Category: Lifestyle

A Better Cat Bowl – Bistro

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If you’ve spent any time reading my blog, you’ve likely discovered I’m a sucker for gadgets, making my life easier, and my cats. Today, I bring to you something that combines all three.

For those of you who do read my blog, you may remember back in April I raved and then shortly afterward complained about my purchase of the Wireless Whiskers Auto Diet Feeder. Despite their awful website, for $160, I really expected quality from this cat bowl, and I’m sad to say it’s absolute junk. It cracked less than a month into using it. It’s constantly telling me to reset the clock which takes about 5 minutes due to the poor interface. Top that off with their customer service being absolutely awful and humorously trying to tell me that they were better than Apple, I 100% completely regret this purchase.

Sadly, there’s not another bowl on the market that meets my needs:

– Reduce the amount of time/number of times I spend “feeding the cats”

– Prevent my overweight cat from overeating and in turn throwing up.

– Also prevent that same cat from eating the other cats’ food causing them to get nothing.

Up until yesterday, aside from the awful excuse of a product above, the only options were to let my cats free feed which wouldn’t work solve 2 of the above needs, or spend my days carefully feeding and monitoring the three as I feed them specific amounts making sure they don’t eat each others food.

Now if you read carefully, you’ll notice I said “up until yesterday.” That’s because yesterday, a campaign on Indiegogo popped up for a new and improved “smart” cat bowl called Bistro. Not only does it control how your pet eats, but it also monitors food AND water consumption as well as their weight which is sent to a companion app. For the really creepy pet owners, you can even watch your pet eat from your phone and share it with other fellow cat enthusiasts. If that weren’t futuristic enough for you, this all works, not by clunky collar tags, but by facial recognition. Yes, you read that right.

In less than 24 hours it’s nearly halfway to it’s goal, and right now you can score almost 30% off of one of these bowls if you support the effort.

As an owner of multiple pets, knowing how much or little my pets are eating even when I’m not home is a great idea, and it could alert you to problems and save your pets’ lives.

If you haven’t checked out Bistro, please do.

If you use the link below and choose to support the campaign, I’ll get $15 off my Bistro. {With a new house in the future, all the money helps.}

Click Here to Learn More About Bistro

Check out Bistro and enjoy your day everyone.

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Creative Frugal Choices Pay Off

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I have a bit of a confession and a big lesson learned for anyone reading this.

For the past couple years, I’ve been living at home helping my mom with her finances. Living at home definitely has it’s perks. I won’t lie. One of those perks I took advantage of was not having bills. Aside from the $900 I gave her each month, I had very few “bills” and even then they were more like conveniences (Netflix, Birchbox, etc.) The result – I blew my money away like no tomorrow. If I saw something, I bought it. A trip to the grocery store for dinner for one night might have been $40 bucks. Seriously what was I thinking?

Word to the wise: don’t do what I did. I’d be in a much better situation without the $2K in debt. Thankfully that’s all I have.

Fast forward to today, I’m looking to buy a home. If my offer on this home goes through, by the time closing comes, I’ll have nearly $13,000 in the bank to put towards a small downpayment, a part of closing costs and some minor expenses when I move in. All I can think of is had I saved my money instead of blowing it, I’d have more money to put down, and more money for repairs afterwards. But, live and learn.

So not wanting to put more money on credit cards and wanting to be as thrifty as possible, I’ve started getting creative with options, and here’s what I’ve accumulated over the past week and all for free:

– $95 in Home Depot gift cards from Nielsen Mobile Rewards and MyPoints

– a side by side fridge

– a George Foreman grill – why not?

– a blender

– a full set of silverware

– gifts of $2500 from family – THANK YOU!

Sure it’s just a start and it’s going to take work to get everything that I want done, but even so that’s significant amount of savings that I won’t need to be paying out of pocket or on credit cards when I move in, which means more money left over that can go towards the new floors and saving for other improvements and paying down the credit cards.

In fact knowing I made nearly $5 in Amazon gift cards this afternoon alone gives me hope that provided I curtail my spending {I have to…}, stop buying retail first and check out thrift stores, and find other means to do things has given me a new goal – Try to pay for everything on Amazon with gift cards and cash back offers as much as possible.

Next on the list, sell some of my old things I don’t use – tons of American Eagle Jeans and other clothes, a full size Yamaha digital piano, an acoustic guitar, some old text books, and a few other gadgets here and there.

It won’t be instantaneous, but slow and steady is going to have to win my race because as far as I know, I’m not getting a raise anytime soon {although if any of my employers are reading this, one would certainly help out the financials :)}.

Thanks for stopping by, and hopefully I have good news shortly.

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Today’s a Big Day

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Well folks,

I never imagined I’d be saying this, but I may soon be a homeowner.

I scoured the internet for places I could afford. I also learned afford and what you qualify for are totally different things. Somehow I could qualify for a home that costs $225,000 but of course, I’d be eating rice everyday and sitting in the dark. Not much fun there.

As much as I love the idea of owning a house, as a single woman, I knew yard work and major exterior projects were just not my cup of tea, so I set out looking at condo or at least town homes that did the yard work.

I quickly found 3 places, oddly enough all roughly on the same street

There were two 2 bedroom-1 bath condos. They had some upgrades, but nothing major, and wonderful windows. I’d still need to replace most of the appliances, redo the kitchen and tear up the carpet. Both had traffic noise AND both happened to be on the fourth floor. I was winded after just carrying my Vera Bradley wristlet up with me. I can’t imagine moving furniture in or bringing groceries up, or just walking up every day. I’d need to add another 1000 calories to my diet or something. Both had at least one balcony, but one had two. Sadly they were completely unusable because they were either too small or off the master bedroom.

The 3rd place was my favorite right away before I even saw it for the simple fact that it was a 2-bedroom 2-bath. Not everyone else agreed. From the pictures it looked horrible. Whoever lived there must have loved red carpet, mirrors, bad mini blinds, and wallpaper, and it hasn’t been touched in over a year. Thankfully, it was also the cheapest and happens to be on the 2nd floor (which is actually down a flight of steps in the building). There’s barely any traffic noise, and it’s even got a fireplace.

The last one won my heart over in an instant. Everyone noticed immediately. I saw myself sitting on the balcony either with friends in the evening or drinking coffee in the mornings, and I started picturing what I’d do to the rooms and where my furniture would go.

But let’s be real here, the reason it won me over was the second bathroom. My real estate agent may have laughed at my reasoning, but I absolutely did not want my toilet trained cats using the main bathroom. Until my cats learn to flush when they’re done (which I don’t see happening anytime soon), that’s just something that is hard to explain and definitely not pleasing to guests. Plus I really didn’t want to share my bathroom with guests.

It’s may be the smallest unit of the three (only by about 10 sq. feet), but it’s also the cheapest. It has the best layout (the others had a lot of wasted space), and with a bit of TLC, it’s the one with the most potential. (Fixed up 2 br 1 ba units on a top level have sold for $40K more than this place is listed.) I know just removing the red carpet, wallpaper, and mirrors will do wonders for this place, and I can’t wait.

Oh and did I mention it’s even closer to my work than I am now?! The location is perfect. Plus I’m excited to actually be moving back into civilization where high speed internet and public utilities exists, and even if I have to deal with week long power outages (which is unlikely) I’ll at least have running water.

So after drafting up budgets, planning to move things to my own accounts (cell phone, insurance, etc), and secretly pinning a ton of ideas to Pinterest, tonight I go to sign the contract.

I’m slightly terrified in getting my own place especially knowing it’s a fixer upper that will require new floors, paint, and a new fridge right away, but there’ll be plenty of blog posts to write if things work out.

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Bedroom Update of Sorts… or Not

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And just as I promise to get back on track with the bedroom updates, my life goes in a completely different direction…

I’m nearly finished with what seems like 2 years at least of planning and renovating my room, and I was incredibly excited to see the end result. Sadly I don’t think the stars will align in quite that way. I’ve decided it’s best to move out and get my own place to avoid any further drama at my current house.

After many unsuccessful attempts of finding an apartment in the area that will allow three kitties, and looking at the absurdly high rent rates, my best option seems to be to actually buy my own place – a terrifying thought for someone who’s largest purchase to date has been a treadmill… Actually, my largest purchase would be the hard wood floors I just installed in my room, but after that fiasco {and still not having the ones I wanted}, and now moving out, I really don’t even want to think about the money I just lost. I actually feel pretty ripped off if you ask me, but that’s another story.

So there will probably not be any more bedroom updates, but maybe {hopefully} new house updates…  I’m terrified at the idea of buying my own place, but I no longer feel like this place is home. It’s unfortunate and sad, but it’s time to go and put this chapter of my life and the people in it behind me. *Sigh*

A friend of mine is going to set up a meeting with the realtor that helped her get her house, so we’ll see where things go.

Here’s to new and exciting adventures, and hopefully a cute new place to call my own.

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Bedroom Project Update

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It was a little over a year ago I first introduced my bedroom remodel to this blog. I never did a great job at posting much about it after that. Today seems as good as any day to start.

A lot has changed in the past year, and I’m happy to say the big projects are slowly getting completed.

The first big change actually happened a year ago – PAINT. I do have to say, I’m still incredibly fond of the pink and green paint scheme I came up with at 15. I’m also proud of the painstaking multi-step process of painting, tracing, and then taping a level stripe around my room. It was a labor of love that I was truly sad to see go. {Plus it’s pretty hard to be sad or tired when your room looks like a bag of Skittles exploded.}PicMonkey Collage2

But we all have to grow up sometime, and bubble gum pink and lime green while still two of my favorite colors, screams high school not adult. After 8 hours of work, I wanted something a bit more relaxing. As you can see from the pictures above, I had some help from Mr. Chase, who at this point is more skilled at climbing up ladders than some of my human family members. I also committed a blogger no-no and forgot to take pictures BEFORE I started patching the walls. Whoops…

I actually had a family friend paint the majority of the room while I was at work. I ended up going with Behr’s Skyline Steel (the darker grey) for the bedroom, and Twilight Gray for the bathroom. Since my bathroom and bedroom share a wall, I needed to come up with something creative and better than the harsh vertical white stripe I previously had separating the two rooms. I opted for stripes on the wall they share which not only makes the transition between rooms work, it actually draws your eyes to the bathroom wall a bit and the wall definitely looks larger. I agreed I’d do the stripes on my own since I had experience with stripes before. These were a lot easier, and the whole thing took maybe an hour. This time around I had help {in the form of them sleeping…} from Zoey and Remington. Zoey was not impressed with the bow I made her out of painter’s tape.

PicMonkey Collage

 

With the room painted, I turned to furniture. With my wallet $1000 lighter, and 2 cars full of things from IKEA, the construction was on. That night I started putting things together. Brimnes headboard from IKEA went together without a hitch. I love how it gives me the option of storage without having nightstands on either side of the bed. {My cats have claimed that space already with their cat tower and food/water.} It went together so easy, I started on the storage base, but that was a whole different story. Hours later, after stripped screws, sore hands, and even tears, I accepted this bed was not happening, and opted to sleep on the floor for the night. The next day I put it together just enough so I could sleep on it instead of the floor, but it stayed that way for nearly 2 months. Multiple trips back to IKEA for replacement or missing pieces later, it’s finally put together although missing some minor screws because I just got tired of fighting with it.

PicMonkey Collage1

 

So now, onto a sneak peek of where things are heading… *Drum roll*

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It’s coming together nicely, but admittedly my room does NOT look like that right now. It’s actually empty, and I’ve been sleeping in another room because, tomorrow’s the big day, the day the hardwood floors go in! With three cats, I’m ready to say goodbye to the smelly stained carpet. My allergies will also surely appreciate the lack of dust filled carpet as well.

More updates soon, and I promise this time it won’t take a year for the next one.

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May 2014 Recap + June Goals

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Wow! May flew by faster than ever. So let’s see how I did in terms of goals.

  • Get back on track for my goal to read 52 books in 2014. – I’m now only 5 books behind now, so I’m making progress which is good enough for me.
  • Continue working on my room remodel. – Floors have been picked out. I attempted to hang curtains and decided I better leave that for another day because I majorly screwed them up.
  • Continue running and meeting my daily step goal at least. – I’ve run a few days more than usual but not as much as I’d prefer
  • Get one of the three tattoos on my wish list. – Done. As cliché of a tattoo as it looks, I think got a few double-takes at the tattoo shop when I explained it was for suicide awareness in memory of my dad. Brave Andrea also got her inner conch on both ears pierced. Now I can’t wait to count down the days until the piercings are healed and I can swap the BCRs out for simple studs. Until then it’s wearing my hair down at work for a bit so they aren’t too obvious.

And onto June’s Goals

  • I want to get the flooring put in my room for sure.
  • Run at least once a week in addition to my {now habitual} usual morning workouts.
  • Go out and have some fun. This past weekend was full of cookouts and road trips {much more than usual for hermit Andrea ^_^} and I’m actually pretty pleased with everything. And this view…spending an afternoon on the deck outside this restaurant… it doesn’t get any better than that.IMG_3125

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April 2014 Recap + May Goals

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Hi everyone!

After a record month of rain here, we’re finally experiencing some Spring weather.

Recapping Aprils goals:

  • Stay on top of keeping my room clean. – Ehh my room is reasonably clean and getting vacuumed on a daily basis thanks (I plan to do a post on this later because obviously lazy me is not vacuuming daily.)
  • Go out and have fun – I managed to take a few days off go on a fun little trip to Atlantic City. I was sick for the first few days, but I did get to enjoy at least looking at the beach and a few chilly walks on the boardwalk. Right now the only thing holding me back from going out more is the fact that my car is making some concerning noise. It also has a leak so I avoided driving it in the rain too much. It goes into the dealer this week though. *fingers crossed it doesn’t have anything majorly wrong.
  • Stay on top of my classes. – Oh boy I failed at this. I had a first draft of my term paper due in April. Thanks to my mini vacation followed by a nasty cold, my paper on the importance of self-motivation in e-learning courses was turned in only hours before it was due. I couldn’t help but smile at the irony that I was scrambling to turn in a paper for my online course about motivation in e-learning courses at the last minute. Maybe I need to improve my own motivation.
  • Get back into running. – I actually did manage to run a few times this month.

So what are my goals for May?

  • Get back on track for my goal to read 52 books in 2014.
  • Continue working on my room remodel. Hot items for the month are getting my curtains hung, getting floors installed, and getting a new desk chair.
  • Continue running and meeting my daily step goal at least. I absolutely need to run a 5K this year, preferably by September.
  • Get one of the three tattoos on my wish list. I’m leaning towards the smallest one, a small heart on my left wrist for suicide awareness, but I may get a quote on my ribs instead because I’m really wanting it. I’m also considering getting my inner conch pierced on both my ears. {As a supervisor, I’m trying to continue getting piercings and tattoos without looking unprofessional. I’m convinced it can be done tastefully.}

Seeing the progress of my room {pics coming soon, I promise} and this gorgeous weather, I’m super excited to see where this month takes me.

Here’s to a great month. Happy May!

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In Loving Memory

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Hi everyone,

I’m currently battling a nasty cold, and resting so that I can get back to more important things in life like work or the first draft of my term paper due tomorrow. In any event, today is the anniversary of a day that really changed my life. After a year of blogging, I feel like it’s about time I share it because it is a huge part of what made me who I am today. Instead of a blog post, however, I’m actually going to share a video that’s near and dear to my heart.

Have you ever taken a class that seemed pointless but ended up changing your life more than you could imagine? For me, it happened to be an intro course that I actually considered dropping because of the final project that ended up being this video. That very first day of class as I sat staring at the syllabus in frustration, I’d have never imagined making a video about this let alone sharing with 30 people or the world now. It goes to show you how something unexpected and seemingly pointless can push you to do things you wouldn’t normally do, so without further ado, here it is.

It’s hard to believe it’s almost been 10 years now. I don’t think anything prepares you for losing a parent in that way especially at 14. It changed the way I see the world in so many ways. My prayers go out to anyone who’s currently going through a similar situation.

Rest in Peace, Dad. We love you.

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April 2014 Update

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It’s April Fools Day!

For all of you who hate that the internet has turned into one giant joke today {well more of one that it usually is}, I’m happy to say there will be no trickery in today’s post.

So let’s look at my March goals and how I did:

  • Returning the broken/damaged parts of my bed and finally getting it put together. – *Sounds buzzer* I failed on this one. It’s still on my list of things to do. Good news is I know the pieces fit in my car. Bad news is time is quickly running out on my 90 days to get it back to the store.
  • Getting back on track for my goal of reading 52 books this year. – According to Goodreads I’m still 3 books behind schedule. On the bright side, I haven’t fallen behind any further.
  • Continuing to perfect my digital planning system. – Omnifocus is still amazing. I can’t wait until the new version is released in June. I’ll post an update on tracking things related to health soon.
  • Working on getting my finances back under control. – I’m making steady progress on this. They key is not buying a ton of useless stuff.

In terms of overall 2014 goals:

  • I’m definitely trying my best to keep up with the blog, even if the content isn’t great at the moment. I’m working on finding time to add more pictures into my posts.
  • I’m failing miserably at my goal of getting in shape to run a 5K. I don’t think I’ve been on my treadmill in months.
  • My bedroom furniture is nearly finished. I still have my desk and sofa to purchase… and of course my bed to return.

For April here’s my plan:

  • Stay on top of keeping my room clean.
  • Go out and have fun {…provided the weather’s nice. *crosses fingers*}
  • Stay on top of my classes.
  • Get back into running.

How did March go for you? Do you have any fun plans for April?

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Random Wednesday Post

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Happy Hump Day!

Did you know that, 96 years ago, on this very day, Congress approved daylight-savings time? It was also the day the Academy Awards was first televised back in 1953. Okay, enough with fun facts… {I could go on with them all day… it’s kinda my thing…}

Today is my first day back to work since Thursday. I wish I could say I had a wonderful Spring Break {all two days of it, Monday-Tuesday…} but instead, I was stuck in bed with what I believe to have been food poisoning. To put things in context, from 5PM Thursday evening to 5AM Friday morning, I’d lost a whopping 4 pounds. I hate doctors, but after 12 hours of barely being able to move, I was pretty close to going to the hospital. In any event, I’m nearly recovered, and since feeling well enough on Saturday, I’ve been eating whatever I can to get calories back in me. {That may or may not have involved more than a few Frappuccinos…}

Sickness aside, I’m feeling 90% back to normal, and today I was pleasantly surprised to see that my online class is actually observing Spring Break {even if my office isn’t…} and I have no assignments due, so this week is a week to catch up, and get my life back on track.

I do have a fun nerdy tip though that I’ve been enjoying quite a lot. As I’ve mentioned before, each night, I like to make note of 3 things I’m grateful for in the iOS app Memento. I had the app set up to send me a reminder at 10:30 every night. However, I still had to open Drafts to use my TextExpander snippet which auto fills an “I’m grateful for…” template I made, send that to Memento and save. Too many steps… and then I found Launch Center Pro could use Text Expander snippets as well. Now, each night at 10:30, Launch Center Pro prompts me to “Launch Memento” with a notification. All I have to do is click the notification which takes me to Memento with the “I’m grateful for…” template already filled in. All I have to do is type 3 things and save. So much simpler.

More interesting posts to come soon, I promise.

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