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It’s payday, hooray!

Molly — Fri, 04 May 2012 21:55:10 +0000

Happy Friday everyone! This is an especially happy Friday for me, because it’s payday, whoo hoo! I get paid bi-weekly, as do most people (here in the US, anyway), and let me tell you, those 13ish days between pay days have a tendency to crawlllllllllllllll by. Anyway, since it’s Friday and payday, here’s what our day is going to look like:

Pay some bills (online, of course, though we do have to run out to Turkey Hill to pick up a money order for a local payment).
Run to the post office so I can renew my PO box.
Hit up a local grocery store outlet and stock upppppppppppppp. They have amazing deals – we’re talking $10.00 bags of Royal Canin marked down to just $0.80, for example!
Wait until the kids come home from school, then decide – as a family – where to go for dinner.
Movie, rollerskating, or bowling after dinner – how full we are after dinner may be a deciding factor on this, haha.

What are your Friday/weekend plans?

Allergies and irony

Molly — Thu, 03 May 2012 21:52:57 +0000

When I was a baby and young toddler, I had several severe allergies. And by severe, I mean ambulance-calling, overnight-hospital-stay severe. I carried an EPI pen on my person at all times, and relied on an inhaler to help me manage my asthma and horrible allergies until I was twelve.

Then, I seemingly grew out of them. As an adult, I’ve rarely had allergies. However, seasonal allergies have been majorly kicking my ass and taking names these last few years – so much that I’ve been a huge fan of Claritin during the day, and Benadryl at night. I shudder to think about how much money I’ve spent on the stuff (not to mention how much I’ve consumed).

Then there’s the little issue of itchy skin, around my jaw line, neck, and in my cleavage. Ugh. Given the locations of the itchy skin, I’m pretty sure the culprit is something I’m using in the shower. The only question is, what? I recently switched shampoo, conditioner, and body wash! I guess I’ll have to eliminate them one by one to figure out the culprit. Go figure that I’d deal with allergies from what is probably one of the pricier, “better” products that I’ve recently purchased.

Why I don’t shop at our local outlets

Molly — Wed, 02 May 2012 14:35:51 +0000

I live in a very touristy-y area. To be specific, I live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Well, not in Lancaster, per say, but close enough to claim it as home. And certainly close enough to be aggravated by tourists. We live fairly close to a few popular shopping destinations for tourists — Rockvale Outlets and Tanger Outlets — but neither hold appeal to me. In my opinion, with the exception of the DEB Shop located at one corner of Rockvale Outlets, and the Five Below shop that is tucked further in Rockvale, there is nothing in either shopping center that holds appeal for me. And in my opinion, most of the outlet deals really aren’t “deals”. The few times I’ve gone into some of the stores I really didn’t see any “deals” – just last season’s merchandise (in the case of the apparel stores I was in) bearing full-priced price tags. What the?!

Yet tourists flock to the shopping centers like wildfire. Whatevs. I understand that from a purely economical standpoint I should be grateful for the shopping centers, since their presence helps to promote business and thus supports our county. But from my standpoint, I’ll pass – give me the mall or Target any day!

Panera Bread musings

Molly — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:43:37 +0000

Panera Bread has been my go-to place for quiet, kid-free work time for just about four years now. I initially discovered Panera Bread when my husband and I were in the embarrassing position of needing a working internet connection in order to submit some completed work projects, in order to get paid, in order to get our internet connection turned back on (i.e. unpaid home cable/internet/phone bill). See? I told you it was embarrassing.

Anyway, I began coming to Panera Bread shortly after, 2-3 times per week, in order to have several hours of interruption-free time to get work done. Now our children are 5 and 7, and in school full time, but it’s still nice to get away on weekends (such as last weekend – I spent a good chunk of Saturday afternoon and Sunday evening there), and during school nights. My husband, who currently is taking some time off of work due to depression/anxiety, is happy to let me go.

Panera Bread may be considered “overpriced”, but their food is GOOD. And unlike Starbucks, they have a lot more than just coffee and pastries. They have amazing soups (I recommend the Broccoli Cheddar or Creamy Tomato) and amazing sandwiches (Chipotle Chicken is my favorite), and their salads are massive enough to be split between 2-3 people.

Their desserts are delicious, too – but very high in fat and sugar, so watch out if you’re counting calories or are sensitive to sugar (that’s me on both counts).

Petco has a decent Betta fish return policy

Molly — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:45:54 +0000

A few weeks ago I went to Petco and splurged on a King Betta fish, whom I named Gillsbert (like Gilbert, but Gills since he’s a fish and has gills, heh). I say “splurged” because most regular Bettas are $3.99 – $4.99, and fancy Bettas are $7.99 – $12.99. King Bettas start at $19.99! But I wanted him. He was huge, and he was beautiful. I purchased him on a Tuesday night, brought him home (driving carefully so as to not jostle him unnecessarily), and slowly acclimated him to his tank. Sadly, the following Saturday morning, I woke up to find him dead. I have no idea what happened.

See? Gorgeous. And huge!

Fortunately for me and my wallet, I saved my receipt. A $19.99 is nothing to sneeze at! So I took Gillsbert, one cup worth of his tank water, and the receipt, headed back to Petco, and explained to the cashier what happened – how I had his tank set up (pH, temp, etc.), what I fed him, how much, and how often, and when I last checked on him (around 11:45pm Friday night) and when I found him dead (around 8:30am Saturday morning). She refunded my money with no questions asked. And “bonus” – she didn’t even notice the coupon I had used when I purchased him, so I got the full $20 back, instead of just $17. Whee!

Smile, you’re being recorded!

Molly — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:00:52 +0000

Sometimes my husband and I watch World’s Dumbest on TruTV, and it boggles my mind that people can think they can walk into a store and shoplift, or vandalize, or just act like an idiot. First of all, with the ease, convenience, and relative affordability of technology in today’s times, how can you think for one second that even the little mom ‘n pop store around the corner doesn’t have some type of surveillance cameras on the premises? And second – and even more importantly – why would you want to steal, vandalize, or do something inappropriate in a store? Weren’t you raised better than that? And even if you weren’t, since you’re living and functioning in society, you should know better.

What sucks the most about people who shoplift or cause other problems in stores is that we as consumers ultimately pay the price – literally. Because as business owners report incidents to their insurance companies and their premiums go up, or they simply pay out of pocket for repairs and replacements, they in turn raise their prices to help cover the costs, which means that we as consumers have to pay more for our shampoo, our lettuce, our dog food, our air freshener, etc.

Do the right thing, people – don’t steal or vandalize or otherwise misbehave!

Spring is here! Have you aired your house out yet?

Molly — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 19:00:24 +0000

One of my favorite spring-cleaning type of things to do is air out my house. After six or more months of closed doors and windows and forced dry heat, things certainly get to smelling a little stale. Vacuuming daily and running water-based air filters helps to remove all but tiny bits of dust, dander, and pet hair (we have four cats and a shed-happy Pug), but vacuums and air filters don’t do much for helping to remove the stale smell of a closed-up house. So as soon as the weather permits (which for me means temperatures of 70° of more and no rain!), I open up the windows and doors from early morning until early evening for several days in a row in order to give the house a good “airing out”, as my grandmother (and probably yours, too) put it.

Once the house has been adequately aired out and is back to smelling fresh and clean and free of fall and winter staleness, I turn to a variety of scent-producing products to produce great ambiance in all rooms, including:

Airwick plug-ins for the bathroom
Febreze plug-ins for the kitchen
Scentsy wax warmers for the living room
Woodwick candles for the kitchen and bedrooms

How do you prepare your house for spring?

The right atmosphere makes all the difference

Molly — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 16:17:46 +0000

One of my favorite stores for makeup and general beauty products is Sephora, yet I don’t spend as much time in there as one might think I would. I think the big reason behind that isn’t so much the prices of most products in the store (let’s face it – you get what you pay for), but the atmosphere and ambiance of the store. Everything is laid out rather haphazardly, with oddly-angled shelves and displays that are also of different heights, a store that isn’t a set square or rectangle, and harsh fluorescent lighting. Sephora could use a few tips from Expo 3, who is known for their highly professional and effective exhibit manufacturers, and do some re-designing to make a better environment for their customers to shop in. After all, research has shown that the right shapes, styles of shelves, colors, even lighting, all comes together to create moods that in turn affect customers and how long they spend in a store and the purchasing decisions they make.

I think that’s why I wind up spending so much time — and money — in Target. A bright, clean store, aisles that are spaced decently-far apart and are free of clutter, decent lighting that isn’t harsh, and highly reflective flooring, all come together to create a warm, welcoming environment that makes it hard for me to keep my wallet closed, haha.

Wax on, wax off

Molly — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:01:08 +0000

My husband came home yesterday morning from an allergist appointment to let me know that he has to go back for a follow-up appointment. Only this time, instead of poking him several dozen times up and down both of his arms, they want to apply large strips of allergen stuff to his back. The kicker? Because he’s a total fur ball, he has to shave his back first. Or rather, I have to shave his back first. Now, my husband comes from Russian and Scottish stock, so it should come as no surprise to anyone that he’s pretty hairy. Okay, really hairy. I have my work cut out for me. I joked about breaking out the weed whacker, charging up the epilator, or just going whole-hog and using Nair and waxing strips (or maybe a trip to California for waxing in Huntington Beach). Of course, in all reality I’ll take the time to carefully and gently shave his back, and then bug him for a massage, since my cramped wrist will need it at that point.

Why the intense allergist appointments? Well, he’s been diagnosed with something I can pronounce but can’t spell to save my life. Let’s see if Google can figure it out for me. Ah, it can. My husband has been diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis by the family doctor as well as a doctor who performed an endoscopy, and they want to see if there’s an underlying cause – hence the trip to the allergist and all of these tests.

Happy 30th Birthday to my husband!

Molly — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:04:59 +0000

My husband, Daniel, turns 30 years old today. 30. I can’t believe it. Age jokes aside, I just can’t believe he’s 30! That seems like so far away from the 18 year old I met, well, let’s see here… almost 12 years ago! I was 16 at the time. That reminds me – my 28th birthday is coming up soon. Ugh. My birthday is on June 13th (side-note: my mother’s birthday is the day before my husband’s, and his mother’s birthday is the day before mine. Is that weird or what?!).

For his birthday, my husband gets a cake, ordered from our local grocery store’s bakery, which makes some super-delicious cakes, and a Playstation Vita! I can mention that here without spoiling any surprises because my husband doesn’t know about this blog. Well, he knows of its existence – and that I blog on it – but not its exact URL. Whew. So I’m in the clear.

My husband has always been a gamer. When I met him, he and his brother shared a PlayStation 1, and it wasn’t long before his brother bought them a PS2. My husband bought us a PS2 a few months later; and a few months after the PS3s came out, I bought him one of those. He also has a PSP, a Nintendo DSi, a Nintendo Wii, and a Nook (Christmas present) and an iPod (Valentine’s Day present). Oh, and a laptop and desktop, too. Can you tell we’re into technology?!