Sugar (doo doo doo doo…doo doo)

Zero trick-or-treaters.  Basketful of candy.

Lady of the Flies

I haven’t posted anything in awhile, but that’s not to say nothing has happened recently.  There was the incident of a robbery in my neighborhood a week ago, and I had the privilege of entering my building right as the preteen perpetrator ran past me with a pillowcase full o’ loot.  He was followed by a cop (although, not too closely due to middle age weight gain), who was running as fast as he could.

There was also the bank robbery down the street from my mom’s house.  You can read the latest about that here.  (Apparently the robbery in my neighborhood didn’t make the news.)

But what has seriously made me nervous has been all the flies that make their way into my apartment, and then immediately turn around and buzz around the windows trying to get out.  Typically, I kill a couple a day, but when I came home this afternoon, there were a record number of them swarming around.  Happy Halloween, indeed!  Here’s a picture of a portion of the flies I killed, mostly from my bedroom:

I believe I shall be investing in this retro-looking fly catcher, once they have them in stock again.  And hey, it could be worse!  At least I’m not this guy:

The Head Is Up!

I am officially on my first fall break since 2001!

Shoe Sadness

I was dismayed when I looked down yesterday and saw that Jonathan had chewed the toes of my favorite shoes!  I wear these with everything: jeans, dress pants, even skirts (if I were to stop being lazy).  I looked for them in stores recently, because I was interested in purchasing another pair in case this exact problem arose, but they don’t make them anymore.  From now on, shoes will be kept in the bedroom!

The Head is Down

Tomorrow I start my externship at the elementary school.  Yes, I have enjoyed my six weeks of vacation, and yes, I probably squandered at least half of it.  But it was lovely nonetheless.  Most people don’t get to take six weeks off from work or school in a row, and although I should be thankful I had the opportunity, I still have that feeling in the pit of my stomach.  You know the one.

But chin up!  It’ll be fall break in just a few weeks!

Truly Outrageous!

Ever since I missed my window of opportunity to buy Jem and the Holograms on DVD before it went out of print, I’ve debated whether paying $130 for an incomplete series was worth it.  (Apparently, Rhino lost the distribution rights to the show before releasing the remaining episodes.)  I almost said ‘yes’ today, until I read Jem’s wikipedia page.  It said that Hasbro acquired the rights to Jem this year, so there’s hope that the series will be re-released in the future!  I think I’ll hang on to my money and see how this plays out.

Of course, we all just watched Jem for The Misfits, right?

Another Perfect Day

I received a coupon in the mail today for a free 2 oz body lotion from Bath and Body Works – no purchase required.  American companies, please! Stop sending me all this free stuff!  It is too wonderful, and I am sure I don’t deserve it.

I’m going to think about products I might like to purchase.

A year or so ago, long before I started this blog, I thought about how much fun it would be to have a product blog and talk about items I had purchased that were awesome, awful, or somewhere in-between.  That blog idea never happened, but I want to go on the record now about my favorite lip balm.

I stumbled across Badger lip balm in the “novelty” section of Ulta months ago.  I was charmed by its mascot and its slogan: “a little magic for your lips.”  At five bucks a pop, it isn’t cheap.  But the packaging won out, I bought a tube of the cool mint flavor, and I haven’t looked back.  Overnight, my cracked and peeling lips were healed.  I had previously tried Burt’s Bees, ChapStick, Alba, Blistex, and bizarre dollar store brands (X-Men lip balm, anyone?) to no avail.  I almost felt like they were making the problem worse.  But oh, my little Badger!  He truly has put his magic in this lip balm!  Don’t get me wrong, I’ll pay a dollar at the Dollar Tree for most of my household sundries.  But with the money I save buying generic allergy medicine and generic wheat thins, I think I can afford a pricey lip balm.

Unrelated: if you enjoy badgers in any form, be sure to check out this site!

Just a Perfect Day

You know it’s a great day when you receive a free chocolate chip cookie in the mail!

What?  You didn’t get one?  Click here to fill out a form for your free cookie!

Jonathan, The Destroyer

I think I gave Jonathan the run of the house too soon.  He’s gotten into a lot of terrible mischief which I’ve been too late to catch.  A sampling of his destruction:

Exhibit A: ruined carpet.  I close the doors to the bedrooms and the bathroom when I let Jonathan out, but that still leaves a small stretch of [NEW] carpet in the hallway, which he loves to dig at in the corners by the doors.

Exhibit B: chewed wood.  I don’t know how he managed to chew the floor, but he did.

Exhibit C: digging in and gnawing on the houseplants.

Exhibit D: stained hardwoods.  Yes, from pee-pee.

Fortunately, the current state of the destruction can be considered normal wear-and-tear upon moving out.  But I must be a vigilant mother in the future to insure that the damage doesn’t progress!