This blog.....Over

I have a brand, spanking new blog.  It's not here.  I moved houses, so I figured it was time for me to move my blogging identity to a new home, too. 

You can follow me over to my awesome new blog by clicking this link:


www.mainlymandy.wordpress.com


Over, and out. 

Win a hair accessory from The Redheaded Actress!

I just entered to win a hair flower from The Redheaded Actress on Etsy.   The giveaway is happening over at That Wife's Blog.  Go on over and check it out!

(source)

Best of '09 -- Album of the Year

This month I'm participating in a fun challenge thought up by Gwen Bell. Read more about the challenge here.

I can't think of my favorite album of the whole year.  So I'm just going to talk about my favorite at the moment.  I love the tv show Glee.  It makes me so happy, in the middle of the week. It's like a sanity pill to help me get through to Friday!  The music on the show is amazing.  For my birthday, I got this:

I've been listening to it practically non stop in my car to and from destinations.  A couple days ago, this came out:

 I can't wait to pick this up!  What was your favorite album of this year?

Best of '09 -- Challenge

I had plans last year.  Plans for how my life would be like in the next couple years.  I was working part time at a financial advising firm.  One I had been with for about 3 years, while I was going to college.  They had told me when I was hired on that it was very likely I would have a full time job waiting for me when I graduated college.  So I planned. I would graduate in June 2010 and get married in June 2010 and it would be perfect timing! Everything would be wonderful! 

But the economy didn't play nice.  The financial industry was hit hard, and my firm suffered a great deal.  I was laid off in November 2008.  I figured, no worries.  It can't be that hard to find another part time job!  I'll just apply for unemployment until I get back on my feet.  Until I was denied benefits because I was going to school full time. I've had a couple of seasonal positions this past year, but other than that I have been without work.  I've even had to borrow money from the 'rents to make due.  (Which is something I promised myself I would never do.)

I have been at my wits end with this job search.  I'll take anything. Except there is nothing to take.  The unemployment rate is close to 12% in my valley.  That's a lot of people competing with me for jobs.  People who have more open schedules than I do.  So this year, I have been challenged to not lose hope.  I  know there is something out there for me.  And I need to believe I will find it soon. 

Wedding Dream #2

I don't remember my dreams very often. So when, I do remember something, it is somewhat exciting! The other night I had my second wedding dream ever. . . (well, at least that I remember)

I came home to find my mom sitting at the kitchen table with bags and BAGS of floating candles. Not pretty flower shaped ones, just plain round floating candles. For the wedding. She had bought it all without talking to me about it. I totally freaked! They didn't go with the theme I was working on for the centerpieces. Not to mention the no-fire/burning at the reception location. So they were useless. And then she told me she couldn't return them. Hundreds of dollars wasted on ugly candles. The horrors. Yeah, I was kinda a bridezilla in my dream. I swear I'm not like that in real life. Although I did get sort of upset with my mom, sister, and dad when they all said they liked round tables and they were superior (et cetera) when I said I wanted rectangular tables. . .

What's a crazy dream you've had lately?

Oh how easy it was....

Yesterday, I watched my niecefews for the afternoon. I picked up Pierce from the baby-sitters house at noon, and hung out at the park across the street until it was time to pick up Alissa.

I let Pierce just go have fun on the playground, and I have to say, it's astonishing how easily children make friends. Within 5 minutes he was playing with a boy about his age. Then, after that boy had to leave he made two other friends, a boy and a girl. Sometimes, as an adult, I wish it was that easy.Pierce and his new friends

What do you miss about your childhood?

Textbook Murder

My fall term at SOU is fast approaching and I realized that I hadn't ordered my books yet! I quickly went to the SOU bookstore website to find out what books I need. The website is not set up the greatest, making it difficult to buy the books somewhere else. They do tell you what books you need, but with an abbreviated title, and if there are multiple authors it only lists one last name. It's really an art to find the ISBN #. I usually do a google search which (99% of the time) leads me to Amazon who has the ISBN #. Once I have the ISBN it is sooo much easier to search for the best price on the net.

(Sidenote: I cannot believe that SOU cannot trouble themselves with putting the ISBN on the website with the title of the book. My theory is that they want to make it as difficult as possible to shop anywhere else, but the overpriced SOU bookstore.)

After an afternoon of searching half.com (eliminates the middleman, school bookstore), ichapters.com (sells e-chapters & books so that you aren't paying for the manufacturing), ebay (cheap!), and chegg.com (rents textbooks for a fraction of the price) I ended up doing e-chapters for one book, ebay for one, and renting for 4! I'm amazed at the savings, while still expensive, which where incredible compared to the school bookstore.

SOU bookstore price $550
Actual cost from OTHER sources $280
TOTAL SAVINGS $270

It is astonishing to me that college students are still stupid enough to actually continue to shop at the overpriced bookstore. (ok, part of it is probably sheer laziness, but I can't afford to be lazy.)