Gift card Monday.

Joey and I played hooky from work yesterday to have a date day. We decided to put a fun spin on the day and start using up some of the gift cards we have collected over the last few years and have "Gift Card Monday." Basically, we could do anything we wanted all day, but we had to use a gift card. Fun, right?

We started with coffee from Starbucks--the perfect start to any morning! We didn't have any gift cards for "brakfasty" places, so we went home and Joey made breakfast for us. Toad in the hole on sourdough. Mmmmm. Also? Next time you make bacon, do it in the oven and sprinkle a little bit o' cinnamon sugar on each piece. Thank me later.

Then we used up some movie gift cards and saw "Silver Linings Playbook." As an aside, I thought the movie was terrible. I do not get all the hype it's gotten--especially related to Jennifer Lawrence. She's annoying. And yes, I'm already preparing myself for the hate mail.

We broke the gift card rules only once, and that was our next stop. We've been putting off ordering the tile for our backsplash since, oh, August, and finally got around to it. It's amazing what you have time for when you're playing hooky!

After that, we lunched at P.F. Changs and I was again reminded of why we only go to Pei Wei. But, we used a gift card so no love lost.

Ater that it was time to pick up our little nugget and have a nice, relaxing family night. I could get used to days like yesterday!

Monday and a threesome.

Do I have your attention? Thought so.

The Monday reference is obvious. Blah.

As for the threesome? I have a new favorite. Wine, that is. Ménage à Trois (red). At a whopping $7.99 from your neighborhood friendly Costco, this is about to become a staple at the VeeDub residence. Not that I would know from experience or anything, but it pairs well with Ben & Jerry's Late Night Snack. And Cheez-its. And double chocolate chip muffins.

You're welcome.

Blah.

There's really nothing worse than the Monday after vacation, is there?

Well, maybe having someone spill their ENTIRE coffee on you in the elevator.

Today blows.

Monday Fail.

Today I'm totally uncoordinated. Brown pants with black shoes. A blue sweater with non-matching successories. Forgot to put cream in my coffee. All pretty decent indicators of how my day has been thus far.

In slightly more cheery news, I scored a FREE lid for my sugar bowl this weekend. We have the Lenox Bellina set (which Joey picked out and I loooooove...and yes, we actually really use it) and in one of my fits of reorganization of the basement (before I got my china cabinet) I must have accidentally tossed out the lid to the sugar bowl. Blonde moment, much?

I contacted Lenox to order a new one, but even with their "50% off replacement guarantee," I was still looking at a charge of $50+. For some horrible reason, you can't order just the lid - you have to buy the whole thing. Seriously, Lenox. Fix that. As a Plan B, I signed up for the Replacements, Ltd. newsletter, which from my hours of research is the only retailer that sells just the lids. However, it's not something that comes into stock often. I've been on the mailing list for about 8 months and have yet to see a sugar bowl lid pop up in inventory. Teapot lid? Billions of them. Nada on the sugar bowl.

I remained patient...even visited the Lenox outlet in Birch Run from time to time to see if they had a lone lid or even a super great clearance deal on one I could snag...but no luck. My options were still a $50+ replacement piece - even @ second quality.

So imagine my surprise when I took a little stroll through the store this weekend to again, hunt for my precious lid. I took a look through the entire store, and all the sugar bowl lids really started to look the same. Wait for it. Wait for it. I managed to find a second quality sugar bowl in another pattern (but still platinum trimmed) at 85% off and walked it over to the Bellina set to do a little one-on-one comparison. LIGHT GOES OFF! All the stinkin' lids are the same! I scurried to the cash register to purchase my little gem for a grand total of $22.

"But Kristi," you say. "You said in the beginning that you scored a free lid."

Why yes, I did. And the story continues...

The store manager went to ring me up and my total came to $60 something and some change, which I obviously refuted. Turns out the sugar bowl was on the wrong shelf and was actually a first quality piece and was only 35% off. Rats.

I told him I needed any platinum rimmed sugar bowl lid as a replacement to mine - didn't matter which pattern - but I wanted the 85% off deal to make it worth my purchase. Much to my delight, he marched in the back room and came back with a selection of lids for me to choose from! Apparently they keep lids of sets that are broken as replacements which I asked for the previous million times I'd been in the store. I guess you just have to ask the right person. I said something to the effect of, "I'm so excited I can just buy the lid." To which he responded, "You don't have to buy anything." Um. Say what?

Long story short, he wrapped it up and sent me on my merry way - for free! My china cabinet is finally back in order and my OCD is at peace. Thank you, Barry from the Lenox store. I heart you.

Starting Fresh.

Ahhhh, Monday. Usually I would sulk around, complaining about how it's Monday and how I wish the weekend were a little longer or the weather a little warmer. But not today!

Today I am overwhelmingly thankful for a safe and healthy family. Last week was shitty, there's really just no nice way to sugar coat it. But today is a new start, and for that I'm thankful.

In related news, Alex now has a TOP tooth! I can't get him to sit still long enough for a picture, but I'll get one soon, promise.

Lottery? Do You HEAR Me?

Welp, I'm officially back at it for the first time since Dec. 19. Yeah, you read that right. I just can't seem to get back into the swing of things here in the ol' officina. Maybe it's knowing that Alex is playing with Auntie Jane instead of me? Regardless, I'm rather down today.

And I can't even go out at lunch for a pick-me-up because I'm being robbed by our benefits program effective Jan. 1 (70% increase!), so it's probably best that I do the whole brown bag-it thing for awhile. Ugh. All my liberties gone in the blink of an eye.

Curse you Mega Millions! Why oh why can't you pick ME?!?!

Looking For Me?

Currently, I can be found behind the wall of Post-it® notes covering my desk, steering wheel and wallet.

There is nothing in my line of sight right now that doesn't have a sticky on it. True story.

I'm leaving for a work trip tomorrow at the ass crack of dawn, followed by a whirlwind 12 hours at home, and then I'm off on a weekend trip to Chicago to see some of my girls. Can't wait for that part!!!

Thus, the only shred of sanity I have left is being balanced by a sea of 3x3 yellow pieces of moderately sticky paper acting as chicken-scratch reminders of all the tasks I have to complete before midnight tonight. Presentations to print. Things to pack. People to email. Hotels to schedule. Flights to confirm. Calm to maintain.

Utter chaos. And secretly, I love it.

In other news, my Glee CD came in the mail on Friday. It's been on repeat since then. No joke. The fact that Joe was buzzing around the house this morning singing "Defying Gravity" proves it. It looks like there's another one coming out soon...

New sticky --> Research Glee CD part 2.

Mondays Blow.

There's really no nice way to say it. They blow. Totally.

BUT, the good news is that tomorrow is both pay day AND 'Alex & the WIPpo Day.' I'm a little unsure as to when you'll actually get the picture, but I can at least promise that it will be before the sun goes down.

Basement Update: Carpet is in. Furniture was delivered Saturday. TV stand, end tables and decor were purchased at IKEA yesterday. All that's left is for Daddy to get his BATV (big ass TV). I believe that's currently being researched, so we should be complete within the week. Word.



Best shopping partner, ever.