$2.99

I really love my local thrift store. All of this, for less than what one single remnant usually goes for.

Doing the right thing. Not just karma.

OMG. I just spent my Christmas money. OMG. SO EXCITED!!!

I'd had the Wild Bird Center (warning, Cardinals) recommended to me, but I was a bit wary. Just because of money, mind you. Certainly I'd be able to find the binoculars I wanted online for a lot less, right? But nonetheless, I needed to see and feel and use the binoculars before buying. I was tempted to go to the store, figure out what I wanted, and then go home to price check. Of course that made me feel guilty, as well. Sigh. Conundrums.

I went today, picked out the binocs I liked best from their inventory and bought them. You gotta go with your gut, and frankly buying local makes my gut sing. Or something. (That's a positive response, by the way. I wasn't talking about my stomach gurgling painfully, something I've been way too familar with recently.)

I didn't know if the binoculars would be cheaper elsewhere, but the service I got was so pleasant that I'd have been a real loser to use the bird center's wonderful staff advice and not buy there. And let me expound upon their service for a second. I told them my price range, and they brought out a few different binoculars in that range. However, they did not tell me which ones were the most expensive, or in fact, any of the prices. They led me through a variety of exercises to see which ones I felt performed the best, and at no time did they push the more expensive ones on me. And I didn't even know which ones were expensive, mind you.

I picked the Nikon Monarch ATB 8x42 binocs. They were the lightest, the clearest, and the brightest of the ones I tried. The one downside is that the close focus was farther than the second pair I had narrowed it down to. But they were a lot less heavy. And they were clearer.

I did just Google the prices, now that I'm home. And you know what? They're within $10-$30 of typical online prices. OK.

Because? In addition to the expertise the staff gave me, they also chipped in a lens pen *and* a harness, which I was planning to buy. Apparently it wasn't in perfect condition (it was a return), but I didn't see anything wrong with it at all. Anyhoo, that's about $35 worth of extras they threw in.

Well worth it, in my opinion. Well worth it.

(The binoculars are so awesome! They're feather-light! They focus really close up! They're bright! They're clear! And what's rather amusing to me is that my first binoculars are the same brand, but a couple of steps down.)

LOVE!

Rainy Day fun

I've been curious for a long time about eventually buying a house, I have today off, and it's raining. So just for kicks, I'm going to drive around to see (from the curb!) some houses listed for sale right now. Call it research.

Ideally I'd be wanting: no HOA, sunny enough yard for a garden, 3 Br and 2 Ba (for a roommate plus guest room), safe neighborhood, wouldn't make my commute more than 40 minutes one way, walkable, not stuck up, hardwoods, non-horrible kitchen, fenced yard, blahdity blah blah. They're mostly negotiable, these desires, but that list I gave tends to descending order of importance.

Neighborhoods I'm familiar with: Northgate Park (Hi Cristin!), Duke Park, Old West Durham, Watts Hillandale, Tuscaloosa/Lakewood, Forest Hills, Hope Valley, Trinity Park, Trinity Heights. Other areas that might be OK would be the Cole Mill area, around the intersection of Sparger and Hillsborough....

Any other ideas? Tell me about some nice neighborhoods here in Durham!

Sometimes I'm a really good bargain shopper.

Shipping Method:	FREE Super Saver Shipping
Shipping Preference:	Group my items into as few shipments as possible
Subtotal of Items:	$54.47
Shipping & Handling:	$12.66
Super Saver Discount	-$12.66
Promotion Applied	-$29.96
	------
Total for this Order:	$24.51
Shipping estimate for these items: September 10, 2008 "Carnation Malted Milk, Original, 13-Ounce Jars (Pack of 4)" Grocery; $12.48 "Carnation Instant Breakfast, Variety Pack, 1.26-Ounce Units (Pack of 3)" Grocery; $13.82 "Millstone Foglifter Ground Coffee, 11-Ounce Packages (Pack of 2)" Grocery; $14.42 "Lyons Country Snapjacks, 10.6-Ounce Packages (Pack of 6)" Grocery; $13.75

One by one

I'm doing it again. Sleeping on a bed with no sheets, because I just can't be bothered to put them on. And the other half of the bed is full of clean clothes. As are the baskets all over the floor. I did, however, put up a new shower curtain this morning. Yay for switching from mold to vinyl fumes!!

I need a haircut, too. I tried to get one in DC, but it was a holiday. The only places open were more barbershop than beauty parlor, and I suspect they'd have been hard pressed to deal with such fine hair as mine is anyway. It's all about texture specialization. Tried for a pedicure, too, but was underimpressed with what I perceived as unimplemented hygiene practices.

I'm working from home today. I only have a couple of hours to put in (thanks to another 12-hour day yesterday!), and it didn't make sense to drive 50 miles (RT) to do things I could just do here at home. Luckily, the boss saw things the same way, so here I am.

Good thing, too. I got my car inspected, which I'd been half putting off and half too busy to get done. Check another item off of the list! And it was severely cheap. Only $30? Nice.

While waiting at the mechanics, I realized that I could and indeed *should* nip across the street to check out a restaurant I'd heard great things about. Wimpy's Grill has always kind of scared/intimidated me, to tell the truth. It's so...beaten up. And dingy. And windowless. I couldn't find any photos of the place itself, but the sign pretty much says it all. It's one of those places that closes by 2 p.m., so it always seems closed, too.

All that angst for nothing!! Superb burgers. The meat is ground fresh daily. They also have biscuits and open at 7 a.m. weekdays. I think I know what I'll be trying next!

Another jaunt this a.m. was to my favorite discount/closeout store for a look around. I went small-appliance happy. I got not only an iron (Rowenta!), but also another toy I've wanted for ages--an immersion blender.

Gazpacho, here I come. Now, peppers, cukes and tomatoes? Do your thing already! Tired of waiting!

(Garden update: The volunteer dill is much taller than I am, and I suspect that I'll have ripe tomatoes within a week or so. Peas look like they're done with, and I'm hoping the blade-like things that are coming up where I planted the corn are indeed corn. Peppers have buds, and the cukes are nowhere near ready. I don't know what all I've planted, so I might have some more to do.)

History

Recently for work I've been using some creative cheapness skills to find free or very reduced magazine subscriptions and educational brochures for the waiting room. I just got a free subscription to Oprah. If anyone wants a link, gmail me (lastewie) and I'll pass it on.

I first began cultivating these deal-finding skills back in the almost prehistoric era of the World Wide Web, when the Internet was still pretty new and residential high-speed was limited at best.

I had some places that I used to haunt, and to some extent I still find ways to get a heads up on good bargains online. More than anyplace else, I lurked over here. I never much frequented the forums, but going back there now I see some good stuff. Back in those days, marketers were just starting to try to appeal to people who were online, so you could get some pretty outlandish (and random) things. T-shirts, food, tea, whatever. I guess you still can.

Anyway, want a free rosary? (I don't)
Dial antibacterial deodorant soap?

By the way, tomorrow is Free Iced Coffee day at Cristin's favorite, Dunkin' Donuts.
Oops. One last thing I didn't mention is that you have to make sure you have your facts straight. DD is not doing this promotion in 2008. Whoops!

But here's another old-school favorite that I hear never goes out of style.

Hankies

Five years ago or so, a Belgian/Spanish friend brought me a couple of hankies from Spain. I'd never considered using them before that, but once I did, I was a convert. Collections of anything really aren't my thing, but beautiful old linens just woo me with their softness and craftsmanship. Tea towels, tablecloths, napkins, aprons and hankies are my downfall.

This weekend I documented most (but not all) of the hankies I use. They were meant to be used, after all, and my deep distaste of collections is mitigated when I can rationalize the purchases as things I use rather than things I just look at. Some of these I bought at thrift stores or garage sales. Some were inherited. Some were purchased. They're all beautiful. Despite the beauty of the old ones, they're usually extremely cheap--no more than $2 each.

NB. I don't iron.

Adventures, Stew style

Yesterday I dragged my wire shelving out of the shed to make a setup for starting seedlings. Ooops. Somewhere along the line the black plastic thingies that keep the shelves from falling down had done got lost!

Thus begins the chase. I went to Lowe's, where I had a nice gift card left over from Christmas, when my Dad bought me a beautiful bird feeder that was too big to carry home. I meant to just go get another one, but that didn't happen. Good thing!

Here's the rub. Places sell this shelving, right? Apparently, though, they expect that you'll actually hold on to the accessories and not lose them in a move. Duh. So I couldn't find any. At first. Then the incredibly helpful folks* at Lowe's actually took the parts off of a display model and sold them to me separately for like, $6. So unnecessary and so nice of them. There weren't quite enough to make all of my shelves fit, but I did a little jerry-rigging with some non-slip rubber pads to complete the job as best I could.

Then I went and puzzled over shop lights and which florescent bulbs to put in them. I ended up getting two 4-foot lights, and four full-spectrum "sunlight" bulbs. Another guy then helped me realized I didn't need to buy any chains for hanging. Why don't they say on the outside of the packaging what exactly is included??

Over to the garden section. I went hog-wild and picked up some more seeds, blood meal, bone meal and potting soil, in anticipation of some fab seed coddling. I realized when I got home that I probably should have gotten seedling starter instead of potting soil, but eh. This should work.

I assembled it all with only a little tweaking necessary (don't you love zip ties?), pulled out my seed box and then went outside to do a little potting.

Look!!!





So much fun. If you can't read the tags, I've begun:

Tomatoes:
Sungold
Brandywine
Better Boy
Pink Beefsteak (which I collected from last year's plants. I'm hoping they're not a hybrid!)
Cherokee Purple
Ground Cherries

Peppers:
These came from a packet of "rainbow mixed" sweet peppers. It's always nice to have a surprise, I guess.

*I KNOW! I didn't expect them all to be so so available. At least three people helped me multiple times.

Technological Difficulties

a) I've misplaced my phone. I need a new one, but have been putting it off.

b) my laptop is acting up. It cycles in and out of sleep incessantly when the lid is closed. It's annoying, and bad for the processor. Will have to deal with it.

After ALL THESE YEARS!

In the winter I am plagued with dry skin.

(I just chugged a liter of water, because writing this reminded me that I rarely hydrate well enough this time of year. That's part of the problem.)

The heat, the cold, hot showers...everything leaves me itchy. So I lube up. Mostly the face, because it gets flaky. Same with my hands; they crack at the knuckles, also because of washing with soap. I'm not going to quit soap. I like soap. It smells nice and lathers up, and I envision the slippery mass of bubbles (or non-bubbly lubrication, depending on what I'm using to wash with) carrying away the dust and dirt I come into contact with over the day. Lotion does help; heavy-duty stuff for my hands (over the years it's been this or this or this or this), and lighter duty for my body.

The back, though. My poor, itchy back. I don't even wash my back; it gets bombarded by shampoo runoff, though, and I'm a stand-facing away-from-the-showerhead girl, so the back gets the hot water too.

In the past, I've had to look for, um, inventive ways to deal with this. I feel comfortable asking certain friends/family (Emily, Maria, Mom, Annie) to put lotion on me. But none of them lives with me, so it's not particularly sustainable. Former roommate the good very, very, very occasionally would help me out, but it made him uncomfortable, so I stopped asking unless it was killing me. I've asked around about what other people do. I've considered getting a washcloth on a stick, but it seemed messy and a waste of lotion, what with the loss due to absorption into the cloth. I finally settled on an odd baby oil application technique--in the shower I'll jet some baby oil onto my back while it's still pretty much wet and then rub the back against the shower wall to spread it all over as best I can, . (I'm not alone in this technique; one woman I talked to has a wall in her bathroom she has decreed the lotion-smearing wall. I thought my baby oil/shower combo was much less icky.) But my technique gets the towel kind of greasy, and oil has a nasty habit of making my already slippery shower a slip-and-fall hazard.

Today, my friends, I may have found the solution.

(Jesus, even talking about this has made my back itchy!)

I should have known that I'm not the only person who needs to rely on herself to relieve itchy dry skin that is not reachable in other ways. I don't know why it never occurred to me that something like this would exist.

Behold the lotion applicator. If you can get it at tar-zhay, I'm going to use my secret santa $10 gift card post holidays.

Relief at last is on the horizon.

Big Lots Bonanza

Select Purchases
Good Strong Tea
Spray Cheese
Garlic Parmesan Panetini
Oooh! Beef Jerky! (forgot about this...and not just any brand. JEFF FOXWORTHY JERKY!)
Ginger Lemon Cremes
Pescado Pete's Coastal Style Olives


And not least, as part of tomorrow's New Roommate Birthday Celebration.....

RAP SNACKS

Yeah, you heard me right. RAP SNACKS!


RAP SNACKS Boooooooooiiiizzzzzz!!

The kind New Roommate is getting is the Dirt McGirt version.

Technology To-Do

I've been thinking that a new laptop is not the only thing on my horizon that needs replacing. My phone is even older (is that possible?) than my computer, I think. A year or so ago it was having some problems with turning itself off, but that stopped.

(Phil, do you want that phone back that you loaned me when my cell problems were happening? It's sitting in a drawer over here and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHAMP!)

I also have a PDA, of the Palm sort. It's total bottom of the line, about 2 years old, and fading. It doesn't always like to turn on.

Phone/PDA combos aren't new. Of course not. I, however, am new to them.

What I want:
• Ease of use
• Ability to keep backup data at home (mac) and at work (PC) and possibly even somewhere online--easily. Calendar AND contacts. And to sync them with my email at work. And understanding how to do all of this because I'm kind of clueless.
• Good reception and hearing quality
• Not too spendy. (<$150 if at all possible)
• Easy to input data. FWIW, I've gotten adept at Graffiti, and so that's not an obstacle. If you have to input it like you would sending text messages, well....

What I don't need/want:
• Top of the line
• Status
• Flip phone. Unless someone can convince me that they're not as annoying to use as they seem to me.

Other considerations:
• Palm software doesn't play nicely on a Mac. It works OK, but it doesn't let me put enough information (directions, etc) with the appointment slot. There's no "Note" field on the Mac version.
• I have no contract with my carrier, and so am free to migrate. I've been decently happy with my carrier (AT&T then Cingular and back to AT&T), as far as service goes, and the one work cell I had with Verizon service sucked. No reception. Ironic, no?
• At work: My work email sucks. We have to use Outlook. I get more spam than real email. We don't have an IT person to help set this up. I've downloaded other mail software, but I don't know how to set it up (slightly pathetic).

Ok. Running off to an auction now.

Five minutes!

Up and running people. The computer took a picture of me to match up with my stuff. I have no idea where the picture went, and the picture-taking process was terrifying. (The primping was kind of hilarious, though. I wasn't expecting a video camera.)

OK, off to play.

I'll update as issues arise. 

OMG Where did the open apple key go?

On the Peaceable Imperatrix's recommendation, I've opened Photo Booth. I have no idea what it's supposed to do. Fuck. It's that damn video camera again. I don't know what to do with it except take snapshots using the different effects. 

WTF? I set up iChat for my google email account, and as soon as it got set up, a bunch of you (and others) IMed me extremely random shit. 

From Watergirl: "the kentucky derby winner"

From Hrrrl: "okay"

From Pinky: "take the taser"

From Chopper Charles (host of Sin Noticias De Stew's former location) "layter"

From Nice Former Roommate: "Yes, but I could never prove it"

I can only imagine it's from previous conversations. 

Question: How can you tell what applications are open when you look at the doc? There's no immediately obvious marker that something's in use. What am I missing?

Toys!

Guess what came this morning while I was out at a meeting?????

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

(I was expecting just the printer)

Look out weekend, here I come.

(Thanks, Mom and Pedro!)

Itsy Bitsy Rant

So. I'm still going to order the MacBook, but I have a small bone to pick with them.

It's sweet that they have an education discount, right?

ONLY if you're on the payroll of a school. So, me? Educator? Check. Paid by a school? NOPE. NO DISCOUNT FOR YOU!

I feel guilty about thinking this way, but I can't help but be peeved that as one of the direct, in-the-trenches educators I can't access this small perk, when any Joe Schmo who works in a school district (or university), no matter their role, can.


UPDATE:

It's all in how you frame it. I called back and got the discount, presumably because they had me in the computer already.

Here're the deets:

MB 13.3/2.2 CTO: WHITE Z0FA				1
2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x1GB 120GB Serial ATA @ 5400rpm SD 8x (DVD+R DL/DVD+RW/CD-RW) No iWork Preinstalled No Final Cut Exp Preinstalled No Aperture Preinstalled No Logic Exp Preinstalled Keyboard/Mac OS Country Kit
Ships by: Nov 5 - Nov 7
Delivers by: Nov 7 - Nov 13

And then FREE BONUS!

Procrastination

I'm not the only one barely functioning in this house. My poor itsy bitsy 4 (maybe 5??) year old iBook has been on a sharp decline for the last year or so. Its CD drive doesn't let cds back out. You have to lube it with a q-tip and some water (going on at least 2 years that way, now). The keyboard was replaced about a year ago; the one Apple sent wasn't quite the right size, but despite a nice lump in the middle it does at least work. The memory is so insufficient for normal operations these days that I've become used to a 10 character lag when typing. The power cord (iteration 3) is cobbled together from a couple that had different malfunctioning parts. Battery #2 (3?) isn't holding much of a charge any more. Yesterday it had gotten down to 65% full, when suddenly it announced I was running on reserve backup power.

Yeah, it's time.

As a combined birthday-xmas-thankgodyoudon'thavechildrenforustospendon gift, my mom graciously offered to get me a new laptop. She made the offer a few weeks ago. I didn't act immediately.

Yesterday Apple brought out a whole new crop of MacBooks!

The order is going in today. Woot!

$2.03

I pity men in some ways. The strong gender roles society put on them is just a bitch. The closest equivalents I can come up with for the non-offensive "tomboy" would be "nancy boy" or "sissy boy." Oh MY what a difference in connotation!

So, given that, here's a recommendation for those of you who are not constrained by societal norms for your gender identity: Go to Eckerds that are switching to Rite Aid and hunt around for a clearance section. There are tons of makeup products that, though occasionally beat-up looking on the outside, haven't been opened or used.

This was my haul today:

1 pack of eyebrow shaper wax strips
4 lipsticks
2 eyeshadow cremes
1 eyeshadow powder
1 mascara

Guess the total?

Whee!

I've got some renewed excitement going on here at the ranch. I've got the a.m. off today to make up for the crazy ride I've been on, and I'm taking good advantage of it. Ran some errands this a.m. and then went to my favorite place for breakfast around. Picked up some goodies there, too, and then on my way home stopped at Barnes Supply for some brown crowder peas (At less than 1/2 the price than that website, by the by).

This fucking drought has left me avoiding the garden as much as I can. Yesterday I noticed my swiss chard, prized specimen it was, is now flattened to the soil, wilted.

New Roommate and I continue to conserve water, and I toss whatever graywater we collect on various parts of the garden. But DAMN. I have so many things I want to do now that water would really help with. It's a pain in the ass to lug water from my bathroom out to the yard. (My veggies are ZESTFULLY clean!)

For instance, I'm revamping the zinnia/raspberry bed from last year. I've got a layer of cardboard down, and I would LOVE to start layering it up. I suppose I could do that without water, but those crowder peas would really be cute there.

And I need to get the garlic in. I'm not to sure where to put it.

Hm. Garden planning must happen.

Because who DOESN'T want a decorative hidden litterbox?

Coming back from MI on Tuesday, I picked up the SkyMall catalog. I thought about ganking it from the seatback in front of me and taking it with, but decided that would be a waste of glossy paper.

Here's a list, because it's all I'm compelled to share with you today.

A partial list of things I hope I'll never buy or receive as a gift.

By: Stewbrain McButterpants

Ergonomic Hair Care System
Kitty Washroom (not the only version of this type of product)
Hands-free Binocular Glasses
Inflatable Movie Screen
Basho The Sumo Wrestler Table
Flying Alarm Clock
Voice Activated Grocery List Organizer
Sacro Wedgy (what???)
Deluxe Prism Glasses
Stress Eraser (quack alert!)
The Perfect Pushup
Hollywood Cookie Diet
Be Nice or Leave Sign
Towelmatic
Chilled Shot Machine


What?

Here's where someone less lazy than I am at the moment would go ahead and blather on about the culture of consumption and how my values tend towards less not more. How these types of items are unnecessary and ego-feeding. Or else they're symptoms of a very sad, boring life. And how it's way more in line with my own belief structures to make-do with things you find or can borrow or buy used.

Nobody ever lives 100% by their values, but I'm going to keep trying.

Out with the old

This afternoon I got 18 plants for free.

No seriously, the plant delivery truck guy came into my local Barnes Supply store today just as I was whining about them only having 12 varieties of collards and nothing else for a fall garden. I followed him out the truck to pick out cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower starts when LO! Mister Greenhouse Guy had a half-flat of red cabbage he'd accidentally dropped. He blamed his clumsiness and gave them to me for FREE.

I walked out without any cauliflower yet (though I put in a request), but with a surfeit of other Brassica goodies.

Hm. Didn't realize this kind of thing happened in real life.