Finding the Positive

My front yard at dawn.

I was making coffee, standing at the counter just shivering. I thought to myself, "Well, at least you burn calories when you shiver!" That made me giggle just a little bit. It's one positive thing that will come out of all of this snow and cold. Yes, there will be lots of negatives and it will be hard for many people. And I realize it's a serious matter, but why not find the fun and silly to get us through these stressful times? So here is my list of positive things that may result from all of this snow and cold.

• Calories will be burned by shivering. But please don't use it as an excuse to keep the thermostat down though! I know how many of you started a diet recently. 
• Hot flashes become almost bearable. Or worse. Nothing like going from burning up to chilled.
• You will have time to get caught up on the DVR and magazine reading. 
• Spending time with your children will happen whether they want it or not. I know it's different for those with young kids versus teenagers, but this comes from the point of view of a mom with teens. I'll take what I can get...Ashlyn goes to college in 8 months. 
• It's an opportunity to get those taxes started! I now everyone just struggles to carve out the time to work on those. Take advantage!
• As you dream about warmer weather, think about all the projects you have planned for when that happens. I'm pretty sure you will find the snow quite wonderful after that.
• Play Guess the Footprint. I always see a variety of footprints in the snow and it's fun to guess what creatures made them. 
• Read War and Peace. 
• Find things for your amazing, wonderful husband to bake and then nag him to do it. 
• Train your puppy or dog or cat or hamster. They are bored too!
• And the BEST thing about the snow? It covered up all the gross-ness that is my yard...the piles of you know what, the mud, the holes, the scattered straw. My yard truly looks like a Winder Wonderland. 

Those of you stuck inside because of the snow and the cold - What positive things are the result of today's weather drama? Please share!

Funny how things work out

Brenna finally conceded to letting me get her a backpack for school. I'm not sure why she preferred to carry around a stack of books and folders, but my nagging finally paid off. Don and I found one we thought was super cool...it was made of canvas, leather and fire hose material. See? Pretty nifty!  It's from duluthtrading.com, one of our new favorite online places to shop! Don asked if he could have one too, but now is not the time to buy stuff for yourself, as you will understand later on in this post.

When it arrived, I thought it might be a bit too "manly" for a teenage girl, yet still very cool nonetheless. I wasn't sure what to do with it, but I had an idea, as I'm sure you do too. :)

I decided to see what I could find on Amazon. While browsing, I came across a cool looking one made by OGIO. I'd never heard of this brand or seen anything like it. I bought it. And she loves it! Thank heavens, because as anyone that tries to buy for teenagers knows, it's difficult! Score one for mom. Here it is: 

But the story doesn't end there, although that would be a happy ending, wouldn't it? As I was looking for something for her, another OGIO product popped up as a "you might also like..." product. And when I saw it, I knew I had to have it! Here it is. See why I had to have it? It's so me! Perfect color, perfect size, perfect price ($39.95) and it even has buttons.

But, I didn't buy it right then and there for 2 reasons:

1. Never buy anything for yourself in the 6 or so weeks leading up to Christmas. It just isn't fair to those that need gift ideas or who have already purchased things, and
2. I was in the midst of a "buy things for myself moratorium". Which, btw, is another idea for a blog boast...

So I put it on my Wish List and moved on with life. Christmas came and went, and I thought often of this purse/bag/what I've been looking for all my life, but still wasn't sure I wanted to break #2. A few days after Christmas I decided it was indeed ok to spend some of my gift money on myself. First I bought the Fitbit (awesome decision so far!) and then I went to my Wish List to find THAT purse. This is what I saw:

That's right. Currently unavailable. Rats. No problem, really. I will find it somewhere else. Easier said than done!!! It was unavailable everywhere, even on the OGIO website! Oh, I found red and yellow and green and olive, but I wanted blue! And no one knew when and IF, they would become available. Then I remembered eBay. eBay has everything! And it did. ONE seller had it and they had 4 available. Except, there was a problem. It cost $63! That's 50% more than retail. In a panic that it might never be available ever again and I didn't care that I was spending too much, I bought it. 

Then as is usual for me, I had buyer's remorse. It was just a purse after all. Did I really need to spend that much more than retail for a purse? Granted it will always fit, but I really feel the need to be smarter about my purchases. Well, it was done. Nothing to do about it at this point. I would enjoy that purse! A couple of days later I got an eBay message from the seller. It read:

I'm so sorry but I was just informed by our supplier that the item went out of stock and will be available early in 2 weeks but no exact date.

Since the shipping got delayed and would not able to reach the said delivery date, we decided to refund the money instead. We will keep you posted in the future when it's available with a reasonable discount due to this inconvenience. We will also contact you right away if the stock is available this week.

I will issue you the refund as soon as I send this email. I apologize once more and I thank you in advance for understanding.

Seriously? At this point, I just figured it wasn't meant for me to have this purse. Time to move on. I have plenty of purses and my mother-in-law had just shared a very nice new-to-me purse. I was set. I felt a huge relief at not spending all that money and really did believe things happened as they should. 

Anyone who knows me even a little, knows that I probably wouldn't let it go. That should have been the end of my story. Of course it wasn't. And if it was, I wouldn't be blogging about it now. But, I am, so there here is the rest of it...

I was playing around on the computer and just joined this thing called Swagbucks. One way to earn "swag bucks" is to search through their website, so on a whim I searched "OGIO Brooklyn" just one more time. Up popped the usual listings that I had seen on previous search efforts, but mid-way down there was a new one:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/985426-REG/ogio_114007_166_booklyn_tablet_purse_tide.html

So I clicked on the link and I heard music and the skies might have parted, but probably not so much, since it is just a purse and I'm sure those kinds of things are saved for things that really matter. But there it was! The purse I coveted! And priced at only $32.97! That's cheaper than Amazon's price! And...it gets better...FREE SHIPPING!  So as you might have guessed, it arrives in 7-10 business days. And while it took weeks and had some unexpected turns, I got the darn purse and for less than I was willing to pay. I know it's just a purse, but it makes me feel all warm inside that I got it. 

And the first backpack I bought for Brenna? We wrapped it up and gave it to Don. Funny how things work out.

Another New Year

Welcome 2014! I started this blog on New Year's Day 2011. I started off 2012 by posting. I skipped 2013 and while I have an idea as to why, it's the past and I'm all about the present! I have so much I want to share with you! Where to start? 

Some of the things I want to write about are:

• How and why we got each of our dogs.
• My running story...it's a long one!
• The "bad" number.
• Why I love my job.
• Folly makes me feel special.
• Lessons from an old dog named Rosie.
• The surprise in the mirror.
• Perfect isn't flawless.

Because I named it "Almost a Sitcom" I feel the pressure to make each post funny, or at least mildly entertaining. I need to get over that. Even in sitcoms there can be a serious message, or big lesson to be learned that isn't all that funny. 

So I will do my best to get to each of those stories. But first I need to get on the treadmill...it's Day 1 of 100 days of running! Happy New Year friends!