beautiful addiction

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I spent a majority of the day watching season 1 of “Californication” on Showtime On Demand with Will while Dave was at work. I drug myself away from the TV long enough to go up to the Verizon store to have them order me a new phone because my QWERTY keyboard has been glitching out on me lately and it’s annoying. They’re sending me a new on via FedEx and then I just have to take it in to have them transfer all my stuff to the new one and then ship the old one back. This is the second time I’ve had to replace my phone in the past 3 months. I love my phone but can’t wait until we can get our 2 year upgrade for cheap next July. Was looking at some new phones today at the store and I wouldn’t mind the LG Dare. Very similar to the Voyager (which I also love).

Anyway. Came back and we finished watching the rest of “Californication” and then Dave got home and I made dinner for all of us. I love being around Dave and our friends just relaxing and watching TV. Probably one of my favorite things to do.

We ended up watching “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” on TV. Ok, so I fell asleep and woke up as it was ending. But then I stayed up to watch the rest of “Bridge to Terabithia” which we caught around halfway in. That movie is sad! I had tears in my eyes! God damn kids movies making me semi-cry. Once that was over we watched “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”. Talk about a night of movie flashbacks, huh? (Aside from Terabithia.)

I’ve had such a sweet tooth lately. I keep craving ice cream. I bought some Ben & Jerry’s Cake Batter ice cream the other night and that was pretty good. Very sweet, but good. I had been craving Coldstone Creamery’s cake batter ice cream for a while, so that satisfied my cravings.

We leave for Chicago next Monday for a week. I’m kind of excited about it, even though it’s not like a real vacation because Dave will be working the whole time. I’ll have the laptop and the Xbox with me though, so even though I can’t leave the hotel (he’ll have the car) I’ll have stuff to keep me occupied. Hopefully we’ll get some time to go explore the city a little bit, though.

Going to cuddle up on the couch while Dave plays “Assassin’s Creed” on Xbox and probably try to read some more of “Fight Club” while I’m at it.

I got an email this morning from ExpoTV stating that I was one of five winner of a $25 Amazon gift card! I never win anything, so I am really excited! The only problem is, I’m not sure how to spend it. Well, I know I’m going to pre-order JK Rowling’s book that comes out in December (The Tales of Beedle the Bard), but that’s under $8. (I’m a huge fan of the Harry Potter series.)

So here’s a question for you. How would YOU spend the rest? I know it’s not a lot, but I’m sure you all have some great ideas for useful items that are relatively low priced, right?

Sometimes I have to take a step back and reflect on the things I have in my life that make each day worth waking up.  It’s easy to get lost in the frustration, stress, and curve balls that life throws your way, but there are things that make it worth while.

I spent my evening with my husband and a good friend playing “Rock Band” on the XBox 360.  I made dinner for us.  We had ice cream.  We got to be silly and have fun and play as a band together for hours.

It’s the nights like these…sitting around laughing with some of the people who mean the most to me…that I remember why I put up with those curve balls and moments of frustration.  They make the better moments stick out even more.

It’s not as bad as it seems.

*This is a sponsored post.

I’ve never had the need for a Payday Loan yet (and I guess it would be kind of pointless considering I don’t have a job), but I know some people who have had to fall back on this method in order to be able to pay their bills before their paycheck comes. I can see where this would be a great option if you had nowhere else to fall back on. A friend of mine started abusing the payday loan service he got comfortable with and he wasn’t paying the money back on time and it got him into an even bigger mess in the long run.

If you are responsible and really need the money so that you can pay rent or whatnot, then this wouldn’t be a bad option. Don’t get careless and think it’s free money, though. That will only hurt you in the long run.

Yes, indeed they are.  After I folded all the laundry the other day they decided they wanted to help somehow.  Not knowing how to put the laundry away for me, they decided it was best that they lay on top of all the clean clothes.  Yes.  That was a big help.  Now if I could only teach them how to use a lint roller to clean up after themselves then we’d be all set!.

In other news I decided to use up some of the veggies I bought from the farmer’s market to make a veggie stir fry.  It turned out really good!  I put in a zucchini, tomato, onion, green pepper and banana pepper and cooked it with a little extra virgin olive oil and seasoned it all up.  Turned out very tasty.  Of course, I’m the only one who will eat it because Dave hates veggies, but whatever.  Made a good lunch yesterday and I still have quite a bit left over.  It’s really good if you sprinkle some feta cheese on top.  Mmm.

Other than that, not much going on.  We’ve got a week before we go to Chicago for Dave’s business trip.  We’ll be there for a week (Monday-Monday) and then coming home.  I’m excited because it’ll be a good opportunity to actually save some money since his company is paying for everything, including his food ($35 per day).  That’s a week we won’t have to pay for groceries or gas or anything.  Plus we won’t be home, so the electric bill should be a bit lower.  So even though I’m paying a friend $50 to come take care of the cats every other day, we’ll still be making out better.  Especially since Dave will be getting paid for the drive there and back, plus overtime and mileage and all kinds of stuff.  Will be good for us, financially.

Have you heard the big news? TODAY ONLY you can get an incredible ebook package from MoneySavingMom.com–over $100 worth of money-saving ebooks, homemaking helps, and encouragement for only $5.97! I can’t believe she’s offering such a great price and I’d highly recommend you run over here and check it out.

What makes this deal so good is that this ebook package includes the ecourse Supermarket Savings 101–this course alone is worth much more than $5.97 and will teach you how to drastically reduce your grocery bill. If high fuel and food costs are discouraging you and leaving you strapped for cash, you definitely need to buy this ecourse. You’ll learn how to cut your grocery bill by up to 50% or more and have fun saving money at the same time!

Go here to read more about this huge sale! Hurry, though, the price goes up tomorrow–get this money-saving ebook package at a ridiculously low price while you can!

1. I’m enjoying all the jam we made a few weeks back. I’ve been having toast with jam on it for breakfast and/or snacks. So yummy.
2. Our homemade canned pickles came out just wonderful, too! I’m so glad. We were worried because we’d never made them before.
3. I did three loads of laundry today. I hate laundry.
4. Our air conditioner broke over the weekend, but got fixed today. I’m going to still try to use the box fan in the bedroom window at night to save on our electric bill. We’ll see how that goes.
5. I love Glade Scented Oil candles. They smell amazing. The refills are kind of pricey because I go through them so much, so I’m trying not to burn them as often. *pout*
6. Spent a while organizing my iTunes on my desktop computer since I had to migrate over from my laptop when I sold it. I’m now on last.fm again if you want to check that out. Still has my stats from 2005 but I didn’t want to make a new account, so I’m just going with it.
7. I’ve got cramps crazy bad and just want to curl up and sleep. But I just woke up from a nap on the couch. At 10pm. Ugh.
8. Currently reading “Fight Club” and so far it all matches up really well to the movie. I’ve got another 35 or so books on my shelf to be read after that. Yes, really.
9. I went to the farmer’s market today and bought a few pounds of potatoes, 2 huge green peppers, 2 banana peppers, 6 tomatoes, and a zucchini for $8.50. I’m happy about that.
10. I made homemade potato salad for the first time ever and it turned out yummy. Needs more mustard though.
11. I am looking forward to the end of the month so that I can do a summary of my finances and then set new goals for August since this month didn’t go as well as planned. I’m a geek, I know.
12. I miss my family.
13. …and my best friend. We were supposed to have lunch last week but she wasn’t feeling well. She will be giving birth in the next few weeks and I’m so excited for her.
14. Dave is currently napping on the couch where I left him when I woke up, and he looks so peaceful that I don’t want to wake him up.
15. I should really wake him up so he’s not awake all night when he has to be up for work at 7:30.

So, I spent nearly $500 on an eye exam, a 1 year supply of contact lenses, and a new pair of glasses (lenses and frames) the other day. The vision place called me earlier this afternoon to tell me my stuff came in and I could come pick them up before 5:30. So we did. And I love my glasses. I feel so emo (or artistic/smart). I can’t decide which, haha. I’ve wanted this style of glasses for a long time but never had the courage to actually get them. I’ve gotten compliments from Dave (he’s biased!) and my friends (yay!) so I’m thoroughly enjoying them.

We had Will and Nick over the other night and splurged on pizza for dinner and then some liquor (I spent $30 and Will spent $30 and Nick bought all the juice and stuff to go with it) to make Jolly Rancher shots and Bahama Mama mixed drinks (like you can order at Applebee’s). It was a wonderful evening of drinking and Guitar Hero. Once we were winding down we watched “Edward Scissorhands” on TV until 6:30 in the morning when we decided it was a good time for sleep.

The only bad thing was that when I opened the freezer halfway through our night of fun and games, the bottle of Malibu Banana Liquor came sliding out and exploded at my feet. I got two little shards of glass in my right foot but no other damage. Aside from the $15 bottle of liquor that was wasted thanks to my failure to catch it as it decided to make a leap when I reached for the ice cream… *sad*

Anyone out there?  Hello?…

I went into Wal-Mart today (which I don’t normally do anymore) to pick up a few things and ran into some old co-workers of mine. Awkward. That’s why I usually try to go at night when I know I won’t have to talk to people I know. (And this wasn’t even the Wal-Mart I was fired from. It was the one I worked at before my last store.)  Now I feel so out of place in a spot that used to feel so comfortable.

Anyway, I was asked by about 4 different people, “What are you doing now? Where are you working?” to which I replied, “I’m enjoying my summer off and taking advantage of the unemployment while it lasts,” with a smile on my face. When asked how everything is going I reply, “Couldn’t be better! We’re going to Chicago in a few weeks for a business trip for Dave’s job. Then we’re going to Myrtle Beach for a week in September. Definitely enjoying ourselves!”

And all of that is true.

But what I don’t say is, “Money is tight and I sometimes wonder how I’m going to pay my credit cards bills. I’ve resorted to making money online by doing surveys and product testing. We’re further in debt than we’ve ever been before. I use coupons for almost everything that I buy because I really need the discounted price. I’m stressed and nobody will hire me, even though I’ve got a good work history and a college degree under my belt (and another one almost completed). I’m embarrassed to cash my unemployment checks because I feel like people look down on me.”

Those things I keep to myself. Because I’m too proud to admit that losing my job has turned my world upside down and has changed the way we live our life.