Week Three

Sunday

Took a personal day from work and gave the hours to someone that I know would appreciate it.  Turned out to pretty much be a craptastic day at home though.  Okay, okay, let's be glass-half-full and focus on the housework that got done and the nice crock pot of split pea soup that was made.  Let's not focus on the constant struggle between two Scorpios and the lack of acceptance of things that cannot be immediately changed.

Oh, and we did stop by Noah's Bagels for breakfast.  Everyone picked their favorite and I even picked up a bagel box to go.  We spread the bagel love out for a few days. 

Monday

Work was...typical.  Lots of families with the extra day off from work and school.  I had the mid-shift, so I didn't have to open or close.  That was nice.  I finished the back of the Icicles Pullover and just started the front.  Stopped at BevMo on my way home.  Thank you Smirnoff Tuscan Lemonade for being just what I needed.  Drunk crocheted another dishcloth.  Seriously, I like to keep busy, even when I'm drinking and I didn't want to risk messing up my sweater.  This dishcloth is easy, only takes two hours and now I know that I can't mess it up even with alcohol.  I'm looking forward to crochet time on the sweater on my days off since I spent Sunday cleaning.

Tuesday

Icicles Pullover coming along.  Spent the day in robe and slippers, very nice.  Highly recommend it.  V starts finals this week but doesn't seem to be stressed.  I recall feeling stressed during finals.  Not a lot to document for today because not a lot happened.

Wednesday

Actually got out of the house to run some errands.  Grocery, pantyhose for work, etc.  Tried the Mongolian Barbecue at the mall today.  Yum!  I could eat there again.  And probably will.  It is National Popcorn Day.  Celebrated by eating some of my Garrett Popcorn.  It is also Paula Deen's birthday.  Celebrated by eating some butter...just kidding.  We did see a display of some of her stuff at Target and we did pay homage to the great Paula.  And I bought a Food Network magazine with the promise of a recipe of Paula's favorite dessert.

Thursday

As I have mentioned before, a major holiday is coming up for our shop...Valentine's Day.  A lot of customers wanting to buy a lot of candy in a short period of time.  V-Day is probably our biggest-shortest holiday.  We try to do as much prep for the holiday as possible, well in advance of the holiday.  That's what I did at work today.  I had 8 hours to prep, and I started early, around 7:30am.  Hey, the sooner I start, the sooner I'm done.  Basically, I got a lot of 1/2# boxes folded, cupped many pounds of samples and bagged many pounds of candy into cute plastic bags with hearts on them.  Add to that a surprise visit from our boss, who was pleased with my work and verbally acknowledged a request for time off to visit Vegas in April...I'd say it was a good day.

After work, I stopped Sally's in an attempt to use my 15% total purchase coupon.  I got a new set of nail wheels to test new colors on and a new nail treatment.  This one is from Orly and is called Nailtrition.  It has a little bit of a pink shimmer, which is nicer than just a plain clear treatment because I usually like some kind of color on my nails.  The instructions for this say to apply 1-2 coats everyday for a week, take it off and do it again for another week.  Let at least another week pass by before you do it again.  I have high hopes for this because it is marketed specifically for nails damaged by acrylics.  I didn't use my coupon because I wouldn't have saved that much and I have until the end of the month to use it.

Friday

Work...longest day EVER! Seriously, I didn't think it was ever going to end.  However, it did and I got to go home and go to sleep.  But not before I applied my first two coats of Nailtrition.  So far, so good because it didn't chip at all during this first day!

Saturday

First stop, the animal shelter to get Pearl her rabies and distemper shots and license.  The shelter has an open vaccination clinic on Saturdays that starts at 9am.  We got there a little after nine and there was already a line.  I had to be at work at 11, so we immediately came up with a contingency plan.  If by 10:15 we still weren't seen by the vet, then JH would take me to work and V would take care of Pearl with the vet.  It worked out and we were done by just after 10 (Pearl did a great job, a real trooper).  I do need to say, though, people need to clean THEMSELVES up a little before going to take care of their pets' needs.  Ladies, and I use that term loosely, clean the eye makeup from the night before off your face and make sure your hair extensions are neat, not ratty.  Thank you.

Nice work day, really nice.  I didn't get day two of Nailtrition on until late, but there wasn't much noticeable chipping despite technically two days of work.  That makes me really happy.  When I was using the NailTekII, I was seeing growth, but not without lots of chipping at the ends every day.  And it was very noticeable with a colored polish.  I wasn't disappointed in the NailTek II because I expect chipping at the ends of my nails because they are so weak.  We'll see what happens at the end of this first week (next Friday).  I have about 1/4 inch left to grow out, maybe less.

The Icicles Pullover is making great strides to completion.  The front is finished and work on the sleeves has begun.  The pattern is marked as "experienced" level and it comes from a magazine.  A problem I have experienced first hand as well as read about from both pattern designers and users is that magazine editors don't always knit or crochet, so when they want to edit a pattern for length, they sometimes take out or reword something important.  In my case, that makes this pattern a little more "experienced".  Nothing I can't handle.  I am too close to finish to stop now.  I just need to chart out the sleeves row-by-row so they make sense to me.

This week wasn't a very good apple week, or walking for that matter.  I couldn't manage to get too far past 5K steps per day.  No beating myself up about it, though, just try better next week.

Much love to my sisters,

Until next week,

xoxoxo