The Abby Texts: What I missed during our nephew's basketball game

Abby: Kammy has his hair pushed back with one of those rubber band things. So much swag.

Abby: JK he looks dorky. :)

Abby: Mommmmmmmmmmm plz my game commentary is legend.

Abby: Y u no reply :(

Me: Oops, sorry had phone off

Abby: Mommmmm

P.S. If any guy can pull off a headband, it's Kam. He's just that cool. For reals.

Yet another Project 333 update

Happy half-way point of Project 333's winter cycle to me! This is a nice milestone since my first cycle I was just messing around with the rules. Six weeks with the same 33 items?!? I'm practically a rock star.

That's not to say it's all been a breeze. I'm fighting some serious shopping pangs at the moment, even though I know I have everything I need. But wouldn't a nice new* lightweight white or beige knit pullover be so nice?

Yes, it really would. That's why I'm keeping the hell out of the stores. Not because this project is about depravation and suffering (it isn't), but because I need to just sit with myself and be grateful for all the wonderful items I already own. It's kind of awkward to admit that while my brain is onboard with minimalism, my heart could go either way. Self-actualization isn't all it's cracked up to be.

My scarves!

Shopping pangs aside, I am very happy with the clothing I chose for my winter capsule. Well, except for my everyday jeans, which I just realized are getting a hole in the rear. Dang you, Eddie Bauer! They're not even a year old! The hole is tiny, and frayed edges be damned, I'm going to patch that sucker up from the inside and TAKE THAT, THE MAN.

Ahem. Sorry. Lost my train of thought. Let's try this again. I am very happy with the clothing in my closet, and maybe even happier with the clothing that isn't there. All those button-down shirts I thought I liked? Don't miss them. Having two is plenty. All in all, what I'm left with is a wardrobe that feels like mine. Not the wardrobe I *think* I'm suppose to own, but the wardrobe I actually want to wear. That's kind of a nice change of pace and an unexpected perk.

P.S. The only item anyone has commented on me wearing repeatedly is my black wool jacket, which, yes, I wear that thing every single day because hello, cold. Another item I wear constantly (i.e. at least twice a week, I'm not scared) is my red infinity scarf--but I got asked recently, by someone who sees me almost every day, if it was new. That made me laugh. Ugly Shirt Theory confirmed!**

So that's the State of the Union: Trying to embrace gratitude, happy overall with my closet, kind of looking forward to that last week in March when I can start planning my spring rotation, thinking Skilly has the right idea about taking a nap right now except it's almost time for work so never mind.

The end.

*Goodwill, retail, whatever. Just new to me.
**Everyone is so worried about their ugly shirt that they don't even notice yours. My infinity scarf is super gorgeous, but still, you get the picture, right?

Oh, that sound? Just my heart breaking

It's probably bad to start off with a tangent, but one of my pet peeves is when people put up status updates that say things like, "My heart was just ripped in two" or "I cannot go on," but they don't disclose any further information so you don't know if they need a transplant, or they ran out of gas and are stranded on the side of the road, or there's zombies afoot (wait, I guess that's brains), or they got hacked by their kids, or it's April 1. Do us all a favor, people, and EXPLAIN YOUR STATUS UPDATES THOROUGHLY. It's not a lot to ask.

So remember how a couple weeks ago I wrote about that classified ad contest at work, and then about how we were winning said classified ad contest?

Today we found out we lost.

And to top it all off I'll probably get sued for using this without permission

And OH EM GEE people, I am so completely deflated. That lovely pizza lunch I have dreamed about for three weeks? Still just a dream.

What happened is that some bastards at other branches (P.S. Mom, I thesaurus.com-ed my bad word but the alternate words were even worse) waited until THE VERY LAST SECOND (sorry, I'm yelling a lot in this post, I can't help it, I'm completely out of my mind with disappointment) to place their ads. And because their offices are smaller than ours, they pulled ahead of us in the percentages. We posted the most ads, but that wasn't the contest. It was average ads placed per employee. And our office is the largest.

So we ended up in third.

BOO!

Ah, such a blow. Stacey was ticked because she had placed 20 ads (also at the last minute, but that's totally fine because she's on our team) and those ads didn't show up in the final tally. She was calling ad managers and everything to protest, but in the end it didn't make one lick of difference. We still were losers. Stacey and I were inconsolable and talked about getting strong coffee to see us through the rest of the afternoon, but it was too great a blow and our sorrow prevented us from leaving the office. Plus it was raining out and we didn't want to get soaked.

Then Jody the Ad Manger was like, I think everyone who placed ads should just go out for pizza together anyway, so the moral of this sentence is that maybe at least some despondent bonding will occur soon.

So that's the end of THAT. Totes depressed, going to watch some Olympics now, probs just curling because that's the kind of day it's been. Blerg.

Monday "Art," kind of missing the snow because now it's all landslides edition

Johanna's "anime" snowman.
P.S. The snow has been replaced by so much rain that the hills around us are actually falling down.
On the upside, no one wants highway access anyway...

The Care Package Project: February

With the success of our our January Care Package Project under our belts (Aunt Jan said, and I quote, "You guys sure know how to put together a package!"), Abby and I were rarin' to go for February.

We decided right after putting together my aunt's package that my grandparents (Grandma turned 90 in December and Grandpa 91 in January) were next on our list. We thought we'd go with a game-theme this time: Yatzee scorecards, a deck of playing cards, maybe some dice, maybe some game-appropriate snacks. All in time for Valentine's Day.

Doesn't that sound fun? We thought so, too. And then this happened:

It wasn't necessarily the snow, but the utter mess it made that was the problem.

The weather threw us a curveball when the first major snowstorm of the season hit the weekend Abby and I had planned to go shopping. Because this is our shared Revolution, I didn't want to buy anything ahead of time, even though I had ample opportunity. Add to that the limited time cushion we gave ourselves--shopping on Saturday, mailed by Tuesday--we didn't have much room to maneuver.

Well, whatever. We picked up a bag of Grandma's favorite chocolates (can someone please explain to me the point of Special Dark?) while braving the elements to stock up on foodstuffs Saturday night after Mass. While my favorite market is perfect for picking up fun organic self-care products, it's not really up on the game preferences of 90-year-olds. Ah, well. At that point we were just grateful to have a Plan B at all.

Figure 1. Hershey's Miniatures... Christmas edition? Beggars can't be choosers.
Also: Lucked out and found a perfectly sized packing box in the recycling closet. Score!

Then, on Sunday, the fam came together to make Valentine cards. I was feeling pretty good about mine until I saw Abby's. Also: I enjoyed the irony of the girls fighting while penning heartfelt notes to my grandparents. You gotta get your entertainment where you can.

Figure 2. Valentines! I guess it's good I didn't get rid of all my scrapbook stuff.

So the moral of this slightly pathetic tale is that things did not go as planned on the Care Package front this time around. Sometimes you just have to accept what you're given and roll with it. Raging against the machine is kind of exhausting and totally boring, that's why.

Happy Valentine's Day, Internet friends!

Figure 3. Putting it all together.

P.S. My public (hi, Mom!) recently staged a Revolution of her own by sending a friend (actually a pen pal she's had since high school) one of her quilted Valentine table mats. This friend just lost her mother very suddenly, and she's sad. Of course.

Mom said her friend not only gushed about the quilt, but took a picture of it and posted it to Facebook. Obviously Mom wasn't in it for the "likes," but I think this is a good example of why care packages are so awesome: There's the unexpected element to it, the actually getting something in the mail; there's the thing itself; and there's the joy of sharing said surprise with others. And while Mom's quilt can't erase the pain her friend is feeling, it did brighten her days a bit.

Anyway, this may or (probably) may not have anything to do with my own Care Package Project, but I loved the story and wanted to share it. :)

People! Revolution!

Free lunch part 2 plus a random work update

Hey, remember last week when I wrote about how our office is in first place in the Great Classified Ad Competition Between Worksites? We're still ahead! Several people in our office have posted items now, and some of them have even sold stuff (I have sold roughly one thing out of 17, although Eric has a nibble on an item today, so I guess we shall see, who cares, TOTALLY NOT BITTER).

Keep your fingers crossed. For the lunch, I mean, not the sale. ;)

In other news, I have an elderly gent (I assume he's elderly) who has taken to calling me whenever he wants a phone number. Our conversations go something like this:

Him: Hey, is this still you?
Me: Yep, still me. You still you?
Him: As far as I know. Will you look up Radio Shack's phone number for me? I just need the last four digits.
Me: Give me one second. Maybe six.
Him: So what's going on? You're not busy, right?
Me (trying to ignore the piles on my desk and open tabs on my monitor): Nope.

So that's kind of exciting. Usually my community service is just helping people get items from the top shelf at the store. I guess I can add this to the list, too.

The end.

The Abby Texts: Loner

Abby: Just chillin' by my lonesome in the library. Whee.

Me: Sad feels.

Abby: So many feels.

Friday "Art," we're in what the weathermen are calling "the lull" edition

First real snowfall of the season. Shout out to the county road department
for plowing us out by 7:30 a.m., my father-in-law for shoveling the driveway,
and the sidewalks for keeping me off the streets.

I've done way dumber things for a free lunch

We're having a classified ads contest at work. Our company just switched internet classified providers, and let's just say it's not going well--the people despise the new system, but ever undaunted we continue on. Anyway, so this contest was devised as a way to beef up ads both online and in the newspaper, and the gist of it is that whichever worksite places the most ads gets a free lunch / visit from the president with his juicer in tow.

I really want lunch. So I was all, I am on this!

We got a company-wide email yesterday saying that our office is in first place, so that was exciting, but then Stacey sent out another email that was all, 17 of the 22 ads from our office were placed by Trisha! Good job! and I was like, ooooh, great, now I look kind of pathetic, like I've got nothing better to do than place ads.

Which, actually, I don't. Who cares. Free lunch! And apparently the office is thrilled with our standings because everyone kept congratulating and thanking me. We've still got three weeks to go, people. Let's not lose sight of the goal here. Help me out!

And then David from Composing (which means he lays out the paper and designs ads and stuff) and was all, I placed an ad too! And I was all, we are carrying this office on our backs, David! And then we decided that even though we were doing all the work, we'd still share lunch because we are nice like that.

So that was fun. The end. I'll keep you updated.

The Abby Texts: Science!

Abby: Whee science! LOL JK.

Me: Ha ha ha! Good one!

Abby: I'm so funny.

(Note for my mother: JK = just kidding.)