Pre Christmas Stuff

It's coming down to the wire in terms of Christmas. I am sure that there is tons of panic going on in terms of shopping for presents right now. At this point, I am just waiting for my last one to show up and let's hope that it comes by Christmas Eve. If it doesn't, it's not going to be the end of the world. Sometimes what does annoy me is when a company says that when a certain day is the last day for getting a package by Christmas. I get that it is Christmas and lots of people ship lots of gifts from the week of Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve. I am just hoping that the last gift that I had ordered will arrive tomorrow.

I did do some impulsive things with the back pay and bonus. I still paid that monster cellphone bill but I wanted to make a nice Christmas for my dogs at least in terms of gifts. I did go crazy with the treats and dog toys. I view it as since they didn't get a Barkbox this month, I did want to make up for it. The frivolous thing that I did for myself and I know that I really shouldn't have was ordering a bottle of Comptoir Sud Pacifique Vanille Banane, My perfume logic was that it 30ml for $50 and for perfume, that's pretty much free. It's not costing me a whole lot of money and what is the harm? 

But at the end of the day, money was spent a little to quickly. I made a resolution to buy only 1 candle from the Bath and Body Works semi annual sale and not buy anymore. There will always be other sales that I can go to and I can bank some rewards points from online surveys. But it is going to be a while before I do some fun things. I have more pressing matters at hand, like fixing up my teeth and getting more of my financial mess figured out. Nope, haven't filed for bankruptcy yet. There is something about pulling the trigger on that that's scary. Even though I don't own anything like a car or house, I am not a fan of what would be the invasive nature of the whole thing that freaks me out.

So the deal Christmas Eve is to work until 5, go home and finish wrapping my gifts. The dogs' presents are the only ones that I haven't wrapped yet and I am not quite ready to tackle that small mountain. For Christmas Day, my folks and I are going to my aunt and uncle's house to celebrate Christmas. I don't know if it is going to be a ham or a standing rib roast for Christmas dinner. All I know is that I am responsible for dinner rolls and wine. I already ordered the rolls and I have to pick out which wine that is needed. The wine selection is going to have to wait until I get off work.

I am trying to plan my Christmas Day perfume. Currently my choices are Theorema (tramatically discontinued), Lyric (absolutely adore) or vintage Shalimar (don't wear enough). I already wear a little too much Chanel no 5 and will probably be wearing it to work tomorrow when I brave my 12 to 5 shift at a grocery store. So wearing any version of no 5 on Christmas Day is a no go. I haven't made a decision on which one to wear yet.

 

First Day Back and Candle Day 2024

Today was my first day back at work since my surgery. I wasn't thrilled with going back to work but needed to go back to work. I didn't have a whole lot to do that was going to violate the restrictions that my surgeon handed me. I did what I could. There were things that I wanted to do but it wasn't a wise idea to do anything I really wanted to do. I am happy that I am easing my way back into work though. I figured with being off for so long, having surgery and with my restrictions, I figured it would be better to ease myself back into work. I didn't want to just jump in not exactly how I would be feeling after a short shift. So it's going to be some short shifts until Christmas.

Today was the first day of the Bath and Body Works Candle Day. If you already have an account set up with Bath and Body Works, you would be the first in line to shop Candle Day. Normally, Candle Day is the first Saturday of December. I think with the pandemic and how poorly the 2020 or 2021 was handled, I think they make it an all weekend type of deal. Since I was a member, I was able to shop the early access and get candles. After talking to my finances, I was only able to nab 2 candles. In some ways, I was a little sad that I couldn't get what I would have liked to get but my gift card only allowed me to 2. I got the Winter candle and Freshly Brewed Coffee. Maybe next paycheck I might get more or just give the candle buying a rest until next Candle Day. I am leaning towards just giving it a rest. I think that will be my New Year's resolution/challenge is to see how many candles that I can use up before next Candle Day.

I was a little surprised with our snow storm. Late Wednesday night to early Thursday morning I did hear some thundersnow and that is something that I haven't heard in years. When I heard the thundersnow, I thought that it would be much worse than it really was. Nothing good can come out of hearing thundersnow. The last time I heard it, our well pump decided to break and we lost electricity for a week and this was a week after Thanksgiving in 2020. I was hoping that I wasn't going to lose electricity and I didn't.
 

Snow Storms and Other Things

Ever since Thanksgiving in my neck of the woods, I have been living under the threat of a snowstorm.  For some reason, the first one had missed my area. Along the east coast of Lake Erie has been slammed with over 3 feet of snow with more on the way. But this time, it looks like I am going to get a little something more than an inch or two. At this point, I am seriously hoping that we do not lose our electricity due to the fact that the guy that we took our generator to for fixing can't figure out what is wrong with our generator. We got the generator to him in July and it's 5 months later.

So that means that I did spend some time cleaning up the house. I can't do tons of cleaning due to some of my restrictions but I made the effort to do some of them. Then it was the mini Costco run. There were things that we were completely out of and needed to get. So I think that I am going to be alright and I will just hope that I don't lose electricity. I don't want to be looking at a sink and dishwasher full of dirty dishes. All I really need to do is make sure I keep my cellphone, Kindle and iPod charged. I will have to take a look at my Kindle to see what books and movies that I have downloaded and see if there is anything that is under $2 that might be interesting.

The only thing that is in my favor is that I have more candles than I know what to do with in case we lose electricity. If we lose electricity, I am hoping that there will be 2 single wick candles that can be finished up on the first floor and I will finish one in my bedroom. So far, I have placed 12 candles in my room, in case I need them if and when we lose electricity. I am still waiting for my early access to the Bath and Body Works Candle Day sale that will be happening this weekend. I still am setting my limit of 3 candles and not one more. My record for Candle Day is an order of 9 candles in a single order. Since I have been on medical leave, I haven't been as stoked about Candle Day since I have started participating in Candle Day back in either 2018 or 2019. But I could never fathom or justify getting 20 plus candles in a single shopping run and then going back in the store or online and getting another 20 plus candles. Bath and Body Works always has candle sales through out the year and some of those sales are really good sales.

My medical leave is slowly coming to an end since I go back to work on Friday. In some ways, I want to go back to work and I know that I really need the cash but in other ways, I don't want to go back to work. I have gotten a little to used to doing what I want when I want and not have to keep an eye on the clock. I want to have a little more cash to get my 2 eldest nephews their Christmas gift and call it a day.
 

Little Bit of a Relief

I got a little bit of financial relief today. The short term disability that I wasn't so sure that I would get has come through. I got two weeks worth of that money. It still might be less than what I am used to but I have some kind of breathing room. Not a whole lot of breathing room but I feel a little bit better than I have been in the past few days. So that means that I can plan things a little bit better.

Thanksgiving was pretty quiet at my house. I somehow found a fresh turkey that was under 10 pounds. Turns out that the smaller the turkey, the bonier it is. For once, I got to watch the dog show on Thanksgiving day and a decent chunk of the parade before I got bored with that. I really enjoyed the fact that I didn't have to go anywhere and making Thanksgiving dinner wasn't the big pain in the ass that it usually is.

It's going to be a long 5 more days before I return to work. After being off a little over 3 weeks, I get to go back on Friday. I honestly can't afford to sit at home anymore and I am getting a little on the bored side of things. I didn't get to finish any candles nor did I get to polish my nails like I thought that I would be able to. The only thing that I did binge watch was the Hobbit trilogy, I couldn't even focus on reading a book.

Since we are in the holiday shopping season, I honestly will not be partaking in the whole Black Friday to Cyber Monday nonsense. One, I am not flush with money and two, most of my Christmas shopping is done already. All I have to do is shop for my 2 eldest nephews but I am probably going to get them an Xbox gift card and call it a day or maybe an inexpensive video game. Video games are expensive and I don't ever recall video games being this expensive. But the sale that I am most waiting for is the Bath and Body Works Candle Day sale that's happening the weekend of December 6th. I will have a little more money for that but I still want to take it easy with that sale. I still have tons of candles already. I know that I shouldn't get more and probably should give this Candle Day a pass. If the price is more than $10.50, I will. The gift card that I have is $30 but I might embellish that with an extra $10 but everything boils down to price and how bad do I really want this.

I will admit to the fact that I used some of my Ulta rewards points to make a fairly large purchase. I did create a stockpile of stocking stuffers and one or two emergency gifts if I need them. But the big ticket item was the Estee Lauder Pleasures gift set that Ulta had on sale. How was I going to refuse a 1.7 ounce and a 3.4 ounce giftset for $80? I couldn't refuse that type of deal and it came with all of these gift with purchase type of thing. I am thinking of using another chunk of my rewards to load up on MAC lipsticks since they are on sale. But I really should hold off on that for at least a couple weeks.
 

COVID and Returning to Work

Since my drain is out, sometime next week I am returning to work. I am not sure exactly which day would be the first official day but I have to return to work. Technically, I probably could have stayed out longer but my bills and bank account won't let me. The next time that I might see some kind of money go into my bank account would be the 5th but a small amount though. I do have some in my bank account but I do need to make that money last until I know for sure. I might not be thrilled about going back to work but I need to. Living is expensive and I would like to finish up Christmas shopping. I have only a couple people left to shop  for and a paycheck or two will help out.

Ever since my mother passed COVID to my dad and I, my sense of smell have been curtailed. I can't smell much of anything. Once in a while it will be like I never lost my sense of smell but other times I won't be able to smell a thing. I have a hard time with smelling my strongest perfumes. I was wearing Lyric and could only smell a little bit of it but couldn't smell much. Truth be told, I am pissed that my mother didn't get her boosters like she was supposed to and had to get COVID when I had my surgery and my dad and I let her know that we were pissed because we were put in a dangerous spot. I am hoping that I will get my sense of smell back sometime soon because I want to start wearing the things that I love and to actually be able to smell them. So as it stands, I will be sticking with Chanel no 5 and hope that my sense of smell comes back. I do have things that I want to try out and review.
 

Guerlain Habit Rouge Vintage EDC Review

There was a bit of good news today. I had my post op appointment today and managed to get the drain removed. The doctor did note that my skin was becoming irritated with the surgical tape and there was some irritation around the drain site. But she said all that would heal up because she is removing the drain. Now I can get in and out of chairs and my bed without discomfort. I still need to take it easy. I asked if I can go back to work with restrictions and it looks like I can start doing that. I just can't afford to stay out of work too long. Some paperwork was goofed up with corporate and I won't get the sick leave pay for a while due to the holiday and all. Now I can start getting more thorough showers now that my incisions are mostly healed up.

Since my surgery, I haven't exactly wanted to wear some of my old favorites like Lyric. I don't want any kind of associations of pain when wearing Lyric. So I have been wearing tons of Chanel no 5 and Infusion d'Iris. Both of those are a little more soothing and have bottles upon bottles of both of those.

Since I was starting to get a little bored with Infusion d'Iris and Chanel no 5, I wanted to test out something new. Tom Ford's Black Orchid was a bust and this time, I went with Guerlain Habit Rouge in vintage EDC form. I was poking around STC and somehow ended up browsing vintage stuff and stumbled upon the vintage version of Habit Rouge. So naturally, it went into my shopping cart and went back to browsing STC. I mainly was on STC to get a small decant of Rose de Nuit. Did you know that Habit Rouge comes in parfum form? I didn't and had to throw a decant of that in my shopping cart as well. With those 3 decants, I hurriedly checked out before I started to add more to my shopping cart. I was finally able to finish off the last tiny bit of the STC gift card that Portia from the Perfume Posse sent me when I won some sort of give away.

So I was needing a break from my normal stuff and took a little bit of a chance and sprayed on the vintage Habit Rouge. I had remembered the lemon, dusting powder and a halfway decent staying power. I had a hard time with the lemon then but I have always had a hard time with citrus. The biggest thing that I noticed was there was oakmoss. Actual honest to goodness oakmoss. Nothing made today with actual oakmoss, just some kind of moss variant. While I was loving the oakmoss, I was quite loving the lemon and the dusting powder note. Like I have already said, I always had a hard time with citrus, especially if it is sharp or has a powdery element to it. Habit Rouge combined both of it. Besides the oakmoss, what kept me fulling hating this was the leather. I do love leather in perfume, while most of the time I prefer a plush leather, this is more of a butch leather. I didn't fully realize how well oakmoss proper plays well with leather.
 

Tom Ford Black Orchid Review

Okay, I am a little less than a week out from my surgery and still pissed that I have a drain. My post surgical appointment is on Monday and I am hoping that my drain can be removed on Monday.I want to start being able to sleep on my right side, be able to take a shower normally and not have to deal with all of these extra steps. I'm tired of how the area around my drain in sore and I am tired of how the bandages and tape pull on my stomach. I just want to resume more of my normal activities.

I don't have a whole lot going on in my extensive free time. Since both of my parents are home, I haven't been able to burn any candles. Last Monday was the last day that I was able to have a lit candle and with the potential of having some minor winter storm, that means that we might lose electricity and that means I will have a candle going. It would probably be when the sun starts to set then will I have a candle going. I keep hoping that for once, I will be able to polish my nails while on a vacation. Every vacation I do keep meaning to do that but something either comes up or I just forget about it. So maybe this time around, I will actually do it.

Since I have all of this free time, I decided to give Tom Ford's Black Orchid. Sephora was having one of  their sales and I decided on getting a travel spray of this one. Sometimes I do feel like I do give Tom Ford's line up the short end of the stick. Tobacco Vanille is a little to powerful, Bitter Cherry would have been great if it hadn't been for the prominent tonka note. So I figure that I would give one last shot.

What got me to get a travel spray of Black Orchid was the fact that I was pulled in by the product description by rum soaked. Let's just say that there is nothing rum soaked in Black Orchid. It's a whole lot of nothing to my nose. I get an aquatic jasmine/tuberose thing with hints of vanilla and maybe some patchouli. I thing Tom Ford said that this is elegant or classy. Considering what Tom Ford's ad campaigns are, I would not consider this classy nor elegant. I think Black Orchid just sucks.

For the price of Tom Ford offerings, I do expect better. If you are going to charge Amouage range prices, I do expect a hell of a lot. I expected something boozy, more full figured, a little more fleshed out. Not something thin and watery smelling. While Black Orchid did have lasting power, there would be no way that I can spring for a full bottle. At this point, I don't think that I will be buying anything more from the Tom Ford line, I don't think that I would even get decants of this line up.