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This week in…: Volume 12

April 10, 2015 by Jana 34 Comments

This week in saving money…Fortunately I live an hour away from many, many outlet stores and since my child decided to grow and needed everything under the sun for the spring and summer, that’s where we went shopping. While my in-laws picked up the tab for her stuff (thank you, in-laws), I bought some stuff for me. Four t-shirt and a hoodie from the Old Navy outlet for roughly $30. That totally works for me.

This week in cooking…Awhile back, I had found a recipe for zucchini bread muffins. I had more zucchini than is necessary on hand so I gave them a try. DELICIOUS. Only this time, I didn’t have vanilla extract. So I substituted almond extract. Even more delicious.

This week in reading…Working my way through Stolen and Mobile Library, not The One Hundred Year Old Man as planned. Full review coming this Tuesday, April 14 for Show Us Your Books.

This week in watching…Nothing new, just lots of SVU reruns and anxiously awaiting the start of Orange is the New Black and True Detective in June. Oh, and we rented The Imitation Game last weekend. Great movie but I truly don’t get everyone’s obsession with Benedict Cumberbatch. Can someone please explain?

This week in listening…I created a movie songs playlist in Spotify. I’m quite pleased with it yet I feel like something is missing. What’s your favorite song from a movie? Let me know in the comments. I’m not sure, though, that I’ll listen to the new podcast about Adnan Syed (you know, the subject of Serial). I might give it a try. Maybe.

This week in things that annoy me…People who, in public, have conversations on speaker phone. The expression “on fleek” (seriously, what the hell is that? So we’re just creating random nonsense words now and then making them things? Let’s not even discuss the fact that I had to look up what it means and the fact that the first time I saw it was on a cheer bow and the second time was on Seth Rogen’s Instagram. Let’s also not discuss how ridiculous that last sentence makes me sound). Bi-polar weather. People who play the follow/unfollow/follow game on social media. My cat.

This week in things that don’t annoy me…Leftovers for lunch. Realizing that when my parents come to visit me this weekend, my favorite bagel store, which closes during Passover, will have reopened because Passover ended the day before they come down so I get my bagels (no one will ever convince me that bagels from anywhere other than New York are worth eating)!!! My daughter having friends over because I don’t have to come up with ways to entertain her or endure 2947326 continuous hours of Victorious, iCarly, and all her other Nickelodeon shows.

This week in internet reads…I’ve got nothing this week but I do have about a dozen links saved (does anyone else abuse the Facebook “save link” feature?) so be prepared for next week’s onslaught.

This week in funnies…

It was an uneventful week here in Delaware and it’s shaping up to be just as uneventful of a weekend, which is just fine by me. See you all on Monday when I’ll be completely ripping off one of Kristen’s post ideas. Have a great weekend!

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#random

April 8, 2015 by Jana 19 Comments

It’s happening. I’m on the #hashtaghumpday bandwagon.

This week is spring break. I don’t even know what I’ve been doing with myself except I’m really glad insomnia picked this week to set in. Because, you know, why sleep when you actually have a chance? #imexhausted

I bought three new candles yesterday and none of them were the scent I actually wanted because the Yankee Candle outlet didn’t have the Chocolate Truffle. But the ones I bought do smell like other food. #imfatsomycandlessmelllikecake

Grocery shopping this week included me buying salad dressing, which I rarely buy because I make my own. After we all ate some of it, we realized the expiration date was in November. 2014. #acmeistryingtopoisonme

I have been trying to read The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared for roughly a month but I keep realizing that I have other books due back before that one and I get sidetracked. #readerproblems

Does anyone else get annoyed when “friends” share stories on Facebook without either a)reading the whole post/article or b)fact check before sharing? No? Just me?#checkyourshitbeforeyoushare

Baseball is back and all is right with the world. And since it’s April, that means the Mets are actually doing well thus far because they haven’t had enough time to fuck it up yet. #buttheywill

Let’s talk Mad Men for a minute. I mostly liked this week’s episode. It had one major flaw, though. Well, two if you count not enough Peggy/Stan screen time. But the one I’m referring to is the horrible atrocity that sat on Roger’s face. I don’t care that most people love it or it’s the quintessential 70s. It made me irrationally angry. #makeitstop #iwanttoshaveitoff

Roscoe P. Coltrane died (well, James Best, the actor who played him died). Jill Duggar had her baby the same day. That is the most bizarre example of the circle of life I can imagine. #obscurecelebritygossipismyjam

This post has no pictures or gifs because I’m too lazy to go look for some. #noshame

I wish I knew just how much of my brain is being taken up by song lyrics because I’m fairly confident that that’s the reason I can’t remember basic things like feeding my dogs or washing my face in the shower. I comfort myself with the fact that my taste in music is spectacular and I’ve made room for what’s important. #musiccomesfirst #clearly

It might not be crazy warm out but it’s warm enough where I can FINALLY turn off the heat in my house. #iloveloweringmybills

Last week, I bought a jar of pickles for our Seder. I ate almost the whole jar by myself in one day. #dontevencare #dontliketoshare

#storyofmylife #iliedbeforeaboutnopictures

Happy Wednesday!

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This week in…: Volume 10

April 3, 2015 by Jana 17 Comments

This week in food…it recently occurred to me that as I’m getting older, I’m starting to enjoy foods that I used to hate. For instance, cauliflower. It still looks like tiny brains and smells like shit when it’s cooking but I’m very much enjoying cauliflower nuggets and the cauliflower version of mashed potatoes (especially when you add cream cheese. YUM). And I’m also enjoying coffee, cantaloupe, and egg salad. I don’t know who I am anymore.

This week in listening…Mumford and Sons and Breaking Benjamin have new songs out. So does Halestorm. It’s candy for my ears.

This week in TV…Have you guys heard of the show Wayward Pines? It premieres next month and it has Matt Dillon, Melissa Leo, Terrance Howard, and a whole bunch of other really good, famous actors plus it’s based on a book series and I’m excited to check out both. It sort of reminds me of The Following mixed with Law and Order and a little horror and science fiction stuff thrown in. Because what I need in my day is another show that fucks with me.

This week in reading…Finished John Sandford’s Deadline because if Erin likes it, I have to check it out. Full recap coming on April 14 for Show Us Your Books. Resumed The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared.

This week in excitement…Our Disney wristbands arrived! And, after a long, sordid tale involving a train derailment, my sister’s family got theirs, too! We’re really going! We’re really going!!!

This week in things that annoy me…couples who share a Facebook account. Not being able to rate with half stars on Goodreads. My dog peeing in the house 5 minutes after I let him out and he pees outside. Parents who are unnecessarily overinvolved in their kids’ activities and then complain that they have no time. Potholes. Wind. Still seeing Christmas recipes and activities on my Pinterest home page. Assholes. People who use poor grammar consistently because really, would using a comma or a period just one time kill you?

This week in internet reading…Did you guys read Kristin’s letter to books? No? Then you need to. Also, if you watched HBO’s airing of the Scientology documentary, you might be interested in Rolling Stone’s interview with Jason Beghe, who left the church. I’ve long said that if my life was ever made into a movie, I’d want Janeane Garofalo to play me, so I loved this post on Hello Giggles about the importance of Ms. Garofalo.

This week in funnies… Let’s start with this guy

Have a great weekend, y’all! Happy Passover and Easter! Or just happy weekend if you don’t celebrate either of those!

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Choose Your Own Adventure: March recap and April goals

April 2, 2015 by Jana 20 Comments

March, where are you? Where did you go, you little bastard of a month? I mean, I’m not sorry that you’re gone but April crawled up on me way too quickly. Which means that it’s time to review how I did on my Choose Your Own Adventure goals for March (theme: relationships) and what I’m planning to work on in April (theme: finances).

March goals and progress

I established 5 relationship goals for the month. Let’s review them and my progress:

Call my grandmother twice. How I did: I give myself 3 stars. I spoke to her once and plan to speak to her again this weekend.
Talk to my parents every week. How I did: Five full stars, baby. I talked to them either by phone or text every single week.
Text my little sister twice. How I did: Zero stars. Not sure why I couldn’t get this one done. It’s not that difficult. I’m ridiculously lazy sometimes.
Make plans with friends I haven’t seen in awhile. How I did: I don’t know how to rate this. I did see Steph and another friend who I have lunch with once a month, and I talked to a couple of people I hadn’t chatted with in many moons, but as far as seeing people? Not so much. HOWEVER. I did go to a neighbor’s birthday party AND had lunch on two separate occasions with cheer families after a competition. That has to count for something, right?
Get better about responding to emails from other bloggers. How I did: Meh. Maybe 3 stars. Probably more like 2. I tried really, really hard, though. Harder than I usually do. I think what it comes down to is this–if I read the email on my iPad or laptop, I’m better about responding than if I read them on my phone. But, the reality is, like with my sister, I’m just lazy.

So, to sum up, my March goals went fine. I could have done better but I can always try harder this month.

April goals

I wasn’t going to participate in April but then I remembered that the theme was finances and realized it’s probably a good choice if I do participate because not only do we have spring break next week, we have our final cheer competition of the season (hooray!) and our trip to Disney (double hooray!) so paying attention to our money is something I definitely need to do.

To achieve that, I’ll be doing the following:

Tracking our budget and expenses using Dave Ramsey’s new budgeting program/app, EveryDollar.
Paying in cash for all expenses at Disney not already paid for (think souvenirs and other random crap. Hotel, tickets, airfare, shuttle, and meals are already taken care of).
Spend a maximum of $25 at cheer competition, not including food or hotel. Gotta love those out of state competitions because they usually turn into this:

That’s all I’m working on this month. I don’t want to set myself up to fail by making my goals completely unrealistic but I don’t want to skate by, either. I think these should cover that.

How about you guys? How are you tracking or managing your finances?

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My Buzzfeed life

April 1, 2015 by Jana 26 Comments

Note: Every detail in this post is derived from my answers to Buzzfeed quizzes. I figured it’d be a good use of my responses and not at all a reason to waste a whole lot of time taking those quizzes. I love these answers because approximately 99% of the answers are so ridiculous I seriously can’t stand it.

Jana passed away at Seattle Grace Hospital, in surgery, not at the age of 54 as her musical tastes dictate, but at the age she acts, 35. She worked as a lamplighter, was a member of The Sharks, and while she belonged living in a Great Plains state, she made her home in Los Angeles after spending time in Portland. She was surrounded by her family: father Jay, stepmother Gloria, siblings Manny, Phil, Claire, Cameron, and Mitch, and their children.

Jana graduated from a private high school before completing her undergraduate degree at Pennbrook College. Her friends remember her as a fully functioning adult with soulful brown eyes, a dark sense of humor, zero tolerance for bullshit, and an overwhelming knowledge of obscure 90s teen movies and an ability to name all the Duggars. She never let her short stature deter her from anything, specifically pursuing her soulmate, Nick Andopolis, investing in serial entrepreneur Tom Haverford’s contact lenses that display text messages, or getting along with the lovestruck ghost living in her room.

Despite her inability to carry on a conversation in Spanish, she loved to travel with her Hollywood BFF Sophia Loren, with whom she drank gin martinis and craft beer.

She will be missed by all who loved her, especially her alter ego, Montgomery.

This week in…: Volume 12

#random

This week in…: Volume 10

Choose Your Own Adventure: March recap and April goals

My Buzzfeed life

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