Tuesday Picks & Pans

ok here are your weekly picks & pans. and they're relatively short this week because one of the pans has me so mad right now that I'm not really in a typing mood!

PICKS

my new Yankee Candle-- the Peppermint Cocoa scent that was on after-Christmas clearance at Norman's (Hallmark) is by far the best thing to grace my apartment in a long while. It smells soooo good!

redenvelope.com and uncommongoods.com-- my two favorite new gift sites. I haven't bought anything yet, but they both have really cool, unique, and classy stuff. If you get any of the stuff on this site as a present in the future, don't be surprised :)

Car Spa-- thanks to Car Spa, my car is no longer a big moving hunk of dirty metal. Their little wash, vacuum, and wax package is absolutely wonderful. All I sacrifice is a little bit of cash and a half hour of my time. But, I am a little disappointed that they did not clean my cupholders out or wipe down my nav screen this time. Oh well.

Katharine Hepburn-- not only is she one of my favorite actresses of all time, but I just found out we share both the same birthdate (May 12) and birthplace (Hartford, CT). I thought that was pretty cool :)

homemade baked mac & cheese-- what a fantastic food. I think I am going to make a new batch tonight. Now if only it were a little better for you... And I am probably only addicted to this because of my recent addiction to cheddar cheese. mmmmmm

continued peace & quiet-- yes, the upstairs neighbors are STILL away!!! woooohooooo!!!!

fun people with crazy senses of humor-- you all know I love my team at work, but there is one person on it in particular that just has me cracking up all the time, and she's also so much like me as far as background and way of thinking that her extra 13 years of wisdom also make her the perfect sounding board. She's just a great person to have around. And this past weekend she had me in stitches when she called Papa John's and convinced them to spell out a message for us in pepperoni. You should've heard this conversation-- calling the pizza guy by his first name, telling him we're "insurance agents so we're obviously crazy" and the like. Thank god there are great people that make work bearable.

PANS

performance appraisals-- who likes writing these?! PA's just suck. And all I've written so far is my self-appraisal. And writing it made me realize that I am not involved in anything anymore. Last year's was 3 pages of everything I had done in the year, all relevant, important, and succinctly bulleted. This year was a page and a half of things I was trying to think of (all written out), that ended up sounding like total BS by the time I got done. There's nothing like a self-appraisal to make you feel like you've accomplished absolutely nothing in the last year of your life. And I still have to write my people's and then possibly tell a few of them that they may not get raises. greeeeeat.

not taking hints-- so guess who called me the other day. yup, bad date boy! I thought maybe I had been wrong and he had taken a hint, but alas, no such luck. Poor guy-- I really don't think he has life figured out yet.

laundry-- still sucks. I have piles sitting in my apartment right now that are clean and are just a huge pain to try to fold and put away and all that. boooooo.

my apartment complex-- they told us when we moved in that our rent would never go up more than $25 a year, even if they raised regular prices higher. This was a big selling point. But, I just got my lease renewal. It went up more than $60. I was pissed. So, I went to the rental office. It was open but there was nobody there. I sat and waited figuring hey it's my day off, why not get this taken care of now. After 5 minutes, a maintenance guy came through. Originally he said he thought they might've gone to lunch, but after going outside and either seeing or talking to one, he said they were walking the complex and would be right back. 15 minutes later, still no sign of anyone. and by this point since he talked to someone, I think it is a reasonable assumption that they knew someone was waiting for them. That is absolutely terrible customer service. I left, only to find that there were now notices on some people's doors. I guess the all important task of taping things to people's doors should always come before people sitting waiting for you in your office, right?

moving stress-- so now, back to the annual moving stress. I don't want to move AGAIN and get into this once a year pattern, but I also don't feel like I'm ready to buy anything. I just really don't think I want that kind of responsibility yet. But, if I want to rent through a complex and want my standards, like a washer and dryer inside my apartment and a decent amount of square footage, I end up paying an arm and a leg. I'm sorry, but $850 a month is pretty damn ridiculous. So now I'm thinking about contacting a realtor to see if there's something cheaper, since everyone keeps saying they have or know people who has rented a townhouse for $650 a month-- and then I could even get a roommate. But even if that works out that again involves MOVING, which is the BIGGEST pain in the ass that could possibly exist! And then if a year or two later I decide I am ready to buy or even relocate, I have to MOVE AGAIN! And of course I have a few weeks max to decide all this unless I want to get huge fines from my current apartment complex. Anyone have any ideas? :(

Oops maybe not so short. Oh well. Anyway, I have my first accounting class tonight, so I'm off to relax before then. later all.