kill the messenger, i swear it's not me it's just someone i used to know
The past couple days have, overall, been pretty awesome. Let's start with Friday: Woke up to discover that my direct deposit has kicked in, and I got paid 4 days early! We usually get paid on the 15th and the last day of the month, but I knew we would get paid at least a day early, because the school is closed on the 30th for Rosh Hashanah. School is closed for students on the 29th, but the staff has a professional development day, so I don't know why they didn't just pay us then, but hey, I am not going to complain about getting my money early! Then I sold my black desk chair for $40, hooray extra money.
Then, this is one of the really awesome parts. Earlier in the week, Lauren (the roommate, have I mentioned her name yet?) had emailed me a posting on Craigslist for an IKEA bed and nightstand for $120. I jumped on it and emailed the girl, who told me that it was in fact still available, and we started arranging pick up times and all. Now, last weekend (I don't think I told this story yet), Kristian had come up and we'd gone to pick up a bed that she'd found for me for free somewhere. Well that bed had not been disassembled, so trying to get it up the stairs and into my apartment was a friggin' nightmare. We tried taking pieces off to make it easier on ourselves, only to discover that the person who put it together in the first place did it in the worst way possible (using glue on pieces that didn't need to be glued, even going so far as to put CAULK in between two pieces). Needless to say, it didn't happen, and after wasting two hours or so on it, we gave up and scrapped it by the curb. So when I saw the posting Lauren sent me, that said the bed was not only already disassembled, but also came with the instructions for assembly, that seemed like a MUCH better option. So Thursday night (I was supposed to pick the bed up Friday), the woman emailed me saying it'd be helpful if I had a larger vehicle, like a minivan or SUV. Of course I do not, but I told her I thought the pieces would fit in my car, some just might need to be hanging out of the trunk a bit. But Friday she called me and offered to deliver it to me for an extra $20, which was super super nice and saved me an incredible amount of hassle! Plus it took almost no time for Lauren and I to put it together yesterday, and in the end was a much much better deal than the free bed had been. And now I have a nice bed and a matching nightstand and my room no longer looks like a crack den! All I need now is a dresser and a bunch of little things (hooks to hang things on, maybe a couple organizational bins, etc.) and I'll be set!
Oh, yeah, so then the other awesome thing about Friday? My dad got a letter for me in the mail saying that I'm now certified as a teacher of psychology! :D Wooo go me. So glad that Rider's ineptitude at sending my transcripts didn't fuck up my certification applications. And now I have a nifty certification that I'm sure will look nice on my resume. :)
So yesterday started off with the babysitting gig from hell. Seriously, worst family I have ever babysat for, and thankfully, I will never be sitting for them again. As soon as I walked in, the first words out of the youngest child's (3 years old) mouth were "I hate you," which she continued to tell me at regular intervals throughout the four hours I was there. She also liked to throw huge tantrums any time I told her anything; for example, at one point early on, she came over and asked me for a tissue because the box was right next to me. I gave her one, she wiped her nose and proceeded to throw the tissue on the floor. "Is that where the tissue goes? You know where the garbage is. Put it in the trash." She ignored me and left the tissue on the floor, so when she came back a few minutes later asking for another tissue, I said "Sure, when you throw out the one you've already used." Cue screaming, crying, running for her mommy. Delightful. These tantrums happened after almost every time I spoke to her, I'm not even kidding. Then her brother (5 years old) wanted my help building a fort in his room. Aside from a distinct lack of words like "please" and "will you" in his vocabulary, that mostly went okay. His mother had told him when he started that he could build his fort, but when he was done he needed to put everything away. After he "wrecks" (his word) the fort by accidentally pulling the blankets down, he sulks for a bit and then starts playing with something else. I tell him he has two choices: we can either try again with the fort and see if we can make it better, or he needs to clean it up and put the stuff away. His response to that is to run away and hide from me inside the house, then run around the outside of the house and continue to hide from me for at least the next half hour or so. Does mom inflict any consequences when she comes home to see him eating a snack and the fort materials still all over his room? Of course not. Does mom inflict any consequences when the girl adds hitting and kicking to her declarations of hatred? Of course not. So uh, yeah, that was a delightful way to spend my morning. My favorite was the email the mom sent me later that evening saying "I'm sorry the morning didn't go better. For whatever reason, I don't think it seemed like a good fit for either of us." Really, I can't even begin to imagine why it wasn't a "good fit". Oy.
However, after the disaster of a morning, the day did improve significantly. As I mentioned earlier, Lauren and I put my bed together, removing the homeless look from my room. Then, we got to go shopping!!! This was super exciting for me because I don't think I've been shopping for myself in months. I got an awesome pair of gray pants from Express, on sale for $14.99! I apparently only buy pants from them when they're on sale, which is totally ok by me. The ones I got fit perfectly in the waist/butt/hips areas, and they're too long, of course, but I'm sure I can get them hemmed if it's really a problem. Then, at Old Navy, I got these jeans on sale for $20, this sweater dress (which, I decided after trying it on, will work much better as a sweater jacket/coat than a dress) on sale for $25, and this dress that was not on sale. As part of their sale this weekend, Old Navy was offering 20% off $50 or more, 30% off $75 or more, and 40% off $100 or more. My total, for those three items? $74.50. I was like, seriously, just give me something cheap to put me at $75, that's just ridiculous. Fortunately, there was a little tub of lip gloss and stuff at the next register, so I grabbed a tube of strawberry mint that I will probably use twice, but it got me my 30% off, so I was pleased. And now I have a bunch of new clothes I can't wait to wear. :)
Today is going to be my productive-around-the-apartment day. Need to do about a hundred loads of laundry, finish cleaning up and organizing my room, put stuff in my desk, organize the piles of papers that have been accumulating on top of the desk, and probably some other little things as well. To that end, I should probably go get a shower. This week, by the way, is also going to be awesome, because professional development day Monday (no students), and then two days off Tuesday and Wednesday! We need more weeks like that. And then, next week, on the 8th, I go to Toronto for 5 days, YAY!!! :D Can't wait. You all have a good week!
Then, this is one of the really awesome parts. Earlier in the week, Lauren (the roommate, have I mentioned her name yet?) had emailed me a posting on Craigslist for an IKEA bed and nightstand for $120. I jumped on it and emailed the girl, who told me that it was in fact still available, and we started arranging pick up times and all. Now, last weekend (I don't think I told this story yet), Kristian had come up and we'd gone to pick up a bed that she'd found for me for free somewhere. Well that bed had not been disassembled, so trying to get it up the stairs and into my apartment was a friggin' nightmare. We tried taking pieces off to make it easier on ourselves, only to discover that the person who put it together in the first place did it in the worst way possible (using glue on pieces that didn't need to be glued, even going so far as to put CAULK in between two pieces). Needless to say, it didn't happen, and after wasting two hours or so on it, we gave up and scrapped it by the curb. So when I saw the posting Lauren sent me, that said the bed was not only already disassembled, but also came with the instructions for assembly, that seemed like a MUCH better option. So Thursday night (I was supposed to pick the bed up Friday), the woman emailed me saying it'd be helpful if I had a larger vehicle, like a minivan or SUV. Of course I do not, but I told her I thought the pieces would fit in my car, some just might need to be hanging out of the trunk a bit. But Friday she called me and offered to deliver it to me for an extra $20, which was super super nice and saved me an incredible amount of hassle! Plus it took almost no time for Lauren and I to put it together yesterday, and in the end was a much much better deal than the free bed had been. And now I have a nice bed and a matching nightstand and my room no longer looks like a crack den! All I need now is a dresser and a bunch of little things (hooks to hang things on, maybe a couple organizational bins, etc.) and I'll be set!
Oh, yeah, so then the other awesome thing about Friday? My dad got a letter for me in the mail saying that I'm now certified as a teacher of psychology! :D Wooo go me. So glad that Rider's ineptitude at sending my transcripts didn't fuck up my certification applications. And now I have a nifty certification that I'm sure will look nice on my resume. :)
So yesterday started off with the babysitting gig from hell. Seriously, worst family I have ever babysat for, and thankfully, I will never be sitting for them again. As soon as I walked in, the first words out of the youngest child's (3 years old) mouth were "I hate you," which she continued to tell me at regular intervals throughout the four hours I was there. She also liked to throw huge tantrums any time I told her anything; for example, at one point early on, she came over and asked me for a tissue because the box was right next to me. I gave her one, she wiped her nose and proceeded to throw the tissue on the floor. "Is that where the tissue goes? You know where the garbage is. Put it in the trash." She ignored me and left the tissue on the floor, so when she came back a few minutes later asking for another tissue, I said "Sure, when you throw out the one you've already used." Cue screaming, crying, running for her mommy. Delightful. These tantrums happened after almost every time I spoke to her, I'm not even kidding. Then her brother (5 years old) wanted my help building a fort in his room. Aside from a distinct lack of words like "please" and "will you" in his vocabulary, that mostly went okay. His mother had told him when he started that he could build his fort, but when he was done he needed to put everything away. After he "wrecks" (his word) the fort by accidentally pulling the blankets down, he sulks for a bit and then starts playing with something else. I tell him he has two choices: we can either try again with the fort and see if we can make it better, or he needs to clean it up and put the stuff away. His response to that is to run away and hide from me inside the house, then run around the outside of the house and continue to hide from me for at least the next half hour or so. Does mom inflict any consequences when she comes home to see him eating a snack and the fort materials still all over his room? Of course not. Does mom inflict any consequences when the girl adds hitting and kicking to her declarations of hatred? Of course not. So uh, yeah, that was a delightful way to spend my morning. My favorite was the email the mom sent me later that evening saying "I'm sorry the morning didn't go better. For whatever reason, I don't think it seemed like a good fit for either of us." Really, I can't even begin to imagine why it wasn't a "good fit". Oy.
However, after the disaster of a morning, the day did improve significantly. As I mentioned earlier, Lauren and I put my bed together, removing the homeless look from my room. Then, we got to go shopping!!! This was super exciting for me because I don't think I've been shopping for myself in months. I got an awesome pair of gray pants from Express, on sale for $14.99! I apparently only buy pants from them when they're on sale, which is totally ok by me. The ones I got fit perfectly in the waist/butt/hips areas, and they're too long, of course, but I'm sure I can get them hemmed if it's really a problem. Then, at Old Navy, I got these jeans on sale for $20, this sweater dress (which, I decided after trying it on, will work much better as a sweater jacket/coat than a dress) on sale for $25, and this dress that was not on sale. As part of their sale this weekend, Old Navy was offering 20% off $50 or more, 30% off $75 or more, and 40% off $100 or more. My total, for those three items? $74.50. I was like, seriously, just give me something cheap to put me at $75, that's just ridiculous. Fortunately, there was a little tub of lip gloss and stuff at the next register, so I grabbed a tube of strawberry mint that I will probably use twice, but it got me my 30% off, so I was pleased. And now I have a bunch of new clothes I can't wait to wear. :)
Today is going to be my productive-around-the-apartment day. Need to do about a hundred loads of laundry, finish cleaning up and organizing my room, put stuff in my desk, organize the piles of papers that have been accumulating on top of the desk, and probably some other little things as well. To that end, I should probably go get a shower. This week, by the way, is also going to be awesome, because professional development day Monday (no students), and then two days off Tuesday and Wednesday! We need more weeks like that. And then, next week, on the 8th, I go to Toronto for 5 days, YAY!!! :D Can't wait. You all have a good week!