Lots of Nothingness

A Powerful Medicine

2010-01-29T04:08:43Z

Okay, here we go. Once again I am making an attemp to just write. I don't know if this will contribute in any way to me writing more often or not, but after a comment I ended up posting on a friend's facebook status, I figured writing should probably come pretty easily to me tonight.

I tried to register, but the register link just refreshes the page. Or something. I dunno. Wait...I was probably only dedicating about 4% of my attention to what was going on b/c I was on the phone, so let me check again. Okay, yeah. Both the login and register links load the index page. And I have no idea why I just typed all of that out when I could have just double checked and then cut the comment off after the first sentence. Probably because I had already typed, "Or something. I dunno. Wait...," etc. and didn't want to backspace. Then by the time I had realized I was typing a whole bunch of ridiculous crap, I had already typed a bunch more and fallen into the mode of stream of consciousness writing. So now I'm pretty much just typing what I'm thinking, and I'm so off topic, but I'm finding it hard to stop. Stop. Okay, done. I should just delete all this crap because now all of Q's friends are going to think I am a total nutjob. Makes me think of "blowjob." Fuck it. I've somehow managed to turn a simple facebook comment into something that has morphed into a

I had to just stop mid sentence and click the comment button or else I would have gone on forever. For me to not at least attempt and transfer that stream of consciousness off into a blog entry would be foolish. So, here we go.

I have been in a really good mood tonight. I think the fact that tonight is the first night all week I've been able to just kick back without worrying about tomorrow has something to do with it. But more importantly, I think the fact that I am listening to music has even more to do with it.

It isn't often that I listen to music anywhere other than in the car anymore. I used to have music playing at all times if I was at home and not watching TV or a movie. I don't know why that changed, but tonight I decided to put on some music while I was working on some homework for one of my classes. When I was done, I left the music on and started messing around on facebook and doing other things.

For some reason I was craving Konflict, so I started a new Pandora station. (I've included some of the tracks in the related links.) After a while of listening, I realized I was in the most awesome frame of mind. When it hit me, I wanted so bad to to be able to share it. I would infect you with my mood, if I could.

Also, this is the kind of attitude where you're bound to have a good time. It makes me want to get together with a couple of my closest girlfriends and a bottle (or few) of wine and just goof off at home. It just sucks that I don't have any close girlfriends here.

I really hate how most of the people I am closest to are actually the farthest away. I'm limited to the phone, email and facebook as my only options for getting to socialize with my favorite people, and it has been this way for over a year.

But, I refuse to let that sad fact ruin this perfect mood. I honestly just don't have a care in the world. (And cue the Bob Marley lyrics...Singing, don't worry, about a thing. Cause every little thing, gonna be alright.)

Anyway, I feel like this music is what has done the trick. It's been so long since I've listened to any drum and bass while just relaxing, so I started thinking about what was going on in my life back when I used to do it all the time. I realized I was actually kinda blogging a lot back then. Maybe it was the music. Who knows!

Do I sense an experiment? We shall see.

My First CVS Haul

2010-01-25T03:08:06Z

$83.50 OC, $49.12 OOP, 41% Saved!Recently I became determined to start putting in a little bit of extra effort to save as much money as possible. In the past, when looking at how other people managed to clip coupons and find great deals, it seemed a little complicated. And, despite there being a plethora of tutorials and FAQs online dedicated to the subject, I was never really sure where to start.

Today I decided to just dive in, and I am so glad I did! I'm sure I could have gone about this in a better way and ended up saving even more, but I know I will get better over time.

Rather than making this a how-to, I am just going to explain how I got myself started and how I managed to save the money that I did today. If you're interested in doing the same, maybe my story can help you figure out the best way for you to start. Or, if you're a coupon-clipping, deal-finding, money-saving pro, then by all means please share any tips you may have!

I started out today by getting the Sunday paper and cutting out all the coupons for anything and everything I buy on a regular basis. I wasn't picky about brands or anything like that. Then I went to Coupons.com, RedPlum.com, and SmartSource.com and started printing out all the coupons on there that I wanted. I would have printed out a lot more, but my printer ran out of ink.

Next, I started looking through the store circulars to find out what types of sales and deals they were offering. It seemed like CVS was offering the most deals that would pair up with some of the manufacturer's coupons I had already clipped, so I decided to go there. Also, their ExtraCare rewards program intrigued me the most.

Before leaving, I looked over the coupons and deals I would be using and tried to figure out the best plan of action. I will admit, it was a little intimidating at first. I wanted to make sure I didn't overlook something and miss out on the highest possible savings, so I ran through a few difference scenarios and did the math. In the end, it was actually more straight forward than I was expecting.

Manufacturer's Coupons
- $1 off any one Nature's Bounty product
- $1 off any one Eucerin product
Store Deals
- $10ECB wyb $20 of Eucerin Products
- B1G1 for any Nature's Bounty products
- $2ECB wyb Tampax Pearl tampons

In order to get the $10 in ExtraCare bucks, I wanted to make sure I didn't spend more on Eucerin products than I really needed to. I'm not really picky about my body lotions, so I compared the different ones made by Eucerin and went with the one that had the lowest cost per amount. I could have just bought two bottles of the Eucerin lotion that was $12.99/bottle to put me over the $20 requirement, but then I would have had less product for more money. Instead, I bought two bottles of the $7.99 lotion and also grabbed a small $5.49 bottle of their hand lotion that included an extra 1oz bonus bottle.

Paying attention to how much I was spending per ounce definitely paid off. Had I just grabbed the two more expensive bottles, I would have spent $0.77/oz and $6 more than necessary. Instead, I only spent $0.70/oz and $1.47 over the required amount.

Next came my vitamin D, which was buy one get one free. I normally take two of the 1,000 IU capsules each night. Well, that was $10.49 for 200 capsules. The 2,000 IU capsules, though, were $14.49 for 200. Right off the bat, I knew that the latter was the better deal.

When I went to the register, I signed up for an ExtraCare card which I was able to use for my purchase. With that card, I was able to get $0.50 off the tampons, B1G1 for the vitamins, and a total of $12 in ExtraCare bucks. Then with my two manufacturer's coupons, that was another $2 in savings. I could have used two more of the Eucerin coupons, since it's one per item, but I would have had to purchase two more Sunday papers, and the cost to do that would have been more than the savings.

Original Cost of Items: $62.46
Cost Out of Pocket: $45.47
Amount Saved: $16.99
Total Savings: 27%

Now a 27% savings is nice, but compared to other hauls I have seen, it wasn't very impressive. With my $12 in ECB printed out at the end of my receipt, I walked right back into the store to look for more good deals.

CVS puts their ExtraCare deals on little tabs of paper hanging off the price tags on each shelf, so they are easy to spot. Whenever I saw a deal on an item I use, I took a mental note of the total amount saved and the total amount spent. The goal was to spend as close to $12 as possible with as much savings as possible.

When I saw that the mascara I use was B1G1, I immediately grabbed two. That left me with $4.50 to spend. I really wanted to try and earn some more ECBs, so I went with a deal on some Dove deodorant (which smells AWESOME, by the way). Each stick was originally $4.79, but if I used my ExtraCare card, I would spend $7 for two and get $2ECB.

Original Cost of Items: $25.72
Cost Out of Pocket: $3.65
Amount Saved: $22.07
Total Savings: 86%!!!

That is what I call a friggin' deal. And to top it off, I have another $2ECB to spend the next time I go in. Now, imagine I had made that second purchase with a few manufacturer's coupons! I could have easily saved another couple dollars and practically walked out of there with four free items.

The best part about CVS's deals is that sometimes they give you as many ECBs as the item is worth. If you can pair those types of deals with manufacturer's coupons, you're basically making money. I really hope my next haul includes some of those!

Procrastination

2009-11-29T21:57:45Z

I can't ignore this blog anymore. It all started with me putting it off, mostly due to writers block and constantly feeling like I had nothing interesting to share, but then so much time passed that I just started to forget about it and quit caring. Now it has been nearly three months. I really do miss writing so much, but I guess the biggest change of all--what keeps me from writing--is how much of my life I now no longer feel comfortable sharing publicly. It's very hard going from telling anyone and everyone every detail without any care to suddenly feeling like so much has to be kept private. I don't like it. No sir, I don't like it one bit. Finding something else to write about is difficult, so I put it off. I can't do that anymore. Nope, I need to start sharing...and maybe I'll start tomorrow.

A Motivated Morning

2009-09-02T10:47:07Z

Is it really September already? I'm having a hard time believing it. I didn't bother making a new header graphic for this month, so just like I did for the July header, I changed the date. I'll definitely make one for October, though, because I am so looking forward to the Fall! I'm tired of the heat and humidity, and I can't wait for it to finally be cold enough to turn off the A/C and use the fireplace. I'm also really looking forward to hanging out in the back yard at night without bugs and getting to use the fire pit in our patio set's table for the first time. I'm ready for scarves and hoodies, and hopefully the cooler weather will get me knitting again. The changing of seasons always fills me with so much hope.

Things are still busy around here, but I'm not minding it. So far, I'm really enjoying both of my classes, and, even though I am not really a fan of getting up at five o'clock in the morning twice a week, I think it's worth it. Funny enough, I don't have classes today, but I got up just after Adam left for work around five o'clock this morning anyway. I'm still tired one cup of coffee and two hours later, but I don't intend to go back to bed. Sometimes I really enjoy being up before the sun. Most likely the day will be spent working on homework, catching up with friends and family on the phone, playing a little CoD4 on the Xbox, and doing laundry. That is exactly the kind of day I need.

Finally a Good Reason to Shop at Walmart

2009-09-01T00:15:01Z

As I've said before, I am not a fan of Walmart. Until there's more development out in this area, though, I don't have much else of a choice for grocery shopping, so every time before I go there, I actually have to mentally prepare myself. If I don't, I fear I may just flip out and cause a scene because I hate just about everyone that shops there. There's always at least one person that does something that pisses me off, and holding back the rage makes my left eye twitch. It's not pleasant. At all. Hate the Walmart.

However, a couple days ago I was shown a very clever site that has given me a reason to actually want to go to. Instead of trying to distract myself from my surroundings while shopping in order to avoid noticing anything with potential to piss me off, I will actually be keeping an eye out so I can take a photo and submit it to People of Walmart. I won't just be grocery shopping, I'll be white-trash hunting too! Oh, the fun to be had.

Since first seeing the website, I've left it open in a tab to remind myself to blog about it. And, of course, I've been refreshing it every now and then to check for new updates. Tonight, however, the site is actually forwarding to an article on Time.com. Apparently they received so much traffic over the last few days that their site crashed, so I hope they are doing something to fix that soon. I actually have a trip to Walmart scheduled for tomorrow after class and will hopefully be returning home with at least one photo worthy of submission.

Settling In

2009-08-29T16:37:35Z

I'm really beginning to wonder if I will ever get back into the habit of blogging regularly again. Gotta start somewhere, though, right?

Things have been crazy around here lately. It's been really nice having Adam home, but because he made chief just before coming back, his time has been completely occupied by initiations. Thankfully that will all be over with in a little more than two weeks. I've also been really busy because with one week left before the registration deadline, I decided to go back to school. I'm going for a certificate in applied science for illustration, which is basically like an associates degree sans the lame math and English classes. Right now I am taking Basic Drawing I and Computer Graphics I, and although it has only been one week so far, I think I will end up enjoying both. It's really nice having a reason to draw again.

So other than that, things are pretty much the same around here. Life finally seems like it's getting back to normal again, and that makes me happy.

Today's the Day

2009-08-06T12:36:38Z

I will be picking Adam up at the airport tonight at 10:15pm. Oh. My. God. I can't believe after a year and four months he is finally coming home! Even though I'm going to see him in a little over twelve hours, it still hasn't sunk in as reality yet. I am bubbling over with excitement, and I am so nervous too. This will be Adam's first time seeing this house other than the pictures I sent him while it was being built. I want everything to look perfect, and thankfully I've done a pretty good job of getting everything as close to perfect as I can. All that's left for me to do today are the small things like washing the sheets and towels, vacuuming, wiping down the counters, and tidying everything up. Then of course I have to spend some time getting myself ready because I want to look like a total knockout when I pick him up.

I think the hardest part for me today will be managing my time wisely. If I get everything done too quickly, then I am going to be a bundle of nerves sitting around waiting until it's time to leave. Hopefully I've saved enough to fill my day up without overdoing it and running out of time. Aside from all that, though, I'm nervous about seeing him again for the first time in seven months. The distance and only being able to talk through email has definitely put a strain on us, and adjusting to living together again might be a little hard. I just don't know what to expect, but I will, of course, hope for the best.

Most of all right now, I am looking forward to seeing the look on his face when he walks into the garage. After giving him a tour of the whole house, minus the garage, I am going to hand him a small wrapped gift. He will unwrap it to find two blocks of surf wax, which will of course confuse him for a moment before he realizes there's probably a new board somewhere. That's when I'll tell him to go check the garage where he'll find a brand new 7'6" board, case, and racks for the car. Yes, I'm an awesome wife. I know.

August Comes Early to LofN

2009-07-29T21:37:56Z

It dawned on me today that I only had a couple days left to make a new header grahic for August. I definitely didn't want to put one up late--or not at all, like for July--so I started working on one while taking breaks from everything I was doing around the house. I decided to put it up early when I finished, though, because with as much as I have to in the next few days before Adam comes home , I didn't want to take time away from more important things to work on the site design. So, here it is. It came about while listening to lots of Imogen Heap, Frou Frou, Dido, and Jem.

And, here's the June/July header for those who are new.

Time Flies

2009-07-28T22:21:27Z

Holy crap, it's been two weeks?! I wish I could explain away all that time, but I can't. I'm not really sure what I have been doing. Adam will be coming home early in a little over a week, though, so I am going to be very busy getting the house ready until then. But, of course, I will always make time for XBL. I just hope the crazies stay away for a while because after this weekend, I don't think I can handle much more crazy.

So what happened? Let's just say that some weirdo started treating me like his online girlfriend after we played CoD4 for several hours straight one day. He then completely wigged out on me two days later for ignoring him and playing with someone else. He removed me as a friend, and then twenty-four hours later, he sent me a long apology and a friend request. DENIED. The long version is far more interesting, but I really don't feel like typing it all out right now.

Oh, and if you're a guy and I play online with you, apparently you're one of my "boy toys" now. Congratulations, or something.

Another One of Those Days

2009-07-15T00:26:30Z

Again, here I am writing about boring crap just to write. Just like yesterday, today sucked. I feel like crap both mentally and physically. I slept in until about 1:30pm, about six hours later than usual, and ever since I have been sitting around waiting for the day to pass. Finally the sun is setting, so hopefully in a few hours I will be ready for bed. If my sleep schedule gets screwed up, I'm going to be pissed.

Despite my mood, I still managed to get a couple things done today, but mostly I sat around playing CoD4 and watching a few TV episodes. (The new series Drop Dead Diva on Lifetime is really cute, by the way.) Unfortunately though, I had to do so on our old tiny TV because yesterday our 50" HDTV decided it wanted to be a brat and turn itself off over and over again, and the only suggested fix I could find online didn't work for me, even though it seemed to do the trick for everyone else. It looks like I am going to have to call Samsung, which I would have done today, but I didn't feel like bothering.

Hopefully whatever the issue is won't be expensive to fix. I don't know how much longer I can go straining my eyes to try and see if that's an enemy I'm shooting at or a palm tree. You have no idea how much ammunition I have wasted on inanimate objects since moving the Xbox upstairs to the loft. I can only hope playing under such circumstances will improve my skills. I won't get my hopes up, though.

Worst of all, some little kid on Xbox Live won't stop sending me game and party invites and messages telling me to invite him to my game or to join his party or game. Sometimes he doesn't even let more than a minute pass between invites, and when I ignore him for too long, he always ends up joining whatever match I'm playing if there are available spots. Now, I have absolutely no problem with friends joining me like that. However, I prefer to play with people who are either really good at the game, conversation, or both. That kid is neither, and he is on all the time. Plus, he's fourteen. Enough said. I'd remove him from my friends list, but there are other people I actually enjoy playing with that he plays with too. Since he's pretty much unavoidable at this point, I don't want to end up having to tell him that I find him incredibly annoying when he'll inevitably ask why I removed him as a friend.

I have a feeling my mood won't be any better tomorrow, and going to the DMV definitely won't help that. However, I will be hanging out with my mom too, so getting out of the house and getting some decent human interaction should help.

Ugh, Just...Ugh

2009-07-14T00:15:43Z

Today has been weird. After sleeping in an extra two or three hours, I started out the day pretty sluggish. Other than doing a load of laundry or two, I figured I'd just be lazy all day. That was the plan, and I was okay with it. Strangely, though, I managed to get a lot more done around the house than just laundry, yet now I'm angry like I didn't do enough or something.

The only explanation I can think of is the weather. I was making good progress organizing the master bedroom closet when it started storming. I really didn't mind, but after the storm passed, the weather stayed very dark and dreary. Almost immediately, I lost all motivation. Since then, all I've wanted to do is be a bum, and despite that being the original plan for the day, I'm no longer okay with it. I can't figure out why I still feel so cranky, so I'm going to chock this one up to early PMS.

I have to go to the DMV tomorrow, so I'm going to go take out some of my aggression on a bunch of little racist twelve-year olds in CoD4 on Xbox Live. Hopefully I'll be in a better mood before I go to bed.

Stroke and Sugar Free

2009-07-12T13:00:38Z

Oops, I didn't write anything yesterday. I wasn't feeling very well, and honestly, it just slipped my mind. Thankfully today I am am feeling a bit better, though. I was really worried I was going to feel worse because I had things I wanted to take care of yesterday that I had to put off, and I didn't want to have to put them off again today. I'm feeling a bit lethargic this morning, but hopefully soon I'll be able to get going.

Once again I'm writing just to write, and I hate how forced it feels. What other choice do I have, though? I can't get past this block by not writing. That surely wouldn't work. How many times can I write about having writer's block, though? I don't know. Maybe I can't think of anything to write about right now because I just woke up. So far all I've done today is get up and make some coffee, and the only interesting thing about that is the fact that I completely forgot to put sugar in it, but it still tasted good. Also, I kept getting whiffs of something that smelled like lemons while sitting here at my desk, and I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Just as I was starting to contemplate the possibility of a mini stroke, I realized the smell was coming from a very old air freshener across the room that I could have sworn lost its smell a month ago.

Wow, I really hope something interesting happens today.

What's in a Name

2009-07-10T13:25:54Z

After a month of being lazy about it, I finally got around to having my domain name point here. So, if you've been accessing the site via lynnftw.squarespace.com, you can now change your bookmarks and RSS feed links to lotsofnothingness.com. That is, of course, purely optional though. Both links work just fine. Here's to slowly getting things done around here!

'Less' Being the Operative Word

2009-07-10T00:21:39Z

This morning I ran to Walmart to pick up a few things, and that almost always makes me hostile. I hate Walmart with a passion, but the closest grocery store is a total dump. The next closest grocery store is Walmart, or if I go the other direction, another Walmart. They are roughly both the same distance, but going to the one West of here, the speed limit is 45mph almost the whole way, and you're pretty much guaranteed to pass at least two cops. Heading to the one South of here, it's 55mph the whole way, and on the rare occasion that you do pass a cop, it's almost always from one of the neighboring towns and out of its jurisdiction. Obviously, I go to the Walmart that's South of here.

Aside from just being plain evil, part of the reason I hate going to Walmart is the customers. They all suck. All of them. I seriously can't shop at Walmart without having to restrain myself from the urge to kick people in their shins and punch them in their necks. Today however, I made it through the store and picked up everything I needed without any major irritations aside from the fact that my shopping cart refused to go any direction other than left. It was actually a pleasant shopping trip, and I may have even had a smile on my face for most of the time I was there. That all changed when I got to the registers, though.

As expected, there weren't enough registers open. And, despite it being a Thursday morning, all the registers had long lines. I had seventeen items, and thankfully the two '20 items or less' registers had shorter lines than the rest. I got in the shorter of the two, but after standing there for a while, I realized that both people in front of me had full shopping carts. When I realized that, I waited about another minute and then switched to the other, longer line. Then, first of the two ladies with the full shopping carts decided she wanted a drink from the mini fridge in the checkout lane. After getting her drink, she left the fridge door wide open. It was in plane sight from where she stood waiting to pay, but she didn't seem to care. After a while, I walked over and slammed it, making sure to give her a kind 'fuck you and you're welcome' smile in the process.

Out in the parking lot, which was not full by any means, a lady in a minivan decided she wanted my parking space, despite their being several other available ones near by. Before I even unlocked my car to load my groceries in, she had stopped her van to wait for me. Despite me taking my sweet time to load my car and then walk my shopping cart to the cart return, she still chose to wait. Two cars came up behind her, and she still decided to wait. Another car two spaces up pulled out and left, and she still decided to wait. As if that wasn't bad enough, she didn't leave enough room for me to back out of my parking spot. In order for me to back out, she had to put her van in reverse. And so did the car behind her. And the car behind that. It's one thing to stop and wait for a parking space if the person is already in their car and the parking lot is full, but if you have ever stopped to wait before a person that hasn't even started loading their car up in a parking lot with several available close parking spaces, you are a douche.

So there. Day three and another blog entry. I'm thinking more trips to Walmart may just be the trick to always having something to write about. I may be bitching all the time, but at least I'll be writing.

Lonely, I'm so Lonely

2009-07-08T23:36:31Z

Look at me. I'm writing. Yup. Or, at least I'm trying to. This is all about just writing to write, not thinking about what I'm writing about, just writing what's on my mind. Gotta get past the block and back in the habit somehow because I really do miss writing.

So what's on my mind? I miss face to face interaction with people! Back in Virginia, after Adam left for Japan, I still had friends and neighbors that I saw on a regular basis. Even while walking the dog, I'd usually run into someone I knew and would end up having a nice conversation for at least a few minutes. Then when I moved back here to South Carolina, I was living with my parents from mid-February to mid-May, so I always had someone around. Sure, at the time it drove me crazy to never have any real alone time, since both my parents are retired and always home, but now that I am in the new house, I am so lonely! I really don't have any friends here, and my parents are now about an hour away from me. I haven't really even met any of my neighbors yet either. I go days at a time completely alone without any interaction with any other humans other than on the internet and occasional phone calls with friends. Sure, I do get out of the house, but a thirty second exchange with store employees while running errands doesn't exactly count. I have always loved and looked forward to my alone time, but after nearly two months of being completely alone for days and often weeks at a time, I am sick of it. The animals hardly count as company anymore. During the day it's not so bad, but the evenings are the hardest because I was so used to being alone during the day until Adam came home from work. I can't wait until he is home (in 38 days, hopefully) because I miss his company and companionship more than anything in the world right now! I think I'm finally beginning to master the art of patience from all of this; that's for sure.

Well, that's all for now. I feel like I could actually write more, which is really encouraging, but I think I should probably save that for tomorrow. I don't want to push it. Writer's block, I will defeat you!