And not necessarily in that order, either!

My weekend was so busy it was incredible. Friday I was running around like crazy - made a bunch of phone calls in the morning (more on this later!), had a spinning class at noon, then dashed home to grab a quick shower, then was out the door again to audition for two commercials (same company). Stopped at Target on my way home to pick up a couple things, napped for maybe an hour, and then Anne came over to hang out and watch tv for a little bit. She didn't stay long, though, because we were both exhausted. I got into bed and watched TV for a little while (perhaps 10 minutes!) and fell asleep. I think my favorite techo feature is the 'sleep' function on both my stereo and my TV. At night I set whichever one I might have on to turn itself of in however many minutes. And I'm almost always asleep before it turns off. Love that!

Saturday I was up by 7:30 and shoved two cats into one carrier to take them to the vet for a quick check-up. Two little black faces peering out of one carrier is hilarious. Normally I would have them each in a carrier, as 20 pounds of cat is not easy to carry in one hand, but the vet's office is so close and I knew that they wouldn't be in there for long, so one carrier was fine. It was easier to get up and down the stairs and in and out of the car, too. We got to and from the vet without incident, I dropped the cats back at home, and headed for the post office, and then to spinning class. After spinning, we worked out on the machine we're doing the infomercial for, and then we all did some abs work. All together, it was a killer workout.

Then I went home and finished my shelving. I had to borrow Anne's drill - mine won't charge up well or hold a charge anymore. So I borrowed hers, and finished assembling my shelves. The hardest part was lifting the damn thing into place around the air conditioner and then bolting it all into place. That sucker is heavy! The shelves are 12 feet long, 9 inches deep, and 16 inches tall, with a few dividers and shelves to section it off, too. And even though pine is not a very heavy wood, add up the shelves and it gets heavy quick! So I finished the whole project and started putting stuff on them. It looks REALLY cool, and I got major compliments from both Anne and Mike for having done what looks like a custom job (it IS a custom job!). I am still figuring out what will go where, and just how much stuff I can get off my desk. The cats love it, too, since they can now sit on it and look out the window, whereas before they could only sit on the windowsill and look out. This is much wider, and they can flop on it in the sun.

Saturday night Mike and I had talked about getting together, but I was exhausted after finishing my shelves and exercising so much, so I wasn't too upset when I hadn't heard from him by early evening. Then my neighbor called me and asked if I could babysit, and I agreed to. Their daughter is adorable, and she's very low maintenance even for a three year old. So I went downstairs and took care of her for a few hours. Mike had called by the time I got home, but he was working on an audition piece all evening anyway, and was heading to bed by the time I got back to him. I stayed up for a bit puttering around the apartment, trying to get through some paperwork, and actually filled my office trashcan with papers to toss. Yay! Still have a ways to go, though, and I still have to CLEAN my apartment, but it is coming along.

I definitely got my exercise in this weekend with the spinning classes. They are so awesome! As for eating, I have been totally compliant these last few days, but I have been eating too much sugar, too. Those wheat-free Pamela's cookies from Whole Foods just don't last around my place! I can't buy anymore!

Sunday morning I slept until 10am, when a friend of mine called to remind me of the cocktail party that he'd invited me to for later in the day. I had agreed to go, but then when I tried to get out of bed, I knew that I wouldn't be standing around at a cocktail party. My back was killing me. I overdid it with the exercise and the shelving on Saturday. I called my friend to let him know that I wouldn't make it to the cocktail party, and then called Anne to see if she could come and work on my back for a few minutes. She did, but it didn't help much. After she left, I slowly made some breakfast (eggs, spinach, goat cheese) and then I got down on the floor and put my feet on a chair, then slowly started to do a few yoga stretches. And I already had a chiropractic visit scheduled for tomorrow, so that will help. And my back did start to loosen up considerably with the stretching.

I did some more office-type stuff, balanced my checkbook and dealt with a few more papers, and then Anne called and asked how I was doing. I was still sore, but otherwise felt pretty close to normal, so when she said she was going to the mall, I asked her if she wanted company. She did, so I showered quickly (which also helped loosen things up) and went downstairs to meet her. We hit the mall, and we both bought some new bras (desperately needed) and I found a pretty pink cotton blouse. All in all, a good day, and I got a few things I needed. I am on the hunt for some nice cotton blouses, and even though I probably tried on at least 10 of them today, I only found one that fit right and looked nice.

Anne and I got home, and I headed upstairs to take a nap. Made some cod and spinach for dinner, and got into bed around 8pm. Woke up around 10 or so when Mike knocked on the door, and we had a nice visit and caught up on the latest news we both had. His audition today went well, and he suspects he'll get a part in this short film. I had to kick him out to get ready for work, and was flying out the door to get here on time.

Now. Back to the phone calls Friday morning. I've been researching Tempur-Pedic beds for a long time, with the thought that 'someday' I'd get one. First heard of them at least three years ago, and had been slowly saving money to get one.... eventually. Well, since my car repairs were so inexpensive last week, and I had the money, I thought I'd see if I could afford to get it now. I had planned on getting one in a few weeks after I get my next tax refund (from amending my 2000 return), but I wanted to take a few weeks to thoroughly research it and get the best price possible from a reputable dealer, etc. So Friday while I was at work, I googled 'Tempur-Pedic' and started going through tons of websites. I probably looked at a hundred different sites, and kept coming up with one place that was $100 cheaper than anywhere else, had free shipping, free bed frame, no sales tax, TWO free Tempur-Pedic pillows, AND threw in a $100 gift certificate to one of several different stores. By the end of the night, I'd made a list of about 25 different places to call for quotes and more information.

I started making phone calls as soon as I got home, calling the place with the best known quote first, and then told every other place I called that I had one quote that they had to beat. Nobody, including Tempur-Pedic themselves, could beat it. One competitor even told me that the company I was thinking of buying from (foambedsdirect.com) was being sued by Tempur-Pedic! (Which is apparently not the case, BTW - I asked both Tempur-Pedic AND the other company, and both denied that was the case). I thought much less of the competitor who told me this rumor - whether or not it is true it is not nice to badmouth the competition! I made a number of phone calls, but when the gentleman at Tempur-Pedic told me that it was a great deal and that even HE couldn't match it, I knew I'd found a winner. He confirmed for me that Foambedsdirect is a licensed Tempur-Pedic dealer, and that I wouldn't find a better price. So I called foambedsdirect.com back, and told Brent (who I'd spoken with earlier) that I'd like to buy a bed! Apparently my timing was perfect, too. The price was $100 cheaper by doing an on-line survey that took about 2 seconds to complete, and that offer was ONLY good through Sunday 4/18. And the deal with the supposed lawsuit is that Tempur-Pedic likes to maintain the product price, and has asked that Foambedsdirect.com restrict their sales to a certain georgraphic area, which they will start doing as of May 1st. So my timing was REALLY good, and even today I wouldn't have gotten as good of a deal.

And it is WAAAAAAAAYYYYY better than sleeping on a mattress on the floor!

So I will get my new bed in a couple of weeks (yay!) and now I am looking for an inexpensive headboard so that I really WILL have a totally new bed! I chose the Linens 'n' Things gift certificate, too, so I can get new sheets to go on my bed!