Next week my current cell phone contract will be up, and I can renew it and get a new phone. My carrier is Verizon, and they’ve got their “New Every 2″ thingy. Basically, I can get a new phone for free … up to $100 … when I renew my contract for another 2 years. Pretty good deal. I was planning on sticking with Verizon anyways. They’ve got the best coverage of this area in my opinion. Unless Cellular One has improved.

Can anyone who is reading this who lives in the ND/SD/MN area give me any input on the other cell companies that service up here (Cellular One, Sprint, Nextel, Unicel)?

If I do stick with Verizon, this is my choice in phones (if you’re prompted for a zip code, enter 58102).

I was thinking about getting a flip phone, but a friend said that they don’t pick up as good a signal as the regular phones and they’re not as durable. I’m not really sure. I’m hoping someone out there reading this can give me their opinion on their phone … flip or regular. What brands are good? I currently have a Kyocera 2235. I don’t care if you’re exact phone isn’t available in my area, I’d still like to know what you think … maybe it’ll help me narrow things down.

I need to have a durable phone that is reliable. My cell phone is my ONLY phone. I don’t talk on the phone all that much … but I still need to have something that’ll be there and working for me in case of emergency or whatever. I don’t need a camera phone (and quite frankly don’t want one … I’ve got a digital camera). I do want something that can send text messages (but I think they all do that now anyways). I don’t care much about accessing the internet. If it costs me extra, then I probably won’t get it. I don’t need to check my email on my phone. It would be nice to check the weather though if I wasn’t near my computer.

So … if you have any opinions on the topic of cell phones (the phones themselves, the companies, the coverage, the plans, etc. ), please leave a comment. I’d really appreciate it. Thanks in advance for anyone who leaves a comment.

Mood: lazy

I had every intention to go to visit Robin then Tim and then Mona tonite playing Santa. Ya see … Santa left some stuff for them with me.

Well … I made it to Robin’s and Tim’s. I wasn’t planning on staying to late at Robin’s. We ended up talking (and having 2 beers … ) for a hour and a half. When I got to her place at 7pm, it was still nice out. When I left at 8:30pm, it was crappy. I knew we were supposed to get some crappy weather, but I didn’t think it was coming ’til later tonite. Guess I was wrong. Damn are those streets slippery.

I did stop at Tim’s since he lives close to Robin. I didn’t stay long though ‘cuz I wanted to get home before it got worse. Obviously, didn’t make it to Mona’s. I called her after I got home and told her I’d come over tomorrow nite. It’s late anyway, and she lives over in West Fargo. I didn’t want to trek over there in this weather.

Well … my pizza rolls are done … I’m gonna go eat. I think those beers gave me the munchies … LOL.

Mood: tired

Mother nature isn’t being very nice lately (actually … I think she was like this quite a few times this year). After being cold with frigid windchills (like -20°F or so) this past weekend, she gave us a gorgeous day today. It’s 34°F right now … not sure what the high temp was. But the next 4 days have forecasted highs of 2°, -3°, -3°, and 0°. Then we’re back to a high of 24° on Christmas. What is up with that?!? I really hate this see-saw … yo-yo … rollercoaster … whatever you wanna call it … weather. Urg … Pick something and stick with it. Don’t tease us with warm temps only to plummet again the next day. It’s just not fair I tell ya … just not fair!!

Mood: hungry

I made a double batch of pecan tassies tonite after supper. Got about 4 1/2 dozen again. After I got done with those, I made a batch of peanut brittle (microwave recipe). Just finished that. It’s cooling now. I’ll have to make at least one more batch of that … probably 2. I’ve got enough ingredients to do it. And it’s quick too. About 10 minutes and it’s in the pan cooling.

Mood: blah

I made my butter cookies today. They actually went the smoothest they’ve ever gone. No issues with pressure building up. I had the cookies all pressed out at least an hour before they were done baking. I didn’t have parchment paper, so I pressed them out on aluminum foil and then put them in the fridge ’til the batch in the oven was done, and they peeled off real easy. It went to easy, I’m tempted to make another batch. But I’d have to get another cake mix. And anyways, I did get 7 1/2 dozen out of this batch.

I’m either gonna make some more pecan tassies or peanut butter blossoms tonite … not sure which one yet. I’ve got a roast in the oven now. Boy is that oven getting a workout today. It’s been on since about 12:30pm or so. Hopefully it doesn’t give out on me … LOL.

Mood: accomplished

Last nite I made a double batch of pecan tassies. It only made 4 1/2 dozen though. I’ll probably end up making another double batch tomorrow along with my spritz/butter cookies. I probably would have made more last nite, but I spent about 3 hours trying to figure out why I couldn’t access my own websites when other people could. I don’t know if it was a DNS issue or what. But it eventually straightened itself out. I didn’t feel like doing any more baking after that.

Today, I made a batch of peanut butter cups. I ended up with 11 dozen plus 1 … 133 individual peanut butter cups. That’s all I’m making of those. They’re not hard to make, just tedious. Having to roll all those little balls and then coating them in chocolate. I think one year I made a double batch … can’t remember any more. That’s too many. I’ve hardly eaten any the last couple of years. I think I ate too many in the past.

I thought about making another batch of peanut butter blossoms tonite … so I could take some to work. But I’m not sure if I want to or not. Maybe after my dishwasher finishes its cycle so I can get my baking stuff out of there. Otherwise, I’ll just make some tomorrow. It doesn’t take long to make a batch of ‘em. The butter cookies on the other hand do take a while. I think I get about 7 dozen from a batch (it uses a cake mix, flour, and a pound of butter … guess that’s why they call ‘em butter cookies … ). I use my cookie press (hence the spritz part). The pressure tends to build up and start to tick me off after a couple dozen. But they’re so good.

Mood: lazy

We had our work Christmas party tonite. It was a good time. Tons of laughing. I work with a great bunch of people. We all got presents (they were slippers [fuzzy ones] … at least I think everyone got slippers). There was also a card with a bonus in it. Very unexpected and nice.

We also had a game (of sorts). There were a bunch of wrapped presents and cards and envelopes on the table. We all drew a number and then went up to pick something when Kelly drew our number. I picked up a smaller present but a heavier one. It turned out to be a digital camera … a Kodak EasyShare. Very nice.

We also got drink tickets. We got 2 when we got there and they had extra, so we each got 2 more. That’s 4 TICKETS!! I had 4 Colorado Bulldogs … They made ‘em good too. I don’t feel drunk, but I do have a headache. But then again, I had one when I left for work this morning too. I only work a half day tomorrow … but then I’m coming home to bake. Maybe I’ll just take a nap and bake all weekend. We’ll have to wait and see how I feel when I get home tomorrow. I still need to get Dad’s present and I want to get Mona something else and I want to get Tim something too. We’ll see if I feel like going to Walmart too. I’d rather go tomorrow that over the weekend.

I need to go to bed. I tired …

Mood: tired

Well … I ended up making 2 batches of cookies. That gave me a total of 101 peanut butter blossoms (2 batches of just over 4 dozen each). And can you believe that I only ate 1? I had to make sure they were edible. I’ve got an ice cream pail almost overflowing with the cookies up in my freezer. I’ll probably make one more batch at least so I have some to take to work to bribe people on the Christmas decorating contest. I gotta do something … I haven’t decorated yet … LOL. I plan on getting a few things on Friday or maybe I’ll venture out on Saturday. But I’m not gonna spend a lot of money just to decorate my desk. I’ll either get stuff at the Family Dollar Store or at Big Lots …

I got most of my Christmas cards written out too. I only had 14 stamps, so I can only mail that many. I’ll probably write out the rest and then get stamps after work tomorrow if I have time before my Christmas party for work. At least I don’t have to go very far for it. It’s at a hotel only a few blocks from my apartment.

Mood: tired

I’d better get my butt in gear. I haven’t even started my baking yet or written out any Christmas cards. But that’s gonna change tonite. I’m gonna make a batch of peanut butter blossoms tonite … I’ll make more if they go quick. I’m also gonna write up some cards too. I took Friday afternoon off from work so I could get some more baking done. I’ve got this weekend too. I’ve gotta make peanut butter blossoms, pecan tassies, peanut butter cups, spritz cookies, and peanut brittle. I still feel like I’m missing something on that list that I usually make. Oh well.

I like making peanut butter blossoms. But this year I’m doing something a little different. I usually get chocolate stars to put on top. This year, I’m gonna use Hershey’s Kisses … and the good ones too, dark chocolate … I need to have an ‘unwrapping party’ though to get those little morsels of goodness ready to put on the cookies. Can’t leave ‘em in the wrapper. That would be hard to eat. And I don’t think they’d melt and stick to the cookie … LOL. I just have to keep myself from eating them as I’m unwrapping ‘em. I think I’m good though. I bought 2 bags, and if the serving size is correct on it, I should have enough to make 12 dozen … and I don’t make THAT many … LOL.

Since I’m gonna be baking tonite, I didn’t want to cook. I forgot to take the hamburger out of the freezer anyways. So I ordered a pizza. Hopefully it’ll be here within the next 15 minutes … I’m hungry. I could probably start unwrapping Kisses now so I can write out cards while the cookies are baking.

Mood: hungry

After work, I went to the mall to try to find Mom’s Christmas present. I hadn’t been lucky on Tuesday looking at Target, Walmart, Gordmans, and Kohls. I went to JCPenny’s today and found exactly what I was looking for. And it was even on sale ( … Lisa … don’t tell Mom).

Boy is it wet and slushy out. It’s been snowing most of the day today. We’re in a Winter Weather Advisory ’til 4am. It is going to get sooooo frickin’ messy out once the temp drops below freezing. It’s at 32°F right now. All that wet and slush is gonna freeze, and it’s gonna get fuckin’ icy as hell. It’s gonna be so fun driving to work in the morning … NOT!!!

Mood: lazy