Post office shenanigans

I went to the post office this afternoon to mail a stuffed animal out to my cousin, counting on there being a priority mail box for me to pack said animal into. I only have Fresh Direct boxes at home and when I tried to mail something out with it, the USPS worker told me that I couldn't mail something out with a business logo on it unless the contents of the box were actually from that business. I remember having to use brown tape to cover up the logos that day, and had no desire to repeat that performance.

Unfortunately, the USPS stopped providing the larger box I remembered and has cheaply provided a flatter rectangular one and a small cube. I was perusing the selection of boxes, which happened to be next to the two policemen on duty in the post office.

ME
[picking up rectangular box]

COP
That's a rectangle shaped box.

MY INNER MONOLOGUE
Do I look like a dumb little girl?
[picking up cube box]

COP
That one's more like a square.

ME
Thanks.

I brought both boxes to a table and figured that the box would be better and started stuffing the poor toy into it, scrunching it up so horribly that I felt bad for it. I stopped when I heard laughing and a high pitched voice behind me.

COP
[in high pitched cartoony voice]
Oh no! Let me out! Don't put me in here!

I got really embarrassed because people started looking at me stuffing this huge toy into a tiny box. Maybe they thought I was cheap (trying to take advantage of the flat rate, which wasn't much of a deal), or like the cops, thought I was stupid. After I finally left, I waved to the cops, and one (I think did the cartoon voice) of them said, "Bye Sweetheart." I don't know whether to be enraged or just grateful not to be the butt of some USPS/NYPD joke anymore.

Kitty envy

I'm back from PA! Annette's kitties are the best, and I almost kidnapped Sehkmet (yikes, did I spell that right?) when I packed up for my return trip.

I've never been so happy to get on a PATH train before, but my NJ Transit train turned out to be ultra packed that I was afraid that I wouldn't make the transfer at Newark. It really wouldn't have mattered though, since the conductors stopped checking tickets at New Brunswick.

I smiled when I walked out of the PATH station after almost 4 hours of travelling. Philadelphia is nice, but I think I'm a New York girl at heart. Well, that or I was just happy to depend on my two feet to get to my destination, rather than a bunch of trains.

Oh, and if anyone has been frustrated by the Flash Mind Reader, here's the solution.

Christmas for one

Since there aren't any grand Christmas traditions in my family, we didn't do a big get-together this year. We all just saw each other during Thanksgiving (both sides of the family), so it's not a big deal. Today, I could've gone to Brooklyn to partake in lunch at my cousins' house, but with my lingering cold, I didn't feel like making the trip out there. I slept in with a kitty (Eli) snuggled behind my knees and then went to the movies.

Yes, I went to the movies by myself, although I wasn't alone. I'd never seen the movie theater so packed before. Thankfully most people were wasting their money on King Kong. I finally got to see Memoirs of a Geisha, which was quite good, visually stunning, in fact. I didn't think much of the book, and didn't finish it. After that, I went to dinner by myself. Then it was on to the laundry, folding that laundry while watching TV, and packing for my trip to PA.

In short a great Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

I had to beat a couple dozen tourist children and their parents to take that picture.

I love Colin Firth!

During my bakefest last weekend (for my coworkers' holiday gifts), I watched the A&E version of Pride and Prejudice. I still like Sense and Sensibility better, but I do so love Colin Firth!

So I watched Bridget Jones's Diary tonight since I was in a Colin Firth mood. I guess I could watch Love Actually too if I wanted to go for the trifecta (I've only seen him in these three movies).

Oh Colin, you're so dreamy. You can jump into a lake any day for me.

Welcome to Bake-a-palooza!

Let's see how much I've baked over the past couple weeks:

12 dozen gingersnaps
5 dozen jam shortbread cookies
6 dozen chocolate citrus biscotti
16 dozen hazelnut chocolate chip cookies

Yikes, that's a lot of cookies!

A total of some of the ingredients used for all these cookies:

16 sticks of unsalted butter
27 cups of all purpose flour
19 eggs
9 cups of granulated sugar
7 cups of brown sugar
6 (12 oz.) bags of chocolate chips

Most of the cookies were for my coworkers and their holiday gifts. I picked up a huge package of cellophane bags from a cake supply store and I was a little cookie factory. I'm done with baking for a very long time after this cookie bonanza.

Stick that strike up your you-know-what

Since the TWU decided to strike starting yesterday. That means that I've walked to and from work since then, which is a bit longer than 2.5 miles. 2.5 miles isn't that long, but when it's freezing cold and windy, it quickly starts to feel a lot longer.

Even better, I've gotten sick from all the walking. I was so miserable at work today, staying later and later thanks to the ineptness of the operations department. My purchase orders didn't come through when they were supposed to, so one of my bosses kept telling me to go home, but if I didn't finish the POs, I would've had to come in the next day. I figured I'd feel better if I took a whole day off rather than leaving a couple hours early, so I stuck it out.

I told my boss, "Assume that I'm not going to be here tomorrow. If I'm well, I'll come in."

He told me not to come in even if I am well. Woohoo! Day off!