oven. And a couple of her commenters asked how she did it. Was it a slow poisioning, or a quick blow to the top. I know how to kill a stove/oven!!!
This is EXACTLY how my mother got a brand new stove.
1. either wait for the light in the oven to go out, or sabotage it so that it doesn't work.
2. get my father to attempt replacement of the lightbulb in the oven. In the process, he will use (among other tools) a screwdriver. And will remove a large quantity of insulation.

when he's done, you will have no choice but to go shopping for a new stove.

and yes, I'm willing to rent him out if anyone so desires.

I'm a bitch.

Why this time you ask?
Let me give you some back story. One of the girls at work.... Ding, we'll call her, is HORRIBLE at managing her money. In fact, she doesn't manage it at all. More than once, I've been a complete dumbass and bailed her out of some financial problems. But recently was the straw that broke the camel's back.
She got into some serious, really serious trouble. And came to me for help. I agreed to help ( I know what you're thinking Jib, but you'd've done the same). This time, however, I've smartened up a little. I agreed to help her under the condition that she start managing her money.
The look in her eyes.... I actually felt bad for her. She was scared, really scared, and she should've been. She told me she doesn't know how to manage her money.... and that's not news. So, I've agreed to help her manage her money.
I've set up a basic budget, and I'm insisting she stick to it. Despite the fact that she went away on vacation for a long weekend this past weekend. And despite the fact that she'll be away the rest of the week on vacation.
I've had to say no, you can't buy this... no, you cna't have more money... no, you can't spend money on a check you haven't received, hell, it hasn't even been written, so absolutely NO you cannot spend that money.
Basically, I've had to become her mommy. And for now, I'm ok with it.
But if anyone has suggestions for teaching a grown woman how to manage money, I'll gladly take them. And when I say she has no money management skills, I mean if she gets ten dollars, she wants to spend fifty, and thinks that money will just magically appear when she needs to pay her bills.
So yes, I'm a bitch. I say no, when it's better for the person, even if it'd be easier for me to say yes.

Farewell loyal friend

Rest in Peace Reagan. You were well loved, and will be greatly missed.

Bad News

I got some bad news last night. My sister's dog... the gay one, is sick. Very, very sick. They will be amazed if he lives more than a month. He's been diagnosed with cancer in his bone marrow and lymph nodes.

I'm not hoping for a cure, or even an aggressive treatment. All I hope for, is that Reagan have a comfortable last month with the people he loves.

I will miss him.

Light posting

I haven't posted much here because I've been posting elsewhere.
So I have a few random thoughts.....

Karma... she can be a bitch, but right now, I think I like her. I didn't get to see it, but I hear Beth got some of what she deserves.



I think you should be able to take a vacation to recover from your vacation.



I wish I had more time, patience, enthusiasm, etc. for people.



I miss talking to some of my on line friends, but I'm not sure how to re-establish that friendship.
Others, strangely, I don't miss at all.

The internet is a great place for people to recreate that high school experience. I, personally, have no interest in going back there and have less interest in recreating the clique behavior that I hated the first time around.

M is retiring from where I work. I'm going to miss her no nonsense attitude. And her appreciation of my warped sense of humor.

Look who showed up at work today!

It's Sam Waterston, currently of Law and Order fame. Or as he's more commonly known around here, "the Law and Order Guy".

Why yes, I do have a warped sense of humor.

Why would you ask?

Maybe because I found this to be incredibly funny??

Of course, it's only funny because it wasn't me. But isn't that always the case?

ROTFLMAO

We had chinese for lunch today. Always a good choice, quick and easy.
I opened my fortune cookie and what does my fortune tell me?

"Your talents will be recognized and suitably rewarded"

Think I should hold my breath?

Procrastination

Procrastination, Procrastination
Is makin' me late
Is keepin' me waitin'
(I hope Carly Simon will forgive me for changing her lyrics.)
I'm STILL procrastinating about the taxes here at work. Too bad I can't file an extension on these... or maybe it's not a bad thing. If I could file an extension, I would. Repeatedly.
*sigh* guess I'll see about doing some more of this blasted paperwork.

Need a laugh?

Hop on over to Meeshka's world.
Today, the Queen has posted a funny cartoon. The only thing I'm not sure about is whether the Queen herself drew them, or she made her human do it for her.

Passports

Let's talk about passports.
I have one. Have had one for a couple of years now. Had one when I was younger... and given the current state of the world, I'd say I'll have one for most of the rest of my life. No big deal.

The form for a passport here is pretty straightforward. Fill in some pertinent information, address, birthdate, etc. Send in some money and a couple of really bad photos of yourself. And voila, they'll mail you a passport that will let you travel to and from the States at will.

Now you may be wondering what brings up this topic. I was in the post office, waiting in a line that went out the door. And at the counter was a young man trying to renew his passport. Nothing noteworthy there. Except for one thing, the entire process took about five times longer than it should've.

Why you may ask? Because he could not speak English well enough to communicate with the staff at the post office!!!! He is an American citizen. He has a United States passport. But he cannot communicate in English.

Yes... I know.... English is not the offical language of the United States. Too bad. It is the language spoken by the majority of the population here. It is the language spoken by our forefathers.

If I moved to France, guess what? I'd be expected to learn French! If I lived in Spain, you better believe I'd be saying buenos dias every morning.

Is it so unreasonable that people who come to America be expected to learn English??

Photos

I don't know about anyone else, but I always like seeing other people's photos. So I thought I'd post a few of mine. Just some random photo's I've taken and love.