Getting my house in order

Having been in Washington for coming up on 2 years, I finally decided it was time to have a Washington phone number. The impending anniversary was not the only motivation, of course. My current cell phone contract, which plays host to two phones, expires at the end of the month, which means I can finally be free of its tyranny. I will also admit to serious gadget lust over Jerome's iPhone that he got back in July.

So now I have my own. :)

Of course, I had to go shopping for my iPhone STUFF today. :) I had to get my beautimous Gelaskin, and then I needed a soft case for it as well, which I found in Ambika's shop. I also got a clear case to go over the Gelaskin, but it's not pretty at all. It's just practical. :)

Still have to do silly things like moving my phone numbers to the iPhone and making a ridiculous number of ringtones, but hurrah for a new phone that I love and can check my E-mail on. And also a phone that will be the cutest thing in the world when all of my purchases arrive! :) (Right now, it lives in an unmatched sock, and it is sad.)

And since this week is apparently the week of me dropping large amounts of money, I also paid off my car today. This is about 9 months early, but I had been making extra payments here and there over the course of the loan, and finally used some of my Christmas bonus to pay off that last bit. I am SO looking forward to not having monthly car payments, in a hope that MAYBE I can start saving that money for bigger and better things. :) It is pretty spiffy to officially OWN my car now, especially as this is my first ever all mine car. :)

I still have a couple more purchases to make over the next couple of months, but that's what my Christmas bonus was slated for--buying the stuff that I have been wanting, but haven't bothered to get yet. :) I have to say that as much as I miss my ridiculous amounts of sick and vacation time that I had when I worked for a state university, I do adore the Christmas bonus concept in the private sector. :)

Apparently Associated Content had a bit of a backlog, so Cindy has been published like crazy over the last two days. Instead of an individual link to each article, you can go to her published content page instead, and check out all of the new articles! Lots of stuff on southern Illinois, product reviews, and a really good piece on what to call someone who writes that is unpublished.

I, on the other hand, have not been writing much in the way of articles, though I am working on compiling a list of my articles sorted out by topic, and spanning AC and Helium, which will make it much easier to find the topics you want to read about. :) When I get the chance, I will be making one of these for Cindy as well. :)

I am working on a writing project, though, which has been a lot of work, but pretty fun as well. It's not articles, but product descriptions for a website... a goth schtuff website... WHEEEEEE! :) The only downside is that I'm seeing so much stuff that I love, and want. :)

For my Etsy plug of the day, if there are any crafty types reading this who are in need of cheap supplies (specifically fabric, patterns, and/or yarn), check out the Supplies and Patterns section of my Etsy shop. I'm destashing a BUNCH of fabric in preparation for our move, and also selling patterns and a little bit of yarn. More fabric to come, and it's some really luscious stuff, like velvets... :)

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In other news, my car is in the shop, which makes me a sad monkey. :( The good news is that I am still like 30 miles under 30,000, which is when my manufacturer's warranty ends. I will still have an extended warranty, but not having to pay anything to get stuff on my car fixed has been nice!
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Got one crochet project done last night, and another one started. The finished project is kinda a sekrit surprise, so no details here. The other one I started is the Jayne hat, from Firefly. I'm not 100% pleased with the pattern I'm using, so I'll be looking for a new one, but it is turning out decently well. Of course, the original is a knitted hat with earflaps, and mine will be crocheted, but it'll work out okay, I think. Especially if I can find the right kind of pattern. Or I may be able to work up my own, based on the one I'm using presently.

I need to work on making some more Valentines for the craft fair, which I may do tonight, if I have some time. Supposed to be going to an OWBN workshop at Denny's, but my car wouldn't start this morning. I'm hoping it was just the cold affecting the battery, and that it'll start fine after work today. If not, I guess I'll be trying to find a way to get it over to the dealership in the morning, and let them tell me if it's the battery (my best guess) or the starter (god I hope not). At any rate, thank goodness for being under warranty... :)

Speaking of Valentines, yeah, I'm gonna hafta work on something else for that... I just don't have any good ideas at the moment. What do you give someone for Valentine's Day that is a little bit practical, but still handmade? If I can't come up with something fitting both of those criteria, I'm gonna go with practical but store-bought, because there is a limit to how many ultimately useless handmade objects you can give someone. Yeah, I know, the handmade stuff comes from the heart and all that, but seriously. I know there is a limit. :)

Hmmmm... something to ponder for a bit, I suppose...
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Oh, and I forgot to mention... this was all accomplished while I was all dressed up for work, AND I didn't get any dirt on my clothes... :)

And the Old Man found it necessary to take pictures... how cute... ;)

Well, I'm just getting to work this morning... :) Our car has been acting kinda funny for a while now, like not wanting to start right away, and silly things like that. So we get in the car this morning to drive to work, and the car won't start... I, in my infinite wisdom, listen to the funny noises it's making and say "either the battery or the starter." I've been through a lot of cars in my time, and they've all had more than their fair share of silly problems. I don't claim to know cars well, but I've usually got decent guesses on the causes of problems. My dad wanted me to be self-sufficient when it came to cars, but when he was trying to teach me all this stuff when I was 16, I was completely not interested... :)

Any rate, the Old Man isn't so sure about my diagnosis, but seeing as the options are wait till 8 a.m. when the Saturn dealership opens, or walk to the auto parts store that is practically in our backyard (and in any town other than M-boro, our backyard would be big enough that it would be in our backyard), we choose the auto parts store. Tell the guys there what the car is doing, they give us a battery tester, and we head back to the house. Battery is kinda okay, but pretty sluggish and sad... so we buy a new battery.

Now then, I'm a very small person, as people who know me can attest. This means I have very small hands. This means that when it comes to fixing things on the car, I'm the one who does considerable amounts of the work. Sure, whatever boys happen to be around are in charge of the "lifting heavy things" category, but I'm the one who replaced the fan belt on our Olds, and got to undo and redo all of the nuts and bolts and connections on the battery...

Go me! The car started (on the third try, granted), and I'm at work now. Probably gonna have to take a day off next week to go take the car in for a "check-up," but at least it's running now...

And at least it didn't pull this crap in Marissa... :)