Um…. What?

In watching a repeat of the MTV VMA, I have developed a list of question to which I would like answers.

Shall we begin?

1. What the hell is Kanye West’s problem?
2. Could Beyonce have worn any less to cover her cootchie?
3. What was MTV thinking when they put a thick girl in a one piece sequence outfit and asked her to shake it to “Single Ladies”… Really MTV??
4. Does anyone even watch the CW?
5. What is the incentive to buy into all this Twilight crap?
6. Why are all the commercials about sex, Proactiv, or the newest season of trashy MTV reality shows?
7. When will Sean Combs realize that being called “Diddy” is just ridiculous?
8. Is Katie Perry’s date as gay as he appears ?
9. Why is everyone in the audience constantly screaming?
10. Really Lady GaGa?  REALLY?
11. Shouldn’t SOMEONE be concerned that this music is defining a generation???  ANYONE???
12. Um…. who told the All American Reject guy that GLITTER MADE A SUITABLE SHIRT?  You should be fired.
13. Kanye, Serena… I mean.. how many other horrible role models could we get in one show?
14. What was Pink thinking?   It’s the VMAs.. not Cirque De Soleil… right?  And the joker unitard? umm… no
15. I totally want to see the new movie Fame.  (I know.. not a question… so what)
16. Someone tell me if I like Pitbull or not… because I can’t decide?
17. Beyonce.. I take back question #2.. that was very big of you to let Taylor thank her fans.
18. Lady GaGa… STOP WITH THE CRAZY.. PLEASE??
19. Is there always a soundtrack playing when Jay-Z walks into a building?
20. Jay-Z is really not that good….Are they video editing his language?
21. As over MJ as I am.. he really was talented…
22. Am I too old to be watching the VMAs?

I just conferred with the Engineer… and he agrees that we may be a bit to old to be watching the VMAs, which is super sad because most of the music winning awards I have on my Ipod (Hey.. it’s not MY generation being defined… )

On a side note:  Our new pantries (aka unbroken) arrived today and I just finished touching up the red wall.  So.. only a few more little things to do, pantries to refinish and install, and our kitchen remodel will FINALLY be done.

Before the Storm….

Remember my last post?  The title?  CALM?

ROTFLMAO…

So I started working on July 27th.   Since that date the following has happened:

• I’ve been to Vermont… TWICE
• We’ve moved all of our kitchen appliances into our living room
• We demo’ed our kitchen
• I removed all of the grout from my kitchen tiles..BY.MY.SELF
• In removing the grout, I managed to blow a a fine sheet of grout dust all over my living room
• I ceiling-to-floor cleaned my living room
• I’ve heard Lady GaGa’s Love Game song about a million times
• I’ve been to my in-laws cabin once
• I’ve played hostess to my parents twice
• I’ve developed a bonafide coffee addiction
• I’ve done 10+ loads of laundry (in 4 weeks people!!!)
• I drove to Charlotte with my husband to buy a new truck (well.. new to us)
• I’ve called to bitch out a cabinet sales man who would do NOTHING when our pantries arrived BROKEN!!

All 4 weeks… and I’m exhausted.   Which is why I’ve not been blogging.

I hope to have pictures of our kitchen remodel up soon  (which I hope is going to be finished soon.. we’re still waiting on our unBROKEN pantries).  Until then, bear with me.. I’m here.  Kinda of.

PS:  Work is great.  I’m very happy with my new placement.  The free coffee doesn’t hurt!

And in an instant… calm

I’ve been waiting almost 6 months to write this post.

Pending a mandated physical, which I’ll be taking at 10 am tomorrow morning, as of July 27th, 2009, I’ll be once again:

GAINFULLY EMPLOYED!

And OMG.. I can’ t tell you guys how happy I am.

As previously discussed.. I won’t be sharing serious details with you but I can tell you it’s pretty much the same job I was laid off from, only with a better company.   And I’m SUPER EXCITED (I’ve been chasing this job and company for the last 10 months… )

I’m glad it’s come through and I’ll be happy to get back to work.

It’s a good thing too, cause I think I just found a graham cracker crumb on my boob…

More details as they develop (on the job.. not the cracker crumb or boobs).

Blue Funk

I haven’t been blogging because … well.. I’m just not in a good place right now.

That pretty much sums it up.

I’ve got nothing positive to blog about.  Nothing.  It may sound a little drama queenish, but it’s true.

I’m in such a funk I can’t even make up good material to  blog about.

I’m still not working (although.. there are more prospects out there which I’m hopeful for) and I’m miserable not working.

I’m bored

I’m tired

I’m cranky

I’ve lost my ’spark’

My husband summed it up best by saying that in general.. I’m  just pissed off at the world.

Really though, I’m just not happy and for once in my life I’m not sure what to do about it.   I have no clue to how get myself out of this funk that I’m in.

So let me apologize in advance, because for a while, blogging will be sparse…….at least until I can find my ‘happy place’.

In the mean time, I’m going to start by recharging my batteries during tomorrow’s holiday and then well.. I’m gonna have to take it day-by-day.

Finally, speaking of tomorrow’s holiday, please don’t forget to remember those who have served our country!

Run Run Run to CVS

OK.. I know right.. I’ll get to why I’m not blogging more in a later post.

If you want to start “CVSing” (it’s addictive …. but oh so much fun) there’s an outstanding deal going on this week that can give you a great start.

This week* at CVS if you buy two Neutrogena sunscreen products you will get back $10 ExtraBucks.

I went this afternoon and bought this (based on the twitter from Iheartcvs) :

Yep.. that’s a 1.0 ounce trial size bottle of Neutrogena Ultra Sheer 55 SPF that I bought for $1.99.  The bottles can be found at the front registers or in a small clear bucket in/around the cosmetic section.

$1.99 x 2 = $4.16 (with tax)

When you get back your ExtraBucks, you’ll have made a profit of $5.84.

FREE.MONEY!

You’re Welcome

*Since CA and NV are going through a Longs/CVS conversion.. I’m not sure if this works there or not.  Sorry!

Jet Setting and More Savings

What a crap-tastic title huh?

The husband and I will be flying to LA tomorrow.  His 92 year-old grandfather passed away yesterday evening.  We’re going out to put the “fun” backing into funeral.

Ok.. maybe not.  But we are going to help his parents out with anything and everything they might need.   Hubs’ trip will be longer than mine:  J-Art is getting married next weekend (insert “Squeeee” here), so my trip to LA will be abbreviated so that I can be back in TN in time to drive the 4 hours across the state to the wedding site.   Whewwww…. it’s a good thing I’m not working or I have no idea how this schedule would work (I have a feeling it would require taking vacation….).   Maybe it’s a sign….there’s a reason I’m unemployed right now.

So.. posting for the next week may be scarce (like that’s unusual), but then again, if I find myself with some down time,  I’ll try to fire off a post or two.  Just know that I truly have not fallen off the face of the earth …again.

Ok.. that’s about it for the Jet Setting.  On to the Savings part of the program.

I promise I’m not going to keep doing this…since this isn’t a shopping/savings blog, but I want to share my latest 2 CVS haul because I’m SUPER EXCITED about them.

The first trip was on 4/19

Total Spent: $9.91

Sorry for the crappy photo.

So the take home was as follows:

• Tresemme:  3/$10 – Had 3 $1 coupons — Total:  3/$7
• Edge Shave Gel:  $2.89
• Oral B Floss:  $2.88 x 2 — Total:  2/$5.78
• Loreal Hip Eye Shadow Duos:  Buy One/Get One Free (BOGO) $7.99 — Had two $1 Loreal Paris coupons — Total:  2/$5.99

So, my total, before coupons was:  $26.64.  I had another $5 off $25 coupon, which brought the total to $21.64.  Then $5 in coupons (see above) made the total $16.64.  I used $7.99 in CVS ExtraBucks (ECB) that I had from a previous purchase, so after tax ($1.26) my total ended up being $9.91.   I was pretty happy when I also earned $11.89 ($5 for the Tresemme, $2.89 for the Edge, $2 x 2 for the Floss) in ECB for future purchases!

On the first trip, I spent less than $10 and earned more than $11 in ECB.  Not too shabby.  However, it was nothing like today!

The second trip: 4/22

Total Spent: $0.66

Yeah.. you read that right.  I spent 66 CENTS on all of that!  Here’s the break down.

• Tresemme (second verse..same as the first):  3/$10 – Had 3 $1 coupons — Total:  3/$7
• Bayer:  $2
• Dove SkinVitalizer:  On sale at CVS for $4.00 (normally $12.99).  Had two $3.50 coupons.  Total:  2/$1.00 (I’m giving one of them to my mom, since I don’t need two)

So, my total, without coupons was:  $20.01.   I had a $4 off $20 purchase, which brought my total to $16.01.  Taking off $10 in coupons (see above), reduced my total to $6.01.  Tax ($0.65) made my total $6.66 (UGH!).  I paid with $6.00 in ECBs, leaving my total out of pocket cost to be $0.66!!!!  Oh.. but I’m not done yet (I should totally be selling Sham-Wows or something)! (wow.. there are alot of exclamation points in this post).   I got another $5 in ECBs for the Tresemme purchase and $2 for the Bayer purchase.  That’s right:  I spent $6 in ECBs and got back $7.  Using that fuzzy math.. I actually made $0.34 profit!

Like… SHUT UP!   I’m addicted!   I actually had to drive to 3 different CVS stores to make the last trip work out so perfectly (the first two stores were out of the Dove SkinVitalizer) and it took a little bit of pre-planning to get the dollar amount (ECB spent vs. received), but I did it!  I actually made a profit on my 3rd trip out!

Alright.. enough celebrating my new shopping skills.  I gotta go convince Priceline to give me a rental car for super cheap and pack.  Any thoughts and prayers you can send toward the hubby’s family are always appreciated!

Smart Shopping

So by now you all know I’m unemployed.  With unemployment comes some financial stress…and saving where one can is always helpful.  I’ve been clipping coupons for almost a year now.   At first, I just had the mind set of saving the cost of the paper (or $2 in my case).  As long as I used $2 in coupons, it was a wash.   Then a few sorority sisters of mine turned me on to this website:  Southern Savers

Basically, Jenny (the site owner) goes through the major drug store ads and several grocery ads and shows you how to use the store sales, manufacture coupons, and customer loyalty programs to get items for ridiculously low prices.

I’ve been reading this website for a couple of months now.   I couldn’t believe that people were getting shampoo, razors, and OTC medicines for FREE!   And, always up for a challenge, I wanted to see if I could do it too.

After a week or so of small purchases, I made my first major purchase today:

I got all of this for $20.34

$20.34/14 items = $1.45 for each item!!

What’s crazy is this really isn’t a great deal.  Most people go in to a CVS or a Walgreens and leave with much more for under $10, but I was happy with my haul.

I was craving a small shopping spree and I had some CVS Extra Bucks rewards that I needed to use.  CVS Extra Bucks (EBs) are basically part of CVS’s customer loyalty program.  You sign up for the little customer loyalty card they have, and they have these coupons or CVS ‘money’ that print after you buy a certain product.  Those coupons can then be used, like CASH, for almost anything in the store.   They do expire about 2-3 weeks after they are issued, so you have to watch that.   I had several that were burning a hole in my pocket, and CVS was having some good sales.

Here’s how my haul breaks down.

Let’s start:

• The Air Wick Air Fresheners.   They were on sale for $4.99 (regularly $8.99) and I had two $4 off coupons.  Total paid for both: $1.98!!  (On a side note, I don’t think the coupons I had were really good for these air fresheners but the CVS lady took them.. so I’m not complaining)
• The Colgate Toothbrush:  Was $3.99 and I had a $.75 coupon.  Total paid : $3.24   I also earned $3.99 in EBs.   So.. basically, CVS gave me $.75 to take the toothbrush.
• The Peeps were on sale 50% off.   $1.50 for both boxes
• The Husband somehow lost his travel bottle for shampoo, so that’s the little red bottle there.   Total:  $1.99
• The Viva paper towels were a bit disappointing.   I paid $7.09 for the pack (I had a $.40 coupon).   I got back $2 in EBs (and we needed paper towels), but the rolls are small.
• The Dove shampoo was BOGO (buy one, get one).  I had two coupons totalling $2.50.  The one bottle was $4.99.  Total for two bottles of Dove shampoo/conditioner:  $2.49 ($1.25 each!!!)
• The Softsoap Body Wash was $4.99, and I had a $.75 coupon.  Total Paid:  $4.24.    Again, I got $4.99 EBs for the purchase, so CVS basically gave me $.75 to take the body wash
• The Pantene was the steal of the day.  CVS was running a 2 for $7 deal with a $2 EBs return.  I had two coupons for $3 off.  So I got 4 for $8 and then got $4 in EBs.  It’s like getting them for $1 each!  (The husband LOVES this stuff. I think he’s set for a while on shampoo!)

So.. when you add that up, my total was around $30 after coupons. I had a $5 off $25 purchase, so I used that, taking the total to $25.  Then I had $8.50 in EB from past purchases, so that took my total to about $17.   When you add in the tax (which is calculated on the PRE-COUPON price.. which I didn’t realized until I got home.  WTF?  That’s a scam if I’ve ever heard one!) I finished at  $20.34.

The best part though:  I used $8.50 in EB but I left with $14.98 in EB for future purchases!!

If you were to take the $14.98 out of my total, I essentially paid (fuzzy math, as my husband would say):  $5.36 for the haul.

I also have some Walgreen’s money (similar to the CVS EBs) to spend, but can’t find anything to use them on this week.  I think instead of trying to juggle two drug store savings plans, I’m just going to keep on “CVSing” my way to free stuff!   Woot!!

Necessary Regression

Today, after an exhausting search for jobs in the East TN area, I decided to take a break and go through my Google Reader, where I came across this blog.   Go ahead and click it.. it’s kinda important to the rest of my story.. Go On.. I’ll wait.

OK.   Of course, I had to go to the ringtone site and start putting together ringtones.  The problem is.. well.. I’m an IPOD user.  My music isn’t in MP3 form, and converting is always a pain in the ass.   So I did a search on my computer to see if I had ANYTHING in MP3 form.. and I did!  I had some sound clips from the movie Anchorman that the husband had sent me in 2006 (yes.. the year.. 2006).  So, just for fun, I started clipping and cropping them to make them good “alert” sounds.   Right now.. if you send me a text message, my phone says “I’m Kinda A Big Deal”.   AWESOME!

Well.. I was on a roll and decided to try to find more awesome clips to make ringtones.  For some reason, I was singing the theme song to the old Disney cartoon Gummi Bears and while I think it would be a hoot to have that as my ringtone.. well.. I really am to old for that.   Somehow, though, I ended up on YouTube watching this.

I use to watch this daily as a young child.  The Peculiar Purple Pie Man of Porcupine Peak was one of the best cartoon antagonist ever.   My favorite episode is when Strawberry Shortcake goes to “the Big Apple City” for a bake-off.   I spent the next hour watching all the clips that YouTube had of old-school Strawberry.

All of a sudden it hit me.  “What if my parents could see me now?”   I’m 27 28 29 years old , unemployed, sitting on my couch still in my pajamas, eating gobstoppers for lunch, watching clips of one of my favorite childhood cartoons.   What the hell has happened to me??  I’m fairly sure they’d question where they went wrong.

I paused for a moment, then said “fuck it” and searched for clips of Rainbow Bright and My Little Pony.

A little regression back to ones childhood is good for the soul.

…And my flippy-floppies

So.. the other night the hubby and I decided to go out for a date night.  It would be the first real date night we’ve had in  many a moon.. you know.. due to the employment circumstance.

Anyway..I decided I wanted to stop at .. well.. a store that sells “adult” based “novelty” items.  I’m hosting a bachelorette party in a few weeks and I wanted to check out some products.  There may/may not have been another product that I was searching for.   I plead the 5th.

So.. we decided to stop at the store between dinner and our movie (Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D.  SOOO good.  Yes.. I see the clash in maturity:  7:00 pm dinner with ADULT friends, 8:30 trip to ADULT store, 9:40 Disney cartoon. I don’t judge people….)

When we entered the store, we were the only customers and the two girls behind the counter, dressed in various forms of goth/punk/poor-college-student, were LOUD.  I’m not talking:

“I work in a store where most of the merchandise is considered taboo in the bible belt.. oh look.. a new dildo”  loud.

I’m talking “HOLY HELL, BAR THE DOORS & GRAB YOUR EARPLUGS, WE’RE GONNA BE OBNOXIOUS THE ENTIRE TIME YOU’RE IN THE STORE…AND LET US KNOW IF WE CAN SHOW YOU ANYTHING IN THE GLASS CASE” loud.

For a moment I thought about just walking out, but knowing that I was only there “to look” and then leave, I sucked it up.  The hubby..was annoyed.  In the mean time, the girls (and I swear.. no older than 21.. max), decided it would be fun to prank call the local rap/hip-hop station.   Since they had their volume (and the radio volume) stuck on “OH MY GAWD MY EARS ARE BLEEDING” high.. it was hard not to overhear them.

Basically, they wanted some song about “a boat” played and had been calling almost hourly until the DJ, after being casually threatened with S&M techniques, agreed to play the song.   After a brief chorus of “Squees” from the loud twins, they hung up the phone and proceeded to launch into their own rendition of the “boat” song.

It was only then (when I was more paying attention to what they were saying and less trying to turn them down in volume) that I realized what they had been requesting.  I looked up quickly to see one of the girls staring at me.

Me: “Did you just request ‘I’m on a Boat’ from the SNL skit with T-Pain??”

Girls: “SQUUUUEEEEEE  YES.. WE LOVE THAT SONG…. WE KNOW ALLL THE LYRICS”

Girl #1 begins to sing….. “I’m on a boat.. I’m on a M-F- Boat”

Me:  “They play that on the radio??  In KNOXVILLE?”

Girl #2:  “Yep.. that and ‘Dick in a Box’ and ‘Jizz In My Pants’.  We know the lyrics to them all”

Me: (2 10 decibels louder than normal) “OMG.. I LOVE ‘I’m on a Boat’.   I didn’t know they played it on the radio.  Do you think you can get it on I-tunes?”

Girls: “SQUEEEEE.. (singing) ‘I’ve got my swim trunks.. and my flippy floppies’“

Husband: “I believe we’re done here” (dragging wife out the door… girls getting louder as they follow us out).

(End Scene)

So I looked.  OF COURSE you can get it on I-tunes.  But don’t just download it.

Enjoy it.. because it’s fucking awesome!  (it’s also the un-censored version.. so you know.. you’ve been warned)

Ok… now I’m off to pick up all my flippy floppies (oh..you know from now on that’s what I’m going to call them) laying around the house before the husband comes home from his ‘business’ trip.

P.S. On a side note:  as the husband is dragging me out of the adult store, another couple walks in.  The male looks familiar but I can’t place him.  The female looks well…like a prostitute.  Anyway.. as we get into our car we notice that our car was the only car in the parking lot.  So how did the other couple get there?   They were chauffeured to an adult store in a limo!!   A limo that was awkwardly and unsuccessfully trying to make a 3-point turn at the far end of the parking lot.  Once it was facing the correct direction, it pulled up right in front of the entrance and waited.   Easily the most bizarre thing I’d seen all week (and I had just left an adult store… so that’s saying alot).

Opps…

I haven’t died.. I haven’t been abducted by space creatures…

I’ve just been on hiatus.

There have been job interviews, job fairs, cold calls, and networking classes.

I’ve baked (a ton actually… several batches of cookies and a cake), cleaned the house, purged the attic..FINALLY, made three trips to Goodwill and two to the city dump.

We’ve had friends over for Wii-weekends, and I’ve gone on a road trip.

I’ve read 16 trashy romance novels and played a little over 10 hours of DDR (I’m so rockin that out too!)

I’ve  been learning the wise ways of coupons, “CVSing”, and how to use value customer programs to the best benefit of my pocketbook.  The husband even said HE was impressed at how well we had our ’spending’ under control.. which lead to the conversation of why it wasn’t this ‘tight’ when BOTH of us were working. (hum.. gotta figure out how to get out of that one!).

I’ve been planning a bachelorette day party, for 8 people, in a town 180 miles away, for a wedding (where I’m the only attendant on the Bride’s side) that’s to take place 2 weeks before the wedding.  A wedding which is taking place 1 week before my first anniversary.

Finally, the hubby is going away on a business trip tomorrow, and I’ve been running around trying to get things in order for that.

Wheeewwwww… So.. forgive me for not being all blog-chatty lately, but I’ve been a little preoccupied.

I’ll do better soon.   Promise.