Entry tags:
"Screw you, dawn! Hope that doesn't get taken out of context." - Spike
Things to do before I die: Crawl into a trash can.
Check.
You see, I had to. It was one of those big 96-gallon recycling carts that was only barely filled, so the receipt I was looking for was way at the bottom. The only way to get at the papers down there was to tip it over and try to shake things toward the opening. Except then I spotted what I was looking for, and had to crawl into the container to fetch it.
Yes, I am very pleased it was the recycling cart and not the regular trash cart. If it were the latter I wouldn't have bothered, believe you me.
It was a Big Lots receipt. See, I had this water kettle that, when you flipped the spout lid, it would splash water on you. Considering that it's used for BOILING WATER, that was not so much a good feature. I always had to wear oven mitts or use a potholder just to open the spout to pour out the hot water, which is ridiculous. I did this for YEARS, and I figured that it was about time I got myself a water kettle that wouldn't scald you when you tried to use it.
I found a "whistling tea kettle" at Big Lots for $10. I figured, eh, this is a simple product, I don't need to spend a lot of money to buy something that I can get for cheap at Big Lots that probably works just as well. Well guess what. I was wrong. (Isn't the first, won't be the last.) The spout can be opened safely without splashing drops of insanely hot water on you. However, it doesn't whistle. And considering that's part of its NAME, it's kind of something I should be able to expect from the product, I think. I mean, I'm the sort of person who likes to put the kettle on and then walk away. If there's no whistle, I'm liable to get totally engrossed on the computer or doing whatever and soon all the water will boil away and start warping the kettle.
The irony is that the spout-deficient kettle whistled just as loud as you please.
Surely, SURELY, there is a kettle out there that can whistle AND not scald you. I think technology has probably advanced that far. I've ordered another kettle from Overstock.com. I'll let you know what goes wrong with that one.
===
Saw my friend J. today. Funny story (okay, not really), she moved away 3 years ago then moved back 2 years ago except she emailed an old account of mine and so I never knew, and she never pursued it because she thought I didn't want to be in touch or moved or some such. I never bothered to try and contact her again after she moved away. Flimsy excuses on both our parts, but at least we're on the same wavelength: we care just enough to try and be friends while we're both living in the same city, as long as we don't have to put too much effort into it.
Every time we see each other we inevitably go shopping. We don't know why; neither of us are actually avid shoppers. Just turns out that way. I ended up buying some cute and inexpensive things from J. Crew and Old Navy (a friend of a friend has this rule for buying clothing: You can buy it if you think you will wear it as many times as it costs, in dollars. So, you can buy a $15 top if you think you will wear it at least 15 times. It's a pretty good rule of thumb to go by). At J. Crew I got a pair of salmon-colored pants that I will only be able to wear for another few weeks, during the last waning moments of summer. The length actually FIT me. You know why? Because they're capris. So they're supposed to be short on "normal" women. On me they fall past my ankles. At Old Navy I got a number of tops and a couple of skirts. I need to lose weight (that old mantra) so the waist won't fit so snugly. I tried on the next size up, but the skirt length increases also, making it look frumpy instead of cute, so obviously I couldn't get it.
We also saw Julie & Julia, which was a cute book and a cute movie as well. Y'all know I just adore Meryl Streep, but really, she's awesome in it. She perfected the Voice. I mean, yes, everyone can do an exaggerated Julia Child impression, by just using a falsetto, but JC's real voice is more subtle than that, and Meryl totally got it. Color me impressed (as usual).
===
Before seeing J. I tried to get my driver's license renewed at the DMV. They were on #93 when I arrived; my number was #112 and I had an hour to go before an appointment at my car dealership where I was going to take my car in for service. I hoped, futilely, that they would get to me quickly, that maybe a bunch of people before me had gotten fed up and left already. When they got to #96, the number sign went away entirely. Possibly they went to lunch? I waited around for 10 minutes after that, then gave up and left; no way were they going to get to me in the time I had left. I went to get lunch instead.
As for the car ... well, I know I brought it on myself for getting a high-end vehicle in the first place, but -- come on. When I had my Corolla it cost $30 for an oil change. Now? $171. WTF. Seriously, what are they doing, coating my brake pedals with gold? Actually, if they were doing that it might be worth the cost. BUT THEY'RE NOT. Anyway, that's why I brought it in on a Saturday; I requested a loaner vehicle (it's one of their 2010 model SUVs and it is nice -- the GPS has a built-in MOUSE, for pete's sake. In my car it's a touch screen, which is always covered in fingerprints), and because they're not really open on Sundays, I get to keep it for 2 days. Sure, I'm still paying way too much for a simple service (plus a latte and bottle of water), but at least I get something back.
===
Public Service Announcement re: PayPal personal accounts. If you have a business account at PayPal, they take a cut of whatever money you're sent. It's been that way for awhile, so it should come as no surprise to anyone. However, it used to be that if you had a personal account, you could receive money up to a certain amount (like $500?) without them taking a percentage. Apparently that is no longer the case, the greedy bastards. Now they take a cut even from personal accounts, unless the transaction is marked as a "personal transaction." So if you're ever collecting money for a good cause, or paying a friend back for something, make sure those transactions are marked as personal, otherwise PayPal will take some of that money. There. Now you know. You're now one step ahead of where I was 30 minutes ago.
===
Tomorrow I am going to Kohl's and buying myself a Magic Bullet. I went to a dinner party Friday night where the hostess made a yummy Caesar salad dressing with it, and now I must have one. I've wanted one since I saw![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jade_okelani make whipped cream in a MB in like, 1 minute, but now that there are TWO things I have a lot of use for, I've decided it's a reasonable purchase. Why Kohl's? Because I have coupons that will take $15 off. I just hope the price for the MB in the store is the same as what they list online...
===
OMG,ropo is going to be here in just over a week! I can't believe it's that soon! Eeee! I am so excited. We are going to go around and take pictures. I really, really, REALLY hope the sun comes back while she's here; pictures with cloud cover just don't look as good. If the trend at weather.com is to be believed, we're looking at sunny, mid-high 70s. Yay! We are going to go see Wicked, as the touring cast will be here during that time, and also HP:HBP on IMAX. We MAY do a day trip or something to a neighboring island, but preferably not Vashon, which is cute but kind of boring, or Bainbridge, which we've already been to. If any Seattlites have suggestions for islands or really, anything else, give a shout. ropo loves photography so we're open to anything fun or that would at least yield good pictures. <g>
Check.
You see, I had to. It was one of those big 96-gallon recycling carts that was only barely filled, so the receipt I was looking for was way at the bottom. The only way to get at the papers down there was to tip it over and try to shake things toward the opening. Except then I spotted what I was looking for, and had to crawl into the container to fetch it.
Yes, I am very pleased it was the recycling cart and not the regular trash cart. If it were the latter I wouldn't have bothered, believe you me.
It was a Big Lots receipt. See, I had this water kettle that, when you flipped the spout lid, it would splash water on you. Considering that it's used for BOILING WATER, that was not so much a good feature. I always had to wear oven mitts or use a potholder just to open the spout to pour out the hot water, which is ridiculous. I did this for YEARS, and I figured that it was about time I got myself a water kettle that wouldn't scald you when you tried to use it.
I found a "whistling tea kettle" at Big Lots for $10. I figured, eh, this is a simple product, I don't need to spend a lot of money to buy something that I can get for cheap at Big Lots that probably works just as well. Well guess what. I was wrong. (Isn't the first, won't be the last.) The spout can be opened safely without splashing drops of insanely hot water on you. However, it doesn't whistle. And considering that's part of its NAME, it's kind of something I should be able to expect from the product, I think. I mean, I'm the sort of person who likes to put the kettle on and then walk away. If there's no whistle, I'm liable to get totally engrossed on the computer or doing whatever and soon all the water will boil away and start warping the kettle.
The irony is that the spout-deficient kettle whistled just as loud as you please.
Surely, SURELY, there is a kettle out there that can whistle AND not scald you. I think technology has probably advanced that far. I've ordered another kettle from Overstock.com. I'll let you know what goes wrong with that one.
===
Saw my friend J. today. Funny story (okay, not really), she moved away 3 years ago then moved back 2 years ago except she emailed an old account of mine and so I never knew, and she never pursued it because she thought I didn't want to be in touch or moved or some such. I never bothered to try and contact her again after she moved away. Flimsy excuses on both our parts, but at least we're on the same wavelength: we care just enough to try and be friends while we're both living in the same city, as long as we don't have to put too much effort into it.
Every time we see each other we inevitably go shopping. We don't know why; neither of us are actually avid shoppers. Just turns out that way. I ended up buying some cute and inexpensive things from J. Crew and Old Navy (a friend of a friend has this rule for buying clothing: You can buy it if you think you will wear it as many times as it costs, in dollars. So, you can buy a $15 top if you think you will wear it at least 15 times. It's a pretty good rule of thumb to go by). At J. Crew I got a pair of salmon-colored pants that I will only be able to wear for another few weeks, during the last waning moments of summer. The length actually FIT me. You know why? Because they're capris. So they're supposed to be short on "normal" women. On me they fall past my ankles. At Old Navy I got a number of tops and a couple of skirts. I need to lose weight (that old mantra) so the waist won't fit so snugly. I tried on the next size up, but the skirt length increases also, making it look frumpy instead of cute, so obviously I couldn't get it.
We also saw Julie & Julia, which was a cute book and a cute movie as well. Y'all know I just adore Meryl Streep, but really, she's awesome in it. She perfected the Voice. I mean, yes, everyone can do an exaggerated Julia Child impression, by just using a falsetto, but JC's real voice is more subtle than that, and Meryl totally got it. Color me impressed (as usual).
===
Before seeing J. I tried to get my driver's license renewed at the DMV. They were on #93 when I arrived; my number was #112 and I had an hour to go before an appointment at my car dealership where I was going to take my car in for service. I hoped, futilely, that they would get to me quickly, that maybe a bunch of people before me had gotten fed up and left already. When they got to #96, the number sign went away entirely. Possibly they went to lunch? I waited around for 10 minutes after that, then gave up and left; no way were they going to get to me in the time I had left. I went to get lunch instead.
As for the car ... well, I know I brought it on myself for getting a high-end vehicle in the first place, but -- come on. When I had my Corolla it cost $30 for an oil change. Now? $171. WTF. Seriously, what are they doing, coating my brake pedals with gold? Actually, if they were doing that it might be worth the cost. BUT THEY'RE NOT. Anyway, that's why I brought it in on a Saturday; I requested a loaner vehicle (it's one of their 2010 model SUVs and it is nice -- the GPS has a built-in MOUSE, for pete's sake. In my car it's a touch screen, which is always covered in fingerprints), and because they're not really open on Sundays, I get to keep it for 2 days. Sure, I'm still paying way too much for a simple service (plus a latte and bottle of water), but at least I get something back.
===
Public Service Announcement re: PayPal personal accounts. If you have a business account at PayPal, they take a cut of whatever money you're sent. It's been that way for awhile, so it should come as no surprise to anyone. However, it used to be that if you had a personal account, you could receive money up to a certain amount (like $500?) without them taking a percentage. Apparently that is no longer the case, the greedy bastards. Now they take a cut even from personal accounts, unless the transaction is marked as a "personal transaction." So if you're ever collecting money for a good cause, or paying a friend back for something, make sure those transactions are marked as personal, otherwise PayPal will take some of that money. There. Now you know. You're now one step ahead of where I was 30 minutes ago.
===
Tomorrow I am going to Kohl's and buying myself a Magic Bullet. I went to a dinner party Friday night where the hostess made a yummy Caesar salad dressing with it, and now I must have one. I've wanted one since I saw
jade_okelani make whipped cream in a MB in like, 1 minute, but now that there are TWO things I have a lot of use for, I've decided it's a reasonable purchase. Why Kohl's? Because I have coupons that will take $15 off. I just hope the price for the MB in the store is the same as what they list online...===
OMG,
ropo is going to be here in just over a week! I can't believe it's that soon! Eeee! I am so excited. We are going to go around and take pictures. I really, really, REALLY hope the sun comes back while she's here; pictures with cloud cover just don't look as good. If the trend at weather.com is to be believed, we're looking at sunny, mid-high 70s. Yay! We are going to go see Wicked, as the touring cast will be here during that time, and also HP:HBP on IMAX. We MAY do a day trip or something to a neighboring island, but preferably not Vashon, which is cute but kind of boring, or Bainbridge, which we've already been to. If any Seattlites have suggestions for islands or really, anything else, give a shout. ropo loves photography so we're open to anything fun or that would at least yield good pictures. <g>