Tuesday, September 18, 2012

best of times, worst of times.

Ok so I'm gonna take a step up onto my soap box here.


Kids. Stop it. Stop now. Think. You are taking life for granted. You are not only ruining your own life, but the lives of others.

Why? If you aren't killing yourselves in one way, shape, or form, you're doing it to someone else. When you hurt someone else, realize, you aren't just hurting them. You are hurting the ones that love them too!

A guy died today. And I know, he's not the only person who died today in the whole wide world. He was just some local guy who was trying to make his way, and he was trying to do it the way a lot of the kids here in Polk County are trying to, by making it to the big time. Now, what does that mean? Well for some stupid reason, around here, it seems like it means you gotta hurt, or you gotta hurt someone. For once I would like to see a head line that reads "Polk County Man Wins Nobel Peace Prize" or some whacked out shit like that. I will never understand why what happened over the past few hours happened, but all I know is I had to listen to a woman pretty much lose her mind with grief. In the break room today we got news that a guy we used to work with, and I'm assuming that she knew on a much more private basis, died today. He died because he tried to do the right thing. He tried to talk a couple people out of hurting each other. He tried to break up a fight. Instead, they turned on him. Now he's dead.

Dead.

Gone.

Finished.

Do you comprehend that?

A man is dead. Someone's child.

Someone's friend.

He's never coming back

And it's all because you kids can't seem to get your shit together.

I've grown up watching this crap. It's stupid. You feel like you've gotta be this untouchable hard ass.

Congrats. Now this man is dead. And another one will be living a worthless life in prison.

There will only be true happiness when we know true peace.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

clean your walls the easy way.

Ok here is a trick I learned from a friend of mine who smokes.

As an ex-smoker I know what it's like to not be able to always smoke outside, especially living in Florida. It rains sideways, we have bugs large enough to carry off unattended small children, and sometimes it's just too damn hot. She rents and they aren't supposed to smoke inside. So this is what she does after the "holy crap screw this I'm not smoking out there!!" incidents.

You take a swiffer dry and attach the wet pads. You can also soak a rag in diluted pine sol or fabuloso.

I used the Dollar General Wet pads for the Swiffer.

You simply get your pad and Swiffer together and begin to scrub your walls.

Just make sure you take your frying pan screen off the wall first >.>

This really doesn't work on walls with heavy texture like spackeling (sp?! spell check can't seem to figure that one out....) because it tears the pad to tiny little pieces and makes an even worse mess.

Let me know how it worked for you!



Saturday, September 15, 2012

Swiffer Wet Jet!

Are you sick of buying all those refills for the Swiffer Wet Jet?


Well here's my solution!


 Take your empty Swiffer bottle. Get the cap off. This is hard to do! It's on there tight! My conspiracy theorist side thinks it's because they don't want you to figure this out. >.> 


Then you need to fill the bottle up with Pine Sol, Fabuloso, whatever you would normally use sans Swiffer!

I usually fill to right about here..... I like lavender...Can you tell?



After you get your smell good stuff in there, fill it up and fix your cap back on!

You are now good to go!

Let me know what you think!

DIY Swiffer dry

So this is my way of substituting the dry clothes that Swiffer sells. It's so much cheaper.

First things first! 

You need a cloth




Two rubber bands, or strong clamps, if your clothes pins will hold up to the job then go for it!

I use the two rubber bands to hold down the cloth like so.


Prepare for grossness... I do have two cats and a dog and this is after like 4 days of not sweeping. (I have been way to busy with work and school.)



Let me know how it worked for you!


Doing the Kool Aid dye job! (and a lot more)

I decided to have a full spa day since I haven't had a day off in quite sometime.

So far I have done a full face peel made out of items found at home. Results here. Loved the results and I can say that now it's the end of the night my face still feels really smooth and not greasy at all. 

I painted my nails (which I'm horrible at, but trying to get better [p.s. Pinterest and Google are my friend]) and subsequently removed the polish because it started chipping IMMEDIATELY. Apparently I've been doing this wrong my whole life.... 

Tips I've learned today (which you would think more people would consider us not so girlie types and put this crap out there for us to read!!!!!!)

Step 1. Make sure that your nails are clean. For example if you had nail polish on before make sure you got it all off. Then wipe your nails down with alcohol to remove any gunk. (Some people have said wash your hands after that so they are nice and clean) Allow to dry.

Step 2. Apply a good (I'm guessing this is it's own type of lacquer) base coat. ( I still have no idea what brands are good......anyone wanting to fill me in please do.) Allow to dry.

Step 3. Apply color lacquer, designs, etc. There are a billion different fun ways to do this, which I will be highlighting as I do each one. (Planing on doing an ombre one I found on Pinterest.) Allow to dry ( got that yet?)

Step 4.  Apply top coat. (Yet again I have NO clue what is a good one.) Allow to dry (this feels like it takes forever and a day..........) 

Ok so Kool Aid dye job! I chose red for this one be cause I hope that's what color my hair turns out....

So here were my directions.

Take 2-3 packets (more or less depending on how much hair  you're doing) of Kool Aid, whichever color you want. I wanted a bright red so I chose Fruit Punch. 

Add just a touch, a little tiny bit of water. So that it becomes more of a thin paste. Then add conditioner until it starts to become a paste with chunks. Mine were small chunks. You may need help applying. FYI. My boyfriend helped me because I'm truly catastrophic with most things revolving around dye. 

After you have applied what you want then wrap your hair with stretch wrap. If you did your whole head, well have fun with that one. I just did the tips of my hair. I am a dirty blonde, so I've read it should hold for almost a month for me. We'll see about that, no color known to man has ever held that long in my hair, hence why I don't dye it anymore.

You leave your hair tied up in the stretch wrap "over night" I did this during the day, so in about 2 more hours I will take mine off. I'm guessing you should leave it in as long as possible. For a longer lasting, deeper color. 

If you do dye your hair over night then protect your pillowcase with an old towel.

Whenever you remove stretch wrap you should rinse your hair ONLY. NO WASHING.

Style as usual.

My results!

Didn't do so well this time not even worth taking a pic of it... I let my boyfriend do the application, and let's just say he won't be receiving his cosmetology license ANY time soon.

I will be doing this again at a later day and will post a new blog with results!


DIY Biore mask!

So I am in the drying process of the DIY Biore strips I found on this blog which I found on Pinterest. Aside from the horrible smell and my boyfriend's ever so hilarious bukake innuendos, all seem to be going well. I might have gotten some on my eyebrow. I really hope it doesn't yank them out!

I don't use plastic cups and the such so, I used what I usually use for leftover containers, a I Can't Believe It's Not Butter cup. Just tossed it when I was done. I also used the back side of my spoon that I stirred with to apply the strips!

15 minutes later..

Not dry yet

20 minutes later....

I think I did this crap too thick

25 minutes later....


It came out great. Aside from a little bit of a messy clean up it worked fine.

My tips. Avoid any hair, hair line, eyebrows, etc. Try not to put on too thick.

If you do manage to get some in any hair, the trick is to wait until you're done peeling and then just rub the gel out with some warm water. Tada!

Friday, September 14, 2012

Why I WON'T be shopping with Staples...ever....

So I've been shopping for a new computer. This one is about to die on me and it's going to cost me more to repair it than it would to just by a nice new refurbished one! After driving around all over this town (read county) I have discovered two things:

1. There is construction everywhere....for no reason.....
2. Computers are outrageously overpriced.......

Aside from that I decided to just comparison shop at home for a few days. While surfing through Staples.com I noticed something. NONE of their computers have graphics card information listed. What the who????? On top of that the stupid "LIVE HELP CHAT" keeps on flashing up on my screen screaming to be touched like a crazy nympho on crack. So I finally cave and click it thinking maybe they can help me find the info, maybe I'm just blind. After all it's happened before.

"Babe, where's my keys?"
"I dunno..."
"You must have put them somewhere. I always leave them in my purse."
-Que the 20 minute search for keys just to find them in my purse where I looked in the first place.-

Any whoodle. Here's a copy from my email of the convo. Have fun kids.

This is an automated email sent from the Staples Live Chat department. The following information is a log of your session. Please save the log for your records.
Your session ID for this chat is 2703363.
TimeDetails
09/13/2012 06:49:25PMSystem: "Welcome to Staples Live Chat. We will be with you shortly."
09/13/2012 06:49:27PMSystem: "For security purposes, please do not send credit card information through chat. Should credit information be required for a transaction, a Staples associate will contact you by phone for the required information."
09/13/2012 06:49:33PMSession Started with Agent (Umesh T.)
09/13/2012 06:50:05PMAshley: "I can't find any information on the graphics cards that are in any of the desktops"
09/13/2012 06:50:14PMAgent (Umesh T.): "Hello Ashley, I hope you’re doing well. I’d be happy to assist you with your questions."
09/13/2012 06:51:06PMAgent (Umesh T.): "Which desktop were you looking at?"
09/13/2012 06:51:07PMAshley: "Why isn't there any graphics card info listed on these computers? I can't find it anywhere."
09/13/2012 06:51:30PMAshley: "I am looking at several."
09/13/2012 06:51:57PMAgent (Umesh T.): "What are you using the desktop for?"
09/13/2012 06:52:18PMAshley: "I need a desktop with over 2.4 ghz processor and a decent enough graphics card to play your typical MMORPGs and pc games like The Sims 3"
09/13/2012 06:53:31PMAshley: "Also capable of 3rd party upgrades. I don't want to have to go through HP or whichever company it's made by just to get a power supply or cd/dvd drive."
09/13/2012 06:54:11PMAshley: "I am researching computers on the site and a lot of the refurbished computers don't have any graphics card info listed."
09/13/2012 06:55:26PMAshley: "For instance, this refurbished computer has the processor strength I need, but mentions nothing of a graphics card. Item: 780247 Model: ST2-0077"
09/13/2012 06:56:09PMAshley: "I am not very computer literate, but I have good enough sense to be able to research the graphics cards. I just can't find the info on any of the computers' pages."
09/13/2012 06:59:00PMAgent (Umesh T.): "Sorry I cannot find any information about the graphics card in that computer."
09/13/2012 06:59:48PMAshley: "That's what I'm saying. I can't find the graphics info on any of the computers..........."
09/13/2012 07:01:39PMAgent (Umesh T.): "May I help you with anything else today?"
09/13/2012 07:02:03PMAshley: "Yeah graphics info on your computers. that's what you're here for right? to help"
09/13/2012 07:02:57PMAgent (Umesh T.): "I can't find any information on that model of desktop for you. Sorry.May I help you with anything else today?"
09/13/2012 07:04:08PMAshley: "NONE OF YOUR COMPUTERS have graphics info listed. I need to know what graphics cards they have before purchasing. Is there ANYONE anyone ANYONE at all in the help center you work at who. Oh I don't know knows computers??? Can maybe help me??????????"
09/13/2012 07:04:28PMAgent (Umesh T.): "May I help you with anything else today?"
09/13/2012 07:04:50PMAshley: "YES I NEED GRAPHICS CARD INFO FOR YOUR COMPUTERS"
09/13/2012 07:05:03PMAgent (Umesh T.): "May I help you with anything else today?"
09/13/2012 07:05:33PMAshley: "Are you serious right now? I need to know info for your computers. It's not listed. On any computer. At all. Ever."
09/13/2012 07:05:48PMAgent (Umesh T.): "May I help you with anything else today?"
09/13/2012 07:06:34PMAshley: "That is the only thing I need help with. IF you are inept please find someone who isn't."
09/13/2012 07:06:50PMAgent (Umesh T.): "May I help you with anything else today?"
09/13/2012 07:07:06PMAshley: "Yes send me to someone who is capable of answering my question."
09/13/2012 07:07:14PMAgent (Umesh T.): "May I help you with anything else today?"
09/13/2012 07:07:29PMAshley: "NO JUST SEND ME TO SOMEONE WHO CAN ACTUALLY HELP PLEASE"
09/13/2012 07:07:34PMAgent (Umesh T.): "May I help you with anything else today?"
09/13/2012 07:08:06PMAshley: "NO send me to someone else."
09/13/2012 07:08:08PMAshley: "NO"
09/13/2012 07:08:09PMAshley: "no"
09/13/2012 07:08:10PMAshley: "no"
09/13/2012 07:08:12PMAshley: "send me to someone else"
09/13/2012 07:08:19PMAgent (Umesh T.): "May I help you with anything else today?"
09/13/2012 07:08:48PMAshley: "I'm reporting you. This is crap."
09/13/2012 07:08:59PMAgent (Umesh T.): "May I help you with anything else today?"
09/13/2012 07:10:14PMAshley: "I need help finding information on desktop"
09/13/2012 07:10:36PMAgent (Umesh T.): "May I help you with anything else today?"
09/13/2012 07:11:56PMSession Ended
If you require further assistance, please reply to this email.

Needless to say I am extremely pissed at this point. So I call the 1 800 line only to be told he "don't know" and that I should call back when tech is on the clock. Apparently they only work 8-5:30. Must be nice. I also say I wish to report the incident to a supervisor and I am laughed off and told that it was most likely a "computer glitch" and that I should go try again....

Round two reads as such. (Also copied from my email that they send you when the chat is closed.)

This is an automated email sent from the Staples Live Chat department. The following information is a log of your session. Please save the log for your records.
Your session ID for this chat is 2703439.
TimeDetails
09/13/2012 07:14:26PMSystem: "Welcome to Staples.com Live Chat. We will be with you shortly."
09/13/2012 07:14:28PMSystem: "We ask for your assistance: please do NOT send credit card information through chat. Should credit information be required for a transaction, a Staples associate will contact you for the required information"
09/13/2012 07:14:31PMSession Started with Agent (Daymon)
09/13/2012 07:14:31PMAshley: " I need information on graphics cards. DONOT TAKE THIS IF YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT GRAPHICS CARDS. I NEED HELP WITH GRAPHICS CARDS"
09/13/2012 07:14:43PMAgent (Daymon): "Hello Ashley, I hope you’re doing well. I’d be happy to assist you with your inquiry."
09/13/2012 07:15:13PMAgent (Daymon): "I am very sorry to say that I do not know much about graphics cards. However I can give you the number to our tech department which is 877-209-7282"
09/13/2012 07:15:23PMAshley: "I can't find graphics card information on any of your computers. Anywhere. I've been through the 1 800 line and another chat person."
09/13/2012 07:15:46PMAshley: "No one seems to know what kind of graphics cards are in the computers you all sell."
09/13/2012 07:16:12PMAgent (Daymon): "Our tech department should be able to handle your inquiry"
09/13/2012 07:16:46PMAshley: "Ok. Send me over and I'll talk to one of them."
09/13/2012 07:17:00PMAgent (Daymon): "I will need you to contact them at 877-209-7282"
09/13/2012 07:17:33PMAshley: "The 1 800 line closes at 5:30. I was already informed that by the guy I talked to on the 1800 line."
09/13/2012 07:17:57PMAgent (Daymon): "Unfortunately our Live Tech Chat is also closed at this time."
09/13/2012 07:18:03PMAshley: "I find it hard to believe that none of your computers have graphics cards listed."
09/13/2012 07:18:47PMAshley: "Maybe that's because they'be all gone home seeing as how the tech line closed at 5:30 like I just said."
09/13/2012 07:18:52PMAshley: "OMG worthless company."
09/13/2012 07:18:55PMSession Ended
If you require further assistance, please reply to this email.
Exclusive coupons, mystery deals and more! Sign up for Staples emails now!

Serious typos going on, but as you can tell I was severely PISSED by that time.

Worst customer service I have ever seen in my life. And I work in the customer service industry.....

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

wellllll

I'm considering a different approach to this blog. Not sure yet. Considering posting some of my diy stuffs and super dooper awesomeness with my couponing experiences!

Monday, September 10, 2012

WOW where have I been?

Let me tell you about it. Over the past (almost a) year I have been through so many ups and downs I can't begin to tell you. I didn't feel it necessary to blog about it. After all how many blogs do there need to be of people going through a break up? Not many.

To keep it short, this was the past year for me. Shortly after my last post in November I broke up with my boyfriend of 6 years. We had been together since high school and it was kinda crazy, but we both agreed that we hadn't really gotten to experience the adult dating world and things were not exactly going well between us to begin with. We were fighting a lot, money was a big problem, bills weren't getting paid and we had different perspectives on where we were heading. (Not to mention our sexlife was in a major rut.)

So we started with an open relationship in November, broke up in December, he moved out of my house in January and we got back together in March.

We did a lot of soul searching during our time "apart." I say it like that because well we were never really apart. Even when he moved out we were still best friends. We did everything together. We laughed, we went out to dinner, we watched movies, in fact we became closer friends after we broke up. It was kind of like, no pressure. No worries about am I gonna hurt their feelings with this that or the other thing. We were broken up, what's worse than that? If we could survive that emotion we could survive anything. We had horrible falling outs while we were broken up. New lines were set, emotions, reactions, everything changed. What it came down to. We were finally being honest with each other, not to mention ourselves.

Finally in March, all the lines, the boundaries came down to one question, "Are we happier apart or together?"

It came down to together, but things didn't just swing right back into where we left off in November, nope, new rules, new feelings, new relationship. We still tell people we've been together for going on 7 years now, because to us, the time apart was what our relationship needed and it helped us grow up. We were still living a teenager relationship in our 20s. As you can probably guess that wasn't working.


Aside from relationships issues. I've basically had the same jobs as always, I was trying to get into SCAD, but they cost too much money and don't offer enough scholarships, so I'm still stuck here in good old Polk County Florida. On the bright side I don't have to get rid of my dog when I move and I still get to go to school at the local state college and Pell Grant is paying for my schooling, so that's awesome.