girl at large

I like to write about life when you have a job, some kids, a fixer upper and a fatal disease.

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  • Frankenstein’s Closet of Technology

    I've been limping along with a hodgepodge of damaged devices both at work and home for months. The work lap top is missing the air card and the battery, only one usb port works, and the little hourglass is up so often I am in danger of being hypnotized by it.

    My big home eMac died last year; complete with the gut-dropping sad mac face. It's still down in the storage space, I can't bring myself to bring it in and find that everything that was on it can't be recovered. Since then, I've been using the MacBook that mom left behind when she upgraded. It's track pad is broken, the battery won't hold a charge, and there's a dvd permanently stuck in the drive. The big Obama 2008 sticker on the top is heartening, but not helpful.

    And you know about the iPhone. The sad, sad story of the iPhone. It took me quite a bit longer than anticipated to reach the goal I had set for myself for replacing it. Yes, I dropped it 2 weeks after I got it, and yes, it's taken 2 years to reach the replace it. 

    The Jetta, the poor abused Jetta, is teetering on the edge. One day it's good, cheap transportation. The next, it's a frightening risk ride. At any moment, the transmission (or god knows what else) will complete that strange clanking song with an final kerthunk.

    But now it all changes!

    A new work laptop arrived on Friday. My co-worker responsible for this great gift wears both an accounting and an IT hat; and though we work well together, he is not huggable. And I am not a workplace hugger. Except that day. I truly got giddy. I think there was a jig. We both got funny looks from the rest of the accounting office. 

    Yesterday, I picked up my new shiny MacBook. My aunt gave me the one her son had punched (not a Mac guy!) in frustration, breaking the screen. One replacement screen and power cord later and I have a practically brand new MacBook for under 300 bucks! If anyone has any ideas on how to pay someone for something they refuse to take money for, let me know. This computer is worth way more than a thank you note. 

    While I was at the Apple store last week, I inquired about, at last, a replacement iPhone. And found, to my great pleasure, that my AT&T contract is up in 2 weeks! Not only can I get a new iPhone at the reasonable new-contract price, I can get it on Verizon!

    And, lastly, the car. It goes into the body shop tomorrow morning for a few repairs (including re-attaching the front bumper). I had been putting off the repairs because it pained me to spend more on fixing it that its blue book value. The body shop I found by accident (it's next door to the doggy daycare) is fantastic. On my estimate, he wrote: "Make a little less ghetto—$300 cash". My kinda place!

    Once repaired, it will be traded towards a new car. I doubt I'll get more than tax and title, but it will be the Jetta's last and very appreciated act of service. I haven't found the right car yet (or the right car salesperson!), but I have a feeling that the universe is on my side at the moment. Like all good things, it's going to find me.

     

  • Sniff of Spring

    It is very satisfying to shovel out my front walk; clearing away the 8" of compacted snow and ice that is at last melting into manageable chunks in today's sunny spring tease. It is back-breaking to do it with a trunk-sized emergency car shovel.

    I should get a proper shovel, but I refuse. I'm a renter for a reason! I refuse to let this lazy landlord win!

  • Goals

    I got the hair into pony tails! Many more months of growing it out to go, but this is a big achievement. Next goal? Pay off every single debt. My progress on that is slightly less advanced.

     Pigtails
    All this grown up stuff sucks. All I really want to do is run around in pigtails.

  • Walk the Walk

    I have my Motto for 2011!

    I'm going to learn how to do the things that I have, at some point in my life, claimed to know how to do (or about), but in fact, don't. Like riding a bicycle. This will also include doing a few things that I never made false claims about, but have been too afraid to attempt. Like voice lessons.

    Thanks to the Ennis family for getting me started…by giving me a bike for Christmas! Who knew?!

    Bike

     

  • Letters from Mythical Characters, $.05 a word

    I've been offered a position as a parenting consultant after this creative attempt at discipline seems to actually worked! Taming two little boys into treating toys nicely is a tough one. Even though it worked for now, overall, I give it two weeks.  :)

    Claim smaller

    click on the photo of the letter above to see it in a new, readable window

  • Neglectful Me

    I haven't posted since October?! Shame on me. Blame Facebook.

    Here's to a better showing in 2011. I have not found my motto for 2011 yet, it is sure to find me in the coming weeks. I prefer a motto to resolutions; mottos are positive, inspiring and more likely to last. However, Aunt Peg's motto choice last night, "I have many regrets", doesn't quite capture the concept. She was laughing while she said it so I'll assume there's an inside joke there.

    Happy New Year!

  • Really?
    The local news high school sports segment featured the story of Kewaunee High School's need to change its Indian mascot name and logo to comply with Wisconsin state law.
    A moment later, the weatherman's feature was a detailed explanation of the term "Indian Summer"!

  • Austerity Measures

    I really want to get the Trailer in time for use next summer…steps must be taken to save the bucks for the trailer, the seasonal site, the fix up, the maintenance….and the For Sale sign when I realize I don't actually like camping after all. 

    The recession shows little signs of improvement; I need to do these things Trailer or not. But the goal of the "saving for the Trailer" is so much less depressing than "saving to pay dentist in hopes of keeping teeth from falling out". 

        -Goodbye Sendik's (equivalent to Zupan's, Whole Foods, the gourmet gas station). Hello Trader Joe's!

        -No more Goodwill. This seems counter-intuitive, but I can spend as much at Goodwill as anywhere else…especially at a good one.

        -Downgrade Cable service. Going to basic and giving up the DVR dropped the bill by 1/2! Yes, I miss the DVR, but somehow I found the time this week to clean the bathroom grout. 

        -Move to a smaller, cheaper apartment. Done! 

        -Negotiate everything. I'm learning that asking doesn' t have to be rude or insulting, and that "Don't ask, don't get" is true.

        -No more using coupons! Or discount cards or email offers! Hmmm…had no plans to order from that catalog until I got that coupon in the mail. Had no plans to get that item until I saw that email. And so on.

        -Speaking of email offers…delete my name from every retailer email list. Unsubscribe baby! Until I started doing this, I didn't grasp just how many temptations I was allowing right into my front door as it were. Literally dozens and dozens every week, every day.

        -Use up every single bottle, jar and tube of moisturizer in the house before buying any more. 

        -Bring my lunch. This sounds simple, and I'm told that many people have always done this. But this is a hard habit to develop for the only kid who actually liked "hot lunch" (the nifty divided tray alone!).

        -Sell the overflow of furniture and household stuff from the apartment downsizing on Craigslist and eBay. I sold three things this week already!

        -Cancel all automatic electronic bill payments. Sit down and write a check for each bill, each month. When it's just zapped out of the account I have little control, but worse, it's not real to me. Sitting down and looking at each expense will push me to make better choices and deeper cuts. 

        -Split the cable internet bill with the neighbor and share via wifi. Done! Full disclosure: this was my neighbor's idea.

        -Rent the dog out to bachelors…ok, maybe not. But never say never, anything for the Trailer!

        

        

        

        

  • Doorbell Dash

    I've said since I was all of 25 and already mildly bitter, that my ideal domestic situation is not marriage, or even living together, but instead is "Two one-bedroom apartments next door to each other with a shared balcony". Or perhaps one of those hotel-style adjoining-room double doors. 

    I've lived in and viewed a hundred apartments–flats, duplexes, high rises, attics, basements, walk ups, chopped up Victorians, mid-century shambles, condo complexes, four plexes….and never have I seen a "shared balcony". Until now.

    My new apartment has a wee tiny stoop…with a little walkway that continues down the side of the building and up to the neighboring one-bedroom apartments wee tiny stoop. In effect, a shared balcony. That apartment has been empty since I moved in, but this past week there was some renovation activity. And then…

    There was a knock on my door tonight. I foolishly opened the door, thinking it was my other neighbor regarding our current parking dilemma–she's a 50ish woman. It was not her. It was my very tall, very handsome, 30's something very male new next door neighbor introducing himself.

    I think I may have caught one of my swinging boobs in the door as I rushed to close it. "NOW'S NOT A GOOD TIME!!"  Bra-less, in slippers, skin rash cream fresh on my face, and I'm not kidding you, a dribble of toothpaste visible on my ratty t-shirt.

    In my defense, I was getting ready for bed!! Who knocks on a strangers door at bedtime for the first introduction?!?!

    Someone who doesn't get ready for bed at 8:30, that's who.

  • Unexcused Summer Absences

    Wow…I had an eventful, lovely summer, but didn't blog from mid-July through mid-September. Perhaps I wasn't blogging because I was out living. Or perhaps it was because I couldn't find my computer under Mom's crumpled Kleenex's. Either way, it's high time to catch up…

    …huh, all my funny summer stories escape me at the moment.