Tag: shopping

Spring Break 2013!

Today is the first day of Spring Break for us this year. And we’re off until April 8, so yay for a week and a day off! I don’t have any travel plans for the week, which will be nice. As much as I love to travel, it’s nice to have some time spent at home, too.

I also have nothing big planned for the break. I hope to read some, game some, walk some, shop some, clean some, and eat some. And already have done all of those today (bar the reading – which will be remedied soon enough, and the cleaning – which will be… well, there’s always Sunday). I headed off to see the folks for lunch today and we went to Lincoln Square. I had a BLT club and fries. The club was very yummy, the fries were simply OK. Then the folks and I walked to the grocery. (OK, so it wasn’t swanky shopping or anything, but it was shopping!)

Tomorrow we’re having Easter dinner at Aunt Becky’s with the promise of cards before dinner. I’m bringing the relish tray (AKA cruditΓ©s) and a cheeseball (cream cheese & hot pepper jelly mixed together). I might bring brownies too if I wind up baking some tonight. Heh.

The weather was beautiful today. A few clouds, blue skies, high 40s/low 50s (˚F), so I went for another walk after supper. Tomorrow should be equally lovely, so I hope to walk a bit before we’re off to Becky’s.

March has been a good month for me and the folks. Last weekend we had a lovely time exploring new businesses in Troy. We visited the new bulk food store in the downtown, then had lunch at Mojos, a new bar (where O’Brian’s used to be). After an unsuccessful venture to Kohl’s (not a new biz), we finished off at the new cupcake store (Brittney’s Cakes) that’s run by neighbors of my folks. The cupcakes are quite tasty!

In the last bit o’ news of the Treen, I’m still doing WeightWatchers and my weight is slowly going down. Mom’s just rejoined WW and when our workplace WW ends, I intend to join mom’s WW group. (Might go there next Friday since we won’t be meeting Tuesday!)

I hope you all are doing as well as I’ve been (and if you aren’t, *hugs* to you) and may the odds be ever in your favor! (Oh wait, where did that spring from?)

Fun in Minneapolis (the tl, dr edition)

I’ve been busy having fun & frolic with my family this weekend. This is the main reason I haven’t been updating my journal.

When I last left off, it was still Wednesday and we’d only just had naps. We had a few chores yet to do before Thanksgiving, including a booze run and the search for “real” cranberry sauce (the Ocean Spray variety in a can). Amy showed the folks the cottage they’ll be staying at most of the them they are here (they’re here for another week after I go). We also picked up Rachel at her apartment and got to see her little kitty, Charlotte.

We had Wine Time in lieu of supper where I had a pear hard cider (Fox barrel, so far my favorite pear cider). The cheese assortment was excellent, except for the sheep’s cheese that Amy had gotten from her cheese CSA. Ah well, they can’t all be winners. Amy, Rachel, and mom worked on baking the pies (sweet potato, apple, and pumpkin respectively) and I made my thanksgiving cheeseball. When everyone was back to their respective locations, Amy and I cleaned the turkey & let it soak in brine overnight.

Thursday was Thanksgiving and Amy and I got up at a reasonable hour in order to get things going. The cheeseball was finished, the turkey was prepped & stuffed into the oven, and the stuffings were prepared. Amy picked up mom and Rachel biked over while we were doing all of the rest of the work. Mom got the table set and it looked ecclectic and interesting.

Dad called later, looking for a thanksgiving dinner to be paternal over, so mom picked him up. And by 2pm, Amy’s friends, Jim & Carrie, arrived. Time to EAT!

The food was wonderful, the company excellent. I am very thankful for my family and our friends. And I’m really glad we got to come & visit Amy for the holiday.

The evening was closed with a game of Apples to Apples, which, frankly, is a little boring after playing Cards Against Humanity. Amy won the game. I had only 1 card at the end. Alas!

Rachel spent the night with us that night, and Charlotte was picked up because she’s still very young and hasn’t been alone all night yet. Curtis, my sister’s cat, tolerated his little cousin. He’s probably glad when she finally goes home. πŸ™‚

The girls and I had decided there was one Black Friday sale that we had to attend. A local business had donuts and coffee, 10% off, and a free gift for $20 purchase (a $50 value). So we took advantage of their sale. I had two of their donuts (they kept insisting) and we each bought enough merchandise for the free gift. Rock on! Here’s to small businesses that take care of their customers!

We picked up the folks and then headed to Brit’s Pub for lunch. I had half a BLT and cock-a-leekie soup along with a Strongbow (on tap). We had a great time at the pub and I picked up the tab. It seems appropriate to eat there since it was Doctor Who‘s 49th anniversary.

Our only big box store visited that day was Target for a couple of things that we needed. It wasn’t overly crowded, whih was nice. Then we went to Depth of Field, the futon store that Amy got her futon from. She was determining what fabrics to get her bolsters and pillows in. Dad, meanwhile, investigated what on him kept setting off anti-theft devices in stores. To everyone’s annoyance (and my amusement), he kept removing stuff until he finally discovered it was something in his wallet. He eventually discovered a little RF antenna in it.

Our final shopping spot of the day was Midwest Mountaineering. This allowed us to have our parking ticket validated and both of the girls found useful purchases. Looking at the price of the Smartwool socks, I realized that my $9 Fox River socks weren’t too expensive after all. Heh.

We returned to Amy’s for pie and coffee. We finished off the apple pie (now with ice cream). Then we headed to mom & dad’s cottage in order to watch Brave on the nice TV there. Turkey sammiches were the snack of the night. Then Amy and I dropped Rachel off at her place (Charlotte had been dropped off earlier) and returned home for bed.

Yesterday (Saturday), we had several things planned in advance. To start with, Amy and I made breakfast. She made “refrigerator clean out” eggs in a tortilla wrap and I fried potato cakes from leftover mashed potatos. The breakfast was a success, if we do say so.

Next, we walked to the library so she could return some videos and get her books that were on order. Sadly, we were too late for her to avoid the late fee on the DVDs, but the fee is pretty reasonable.

Then we picked up the parental units and headed to the chicken coop. It was Amy’s day to feed & water the chickens. I helped! Sadly, the outdoor water faucet was frozen, but Amy discovered that after she dumped the water (whoops). So a short trip to Rainbow to buy 2 gallons of drinking water, and she was done with the coop chores.

I have a number of people I’ve known online for years and yesterday had the chance to finally meet one of them. He’s a member of the Greater Midwest Lego Train Club and they had an open house in the Brickmania Toyworks display room. So we went there and were awed by the train displays, and I got to meet Michael. I took lots of photos.

We had hopped to also visit an antique store in that area, but the frozen tap had other ideas. So we just hopped on the 35W and headed south to Bloomington to meet a friend of dad’s at Sawatdee for lunch. The lunch was good (I, of course, had tofu pad thai), and it was nice to see Bill again.

Since we were down in Bloomington, we decided to visit Ikea. I love shopping at Ikea. I think I need to visit my “local” next weekend. Heh. But I managed to refrain from putting stuff in the basket. Amy, meanwhile, scored a number of nice things. A Poang chair, stuff for her soon-to-be remodeled bathroom, and a few other odds and ends.

We dropped the folks off at their cottage, then put Amy’s purchases into her house and got snack foods, and finally picked up Rachel. Then it was Game Time at mom & dad’s cottage. Mom popped popcorn and we munched on that and cheese ball and crackers. We started with Euchre, where Rachel and I won after a slow start. Then we played Rumikub, where I won after a slow start. Heh.

So now Amy and I are relaxing on a fine (but chilly) Sunday morning. NPR is on the radio. We had a cinnamon roll (from Ikea, dad’s purchase) and steel cut oats (I doctored mine with brown sugar, almond slivers, butter, and banana). Tasty tasty. Dunno what we’re doing today other than eventually taking me to the airport. Gonna miss hanging out with the family, but will be glad to see the kitties again.

One Wedding and No Funerals (Part 1)

I’m pretty zonked right now – let’s face it, the girls wore me out this (long) weekend. πŸ™‚ But I suspect that “A Good Time Was Had By All.”

Amy & Rachel arrived on Thursday night, and the plane was a little early. Yay – more time with the girls! We took ’em home and sat around mom & dad’s kitchen for a little bit, before all heading off to bed.

Friday was a nice day, starting off with donuts and then Egg McMikey sandwiches (second breakfast?) Then it was off on a Grand Adventure. Our main task was buying a wedding gift for my cousin and her beau. This we accomplished at Kohl’s, though we had to order it to be sent along to the kids since the store didn’t have the color that Deanna requested. We then headed off to Greenville to the KitchenAid store for a wrappable accessory and some more shopping opportunities. We had a light lunch (and pie) at a coffee shop in the downtown there.

Friday evening was grilled steak and card games. Mom and I taught A&R how to play Crazy Rummy. We played it (and Rumikub) several times over the visit. We went to bed late but got up at a reasonable time on Saturday.

The morning priority for Saturday was to come back to my town for Pancake Day. One of the local churches serves all-you-can-eat pancakes, sausage, and scrambled eggs on the first Saturday of the month. Tasty and only $5. I treated the family (dad was shocked) to breakfast, then we hung out a bit at my place, before returning to Troy. Lunch was salad.

Too tired to keep this up, so I shall continue it (perhaps tomorrow) with some details of Deanna’s wonderful wedding and reception. Who knew you could have that much fun at a wedding? πŸ˜‰

Muppets & Things

The folks and I finally got out (in the rain) to see The Muppets today. YAY! (Picture Kermit the Frog shouting that for full effect.) We all enjoyed the movie. It’s quite the love letter to the Muppets. πŸ™‚

Yesterday wasn’t a rainy day, however, and so the folks and I spent a good deal of it shopping and stuff. They came over here and we went to the local UCC for the monthly “all you can eat” pancake breakfast. Yummy. Their arrival finally prompted me to finish decorating and cleaning.

I then drove them to Brukner Nature Center for the Winter Craft Fair, dropped them off, then parked WAY far away. I’m a good daughter. The craft fair, as usual, was fun and I found a few items to buy. Both parental units found presents for the other, so a successful venture all around.

We returned to my place and then reconvened at their place. Lunch was at 4 Starters, where I had the turkey club with a basil spread. Tasty. We also went to the Hayner Center’s open house to see how local decorators decorated the place. (It was the Troy Public Library when dad was a kid, and he had quite a few memories of Christmas parties there since his mom was a librarian in P. Hill.)

We then decided to head to Crafts 2000 in Springfield to look for “ingredients” for my Christmas Craft idea. I’ll be making something for the female relatives and it’s a bit interesting and I hope it winds up looking nifty. Mom and I found stuff we think will work, but I haven’t started crafting yet. We also popped into Hobby Lobby, but didn’t find anything there.

Once we returned home, it was Wine Time. So dad got out assorted cheeses and nibbles and I had an Oliver Wineries raspberry-flavored cider while we watched my DVD of Miracle on 34th Street. Such a lovely movie. Probably my favorite holiday flick (definitely up there with Muppet Family Christmas and Muppet Christmas Carol.)

So anyhoo, a lovely weekend with the folks followed with an evening reading with Lucy on my lap. With my Monkey Face Snuggie, pine-scented candle, cat on lap, and eBook reader (currently reading Terrier by Tamora Pierce and enjoying it), I am a happy camper. Er, reader. Or whatever.

Downtowning & Downtoning

Shamefully, I didn’t post anything last weekend. I managed to let myself get behind again at work and last weekend was a catch up weekend. Tomorrow will be as well – need to be sure to get in to school to get grades done. (I grade most stuff electronically or in their lab notebooks.)

But last night and today were breaks for me. Last night I walked to Indian’s Pizza for pineapple garlic bread pizza and green onion potato chips, then walked back and ate them with a sliced pear and a bottle of Virgil’s cream soda. Very yummy. Streamed Downton Abbey (series 1) via Netflix, too. So pleasant evening all around.

Today, my goal was to check out downtown Covington and downtown Troy, both of which had stores doing Christmas open houses. The only thing I bought in Covington were some apples, but Troy had some pleasant surprises.

After lunch at the Night Sky cafe (half a tasty BLT and a cup of chicken & dumpling soup that wasn’t very good), I walked around the downtown and talked some with the lady at the Hospice store. (They sell a variety of items, some used, some new, and all proceeds go to Hospice – I think the workers are volunteer, but I’m not sure.) She mentioned a new store in town that sells olive oil and balsamic vinegar. And that’s it.

So, of course, I had to check out Olive Oasis. They have several types of olive oils, some flavored, some not. And quite a few balsamic vinegars, some aged, some new, some flavored, etc. And you can try anything. I tried a white peach balsamic that was so good you could drink it straight up. And an herb olive oil that was tasty. So I bought 200mL bottles of each, which they fill, label, then seal. Can’t wait to show this store to the parental units.

After the downtowning, I went on to the bookstore in Troy. This weekend is their 20% off Holiday sale. So of course, I had to give them some of my money. Bought my annual Christmas kiddie lit book. This year’s is A Bad Kitty Christmas which was quite delightful (and, as many good Xmas stories do, made me cry). Also got Inheritance, The Disappearing Spoon, and How to Break a Dragon’s Heart. I know I should be buying for others, but no one has given me a list yet!

I finished the shopping with a stop at Kroger for groceries. Much of the rest of my day has been spent freebasing the rest of Downton Abbey series 1. I blame the kitties – they were sitting with me and wouldn’t let me get up. πŸ™‚

I think I’ll hit the sack early and read some more Snuff by Terry Pratchett (borrowed eBook from the library).

Done with Shopping!

Well, no, I’m not done with all shopping, ever. That would be sad. But I am done with Christmas shopping. This might be the earliest I’ve ever been done shopping. Weyhey!

This weekend was a particular productive one, both in shopping and in other things. On Saturday, Bruckner Nature Center had their Winter Arts Fair, which was excellent. (And it was especially lovely since it was snowing the whole time we were oot & aboot.) We (the folks and I) were there over an hour looking at all the booths and buying quite a few things. And seeing a fair number of people that we knew. Last year was the first year we attended and I can see this becoming a yearly tradition.

Afterward, I took the parental units up to Piqua for a bit of shopping there. I found a larger wreath for my porch and got new window lights as well. Then at the Sears in the mall, I found an air purifier that was actually quiet and energy star compliant. After I dropped the folks off at home, I went to Lowes and picked up some cabinet pull-out drawers for my kitchen and some blinds for the library and bedroom. Once I was home, I finished my Christmas shopping online. Phew!

Sunday was Productivity Day wherein I did laundry and rehung my outdoor decorations and got the tree upstairs and made more ornaments and stuff. And last night I got one set of my cabinet drawers installed (the two-tiered one). This will definitely make getting stuff out for cooking/baking MUCH easier.

Still much to be done. Finish decorating the tree. Decorate the house. Make the home-made Xmas gifts. Install the blinds. Install the other cabinet drawer. More stuff that I can’t think of right now. πŸ™‚

Hope things are going well with your holiday plans (if’n you have holiday plans)! Hard to believe there’s only 10 more school days of 2010!

And December Begins!

Today was our first half-decent snowfall of the season. Yay! This evening we were without power for about half an hour. Boo! But I spent the time reading on my cellphone, so that was OK. Yay!

Been busy of late, so I’ll do a quicky summary.

  • Had the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off. Got some stuff done in the house, such as installing my blinds, which had been sitting around for ages. (Need to get more for the other winders.)
  • Thanksgiving was very nice. Made Thanksgiving cheeseball (which I also took to the staff carry-in the previous Tuesday) and sweet potato souffle. I also prepared two Market Day pies – Apple and a chocolate pecan cream pie that was quite a hit.
  • We held the Short gathering for Thanksgiving at the Clubhouse at mom & dad’s community. Most of the family was able to attend – yay!
  • Didn’t rush off to stores on Black Friday, just hung out all day with the parental units. I did some actual Christmas shopping after I got home that night and hung out at Amazon.com, Edmund Scientific, and other stores.
  • The weekend was a nice relaxing one with some exterior Christmas decorating (which has since fallen down – guess I didn’t have the right sized Command strips…)

Keeping busy and avoiding productivity at home of late by playing World of Warcraft (and I’ve already pre-ordered Cataclysm!) Hopefully I will start productivity up again soon!

Fall Wardrobe at a Discount!

School is approaching soon, so on Saturday, I decided to do my annual Fall Wardrobe Shopping. I’d already ordered bras (TMI!) from Amazon.com earlier in the summer, but still needed undies & socks and some new shirts. Felt I was OK regarding slacks, though I did try a couple of pairs on (alas, no pockets!)

Anyhoo, I wound up having an excellent shopping day on Saturday. Mom and I went to Kohl’s with a 30% off everything coupon and I found all the undies & socks that I needed, plus several shirts and a cardigan (I sang “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood” when I tried it on). Thanks to the sales prices and the 30% off coupon, I wound up saving more than I spent. Indeed, I wound up saving 58% on my purchases. Woohoo! (My advice, never buy anything at Kohl’s that’s not on sale…)

Once my fall wardrobe was loaded in the car, we picked dad up and had lunch at LeDoux’s (good cajun food). We all ordered po’boys (mine was shrimp, mom’s crabcake, and dad’s catfish) and had some hush puppies as well. Then on to Piqua to Jo-Ann’s for curtain rods.

With the new window installed in my house, I needed (or rather, mother suggested that I buy) new curtain rods. Thankfully, Jo-Ann’s was having a sale on curtain rods. I picked out a style that I liked and got 4 – one for the main window, the other 3 for the other living room windows. I also picked up 3 pillar candles that smelled lovely (and were also on sale).

Mother spotted a sign that said that Sat & Sun were Teacher Appreciation Days at Jo-Ann’s. So I looked around my wallet for anything that would prove I was a teacher. And yay, I had my NSTA card! The cashier accepted that as evidence and gave me 20% off the order, plus a free tote and a 15% off card to be used throughout the year. So I continued my savings spree, this time saving 52% off of original prices. Nice. (I appreciate stores that appreciate teachers!)

Home Depot & the Evil Empire didn’t have mahoosive sale prices etc for me. But I picked up several supplies at both places before returning my parental units to their house. I stayed for a nice supper of chicken salad, corn on the cob, and peach shortcake. Yum!

I spent time on Sunday sorting through my current wardrobe and removing things that were wearing (or worn) out. I’ve also put several t-shirts into long term storage since I own far too many t-shirts (no thanks to shirt.woot.com!) But now I think I’m sartorially ready for school!

S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G!

This last weekend was a fun one for socializing and shopping.

Friday was our annual teacher’s shopping trip (which, sadly, had been canceled last year). We had 6 of us that managed to get together to shop, starting at the bookstore in Troy and then visiting a number of local knick-knack shops. There were a few I’d not been to before. I bought stuff in most of the places; sadly most of it for me, rather than gifts for others.

After shopping, we ate at La Piazza and another coworker (actually, former coworker – she’s in Columbus now) joined us. The seven of us probably laughed all the time we weren’t eating. I have fun and funny coworkers!

I visited mom & dad afterward, since I was in their new hometown, and made plans for pancakes the next morning.

One of the local churches does an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast the first Saturday of the month during most of the year. (The church used to host the Kiwanis organization which did a breakfast every November. Kiwanis is now gone, but thankfully the breakfast lingers on.) So the folks came by (in the truck, to transport more stuff from their “Warehouse” (old house) to the new place). We walked to breakfast, then to the post office.

While at the church, I saw an ad for a local arts & crafts sale at the Bruckner Nature Center. I suggested that to the folks and they thought it would be fun. So once they’d loaded the truck with more antique furniture and deposited it at the new place, I took ’em to Bruckner. Wow, tons of cars there. But I found a nearby parking spot and we shopped.

And shopped. Man, there were a lot of local artists. They took up 3 floors of the nature center (often just in hallways between permanent exhibits). I saw plenty of people I knew. Even a former school friend – bought something off of her which I can’t say here since one of my friends on this list will be receiving the present. Anyhoo, lots of talented people in Miami County and other neighboring counties.

Yesterday was a lazy day. I cleaned (both Roomba and I vacuumed the place) and then worked on my thesis project. And that’s what I should be doing right now. Got cat on lap and Post-It notes ready. Just need to finish typing this up. Heh.

Those of you getting snow in the next few days – stay safe! (I’m not pleased by the promise of sleet. I intend to be oot & aboot tomorrow evening you know! Harry Potter 6 is on DVD!)

S H O P P I N G

I’ve spent most of my Spring Break working on things that have been lingering in my house/college work/etc. Although there’s still a lot more I wanted to get done, I’m pleased with some of my progress.

But for me, Spring Break just isn’t Spring Break unless I go SHOPPING. I was hoping to get doon sooth to Ikea (a good hour and 20 minute drive) this spring break and today wound up being the day. The original plan was me, mom & dad. But alas, dad has caught the cold that mother got when she flew down to Florida last week. Mom was mostly recovered, so she drove the two of us down to West Chester (that’s south of Dayton, but north of Cincinnati) with my phone telling us where to go. And it got us there just fine.

This Ikea is fairly new and still has the New Store look to it. We arrived right at noon. Which was good, cuz we were both hungry for lunch. I got the Swedish meatballs with gravy & lingonberry preserves along with smashed tators. There was also a fizzy peach drink which I picked up. Mom decided on their veggie wrap and the garlic tomato soup and some of that peach fizzy drink. We agreed we’d get dessert after shopping.

If you’ve not been to an Ikea – well, it’s an adventure. We started putting little things in our bag as we wandered. Mom checked out kitchen cabinets and their arrangements, I just liked looking at the neat-o furniture. We tried out a few sofas and were impressed with the comfort. I got to see the TV stand I’d been eying on their website. I decided I’d get it and we even found some nice green boxes which would fit on it. (It’s not going to be a TV stand, it’s going under my picture window as a set of shelves.)

After we picked up the very heavy TV stand and purchased everything, we dumped it all into mom’s car then returned to the store for dessert. I got the chocolate cake (which elsaf would hate – it’s basically layers of chocolate mousse separated by oreo cookie crumbs) – it was delish! Mom got the almond cake, which was also lovely. So lovely we decided to pick one up in the little Swedish food shop. And a few other items.

The little dessert (and coffee for mom) perked us up enough we were game to finally see Jungle Jim’s. Aunt Becky has sung its praises before. And it was indeed impressive. It’s like a Trader Joe’s x 3 plus a regular grocery. We had a nice time in there, despite the fact that we were getting sore feet/legs/etc from all the walking about. They even had pork pies – so I had to get one. The prices were pretty reasonable as well. All the stuff that I got and it was under $40. Oh, and when we finished shopping, it was 6pm. So we shopped for 6 hours straight (with a few times eating and/or driving to the other store).

We had a long drive home which is when the sun finally decided to come out. Indeed, the closer we got to home, the sunnier it got. Heh. I ate my pork pie and had some salt & pepper potato chips left over from Christmas when A&R were in town. Mom and I finally finished ’em. I think the pork pie had more meat in it than the ones I’d always buy at Harrod’s in London. Heh.

Two more days left of Spring Break. I’ll probably go back into productive mode tomorrow. (Well, I’d better! For one thing, I want to put my new TV stand together and stuff books & things on it.) But today was a nice break from productivity.