Purses

Ladies- why is it that purses are always endless black pit holes of evil?

I use a pretty small purse.




Blogging at work again, naughty naughty.


In it I keep-

• My wallet
• My braces kit (floss, brush, paste, pick, wax, elastics...etc other obsessive cleaning tools)
• My keys
• Small lotion
• misc little things- hair ties, clips and a pen.

I'm not counting the front pockets because thank the lord those things I can usually manage. But as for the middle- so help me god I can reach into that thing for my keys and not find the for a solid minute.

W. T. F.

Why, ohh why is is that I just can't reach in and pull out what I need. It's a small purse which I keep very clean for christ sake!!

Need a hair tie- find your pen!

Need your keys- find THE DAMN HAIRTIE!

Am I the only one who has this issue? Please tell me there is not a personal vendetta against me ladies. Tell me the purse gods are not spite-ing me for using those tiny backpack purses long after they were out of style.

Ohh ya, that was me.

About to buy a fanny pack,

Shellie

My soapbox

For those of you who don’t know me- I’m an accountant (Well, a bookkeeper really but this is my blog and I can sound fancy if I want to).


I am a budgeting, coupon clipping, deal finding, checkbook balancing obsessive compulsive freak. I will give anyone and everyone my advice on what they should do with money if they talk about it in front of me. Ya, I’m one of those people. I’M SORRY, I can’t help myself.

But I do think the way I have my bills set up is a pretty nifty way to stay on track, so I decided to share my philosophy.

I get paid weekly, so I took all of my monthly bills and by due date and amount, split them out so there was approximately an equal amount to pay each week. I looked those over, round up to the next hundred and came up with a number to use as my Minimum Output Per Week.

I get paid hourly, and my MOPW ends up being approximately equal to 31 hours of work. I work 40 hours a week, give or take.

Each week I pay in bills the same exact amount, my MOPW. Any money that is left after regular bills goes to paying off debt, up to the MOPW. Any money I make over that amount is what is left for “fun money”. Sometimes I work a full week and end up with extra, and sometimes I just barely make the threshold. It doesn’t matter- I always pay out the same.

Also, I based a month on 4 paychecks and just repeat them every 4 weeks. So I end up ahead, and about once a year I get so ahead that I have an entire paycheck free. It’s awesome.

I like this system. It helps add extra money to my regular debt payments, and gives me a nice stable amount I know I need to make. It’s clean and easy and it works for me. Just thought I’d share.

Wedding Update

I think we have decided that OneRepublic’s “Secrets” will be our first dance. Because it is beautiful and we are super nerds who love the movie The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. I may have just listened to it 4 times in a row.


I also found a tutorial for making mega-huge paper flowers that are FO-SHO gonna make an appearance at the wedding. They can be made ahead so there will be not last minute scramble with fresh flowers and will be a hell of a lot cheaper. Plus I can make them the colors I want which are not so easy (and especially not cheap) to find in real flowers.



Look at that thing. In the words of MODG, its Amazeballs.


As soon as my braces come off I’m gonna get serious about finding a dress. My MOH just cleared her next 6 weekends so we can do some hard core wedding planning.  So get ready kids, it's on like Donkey Kong.

Shellie's Money Saving Tip of the Day

Put a band-aid on your face.

I went to the dermatologist today about my lovely 'adult acne'. After discussing my options and writing a prescription, she asked if there was anything else I wanted her to look at. I have always had a little mole on my chin, so I said "what about this?"
She said my insurance would pay for it to be removed if it ever bothered me. I said "Why yes, it does bother me."
 BAM. Five seconds later shes stabbing and cutting and stitching. My hairy mole was gone, just like that.

***Update: Upon removal of said band aid, it turns out the evil woman used BLACK THREAD for the sutures on my FACE. So now I look like I have a spider crawling on my chin. Seriously, do white/clear sutures not exist in this day and age? W.T.F.
 Do you people remember the wedding I have to go to on Saturday?!?***

What does this have to do with saving money? Well I had a craving to go shopping after my appointment. I wanted to go to Target and Bed Bath and Beyond and just look at every little thing and find some fabulous stuff for my house. BUT, when the good Doctor slapped a band-aid square on my jaw, it kinda killed my hang-out-in-public places mood.

So there you have it. Next time you have a craving for shopping, just have facial surgery.

You're welcome.

My only skill as a photographer.

I am a terrible photographer, except at the beach. Is that funny? I just can't take a good picture to save my life, but put my toes in the sand and they all come out like art. Although, its kinda hard to take a bad picture of the beach. Whatever. Let me have my glory.




View from our room on my 23rd birthday




Carmel




Monterrey




Pacifica, the pier where my dad's ashes were scattered




If I need to tell you where this is, you have problems.
Or aren't from California.
It's the Golden Gate Bridge.




Dillon's Beach

 Man. Now I want a vacation. Like bad. 

Guest room update

I added this little beauty to the Guest Room

To see the rest of the room : Guest Room

OMG

I got 2 new followers this week.

That makes 4, bitches. Half of them are people I don't even know in real life.

Watch out, I don't wanna knock you down on my way to the top. ;-)

COLD

It is outstandingly cold at my work today. The way we work, there is a door that is wide open between the office area and the open-to-the-outside shop area. I have a space heater in my office, but it’s always cold.


Well today, I had had ENOUGH. If I had balls, they would be frozen. I am sitting at my desk in fuzzy boots with 2 sweaters and a scarf on. So I finally did the unthinkable- I shut the office door. The door never gets closed during the day because people are constantly in and out to give or tell me things. I feel it may become addicting. Suddenly it’s quiet. All I can hear is my music and typing, not the blaring of air hoses and boys talking about how many ducks they shot last weekend. I can get the room to be as hot as the Sahara in 15 minutes flat. Which I love.

Although, it also means my computer screen is no longer facing a wide open door which promotes procrastination and blogging. Ha.

My nightstand re-do

I needed a new nightstand. I like them to be tall and have alot of surface area on the top.

Well while perusing Craigslist I came across this beauty:

Tall, wide and had soarage to boot! I new there was a gem hidden in there somewhere.

(Wanna know a secret? The whole time I was doing this all I wanted was to get featured on Better After. Is that hilarious? I'm obsessed with that blog.

Anyway, I spent a week

Sanding that bad boy down, then filling in the giant cut out where those inset pulls were
Filling dings and holes with wood putty
Sanding again
Priming
Sanding again
Painting 3 layers of black
then Painting 3 layers of Polyurathane
Measuring and drilling new holes for the pulls I ordered
Lining the drawers with cute fabric.


Whew! But I am madly in love with it now. Plus Clint is jealous and want's one which is always a bonus.

Crappy phone picture

 I should have taken a after picture before putting it in the dark bedroom, but I was too excited to to wait.

Yikes, I am an awful photographer. But you get the drift, right? It's black and sleek and modern and I.am.in.love.


Let's try this one more time:



AFTER!





BEFORE



Love.

A year in my life

(To give credit where credit is due, I am totally copying Erika from Newlyweds on a Budget on this year roundup post) (PS- She is a stranger and has commented my blog more than once, so I am officially calling her my first blog made friend. She doesn't know this, but that's OK. I like to pretend)


It was definitely the biggest impact year of my life, by far. August 2009-August 2010

August 29th, 2009- I got braces. At the ripe old age of 23 and every penny paid for by yours truly, I made the decision to fix my snaggletooth mouth once and for all.

Before and after 6 months.

I do wish I had taken better pictures before they went on, and just after. But it was so god awful that I told myself I didn't want to remember. Hindsight 1, common  sense 0.
This also happened to be the DAY AFTER my first day back on a college campus (my first year was all online). Talk about social awkwardness. Fat girl with adult acne and adult braces who hasn't been in a school in 6 years. Fun!

February 3, 2010- After 4-1/2 years together, Clint proposed. It was wonderful and cute and ABOUT DAMN TIME. We set the date for 9-10-11 (just after my 2 year braces sentence was up, and 1 day after our 6 year anniversary.

The only pic from our "engagement party"
 and me 25 pounds heavier, yuck.



May 20, 2010- I graduated from college. Granted, it was only community college and an associates degree but it is still more than anyone in my family has done before. And for someone who didn't have a real high school graduation (I graduated 2 years early and didn't do the ceremony. Ya, I kinda used to be a genius) it was a big deal.



Ya, I'm awesome.





From the awards ceremony the night before graduation.





Love this picture.



That tall guy behind me was hilarious.
Made the boring ceremony liveable.





Me and my momma.



FUNNY STORY: My mom has had some balance problems and had been falling down a bit. So before and after the ceremony, me and the Mr were watching her and helping her to make sure she didn't fall. As we were leaving the stadium, I walk down a step, tumble down 4 stairs and FALL FLAT ON MY FACE. In the cap and gown and all! It was HILARIOUS.

July 15, 2010- After hearing how ridiculously low mortgage rates were, I said 'what the hell' and we met with a mortgage broker for the first time ever. She gave us the most amazing news- we could totally afford and qualify to buy a house.

July 19, 2010 (yep that's 4 days later, and includes a weekend!)- We are in contract for our first house, the first house we actually toured with a realtor. ( I have been breaking into vacant houses for years to have a look around. I use 'breaking' loosely. I would NEVER cause damage to a home. But if you leave a back door unlocked or have a handle that can be opened with a Costco Card? I'm all over it.)



That was the first day we saw our house!



Damn, I'm gonna go over a year. Ohh well.

September 4, 2010- After a week solid of scrubbing, cleaning repairing and packing, we move into our first home. I still can't believe it. I am a homeowner. It's unreal.

October 4, 2010- I start my new job, which I love and am so happy at.

That was one jam-packed (just over a) year. Especially since before that I had been at the same job and just dating the same guy for over 4 years. It was a huge jump-start to a stagnant life.

Since then we have been just enjoying making the house our own, spying on our neighbors, happily working, and adopted our puppy Roxie on the last day of 2010.

Now, its getting to the end of February 2011. My braces will be off soon and we are getting married in just over six months.

Let's see what else is to come!

We had a party.

Like, a real life party. With booze and debauchery. I acted my age, which is a rare occurrence indeed.

When I was younger, I was a huge partier. I was one of the first of my friend's to get my own place, so my house became THE place to be. I spent almost a year solid drunk. But I was 17, had just gotten my heart broken for the first time and had a job that barely required brain function. It was some good times indeed, but that was a long time ago. I couldn't, and wouldn't want to go back to it.

I'm a grown up now, remember?


It was Andres' birthday. Poor Andres hasn't had a good birthday party in like 6 years. (At least not one I was invited to).

Well, Jayson and Andres made (yes made) a beer pong table. They were damn proud of it and decided to bring it over to try out at our house.

 Danielle came down, Vanessa came over and we had a roarin good time.


I drank liquor out of a sippy cup. (because no matter how inebriated I am, I'm still smart enough to not use my good glasses. So I used the only plastic I could find.)


Clint barbecued burgers that took so long we were all too drunk to add condiments to the buns by the time they were ready.

At the end of the night, we all sat in the dark and talked about sex.

Jayson and Andres wrestled. Like, real wrestled. Clint filmed it. It's hilarious.

But the icing on the cake of the night was this.

My fav part is "Be Safe Pull your E-Brake"

Ya, that's the wall in my garage. Granted, I started it by wanting to cover up the dirty works that were sprayed there by previous owners (in white, barely visible). But I should have known with those boys around it would snowball into this.

But it was fun. And we will talk about it later and smile and laugh about the good old days.

Needless to say, I spent the next day priming and painting a wall in my garage. OK, I'll be honest. I only primed in splotches over the real dirty stuff. I left the "Pull your e-brake" because it directly outside my drivers window when I pull in after work and it makes me laugh.

 I'll paint the whole wall eventually.

House Training.

I believe that Roxie has a wicked sense of humor and can also read my thoughts.

She has been doing so well with the house training, going weeks without an accident.

Then 2 days in a row, someone asked me how she was doing with it, to which I enthusiastically replied "Great!" (But definitely not in a Tony the Tiger voice. Definitely.)

Roxie (who could read my thoughts) then proceeded to have giant steaming  accidents on the carpet the next 2 days in a row.

Don't look her in the eyes. She is trained in the art of deception.

Things I hate right now.

At about 1-1/2 years together, Clint and I went through quite a rough patch due to a nasty skank whore trying to break us up. During this time, Clint had The Red Hot Chili Peppers song “Tell Me Baby” as said whore’s ringtone.
That was 4 years ago, and I still can’t listen to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I hear them come on and want to vomit until I change the channel. I used to like them. Another reason to hate her.
This whore is going to be a Clint’s sister’s wedding next weekend. Fun.

I hate Mumford and Sons. Everyone things they are such hot shit (even Clint-who's not into music), but I have heard Little Lion Man about 17,000 times to many times to like any of their music again.

I hate when people use some one's first initial instead of the whole name. My sister constantly calls her kids K and E instead of Kendyl and Ethan. It drives me batty. So in turn I call my nephew 'little biscuit' because it pisses her off.

A coworker of mine who asks me if what he is doing is bugging me at least ten times a day. What he is doing I don't even notice-but him asking me CONSTANTLY is super annoying.

Don't know what the bad mood is for in particular, but I feel better now. I think I might paint my craft room purple.

XOXO,

Shellie

I miss LiveJournal

There was so much less pressure when I had a Livejournal. There was no 'rules' for making a post look pretty, no need to post pictures, and for that matter- no need to care if anyone actually read what you said. I miss that. I feel like I need to have something amazing to write about before I post on here now.

You know, to keep up to par for my imaginary followers who are waiting with bated breath to hear what I have to say.

A friend told me the other day that she loves getting emails from me. That they are hilarious and I should write. That really caught me off guard, since I write to her the most ridiculous thoughts I have at any given moment. But I thought about it and went back to read some of them. They ARE funny! (Although there is more in there about poop than I care to admit).

So my new goal is to write what I feel, when I feel it. I became so obsessed with making a blog that other people wanted to read that I forgot that the best thing about online journals in general is that they record memories.

I can right now, go back to the Livejournal I had when I was 15 and re-read what I was feeling. It's amazing (and heart-wrenching. Ahh, first love....).

So I have to picture for you, no project I did. (But I did just do an amazing one.) All I have are my random thoughts which might actually be worth something.

*Whenever I wear red and blue together, I feel like Superman.

*Although my house is (almost) always meticulously clean, open any drawer and stuff will be crammed in there to the brim.

*I talk to my pets, probably a little too much.

* I listen to music almost all the time when I'm not at home. In the car and at work silence is unbearable to me.



That’s it. And I'm OK with that.

Mission Complete

Ok kids, I did it! 7 days, no eating anything that wasn't homemade. That's a big deal for me. HUGE.

Last night was super lazy so I just boiled some spaghetti noodles and added pesto sauce with a little Parmesan cheese with a side of garlic bread. It was fabulous. But I love me some pasta so that's no shocker.

Today Clint took a sick day. It was the weekend so we were both home anyway, but he literally is still in bed, and it's 8pm. He's gotten up to pee and that's it. I've been waiting on him all day.

Anyway, so I made chicken noodle soup from scratch for dinner. For some reason it didn't sound good at all to me so I didn't eat any but the Mr. says its good. I did however make too much chicken so I whipped up another batch of the BBQ chicken burritos for lunch for work tomorrow- yum city!

The recap, dinner challenge:

Day 1: Tuscan Turkey Meatball Soup
Day 2: Mustard Glazed Salmon
Day 3: Oven Barbecued Pork Chops
Day 4: (invited to a friends but we had) BBQ tri tip, mashed potatoes and broccoli.
Day 5: The best burritos ever- Seriously, make these.
Day 6: Pesto Pasta with garlic bread
Day 7: Chicken Noodle Soup with dill

Now, I know none of those are outrageous recipes, but it was something different for me, and I actually did it. You know what? It wasn't so bad. I wanna cook more. I still have a couple recipes to make and since the Mr is sick, I'll give him a couple more days until its his turn.

Thanks for playing.

Can I go back to crafting now?

I'm back in the game

I just gone done making and devouring THESE chicken burritos. They were insanely good. I really want to eat 10 more.

Feeling good about the dinner challenge. Clint is even already picking out recipes. Yum.

It's not so challenging

I cooked again.

Then we got invited to dinner at a friends.

About to cook again.

This turned out to be a highly boring blog topic, especially since I have not gotten 1 comment despite linking to it on my facebook page. So, I'm kinda over writing about it.

Does anyone care?

The dinner challenge, day 2.

Day 2- success!

I had the leftover soup for lunch at work.

Tonight I made mustard-glazed salmon with rice and salad. Delish again.I still didn't take pictures. But I promise, it looked like salmon. And rice. And a salad.
I took the leftover salmon and mixed it into the leftover salad and will take that for lunch tomorrow.
I also added to the challenge. I told Clint he had to come up with a week of recipes to make next week. That way we go 2 weeks without eating out, but we each get a week off from cooking. I'm stoked. He doesn't agree, but Clint is a great cook.

Damn. I was going go add a picture of Roxie but I'm blogging from my iPhone and it won't let me. Not cool. It was a cute one.

The dinner challenge

So, as inspired {aka: copying her exactly} by my friend Carrie, I have given myself a challenge this week. I am going to cook something I've never made before for dinner each night this week.

Now, I'm not getting crazy and pulling out some weird recipes here. I H.A.T.E cooking and really only have about 10 things I cook that recirculate. We are chronic eat-outers and it has to stop.

Here's a little known secret: eating out costs alot and its really bad for you. I know, shocker!

So, to go along with my new 10 week challenge ( I should really write a post about that....) I am going to make dinner at home every night this week. I just added in the 'something new' part to try and keep myself interested.

Night 1 was a success. I made Tuscan Turkey Meatball Soup. I was super delish, I even have leftovers for lunch at work.

(That's not really mine, I got it off Google images)

I forgot to take a picture. But c'mon, it's soup. It looked like that soup up there. I would link to a recipe, but I got it off the back of the bag of turkey meatballs and can't find it on the Foster Farms website.

Here's my memory:

Chicken Broth
Garlic
Onion
Fresh Spinach
White Beans
Carrots
Turkey Meatballs
Lots of pepper ( I effing love pepper. I use a TON on everything)
Garnish with Parmesan cheese


It was gooooooood stuff. Clint even liked it and he hates beans, spinach and soup in general that doesn't have bacon or potatoes or cheese.

On a side note: I can't slice raw onions. I try, over and over but I am so unbelievably sensitive to them that I end up screaming bloody murder with tears pouring down my face running from the kitchen to soak my face in hot water. Maybe someday I'll have followers that want to send me stuff and someone will get me these:

The Onion Goggles

or maybe I'll just add them to my stupid wedding registry (ohh, there's another post idea!)

I'm gonna try and post every day about this little journey. I'm even gonna link to it on my facebook and pretend people care.

Pardon my sour mood today, but my effing dog took an effing dump DOWN 6 CARPETED STAIRS AND ALL OVER THE TILE LANDING this morning and I had to clean it up which made me late to work.

Wow a food post that ended with poo talk. I'm just flying up the popularity charts.

Guests?

So, you know how I said I did that little art project in my guest room?

Well I finally got some pictures, though they don't translate well since you don't really get the feel of the whole room.

Clint's sister gave us a set of frames as a housewarming gift (thanks Shannon!). Last time I was at Ikea I got some sweet ass wrapping paper for 30 CENTS A ROLL. DUDE!

So here comes the magic. I put the paper in the frames- then put them on the wall.

Whoa. I know. I just blew your mind right there with my creative genius.

So here's a couple shots of the rest of the room. I looooooooove my guest room, but it doesn't photograph well. It took me months to decide on a color scheme. I know green, black and white aren't the most radical choices, but as you already know- I like blue and most of my house has blue. So it's different and I love love love it.

So, it's incomplete and all the walls are blank. I don't care. I made the curtains out of a $7 Ikea duvet cover. At least once a week I go in there and just sigh. I just want a freakin guest! Someone come stay over!

Look people, this is how pathetic I am. I'm begging for guests. Want me to sweeten the deal? Check out my amazing guest bathroom.



It's bright!

It's sunny!



Roxie approves!



 So. There it is. I'm pathetic, but I am awesome at cheap ass decor. I did both those rooms for less than $100 total. Go me.

 

Wedding progress

I made invites!

Ya.......that's it.

I actually did it!

Now I know to most it's not a big victory to take a dog for a walk. But here's the thing- I'm lazy. So the fact that I took Roxie out again today was a big deal to me. I even woke up today with a nasty cold but still went.

Off we go!

Well we walked and had fun, but I really just want to show off how beautiful my neighborhood is.

I had more to say today, but I turned on the TV and started Modern Family so I've lost it. What a boring post.

Home



View from our front door

Just got back from a nice walk with Roxie. We live in a neighborhood that goes in somewhat of a square, and it is butted up against a bunch of empty land against the river. Well while making the rounds around the neighborhood I decided to take a dirt road that lead up into the empty land. Low and behold it went a full circle along the river just past the neighborhood. So open and beautiful and made for a great walk. My new goal is to take her on that walk every day that's its nice out after work. It felt great to just go out and walk with her and my Ipod.

I would have taken pictures, but that would have turned off my music so I didn't, lol. Next time (hopefully tomorrow), I promise.

Seeing all that beautiful land right next to my house just made me appreciate where I live even more. People say the worst things about Oroville (that are mostly true), but no one mentions the good. We have a huge lake, a river running through the entire town, lots of parks, bike trails, trees and beauty. I happen to love it.

Sunset from our front door.

From inside the living room window

At the river, like 1/4 mile from our house

When I first moved here I thought it was a death sentence. All I wanted to do was get out and go back to the city. Now, I'm still a city girl but I can greatly appreciate the other side. My grass is greener.

All of those are less than 10 minutes from my front door. How amazing is that?

Eavesdropping

Roxie had her first vet visit yesterday. Not to worry, all is well. But one concern we had was the site on her legs where her dew claws had been removed. She chewed at them badly and they haven't healed yet.

Doc says they look good but to help get them healed to put Preparation H on them twice a day and make sure she doesn't lick it off for 10 minutes. No biggie.

Well we get to Wal-Mart and are looking at the selection. Neither of us have ever needed hemorrhoid cream before, so this was a whole new world. They have ointment or cream. Cooling or soothing. Who cares.

It took me a minute after walking away from the display before I realized how hilarious it must have been for anyone eavesdropping on us (not knowing were talking about a dog) to hear us discussing which one she would be least likely to lick off. Eeeeewww....

Wedding Dress Shopping.

As previously mentioned. I'm getting married. In 9 months now.

I'm still not excited. I'm dreading it actually. Not because I don't want to get married, I really really do. But the thought of spending a big chunk of money and going deeper into debt for a wedding just makes me want to barf.

But a few weeks ago, at the indulgence of my maid of honor and mom, I went dress shopping. Twice.

Can't you see my excitement?

Well, turns out I don't really like wedding dresses. I despise strapless dresses and 85% of them are just that. But more than straplessness, I hate spending money. Boy, are they stupid expensive.

I'm hoping to stumble across something in an after prom sale or a thrift store that will be perfect and cost like $20. here's to hoping.

I did find one dress I liked, but it was -of course- stupid expensive. But here it is anyway.




I'm overjoyed, can't you tell?



 



The only good thing about them? They all make you look crazy skinny. Really. Not the best pictures, but in person I was like super tiny waist.

Happy New Year!

I spent mine reading a book on my new kindle while Clint and Andres played the Xbox.

Every 2 or so hours I took Roxie out in the freezing cold to "do her stuff" (as the training website suggested I tell her as she goes)

I had a bowl of guacamole for dinner all to myself.

I ate a pint of Haggen Daas.

I was in bed, almost asleep when a text from a friend (who has a life) woke me enough to roll over and say Happy New Year to Clint.

Fell asleep, and was woken up twice to take the dog back out.


Hmm, I realize this sounds kinda whiny, but its not meant to be. It was a nice night.

Here's to 2011!