Confessions Vol. 1

Today I'm linking up with Leslie at A Blonde Ambition for her Confessional Friday.

1) I confess that my black Anthropologie leggings, which I wore yesterday, have a gynormous hole on the inner seam of the right upper thigh. I have neither the sewing ability or the discipline to sit down and fix this problem, so I continue to wear them. I should buy new ones, but I can rarely afford anything from Anthro, so I hold on, hoping that I will never be in any position where someone can see this large hole.

2) I confess that I canceled an appointment with a personal trainer at my new gym in order to have Happy Hour at On the Border with Jarred and some of his co-workers. Instead of burning 500 calories with a rigorous workout, I consumed about 1000 with a sizable amount of queso.

3) I confess that I have not purchased one single solitary Christmas present yet. Edited to add: After reading many of the link-ups on A Blonde Ambition, it would appear that I am not alone in this plight. Sorry for the pedestrian confession.

4) I confess that I'm a chicken when it comes to talking to famous or semi-famous people. Last night after the Lady Antebellum concert, Jarred wanted me to talk to Edens Edge to find out what part of Arkansas they're from and I couldn't do it. Similarly, last year he got me "meet and greet" passes with Lady Antebellum and I just stood there, wordlessly taking a picture with them, instead of telling them how great I think they are. I am special.

5) I confess that I don't see the use in wearing a coat if you are going to be walking a distance of less than 100 feet from your car that is warm into a building that is warm. My husband gets on to me all the time about this, but I hate wearing coats or keeping up with them once I get indoors.

Five should be good for today. I'm sure I'll have more for future posts. Have a wonderful weekend!

25 Days of Jarred

My husband, Jarred, will be 25 years old on the 25th of this month. Since it's his Golden Birthday, and since his birthday is on Christmas Day, I thought we should celebrate all month. So when he woke up this morning, I surprised him with my plan for 25 days of celebrating Jarred. Each day he gets a card that tells him what his surprise is for the day.

Today's surprise: Tickets to see Lady Antebellum tonight at the World Arena! I won't lie; it's kind of a treat for me, too. The look on his face this morning, when he discovered the first week of cards posted on the bathroom mirror, was priceless. I am so excited for some of the upcoming surprises! The fun part for me is that I've basically planned twenty-five dates in a row for us, which will make our December so much fun!

I'm going to try to chronicle all twenty-five days on the blog. Hopefully I'll remember to take pictures of some of the more interesting surprises, but I probably won't because I'm terrible about taking pictures.

Happy December!

Peeves, of the Pet Variety

My nerves seem to be a little, ah, frayed this week. I can't seem to shake off my frustrations, so in the spirit of giving, I've decided to share them with you all. You will likely find the peeves listed below to be petty and not worth mentioning. I am well aware.

1) If you enter the bathroom, Random County Employee, and I am the only person in it among empty stalls aplenty, please refrain from choosing the stall right next to me and then proceeding to really take care of business. I have a public bathroom bubble and you obviously do not. I assure you, it is you who should be embarrassed.
* I am referencing more than one experience here. It is a frequent enough occurrence that it has become #1 on my list of peeves.

2) If you are going to write "more on that later..." on your blog then I fully expect you to write more about the subject that you alluded to in a timely manner. I recall all of the subjects you promised to tell me more about. If you do not intend to divulge information about your crummy weekend, your past loves, or your coffee mishap, then please don't string me along. I am a naturally curious being and I can't afford to dedicate any of my brain power to wondering just what happened to you at Starbucks for all of eternity.
* I know, sad that I care about the experiences of complete strangers this much, but I do.

3) Christmas is not a season if you insist on listening to its music year-round. Is the weather outside truly frightful in September? Is it? It's degrading to Bing Crosby and the entire genre not to give Christmas music its rightful season. The season between Thanksgiving and New Years. And don't even get me started on the slights against Thanksgiving. Give that poor holiday its due!

4) Boots. Yeah, I'm t.o.'ed (ticked off, not Terrell Owen'ed) at boots. Because I have unusually small feet, but apparently fairly large calves. Just because a person has small feet doesn't mean they have tiny calves, boot makers. Would it KILL you to make that little elastic extender at the top of my boots just a BIT stretchier so that I don't end up with a blood clot? Would it?

5) It may not look like it, Fitness Manager at my new gym, but I know what a treadmill is. I don't need a tour of the facilities. I have been to a gym before. I joined your gym online in order to avoid having to deal with people like you. I prefer not to be asked a litany of questions about my health and fitness practices while you raise your little eyebrows at my answers. I don't believe for one second that you "used to be 250 pounds" because if you did, you would know that people who are getting back on the fitness train (for the six-thousandth round trip) don't want to discuss all of the personal choices they've made about working out with a complete stranger. I have a difficult time believing that your interest lies solely in the condition of my heart rather than in judging me, thou of the 3% body fat.

Perhaps tomorrow I'll write about things I like, if I can think of any.

An Introduction of Sorts

I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner again today to try to get someone to read my blog.

I kid. I kid. Actually, Kelly's "Show Us Your Life" series has helped me think of a couple of posts recently. I have so much trouble coming up with things to post. Obviously this is a great thing to say if you're trying to get people to read your blog. Sorry, new folks. This is not the inspiring, hilarious, or creative blog you were looking for. Move along now.

If you're new to the blog, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Micah. I'm a thirty year old newlywed. My husband is a twenty-four year old newlywed. There is an age difference there, if you're paying attention. And I do. Pay attention, that is. To every single wrinkle I have that he doesn't.

Some fun facts to help you get to the "root" of my personality and this blog:
~I have cried, not once, but TWICE this week at commercials. Seriously. I mean, have you seen that one where the dad is sending videos of his daughter's life to an e-mail account he created for her so that she can watch her childhood when she's older? Tear. Jerker.

~I am borderline narcoleptic (self-diagnosed). You will not find a person who can fall asleep faster, more often, or for longer than I can.

~I am currently the accidental member of two different gyms. I do not use either of them. This should be cleared up by the 15th of this month. The two memberships. Not the use of said memberships. That has to be cleared up by discipline. I don't have any.

~I got some beets in the organic "bin" of foods that I have delivered every other week. I can honestly say that I have no idea what to do with a beet. I don't think I've ever even seen a beet that came right out of the ground. Do I peel it? Does it need to marinate in some type of liquid? #beetproblems

I think that about covers it.

I Need a Little Upslope Flow

Upslope flow is a fancy weather term, for all you meteorologically-challenged readers. Also known as orographic lifting. It means that there's going to be an energetic disturbance and, like, some other stuff. Then the wind will switch with some other wind and, uh, it'll get cold or something.

Weather.com taught me everything I know about upslope flow which, as you can see, is not much. Ultimately it means that I should wake up to lots of snow tomorrow morning and by then end of the day, my yard should look like the above picture.

Don't fail me now, meteorologists. I LOVE a good snow day and I have all of the ingredients ready to make (more) popcorn balls. There is absolutely not a better snow day snack out there. I just realized the other day that our house doesn't have a fireplace, though. Bummer. I'm perceptive like that. So hopefully I'll be curled up in front of a space heater tomorrow, sipping hot tea and eating popcorn balls, looking out at a Winter Wonderland.

Do your job, upslope flow, and no one will get hurt.

Couponing Doesn't Have to be Extreme

I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner today to talk about money saving tips.

Now, I'm no Extreme Couponer, but I do occasionally save a good bit of money on things that Jarred and I actually need.

I've been couponing for about 9 months now. With wedding planning and honeymooning, my couponing has fallen off some, but I'm ready to get back into it with vigor.

Here are some things I do to try to keep couponing manageable:
1) Follow blogs that do coupon match-ups for you. You can waste many precious hours looking through coupons and ad inserts trying to find the best deals. Instead, I follow bloggers who are paid to do it as their full-time job. They are more thorough than I am and know more about couponing than I do. Locally, I follow Springs Bargains to help me with grocery deals in my area. I also follow Coupon Mom and Passion for Savings to get deals for national chains like Walgreens.
One note, they generally require an e-mail address to follow your their site. Your inbox can get cluttered pretty quickly depending on who you follow, so I suggest creating an e-mail address just for couponing.

2) Get coupons from multiple sources. Our Kroger affiliate has digital coupons that you can load to your store card, so I use this a lot for the products that I know I buy often. I also clip coupons from the ad inserts in the paper. I only get the Sunday paper from both the Colorado Springs paper and the Denver paper. We pay about a dollar a week for both of these papers and it is definitely worth it in the end. Ask friends and family for their coupon inserts. My mother in-law always gives me hers, so I usually have several coupons for each product. On-line coupons are also a great way to add some value to your coupon stack.

3) Don't automatically throw away coupons for things you think you don't need. I have often arrived at the store to find a deal that is a "money maker" and realized that I didn't clip the coupon for that item. Now I keep a coupon binder with all the coupons I've clipped. I pull out the coupons I need before I enter the store, but still carry the binder in case there is a deal that crops up that I haven't planned for.

4) Know your store's coupon policy.
--Some stores have policies that are not well advertised, but that work to your advantage. Our Kroger affiliate, King Soopers, doubles all printed coupons up to $.50. This means that each $.50 coupon I cut becomes a dollar that I save on that item, often making the item much cheaper than even the larger grocery chains.

--Understand the difference between a manufacturer's coupon and a store coupon. Some stores print their own coupons in ad inserts. Some stores will allow you to use a store coupon and a manufacturer's coupon for each purchased item. Look for sales that allow this policy and you will double your savings for each item and will sometimes end up making money on the item.

5) Be a courteous couponer. There's nothing more annoying than someone who tries to get around the rules. Be organized about your couponing and try not to frustrate the other customers in the store. Try not to clean the store out of certain products just because you have a coupon.

I have a lot more tips, but these are things I've learned from others who coupon well and save lots on their grocery bills.

Topics, They Elude Me

I have been so frazzled over the last oh, um, twelve months that I can't get my thoughts in order enough to write a coherent blog post. Planning a wedding is time consuming, y'all. It's not half as time consuming as trying to change your dang last name, though. Seriously? Hardest thing I've ever done. It takes commitment and a tenacious spirit. I have neither, so I've given up and now spend most of my time curled into a little ball, crying tears of pure frustration.

Something that happened to me today at work: I sent an agency-wide e-mail notifying my co-workers of the name change. I got a reply from the lady who manages our resource library telling me that I had checked out a book in March of 2008 and she'd like it back, thankyouverymuch. I checked out that book before I started this blog, people. And do you know where it's been since then? On my desk. That, my friends, is procrastination at its saddest.

Something that is making me very unhappy: While I was away on my honeymoon, the county decided to start charging its employees for parking. Now, I'm not technically an employee (I'm a community partner housed in the county building), but I was still required to reserve and pay for a parking spot. I failed to reserve my spot. As such, I am required to park in a lot that is approximately 1/2 mile from my office and up a hill that rises about 500 feet in elevation. It's my own personal Incline. I am a home visitor. I leave the office multiple times per day. Need I explain the problem any further? My already questionable productivity has really taken a hit. I spend at least an hour a day walking to and from my car. On the up side, I consider it my daily workout.

Something that is making me feel less than adequate: Pinterest. I love Pinterest, to be sure. It's just that sometimes it makes me hyperventilate because there are so many things I need to do! For example, I need to make all of my old sweaters into crafty pillows or scarves! It's imperative that I begin to craft light fixtures out of twine, starch, and latex balloons! And what will happen if I don't figure out how to modge-podge our wedding invitation into a classic and creative showpiece? You know what I really need to do? Fold the load of laundry that's been in my dryer since Saturday. I'd like to know where all these crafty people find the time.

Something I accomplished recently: Watching ALL SIX Star Wars movies with my husband. I had never seen any of them. Now I have. Jarred recapped our viewings here.

Something I'm about to do: Eat my lunch! Goodbye.