Taxes and Stuff

Last weekend I meant to file my taxes but got sidetracked with other things. But I did manage to file them yesterday. I am hoping that I will get my refund relatively quickly. My plan is to pay off my Sephora and Ulta credit card bill and pay off the rest of another credit card. I just want to get ahead of some things.

The flies in my ointment is that since I have a new puppy, she needs more puppy shots and my dog food bills have gone up due to it. The other fly is the Sephora sale that is coming up sometime in April. I might have gift cards but I don't want to go hog wild.

The great debate is either get that massive bottle of Coco Mademoiselle Intense or another bottle of no 5 parfum. I am leaning towards the CM bottle because I already have tons of no 5 and I don't need more of no 5. I don't need anymore perfume but it's hard to pass up a sale. Rarely there is a sale when Chanel is included. Ulta does have perfume sales but never seems to include Chanel. So let's hope that Sephora hasn't changed the whole sale policy when it comes to Chanel. 

It's been a long assed time since I have bought any kind of perfume that was larger the 100ml. A couple times, I could have but didn't. Something else always seemed to demand my attention and funds. I needed shoes or I have something else that was somewhat expensive that needed to be replaced or fixed. At this point, I am hoping that things financially will be okay and no major disaster will happen that requires funds.

Sunny, the puppy, I think has gotten used to us and bonded with us. Because now she is a little terror. She wakes me up between 4 and 4:30 every morning wanting to go to the bathroom and eat. After those things are finished, she will not settle down. She wants to cuddle for a few minutes and then she wants to play. But there comes a certain point, shortly before 7 that she seems to get a little bored with me playing with her. She wants my other dog and father to come down so she can play with them. When that happens, she can make all the noise she wants. I would rather her not wake the household at 5 in the morning with her barking. At this point, I can't wait until she gets a little older and she will sleep a little longer and I won't be so sleep deprived.

 

Meet Sunny

Yesterday was a month since Jake has died. Parts of me are still looking for Jake. There are moments where I think that he is still alive and I start looking for him and remember that he has died. It's still tough not having Jake around. I wonder often enough if things will get any easier. I still have to say good night to Jake every night and wish that he was still here.

On Tuesday, it was supposed to be just looking at a Lab puppy but I wasn't aware of the fact that it wasn't just looking but taking one home. Yes, I have a new puppy and her name is Sunny. I know Sunny isn't a replacement for Jake but it does in some ways feel like a replacement. I am exhausted at this point. 

Tuesday night through Thursday night were pretty rough. Sunny has a crate in my bedroom and is in it at night. She is too little and I can be a sound sleeper so having her sleep on my bed just isn't possible right now. It was an hour of her whimpering and a little bit of howling before she slept and then up at 4:30 for a potty break and to eat. I get it because she is an itty bitty puppy and she is in a brand new place with all new people and a new dog buddy. Last night was a little easier since it was a couple minutes of whimpering but she settled down and fell asleep. Lack of sleep wasn't made any easier with my work schedule since I do work in the afternoons. I was lucky this morning when she wanted to eat and a potty break at a little after 5. When that was over, she seemed to be a little more ready to head back up stairs and take a nap. After getting up at 4:30 in the morning for the past 3 days and Sunny not wanting to go back to sleep, it was a blessing to have the ability to doze for at least an hour and a half afterwards. I was lucky last night because I was off work today and tomorrow. Maybe the next two days will be a little easier still. I think when she gets to be 5 months old, she will be a little more trust worthy and will be able to sleep on my bed. I do have technology in my room and I can't really trust her at night not to go chewing on wires when I am sleeping and she is supposed to be sleeping.

When I was setting up the dog crate when Sunny came home, I was having a talk with Jake. I was letting  him know that I miss him horribly, I cry at least once a week due to missing him and Sunny wasn't replacing him. How can she replace Jake? Jake was my buddy and I had a strong bond with Jake. I don't recall having such a strong bond with any other of the dogs that I have had.
 

Estee Lauder and Dogs

On Wednesday, we put in an application for a lab puppy to adopt. Found out on Saturday that we didn't get the puppy. The reason is that we didn't have a fenced in yard. We live in a rural area and there are tons of places where have a visible fenced yard. In a rural area, visible fenced yards are not the most feasible thing and invisible fenced yards are more of an option. Every rescue that we have tried thus far want fenced yards (no visible). What is also driving me batty as well is the amount of cash rescues want. Around $500 for a puppy, $400 for an adult and $200 for a senior. I don't ever recall rescue places wanting major money to adopt a dog and a massive application process. If people are willing to shell out at least $200 or more to adopt a dog, why such an application process? So my family and I are going to go the breeder route again. We would have loved to adopt a dog but all the hoops that need to be jumped through isn't for us.

I tried really hard to refrain from buying new bottles of perfume and did fail at it. I was poking around the internet to see if Estee Lauder had some bath stuff that went along with Pleasures. The only thing that I could find was a body lotion. I sprung for the body lotion and a 1.7 ounce bottle of Pleasures along with it. The Estee Lauder website gave me 15% for creating an account and I was sold. I'm not the type that really wants to pay full price if I don't need to. I might have gotten another 5 ounce bottle but apparently that size sells out quickly. 

I have always adored Pleasures for women. Pleasures for women was probably my first big perfume love. Yes, I wore Clinique Happy and Cucumber Melon but I loved Pleasures more. Back in the later  90's, when Pleasures came out, I was in high school and working a part time minimum wage job. I couldn't afford Pleasures on a regular basis. When I could afford a bottle, I went with the largest sized bottle that I could get and didn't wear it a lot. Most of the time, I wore either Bath and Body Works Cucumber Melon and Happy. Clinique Happy wasn't purchased as often as Cucumber Melon because a $5 an hour job didn't get you very far so I have to be cautious with my bottles of Pleasures and to a lesser degree of Happy.
 

Perfume Minis

 I am having a real hankering of going back to basics. Recently, I have been wearing tons of Estee Lauder Pleasures and Clinique Happy. Now I am starting to get a hankering for the original Vera Wang for her perfume. It's cheap enough on BeautyEncounter and Fragrancenet and I am flirting on if I should get a bottle but at this point, I am going to have to wait and see if I can finish a bottle or two of perfume before I go adding more shit. I am trying not to add anything more and it's not an easy thing to do. But I do wish that Sheer Veil wasn't discontinued and not a million Princess flankers.

Going back to basics in perfume isn't too bad. Maybe I don't want anything too demanding in terms of perfume. The pandemic has left me exhausted and with the stress related to grief, demanding perfumes are not what I want. I want perfumes that are a little more comforting and right now some of them are blasts from the pasts.

This is something that I really don't see very often anymore. There was a point in time where I would get myself perfume gift sets. I am talking probably late 90's early 2000's. I might not have had tons of cash then but when I would buy perfume, I would save every spare penny I could and get the gift set. I wanted the most bang for my buck. In those gift sets was a bottle of perfume and either the body lotion or soap but there would always be a little perfume mini in there. I always did enjoy the perfume minis. They were fun, cute and easily displayed. Problem with those is that most of the time is that they were dabbers and not sprays. So I couldn't really put them in my purse or book bag. At that time, travel sprays were not much of a thing. I would like to see minis make a comeback and preferably in spray form. Those 4ml spray minis were great because a regular travel sprayer can be a little too big and bulky. Sometimes just too much in general. Let's hope that the perfume gods will listen and bring back more perfume minis.

Made it Through

I made it through another snow storm and didn't lose electricity. I am happy about that. Yesterday was not the greatest day. The roads were a mess and I still had to go to work. Many places in my area were closed for the day but not where I worked. Funny thing is that I received a phone call from my manager stating that there were a bunch of call offs for my department and there wasn't enough work for me to do in my department. I had the choice of either taking the day off or going into work and working in another department. It's been many years since I had to work in a different department and I was not willing to deal with another departments drama so I took the day off. In all the years that I have worked for my current company, I don't ever recall getting a phone call like that. So this was just a random day off and I shall take it. I used the day to get on top of a couple things and try and set myself ahead of a couple things. My bank account can take the hit. I didn't realize that I had leftover vacation from last year until I looked at my last paycheck and might have a residual amount left.

Valentine's day is just around the corner and I am really started to be bombarded with emails about when the last day of shipping is or extra points per dollar in rewards. I am not looking for anymore perfume at the moment. Well, I'm always looking for new perfume but I am trying not to buy anymore perfume except for when Sephora has their spring sale in April. I am trying not to add much of anything to my collection but trying to use things up. It's the whole idea of companies trying to make you think that you have to buys gifts or just buy stuff for whatever holiday that has gotten pretty annoying. I am just trying not to buy as much in general this year and it's difficult to change the bad habit of buying things because it was a good deal. Or because I was bored, anxious or just had a little extra money. I am just trying to get myself in a little better financial state.

Slowly but surely, I am whittling down my candle collection. Even though it's slow going, every candle that I finish, it's a little more space that I have. I'm not adding candles or perfume at the moment, I just want less clutter at this point. By using things up or just throwing out what I don't use creates space.

With all of the cold weather and the back to back winter storms and the cold, I want spring to arrive. I really want to bust out the Estee Lauder Pleasures and Clinique Happy. I have worn both recently but they don't quite fit with winter. I had forgotten how much I love both of them. Pleasures is more of a spring perfume and Happy is more of a summer type of perfume. Truth be told, I was over the moon when Ulta had a special going for Estee Lauder products and I nabbed that 5 ounce bottle. I haven't seen the 5 ounce bottle on Ulta since early last year. It's still available on the Estee Lauder website but sells out often. I do wish that the body lotion was available at Ulta or just more available in general. I have been craving the EDP version of no 19 as well but to a lesser extent. I want sunny, warm days again. The days when I I can go outside without a coat on, wear short sleeves, the days were I can start breaking out the spring/summer candles. I have a couple candles that I am sick of looking at and I just want to use them to just get rid of them. There is no reason on why I need 10 lilac candles, no reason why I need that rosewater ivy or strawberry pound cake. I only have 1 of those two and why not just use them when spring comes and just be done with it.