happy Monday!

speakeasy14

AlPacina I was really nervous to take my dog to a dog park.  She's territorial with toys at home and very loud at the vet, so I wasn't sure how she would interact with other dogs.  She actually did really well, and even shared with the other dogs.

eilis1228 yay for no more stitches! And love your makeup!! I am always hesitant with Mac because the colors are so bold, but I love those colors!  

labro

@AlPacina It looks like this kind of:

I literally googled Bendy Floor Lamp. That's actually what it's called. I am seriously the most ungrateful person in the world but with some of our gifts...I just wish we hadn't received them at all. It was super thoughtful of the people who gave them to us, but they are all things I never would've desired. We got some amazing gifts from off-registry, but there were a number that just were not to my taste. My favorite is the frame I got that's shaped like an engagement ring (so oval with a big diamond shape on top) and it's bedazzled all around and at the bottom has an inscription that says "Bling! Bling! I got the ring!" and hey guess what? I found a picture of it!

It's a gift from our neighbors. Again, I feel so special that they thought of us and took time out of their day to give us a gift...but this is just something I'd never display. My mom mentioned that it would make a great White Elephant gift at least.

eilis1228

@speakeasy14 Thanks! I was nervous too, but I emphasized that I wanted something natural and classic. She gave me a bright red lip, but I told her I didn't like it, so we toned it down to the pink color. I was really happy with it and spent waaaaay too much money buying the stuff she used. lol

[Deleted User]

@LaPeanut1018 I just LOL'd at that frame.

[Deleted User]

@eilis1228 -I'm finally feeling a lot better. My back was sore the day after and then the next day for just the morning but it's fine now though.

Dignity100

@LaPeanut1018 - I'm so glad I'm not the only one feeling ungrateful for what I got for wedding gifts.  It's just one, from my brother and SIL.  They gave us a bunch of picture frames - I have 0 pictures of myself displayed in my house.  We don't even know if our wedding photos will turn out, but even so - I feel that picture frames are SO personal because you don't know the orientation of the picture (landscape vs portrait) or even what color frame might look best.  H and I just keep laughing and trying to think of a stupid Christmas gift we could give him - I said a coat rack, because 'well they have coats' and H said a 'Hat rack'.  It's just, let's be honest - what do couples want when they get married... some form of $$ (check, cash, gift card to a store they actually shop at, etc).

peekaboo2011

Happy Monday.

I got here really late today, so I am not even going to try to respond to everyone. That's a lot of work.  Sorry guys

It has been the day from hell already over here.  I'm ready for these conferences to be over, my chair to be done with her chairship, my new chair to start, and my new boss to come in and take over.  I cannot even with these people.

5.5 more hours and I get my run.  Can.Not.Wait.

[Deleted User]

@peekaboo2011 - what's your run like tonight?  I'm trying to squeeze in a 5K or close to it, before the cold front hits.

peekaboo2011

@cocobellaf - I've got a 3-ish mile tempo run tonight.  Last week I paced at 9:35, so I'm shooting for 9:30 tonight.

Hummingbird125

eilis1228 - I don't think we have anything too interesting on there yet. The things I'm probably the most excited about are the waffle maker, the ice cream attachment for the KitchenAid mixer, and a nice set of knives. I definitely need to do a lot more browsing online...

speakeasy14

 @hummingbird125 & @eilis1228 my sister's H added things to their registry as a joke - basically he registered for everything Duck Dynasty that he could find in BBB.  I think they got a few things because people thought it was funny. 

@lapeanut1018 Ok, I can understand the frame, but the lamps!?! 

@dignity100 I would hold on to the frames until you have your pictures, if they don't work then exchange them for what will work. 

lmcooper86

@Hummingbird125 - YUM fondue. That's what my friends and I do every year for our group Christmas dinner, it's awesome.

@Swazzle - We didn't watch last night's, I'm really hoping that FI has downloaded it and we can watch it tonight before or after Gotham! I need to see what happens!!! Also...FI and I are flying to Fort Lauderdale on Thursday night and staying in Delray Beach for the weekend. Weird!

@KeptInStitches - I'm so sorry about your FI's grandmother, I hope you guys are doing better today. Sorry to hear that the craft show wasn't as successful as you hoped!

@LaPeanut1918 - That soup sounds delicious, I can't wait to have kitchen space for a slower cooker again! This is the soup I made this weekend, it's delish (click) except I completely forgot to put the spinach in. Oh well. And wow, awkward gifts...I think that lamp would accidentally get dropped down a flight of stairs.

@GoldenPenguin - Walls look so good! I love the colour, it's great!

@eilis1228 - Yes, I did manage to get FI's present! It's this sweater from a store that he loooooves, a similar style to a couple things that he already has but way nicer material. And YAY for getting your stitches out! That's excellent

phira

Hello, ladies.

I am not having the greatest day today. There's some academic bullshit happening that is 100% my own fucking fault, and I'm going to be meeting with someone later this week to try to get it taken care of.

Birdo is doing all right. His cere was showing some improvement, or at least we think/hope so. The sass is still going strong, but he's hit his appropriate weight.

Wedding planning is going okay. J printed the programs and he has tomorrow off to fold them, pick up his suit, do laundry, and clean some of the apartment. Tomorrow I'll also be making another few batches of candy. We're confirming final payments and timelines with all our vendors, and our final dance lesson is in a couple of hours.

WildMagelet

It's been a Monday =(

The weekend was good.  Friday I drove an hour and forty minutes to go surprise my brother for his birthday...but I dropped the card in the driveway, so it'll wait until Thanksgiving =(  His FI planned a surprise birthday get together at their townhouse for him.  He said me being there was like having the icing on the cake!  Their room block is officially open now for their wedding next fall (which reminds me I should go reserve their other jacuzzi suite...because why not.) and FSIL officially decided on a BM dress so I can order it next time I get paid!

Saturday we took BF's grandma and one of his old buddies from HS and drove down to the HS playoff game for the school district they graduated from (and grandma retired from).  The first half was good, defense didn't really show up all game but our office apparently left mentally at half time =(  We ended the season 10-1.  Super disappointed because next week would have been a home game and we were going to do a nacho bar (BF works with the QB's grandpa who lives across the street from the field and all of the guys from work go and tailgate in his driveway/garage.)

Sunday was a mostly lazy day with BF.  We worked on the dog's doghouse (she helped. of course) and put in a new insulated floor.  We also did some work on our *other* house (going to start remodeling it soon) and then did some misc shopping for winterizing.  We ended the day by totally spoiling our diets and going to BWW and ordering little bit of everything new and then splitting it (I also drank 2 tall Angry Orchards because they were on special - BF was impressed, lol).  No regrets!  I was still down a half a pound this morning.  27.5 lbs and counting.

Work kinda sucked.  It was a weird combination of a Monday-Tuesday-Friday all in one, because we're off tomorrow.  

Pulled my annual credit report just to find out that I have a $1450 collection item on my report for a company I've never had an account with.  Been dealing with that for the last 45 minutes and counting so that's...fun.  The first guy I talked to gave me a # to call that wasn't even for someone in that company.  The second person I talked to has been super sweet and is submitting a detailed report for me.  They're supposed look into it and call me so we can get it removed from my report.

Here's hoping my day off tomorrow will be way better.  I have some housework to do, but then I should just hang out with the dog and maybe KUI. 

WildMagelet

@CocobellaF - Did it turn out to be one of those days?  P.S. Love the dress.

Yay! New homeowners! @TwoDimes & @GoldenPenguin.  Congrats!  Love your new kitchen color GP.  Huge improvement!

@Hummingbird125 - Sounds like an awesome dinner to me

I'm jealous of all of you and your fabulous vacations you have planned.  Have some extra fun for the rest of us, k?   @Dignity100 @Swazzle

@KeptInStitches - Craft shows can be rough.  I've never had problems breaking even after expenses (even travel/food expenses) but after a while my "labors of love" started feeling like unpaid/underpaid work and I was making less of what I loved making and more of what I thought would sell.

@AlPacina - I'm jealous of your progress.  I can't remember the last time I could just sit down and cross stitch.  I have Christmas stockings that I had started ages ago and haven't been able to finish yet   - We've always had a lot of fun at the dog park.  They're great as long as all of the owners are being attentive.

@LaPeanut1018 - That picture frame is hilarious.

@peakaboo2011 - I love that you love running.  Do you have any tips for someone just getting into running?  Every time I've tried I've given up before I could get my body adjusted to it.  I have made some good progress in cycling though, and its something that BF and our dog are able to share with me at least  

Dignity100

@speakeasy14 - I was whining that the frames were a gift from my brother and his wife and no gift receipt and not my taste/style at all.  H and I are not really the type that display a lot of pictures, in my house I have 1 picture displayed and it's of my dog I lost to bone cancer.  Everything else that is hanging is framed art that you'd get from like 'home interiors'.

@WildMagelet - Hope you get your credit stuff all straightened out!

speakeasy14

@dignity100 Ohhhhh, I thought you didn't like them because you had no idea if that was what you needed. Well, then your brother is a doofus for not knowing what you like.  Maybe see if it is a brand of frame that kohls carries, then you don't need a receipt.  If not, regift to your brother hahaha

WildMagelet

@Dignity100 - Yeah...that's totally on your brother for not knowing.  I mean, my brother does that sometimes too...but I just think its because he's clueless as to what to buy.  For a few Christmases he gave me some music he liked (which is good I guess that he's sharing good music with me) but I'd never listened to and some unisex t-shirts that were either geeky or band related (but not necessarily geeky stuff I'm into or bands I like).  Sometimes it felt like I was getting all of his re-gifts  but he's gotten better in the past few years.

Dignity100

@WildMagelet - I think with my brother, his wife has gotten into 'couponing' and I think they got some really good deals on the frames and it was their way of giving us something without spending a lot of money.  Come on though - why not give towels if you feel you must give something.  You know what I gave my brother when he got married?  CASH - 'cause who doesn't like cash?!  I'm just rather bitchy about it because I had to go to 2 bridal showers for him (combined I spent probably $175 on) then his wedding (I think I gave him around $200) - and he gave me probably RETAIL of $100 worth of picture frames (I found out they got some off eBay and I think some were Kohl's clearance); probably actual cost was around $50 or under.  They're not pretty picture frames and not even something I can really even re-gift. . . H and I were thinking about printing pictures from our trip and putting them in there and giving it back to them just to make a point.  I really hate being the 'crabby gift receiver' but I really would have preferred NO GIFT to the frames.  I might try to sell them on my work's classified board - at least I could maybe get a total of $25 for them and maybe go see a movie or something.

WildMagelet

@Dignity100 - I'm all about people saving money, but spending money on something the intended user won't use is such a waste =(  They could have gotten you a restaurant gift card or something instead for that price (Heck, even got it off of one of those discount card places!) and then you could have had dinner on them or something.

I don't really have any suggestions for the frames.  Maybe pinterest would know better.  I think the only way you could get away with regifting or giving them back would be with photos in them.

Swazzle

@lmcooper86‌ - I just watched this week's episode. Oh my god.

lmcooper86

@Swazzle - OMG I know. I was overly anxious through a lot of the episode. And Carrie has gone off been pushed off the deep end.

Swazzle

@lmcooper86‌ - The end of the episode. I was LOSING it. Like, I screamed WHAT?!?! at the top of my lungs and my hands shot up to my face and I just couldn't.

lmcooper86

@Swazzle - Hahaha, that was FI and I! During the whole scene in the house at the end we were like this isn't real...is it? No, this can't be real. But is it? What the eff is going on!?

I do not see this going very well...

peekaboo2011

@WildMagelet - I am a big believer in the sign up for a huge race method.  Like, sign up for a 10K or a half.  You'll spend a lot on registration, and then you'll feel like you have to at least train to finish it.  At some point, it becomes enjoyable and you want to do it again.  If that doesn't work, try finding a running group in your area.  Our local running stores all sponsor free run clubs.  Mine meets 3x/week for different runs (tempo 3/4.5/6 miles on Mon, group run Tuesday, and track on Thursday). I started going last year, and they got me through a ludicrous spring season, and they were the only thing that kept me summer training for my full in September.  They are absolutely the best ever.