walkway fairy

i bundled up this morning to shovel off the 4" of snow from my walkway. and when i stepped outside, my walk had already been shoveled and sprinkled with ice melt! even the path that went around to the back yard (which i never bother doing).

i thought it was my new *boyfriend* j and got all excited because what a sweet thing to do for me, right? but when i texted him to say thank you, he said it wasn't him. i have no idea who else it could have been, but it made my day!

so um, yeah, that's right, i said boyfriend. j came over last night and made me dinner. i was supposed to go to his house, but since i hadn't been feeling well, he came over to me instead. the boy made HOMEMADE pasta and a delicious HOMEMADE sauce. he also brought over salad with croûtons and HOMEMADE ranch dressing, bread, wine, and sparkling water. and movies. and treats for the doggies. and it was DELICIOUS.

after dinner he asked me if he could call me his girlfriend because he wants to be my boyfriend. how cute is that? i told him that i would think about it - because although i am not seeing anyone else, i haven't had a "boyfriend" since si.. and so i need to get used to the idea. he said he was smitten with me.

i'm going to let him woo me for as long as i can. it's nice having someone smitten with you.

operation "eek a mouse", day two, failure

since the mice didn't touch the natural organic almond butter i placed in the traps for them 2 nights ago, and since i have been sick and didn't get to the grocery store yesterday, the traps got baited with my laughing cow spreadable lowfat cheese. it's soft and i really smeared it all into the trap so they couldn't just grab it and run.

last night i heard one of the traps snap!

this morning i peered gingerly around the kitchen stove.. and..

NADA. AGAIN.

except that this time, the little fuckers had managed to eat almost all the cheese off of the traps without setting it off. one was practically licked clean. one had been triggered, but it was empty.

they're either really small or really smart.

operation "eek a mouse", day one, failure

i had an exterminator come out to take a look at my mouse problem. they want $600 to spray some "pet safe" chemical (is there such a thing?) outside my house and then trap the mice.

i decided that i would try to do it myself first. since i can't use poison (due to the doggies eating anything in sight, potentially including poisoned mice), i bought a bunch of old school spring loaded mouse traps. last night i baited them and put them all over the kitchen floor, expecting to face several dead mice in the morning.

nada.

my friend thinks it's because i used organic almond butter. it was a toss up between that and laughing cow spreadable cheese. it's all i had.

"them mice ain't that high-falootin'! you need to git yerself some skippy loaded with trans-fat! or better yet, some cheese-whiz!"

this is why dating in real life can be better

my friend j insisted on setting me up with her brother. she talked him up and he sounded great, so i agreed to meet him. we all went out this weekend and had a great time.

i really like him and the feeling is mutual. i'm glad she introduced us because if i had seen an online dating profile for him, i probably wouldn't have given him a chance based on the following:

smoker, republican, lives in the suburbs

and while the above things may become an issue down the road, i'm trying to not worry about it right now. because there are so many other things that i like about him. and it's all about give and take, right?

except for the smoking thing.. he'll need to be willing to quit for me if it gets serious.

when the cat is away..

or in my case, when the dogs are away, the mice DO play!

i am heading out of town today for a business meeting and my dogs are staying with a friend.

just right now, i found a dead mouse in the dog water bowl and not 2 minutes later another one scampered across my floor and is hiding behind my snowboard.

i actually screeched and tried to jump on a chair.

time to call the exterminator, i think.

a little embarrassed

so i was walking into the bathroom at the corner bakery today while another person was walking out. a person that looked like a man. so much in fact, that i did a double take and tried to get a glimpse of the bathroom door to make sure that i was actually in the ladies room.

the person caught me looking at them with a confused look and said

"it's ok, i just have a haircut."

i'm sure if i had had time to scrutinize them a little more closely, i would have realized that she was a woman. but i wasn't able to in the split second i had. i felt a little embarrassed for the woman. the quickness in replying to my look of confusion leads me to believe that this isn't the first time it's happened to her.

fat man! little jacket!

i was out at fados last night. it wasn't too crowded and so i left my coat with my friends coats on some bar stools. no biggie.

about 30 min later i went over to get my coat and it wasn't there.

there was, however, a men's leather coat slung over the back of the chair.

i figured that someone had grabbed mine by mistake and would come back to claim theirs and return mine. that didn't happen.

i waited until they were shooing us out of the bar and breaking it down. no one came to claim the jacket.

so i wore it home. it was cold.

i don't want this jacket and i rather liked the one i had lost. i put an ad on craigslist, so maybe i will eventually find it.

the leather one looks like a tent on me, so i can only imagine what my coat must have looked like on the guy that tried to wear it home.

i just hope it's not split up the back!

a new me

so my dear friend seth has decided to take it upon himself to be my personal trainer. which is AWESOME. we've been meeting at the gym every morning and doing the workouts that he planned for me. i'm not too concerned that they're from men's health - i'm just glad that i have someone holding me accountable for working out!

it's nice. i like working out. especially with a friend. i've always gone to the gym, but i think that i haven't really been working out to my full potential. these work outs are pushing me and i'm hoping that i'll actually see results. i'm so sore now that i can barely get out of my chair!

i have a ton of motivation this time. not only is my brothers wedding in 6 months, but in the past few weeks i have heard from 2 friends that guys they know have told them that i would be really hot if i lost a few pounds. it was hard for me to hear, but also necessary and motivating. one of those things that i always knew but never wanted to acknowledge that other people knew as well.

so that's been consuming a lot of my time. i've also been watching a lot of movies lately since they're free from the library and i don't have cable. oh, and i've decided not to say anything to my friend. the more i think about it, the more i feel like it would be a bad idea. i think i know the answer and i don't want to risk anything. being friends is good for me right now. i have other things to concentrate on.

risking the friendship

i have this very special person in my life. from the moment we met, i just had this feeling that he was the one for me. we have amazing conversation and laugh so much and we're attracted to each other and he fascinates me and i just think the world of him. although he has his flaws, i think he's just about the greatest guy ever.

we never really dated per se, but we've always enjoyed a um.. special friendship.

i have spent months assuring him that i was cool with said special friendship and that he need not worry, as i would not confuse our special friendship with love or anything of that nature. i can separate and won't be attached. i said this partly because i thought it was true at the time and partly because i knew that's what i would have to say to get what i wanted. which i am apparently good at and sometimes bites me in the ass.

when this friendship started, he was not ready for a relationship and i didn't think i was either. but now time has passed and we've both talked about how we're ready for a relationship, but the topic of having one with each other has never come up.

of course it's all i think about.

so the other night he came over and in the morning he told me he wanted something to happen but that he shouldn't. normally i would be like, ah ha, a challenge and something would definitely happen. but this time i just let it go.

and i got the feeling that he wasn't expecting me to do that. and i also got the feeling that he wanted me to ask him why we aren't dating. and i also got the feeling that he hasn't made a move because he doesn't think i want it, even though i want it more than anything.

guys are pretty literal, and i am pretty convincing. and i'm also pretty sure that he can't read my mind.

but i kept quiet even though it was a good opportunity to have a discussion. i'm known for my blunt honesty and wanting everything to be clear to all parties involved, so i'm sure it wouldn't have been a shock to him.

so after mulling it over a bit, i've decided i'm going to say something when i get the opportunity. although i don't have a particularly good track record with this kind of situation (since i am apparently a very cool, super cute girl deemed undateable for some god forsaken reason by my guy friends*), i also know that i will drive myself crazy if i don't know the truth.

worst case scenario - i am totally embarrassed and hurt for awhile, but i get over it and we remain platonic friends.

best case scenario - we end up dating and get married and have lots of adorable babies.

i think i know in my heart which way it will turn out, but since i am a glutton for punishment as well as an eternal optimist, i need to find out for sure. then the healing process can begin and i can be emotionally available for the next one that comes along.

or maybe end up happily ever after.

*I will maintain that it has to have something to do with the extra 30 pounds i'm carrying around - because that is easier than thinking that i might have some sort of personality flaw.

some good deals

thought you guys might be interested in some of the good deals i've found lately..

body shop clearance - lots of yummy smelling body washes and soaps and stuff for only $3!
http://tinyurl.com/376v3h

i had my cart stacked and then decided that even though it was a GOOD deal, i'm trying to save money and shouldn't spend $30 on body wash. but if you have the money to spend, you're getting a bargain! there's even a code for free shipping when you spend $30 - WEL319.

Rebates - print the form online, buy the product, and submit the form for your money back!
purell hand sanitizer
veet rasera bladeless razor kit
dawn direct foam dishsoap
meaty bone dog biscuits

free goodie bag worth $25 when you spend $15 in colgate palmolive products.

having no cable is harder than i thought

not that i really miss any particular programs.. but i miss having the background noise of the tv on when i'm cooking or working or cleaning.

i have my music on instead, but it's not the same. i feel like i have all this free time now.. and i'm not sure what to do with it.

not your university library

i went and got a public library card today. for some reason, the library option just never appealed to me. i thought they would have old, outdated books - nothing i would want to read, for sure. i thought it was a place for poor people to get on the internet and for students to check out reference books. of course, it doesn't help that the last library i was in was my college library!

i was at my friends house and ended up borrowing a bunch of books from him. he mentioned that he had bought most of them at the library book sale.

really?? but they're new authors.. and paperback.. and the library never has NEW stuff in it!?

no way, he replied, the library has a ton of stuff. they even have dvds and cds!*

so i went to the library closest to my house today and found a couple of books and a movie.

i still can't get over that this is all available for FREE. and i can keep them for 3 weeks. and they have branches everywhere!

now i think i can cancel netflix and save another couple hundred dollars per year. not to mention all the money i'm going to save from not buying books. i never read them again anyway.

*and magazines, i found out today!

cutting out the extra

2008 is going to be a busy year. between my regular job and my soon-to-get second job and 2 MBA classes that meet 3 nights a week and 2 puppies to take care of and the 20 pounds i need to lose, i don't think i'll have a whole lot of extra time.

which is why i decided to see if i could survive without owning cable this year. i'm on the phone with comcast right now waiting to cancel it.

my cable is costing me $75 a month (with HD and DVR and all the good necessities). and i don't really watch it that much - it's background noise, really.

so by canceling, i will save $900 this year. it's a start.

i don't think i will be too deprived. i still have netflix and my playstation and the internet (which my company pays for). i think that you can watch most shows online now anyway - and my friend seth is going to hook up my computer to my tv so that i can watch it on the big screen.

i will be giving up a little bit of convenience, but i think i'll be ok and actually turn out enlightened from the process.

2008 by the numbers

happy new year! let's take stock of what i have already accomplished in the first 12 hours of 2008.

drinks consumed: 5
other substances consumed: 2
people kissed: 4
girls kissed: 2
ass slapped: 12
beligerent drunk fights attempted to break up: 3
cute snoring boys i woke up next to: 1
fast food cravings thwarted by my inner skinny bitch: 4
hours slept: 6

i think i'm off to a good start