Lazy Weekend

I had such a nice weekend. Friday night, Chuk and I met up after work to catch a movie at the National Archives. All last week the National Archives was showing the documentaries that had been nominated for Academy Awards for free. We saw a movie called The Cove, which was excellent. (We went to the Archive’s screening Food Inc. earlier in the week and we liked that too.)

Saturday afternoon, Chuk and I made the short trip to Old Town to watch the St. Patrick Parade down King Street. There were lots of bagpipers and little kid Celtic dancers, who were so freaking cute it was hard to contain myself. For the first time in a long time, it was sunny and warm out so it was great to be outside enjoying the community atmosphere.

On our way back to the car, we stopped by the historic Christ Church and graveyard. The church had a special pew for the Washington (as in George and Martha) family; it is where Robert E. Lee married Martha Washington's great granddaughter, and it is where Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and Winston Churchhill worshipped on the national day of prayer in 1942. Most of the graves in the yard dated from the 18th century. I love living in a place with so much history.

On Sunday, Chuk and I went to Costco; you know how much we like going to Costco together. We took a long nap in the afternoon and then Sunday night we had a VIP Oscar-watching party (which is what we call it whenever we want to have a party but are too lazy to actually invite our friends over) complete with appetizers and margaritas.

I didn’t see Chuk very much last week, so I was glad to have lots of quality time with him and lots of down time in general.

200th Post Giveaway: Cold, Hard Cash

It’s my 200th post! It’s hard to believe because it feels like I just started this little blog.

Like I did with my 100th post, I’m going to celebrate with a giveaway. I’m giving away 200 dimes! (You will receive it in the form of a twenty dollar bill, cold hard cash.) Non-U.S. residents may enter the contest, but the prize will be awarded in U.S. dollars.

Because finding money in your pocket is one of life’s greatest pleasures, to enter, tell us, in the comments, what you would do with an extra twenty bucks. A winner will be picked at random.

As a thank you for their loyalty, I’m giving all the people who were “followers” before this post an initial entry. They may enter a second time by leaving a comment.

Contest ends Tuesday March 9 at 7:00 pm EST. Good luck!

Lessons Learned After Crying at Work

1. Act like nothing happened; they are just as embarrassed by your behavior as you are and they want to move on too.

2. When in doubt, keep your big trap shut. If after think about something for twenty-four hours you still want to say something, do so focusing on the “what” not the “why”. What do you want them to do about it? If you can’t think of an actionable item, then it’s just complaining and that’s what a spouse (and a blog!) is for.

3. Diligence will always persevere over pettiness. Expend your energy working hard, not getting caught up in other’s drama.

4. You control your reaction to others. Don’t let them push your buttons. Just ignore them.

Thank you all for your sweet comments, stories and advice about this post. You’re the best part about blogging.

I Am A Cry Baby

Oh my friends, I have subjected myself to the ultimate humiliation today...I cried...at work...in front of a guy...who is the Executive Vice President of the company...that I'm hoping will hire me...because a girl was mean to me. I feel so ridiculous.

Chuk keeps telling me I shouldn't be embarrassed, but how can I not be? I don't even want to go in tomorrow; I will, but I don't want to.

How do I go back there and hold my head up? Have you ever cried at an inappropriate time? How did you deal with it? Please, PLEASE share your stories.

P.S. I have excuses 1) I have my period. 2) I'm majorly sleep deprived.

Environmentalism and Frugality Meet in the Lunch Box

Like any frugalites worth the title, we wash out our plastic baggies after we use them so we can reuse them again. However, even with this method we can't use them more than three or four times without them popping leaks.

What has worked for me is using plastic containers instead of baggies whenever possible. The containers are marketed as disposable so they're fairly inexpensive, but I've found them to be extremely durable. I've had many of my containers for years and they're holding up just fine even though I put them in the dishwasher and straight from the fridge to the microwave.

They have worked especially well in our lunches. Again, like most frugalites, we pack our own lunches for work. We use the plastic containers for sandwiches and snacks (like craisins), a stainless steel bottle for water, and of course fruit comes in its own packaging. Using all reusable containers we have cut way down on our baggie usage and created virtually trash-free lunches. I love it when environmentalism and frugality meet.

Gratituesday: Temp Job

I’m grateful that I’ve had a new temp assignment since last Tuesday and it’s going really well. I was there to do a data entry project that was expected to last a week, but when I finished in three days they decided to keep me on for longer. Now let’s all cross our fingers and knock on wood; I think they might hire me permanently. We’ll see. I’m in sort of a trial period right now as they test me out and I feel them out.

So far, I am really enjoying working there. The atmosphere is fast-paced and exciting. People treat me with respect, which is more than I can say for my last temp job, where I felt degraded when people spoke to me.

The job I’m at now isn’t exactly in my field. Ironically, it’s a job I would have loved to have when I was an undergraduate and more interested in domestic policy. I went to graduate school for international development, but both fields deal with government and policy, so it’s good in that sense.

I’m trying not to get my hopes up too high, but it’s hard not to after being out of work for so long. I think I could be really happy working there. I’m just going to keep my nose to the grindstone and try to make a good impression. That’s all I can do, right?

Sore Throat Remedy

My never fail home remedy for a sore throat is Listerine. Usually I’m all for store-brand products over their more expensive name-brand counterparts, but for this, it’s worth the extra expense to me.

Gargling with Listerine (the minty flavors are more palatable) several times a day for a couple of days gets rid of my sore throat before it turns into a nastier infection. I think it’s the antiseptic in the mouthwash that kills all the germs in my throat. Listerine works for me.

Of course, I use these too.

How do you get rid of sore throats? Do you remember this commercial? Can you say Ricola without yodelling? I can't.