Measure windows before you buy the curtains.

I was looking for a textbook on Amazon for my online class one day and found it for only $1.99!!!!! I was amazed at this awesome deal and then I went a little bit crazy with shopping. I got a phone case for only $3.48 (the shipping was more than the actual item) and started looking for curtains because my kitchen window was looking pretty bare.

I found this nice looking curtain for only $9.99, which I thought was a steal because everything else was way more. The description said the measurements were 60Wx84L, and my thoughts were pretty much, "Well, that seems big enough," and I bought it!

When it came in the mail, it turns out it was only one panel and it didn't seem long enough to cover the whole window. I didn't have a curtain rod yet so it wasn't really an issue. I gave myself the benefit of the doubt because my arm span is less than the window length and curtain length, so I couldn't tell for sure if it wouldn't fit.

I finally went out to get a curtain rod, and this time I actually measured the length of the window. Turns out it's about 76 inches across. Anyway, I found a nice curtain rod for half off! I snatched that right up, brought it home, hung it up, and the moment of truth:

TFTC.

But really, I'm fixing it. I went back to Amazon and ordered curtains and this time I made sure the description said 'set of two' and the best part is it was only $9.14!


**UPDATE November 1, 2012:

Fixed it!

SpongeBob SquarePants is actually an educational show.

I had a test to be studying for, so I was watching TV. Since I am in my second decade of life I watch really high-end, intellectual shows like SpongeBob SquarePants. This really great episode was on, called The Krabby Kronicle. It basically summed up everything I learned in my semester long Principles of American Journalism class (comparable to my History of American Journalism class) in an 11 minute, 49 second entertaining cartoon.

Mr. Krabs bought an ad in a newspaper to try to bring in more customers, but he soon realizes that the paper he's advertising in isn't selling because "it's all full of boring charts and facts." But the other newspaper, with headlines like 'Fishboy Strikes Again' is selling like crazy. Mr. Krabs asks, "aren't these stories a little less than truthful?" and the answer from the guy reading it is, "I don't know, but they're selling!" This whole scene reflects the fact that sensationalized tabloids, while unethical, are where the money is at.

Missouri has beautiful state parks.

I will be the first one to tell you that I am definitely not an outdoorsy nature person. It's my fear of bugs that turns me off from most of nature. But I have this friend who loves nature and I agreed to go on this 8.5 mile hike with her.

We woke up super early on a Saturday morning and headed over to the Gans Creek Recreation Area, which is across the street from Rock Bridge State Park (where we usually go, because Devil's Ice Box is there). It was so pretty!

We stopped at a rock/cliff thing overlooking the forest (pictured above) to eat our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. After we finished we decided to go off-trail and climbed down the rock/cliff, which was way steeper than it looked, and we followed the creek.