Tuesday, June 17, 2008

High on Caffeine and Gas Prices and Finitely Generated Sentimentality and Melodrama

Greetings, loyal Nebiverse fans!!

This morning I got a "medium" Hazelnut iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts, and it is MAKING ME SLIGHTLY "ALERT"/HYPER/JITTERY/did I mention HYPER. (!!) I went to visit my good friends/ex-coworkers (those are more or less the same people) at LCCC, and stopped at DD on the way there to bring in a dozen 11 donuts as a thank-you for all the sugary carbohydrates I consumed there over the years. The egg breakfast sandwich was only 99 cents with a medium coffee; otherwise I would have gotten a small. And it was so COLD and HAZELNUTTY and DELICIOUS (and, apparently, full of caffeine or crack cocaine or meth or something. Whee! AAuugghh.)

It is hard to say goodbye to the Lehigh Valley. We are moving to State College, PA in less than two weeks (LESS THAN TWO WEEKS OH GOOD GRACIOUS SHOULD I BE PACKING? Hmmm...) and I am systematically (?) trying to Say Goodbye to all the friends we have made in this place. This morning I saw Ed and Stacey and Michelle, but not Jason or Fred or Lisa or Sukaina. I said goodbye to the Pond of Tranquility at LCCC. Here are some pictures from the mountaintop parking lot:


Pictures can't let you breathe in the air, though.

I took a detour coming home and got a little lost for awhile, drove through the fields and country homes with big yards. I will miss those drives.

Time to go outside for awhile and enjoy the cool summer air.

Love,
Neb

Saturday, June 07, 2008

Yes, I still exist!!

It's about time to update this-here blog, isn't it? Posting has been light the past couple of months, ever since April's "I-will-post-every-day-and-number-down" series while I was at my parents' house (no, I didn't explain what the numbers were at the time... I was hoping to add to the Aura of Mystery. What do you mean, it didn't work??)

Today it is Hot here in the Lehigh Valley, hitting a high of around 94 degrees (and very humid). To beat the heat, I took the Chicken in her new stroller to wander around Linens-N-Things and Babies-R-Us (what's with the middle initial contraction phenomenon? Does it have marketing appeal like spelling words like "town" and "shop" with extraneous letters at the end?) So far I am quite pleased with the new stroller- with the one exception that the wheels seem not QUITE as smooth as they should be. I read somewhere that bits of dirt can get between the wheel and the... uh... bearing?, causing decreased performance. Overall it was a great value for the price, though, with the taller handle (for Nate), deep recline (she napped soundly in the store today), and the portability (lightweight, and with the carry strap I can go up and downstairs pretty easily while carrying the baby and diaper bag as well.) Even thought it's not a one-handed fold design, it's still easy enough that I can fold it while holding the baby. So I'm glad I picked it out. (It came quickly too- wasn't supposed to be here until much later!!) :-)

Anyway, Linens-n-Things was a bust- they're going out of business, so you would expect good deals, right? They have the man out on the street holding the going-out-of-business signs, the millions of bankruptcy signs hanging from the ceiling... BUT, most of their merchandise was 10% off! That's not 10% in addition to regular sale prices... and usually you can find a lot of stuff 25% or 50% off sticker price. Also they weren't accepting coupons anymore! (They used to take Bed Bath and Beyond's coupons... even expired ones!) So no new sheets for us. At BRUS we got the Touch-and-Tickle Rounds and a Boppy Changing Pad Set (same fabric as my Boppy nursing pillow slipcover. Matching is Important, you know.) ;-)

We're moving June 28th, and while I get rid of things we won't be moving with, I'm shopping for new stuff we need. ("Need.") On the list: A new sofa and chair or loveseat; new table (preferably with leaf) and 4 or 6 chairs (my inner geometrer likes the idea of a square or circle table that becomes a rectangle or oval with leaf); a full-size bed (for second bedroom, for Madelaine to sleep on); a dresser and possibly changing table (I like cherry; sleigh style?). It seems like I go through phases of Retail Euphoria, and I'm in a shopping and bargain hunting mode right now. Also, shopping online is easier than doing things like cleaning out the bathroom cabinets in preparation to move...

I should wrap this up- hoping to do a post for the Chicken's ten-month birthday tomorrow, but we'll see- here's a couple of pictures, in closing.

Love, Neb