Updates and Prayers

Just for a quick update: I am still in the hospital. It could not be avoided. My condition last Sunday into Monday continued to go downhill. It all happened so fast, and I've been here for over a week now, and I might be for another week or so.

There are a lot of people praying for me, and they reach almost all corners of the USA. From my best friend in Seattle, down to Texas, up to Michigan, down to Florida, and over to New York, it becomes overwhelming to think of all of the love and support from so many. My mom works with the niece of a certain archbishop, and upon learning that I was back in the hospital, unbeknownst to mom, she called her uncle. And then what do you know... my mom got a call from "Unknown" and then a voicemail from Cardinal Dolan. He told her that his neice told him about me and that he is praying for me and sending love, support, and prayers. Wow, how awesome that he took the time out of his day to call my mom. I know it meant a lot to her, and I think it's very touching, too. She also got a card from him in the mail this week too.

Saturday we were supposed to go to the Mizzou vs. Ole Miss football game in Mississippi. Well, obviously we won't be anymore. Even if I got out in time, it just wouldn't be something we could swing. So I told Jarrod we need to throw a party here and deck my room out in Ole Miss red and blue. I think it would be funny, although I realize not everyone here might find it as funny since we're rooting against Mizzou on Mizzou turf. So we'll see, but we'll at least be watching the game.

Not Good :(

I don't usually do this, but please pray for me. I have been coughing non-stop since 9:00 last night. Aside from my nap I somehow got to take, my hours have been filled with nothing but coughs. 

Also if our next round of oral meds does not do the trick I will be back in the hospital and I'm just not ready for that again so soon. 

JCP, Tale of a Struggling Store

Maybe you haven't kept up on their doings like I have, but JCP has been having a really hard time of "finding itself" lately. A while back, they announced an entirely new strategy of true, honest pricing. This meant no sales, the price would be what it should be, not what it actually should be once they inflate it and you take 25% off in our Sale of the Season. At first, I thought it sounded great. The way they pitched it made sense.

But as time went on, I and many others weren't going into their stores as often. Turns out old habits die hard and shopping is all mental (which, shouldn't we already know this?) You feel like you've been successful and found a bargain when you present that coupon, or see that 20% off sign, or whatever the sale might be. You feel better about your purchase and I'm sure many people find it more justifiable. When you take that element out, like they did, a ten-dollar shirt is just a ten-dollar shirt. It sounds much better when you say "I got an 18-dollar shirt on sale for ten dollars."

So in recent months, seeing that their stock was tanking and their sales plummeting, they fired their CEO, found a new one, and are now back to their old ways. They even ran a large ad campaign about the changes they'd made, "some you liked, some you didn't", practically begging people to give them another shot. I'm on their email list and I got emails saying the same thing, practically with puppy dog eyes crying "Pwease come baaaaaccckkkk!"

Now, the entire reason I thought of writing this is because I just shopped there last Sunday and wanted to share something.

I bought two items: a bra and a pair of jeans. I noticed that both had price tag stickers on them that were clearly covering up a previous price. The bra was $38, but after I peeled it back I saw that the previous one (as in, no-sales-true-pricing-days) was $25. Whoa... that is quite a jump up. For the pair of jeans, the price was $34, but they were on sale for $19.99. I peeled up the sticker on the jeans too and found they used to be $27.

So if we compare...

True Price Model:
$25 + $27 = $52

Sunday's 'old pricing' structure:
$38 + $34 = $72

...with sales: $38 + $20 = $58

But... I had a 25% off coupon which brought my total down to $43.

You can make your own judgments on that, but I like that we're back to the old way. I'm sure they still made a profit on my purchase Sunday, and I felt better about it because I had a one-day only coupon. I wasn't the only one either, there was a line of probably 15 people at the checkout, all with coupons; you would have thought it was Christmas.

Checkout Lines

I just returned from one of the most cliché-awful Walmart checkout line experiences one could have.

I don't mind Walmart too much, really, but probably the worst part of any shopping trip is the checkout line. Tonight, I spent over 20 minutes waiting to be checked out; that is way too long of a wait in my book.

It was prime shopping time, when everyone is getting off work, and they only had three lines open that could handle more than 20 items. I was surprised honestly, because usually this is something Target pulls, when 80% of the time there is one, count them one!, checkout line open. I guess they had someone call in or not show. Needless to say, the lines in these three available registers were quite long. After I was already trapped within the 'aisle of impulse' another line opened up, but even four lines was not enough.

On top of the cashier shortage, all of the customers in front of me paid by check. Oh goodie... Which meant they had to write it out, scan it through the printer thing, ask for their phone number, ask for their driver's license so they can write it on there (I've never understood why that's necessary, in no way would I want all that info just floating out there.) Then the lady's machine wouldn't beep anymore when she scanned an item. She got 1/4 of the way through the stuff of the people in front of me before she realized she rang up some of their items twice. So she had to cancel that, redo it, and then proceed. She also had to count out cash back to them, which took longer than it should have. I happened to meet eyes with the older man and he smiled, which made me smile, and then he emulated a sigh, and we shared a 'Jeez this is taking forever but we're trying to stay happy' kind of expression. It made me chuckle inside, and for a moment took me out of my disdain for the whole process.

Then it was finally my turn, and all in all I spent 24 minutes total between the time I hopped in line to the time I walked out of it. The only good thing going for this entire trip was the lady was good at bagging groceries and I didn't come home with a surplus of bags; for some reason, I am not capable of remembering my collection of reusable bags I stash in my car.

I guess I should just be thankful I didn't get stuck behind someone with a bunch of circulars ready to argue and price match everything in the cart.

As Charlie Brown says, "Good grief."

Classical

A few years ago, I had to say goodbye to the one classical music station we had around here. I realize classical stations are going the way of the dinosaur, but it was still sad to listen as the last song played.

Thanks to a passionate group effort, another station has begun in it's place. Announced earlier in April this year, it has a small frequency range and unfortunately I live outside of it. But I had the idea today to check online to see A, if it was up and running yet, and B, if they had a way to listen online.

Yes and yes! I bookmarked the link and listened all day long at work.

Pandora does not have enough variety and most other online stations I tried out are too Baroque (Cue joke from Cogsworth...) So far this has been an awesome blend and I'm looking forward to more. I am so ecstatic to find back a good variety of classical music. And I am so happy to hear some of the same DJs that were on the previous station. Tom Sudholt would ease me into my workday as I drove, and it's good to hear his voice and wonderful choice of songs again. Plus, I mean talk about beautiful and calming music (mostly, unless it's like, Night on Bald Mountain [but that might be perfect for today since it's Halloween!])

Oh TV News...

Side story: I was right the other day about our trash: the deck chair that broke during our move out here was gone before the trash man even came. They left the cushion though, haha.

The Cardinals certainly didn't display why they're a worthy contender for the World Series; last night was pretty rough.

I canNOT watch the local news when it is post-season Cardinals baseball. They're never-ending live reports down near the stadium and about everything baseball make my head hurt from their stupidity. Every... single... day... the news starts out something like this:
News Desk Girl: "And now we're gonna go down to the stadium where Bob has been most of the afternoon. Cardinals fans are lining up showing their Cardinal Red and they are pumped for the game. Bob?"
Bob: "Yes, I'm down here..."
Errant fan: "WOOOOOOO!!!!!"
Bob: "...and everyone predicts a win for tonight (as if anyone here would say differently). The crowds are here, the fans are pumped, and we are READY TO GO!"
*cut to recorded clip of fan #1*
Fan #1 (an older lady dressed in a red wig or bobbly-springy things waving on a headband, wearing beads and other gaudy attire): "Oh we're going to win. My cat Shelby was out chasing a Cardinal today, so I know we're going to win!"
Fan #2 (a young guy with painted face, sunglasses, who has clearly already had a few drinks and yells his interview): "YEAH! We're gonna beat the Sox tonight, me and my buddies came down here and we are ready for the game."

This is then followed by a variety of reports that could include: Beer sales, how many hot dogs the ballpark makes, a live cast with the sports reporter on the field and nothing happening, live shots of feet walking to the stadium, something about Fredbird, or cutting the grass in the outfield.

Ugh...

I can't take it. I change the channel with such vigor you'd think a horror movie was coming on. It's almost as bad as the ridiculous snow-coverage that happens every winter too.

I still maintain I could get all of my news from the radio and I wouldn't be the least bit unhappy. At least I don't have to put up with the silly canned imagery.

Monday, Monday (daah daaaah, daah dah dah dah)

Today has been a bunch of ups and downs. Right now, I'm in a down.

I'm doing my third treatment right now because today has been a really rough day as far as coughing goes. I emailed my docs and for starts, the nurse told me to increase my treatments. I'm still waiting to officially hear from the doctor, but my cough has slowly increased over the last week and this morning was pretty awful. This evening has been awful too, but I have a theory on that one.

In other news, I had to report for jury duty selection today. I know I am not a dumb person, but I just could not get over how confusing the entire process is to GET a juror to the actual place for jury duty. There is so much room for error and confusion, let me explain...

I received a letter in the mail stating I had been selected, filled out a survey portion, and returned that part. I was to keep the paper and call the phone number listed on the Sunday after 5 p.m. the night before I was to appear. The paper said if I got a recording stating I didn't have to come, then I didn't have to come. If there was no recording, that meant I had to show up. I called last night, and I got a recording which said I had to show up unless I received a postcard saying I didn't have to show up. Yeah...

Anyways, they were looking to fill a grand jury, not one for a criminal case. A grand jury decides to indict people, if there is enough evidence to bring the case to trial. I was not picked, though honestly I wouldn't have minded. That sounds interesting, and much less stress than actually convicting someone. My theory on the mega-cough evening is because I sat between #22, who smelled like a smoker, and #24, who had on strong perfume.

I was struck by how random a jury really is. And I think that's kind of cool, having people from multiple walks of life. This observation happens to me a lot when stuck in 'waiting times' with people; airports, doctor's waiting rooms, a group of people for a jury. You always have the one lady who is talkative, and thinks she knows how this 'should' all go. You have your cranky people, your upbeat people. Many were in business-casual attire, while others were more casual. One man in jeans and muddy boots said he did not want to be there because he was a dairy farmer and this was right when he needed to be milking his cows. One of my coworkers was there too, oddly enough. Anyways, we'll see if I get another postcard in the mail. I'm "on call" for a while.

As I sit here doing my vest, I am hearing numerous trucks rumble down our road from time to time. Yep, it's big trash week. Big trash week is borderline-hilarious here. Last year I came upon an old truck with a plaid couch in the bed of it, and two guys just chillin' on the couch like they were watching TV. As a child, me and my neighbor friends used to stage ourselves in the windows to count how many trucks drove by to pick up everyone's junk. If I remember correctly, usually we'd see between 7-10.

And clearly, things never change as people are still driving down my road tonight, in hopes of finding an abandoned, unwanted, dirty old piece of furniture. We have a broken chair we need to donate to the cause, but it won't be out there until tomorrow morning. However, I wouldn't be surprised if it's gone before the trash man actually gets here around noon, haha.

Adventures in Homemade: Part Three

Today I am finally baking my bread that I said I would do a couple months ago. Weekend after weekend would come and go, and I just never had a good portion of my day to set aside for it. Well, today is finally that day. And I'm not talking about using a bread quick mix, or using a bread-making machine, I truly mean from scratch (flour, salt, sugar, shortening) and working the dough like a pioneer.

I had decided to go simple for my first time and do a classic white bread, and it started out pretty good. I got to use my dough hook in my mixer for the first time! I was just hoping for the best, since so many little things can go wrong and have a negative affect on the bread: not enough flour, too much flour, didn't rise enough, the water wasn't warm enough, didn't knead the dough enough, temperature was too cold during rising, temperature was too warm during rising.

My dough mixture was fairly 'doughy' and it was time to knead it. Funny enough, at that exact moment Andrew Bird's song "If I Needed You" was playing. Which, audibly, sounds like "If you kneaded me..." so it was like my bread had picked out the song just for me, haha!

Coming Soon: Deliciousness

I put the dough in the front room, since those face south and were the only ones with sunlight coming through. It looked a little silly, this shiny metal bowl sitting on the floor, but hey you gotta do what you gotta do. I figured the house was a little too cool, so if the dough was in sunlight it would be warm enough. After it rose in the big bowl, I then rolled it out and formed my two loaves. I put both of the bread pans back in the front room, on the windowsill, but by then the sunlight was moving and wasn't streaming in so much anymore. After another bit of rising it was time to bake.

Introduce part one of the rewards of bread-making: the lovely kitchen smell. The house still smells great. They baked for about 30 minutes, then it was time to cool. I set them on my wire racks for a while, then I couldn't wait any longer. I had to dig in!

I cut off a piece, and by all appearances it looked pretty okay; not too holey, not too dry, crust seemed fine. Then I took a bite and...

Oh. My. Goodness.

It was SO good. It was moist, soft, and still warm. I was grinning from ear to ear for the next half hour because I was just so happy that it turned out well! I exclaimed to Jarrod "I have made BREAD!"

Dead Battery

The car had a dead battery, and unfortunately we couldn't hook up the new one because the pins don't match size with the connectors to my car. My Cobalt has quite possibly the most awkward battery in the history of cars. First of all, it is in the trunk. Secondly, the way it is strapped down and sits so close to the edge of a piece of plastic is extremely cumbersome.

I really hope they sold me the correct battery, but Jarrod was questioning it when I called him with the update. See, he is hunting this weekend so dad had to come help me with it tonight. By all accounts, it looked the same as the old one, but who knows. We left with the battery five minutes before the auto store closed, so by the time my dad was hooking it up, they were closed. Jarrod is going to come home early from deer camp tomorrow to figure it out.

Of course this happens while he is gone, it could have been worse, though; I could have been out and about and stranded versus just stranded at home. But I have to tell you being stranded is a strange feeling, having no way to get anywhere if I want to or need to. Nothing is within walking distance (well, it kind of is, but it's lots of hills and not doable for me) but fortunately I have loved ones close by that I can call. Mom and dad are picking me up for church in the morning, too.

In other news, I dyed my hair last night! I am really happy with it. The color was called "Auburn Black" and it looks good. It's not that different, which is what I wanted; I didn't want an enormous change. Let me tell you, dying my hair with it being so short is so much easier than when I did it in high school and it was down to my shoulders haha. You don't have to pile it on your head or worry about it much, and I barely needed half of the bottle. Woo hoo!

Two Wild and Crazy Ideas

I had two crazy ideas today. I them past Jarrod and he's cool with both of them.

1. I want to dye my hair again. I'm thinking a brown-red/burgundy color. I did highlights/lowlights like that 6ish years ago, but you could hardly see them. With my short hair like it is now, it won't take long for it to grow back out if I don't care for it. Hair is hair, I don't really care.
2. I want to do a 5K. As I've gotten older, I've wanted to be able to run. I'm one of those weirdos who actually enjoys it. The problem is I'm not very good at it, and my airways and muscles can't keep up. But! Since I've started walking 5 times a week, I can already feel a difference with that, so I don't think a 5K is completely out of the question. I was thinking of a half-marathon, but those can be a struggle for even a healthy person, so scratch that. Jarrod suggested a 5K, and I think a 5K is more reasonable, and I'd still be super proud if I accomplished that!!! I'll need to take it one day at a time, and keep things in perspective, but you never know until you try, eh? The Go! St. Louis marathon weekend is in April, and as part of that, they offer a 5K run/walk. If you're unsure, 5 kilometers is 3.1 miles. So, I have about 20 weeks to be able to run/walk 3.1 miles in less than an hour. They offered a training schedule on their website that lasts 9 weeks. So I'm going to start there and modify it out to fit my needs. I know this is going to take a lot of hard work, a lot of discipline, and commitment; I don't have the best track record with things like this. But I really want to do this. It would be one of those "impossible" things!