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I happen to have a love of hot cocoa. Especially at work where our free drinks are coffee, tea, water and more coffee. I have my coffee at home and (to be honest) can’t stand the coffee at work. It’s way too bitter and unless I take flavored creamer it’s just too much. Plus, I don’t really care to have more than the coffee I have before work. Otherwise I’m ready to collapse around 3 in the afternoon.

I asked my supervisor and the receptionist about ordering cocoa, and when we do order it, to order more than 2 boxes at a time (because we order it when we order coffee and two boxes of cocoa doesn’t compare to the huge box of coffee we get). My supervisor didn’t think it would be an issue and the receptionist said she would ask. I also emailed the person in charge of ordering it to find out if it would be an issue. I mean.. it’s cocoa!

After covering the front desk, getting sucked into a meeting to be told we had another meeting scheduled on Thursday and to ask any questions needing answers I decided to take lunch. Since I had already eaten lunch while covering the front desk I decided to utilize that time for personal computer time (reading and replying to personal email; posting about NaNoBloMo) and what did I find at my desk? A personal box of Swiss Miss Rich Hot Cocoa mix on my desk. My. Own. Box. For work we order the 60 count boxes. But THIS was extra special because it was Mine. And because it was Rich, not milk!

I heart my cocoa faerie, wherever they may be. (And yes, I did thank the faerie!)

Since springtime myself and a few coworkers and a mutual friend have been going to lunch each month. We put the time on our calendar and put extra time in because most of us only get a half an hour for lunch. The first lunch started out with four of us and we spent an entire hour laughing so hard not only were we crying but we were also in a bit of pain afterwards. We were able to discuss things outside of work and let loose, get to know each other better and have a good time.

We choose different places to go; anywhere from the food court at Eastwood Mall to Applebee’s and Olive Garden. We all tried Fuddrucker’s together as well. Over time we’ve had a few other people join us. Usually there are at least 6 of us together. All but one of us work in the same office, and while we see each other there each day it’s not all fun and games. So our monthly luncheon gives us a time to leave it behind for a little bit.

One of the ladies thought it might be fun to interview a person at each lunch (that person gets to choose where to eat), to get to know them better, to give each of us a new way to look at this person and say “I know you”. Each time we’ve asked questions ranging from how did you meet your husband to if you could have any job in the world what would it be and many others that end up with all of us sharing stories, jokes and lots of laughter.

Today I was asked about several different things such as ‘what kind of traits would I like in a man’ (I’m the only truly single gal in the group) which I answered with “A guy who is capable of doing laundry…” and went into how it seemed as if each relationship ended up with me always cleaning up after someone because ‘they didn’t know how to do it’ or they just had no time to help because they were too busy playing a game. Now I’m not a neat freak but I don’t think it’s fair if I’m the only one cleaning when more than one person is making a mess.

Anyway, I think this would be a great thing for more women to do. Take some time every month to reconnect when others, whether they be coworkers or friends, whether you’re a career woman outside the home or a work/stay at home mother.

When the weather gets a little nasty out, which it always does in Ohio when winter is approaching, we plan to have our get together at the office in the lunch room. It should be interesting to see what happens if someone walks in on our little gathering and hears something that we were talking about. Our conversations can get a little steamy sometimes, but it’s all in good fun.

Another plan we’re having is to get together for a girl’s drinking night. When we do that I think I’ll take the board game “Last Word” with me. I think it will provide all kinds of interesting fun while drinking!

Time to go look at your list of friends you want to know more about and make a date with them. Go ahead, you’ll not regret it. Later.

So the Little Lady has fully tested her Bobble and is extremely happy with it. She can keep it in her purse without worrying about it leaking all over her stuff. It’s fairly sturdy and she can drink out of it easily. She uses it all the time. I have a feeling I’ll be buying a new filter for it in 2 months, give or take.

I enjoy mine, too. I like that I can set it on my bed and not worry about it spilling so that I don’t have to get up in the middle of the night for water. Especially now since I’m taking Mucinex for this damn head cold. It seriously does help, by the way. The only issue is that you have to drink enough water to kill a camel to keep hydrated. Well, my Bobble comes in handy for that. Except when I’m really seriously dried out and I can’t seem to get enough. Then I get up and get a glass of water to guzzle down. (This stuff seriously dehydrates you!)

They are easy to drink out of, but I feel it’s harder for me. I squeeze and suck (yeah I know, but what other word do you want me to use?) at the same time in order to feel like I am getting something out of it. For a drink here and there, no problem, but when you’re taking something that dehydrates you, it’s too slow. I’ll be taking it to work with me anyway. I do enjoy it.

They are a touch expensive if you ask me, 10 bucks for an 18.5 ounce bottle that comes with a filter. The replacement filters are around 7 bucks each. So basically you’re paying for a reusable bottle that filters tap water. If your work place doesn’t utilize a water cooler or other filtration system, this will help you increase your water intake big time. The Little Lady drinks two of these a day, plus she gets water from food and juice, so you can see how much it’s helped.

Our recommendation would be if you know you aren’t getting enough water and you don’t have access to filtered water at work or your faucet doesn’t take a Pur or Brita water system (or you don’t want to pay for them either) that the Bobble would be helpful to your plight of getting filtered water from almost any tap. Later.

The Little Lady and I will be reviewing the new Bobble water bottles. If you haven’t heard of them they come with a filter and filter the water as you drink it. They are supposed to be good for 2 months or 40 gallons, depending on how much you use them through the day (and probably what size you get). We bought the medium ones which hold 18.5 ounces.

After reading the reviews about them the Little Lady decided she’d like to have one for school so she could just refill them at the water fountain or in the restroom. We’ll be reviewing them on several points:

1. Do they leak?
2. Are they sturdy?
3. How does the water taste?

Stay tuned!

So the Little Lady and I went to the mall today (I know, the MALL!) to hit the sales for some back to school clothes. Since she is done growing we really didn’t need all that much to fill out her wardrobe, and since we bought her three cardigans (yeah THREE) she has doubled her outfits because she can wear her tank tops to school without getting into trouble.

We hit so many stores and walked back and forth through the mall so many times but it was such a fun day. We took our time and didn’t rush through anything, which is always the best way to shop. If you’re in a hurry you’ll overspend and be angry. So you take your time instead, look at everything you can, try stuff on so you know how it looks. Then when you get home, you’re worn out, but you’re happy with your purchases.

Anyway, altogether, we bought 3 cardigans, 2 skirts, 2 pairs of jeans, 2 pairs of shorts, 2 belts, and a necklace. Homecoming related we got her dress out of layaway, bought her a pair of shoes and a set of 6 bracelets to go with them. We also had lunch at Fuddrucker’s before starting and at the end of the day we stopped at Starbucks for tea and coffee.

We also hit Bath and Body Works because I was running low on Dark Kiss, which I swear they made just for me (so everyone else except Little Lady’s best friend) needs to stop wearing it, ok? Ok. In order to save a few bucks we did the Buy 2 get 1 Free. We agreed on Secret Wonderland as our other light-scented perfume to wear whenever we felt like it and Little Lady picked up something that is apple and citrus scented.

I did however forget to stop at Home Depot and get some light bulbs… and I forgot to stop at Lowe’s for some other stuff, but that’s ok. I have a coupon for Burlington that is good on the 31st, so we’ll be back in that area then. I enjoy walking around the mall, even if we are walking back and forth going to stores we passed up originally. It’s good exercise and burns a lot more calories than some exercises do. (If I find the article that mentioned that… I’ll link it.) For now, I’m off to read or continue learning Japanese. Later!

John Irving - “The way you define yourself as a writer is that you write every time you have a free minute. If you didn’t behave that way you would never do anything.”

I am going to give this a try.

First, I want to say WOW. I watched all of season 1 and caught up with 2 in three days. THREE DAYS. That is just how good the series is and YES there are huge gaping differences with the tv show and the books. So if you’re watching the show and not reading the novels, don’t worry about it. If you don’t want to read them, you don’t have to and you won’t be concerned about all the differences.

If you’ve read the novels then you’re going to be like “HOLY CRAP!” when you watch the show. Even though they have made some HUGE changes the show it still worth watching. You can just be like me and wonder how the hell are they going to pull off Stan being Sherriff of Texas if he’s dead? Lafayette is alive and working for Eric, unwillingly, of course.

I do have compliments for a lot of the effects though. Shifting is semi-believable. It’s not “my bones are breaking and reforming and there’s all kinds of clear goop you’re going t have to clean up off the bathroom floor”. It looks magical, first you see human, then you see dog, then you see human and of course they are naked. It’s absolutely hilarious when Sookie finds out about Sam and how - which is pretty close in the book, but not quite. The book version was better.

It’s also quite nice to see what’s going on with other people living in Bon Temps. I’d never think of Jason doing V or kidnapping a vampire. They changed the way Rene died and I wasn’t thrilled about that. Sookie saved her own life in the book and I think it would have been nice if they had followed that scene in the show. It wasn’t in the middle of the day and I think Bill was out of town. Oh, and Rene didn’t die, he’d started confessing like crazy in the hospital. I don’t recall if he made it or not.

The entire story regarding Long Shadow was done differently, except for the embezzlement, but there was a lot more going on afterwards that connected to his death and his maker in the book. There wasn’t any tribunal that Bill and Eric had to go to and he sure as hell didn’t have to make a new vampire. Although I do like the twist it adds and of course, the drama, for the show.

There are enough differences between the series and the show to make it interesting enough to want to follow both. I’ve read all 9 books now and I’m going to finish watching season 2. HBO has said it’s going to have a season 3. I think that’s a pretty good thing. I just wish I knew the thinking behind the screenwriters reasons as to why they changed parts of the main story itself (Lafayette dies, Stan Lives in the books) because I think it was fine the way it was.

If you’re interested in the show and haven’t read the books, you might want to do so. Check your library, they may have them, or download it to your Kindle if you have one. They are worth reading and comparing to the show. Enjoy.