I am an addict.

I am hopelessly addicted to caffeine. I acknowledge this fact, and actually go out of my way to feed my caffeine addiction. I have decided that the world looks better when I am full of caffeine. Or at least I am less likely to bite off somebody’s head because they have just asked me the same question three times in a row.  Most people get hyper and jittery after a couple of cups of coffee and have even less patience then before. But as for me, if I can get a cup of coffee, I have all the patience in the world. I do not feel rushed and on edge. I feel calm and refreshed. I am sure some of this is just psychological. My body is not actually refreshed from receiving caffeine, but I have fooled my mind into thinking that.  Let’s hope I never get hooked on anything harsher then caffeine, lord knows I would be a mean addict. I will do anything to get a caffeine fix, who knows how far I would go if it was a real drug.

I resemble a ravenous wolf during my morning hunts for caffeine. Get in my way at the risk of your own life. I take no prisoners. There are only four things I want out of my mornings : a workout, a shower, breakfast and coffee. If you prevent me from those four simple objectives you will have a very miserable day.

Rumor has it that back in the day, I used to be able to just get up and roll out of bed. No fuss. I would go with the flow. I didn’t have to drink a pot of coffee before I could pry my eyeballs open. I could eat breakfast on the run, and if I didn’t make it to the gym, I would just go later. There was no set routine and it was virtually impossible to ruffle my feathers. But then age caught up with me, and suddenly it was interrupt my routine and I will become a demon. My routine coddles me and allows me to wallow in pity for the first few hours of my morning.  I don’t have to embrace the day before I am ready to. People who genuinely enjoy rising while it is still dark scare me. The days I am the happiest are the days I am allowed to sleep in til 6 or so. Just so that it is not pitch black outside when I open my eyeballs.

It takes a lot to be me.

Clint always teases me because I am a hopeless over packer. I feel like there is always a chance I might need this one item, so I have to have it. Otherwise my whole day might be ruined. Obviously a logical person would realize that your whole day will not ruined if you are unable to wear a certain shirt. But in my mind that is not the case. If I think I need a certain article of clothing to complete an outfit, nothing can change my mind.

I have a few items that I need to survive daily. These items include:

Hair straigtener, or hair scrunchi (I don’t want to scare small children with my unruly hair)

Sneakers (I have to be able to run off some of my manic energy to me more pleasant to anyone around me)

Gum (If I am chewing gum I am not stuffing my face with food)

Coffee (My long standing love affair with caffeine)

Cell Phone (Heaven forbid I have to go without entertainment while waiting at a stoplight for people to figure out that a green light means accelerate)

Car keys ( I would love to be able to walk everywhere but Bon Air is not pedestrian friendly)

Make-up (Again, don’t want to traumatize small children)

 

 

I run like a girl, and damn proud of it too.

 love running. I hate preparing my runs. I hate getting started. And I hate struggling to finish the last mile – ok the last two miles. I hate alternating between being so thirsty I could drink enough water to hydrate a small family and feeling so queasy that you have thought I had just eaten at a Mexican restaurant of questionable reputation.

However, after a run I feel magnificent. I feel accomplished. I look back at all the miles I ran, and think wow, I did that. I ran those miles. I struggled up every hill and coasted down the other side. Every time I push myself to do just one more mile, my body rebels. I keep glancing at the time, thinking omg how has it only been 30 seconds?

The best part of running though is all you have to do is put one foot in front of another. Sometimes that is the only way I get through a mile. But that is all you need to know to even run one mile. If you can put one foot in front of the other, you can run a mile.

I look at my body, and I know that even though I am not overweight and am slender. I will never be stick thin. My body needs to have substance to push itself through thirteen miles.  I am proud of my body for what it can accomplish and I don’t worry about weighing a certain amount or squeezing into a certain size.

I think women get so caught up in being a certain size, or looking a certain way that they forget about what is healthy. It is not healthy to starve yourself to make your body unnaturally thin. If you eat well and exercise, your body will find it’s happy weight. But that might not be a size 2. And I think we as a society need to learn how to live with that.

When I go shopping and try on a pair of jeans that are a size 4, they have an inseam that would only fit a woman 5’8 or taller. So what they are insinuating is that if you need a size four, you better be tall. Otherwise you are just a shorty who is overweight. It amazes me that I wear a large in underwear from Victoria’s Secret. I honestly don’t have any body fat, but the way my hips and ass sit, they require a large. If I were more sensitive to this kind of thing, I might get my feelings hurt. Luckily I know that Clint loves me the way I am, and I like me the way I am.

If I had to pick between being a size 0 and being able to run, I would pick being able to run. I feel my best after a run, but if I were a size 0, I would only feel good when I was trying on clothes.

 

I hate everything!

 hate how it takes forever for the ice cubes to come out of the stupid shoot in my freezer.

I biting into a grape and finding out it is sour.

I hate realizing that I accidently put my favorite shirt in the dryer and shrank it.

I hate getting to the pool, putting on sunscreen only to realize the sun has disappeared.

I hate getting rained on when I am dressed up and have somewhere to be.

I hate that coffee doesn’t taste good cold, but if it is too hot it will burn my taste buds off.

I hate there is never a light switch right next to my bed, so I have to climb out of bed just to turn off the lights.

I hate that checking Facebook on my phone uses up so much batter power.

I hate that eating to many potato chips is bad for you, but you can never eat just one.

I hate that you can’t open the windows in the spring without the pollen getting inside your house.

I hate the smell of bug spray, but I hate mosquitoes more.

I hate how fish smells fishy.

I hate ordering steak medium-well, only to find out that means there is more pink then I thought.

I hate having to send my food back to the kitchen.

I hate ordering something and being disappointed.

I hate when they don’t have what I ordered.

I hate when the waiter doesn’t refill my drink.

I hate when people mispronounce my name.

I hate when people don’t look at me while talking.

I hate when people mumble.

I hate when people have food stuck n their teeth.

I hate when people think brushing their teeth is an option.

I hate when people don’t let me finish my sentences.

I hate when I can’t pronounce a word correctly.

I hate when my ice cream melts faster than I can eat it.

I hate when I get a stain on a brand new outfit.

I hate that the only time I have to go shopping is when the mall is the most crowded.

I hate that the piece of clothing I like the best is never on sale.

I hate that I can only buy clothes that are on sale.

I hate my bills always seem to be more then what I make.

I hate that anything work having is worth working for.

I hate that directions to an electronic item are never short and concise.

I hate that I can’t speak a foreign language.

I hate that math feels like a foreign language.

I hate that I would rather watch reality TV then an educational show.

I hate that I secretly like the stupid shows on Disney.

I hate that I know all the words to the songs from Disney movies.

I hate that as soon as I paint my nails, I chip them.

I hate that I am too much of a chicken to get a tattoo.

I hate that animals are so much work.

I hate that I prefer junk food to healthy food.

I hate that I have to work out stay fit.

I hate that I wake up to an alarm clock.

Welcome to La Casa de Severson. I advise leaving while you have the chance.

I am putting my family up for adoption. I am sure everyone has had moments where they truly wish they didn’t have to claim their family members. Whether you are sick of being embarrassed or you are just tired of the drama or you honestly wonder how in the world you share the same gene pool with these people.

At large family gatherings it is tempting to step away from the chaos and look at my family as a stranger would. It is then I realize that a stranger would be fighting a battle in their mind about whether my family belongs on Jerry Springer or Maury Povich. It is a very delicate decision so the choices need to be carefully weighed.  Springer grantees physical harm but Povich comes with shocking realizations.

Even if my family manages to gather without any one getting injured or without losing someone at a rest stop, my family is still a very loud group of people. You can hear us long before you can see us.  We all talk at once and it we through in obscure body gestures to emphasize our points.  It is not just enough to call someone an idiot. You have to roll your eyes, through up your hands and walk around in a circle while muttering obscenities under your breath to emphasize how stupid that person was being.

If you wanted to survive in my family, you had to become good at two things. Talking and eating. You had to learn how to talk loud and talk fast if you wanted to be heard, and you had to learn to eat quickly and stash any extra food, or you would go hungry. I learned real quick that setting a tub of ice cream in really cold water in the bathtub was not enough to keep the ice cream from melting.

I know at the end of the day they are my family members and I stuck with them but sheesh. One of my sisters is known for attempting to eat a pistachio – shell and all. This wouldn’t seem like such a big deal, but she is eighteen years old. Does the hard shell around the green nut look edible? If you bite down on it and hear you teeth crack, it might be sign the shell is not meant to be ate.  Another sister used to eat play dough like candy. I realize play dough is non toxic but surely it is not meant to be eaten as part of daily diet.  And my other sister has so many foods that she refuse to eat. Crackers and water are actually her idea of an ideal meal. However god forbid those crackers have fiber. You can’t eat any fiber because you might go to the bathroom. Never mind that is what the human body was designed to do, she has decided it is unnatural.

And let’s not forget the condiments.  The one that has a fiber paranoia also must coat whatever food you can actually get her to eat in ketchup. This might not sound so bad until you start thinking about all the different things you can coat in ketchup.  Anything fried can be dunked in ketchup. But pretzel sticks? Cinnamon toast crunch? The possibilities are endless and not appealing.  The only thing I can truly understand coating in ketchup is fish sticks. They are so revolting that you have to cover them in something to force them down. Now whenever I am in Ukrops and see a Gordons Frozen Fish Sticks box, I gag reflexively. Some things should just not be eaten.

My family members also have an unusual dependence on cell phone technology. I am pretty sure if you took away their cell phones they would wither up and die like you had cut of their supply of oxygen.  They have become adept at integrating texting into every part of their routine. Eat and text. No problem. Drive and text. No problem. At least until they rear end someone or run off the road. But so far they have someone managed to remain accident free while texting and driving. Not that I am recommending that activity.  But I digress. My sisters text while conversing with another individual, at work, at school. Even at the pool. The only activity that makes texting tricky is taking a shower. It is difficult to successful y text and wash your hair without either jeopardizing the phone or your hair.  But there is nothing more annoying when you are trying to have a conversation without someone and you are actually speaking to them in person, and they are intent on texting another person while speaking to you. This accounts for long breaks in the conversation and confusion between the topics being discussed via text and the topics being discussed in person.  I of course have to be the center of attention so when someone attempts to converse with me, while texting with another person, I have to resist the urge to smash the cell phone into little tiny pieces. The problem with that solution is that most phones are made so crappily that I wouldn’t get any real satisfaction is breaking one. After one toss the phone would probably crack. Not nearly as satisfying as getting to hurl a phone into a wall multiple times before it finally comes apart.

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy using my phone as much as the next person. I would even say that I suffer from a mild addiction to the social integration it provides.  Anytime I wake up in the middle of the night, I slide my hand under my pillow and pull out my phone to see which of my friends is drunk posting on facebook.  And anytime I am unfortunately stuck waiting in a line, I whip out my phone and peruse facebook and FML.  3.5 hours at a football game. No problem. I have a 98% charged phone battery and a whole plethora of hilarious unfortunate events that happened to other people thanks to FML. But I am not glued to my phone when having an actual conversation with someone in front of me, or when I am doing a dangerous task like washing my hair or cooking dinner.

Speaking on dangerous tasks, if you ride with a certain member of my family – you might as well say your final prayers. Riding wither her is always an adventure. If by adventure you mean holding on to the sides of the car for dear life and praying you don’t throw up on your cute new dress.  On this ride all beverages should be left at the gate and you should watch for loose contents. Anything not tied down will be flung around during sudden stops and sharp turns. This experience would be fun if I wasn’t 75% sure that continuing to ride in this death trap would result in my early demise.

I am pretty you can describe my family in a few short sentences. We are horrible drivers, fast talkers, voracious eaters and a tendency to embellish. Out of all  those characteristics, the tendency to embellish is probably the one that creates the most problems for us.

Childless by Choice.

So this is a subject that is always on my mind but I can never quite seem to get all my thoughts out. So, I am going to try again.

I come from a rather nice sized family. Four kids and two parents.  There was always someone to entertain me. And there was always someone bothering me. But four kids seemed like the perfect number.  There were always enough playmates to go around.

However, I honestly have no desire to have children of my own. Now, everyone says that I will change my mind, or they think I had a bad experience with my siblings. Neither of those opinions are correct. I am simple selfish. I really enjoy living my life without having to consider anyone else. Of course I consider Clint, but he is a grown man and is not as needy as a small child. I can leave Clint for three hours to go on a long run. But if I have a two year old, I either need a babysitter or I will be taking a much shorter run.

I feel like I am mature enough to know that I am not ready for that. I am completely aware that accidents happen. Leisel, my youngest sister is a prime example of a “mistake.” How my parents managed to muster up the energy to deal with her after the three of us got done with them, I will never know. Although my parents’ exhaustion with child raising is probably part of the reason Leisel is allowed free reign and therefore frequently just does whatever she feels like without worry of the consequence. I tell you what, I would have loved for some room to breathe when I was her age, much less the freedom to come and go as I please. All I ever heard was “It’s my house, so you follow my rules.”  I usually followed that comment with a very dramatic eye roll which would earn me a week or two grounding from my only tie to the civilized world – the phone.

So just because I don’t want to spend all my energy and resources raising a zoo, does not mean I don’t like children. I do. I find them very refreshing. They aren’t catty and conniving. They don’t go out of their way to play hurtful games. And they are genuinely funny. Kids really do say the darndest things.  I interact with kids on some level almost every single day. But that doesn’t mean I want any of my own.

I enjoy going home and vegging out on reality TV. When I watch my god kids, even though their bedtime is at 8 o’clock, I usually don’t get to sit through a full episode of mindless entertainment until after 9. I also enjoy being able to eat my meals without having to prep the food for others as I go. I don’t have to cut up anyone’s food, pick out the veggies or get up for countless drink refills. I now know why my mother was so thin.  You never get to overindulge at a meal because you are lucky that you even get to take five bites. However I can totally understand why you never hear a parent say, “I don’t drink” or “No thanks, I won’t have a beer/glass of wine/whole bottle of vodka.” I do believe that after a particularly trying day of parenting, life looks better through beer goggles.

But as far as Clint and I go, we are childless for time being. And will remain that way for the foreseeable future. We both enjoy babysitting, and hanging out with other people’s kids. But at the end of the day, we enjoy our very independent routine. We can lay in bed together on a Sunday afternoon and nap and read the news. We can go away for the weekend and not have to worry about disrupting anyone’s schedule. We can work late, go in early and do just about whatever we need or want to and it doesn’t affect anyone but us.  I can hear people calling us selfish. But honestly, aren’t we the exact opposite of selfish? We know that right now we would not make the best parents in the world, so we are not actively trying to have children who didn’t ask to be born. I think the people who are selfish are the ones who want a baby so badly that they overlook the fact that their lifestyle might not be conducive to raising a child.  We have some acquaintances who travel so frequently for both of their jobs that they only see their seven year old daughter one week out of the month. And during that week they see so many of their adult friends that their daughter gets squeezed in when she can.  And let me tell you it shows. Their little girl is whiney and clingy and very anti-social. She would rather sit in her room by herself then engage in a play date.  She is very non-verbal and hard to engage. But the most telling of all was when I read her a good night story about a little girl whose  dad takes her to the playground. She said : “My parents never play with me. They are too busy.” Out of the mouths of babes.

So even though one day Clint and I might change our minds, we enjoy our work hard play hard life. And we know that in order to have healthy, happy, well adjusted kids, something would have to change.  So our immediate plan is  to continue bonding as a couple, participate in the occasional “what if we had a baby” fantasy. And give ourselves plenty of time as a couple before becoming mom and dad.

 

 

Why can't I ever just take a sick day?

I really am not good at being sick. I have no patience and that makes me a pretty annoying patient.  I just want to get better. Like right now. I want be able to do my normal routine. I am not good at lying around on the couch watching Dr. Phil reruns. Don’t get me wrong, I love Dr. Phil, but after about four or five hours I find myself examining every aspect of my life and asking myself “What would Dr. Phil do?” Obviously this can create some dangerous situations because I am really fond of some aspects of my life but I am pretty sure that Dr. Phil would say they have to go. I don’t think he would indulge in my eating half a cartoon of ice cream a night while watching the real housewives. This is of course followed by a healthy fourth meal of cinnamon toast crunch and pistachios. I also have a morning routine that involves prodding Clinton with sharp objects until he finally gets out of bed. I could definitely hear Dr. Phil having a very strong opinion about this ritual.

And the really sad thing is that during a regular work week I often fantasize about being home alone with the remote and my sheep blanket, but in reality I would only enjoy about five minutes of that. I need to be active and I need companionship. On rainy winter days when I don’t have any motivation to run errands because it involves getting my hair wet and undoing the hour and a half I spent straightening the frizzball, I am known to compulsively clean my house. I will clean the rafters, the floorboards, the windows – anything that catches my attention.  So when I am feeling under the weather and I reduced to lying on the couch watching TV, my mind comes up with lists of things that need to be done and then I feel guilty for not doing them.

Now Clint on the other hand can lie on the couch and watch TV all afternoon and not feel guilty about not getting a darn thing done. All I can say is it must be a gender thing. He never feels obligated to rush around just to squeeze in another load of laundry or to swing by the grocery store.

I think that might be why he is more relaxed and easy going then me.  He has figured out what is really important at the end of the day and what isn’t – especially if using this line of thinking will get him out of another round of chores.

Reality TV.

Some days I get worried that I like reality TV just a little too much. I have so many different reality shows on so many different networks that in order to keep track of them all I would need a graphic organizer worthy of an AP English Class. The fact of the matter is, I really don’t like sitcoms. I think the situations are forced and fake. None of those events would happen in real life and no one really lives like that or would react in that manner. Hence why I would much rather watch reality TV.

Now I know what you are thinking. Reality TV is not really reality. No one really lives in mansions with 10 car garages and three swimming pools and we certainly don’t have three nannies for one child. I mean if walk outside my house you are lucky If the neighbor isn’t working on one of his ten disabled cars in nothing but his genuine Levi blue jean shorts and a bear in one hand and a wrench in the other. And if we are really lucky we can watch his wife chase the kid around the yard trying to get the remote. Now the fact that a 3 year old can outsmart and outrun a 30 year old is pretty impressive. Kid might have a career as a track star but that is another story. Back to the reality TV.

I know people don’t really live like that, and I know that most of the storylines are created by directors to get more views. But that doesn’t mean these shows aren’t highly entertaining.  These shows manage to suck me in .You would think that I could be persuaded to watch something with a little bit more substance but hell no. Give me a show where women gossip about each other and compete to see who can spend more of their husband’s money.  I do not actually wish to ever live like these people, but I am fascinated watching people who can and do exploit others to their benefit and have no shame in living extravagant lives.

The truth of it is, these shows remind me to be grateful for my life. Even though I might never live in a 10,000 square foot house, drive a Bentley, have a nanny, chef, butler or maid, I do live with someone who actually cares about me and that is worth living a middle class lifestyle. I don’t have to worry about when he will grow tired of me, or which one of my friends is really a frenemy.   My life is chaotic in terms of endless laundry, grocery shopping, meal prep, doctor visits, dog walking etc. but I do not have the chaos that comes with having to find ways to entertain filthy rich acquaintances who are bored with their lives.                                                     

I am Sallie Mae's ho.

You know what woman I really hate? Sallie Mae. The bitch is one conniving ho. When I was a young and dumb freshman, my only thoughts were what I had to do to make it through the year and then make it three more years til graduation.  I couldn’t even envision making it through the week, much less through graduation.

So spring semester of my freshmen year, my financial aid comes crashing down. I need a savior and fast. So Sallie Mae comes riding in on her white horse and suddenly I can breathe again. I spent a tense two days envisioning myself as a college dropout  working at McDonalds ad having to resort to hooking up with the greasy manager to bring home enough money to keep my cable so that I could at least  find solace in the high living real housewives ladies on Bravo. But then the magical people at Sallie Mae called me with the joyous news that I was approved.

“Congratulations, you will now become Sallie Mae’s ho.” So with that wonderful phone call, I now had to beef up my repertoire of tricks to keep my pimp satisfied. For 3.5 years Sallie Mae lavished me with her money and graciously allowed me to pursue and finish my degree. However on graduation day she abruptly changed her attitude. It was no longer warm and fuzzy. I now belonged to her and each day the amount at the bottom of the page got bigger with interest added on from the day before.

Six months after graduation I officially became Sallie Mae’s ho. It really didn’t matter if I had a job, or was even able to use my degree, all that mattered is that I had signed my soul away and had a long wait to get it back.  I was going to be turning tricks for Sallie Mae for a long time.

Sallie Mae appeared when I needed her the most and she saved the day. Little did I know the steep price I would have to pay. So four years later, it leaves me with the question : “Is my college degree worth being Sallie Mae’s ho? And the answer is, I really don’t think so.”

One of these days  I am actually going to look at the amount I owe and how little I have paid on it, but I am going to save that day for when I need to get sick in order to fit into a two sizes to small dress

 

Practical ways we stretch our dollars so that I can go shoe shopping.

Since the economy has been so iffy the past couple of years, and everywhere I go, I hear people talking about how worried they are about their job, or their bills or something related to money. I have decided to write about what we do in that department.

Clint and I are pretty average as far as the American household income goes. He has been out of college and working for eight years, but I have only been out of college and working for six months. But the point is we are both working and we both are college graduates. This means that we both have college debt but we feel like at the time it was the best decision for us.

Clint has a career as a financial advisor that he loves. He works long hours and is always available to help his clients out. He doesn’t have time to work a second job, but he doesn’t need to. He has spent enough time working that he has figured out how to be successful and keep us living comfortably. I work as an insurance agent at State Farm. I work a normal 9-5, but then I also work on the side to make extra money. I tutor after work because I love it, and it helps pay off those student loans. I figure that if I wasn’t spending that time tutoring, I would probably be spending it shopping or finding some other way to spend money as opposed to saving it.

We don’t have any extreme money saving tips. We don’t drive only one car or live in some tiny square footage apartment.  We don’t eat only pasta for dinner. We use practical money saving tips.

But before we have any discretionary money, we have to pay our bills. And we have a lot of those. First of all is the house. And insurance for it. We live in a modest house because we decided that we would rather live in a normal sized house then a mcmansion and have more money to spend on fun things like vacations and going out with friends.  Now my car is paid for. The repairs can be expensive because it has 100,000 miles on it, but as long as the repairs are less expensive then a new car payment, we are keeping this car. Clint’s car is a bit more expensive but he can deduct it as a business expensive. That is how he sells it to me. Now, I know his car payment might be a little bit extravagant but it is really our only unnecessary expense. And it makes him happy, so you know what as long as we can make the payment without struggling then the car can stay.

Our student loan payments are also a pretty big expense but we try to impact that by negotiating for the lowest possible interest rate and have our payments drafted out of our bank accounts monthly. Most student loan and credit card companies will work with you to lower you interest rate, and will cut you a break if you draft your payment out of your checking account.

Food is another huge expense for us. We love to eat. We love to eat good food. We buy a lot of fruits and vegetables and sadly that gets expensive. It would be cheaper for us to eat pre-packaged food since you can buy it in bulk, but it well worth paying a little bit more to get fresh fruits and vegetables. I do only buy the fruits and veggies that are in season, and whenever possible I buy them in bulk at places like Costco of Sam’s club. Oranges, onions, potatoes and apples all keep well if stored properly so it easy to buy them in bulk.

I buy all my meat fresh and only buy the amount I am actually going to use. I also try to buy whatever is on sale at the meat counter that day. If boneless. Skinless chicken breasts are on sale, then that is what I am buying. I will buy more then what I need if what is on sale is a staple meat item because I can freeze the leftovers.

Now for dairy, canned fruit, packaged foods, frozen vegetables and other grocery items, I try to exclusively buy the store brand. Buying the generic brand is almost always cheaper, and it has the same ingredients as a private label. I buy generic:

Ice cream

Frozen vegetables

Canned fruit

Apple sauce

Macaroni and cheese

Rice

Beans

Bread

Cheese

Milk

Eggs

Chips, crackers etc.

Candy

Condiments

Baking ingredients

Now, don’t get me wrong. If the private brand is on sale that week, then I will buy whatever is cheaper. But usually the store  brand is the cheapest.  By buying mainly store brands I save between .50 cents and $2.00 on each item. That adds up when you are buying 15 to 30 items at a time.

Another way we “save” money is by selling things on eBay. I am an eBay fanatic. I buy and sell things regularly on eBay.  I will buy anything from clothes to shoes to books to electronics. I rely heavily on feedback from other buyers and I always communicate with the seller to make sure that are attentive to the buyer’s needs. I like buy it now items because it allows me buy an item at a set price instead of allowing me to get involved in a bidding war. But if I decide on my highest maximum bid and stick to it, then bidding it just fine to.

Now items to sell on eBay:

Clothes

Shoes

Purses

Jewelry

Accessories

DVDS

CDS

Cell phones and mp3 players

Gift cards

Stuffed toys like webkinz or beanie babies.

The best tip for selling you item is to type it in the search box and see what others are selling it for. You don’t want to be the most expensive seller, but you do want to make a profit.  I always offer free shipping and make my item a couple of dollars more expensive. Even if my item is not 15 dollars as opposed to ten, more people are drawn to it because of the free shipping. 

Clint and I also are big fans of craigslist. If I need to purchase something big like furniture or a bike, I will look on craigslist. We have bought a desk and bookcase off of craigslist for a fraction of what it would have cost at pottery barn and we got free delivery. We also use craigslist to look for things like lawn care services or automotive services. Even if we don’t find an individual or a company that we like, at least we know what the going rate is.

Whenever I walk into an apparel store, I always start with the sales racks and work my way up from there. I have strict guidelines about how much I am willing to pay for an item. For example I am will not spend more than 20 dollars on top unless it is absolutely  fantastic. Keeping this kind of a budget helps me from making extravagant purchases I later regret.

 

5 years with my best friend.

The best part about living together is always having someone to bother – ahem – I mean entertain. There is always someone to zip up your dress, put up the dishes on the top shelf, clean the bathrooms, check for monsters and comment on trashy reality TV stars.

Clint and I have been living together for four years. That is four years of turning off lights, picking up clothes, sharing the bathroom, arguing over TV shows, eating the last cookie, hitting the snooze, pillow fights, tickling and laughing at bad jokes.  We pretty much have everything down to a science, but some things still slip past us.

For the most part we mesh well together, but there are some things we never agree on. For example, you wouldn’t think that it really matters how you load the dishwasher, but it matters to Clint. Heaven forbid you don’t load it his way. The world might end.  And this wouldn’t be an issue if Clint was always going to be the one to load the dishwasher. But let’s face it, since he is not the one who cooks, he is not the one who gets most of the dishes dirty. So in his mind, I should just leave the dishes stacked up by the sink until he is ready to load them into the dishwasher. Um no. That is disgusting. I might have twenty dirty dishes. I am not going to just stack them there and wait until you feel like loading the dishwasher. I am going to load them my way, and if you do not like it, you can take the dishes out and put them in your way.  This really is one of our biggest arguments. It probably should make us take a step back and re-evaluate what we spend time fighting over.

There are so much more entertaining battles.  But nope, we fight over the right way to load a dishwasher.

But see, there is one thing I have learned after living with Clint for four years. Whatever you pick to fight about, isn’t what you are really fighting about. For example, in the dishwasher loading fight. We are really arguing about our two separate and different ways of doing things. And how each of us think that our way is the best and only way to do something. But instead of rationally voicing our opinions about our different cleaning styles, we fight over a dishwasher. Most people would just be grateful that someone else wants to load the dishes.

But there are also endearing things about living with someone you love:

There is someone to warm up the bed in the wintertime.

There is someone to jump up from the table and grab what you forgot.

There is someone to rub your shoulders.

There is someone to laugh at hilarious story lines with you.

There is someone to bring you your towel when you forgot it.

There is someone to share a bowl of ice cream with.

There is someone to sing off key with.

There is someone to snuggle with.

There is someone to blame for using up all of the hot water.

There is someone to turn off all the lights when you are too lazy to get out of bed.

There is someone to come behind you and refold the laundry you just shoved in the drawer because you were feeling lazy.

The problem I have with flying.

So if you have ever flown. You know the first thirty minutes or so can be enjoyable. You get to know your seatmate, you take off and you get to look at all the scenery below you. Well, after about thirty minutes the scenery all looks the same, your seatmate it no longer witty and now it just annoying in a middle-school way, and you can’t go to sleep because some kid two rows behind you is narrating his entire life story at top volume.

This is when flying really gets enjoyable.  I usually shrink into my seat, plug my iPod into my ears and attempt to page through a magazine. I try to make a game out of how long I can go without looking at the clock. The longest I have ever gone is five minutes.  I generally breathe a little easier when I see the flight attendants come around to pick up our trash because then I know we more than halfway done with our flight.

However the hardest thing about flying is not the flight. It is stuffing everything you need into one suitcase. Do you know how hard it is to pack clothes, shoes, a straightner, a blow dryer, make up etc into one suitcase that fits into the size limits for a carry on. Let me tell you, I could win some awards. It is called creative packing. I fold everything into the little package I can, and then I just start cramming.  Nothing looks to pretty when you take it out, but at least I got it all in.

I wouldn’t have to cram things in my suitcase in the first place if I didn’t have such a propensity to over pack. I bring everything just in case.  It doesn’t matter if the forecast calls for 90 degrees and sun every day, I am going to bring my jeans and a sweater just in case. I also need extras of everything just in case. I have no actual idea what just in case actually is, but I like to be prepared. I always carry a razor and toothbrush in my purse just in case I end up spending the night away from home. I want to be able to have fresh breath and smooth legs.