Here it is, my friends…the entry that will have you recalling the banner years of pressing on…where posts occurred every day, and sometimes more than once a day, and tended to be longer than just a couple of paragraphs. The entry so huge, it’s filed under four, count ’em, four, categories.
Do I sound enough like an NBC promo?
So, anyway, it’s two o’clock in the morning. And I will probably not be going to bed anytime soon, even though I have to get up tomorrow at 9. The reason why will be revealed at the end of the tale.
So, anyway, yesterday Kelly was over here, and I was showing her some of the stuff that I accumulated over the course of my Alabama BCM days. Stuff like the “One” awards that I got in choir, and the two Valentine’s Day bags I made, and various other random effluvia. But, lo and behold, what else did I find in there but two gift cards that I had never used and had given up for lost!
One was for Pier 1, and was originally worth $50; the other was to Bed Bath and Beyond and was originally worth $100. Hey, money I didn’t know I had! So what else would any red-blooded American male do with it? Shopping spree!
Okay, so that last part was said tongue-in-cheek. But still, I thought it would be fun to buy some new stuff for my apartment. Kelly was more than willing to go along with me. I found that she likes to see what I go for as far as gadgets and stuff.
Now, let’s go ahead and be honest. I have a bachelor apartment. I fully understand this. And when I move in with the guys next year, I will have a bachelor’s bedroom in a bachelor apartment. There isn’t a lot in the way of frills with me. I have one ficus tree, and it’s fake. I had two candles, one almost burned out and the other a tiny Yankee candle “sampler”. I have one of those large checkers rugs, complete with checkers, for a tablecloth. So anything that I got from Pier 1 was bound to increase the girliness of my apartment by at least a few percentage points.
When I got to Pier 1, some slightly disappointing news awaited me. My gift card, because of it’s being unused for so long, dropped all the way down to $22 in value. The BB&B card was still good for $100, though, so I was pretty happy about that.
I think I did pretty well for myself on the whole. My purchases for the day were:
- From Pier 1:
- Wicker mail organizer: $10
- Three small glass “bubbled” candle holders: $9
- Chinese yo-yo: $1
- From Bed Bath & Beyond:
- Two Yankee “sampler” size candles: $3
- Three-pronged massager: $2
- “The Perfect Pasta Pot”: $20
- Waterwall fountain/rock garden: $20
Total amount spent: roughly $70. Actual money spent: $0! And amount still left on the BB&B card: $52.35!
A few notes about some of the purchases:
- The Chinese yo-yo was a small surprise gift for Kelly; she had taken notice of them as we walked by.
- I already had one candle, so it made sense to get two more to match the three holders.
- The massager has already been a big hit for all parties involved, including Kelly’s roommate and her friend, who came over to their apartment later. (They all went to see Chicago tonight for a girls’ night out.) So at $2, it was a steal; even more so since I didn’t have to pay for it.
- I had wanted a “Perfect Pasta Pot”; I don’t normally go for the “As seen on TV” type things, but I eat a lot of pasta, and I like the idea of not having to deal with washing my colander every time I make it. And hey, it came with a small cheese grater!
- I had wanted my own rock garden/waterfall thing ever since Ricky had gotten one a while back. When I saw them there, it was too much to resist, especially seeing as I didn’t have to pay for it. I wouldn’t have considered it before; it was too much of a “mad money” purchase. But hey, what money’s madder than in the form of long-lost gift cards?
So since Kelly had girls’ night out, I came on back home and got my purchases out and played. The waterwall is now set up and going. The candles (still unopened) and the holders are out too. I washed the pots; this got me somewhat inspired, so I’ve cleaned up the entire kitchen, changed the light bulbs in the overhead lights in it, ran the dishwasher, done laundry, and even printed out some pictures that were on my computer so now I have actual physical pictures of Kelly instead of just the ones on my computer. So the apartment, while not really any more girly, is definitely upgraded.
I realize that I probably could have made this same update in a matter of a few sentences, but I guess I’m feeling verbose tonight. Maybe it’s a way for me to try to delay what’s coming up today.
At approximately 9:30 this morning, Kelly is going to knock on my door, and I am going to take her to Jacksonville and put her on a plane that will eventually put her 6,000 miles away from me for five weeks. It’s going to be one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. And at the same time, it will one of the easiest things I