Karebear Central

Is it wrong that I am already thinking of shopping on Black Friday?  As of right now, I am way behind on my shopping.  I only have one gift bought.  I really need to start thinking of gifts.  One thing I am debating on waiting until Black Friday for is our LCD screen and LCD mount. I know if we get up real early we will be able to get a good deal, but we are also going to be in St. Cloud visiting my inlaws. Plus we are using gift cards that we have to order a couple of weeks before and we won’t know the deals until probably the week of. Maybe I will spend part of the weekend shopping. I want to get at least one person out of the way!

Andy and I went shopping last week and I came home really happy.  My couisin’s wedding is in about 3 weeks and I just realized, I do not have a dress to wear.  So we went looking for a dress.  Instead, my husband actually did a good job finding me two work outfits.  One is a business suit normally $200.00 on sale for $70.00.  Work is normally business casual, but I like outfits that are put together.  Also, I like to make people I have interviews–make them nervous.  But the best thing he found was a $70.00 outfit labeled at $30.00.  It also had a note stating as is one piece.  It was pants and a shirt, and I hate buying as is.  Especially when i do not know what is wrong with the outfit.  Since I couldn’t figure it out, I bought the outfit.  To my surprise, it was $12.99.   On the drive home, I finally figured out why it was as is.  The pants were a different size than the shirt.  Now I just have to be careful not to lose too much weight once I start working out.  It’s not like I’m going to be taking Leptovox. I just do not waste $100.00 on clothes I do not get to wear. So lesson learned–shop at JCPenny’s with my husband more often!

Since my insurance just renewed this month, I need to start making my appointments. I just had my yearly and now I am thinking about getting my eyes checked out. It has been a long time since I got my eyes checked and I already have reading glasses, but I know I am due for some more. I just wish they were not so expensive. I may have to check out zennioptical.com. They keep the prices down by taking out the middleman and directing serving the customer. I like dealing directly with the manufacturer. You know who to go to if something goes wrong or know who to thank if it is perfect.

They have a huge selection of frames, which is good, because I think eye glasses frames do really tell a lot about a person. You have to find a pair of glasses that fit your personality. Plus they have low prices, so that in itself, will lead me to the site.

A couple weeks ago, I blogged about the trouble we had at work ordering the 3 or more deal at Pizza Hut.  For my team lead’s birthday, we decided to order pizza again from Pizza Hut, just to see if it was a one time thing.   This time again when we called we ordered 8 pizza’s.  They ended up charging us $5 per pizza for the first 7 and then $6.99 on the 8th.  We said whatever, we just wanted the pizza.  So when they came to deliver it, they only delivered 8 pizzas.  So we called them back and spoke with a manager.  The manager said the deal is $5 per pizza if you order 3 or more to a total of $7.00.  It does not show a limit anywhere.  Dominoes doesn’t have a limit on their $5 deal.  They did give us a $10 credit, but we really do not want to order from there again. 

I have this obsession I do about twice a year, even though I really do not have to.  I dye my hair.  Usually from blonde to red the blonde again.  Its just something I feel like I can control.  The bad thing is that I think I have damaged my hair.  I have always had extremely fine hair and I think dying it hasn’t helped it that much. I haven’t been able to find anything that has helped my hair that contained naked naturals. 

I put enough chemicals on my hair to dye it, I don’t want to do that with the shampoo I am using.  That why I wanted to try natural shampoo.  Naked Natruals only contains what it needs to, nothing more.  It contains Keravis which is some kind of protein that helps your hair feel stronger.  I am always afraid when I put my hair up or curl my hair that my hair will break.  This shampoo makes your hair a lot stronger.  The stronger the hair, the more fuller it looks and that is what us fine haired girls need. By fine haired—I mean thin, extremely thin hair.

I’ve tried the shampoo for the last few mornings, switching it out with my old shampoo and have been amazed at the change in my hair.  It feels lighter, healthier and a little bit redder.  The conditioner makes my hair feel silky, I actually feel like my hair is one of my better assets now!

My husband loves the game of Life. I like the original board game too.  We can’t really play mine anymore because the thingy between 9 and 10 is gone.  So a couple of years ago, I let my husband buy the game of Life for the computer.  I don’t like it because its missing my favorite part–the spinning of the wheel. 

My sister bought this new game (per suggestion from me) for Andy for Xmas.  Last night, we pulled it out to actually play.  First, if you buy this game, you need 2 double A batteries.  The spinner is electronic, which is kind of weird.   (I won the two games)  It was really hard to understand the steps because its pretty much all tracked on the spinner thing.  Each player has a card–its like a credit card–that keeps track of your earnings and debt. 

The one thing I do not like, is to win the game the directions say the spinner calculates a “random calculation” to determine your lifepoints.  Ummm, what?   So its entirely random who wins no matter what you do?  Oh and you can only have 9 kids in this game.  I remember in the old game commandeering another car to put the extra kids in.  Plus you pick how many rounds you play, so you can strategize your playing a lot more.  I guess I’m a girl that likes chance, so this game really isn’t going to be for me all the time. But I am having a winning streak, so I may keep up with it!

The mall was speaking to me on the way home from work this morning.  I went in for 4 hours for some overtime, and as I drove home, I could feel Kohls calling me.  I ended up spending about $40 on stuff I kind of needed, but not really.  A new pair of jeans, a couple under shirts, some cheap boxers.  Kohl’s really knows how to get me into their store and buy stuff!
I was hoping to find baby stuff on sale.  I have two friends who are pregnant and they both are not finding out the sex.  I know that’s their choice, but man does that does make it hard to buy for.  I like to buy cute clothes.  You know how hard it is to find asexual clothing! 

I’ve been asked to try these Grey Poupon Mustards and give an honest review.  To start off with, I don’t like mustard.   I just do not like the smell of it and I think that is what deters me from liking it.  But my husband loves it and because he thinks so highly of it, I decided to even taste these mustards.  But I was going to do it my way, on something I love. 

Andy made us panini’s.  First, he took two chicken breasts and covered one with Grey Poupon Hearty spicy brown and one with Harvest coarse ground.  I went for the spicy one because I am a risk taker! First he cooked the chicken on the stove for about 5 minutes
 until cooked.  With the Hearty Spicy Brown, be careful spreading on too much because a little goes a long way.  And don’t worry if a little comes off on the pan too.  Next, he spread the mustard on the ciabatta bread (perfect bread for any panini).    After that, he put it on his panini maker for about 10 minutes and voila–down.  We made some tater tots for the side.  Andy loved the mustard.  We are going shopping tomorrow to buy pretzels because he thinks these will be great for dipping.  I thought it was okay, but Andy said we should pick some up at the store once we run out.  I know Andy will make this for himself again.  He ended up eating half my sandwich because the mustard he spread was a little thick for my taste, and he enjoyed both. 

The other day when I opened my mail, there was a letter from Shopko.  It stated on December 10 they were running a promotion with their MyRewards card and basically overcharged on sales tax the people who used their cards.  I was one of the lucky (unlucky) ones that this happened to.  They not only sent me a check for what I overpaid (0.35–should I cash it or put it in savings :)), they also sent a $5.00 coupon.  I like how they owned up to a mistake I never would have noticed.  That does make me what to continue to go there.  Smart marketing!

Andy’s parents just got a GPS for their car, a TomThumb, I think.  I know my sister just purchased one on Black Friday.  Even though they knew where they were going, they used it to see how it works.  Andy set it up so the voice that speaks is Australian English-named Karen.  Well, it started to become a game when we would have Karen recalculate the route when we wouldn’t take a turn she wanted to.  I would so do that with a GPS.  I guess Chris, Andy’s brother, went to the grocery store with the GPS (American English-Jill) and the Jill wasn’t aware that there was a new bridge and thought Chris had driven into the water.   I think its actually quite helpful gift.  I can see why they were pushing them this year.  Plus a guy never has to leave the car for directions.  I would like this because I never know where I am when I am driving.  It helps find restaurants and movie theaters and so much more.  Plus theirs has a mp3 player. Andy doesn’t think we need one since he always knows where he is going.