13149 Days Old

The whole “years” thing is overrated.  Let’s talk days.  There have been 13, 149 of them in my life.  Some of them, happier, some of them not so happy.  I think there are many happy days ahead of me.  Something just tells me that, call it birthday intuition.
I don’t look back at the last two years with total joy.  There have been certainly some great times (thanks to my friends and family) and there have been some rough patches.  No need for any unpleasantness.  I’m optimistic for what the next year and my future holds.
Certainly this past year has been an improvement.  I moved downtown, became closer with some old friends and got to know newer friends.  My family has grown with the addition of Ayden.  That boy smiled the entire time he was at my place yesterday.  It’s so great to see him and play with the little tike.
I’m up early this morning because, well, because.  I want to get some cleaning around the place done because instead of doing it during my birthweek, I sat on the couch getting over this danged cold.  I’m still a little stuffy and have a cough but for the most part, it’s moved on.  At least I can say that.  My day also involves a trip to Steelyard (again!)  The sales associate at Home Depot cut not one, not two but three keys I needed made incorrectly.  Believe it or not, not one of them fit in my door.  Currently, I don’t have spares and I think my good luck is running thin on the getting lucky I haven’t locked myself out department.  I think I’ll bike there and most definately get the workout in today.
Two quick taawd stories about life “before taawd” or BT as I like to say… When my mother was pregnant with her she loved one food and hated another.  Here’s the funny part, I share those feelings.  I still love Big Macs.  My mother has told me she couldn’t get enough of them when she was carrying me.  I HATE cottage cheese.  Strangely enough, my mother, who likes it, couldn’t stand to look, smell or eat it when she was pregnant with me.  I think it’s so funny how your tastes are formed so early.  Summary: love Big Macs, hate cottage cheese
Anyhow, I got a birthday card this year that makes me absolutely beam.  It really does mean so much to me.  Sometimes people do and say things that do make a difference.  I await the birthday facebooks, myspaces, blog comments, e-mails, texts and phone calls throughout the rest of the day.
In advance, thanks for helping me celebrate my special day,

Wally World Adventure

I got invited to a BBQ thrown, in part, by my friends, Rodger & Rebecca on the Viaduct. The best part, I didn’t even have to drive anywhere because of the proximity of my apartment. I volunteered to bring the dessert, a fruit pizza. I’ll post the recipe later for those of you who may want to try it yourself.

I needed to get the ingredients and a bunch of other things for my place (read: the cupboard was bare.) I went to Steelyard Commons and my friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart. First, they didn’t have strawberries. How can they be out of strawberries? I know it’s not exactly strawberry season here in Ohio but it’s still very bizarre that they didn’t have them.

After about a half hour of wheeling my cart around the store, I decided to finish up with a trip to the Health & Beauty section to look for some Q-tips. I don’t like off-brands or Johnson’s Cotton Swabs. I want Q-tips. I go up and down the aisles looking for them and to no avail until I ask some saleswoman who points me to her cart. It has Johnson’s, I tell her I want Q-tips, she was a little exasperated that I couldn’t use Johnson’s and finally takes me to them. By the way, they’re in the Baby Care aisle. That doesn’t make any sense to me, I would have never found them there.

I finally arrive at the checkout to find the lines at least 4 or 5 people deep. I secure my spot, wait and realize I forgot charcoal. I tell the lady next to me that I’ll be back and to go ahead of me if necessary. I get the goods, race back and find she’s let someone else in front of us. That was fine but what happened next, wasn’t.

A man (looked to be in his 20’s) with a kid had just scanned through $258.41 (let’s say) of food. I also noticed on the belt, a box of Magnum XL condoms. I didn’t know what to think at this point. The clerk announced his total, he slid his first credit card, it didn’t work. He tried another one, it was declined as well. He told the clerk, he had $180.00 worth of cash on him and he’s going to have to give back some of the merchandise.

At this point, he starts pulling products out of the bags in his cart and the clerk voids them off his bill. I was in a rush but there wasn’t anything I could do. I sympathized with him. I just waited and watched as food came out and was to be put back on the shelf. It was kind of like being on the Price Is Right. I started guessing the prices of each of the products he brought out of his bag. He ended up pulling about $80.00 worth of stuff out of the bags. Milk, meat, cereal, juice, more meat, donuts, bread, cheese, the stuff you really need for you and, I assume, your family. What he didn’t pull out (bad choice of words?) were those Magnum XL condoms. Those were staying put.

He paid up and so did I. I left in a rush to go to Dave’s Supermarket to get the strawberries so I could make up the fruit pizza. I was a half-hour late to the BBQ, which wasn’t a problem, but it was mostly because of Wal-Mart’s lack of strawberries and Mr. Magnum XL man.

I wonder if this is his favorite ride at Cedar Point? Didn’t someone at the park do some fact checking first before they named the ride?

The Things You Buy…

I took a trip to Target, Wal-Mart and Marshalls today in Steelyard Commons. I had to laugh about three products I found.

1.) My new stainless steel garbage can. Why are they priced at $80? I didn’t pay that. You have to look at “Clearance” endcaps. I found a simplehuman trash can that retailed originally for $79.99 and I got it at Target for $34.00. I don’t feel like I threw out my money out with the trash.

2.) Some cereal I bought today exclaims “Now Better Tasting”. I was excited to see that now I’m going to really like it. I liked the taste before. After tasting it, I didn’t notice any difference in the taste.

3.) Another product I got says “Best If Used by 23:09 DEC 14, 2008”. So if I cook it at 11:10pm that day, it’s not going to be as good? I don’t think products need to be so exact.