You Know Where To Find Me

This is where I'll be all day Sunday. You? If you decide to get a jump on holiday shopping, and opt for unique handmade items, then maybe I'll see you there. Look for the Tired Girl Collective. Stop by, say hi, and while there is no obligation, we'd certainly be happy to sell stuff to you too!

Sometimes You Get What You Need

Things I Went To Target To Buy Today

• Mouthwash

• Dog gravy (aka gravy for dogs)*
  

Things I Bought At Target Today

• A brown wallet

• An orange tote bag purse

• 3 pair of pants (orange, tan, and greenish-brown)

• 5 t-shirts (2 black, brown, orange, red)

• A pair of chocolate one-star Converse

• Toilet paper

And, oh yeah....

• Mouthwash

• Dog gravy

*To clarify any confusion, yes, it's gravy for dogs! It's not necessary and it's from Iams, which is a controversial company, but it has helped my picky eater eat every night. And if you do it for one...

It's Never Enough Until You've Got All The Stuff

I'm off today. No, not for the start of vacation, but just a comp day for working this coming Saturday. It's the nature of having a job in a facility that NEVER CLOSES. Luckily for me, my work area is closed on certain days and one of those is Christmas Day. There will be one person from my department that will be there that day, at least for a few hours. My department is also closed at nights, so that is a good thing.

So far, I have not been as productive as I'd intended. I slept later than I wanted and am having a hard time getting started on the multitude of projects that need attention. I did start some laundry, but used up the fabric softener. I'm changing my game plan and thinking of heading out to buy some more and perhaps do a little Christmas shopping.

"Egads!" you might be thinking. That's so last-minute for Christmas shopping!!! Um, no, it really isn't for me. Trust me, no matter what I get done today, I will be at Target, after work on the 24th, really doing some last-minute stuff. Ever been to Target around 8 or 9pm on Christmas Eve? It's INSANE. You get to see the true nature of people and it's not pretty.

For all of you venturing away or at least off from work for the holiday, I wish you a very good time. I have my usual itinerary of fun planned, working or not, so it will be quite merry for me too. Plus, I have my two weeks of vacation in January to look forward to.

It's Settled...I'm Officially Nutters

Not only did I go to Costco on a Sunday, but I went today, when it is only one week until Christmas Eve. I must truly be losing it.

Good Times In The Feminine Hygiene Aisle

What is it about so-called "feminine hygiene" products and the hilarity I cause or witness at my local drug store? Not once, but twice, I've been "caught" testing the various scents of pantiliners. Okay, yes, sniffing them. I swear I think the aisle is empty and I just want to see what's what and yep, I look up and not only is someone heading toward me, but it's a male.

Tonight I went to pick up some needed supplies and a guy was in the aisle of good times, on his cell phone, trying to get just the type of pantiliner the caller on the other end was requesting. He was insisting, loudly, that "the long ones aren't 'to go' though!" He got quite exasperated at one point, exclaiming, "What happened to there just being Kotex and one kind of Kotex? Now they come in blue and green and orange and it's all so confusing!" He ended up handing the phone to a female companion. I couldn't help but laugh out loud.

You Can Take Your DIY Store

Coming off a lovely evening with my friend Rachel at the Hollywood Bowl for The Sound of Music last night, I thought I might write about "a few of my favorite things." But it's Monday after all, so screw that. Instead, I'd like to mention something that I detest. Even as wholly un-American as it may make me sound. I hate DIY stores.

It's the large hardware stores that drive me insane. First, when I step through the door, the smell floors me. Whether it's Home Depot or Lowe's or whatever-other-awful-store, there is a pungent odor (which varies department to department) that I can not handle. I do have a hypersensitive sense of smell, so this may bother me more than the average person.

Besides the olfactory assault I feel in the local DIY shop, I'm not very fond of how filthy they are. I always feel dirty after shopping there. I don't mind so much if I'm having a slacker type of day, but stopping in after showering in preparation for going out later is no fun.

What gets me even more is that I don't like DIY as a concept when it comes to home repair or beautification. Don't get me wrong. I'm not 100% against the entire DIY ethic, or I wouldn't have just self-published a book. However, I do not enjoy fixing up my house, which should be quite obvious if you ever see it, or gardening. I've attempting the gardening thing and really like the idea of it, but...maybe I'm just too damn lazy and that's the problem.

This post totally makes me sound like an autistic person with OCD. I don't have autism and am only slightly obsessive-compulsive.

Weekend Update

Jenn was right. I need one of these. I did wake up this morning, around 5:30, when one of my five alarms went off. I even got up to pee and then decided I could sleep for another 20 minutes. So, three hours later, my cell phone wakes me up...it's a co-worker calling to see if I'm coming in. I should have arrived at work an hour earlier. Happy F*&#ing Monday!

I did have a very busy and fun weekend, which could account for the start-of-the-week fatigue. I'm off on Fridays, so my weekend usually starts on Thursday evening. Since we had some friends coming down from San Francisco on Friday, my weekend started with a cleaning frenzy. We stayed up until 4:30 am Friday, got a few hours of sleep, and then resumed readying the house until that evening when our guests arrived. The four of us had a fun dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant, Ruen Pair.

Since the purpose of D & R's visit was to find an apartment to move into next month, my Saturday was fairly open. I took advantage and slept in, really late. Then, I teamed up with Ren and headed over to Felt Club, a mini craft fair behind Meltdown Comics. No crafts were obtained, but I did buy a few books. There were several other things I wanted to purchase, but am holding out for Comic Con and/or freebie hand-me-downs from Ren. I was drawn to a little indie book called "The Suicidal Dog," and knew I'd probably buy it before even looking at it. (Yes, I do occasionally judge a book by its cover or title!) So, I picked it up and it turns out it was written by a friend of mine who I haven't seen in awhile! That sealed the deal for sure.

Following our perusal of the glory of Meltdown, which may now be my second favorite store, behind Amoeba Music, we headed back over the hill to Yummy Cupcakes in Burbank. I had a brown sugar cinnamon cupcake that was delicious! I'm not quite the cupcake connoisseur that Ren is, so I was surprised to see how she ate hers. That Ren is always the practical one! My cupcake lunch was followed by a lovely little nap, as Eric had gone out with our friends to show them some different areas of town.

Once Eric, D, and R came back, we made plans to go to the Arclight and see Thank You For Smoking. The movie is a brilliant satire and is laugh-out-loud funny. However, it also makes you think, so you get a little bit of everything. Great cast and performances too. We followed the movie with a late-night dinner at Fred 62. Our houseguests were exhausted and got some sleep before driving back up to the Bay Area Sunday morning.

As usual, my sweet dogs got me a couple of cute cards and gifts for Mother's Day. They gave me A History of Violence on dvd and a fun Punkee Monkee. I'm not sure if the recent gender confusion issue is to blame, but there was no acknowledgement from my hamster. Hmm...let's see who gets to roll in her his ball tonight!

Eric and I spent Sunday at the Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market (I picked up some old Duran Duran buttons!) and the Renaissance Faire. An old friend is the general manager of the faire, so we got comped in. After a quick jaunt around the event, we headed back to Hollywood for AsssCat, a free improv show by the Upright Citizens Brigade. We finally tried the chicken at Birds, which is what the restaurant is known for, and it was really good.

So, yeah, I guess I have reason to be tired. But, there is no excuse for going back to bed once you're already. That just makes me a loser.