The Case of the Missing Glove

Wednesday morning I could have sworn I had two gloves in my pocket when I put my coat on. By the time I got out to the car (less than 50 from the house), I only had one glove. I texted Dan to check the floor in the house and the backyard. He called and said no glove. He even checked the whole backyard -figuring maybe Esa picked it up and was throwing it around.

The rest of the week, I kept thinking "It's got to be here somewhere". Saturday, we went and got Dan a new winter jacket at Sports Authority so I picked some gloves ($25 down the drain!).

We get home and I continue with the laundry and put the new jacket & gloves in the washer. I come upstairs, look outside and what does Esa have? My missing glove!

I knew I had dropped it!

What we got in the mail last week (Feb. 14 - 19)

• free magazines (Entertainment Weekly from MyCokeRewards.com; Living from trial subscription)
• coupons (free coke products from MyCokeRewards.com; free sample and coupon from Cover Girl; coupons from Victoria Secret Pink)
• free book from Grace For You ministries)
• envies from coupon train on Hot Coupon World.com

Quick CVS stop (Friday, Feb. 18)

Coke products were on sale last week - 3 for $10 with $3 ECBs back.  I used $10 in ECBs that I had and only had to pay 12 cents!  WOOHOO!  Plus I got another $1 in ECBs for using my green card! 

Thanks CVS for supporting my diet coke addiction.

Blogging for Books - "Divine Appointments" by Charlene Ann Baumbich

Below is my 2nd review for the website Blogging for Books.  This publishing company sends books for review for free.

*****

Sometimes you just don’t know your co-workers

Although the main character in this book is Josie Brooks, this book also covers several different co-workers at Diamond Mutual. Each chapter is focused on each of the characters and the stories don’t really intertwine until mid-book. I mention this, because I wasn’t sure where this book was going at first. It was a lot of background that some authors would probably lessen the amount of time devoted to it.

Any corporate employee would enjoy this book. Based around a company downsizing and how each character is affected, it speaks to all workers at any level. The main thing it reminds you of is that you never know what is your divine plan. It shows that in an instant life can change and you have to deal with the changes. The story line is positive and reminds you that you can have a second chance no matter what your history.

I was kind of disappointed by the ending of the book, which seemed like it was rushed to wrap up the story. Also, one character, Marsha, had portion of her “book in progress” within the book. I didn’t understand the meaning of including this, and in my opinion, could have been left out.

All in all, this is a good book and great to get away with.

The Drama Queen does not handle change well....

Miss Esa has basically claimed one of our sofa chairs has hers.  She sleeps in it almost every night (or at least starts there).

She's always loved this chair

circa 2007

As you can see, we have slipcovers on the furniture in our family room.  Great for when your dog sleeps on the furniture - easy to wash!  We've had these slipcovers for about 8 years, so I figured time for a change.

The slipcovers came on Tuesday and Esa "helped" me put the covers on (ok, watched me).  As soon as the cover was on "her" chair, all of hell broke loose - HOWL, HOWL, HOWL.  She was NOT a happy camper.  Esa would NOT even try out the new slipcover.  Mama broke down and put the old slipcover back over the new slipcover (I just threw it over the chair), but she still was not happy.

Dan said even when he got home from work (hours later), she started barking at the chair, trying to get him to take the new cover off (even though the old cover was on).  Needless to say, all 4 of us were in the (king-size) bed that night.

So yesterday morning I fitted the old slipcover back on the chair and she went to bed on the chair.  Now, it could have been that she was just so tired from daycare that she didn't even think about it.  We'll see tonight!

Oh our little drama queen.

Catching up - What happened in January & so far in February

I can’t believe it’s been since the first of the year since I blogged! It has been busy – now time to catch up. Most recent first…..

Esa’s 4th birthday – February 14Wow, I can’t believe our baby girl has been in our lives almost 4 years! Our lives have changed since she came into it. I got my “Betty Crocker” on and baked some doggie treats for her bday. Full of peanut butter and both pups love them. Dan and I both tasted the frosting (peanut butter and honey) – yummy – and the cake batter (flour, peanut butter, honey, egg, oil, carrots) was ok.

Scrapbooking (AGAIN!) – February 13
So, SIL DD and I planned another scrapbooking day when we got together on the 29th. SIL came over to our house, while hubby went geocaching. We are going to try to get together monthly for either scrapbooking or just to get together.

Valentine’s Dinner – February 12
Hubby & I went to OTani’s Japanese Steakhouse to celebrate Valentine’s Day. We don’t go there too often, but really enjoy it when we do! YUMMY!

Capitals vs. Sharks – February 8
Oh Caps, come on and get back in the groove. Neuvy did great – over 30 saves. We still had fun. There was a lot of good people watching. There was a toddler with her parents and she was enjoying herself (until Momma left and she started crying) – it was cute. Then in the 3rd period, a lady sat down next to the guys in front of us. She was definitely drunk and SSSOO talkative. It was funny. Finally she got up and her significant other had come to get her. Not sure if she just didn’t know where her seats were or what.

Happy birthday to our favorite 1 year old – February 6
Our neighbor’s son, Jax, turned one on February 5 and they had his birthday party on the 6th. Jax’ parents are starting him right and getting him into hockey. He’s already been to 2 hockey games and his party was a hockey theme (with the Capitals game playing on the TV). I can’t wait to get him skating and when he really understands the game.

Zed, Zed, Zed – February 3
Oh our boy, Zed. You are getting to be an expensive little dog, Z! He had another trip to the emergency vet. He woke up and wasn’t able to put any weight on his left front paw. We are still not sure what happened, but he is a lot better now.

At first, he was on pain meds with a “cast”. When we took the bandage off on Sunday, it was still swollen and he still didn’t like us touching it. Getting the bandage off was another story! They had put tape directly on his fur and it was NOT coming off. I ended up putting him in the tub and soaking it for about 10 minutes before the tape came off without too much pulling, but there was a lot of fur on it!

Our vet came over on the following Tuesday and put him on anti-inflammatory meds. That has really helped and as of today, will be going to every other day with the meds for another week and then off of it if everything goes well.

Zed with his poopy bag winnings & sporting his cast.

Scrapbooking – January 29

WOOHOO! A whole day to scrapbook! My Creative Memories consultant had a scrapbooking fundraiser, so it was great to get some work done and hang out with my friend, MW, and my SIL, DD! The event was in Old Town Manassas, which I never really have been too. Need to go back and just walk around – definitely a lot of history that is so close by.

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow – January 26
DC knew that the snow was coming. The government let out 2 hours early. Unfortunately, it was almost the same time as the bad weather started. I wasn’t really worried about the snow, the Jeep does well & I know how to drive in it. So I headed out around 4:30/5 pm. It took a while to get the car cleaned off, but no issues, except I was soaked (no hat) and I couldn’t get off the airport grounds! The traffic was backed up at both ways off of the airport and was NOT moving. So, after about 30 minutes of trying to get off the airport grounds, I called the office and said “don’t bother leaving, you can’t get off the airport.” By the time I got back to the employee parking (about 1 mile or so away), it was basically a whiteout. All of the signs were so covered that you couldn’t see them.

We ended up walking the concourses, checking on everyone and then having dinner. While I was walking around, I stopped by InMotion, who last year had a Travelocity gnome and I mentioned to the manager that I wanted it. He said that I could have it, but I never got it. Well, this year, they are having the same promo and I mentioned again, I would like the gnome. He was like “I have one in the back”, so I got my gnome! Everyone was looking at me while I carried it down the concourse and then to the office. Someone actually said to me, “I like your gnome”. LOL! My plan is to take pictures of it all over Dulles. Just something fun to do.

By the time we got back to the office it was about 8 pm. My boss, Chris, left about 8:15 and I went out about 8:30. Well, I went out again, cleaned the car again, and backed out, figured there wasn’t enough room, pulled back in, backed out again while turning the wheel and started to slide towards the truck next to me. NNNNNOOOO!!!!! The snow plow truck was working on the employee parking so I asked the driver to just direct the truck/make sure I’m not sliding into the next one. Within a minute, I was out of there. This was 9 pm. I took my time getting home, but it still only took 30 minutes. What really surprised me, I beat everyone home. Chris didn’t get home until 11 pm and Susan, our admin, didn’t get home until after 11 pm. CRAZY! Dan ended up staying at work and working a double, which was probably the best thing because it took some people anywhere from 6 to 12 hours to get home depending on how far they had to drive.

Dinner with Friends – January 22
We finally got together with our friends (and veterinarian) for dinner on probably the coldest night of the year. We went to Johnny Rocket’s in Ashburn. I had never been to this location and hubby had never been at all. I was shocked at how SMALL this place was – and busy! I was also shocked that it is owned by Mr. Redskin himself, Dan Snyder. Come on, Snyder, take a chance and get a FULL size restaurant! We had a great time none the less.

Work Travel - January 13 & 14
I had a work meeting in Baltimore and got to spend the night there. The time was full of events, but was wonderful. Our theme was “Back to the Future” – yes, tied to the movies and we even got to see some snip-its from the movies. The best part of the meeting is that our office got an award – and I’ll say it – all because of me and my hard work at getting participation in our customer service program!

My immediate idea was to pass the award around to the tenants since they were the reason we won the award (highest average secret shop score). Well, I got some kudos for that idea! The head of our division LOVED the idea and said it on the division call. WOOHOO!

Work update
Speaking of work, we have been extended for 5 months (until June) with a 30 day kickout clause. So, basically, we are a month-to-month. Everyone doubts we will be gone before June.

Good news on work, besides the “Tour of the Cup” idea, I have been doing some changes with our cart program and getting kudos for it also! We have a brand new concept coming in (used Apple products) and I got a deal done with a current inline who never had a cart location with us before.

Coupons
I’m starting to get back into Hot Coupon World. I forgot how much I like it. I joined a coupon train and have done a couple of trades already. I will say, I’m getting coupon obsessed when walking the neighborhood. So many neighbors complain about the free papers we get (on Sunday & Thursday), but the Sunday papers have coupons! So what have I been doing? Picking up the Sunday papers that have been sitting there for a couple of days! Obviously, the people don’t want them if they have been sitting there a couple of days. Needless to say, I have a lot of coupons to cut (I bought a paper cutter just for it), but that will lead to trades!

What we got in the mail last week (Feb. 7 - 12)

• free magazines (Entertainment Weekly & Oprah are from mycokerewards.com; others are freebies that I signed up for; I have no idea how I got the Gamer Magazine - I am part of Best Buy's Reward program so I think it has something to do with that, although you usually have to pay for the magazine)
• Brochure for a couple of counties in southwestern VA (possible Geocaching locations!)
• Two kibbles-n-bits animal fair celebrity calendar that I won on Two Monkey's blog.
• 2 envelopes from the February Fun Coupon Train that I'm on through Hotcouponworld.com

What we got in the mail last week

• free dog food sample
• coupons
• 6 months worth of poopy bags - won on willmydoghateme.com
• envies from trades & coupon train on hotcouponworld.com

What we got in the mail last week (Jan 26 -Jan 29)

• free magazines
• coupon for free yogurt
• sample of dog food with coupons
• sticker (going into the geocaching box)
• Gift card for Restaurant.com - from ExxonMobil