Happy Christmas!

So, I feel like everything I do in this city is a fiasco of some kind.

It all began with a gloriously amazing weekend. I spent Saturday evening and Sunday with Johnny and we really had a blast. We even braved going to the mall to find his mom a gift. I'm thrilled that we made it out alive.

So I drive 3.5 hours home and I leave all the stuff I brought home with me in my car because it's too cold and I'm too tired and lazy to drag all of it in.

As a temporary employee with hourly pay, when everyone else gets paid to take Thursday and Friday off this week, I get to work three ten hour days and then work from home on Thursday for eight hours to make up for the time lost. This makes for an exceptionally long, boring day, especially since all I do is key insurance claims into the system.

Anywho, I'm late for work yesterday, I forget why. It was a slow morning and I was tired and I actually found myself falling asleep at my desk no matter what music I listened to. I'm not the biggest fan of arriving to work in the dark AND leaving in the dark. Which was yesterday and will be today and tomorrow.

While I was working I was also taking a few breaks to find a) an Aldi's nearby so I can eat for the next few weeks, b) a Hobby Lobby so I could buy the stuff to make the ornament for the ornament exchange at work, c) a Goodwill so I can find mismatched picture frames for my sister for Christmas and d) a Barnes and Nobles or any music bookstore so I can buy my brother in-law HIS Christmas present. All of which I intended to take care of after work last night.

Get off work at 5:30 (FINALLY) and headed out to my car to drive to Aldi, which I found without too much difficulty AND which has a Hobby Lobby literally right next door! Very excited. I found almost everything on my list (and a couple things that weren't *cough*cookies*cough*) and I go through the checkout and I'm below budget, which rocks, and then my debit card wouldn't swipe. Swiped it. "Bad Swipe, try again" the keypad yells at me. Over and over and over... even the two employees tried and it wouldn't work. Then I find out they don't accept credit, only debit or cash. So they hold my order as I rush out to my car, annoyed, and drive down the street to the nearest Chase bank to withdraw cash, come back and pay for everything and finally, an hour later, leave that place.

Next comes Hobby Lobby. As I used to work at a Hobby Lobby I know what they have, especially at Christmastime. I managed to pick my boss out of the grab bag, and after asking everyone I could find what on earth to get him I discovered he loves the Bengals. Die hard fan. So I'm like, okay, well, if I don't find a Bengals ornament of some kind I'll just make him one.

No Bengals ornaments. Go figure.

Scrapbooking, here I come! Browsed the paper aisle searching for tiger print. There's zebra print. Cheeta. Giraffe. Leopard. But no tiger. Well, that's a lie, there was tiger print in a huge packet of paper that would cost me upwards of $20, and pink/purple/green tiger print in a small package of cardstock. No thanks. I did find football paper, and then I grabbed the zebra paper, figuring I have an orange highlighter and I can just color in the white parts. Run to the other aisles and grab a glue stick, gold glitter, and ornament hooks, purchase it all and leave.

By now it's going on 7pm and I'm exhausted and had no interest in finding the B&N or Goodwill so instead that's today's after work excursion. More on that later. So I drive home to kick off my heels and put on jeans and boots and make seven trips to and from my car with clean laundry, bags of groceries, a giant scrapbook my grandmother gave me, boxes, etc, etc.

Still no rest for Emily.

On go the shorts and tank top in my swelteringly hot apartment and I proceed to put things away, reattach the doors to the entertainment center after propping it up with blocks of wood (dad and Johnny broke off the wheels on their trek up the stairs. That sucker is HEAVY), organizing my books, etc etc (sorry for all the lists, it was a crazy day). Of course Johnny called somewhere in the middle so I'm holding the phone to my ear with my shoulder as I set up the DVD/VCR/TV. Once all of THAT was done (groceries still not put away) I got my laptop and found a tutorial on how to make origami stars, colored in the zebra paper with an orange highlighter, made three stars (two tiger, one football) in different sizes, strung them together with thread, glue-sticked them and shook them around in a baggie of gold glitter, and finally boxed and wrapped the final product after taking a pic of it to show Johnny.

And then I collapsed on the floor and relaxed for the first time since 5am.

Rinse. Repeat.

Today is the same, only it's B&N and Goodwill, I did major organizing before I even left for work, and I left my phone at my apartment so I'm without directions and I was late to work AGAIN... but in seven minutes we are having our ornament exchange and hopefully my boss doesn't sneer at my handiwork.

Once I have my phone back and am sitting at home, I will post a less hectic story and show y'all pictures.

Deep breaths... and scene.