Blahs

Our office is nearly vacant, maybe 20 people out of 120 are here and well, I've spent most of my morning doing a crossword. So I thought I'd pass along some information that will help you get ready for your upcoming New Years Eve celebrations and resolutions!

Look better: A-line skirts: A primer. If you are a girl, own an A-line skirt, please.

Save money: Wantnot.com Got get your x-mas shit 75% off with this site.

Redo your living space: ApartmentTherapy: Change that living room around and organize your stuff. Oh and please, for the love of god, use another color besides "eggshell" and "beige." Spraypaint a tree branch orange and hang it in your dining room.

Buy myself pretty things: Sam Moon: Start wearing more colors with those kakhi or black pants to work.

Save the earth: Next year, don't cut down a x-mas tree or buy a plastic one, do this instead.

Wait, what?

In case, like me there are more holiday dinners to come and you still have some holiday shopping left to do:

For those suicidal people in your life.

Merry ChrisKwanHanakSolstice Biotches

It's Christmas Eve and we're keeping each other warm by the computer monitor glow after a night full of gifting, Halo death matches, and Coen laughs.

I hope you all have the same!

xoxo-Kitten

My co-workers are awesome

When talking about new books out and who is reading what, we've decided to do a little book club at work at lunch...in which my co-worker wrote back the following:

"I’ll wear the chaps to the book club."

I'm never leaving this job.

Dave Ramsey, I’d blow you if I weren’t married

A slight malfunction this month (okay, not slight) caused us to not be able to buy anyone Christmas presents (I called everyone and begged them not to buy us things because we can’t and wow, that wasn’t fun...sigh) and not completely pay off all credit cards by 12/31 like planned and eat Ramen noodles and water. So these past 2 weeks I’ve wanted to jump off a bridge just to be completely dramatic, because the screw-up was my fault.

But really, we did soooo good this year on paying off debt that I want to give ourselves a little visual pat on the back. Especially me because I'm feeling like an idiot.

In some cases we knocked off 3 years of payments! When finished we will have gone from debt free in 2015 to debt free in 2008. 7 WHOLE YEARS!!!

While the total paid off doesn't seem like a lot, imagine all of those monthly payments that were nickel & diming us. AND we are no longer accruing interest on any of them, as they are all closed with 0 balances. PLUS!!! We've taken all of those monthly payments and are applying them to the remainder of our debt and building our savings. From coming from dirt poor with no way out, this is a lifesaver. My girlfriend's have managed to pay off anywhere from $15,000 this year doing this method!

If you are in need of your own debt snowball, go here or buy Dave’s book! Being debt free would be a great x-mas present to give, so I say buy people his book!! I am indebted forever to my girlfriend's for introducing this method to us.

Anyhoo...

Paid off in 2007:
1.) Utility back payments (HomeTownVille): $208.00
Paying minimum payments: 3
Payments using snowball: 2
Original Pay off date: May 2007
Actual Pay off: April 2007

2.) Grandfather loan: $325.00
Paying minimum payments: 6
Payments using snowball: 3
Original Pay off date: August 2007
Actual Pay off: May 2007

3.) A Credit Card: $500.00
Paying minimum payments: 31
Payments using snowball: 4
Original Pay off date: September 2009
Actual Pay off: June 2007

4.) Electronic store credit card: $820.00
Paying minimum payments: 19
Payments using snowball: 6
Original Pay off date: September 2008
Actual Pay off: August 2007

5.) B Credit Card: $1000.00
Paying minimum payments: 37
Payments using snowball: 8
Original Pay off date: March 2010
Actual Pay off: December 2007

All that is left is C credit card, our car, and one student loan to go and I will issue a great big FUCK YOU DEBTORS!!! I have a new goal. Debt free by 30!! And I think it's doable.

YAY!

Monster Phallus

See boys?

I told you. And the internet agrees.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from Kitten, theMan, Dr. Kaboom OB/GYN, and Mr. Cooley!

(or how we spent our Sunday...)

Heathers

My gal pal Heather came up for a visit this weekend since I had to take Friday off to get rid of some of my extra vacation days at work. I love Heather. That girl is absolutely a blast. She's up for anything and I took full advantage of that quality in her.

Friday when we got here we hopped right in the car for breakfast and shopping. We went to Trader Joe's and walked out with 4 bottles of wine, 2 kinds cheeses, crackers, pretzel rolls and truffles for a indoor picnic lunch with Sis & Coen.

Good or bad, Heather & I can pretty much talk to anyone. So at the grocery store while we were chatting with people in the wine aisle, free sample aisle and the cashiers, one of the cashiers gave us a loaf of bread for free that was left because the guy who left it on the counter was mean.

This also came in handy at the restaurant where we spent the night drinking wine. It all looked so good and we didn't know what to order so our waiter, Cesar (spelled?) picked everything out including 2 appetizer courses, all of our entrees and 2 dessert courses which were absolutely perfection and only $33/person!! Unheard of in Chicago. I believe I hugged him about 40 times while Heather told him all about why she loved it here! He kept calling us "mi amores!" and coming to sit with us. Heather & I parted with Jamie and went to the Green Mill for jazz until late where sadly, nothing was free but it was still fun.

Saturday we went to the movies (August Rush, eh...) and book shopping followed by chick flicks, wine and decorating our place for the holidays. She left this morning and oh was I sad to see her go. Thankfully I have great pictures to remind me.

I've set up a Vimeo account for videos here. Right now it's just a really dark, low quality short of Heather & I coming in from a night of way too much wine. But it's finally proof for my man that I'm a bossy loud son of a bitch when I'm drunk. Enjoy!

My Flickr, let me show you it

If you know me, you know I love a deal. I haggled a cashier at Target for god sakes to get $2.00 off a clearance item. I've cleaned up my sets in Flickr a little and added one for DEALS! I'll take pictures and tell you about any little item I find and post it in here.

DEALS! set

Not sure if you've met him, but my nephew is freaking adorable and he's now on his first year of life, no...wait...he's one, okay? And here is a set just for this special year.

Project Coen-Year 2.0 set!

I've been trying to be better about posting in the Working Closet Flickr group. I've been making more of an effort to throw outfits together and most importantly, trying very hard never to match, but to pick colors that compliment. No more all black for Kitten!

Working Closet set!

Since 2008 is going to be a more creative year, come hell or highwater, I will be putting anything I make or take pictures of (for hire) here.

Creativity set!

And well, since we put a hold on the fetus growing, you know this set will be updated too.

Drunk set!

Wee!! 2 posts in one week!

Santa can suck it

Hey all! Remember me? The author of this here blog that can't seem to put 2 sentences together with any kind of frequency? Sigh.

Right now I'm battling a vicious head cold and a throat that makes me sound like Kathleen Turner after 2 packs of Camel Wides. I've also been busting my ass at work because it's review season and well, I love my job so I don't want to lose it. Thirdly, my tiny little grandmother is laid up in the hospital, long-term care unit, with a completely shattered back so the family has been getting together to figure out "the next step."

But really, I've just felt unfunny and distracted lately. It's the holidays so it's busy, plus I went and screwed up our checkbook so no gifts this year. Hell, we can't even get a tree. So yea, that does not make for a very witty Kitten.

As far as the checkbook goes, we are getting closer to this debt free dream, I just set us back about 4 months. Things could be worse. It was going to be 2011.

I do want to get better about writing here though. Over Thanksgiving I found myself sitting back, getting quiet and just taking it in. Whether it be my family singing Uriah Heep at the dinner table or hearing my neice, Grace tell me all about her Christmas tree. I find I am trying to collect all these perfect memories and what better place to get them down, than here. My own corner of the inter-web.

Happy Birthday Jen K!

My lovely friend, Jen K. turned a solid 25 yesterday. 25. Shit. I believe I met her when she was 16 or 17 and damn that feels like a long time ago.

To celebrate we met her and Jose and all of her friends at what I am forever dubbing Worlds Greatest Bar or Danny's if you want to look it up in your phone book. They have theMan's 2 favorite beers on tap, Maudite & Ayinger and it's like being in that party house you went to for pot in high school. Even when it's packed it's not obnoxious.

Sunday night there was a dance competition and my only regret was not being able to stay to see it go down. People were in track suits and stretching for it.

I haven't talked to Jen K today but I'm betting she won the whole fucking thing.

They will be leaving Chicago for warmer pastures in the next month, month-in-a-half and I'm very sad. Jen K. and Jose make me feel alive, they force us out into the world and to unknown EXPERIENCE! As we sat there smiling, laughing, yelling we all agreed to not let their hard work go to waste after they are gone. Yes, we might not go out until 2:00 a.m. on a Sunday night and pester Croatian men, but we will get out there and hopefully channel those two live wires.

Happy Birthday Jen K., you make me awake!