Lizet's Place

SHEIN OWNS ME! Like, I have a wishlist of over 300 items of things that I like! They're rather cheap but they fit me and that's super important to me.

My cruise wishlist with SHEIN is about 30 items and will probably grow and shrink over the next year as my clothing size changes and I finalize what I want to take.

I know I don't need the same romper in 3 colors, but I just might get it in all 3 colors.

I know I don't need 8 dresses, I'll probably take 2 or 3 on the cruise to have something to pick from for the fancier dining locations, but I'm like 80% sure I'll buy all 8 dresses because I can wear them to church.

I have some sandals picked out as well. While I like them, I'm not sure that I want to get them. I'll use this time to think about it.

Also, I'm giving myself until the end of the year to get my storage unit sorted. I'm nearing my resolve to just call a junk hauler to get rid of the bookshelves (thrift places won't take them because they're plyboard or something from IKEA no matter how good of condition they're in). I'm keeping the China cabinets because I'm keeping my mom's China dishes. Plus there's a lot of Princess House my mom left me. So, I need to get rid of stuff to downsize, yet again, to a smaller unit and that will allow me to have more money going forward.

I put off talking about the health stuff I took care of earlier in the week and now I have an update on it.

( Read more... )

Let me tell you the boneheaded mistake I made...THAT WASN'T EVEN MY FAULT!

So...classes start tomorrow, so professors are opening up the online forum where we have our discussions.

The accounting class is going along nicely.

But Spanish 2...holy cow! One set of links take you to one location, but another set of links, actually provided by the professor, don't take you to the same location!

Now, since I was already on the discussion forum due to reading up on my accounting class, I clicked over to my Spanish class to read up on what's going on.

There's a tab called Modules. That's where the daily/weekly assignments are. The one for this week shows how to register on the website where we will actually be doing our assignments and tests...and it's also where we purchase the textbook.

Okay, let me purchase the textbook NOW because it's going to take like a week, from the order processing date, for it to ship. So I follow along on the video provided BY THE PROFESSOR, on how to set up my account and which book to order.

I get that taken care of (and my bank account is $159 lighter) and as I navigate back to the discussion forum and click to see the syllabus, THERE IS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT BOOK LISTED! WTF!

I BOUGHT THE WRONG BOOK!

Que me freaking out because I've already used the activation code for the website! I find a live chat on the publisher's website and chat with them about what to do.

I return the book (or rather contact UPS once I get a tracking number to refuse delivery and it will be sent back to the company at no charge to me) and once the company receives it, they will deactivate the code that I have and it will take 30 DAYS TO GET MY MONEY BACK!

and in the meantime! I HAVE TO SHELL OUT MORE MONEY FOR THE CORRECT BOOK AND ACCESS FOR CLASS!

I also emailed what happened to my professor and she forwarded my message to her publishing company rep to see what can be done.

While ALL of this is going on, I'm searching the website to see how I viewed this incorrect video (meant for a higher level Spanish class) and what's going on.

I take a picture/screenshot of what I see and how I got there to the professor and she thanked me for being a self-advocate and they will get me set up, whatever that means.

A big take away from all of this is that I found out the correct book for my class is only $96!!! *SCREAMS IN LOST MONEY* I don't have to shell out another $159, but I still have to take out a quick payday advance loan to cover the course (it would probably be like $120) because I just don't have the money.

OH! I still have to buy the book/online access for my Accounting class! No way out of that $119.99!

My laundry was dropped off about 11:30 am. The lady carried it from the gate to the apartment and put it in the living room. I carried the bag from the living room to the bedroom and it certainly felt like 41 lbs!

( Some pictures )

But they did do great work! I had a white blouse that got purple hair dye on it like 5 years ago and it qas back to being white! I have some shorts I sleep in, white, that had some blood on them 👀 and they got them pretty damn white! Kim has a pair of black polyester and spandex pants that ALWAYS attracts lint and hair and never come fully clean when I wash them and put them in the dryer with some bounce dryer sheets.

So what Im saying is, they did fantastic work! Definitely worth what I paid, but I wouldn't be able to afford to do it frequently. I thought they had a monthly option for their services but it's either by request or weekly and with how things are now I don't go anywhere that would dirty clothes up to justify using the service every week to wash my clothes.

But like, once a month and to possibly do my sheets and blankets...I could swing it.

See, there I go going back on my never statement. I think it was price shock? I wasn't expecting to have 41 lbs of clothes...when I was worried about making 18¾ lbs.

And just in time. I think there was talk of extending California's "Safer at Home" order until AUGUST!

I know you should never say you're never going to do something again but I can, with 100% certainty, say I'm never going to do this again.

"What aren't you going to do again?" you might be asking yourself.

Well, I'm never going to use a laundry service to pick up, wash, dry, fold, and deliver my clothes.

I thought it was going to be faster and cheaper, if not the same amount, than doing it in the laundry room here in the apartment.

I was hella hella OMFG WRONG! Here's what went down...

The place I found was about 2 miles away. They said $1.60/lb with a minimum of $30 and pick up and drop off were free.

I did a little math - in order to meet the minimum dollar amount, I had to have at least 18 ¾ (18.75) lbs of clothes. Okay, that seems like a lot, but clothes can be heavy, especially when folded and piled up.

I made a reservation on May 7th for pick up on May 11 - they only do pick ups on Monday with delivery on Tuesday or on Thursday with delivery on Friday (24 hour turn around).

All Sunday I was pretty anxious about when they would come. I even set my alarm for 6 am on May 11 because I wasn't for sure what time pick up was. Later that night, I got email reminders and even a text message reminder. Okay! I'm not going to forget. I'm ready! Dirty clothes bagged and waiting. They suggested leaving the bags outside for the pick up but I'm not stupid. You leave a bag of anything outside anywhere and it's liable to get stolen. I'm not having my clothes stolen or treated as trash.

Monday morning my alarm went off at 6. I wasn't completely awake, but enough to double check I had all the dirty clothes I wanted washed (I would be washing my underwear and towels myself). By about 7 am I figured that it wouldn't hurt to go back to sleep for a little while longer, so I set my alarm for 8:15am. I go back to sleep and at 8am my phone is going crazy with notifications! The only ones that matter are a text from the laundry service and an email from them as well. I dismiss the text message and go right for the email. They say they're "on the way" and I panic a little. I read more of the email and they weren't going to fucking arrive until 12:35 pm or 1:05 pm at the latest! THAT IS NOT ON THE WAY! I rant to my best friend and Colleen about it and go back to sleep. I wake up at 9:30 or 10 and go about my usual business, keeping an eye on the clock so that I can take my clothes out to wait for them to be picked up.

I get a call at 12:30 as I'm doing Kim's hair so she can go outside for a little bit. "Hi, I'm Kevin (I think that's what he said), and I'm outside to pick up your clothes" eowil;kadsfj! I tell him to hold on and I'd be right there. I grab 2 bags and on the way out I tell Kim that she has to wait while I take some bags out. I get outside and the guy was at the wrong entrance. Just about every delivery person or rideshare person goes to the wrong apartment building! Some have even said they were at the address they were given even after I show them my confirmation email with the correct address. Whatever. The guy comes to get my bags and I tell him there are 2 more. He takes those 2 and I go back for the other 2.

I had 4-13 gallon trash bags of clothes picked up. Two or 3 of them were full and the other(s) were half. I still wasn't sure if I was going to meet thw minimum, but I figured they would let me know if I didn't.

I hadn't heard from the laundry service except for a confirmation that my clothes were picked up at 12:40 pm and that I could log into the site to check on the progress. You better believe I did that every few hours. I wanted to see what sort of update I would get. Spoiler alert: there was no progress given. I felt let down. LOL

Now we are at today. I woke up nervous about when my clothes were going to be delivered and how much it was going to be. I tried to go back to sleep as I woke up too damn early (I think it was 6?) but I'm still awake.

About 9am, I get the invoice for my laundry. Holy fucking cow! This is why I'm never going to do this again. 41 lbs of "washables" for a grand total of $65.60!

I'm sorry...what!? That is fucking double what I was expecting to pay! No more than $40, but not almost $66!

Just thinking about it again has me mad. Now I'm waiting for when they say it's going to be delivered - that wasn't included in the invoice email, but I'm thinking sometime after 12:30pm.

Also, I really need to get to the store to pick up toilet paper, napkins, and more dish soap. I need quarters to wash as well, but I don't want to think about washing anything else the rest of the week or something.

Finished on the phone with my bank.

Everything is resolved, but not completely to my satisfaction.

The person I spoke with explained how I ended up with the overdraft fee and it basically boils down to when the transactions are processed.

There was enough in my account to cover the initial Postmates amount, but it went over when I added a tip, plus the "counted" the pending transaction from GrubHub in figuring my balance, so I wouldn't have had enough in the account to cover the Postmates transaction (with tip) anyway...therefore overdraft fee.

What they were able to do was give me back 25% of the fee, which is $8.75. That's better than nothing, I guess.

This is definitely a learned lesson for me. I'm going to stick with GrubHub. They allow me to add the tip BEFORE finalizing the transaction, so I know exactly how much is coming out.

so apparently the last time I updated was January 21st, and that wasn't even a real update, but an H50 fic rec.

Not much new going on with me. Been at the job for almost 9 and a half months. So much freakin' turn over. I know my time there is even more limited than the temporary status of the job. I've basically gotten two "warnings" that my production levels are too low - once from an on-site supervisor and the second time from the temp agency manager handling my assignment. Part of me wants to make it to a year because it'll look good on my resume, but I think at this point, 9 months will also look good, especially after being unemployed for nearly 2 years. I just desperately need something permanent and that would allow for me to get a car and my own place (though I wouldn't pass up having a roommate because I don't think I'd do well complately on my own). And my work days have changed (this happened shortly after Easter). I now have Sunday and Monday as my off days. I've enjoyed being able to go back to church on Sundays. Lately, though, we've been doing 6 days and 10 hours a day so I haven't had a Monday off since the schedule change. But then Tuesday that changed again when the 6th day and OT was cancelled. This coming Monday will be my first one off since April 4th!

Still living with my sister. Been giving her money for rent since February (and getting reciepts). There are good and bad moments with being here. The bad only really happen when my niece and nephew get into fights/arguments with her about their lack of jobs and/or them being in school because she then turns it around on me by either finding something else I need to help contribute to or she'll ask about how my job search is going or if I've found an apartment. As much as I want her to tell her to back the fuck off, I can't. I'm basically at her mercy with no place else to go...so I nod along and then vent online. But mostly I keep it inside and deal with the stress induced hives as a result.

I'm back in school! I applied and registered at the community college down the street from me. My class starts on Monday and is 8 weeks long. I've been looking forward to this for 3 months! Thankfully the supervisor at work approved my modified schedule (5:30am-12:30pm) on the days I have class (Tuesday-Thursday; Monday is my day off)

Hmm whatelse...My mom. I'm going to see her soon! She'll be coming out here July 26th to the 2nd week in August, I beleieve...however 1 week she and my sister will be in Hawaii on the trip that would have been my sister's honeymoon. We're going to spend the time that's she's actually IN California to clean out the storage unit and hopefully consoldate everything into 1 unit and save us money.

I guess that's everything. No telling when I'll update again. Hopefully it won't be another 21 weeks between updates!

Nooo! my niece challenged me to do the ALS ice bucket challenge (there's video of it, but my sister in law's FB is set to friends only so anyone who is a friend of hers can see it). part of me wants to be daring and do it, but the other part of me is embarrassed and doesn’t want to, but I don’t have the money to donate.

My niece also challenged her cousins (my other niece and nephew) and her aunt (my sister). My sister basically chickened out, but said Niece #1 would probably do it.

My mom, however, instantly jumped on the chance to throw water on me! LOL if she does that, there will be no one to take video of it.

I thought I could have it all videoed on my phone and upload to instagram, but apparently my phone camera lacks *something* so it doesn't meet whatever minimum requirements IG has. Next going to test out the video function on the camera to see if that works and picks up sound.

eta 1: you know...I think I'm just going to be a kill joy and donate the money.

eta 2: I need to find some of the challenge videos I really liked and post/share them here.

eta 3: I decided I'm going to participate in the Walk to Defeat ALS Los Angeles County Walk on Sunday, October 19, 2014. I haven't decided if I will be walking or volunteering my time.

eta 4: My sister, Niece and Nephew did the challenge and now my sister's trying to guilt me into doing it as well. Ha! I'm sticking to my volunteer donation because I think that will be of more help.

Yesterday I decided to check my credit report and was pleased to find that the only things I had on there were my student loans and credit card!

All the delinquent crap from when I used to mail order stuff was gone! Thank god!

There have been a few inquiries to my credit, but none of them mess with my credit score.

The next thing I have to do it so check what my actual score is and work on improving it. Last year it was pretty low and if I were to have gone to my bank for a loan, the interest rate would have been ridiculously high. Now it's sort of a moot point since I'll be out of a job at the end of the year and what money I will have will only be used to paying my bills. I'll have about a 9 month cushion (3 month severance pay from job, 6 months worth of financial aid money), after that I will need to have a job.

Movie night at the church in a couple of hours. Oh, yeah and I have homework to do. Yesterday I just stared at the open document for 15 mins before saying to hell with it, closing it and watching Alasaka Troopers on netflix. I can't procrastinate anymore. The assignment is due Monday at 12:30 pm.

so...I got 4 of 5 classes. that elusive math class wouldn't add. I'll need to make an appt & talk with my counselor about it. It's stupid because my transcripts say I can take Intermediate Algebra, but the scheduling system won't let me add it. I won't be add it for Fall 2013, but if I get it sorted NOW I can hopefully take it Spring 2014.

My Official Schedule
Monday/Wednesday
8-915am Concepts of Criminal Law
1230pm-145pm Criminal Evidence

Tuesday/Thursday
8-915am Introduction to Administration of Justice
930-1045am Criminal Procedures

Looks like I'll be leaving an hour earlier in the mornings than I do now. No big deal. I just won't be able to press snooze on my alarm for that extra hour of sleep I'm able to get now. Like I said, no big deal. Wake up @ 6am, put the coffee on (if it wasn't done the night before), eat, dress and leave at 7am.

On Monday/Wednesday, I have that lovely 3 hr and 15 minute gap. Excellent time for reading, writing, lunch, catching up on homework. Public transportation around campus isn't all that great - I think 2 buses run once an hour and 2 other buses run every 30 minutes. I'll be able to better gauge once I look up the schedules.

On Tuesday/Thursday, I'm done by 11 am, but I think I will stick to campus at least until 2 pm as to not deal with any drama from my dad about needing to find a job or whatever (yes, I think this will still happen even with me going to school)

Classes came to like $588, but my total out of pocket fees are $29. That's $19 for the Health Fee and $10 for the Cerritos College Student Association fee. I have 7 days to pay or they drop my classes. UGH going to have to pay it Monday as bills wiped me out for this week. I should have anticipated that, but I thought the fee waiver covering my classes was also going to cover those 2 fees. I get my Pell Grant money ON August 19 (Monday), so after class on August 20 I can buy my books if I'm not able to buy them the day before.

I'm excited for it to be August 19 already!