Only a Fool's Here

I've been obsessed with these boots for a really long time.

They're so adorable! I've always wanted a pair of wellies and how cute are those???

I knew I'd wear them about once every three months, so I really didn't need them. Somehow I was able to control my impulse shopping.

But then they had these wellies with tweed. Also adorable. Fur lined. Cute. They finally went on sale and when they were only eight bucks, how could I continue to resist???

I read that the weather was going to be crappy on Monday. I got up early and slid into my wellies, excited to get use out of them so soon.

My excitement was really unwarranted. Sure it was cold, but the weather wasn't so bad. Did I sound stupid walking around in wellies all day? Yes.

No really. I think some people call them galoshes because that's the sound they make when you walk.

Today, I rolled out of bed entirely too late. I'm telling you this place is cold! It's so hard to get out of bed when you know you will be instantly frozen in place!

I slipped on my shoes and headed out the door and found ice. Lots of glorious ice covering my car.

And I was one of those people I hate. I drove away with a small bit of my windshield cleaned off. It was horrible.

But I couldn't help it! I used all of my de-icer spray just to try to soften the ice! And then when I got my de-icer wiper fluid out of the trunk, I struggled for five minutes to get the stupid thing open just to realize the whole jug was frozen solid.

I hate mornings like this! These are the days I seriously consider moving to San Francisco where the weather is always the same-ish. Certainly never icy! And I didn't get any use out of my wellies!!!

Moral of the story? Get out of bed and look out the window!!!

Summons Me with Just One Beep

I know it seems like I'm always buying a new gadget, but I really think this phone will be the last one I ever buy.

The Pomegranate Phone looks absolutely amazing! Check out all the features!

Special Holiday Only for Me

This is first in a series of posts. Start at the beginning by clicking here.

Raw and Casey laughed at my dirty mind and then we ate some more birthday cake.

We rented a movie. Casey and I swore we'd stay awake to watch it. Raw was the one to stagger out of bed to turn the television off. Casey and I were off in dreamland.

We woke up later than we had intended, so we rushed to get packed up and checked out. Luckily, Raw is one of those people who goes over everything with a fine-toothed comb. I don't think we forgot anything.

The one place Casey wanted to go when we first planned the Kansas City trip was Sakura, aka Sushi Train.

Sakura is one of those places where you sit around the guys making sushi. After they make a roll, they slice it up and place it on a train as it passes. When the train goes by, you just grab the plates that look yummy. When you're done, they count your plates and charge you for each.

Raw and I both had five plates and were stuffed. Casey had fifteen.

We headed out to The Legends to satisfy Raw's craving for shopping. I bought shoes (shocker!) and we saw Wayne Simien's dad.

Seeing all the families shopping together made Raw and Casey miss the girls. We decided to head back. As soon as we pulled in the drive, Raw shot out of the car like a cannon. Casey was right on her heels. They flew through the door and babbled at the girls about how much they missed them.

The girls were eating and didn't say a word. They gave Raw and Casey a look that said "Oh. Were you gone?"

Take It to the Spot Man Now It's Time to Crank It Up

I forgot to get a few things at Target last night, so I stopped by the slightly creepy Dillons to pick up a few things on my way home.

This Dillons is old and very small. The entryway is poorly planned. There's probably room for three people and one cart. Yet somehow, with everyone going in and out, you have to try to grab a cart and shove your way into the store.

I can't quite explain it. But it's really awkward.

Even more annoying, there's no cart cages in the parking lot. Nobody ever wants to take the carts back to the cart area in the crazy entrance, so they just leave them in the parking lot.

But not me! I'm not a jerkface like that! I always take my cart where it's supposed to go.

I took my cart back to the jam-packed entryway and found what I expected: a traffic jam.

I stood and waited for the eight carts and fifty people to squeeze their way out. As I waited, a woman stood beside me trying to find a route into the store. I thought this was my chance!

"Do you need a cart?" I asked. I was very friendly and motioned toward the cart I was pushing.

This lady looked horrified and recoiled from me.

I'm kind of devastated. That's what I get for trying to be nice.

I'd Jive and Strive to Stay Alive

I decided I wanted to make meatloaf today. So last night, I stopped by the store to buy hamburger.

On my way in, I was talking to Jacque on my phone. And still, some creepy kid decided to come talk to me.

There's something about the boys who work at Dillons. They always talk to me.

I didn't even realize he was talking to me because not only was I on the phone, but I had my back to him because I was getting a cart. But when I turned around I saw his lips moving three inches from my face.

I finally made my way back to the meat section and was faced with the dilemma on what to buy. I don't buy hamburger often. But I don't remember it being so difficult.

There's so many different varieties, now. There's several different percentages of "lean." There's chuck or maybe you really want ground sirloin. How about organic or even turkey?

A product of my parents, I pick up the cheapest pound. But then I checked out the label and was pretty freaked out.

"With Natural Flavors."

Um. So does that mean it's natural because it's meat? Or does that mean I'm buying mystery meat?

I'm weirded out enough that I end up buying the organic which ends up costing me about two more bucks. But I just knew my meatloaf was going to be awesome!

I was purchasing my stuff at the self-checkout when my new best friend planted himself right beside me. He started telling me all about how he doesn't like the magazines by the checkout. "It's yellow journalism!"

Think Milhouse. But as a teenager. And without the blue hair.

I was nice but tried to move fast. I laughed one more fake laugh and said goodbye and shot out of there.

Today, I went into the kitchen to start my marvelous meatloaf. I opened the fridge and . . . "Hmm. Where's the meat?"

That's right. I took ten minutes to decide on a stupid one pound package of meat only to leave it at the store.

So I made cranberry apple crisp instead. Much healthier.

Celebrate You and Me

Today is Earth Day.

I've been watching Discovery Channel's eleven part series planet earth.

For whatever reason, I never seem to catch the episodes when they first air, but I've been catching a lot on the weekends. It is fascinating and makes me wish I had a larger television with HD capability.

I'm watching an episode now that I haven't seen. They just had a breathtaking, unbelievably difficult and rare shot of Angel Falls. For some reason, I've been a little obsessed with the waterfalls located in Venezuela. It's on a list (which only exists in my head) of things I'd like to see before I die.

The program is a reminder of what it is that we're destroying.

You'd think the way I spout off now and then about what we're doing to our planet, I'd be a better environmentalist.

But my secret shame is that I'm not. I buy processed food and don't recycle the way I should.

What has kept me from being the environmentally friendly person I'd like to be?

Being environmentally friendly is hard work. And I'm notoriously lazy. It's much easier for me to just drive everywhere, rather than walk the miles to the closest Target.

And Wichita isn't exactly the most environmentally friendly town. We don't have all the resources of more conscious cities.

Which makes it pretty expensive to stay eco-smart. It's more difficult to find organic food. Which seems silly in the middle of farmland, but drives up the prices of anything organic that can be found.

Granted, just being a one-person household means my footprint on the world doesn't count for a lot. But after taking this quiz, I've realized I really need to change my ways.

Two and half planets? I'm a hog!

I'm not completely horrible. I use rechargable batteries. I quit buying pop so I didn't have the pileup of cans as I did in the past. I turn off things when I'm not using them. I even turn off lights in the homes of other people when they usually leave them on. I don't really think about it. It's just habit!

During this last year, I have changed all of my most-used light bulbs to GE Energy Smart™ Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs. I was pleasantly surprised to see they really do make quite a difference!

I don't use a lot of electricity, since all I pay for is the electricity I use from lighting, electronics and small appliances. But my bill has dropped by ten dollars. Ten dollars doesn't seem like a lot, but my bill is usually $30-$35 and $7.50 of that is a mandatory customer charge. And this month, my KWH has dropped by more than half! I went from 282KWH with 9.4KWH/Day to a mere 138KWH with 4.6KWH/Day.

Sure, the bulbs are more expensive, but they last a lot longer. And with the cut in my electric bill, the bulbs have paid for themselves. Go ahead make the change.

Although I recently bought a couple of these nifty trash cans from The Container Store, I'm going to try to cut down on the amount of plastic shopping bags I get. I pre-ordered these handy bags from Delight, since I missed getting some during the two hours before they sold out. If you'd like some of your own, pre-order some using the coupon code from Shelterrific to receive twenty percent off the already low price.

So today is a beautiful, yet terribly windy, Earth Day. In the words of Amy Poehler, "Suck it, Neptune!"