Thursday, December 26, 2013

Christmas, surveys, and shoes

What is there to say about Christmas? We came, we saw, we conquered? Or something like that. And now it's back to work and regular life. Weird. It's weird to have Christmas be this like two-week-long event in your brain...when in actuality, now- as a grown, non-school-district-employee adult- it's two days off and done. Oh well. 

We started the day having a little Christmas in our own house with just the two of us and our girl. She enjoyed the new toy Santa brought her. Actually, she hasn't acted this happy in months...which means we should probably stop being jerks and get her new toys or something else brain-stimulating occasionally. 


Despite her best efforts yesterday, the pink piggy still has all four appendages, two ears, and a curly tail-- which means I must once again commend Kong for their awesome toys. This one is totally legit by our standards.

We opened our presents to one another-- as usual, Mattie did a great job. He went about even thirds on the makeup-jewelry&accessories-ridiculously soft PJs breakdown, which is just great in my book. Ulta and Target appreciate Matt in December-- as do I. You'll note my new mustard scarf in most of the rest of the pictures today...it is super soft and awesome.

Exhibit A: on the way to work this morning

We spent the rest of the day with Matt's family. There were presents, food, naps, and games. And games and games. And I may never need to ever play another game for the rest of my life. I've used up my lifetime allotment.


An old-fashioned game of highly competitive Monopoly was the first (and favorite) game of the day. And I tried my best to prove that socialism was a viable economic system that we could all operate under (and convinced 3/4 of my fellow competitors to join me in the system) and DAMMIT IF CAPITALISM DIDN'T WIN THAT GAME AGAIN. So sad. Next time I'll know better.

We're back to work today. I anticipate it being an extremely slow day, as most people will probably assume we're not even open today. Therefore I have a few things on my mental agenda to think about when I have downtime:

1. The survey results from Tuesday's poll. I had SO much fun watching the votes come in (this is politics I can get behind!) and trying to blow up your FB newsfeeds with the compelling trends and anecdotes. Now I need to organize and analyze the data-- and also consider my relationship with SurveyMonkey. That's who I've always used for these silly little blog surveys. But the problem is that since I only have a free account, they limit me to viewing the first 100 responses. I didn't used to care, since I'd only get maybe 50 people participating. But the last few surveys have had well over 100 respondents and I hate that numbers 101+ don't count, since they're hidden from the data I can access. But the cheapest plan for SurveyMonkey is $17 a MONTH!!! Umm...from free to THAT? I was thinking there was some $10/year or something thing I could scrounge up some change for. But $17/month?? Do they think I'm Bill Gates or something? Anyone know of any other similar survey companies that will let me view more than 100 responses for free and/or way cheap? 

2. Shoes. I'm contemplating getting some fun little wedge boots with my birthday/Christmas money. But I can't decide what kind. Or if I really want them, because maybe they won't ultimately pass the All Day Comfort test? These are the two kinds I like the best:

Minnetonka (source) | Toms (source)
Anyone have any personal experience with either of these shoes? My other top concern, besides the comfort, is whether or not these shoes get stinky quickly. I don't think I'd wear them barefoot, so that should probably help, but in my personal history, both Toms and moccasins are extremely likely to stink to high heaven long before I'm tired of wearing them...and I hate that. So I don't want to drop cash on shoes that are going to be a Stinky Situation before their novelty has even worn off. And if you weren't around when I shared the True Story of one of my most humiliating life experiences ever (and yes, this relates to stinky feet....), you should do yourself a favor and read it. Have a good laugh at my expense. I insist. 

That's actually all I can handle contemplating right now, so we'll leave it at that. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

(P.S. You should know that of the 100 survey responses that I can see, exactly ZERO people indicated that they like blogs about politics. Obviously, that's why I'm including a 'politics' label on this post-- I included the words 'socialism' AND 'capitalism' in today's post, which means this is about as political as I get. Hope you don't hate me too much for it!!) 

17 comments:

  1. Sounds like a great Christmas! The new scarf is super adorable! And Lola looks super happy about her toy… she's a good girl. Sterling last had one of those rope creatures from kong at the ripe old age of 1… he ripped the giraffes head off as I handed it to him...happy birthday to Sterling! That was the last fun toy for him!

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  2. Can't wait to hear the results!! I wish I knew a better survey tool for you and tips for the shoes! #bloggerfail

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  3. I love those booties! I don't have personal experience with them about the stink...but they are cute! And typically for me, wedges can be all day comfortable.

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  4. So I have absolutely nothing to contribute to the shoe discussion or the survey discussion (except $17/month?!?!??! That's crazy!!!), and therefore, I'm not even sure why I'm leaving a comment. Ha!

    Here's a question though -- is Boxing Day not a holiday in The States? We have today off but not Christmas Eve but from what I was gleaning from social media, it seems like it might be opposite in The States. Therefore a lot of people took Friday off and then they get five days (Christmas Day, today, tomorrow (vacation day) and then the weekend) of holidays as opposed to just two.

    And accessories -- you just pointed out what was lacking in my Christmas presents -- good thing I have a Christmas cheque to spend!!!

    Okay, for not having a lot to say I sure did leave a long enough comment!

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  5. FluidSurveys will allow you up to 150 responses. They are also $17/month for professional.

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    1. Hey-- 50 more responses is great! Thanks for the recommendation!! :)

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  6. GET THE TOMS BOOTIES... I have them in the chestnut color and I LOVE them! You will too!!

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  7. No survey help here...sorry girl!
    Either pair if the booties are so adorable. I don't ever have a stinky foot problem, but my best friend does. She almost killed me with the smell 12 years ago. Hard to believe we are still BFFs!!!
    I second the Kong toys. They are the only toys Bauer cannot destroy in ten second flat.

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  8. I love the look of the the Toms booties! My student teacher showed me something on google docs that might work for your survey needs. He wrote a whole test that the students did from his blogspot page. It even made a pie chart.

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  9. I'm super jealous of the commenter who gets so many days off around the holidays! Maybe I will move? Wedges? So cute. That's all I've got. Oh except that blogger is letting me comment without difficulty from the iphone today. It's a Christmas miracle! Hope you get lots of time to contemplate all the important things on your mind.

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  10. I love anything Toms! I hate board games- they bore the heck out of me and I always lose!

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  11. my family is big into board games too but thankfully we didn't play monopoly this year, that never ends well. we played sequence which (thankfully) doesn't take hours to complete. google docs has 'forms' which i think allow unlimited responses and it also can tally the results and make little pie charts and graphs of the results. they are pretty nifty.

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  12. Okay the stinky feet paragraph had me cracking up!

    That is all, really. Except i am glad you had a good Christmas, that Matt did good!, and i love your scarf!

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  13. You can make surveys on Google Docs. They have templates you can use. You can also get unlimited responses. :)

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  14. I love the Toms Wedges. I have always wanted a pair in black but they never have my size.

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  15. "RSVMe" is a free survey program (unlimited responses), but you can only compose five questions per survey ... I'm an online high school teacher and use it to take attendance in my classes (which may have over 200 students at times).

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  16. I'm super impressed with your ability to endure so many board games!! I am good for one or two max, but then I cannot. handle. another. game. Brandon's family specifically loves puzzles and Lord have mercy I REALLY cannot handle a puzzle. Does this mean I am bound to get dementia in my later years?

    On another note when we meet up in a few weeks (YAY!!) can you please add "Take Brittnie shopping for new makeup, fun/trendy accessories, and anything else that will make her more fashionable" to your agenda? Thanks in advance!

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