Shopping, sweet deals and a leaky toilet!

So, I did a little shopping after work today.

On my way to work this morning I took my usual route and passed this small salon that I noticed had been closed for the past few months - it seems they've reopened this week though with a new name and they had a sign up saying "$5 women's & men's haircuts." While I know I should get my ends trimmed at least every 6 months if not sooner, I'm lazy and forget and I know it's been at least a year since I last got em trimmed. I usually keep my hair long - I once made the mistake of getting a bob in 3rd grade and hated it so much I wore a paper bag over my head the rest of the night when we got home, and then in 4th or 5th grade I got bangs cut... only my hair is naturally wavy with some curl and yeah... my bangs always curled, they never went straight how bangs are supposed to. So ever since those 2 disasters, I've just been keeping my hair long - I like it and so does the hubby so yeah. I have no desire to change it up.

But anyways, I know I've needed a trim for awhile now, as my ends always split, and I figured for $5, why not - I haven't had an actual stylist since I went off to college and got in the habit of just going to Great Clips or whoever had student coupons in the campus newspaper or the little discount booklets the bookstores give out at the beginning of the semester. I got about 2 inches off, but you can't really tell as my hair is pretty long to begin with - it took a whole 10 or so, the girl was super quick and didn't try to make much small talk (which I *hate* cuz it's like I barely know you, not sure when I'll ever see you again, but here ask me anything and everything while you chop off my hair).

I then went to Target to do some shopping for a baby shower I'm going to this weekend (hubby's 2nd cousin's wife, although they're more like 1st cousins). She's due near the end of October and they're having a girl. It's their first kid so they need a lot of stuff, but I was surprised that 1) she only registered at Babies R Us even though the town they live in (where I went to college) doesn't have a Toys/Babies R Us and 2) out of 13 printed pages, a good chunk of them were all toys. Comparing her registry to those of my friend's who have had kids... it seemed like there's a lot of stuff she was missing. I shopped at Babies R Us for my friend who just had her 2nd kid last spring, and I agree with my mom when she said they tend to be more expensive than say Target or Walmart which carry a lot of the EXACT same thing items for less (she warned me not to take hubby to Babies R Us first, as he'll most likely get sticker shock). Since I spent a good bit for my friend, getting stuff off her registry but feeling like it wasn't a lot despite being what we budgeted, I decided to opt for Target this time around - taking her registry and shopping off it there. A good bit of what I bought were the exact same items on her list but for several dollars less, and I got her a few things that were comparable. I really like what we got though - I hope she does too! I'm not going to post what I got, just in case she might read this (I doubt she does though) as I don't want to spoil the surprises!

I also need to think of something to get our new nephew too - hubby's older brother and his wife are expecting their 2nd boy near the end of September. While their oldest is just 3, I'm sure they still have a lot of stuff from him, so we'll probably just send them some of the basic stuff that you can always use more of and maybe a stuffed animal or something.

Shopping in the baby aisles at Target, I can't wait til we go and put together our registry! We're waiting until after we find out what we're having, which is near the beginning of October, so we don't have to go with all neutral colors (cuz I'm not of fan of the yellow/pastel green color combo).

I also finally found myself a body pillow! It was $3 cheaper than Walmart and is just a solid black - the only ones I could find at Walmart were part of their college decor so they were all super bright colors (neon pink, neon blue, bright orange, neon green...) and would look totally tacky in our bedroom so I had been looking the last few weeks for something more neutral (our bedspread and sheets are brownish), so a black works. I've been wanting one for a bit now, as they say it's best to lay on your left side while pregnant and when you sleep on your side you're supposed to put a pillow or something between your legs so your spine or whatever is all at the same level or something... it's a posture thing.

I also went over to Borders and bought a book I have been wanting for several years now - it's called World War Z and it's an oral report of the zombie war. Basically, pretend zombie's are real and they start taking over like they do in the movies, and eventually they were stopped and destroyed, whatever. This book is basically the accounts of what happened from the survivors of the zombie war, as orally told to the author. It sounds like a really neat concept. I first heard about it a few years back when I was managing the theater and one of my employees was reading it during their downtime on the ticket stand - I asked em about it, they let me read the back cover, and it sounded pretty interesting. I had put it on a few birthday/Christmas wishlists but never received it and so I've been meaning to buy it for awhile. I believe I heard recent too that they're making a movie out of this one...

I also bought Chicken Soup for the Expectant Mother's Soul, as I enjoy reading the Chicken Soup books (they make for good bathroom reading) and found one I bought not too long ago and started reading some it again last night. I figured they had to have one for new moms and I searched online and found this one and decided I'd get it.

I got both books for just under $11! I take surveys through eRewards.com and for each survey you get like .10-.45 cents per survey just for trying to qualify to take it and if you do qualify and complete it you get several dollars credited to your account (anywhere from $2-5 I believe, pending on the survey). Unfortunately, you don't get a check for your money, but you can spend your credits on rewards and stuff - you can save up for hotel or airfare points, or for 50 credits you can get a $25 gift card to Gamestop (my next purchase, mwahahaha), or you can spend 15 for a $15 in Border's Bucks for the next month. I opted for the Border's Bucks this first time, and got $15 credited to my Border's Rewards card, so basically I got one of the books for free... and then I had a Border's Rewards coupon for 33% off so I got the other one for a little under $10 - $30 worth of books for just under $11! Sweet!

In other news... our toilet appears to be leaking. Hubby used it last before we went to church on Sunday and we noticed later that afternoon that there was water all around it. We figured it just overflowed and put a big towel down to soak it all up. Monday I switched the towel out, hanging up the soaked on the rack in our shower to dry and I hung the partially soaked rug over the edge of the tub to dry too and I came back last night and noticed some more water... I thought maybe it was from the rug, that had dripped off onto the floor, so I let it go for the night. I got up for work this morning and noticed the towel was pretty wet... the first one was mostly dry so I tossed it in with the dirty laundry, hung the newly soaked towel up to dry and folded the rug over the edge of the tub in a way that it wouldn't drip on the floor and I laid another old towel on the floor around the toilet. I just got back home a little bit ago and the towel I just put down this morning is half soaked (the half nearest to the base of the toilet). I finally gave in and called our landlord at both the numbers we have listed for him, but no call back yet... and I just got off the phone with him - he's coming at about 9am to take a look at it and see what he can do, which means kitty gets to be locked in her cage for a bit!