NaBloPoMo Day 14: Shopping!

I'm having so much fun shopping for the girls this year. We've already made a sizable dent in the girls' Christmas lists. I had tons of fun shopping online this morning. I'm trying to hold myself back so that we can take advantage of sales that are sure to come but it's hard. The Mister has the week off of work so we'll be able to go out and about while the girls are in school.

I've been getting clothing ideas from Polyvore via Pinterest which has turned me onto some new stores.

One is the Wet Seal. I think they sell clothes for just teens though. If you're a skinny minny, you can probably shop there too though. ;)

Another store is Gilt. They have daily deals and your shopping cart is timed so be careful not to lose out on the deals. If you decide to shop at Gilt and you have the patience to wait, I can send you an invitation and then I get $25 once your order ships. Let me know!

The last store is HauteLook. (I heard about this store on the Today Show too.) They are similar to Gilt in that they have daily deals. They have pretty deep discounts on clothes though as well as makeup and home decor.

Anywho, that's what I've been up to today. I'm also working on some crochet projects that I'm making as gifts. Fun for me!

Champagne Tastes

If you’ve ever gone shopping with me, you know that I’m not very much fun. Well, unless I’m shopping for sandals, makeup, books, sunglasses, and/or electronics. Basically, I’m no fun when it comes to shoes, purses, and clothes. There are a couple reasons behind why I suck at shopping.

I hate shopping for clothes for myself because I’m unhappy with my options. If I keep losing weight, I’ll love shopping for clothes again. Once upon a time, the Mister and I used to blow entire paychecks at the mall on clothes. This was before we were married and when we were both still thin. Nowadays, I LOVE buying clothes for my girls because they are both skinny minnies and it' is so fun dressing them in clothes that I wish I could wear.

Shoes, I hate shoes. I think all athletic shoes are ugly. Ugly. That’s it. I have no other word for it. Dress or casual shoes, I have a hard time figuring out what goes with what. I have one pair of healed slides that I love with jeans, my running shoes, and then tons of sandals. That’s it. Well, I  have one pair of black pumps that I wear to funerals. They look like old lady shoes and I hate them. Plus, they remind me of dead people so they don’t come out of my closet. Sandals I can do, other shoes I can’t. Why should it be fun for me to shop for shoes? It isn’t and I don’t recommend you go with me when I do unless you’re willing to pick them out for me. I totally wouldn’t mind that.

Purses. Shopping with me for purses is a painful experience. I know it and I admit it but surprisingly, I love, love, LOVE, purses. Why don’t I like to shop for them? Because I can’t afford what I’d really like to have:  Fendi, Prada, Gucci, D&G. You get the idea. I currently sport a Tommy Hilfiger purse and it’s the closest I’ve come to a designer label. I really like my purse and am happy with it. Still, it’s not a Louis Vuitton. When it comes to purses, I have champagne tastes on a beer budget. Even if I could afford thousand dollar plus bags, I don’t know if I would buy them. I love to drool and fawn over them though. Yup. Drool and fawn. Not on the purses of course. You shouldn’t actually drool on designer label purses. ;)

I’ve decided to indulge just a bit and I got myself a Burberry purse. After buying it, I had immediate buyer’s remorse because I’ve never spent that much money on a purse,but you only live once, right? I also got myself a membership to Bag, Borrow, or Steal. I have some Gucci sunglasses on the way. Yay! I’m very excited. I hope I don’t become one of those addicted impulse shoppers, lol. Even with a membership, it’s still a bit on the pricey side to rent from the website. It would be very easy to overindulge. I promise to try and control myself, heheh.

 

The Ups and Downs of the Week

As I said earlier, the Mister took some leave this week for what it was worth. He ended up having to go into work both Monday and Tuesday. Not all day, but it was still a pretty crappy arrangement and he was still charged those two days of leave even though he worked both days.

Wednesday we had to get up bright and early for an appointment for the youngest child and then on Thursday, they got out of school early.

Friday, the Mister and I took his car in for new tires, an alignment, and an oil change. We dropped it off around 10:30 in the morning and told them we’d be back to pick it up at 5. That should have given them more than enough time I should think. I called at 4:30 to see if they happened to be done early because I figured that it shouldn’t take 6 1/2 hours to do the work and they said they were doing the alignment. I asked how much longer, and they said 30-45 minutes and they would call when it was ready. I was a bit irritated at that answer. 5:30 rolls around and still no call so we decided to go ahead and drive out figuring they’d call on the way. We get there, and the car is still in their garage. Wth?!?! They didn’t get done until about 6:30. 6:30!!!!!!! They had the car for EIGHT hours. I was not a happy customer. But, I didn’t throw a fit and made them recheck my receipt about five times to make sure they didn’t charge me for anything extra which they did because they tried charging us for new valve stems and we don’t need those cuz we have an air pressure monitoring thing. Oh! And I didn’t even tell you the best part, It turns out that we have freaking Lexus tires on our Rav 4. Wanna guess how much those things cost and how hard they were to find? I won’t say how much we paid but I will tell you that Toyota was going to charge us $1200 for them. Of course, a dealership is going to be more expensive than somewhere else so we didn’t pay quite that much but it was still more than we had guessed it was going to be. We have the sport edition Rav so they have high performance tires on them. Go figure. It’s something to keep in mind the next time we’re in the market for a new car.

So, all in all, the Mister had an entirely sucky leave. The only thing that kept it from being a complete loss was that he got his bonus.

Speaking of his bonus, heheh, we did a little shopping during the week too. I already mentioned the new printer and the Wii Fit. Fun stuff. We also went out for just the regular type of shopping. The oldest child and I hit the Ulta store. It’s makeup in case  you’ve never heard of it. I was like a freaking kid in the candy store. It was all so bright, pretty, and colorful. I ended up with some Smashbox lipglosses, some pretty Opi nail polish in bright, summery colors, and some Urban Decay eye shadow.  I think I”m set in the makeup department for a while.

Then we went to Victoria’s Secret for their sale. I needed new bras and it turns out that it’s been so long since I’ve bought new bras, I had forgotten my size. All the ones I got did not fit and so I still do not have any good bras. It was a bit frustrating. The oldest child and I also got some new panties. Fun!

THEN, we went clothes shopping. I think all of us got new clothes except for the Mister. I don’t know why he didn’t get any new clothes. I think it was because he was shopping for tools and a new baseball cap when we were looking at the clothes, lol. That’s a man for ya. He did get a new Padres baseball cap but it makes his head break out in one of his rashes so he can’t wear it very much, heheh. Yes. He’s still getting rashes. Last night was the worst I’ve ever seen them. The entire left side of his back, from his shoulder to his waist, was a crisscross of welts. It was terrible. And I mean terrible. As someone who was prone to eczema as a child, I feel terrible for him.

Anyway, he went back to work yesterday at noon and is now on a 24 hour duty. Yay for him. But, he has Monday and Tuesday off for the holiday so it’s not that bad. The girls and I are going to have a Wii marathon and our traditional “Daddy has Duty Dinner” of turkey tettrazzin. We’ re looking forward to it, lol.

I hope everyone has a great extended weekend. Enjoy the unofficial start to summer. I know I will.

Down to the Wire

Counting today, we only have three shopping days left until Christmas. This is not helpful information to me. I still haven’t shopped for the Mister yet. Remember how I said he’s hard to shop for? Well, he is!! When I ask him what he wants, he replies that he doesn’t want anything. Is that helpful or what? I only have two things in mind as of right now. Grr! Ugh! Phhft!! I’m hoping I’ll be inspired when I’m fighting the crowds today

As for the girls, I’m completely done shopping for them. I think they’re going to make out pretty good this year. Their gifts from my dad haven’t even arrived yet so they’ll be getting more presents on top of what they’ve already gotten from us and their other grandparents.

Okay. Now I’m anxious to get out there and get this over with. I’m gonna jet. Short post for you all today.

Wait a minute, wait a minute. This post was on topic too. I need to be careful before I start making this a trend.

Enjoying Our Weekend

When’s the last time I posted? It’s been a few days, huh?

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving. Nice and quiet. LOVELY! All the food turned out great. The turkey was juicy, the gravy was flavorful, and the pumpkin cheesecake was light and creamy.

Yesterday we didn’t do any Black Friday shopping. We got the bill from our lawyer in the mail which put a damper on the day. It must be pretty great to be a lawyer and to charge $25.00 to read an e-mail. In all, she spent 2 hours and 40 minutes on our case at $125.00 an hour. You do the math. AND, we’re not even done with her yet. Oh well. She was a necessary evil because without her, our tenants would have gotten away with even more than they already have.

Today, the Mister and I are going to check out a health food store we’ve never been to. No, we’re not health food nuts, but I like those stores nonetheless. They sell offbeat stuff you can’t find other places.

Oh. And I think my monitor is going out on me. I have these very faint bouncy lines that move down the screen and everything has a little shadow-like trail to the right of it. It’s annoying but not enough to where I’m going to spring for a new one yet. I’m going to do my best to deal with it until after Christmas. The weirdness is only a little hard on the eyes. I’ll have to make sure and wear my contacts or glasses whenever I’m working to minimize the eye strain but I think it’ll be okay. If anyone has any suggestions as to what could be causing this or how to fix it, I’d kiss your feet in gratitude. See?

You can click on the picture to make it bigger. The lines are at the top over the tool bar and the shadow trails are pretty obvious.

Anyway, I gotsta get ready to check out that store. Yes. That’s right. It’s 12:28 pm and I’m still in my pajamas. Deal with it.

A Summary of My Weekend

Day 2: NaBloPoMo

We had a busy weekend which is very unlike us.

Saturday, we took the Scion in for an oil change, tire rotation, and its yearly state inspection. While we waited on the car, we went to the commissary for the first time in two weeks. No, we don’t go grocery shopping every two weeks normally, we were just too lazy to go last week. While we were in the commissary, I got a phone call from the car place but reception is really bad in there so I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I thought they were calling to tell me the car was ready to be picked up so I had the Mister drop me off and go on home with the groceries. Turns out they were calling to tell me they were done with the oil change and were getting ready to start the inspection and they hadn’t done the tire rotation either. As a result, I had to sit in the shop with nothing to do but watch Dinotopia, or whatever that show/movie is called, on TV. Luckily, an elderly gentleman loaned me his landscaping in the south book to read while I waited.

Saturday afternoon we had to take the oldest child shopping for a birthday present for her friend and then to the friend’s house for a sleepover. Once we got her dropped off, we went and did some shopping of our own and then headed home.

Oh. And somewhere in there, we cleaned out the Mister’s car from all the stuff we had left in the back when we moved. How lazy are we? Funnily enough, all of our liquor was stored in the underneath storage compartment. We’re such party animals that I didn’t even realize it was missing. Good thing he never got pulled over for anything because that would have been a LOT of open container charges.

Today, I was repeatedly called by my tenants despite the fact that I told them not to call me anymore. I ended up turning off my phone for four hours and then when I turned it back on, they called ten minutes later which tells me they had been trying to get a hold of me that entire four hours my phone was turned off. My lawyer told me not to take their calls since I tend to be soft-hearted on the phone. Well, we’re to the point that the reason why I won’t take their calls is because I’ll end up yelling and cussing at them. Either way, I’m not talking to them on the phone anymore because it’ll end up being bad for me. Also, if I get everything in writing, they can’t accuse me of anything else like they did in their e-mail yesterday.

The oldest child also had volleyball today. The way it works is that they play two games every Sunday. Today, they won one and lost one. She had a couple good plays too. We were very proud parents.

Now, I’m working on my homework. The topics for my Lit paper have me a little stumped so I will be putting in some hard work on it tonight.

6 days until we leave on our vacation.

Less Than Stellar Beginning

Being Lazy:  The first week of class was a bit hairy which is really sad. I didn’t have anything big due this week but I was still doing everything last minute. Not a good beginning in the least. Do I have a good excuse? Hmm. Umm. Let’s see. Err. Nope, not really. Yeah, I was busy with the kids’ homework, my work, we’re still only about half way unpacked, I had to sweat over my bills a couple times this week, I finally finished RA’s book for August and started September’s, and my mail is still screwed up but all of that didn’t consume all of my time. What did then?? SPORE!! and THE SIMS 2 APARTMENT LIFE!! Quite possibly the worst time ever to buy new games is the first week of the semester, BWAHAHAHA!! So, don’t let my whining sway you to feeling sorry for me. I made my own bed.

Reading:  Weirdly enough, I was reading Rebecca Stott’s Ghostwalk, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and Beowulf all last week. Do you know how odd it was to go from one to the other? They are three totally different works. Different times, different characters, different themes. The most shocking thing was that of the three, Beowulf is my favorite. Luckily I got to read it in translation and not in the Old English style, heheh.

The Weekend:  The Mister had to work both Saturday and Sunday as I mentioned last week. We did our best not to let it spoil the entire weekend. When he got home Saturday, we stopped in at our neighborhood block party. I say, “block party” and shake my head. There weren’t that many people there and those that were, were mostly old people. No offense to old people. They had a “band” that played gospel music and I guess it would be called bluegrass? Totally not my cup of tea in the least. The only good thing about it was that we got to meet the other Ohio State fans in the neighborhood. They have an OSU garden gnome in their front yard, heheh.

After putting in an appearance, we went to Jacksonville so that I could buy stuff for the bathrooms at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Yay! I love buying bathroom stuff. I got new towels, shower curtains, and floor mats for both bathrooms. I also got some accessory/deco stuff for the hall/girls’ bathroom. Both look very nice if I do say so myself. We also checked out new DVD players at Best Buy because ours isn’t working properly. I’m not sure if it’s broke or just needs cleaned.

Gas Prices, Again:  OH!! And I totally almost forgot to mention the gas craziness here. After Ike, our gas prices went up to $4.34 from $3.66 overnight. One gas station still had gas at $3.66 and cars were lined up into the street. We went in for gas and they were out of regular and the mid-grade so we had to get premium at $3.90 which was still cheaper than the cheap gas everywhere else. People were blowing their horns and behaving like lunatics while we were there. I saw online this morning a couple different news articles about how people were filing gouging complaints about the prices. It’s just craziness. Is it like that everywhere? I talked to my mom in Ohio who was shocked at our prices.

Okay. I figure that’s enough for one day, lol. I gotta see how my civilization in Spore is doing before it’s time for bed.

Cover to Cover

This post sort of goes along with Booking Through Thursday’s weekly question of “what are you reading” but I’m expanding on it to include what I have recently read and what I plan to read in the near future.

First off, I’m in the middle of Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. Honestly, I’ve been reading it for about a  month now, embarrassingly enough, which is why I haven’t really been talking about it. It’s my second Jane Austen book and WHEW! I wish I could get it finished. Seriously. It’s been getting rave reviews for decades and I find myself thinking that the characters are tedious and the plot thin. That’s not my final opinion though because for me, the ending is everything.

I’m still plodding through War and Peace, The Reagan Diaries, and the first Spiderwick book. In my defense, War and Peace is…Okay. I have no defense. I put it down in favor of more interesting (to me) books. Will I ever finish it? Your guess is as good as mine. The Reagan Diaries is the type of book where you can put it down and pick it back up whenever you’d like. And Spiderwick was meant to be read with my oldest child and she stopped reading it weeks ago and is now in Ohio. We’ll finish it when she gets home.

Despite actively reading Sense and Sensibility, I’ve managed to finish reading several other books recently. I’ll start at the end and work my way back.

1. Yesterday, I finished reading Odd Hours by Dean Koontz. It was a fantastic installment in the Odd Thomas series. Action, suspense, a mysterious girl, a ghost dog, and the ghost of Frank Sinatra. I loved every page of the book. Before that I read In Odd We Trust, the first graphic novel for the Odd Thomas series, which I already talked about in a previous post. However, in the back, Dean Koontz said that he sees the series being finished with six books. That means TWO more. Yay! I can’t wait to see what happens with Odd and Stormy.

2. The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory. Wonderful. Truly. Until this book, I had only read about the Tudors from the main point of things; Henry VIII or the Boleyns. Katherine of Aragon was a fascinating woman and I learned a great deal about her. Turns out that she wasn’t just the queen that was pushed aside which is usually all you see in the movies and that was all you saw of her on The Tudors. I really could go on and on. I plan on reading more about her and about her parents as well. I’d rate it4 out of 5 if I had a rating system. ;)

3. Life’s a Beach by Claire Cook. This was the June read for Readers Anonymous. Wasn’t a favorite of mine. It was a light and easy read but I think it was too light. There wasn't enough conflict and what conflict there was, was annoying. Other works of Clair Cook include Must Love Dogs. I've only seen the movie, but I didn't like that either for many of the same reasons. I just don't think Clair Cook is an author for me.

4. Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor by Stephanie Barron. You can read what I wrote about it on a previous post. Click me.

5. Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir. This novel is the first fiction novel Weir has written. She's better known for her nonfiction works on the Tudors and other royal historical figures. You can definitely see evidence of her extensive historical knowledge in Innocent Traitor. I could actually pick out passages that she had referenced in some of her other books specifically, The Princes in the Tower. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. If you haven't realized it yet, I'm a fan of historical fiction, lol. I love learning as I'm reading for enjoyment. Lady Jane Grey was an interesting character. In the beginning, I felt sorry for her and her horrible childhood. Then as she becomes older and a little fanatical about religion, my sympathy for her edged back. She was so intelligent yet she wouldn't allow herself to see the other side of the argument. In the end though, you'd have to be pretty coldhearted not to feel for her and the way she was used by her own father in his plots for power. She was England's queen for 9 days, the shortest reign in its history. Yet one more historical figure that I'd like to learn more about.

There are more books that I've finished recently but I think that's more than enough for now. I'll save the rest for another day.

As for my future reads, I just got a box of books delivered from B&N yesterday. FUN!! This box included the following:

• The Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir. Weir's second fiction novel. Very excited about this one.
• A Rose for the Crown by Anne Easter Smith.
• The True Life of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots by John Guy. It's a nonfiction biography.
• Marie Antoinette:  The Journey by Antonia Fraser. This is a nonfiction biography as well.
• Abundance by Sena Jeter Naslund. This is a historical fiction novel about Marie Antoinette.

I also ordered seven more books from B&N yesterday. I couldn't resist. They're having a sale, lol. This next shipment will have the following:

• The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell.
• Anne of Green Gables #1 by L.M. Montgomery. This is for the 1st in a Series reading challenge.
• Haunted Ground by Erin Hart.
• Angels Fall by Nora Roberts
• The Myth of You and Me:  A Novel of Friendship by Leah Stewart.
• The Russian Concubine by Kate Furnivall
• Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc by Loraine Despres

Other books that aren't coming from B&N that I have waiting for me are:

• Hornet's Nest by Patricia Cornwell. This is another for the 1st in a Series Challenge.
• The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. This is Readers Anonymous' pick for July.

If you want to know what any of them are about, look it up at B&N. I'm not your personal shopper, heheh. ;)

Some Stuff to Share

Today’s my birthday. I’m firmly entrenched in my 30’s now. I really hate that. The Mister and I went shopping yesterday and I got a new purse and wallet to match and a new pair of sunglasses. I told him that I didn’t want anything, and I really meant it, but we were out so why not. We also got Fools Gold, Juno, and the first season of The Shield on DVD. It was a fun time and good enough for my birthday.

Friday night we went to Jacksonville for dinner. We got there early so we did a little shopping that day too, heheh. I got the cutest pair of sandals. Check them out:

I absolutely love them and they are very comfortable and they were on sale too. I also got a new pair of running shoes but the arches hit my feet wrong so I’m giving them to the oldest child. It’s too bad too because I really liked them and I have the hardest time picking out running shoes. Just ask Jennifer. She went with me back when we both lived in California and it was probably the most painful shoe shopping trip she ever suffered through. I still need new running shoes though because my current ones make my toes go numb on the elliptical. Not a good thing.

Oh. And I also got the newest “Stuff” pack for the Sims 2. It’s Ikea furniture and I love it!

When I’m depressed, I shop. I’m not a comfort eater, I’m a comfort shopper. I’m feeling much better these days, LMAO!!

I also have another picture that I want to share because I find it hilarious:

This is Bailey being silly with her rope. She cracks me up when she does this.

And this picture is the oldest child’s guinea pig, Bacon. We’ve been Bacon-sitting for her while she's in Ohio and he’s a cute little guy. He likes to sleep in this dish which used to be his food dish. Now he has another food dish that's too small for him to sleep in.

Lastly, the following picture is the view from our hotel room in Asheville. It was pretty nice, huh?

That's it for today. Sorry for all the previous funkiness.

Hump Day

And what a day it has been. I can't believe it's not even 1:00 yet.

My morning started out well enough. I got up on time, got the kids up, and checked my e-mail. I went back to my bedroom, and realized that I had left the cotton balls in the living room. On my way to the living room, I accidentally kicked the leg of my bed. I kicked it so hard that I tore the nail off of my middle toe and bled all over my floor. I either tore a muscle in my foot or I have a hairline fracture because it's pretty sore. I hate my bed. I was so tired and stressed out from finals and life, that I started crying and couldn't stop which makes it hard to put your makeup on, lol. Eventually, I stop my blubbering, get myself and the kids ready to go, and the Mister and I head off to our finals.

I decided to take my business management final first since all of my classmates said that it sucked. It wasn't too awful but I'm definitely not expecting an A on it. I took my Spanish final after that and I'm pretty sure I bombed it. I kept staring at words that I knew I should have known what they meant but it just wouldn't come to me and they were simple everyday verbs that I know. I just wasn't in the right frame of mind this morning.

After finals, we went to Morehead City for lunch and to buy a new shower curtain liner at Bed, Bath, and Beyond which improved my spirits somewhat. BB&B is one of my favorite stores.

On the way home, we decided to stop at the furniture store on base to see if they have one of those movable island things for the kitchen. I need extra counter space in the worst way. But they didn't so we headed home. At an intersection leading to the main road on base, we were at a red light waiting to turn left and this woman (I wish I could draw a picture of the intersection so you'd understand better) pulled out behind us to go straight and another car was coming through who had the right of way and totally slammed into her right behind us. Scared the freaking bejeezus out of me. It was LOUD! The guy hit her so hard, he spun her car around. Nobody was hurt though but the front ends of their cars were pretty messed up.

I have had enough excitement for the day. The Mister and I have one last final in the morning, then we're going to the beach to relax. We're exhausted.

Much to Say

I had a full weekend.

Friday night, my oldest had a sleepover. Those two kept me up until 1:30 in the morning. UGH! Also on Friday, the Mister got a call at 11:30pm informing him that he had to be back at work at 7 am Saturday morning. It was just supposed to be for a few hours but he didn't end up getting home until 6:30 pm. That pretty much put our entire Saturday in the crapper. However, the reason he was at work means that lots of other families were having an even crappier weekend so I let it go. It's all about perspective.

Saturday night after the Mister arrived home, we went to the mall for a little shopping. I got the best smelling candle. It's a Yankee Candle in Buttercream and it smells like vanilla cake batter. YUM!! The only thing is that it makes me crave sweets, lol.

Sunday, we loaded up for a shopping trip to Greenville. TONS of fun. Our first stop was the Barnes and Noble where I fed my book addiction. I also decided to drop out of the Graphic Novel Challenge as a result of my trip to B&N. I had no idea how expensive those books are. I'd rather spend the money on three regular novels than one graphic novel. Ho hum. Who knew I could be frugal?

From Michaels, I bought some new yarn and a new book of patterns for crocheting. It's been so long that the pattern I tried out last night kicked my butt. I couldn't even remember the abbreviations. I suck. I can't wait to get it going again though because I got some nifty mohair yarn and some pretty alpaca yarn. I've never made anything with that type of yarn before.

From Bed Bath and Beyond, we got a new set of knives. My old one was missing several. The new ones are so sharp that I'm half afraid to use them. It came with a cleaver, lol. I also bought a pizza cutter (our old one was accidentally thrown out inside of a pizza box, heheh.) and a new set of sheets for my bed.

That's it for the fun shopping. We also went to Target for some essentials and to Lowes for some Draino. But the shopping wasn't even the most interesting part of our Sunday.

We decided to hit the Wendy's for dinner. It was a risk. Why? Because the last time we were there, we sat in the parking lot for 20+ minutes waiting for our food and then they forgot something and we had to go in and get it. Fast food? Yeah, right. But, we took a chance and tried again. Everyone deserves a second chance, heheh. BIG mistake. The girl at the drive thru window gave new meaning to the word "rude". She didn't bother reading our order back to us and when we get to the actual window, she just looks over and then walks away. After a few minutes, she finally comes over to allow us to pay. Then, she comes back with our drinks, four of them, and starts to hand them out the window one by one. The Mister asked if we could have a drink carrier and she slammed our drinks down on the counter and walked off to get one. At this point, other than "Can I take your order?" and "Your total is..." she hasn't said a word to us. Then, she comes back with our bags of food and said that they were waiting on part of our order. I check the bags to see if everything was there and we were missing a fry. The Mister tells her this, she rolls her eyes, walks off to get our fry, bags it, and tosses it out the window at us. No, "I'm sorry" or "Oops" or "Go fuck yourself" nothing. When she brings us the rest of our order, the Mister lets loose and tells her how lousy the service has been, how rude she has been, and how she has conveyed her hatred of her job and people in general while we were waiting for our order. I'm sitting there shocked because he NEVER complains to people about stuff like that. NEVER. Then I start to smile because he's really giving it to her but without raising his voice or cussing and her manager is standing there listening. I was so proud of him. Then, we get home and start taking our food out and our order, aside from the one kid's meal, is wrong. The whole, dang blasted thing. The Mister abhors, hates, and detests mayo. He ordered his sandwich sans mayo and lo and behold, the bun had the remnants of mayo on it. It was clear that they realized it was ordered without and instead of getting a new bun, attempted to wipe it clean. WIPE IT CLEAN!! At this point, I lose my cool, and call the Wendy's to complain to the manager. I didn't raise my voice or cuss either. Pat on the back for me. I did, however, make it clear we won't be back. The service at the fast food restaurants here in New Bern blows. I know I shouldn't expect much, but damn. We are paying for lousy service. I just think it's a sign we need to stop eating out so much.

And that, ladies (I don't think I have any gentlemen readers) was our weekend. Jam packed, full of books, and we'll ignore the rest.