I got my bag from Bluefly.com today.

The UPS guy drove up just as I was starting the hideous task of de-jungling my yard and flower beds. Jonathan’s birthday is on Saturday and he has opted to take his geeky self and several of his geeky friends down to his office to spend the whole day and night with their geeky computers all networked together to play endless amounts of geeky computer games.

Not MY idea of a fantabulous birthday, but since I don’t have a million and one Leathermans, flashlights, phones and other forms of geekary attached to my belt at all times, I know that I “Just don’t get it”. It’s his day, he can do what he wants. I just want him to be happy.

As I will be kid-free that night, I will most likely be curled up with a good book or movie and possibly a vat of cookie dough, but you didn’t hear that here.

Back to my yard.

Since Jonathan is turning 32 (YES. HE IS OLDER THAN I AM, OK? He loves calling me “Mrs. Robinson”. We are not amused.), I did want to celebrate his birthday at some point. We have good friends that grew up with Jonathan visiting from Virgina and since we wanted to get together with everyone we just decided to throw a BBQ on Friday to celebrate both events.

Which means our first outdoor party of the year.

Which means I don’t just have to clean my house, I also have to get my yard ready. Which is not easy. My trip to Minnesota (and my inadequacy of dealing with my life-suck) has put me WAY behind on my yard. The biggest problem has been with our mower. It has been at the shop since the first thaw and so my yard has been HORRIBLE. The weeds in my area are crazy bad, too. It took a very long time, some serious swearing and about 3 herniations to get the whole project done.

I swear I thought I was going to find Jimmy Hoffa amongst the weeds in my back garden. GAH! I managed to get the 200 lbs of Sienna red chips scattered, all the flowers planted and my herbs potted, and made sure that all half acre of the lawn was mowed, even though it means that I am going to need to take eleventyhundred Aleve so that I can walk tomorrow. Although, since I also had a rehearsal full of the Charleston combined with tons of frantic house cleaning, I REALLY don’t think that there is much chance of that. I am in bucketloads of back pain and I can just imagine what a night on my suckass bed is going to make me feel like in the morning.
Back to my yard. Again.
All through my gardening process, I kept eying my box from Bluefly. I left it on the porch as a visual reminder that I had something AWESOME waiting for me. Call it a, ‘Don’t stick the pruning clippers in your eye, Loralee. Just finish the damn garden so you can open me!” pep talk if you will.
I finally got the last of the weeds thrown in the wheelbarrow as it turned officially dark and then went inside to guzzle water and open my box to see my new purse!!!!

DUDE.

Total disappointment.

It’s…Boring. And stiff. And the leather is nubby, which you can’t see in the photo and which I hate. The ruffles look stiff and awkward instead of feminine and it just isn’t something that I really want to spend a hundred bucks on, even if it was 60% off.

AND…it was designed by JESSICA SIMPSON.

I think that last tidbit was the final nail in the coffin for me.

It’s so disappointing.

It’s SO being sent back.

I need to cut it out with the posts that sound like birds chirping, huh?

One of my newest blog crushes is Jennifer from “Playgroups are no place for children”. (She also gets to live by Casey which makes me green with envy as Casey is one awesome bloggity date.)

Jennifer’s post for today is about being a cheapskate and her love of purchasing generic items. It started my brain spiraling in a million different directions so I thought I might as well dump it here since I am now going through the aisles of my grocery store in my head and thinking about what I will and will not spend money on.

I am not a careless shop-a-holic. I think and think and think before actually plunking money down on something with two exceptions:

I will totally splurge on eating out.

I do it with ease.

I hem and haw about spending money on clothes but I can drop a wad on a great meal without batting an eye.

I have always thought that was sad, but if you only knew the memories and pure love of food that I have. (Well, I did weigh 280 at one point, so maybe it isn’t all that difficult to grasp after all.)

Splurge number two?

The grocery store.

There are still times that I am quite enchanted with being an adult. Sure, most of the “I am grown up and on my own!” rosiness has worn off but there are still times when I am in the grocery store that I think “I can buy whatever I want with the money that I have??!!!! SQUEE!!!!”

So, I am not often overly careful at the store. I don’t clip coupons, but I buy on sale if I can and I am always aware of good meat sales. If I can save I will, but not at the expense of getting what I want.

That said? I genuinely like a lot of generic products.

GENERICS I WUV:

Medication: I ALWAYS buy generic if I can. This is the area that I see the price difference the very most. The savings are huge and the product is great.

Maxi Pads: (Warning! Possible TMI ahead!) They work fine for me. I am not a Mount Vesuvius period girl, so it’s all good. I do buy name brand tampons, though.

Spray Bleach and cleaning products in general: Clorox charges twice as much for an identical product. I’ll stick with my $1 bottle, thanks. Same with glass cleaner and toilet bowl cleaner. (Exception: Dollar store cleaners are hideous. Just so you know. They do not count)

Hair care and styling products: I wouldn’t have put this on the list before, but since my awesome sister-in-law, Nooncy bought me the “Don’t go to the make up counter without me” and “Don’t buy hair products without me” books, I am just FINE buying drugstore shampoo, conditioner and products.

You wouldn’t believe how much easier it is to style my hair how I want because I have EVERYTHING. Waxes, sprays, gels, putty’s, leave in conditioners, creams, EVERYTHING. And it is all thanks to Garnier. Before I had these books I would plunk down 35.00 for one bottle of shine enhancer. Now I have one I LIKE BETTER and it cost me $3.00!

So? I can have tons of products now for the same price and I love it.

Cereal: This is a split category. There are some generic cereals that are acceptable like knock offs of Honey Nut Cheerios, Frosted Mini-Wheats, and Sugar Puffs.

Shoes: I LOVE good shoes. But I also find cute shoes at PayLess, too.

Bras: After finding the Hanes All Over comfort Bra, I don’t know if I’ll go back to VS except for special occasions. I heart them.

Salsa: I love WalMart’s Black Bean Salsa. I prefer it over all others, actually.

Milk: I prefer the cheaper store brand, actually.

Eggs: Same thing.

Pull ups: They worked totally fine for us and were much cheaper.

Dishwasher Soap: I have to buy the better stuff that contains jet dry now, because my dishwasher kinda sucks, but my parents have a rockin’ dishwasher and generic is fine.

Skin Care: I HEART WalMart’s Equate brand of skin care. They knock off some very good products by Olay, Nuetragena, ect. and they work as well has the original for SO much less. Next to medication, this is the biggest money saver in generics. According to Fussy, Equate also has a generic Eucerine version that is only $3 instead of $15 that I MUST check out.

Teeth Whitening Strips: By Eqaute. Yup. They work swell and it’s $15 vs $30.

Body Wash: They work just fine, although I do love the Olay uber moisturizing one and Bath and Body Works makes my heart sing.

Meat: This is a biggie for me. I have to buy chicken, beef, etc. from the butcher. I only buy Tyson as a last resort.

THINGS I WILL NOT SKIMP ON:

Ice cream: Since my gastric bypass, Ice Cream makes me feel sick, but I love it. SO, the rare times I indulge it had better be GOOD.

Soda: ONLY Diet Coke for me, thanks. Generic soda sucks.

Cereal: Lucky Charms, Rice Krispies and Golden Grahams all have to be name brand.

Laundry: I have to have Bounce fabric sheets. As for laundry detergent, Gain and Tide with Bleach, oh, how I Love Thee! Jonathan did pick up a box of Arm and Hammer when they were out of the size we like to buy and I have to say that I am actually liking it. It’s kind of strong, but hello? You are talking to someone who could snort the entire laundry aisle of the supermarket and die happy.

Peaches: I will never buy anything but Dole Plastic Bottled Peaches again. We are having a torrid affair, and I don’t see it dying down soon. Fruit in general, I have to buy name brand or it is icky.

Ketchup and Mustard: The generics usually suck.

Diapers: I have to have pampers for my babies. The others gave them rashes.

Spaghetti Sauce: UG. I can’t even think about it.

Bread: I have to have Grandma Sycamore’s. Dude, if Granny ever kicks the bucket I don’t know what I’ll do.

String Cheese: I cannot tolerate generic string cheese. It has to be the one with the illustration of the string cheese guy with wacky string cheese hair (I totally can’t remember the name and can’t find it online, so it is what it is.)

Lunch Meat: This.is.huge.for.me. Is there anything more disgusting than “Pressed Meat”? EWE.

I eat a turkey sandwich practically every day of my life for lunch and so I have to have good lunch meat. I would really prefer to get it at the deli counter, but for some reason my husband is on the opposite end of the scale in this argument. We have agreed to compromise on Oscar Meyer Roasted Turkey Breast and call it good.

I’m sure that there are many more things, but I’ll leave it at this for now.

SO? You? Do you have issues with generics? Do you love them with the power of a thousand burning suns?

Is it horrible to admit that there are times that I just don’t feel like writing? I mean, they don’t happen all that often, but happen they do.

Tonight is one of those moments.

I try to never let more than three days pass without posting (And really, I prefer daily or every other day) but tonight I am just so content in my real life that it almost seems sinful to open up my laptop. I had a lovely evening. Jon’s family came over and we ate, played games and watched one of the best movies of all time, “The Muppet Christmas Carol”.

After laughing and crying over those delightful muppet creatures, we watched “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” and Jon sang, “You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch” for everyone. He sang it at his company Christmas party last night. Well, we both sang.  Ever since she found out that Jonathan and I met in Chamber Choir at college, the receptionist has been trying to get the two of us to sing.

We finally gave it and did it.  We performed with a jazz duo, my sister in law who is a gifted jazz pianist, and an electric bass player. We wanted to show a range of styles so we did three traditional English carols, then we did the jazzy, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” and Jon soloed on the Grinch piece. He is SO freaking talented. You all should hear him. He won’t let me post the video, but he rocked the house and I think we sounded ok on our pieces.

We wrapped up the evening by playing Apples to Apples, a game of hilarity that every family should own.

It was so nice having family around.

After they left, Jon and I cleaned everything up and I finally got my house whipped into shape. I probably should have done it before the relatives came, but the day was a bit crazy.

Right now, my kids are happy, clean, full and sleeping. My husband is soaking in the tub and I am having a nearly perfect holiday moment.

It isn’t often that I am comfortable in the quiet of my own company, but this moment is an almost perfect experience.

My house is clean. The floors are swept, the furniture polished, and everything is in its place. The air still smells like the Wassail Jon and I drank after we cleaned the kitchen. All the lights are off, but the there is a lovely glow from many cinnamon apple candles and soft white twinkle lights strewn here and there in my living room. I have Christmas music playing and I’m stretched out on my couch wrapped up in a fluffy blanket clicking away on my new laptop.

If you could put Christmas in a box and open it, it would be my living room right this very moment.

I am not sure if there is a heaven or not, but if there is?

Please let it be like this.