baby it's cold outside

So perhaps this story will amuse you, even though it did not amuse me. Several months ago, perhaps last May, I got a notification from my credit card company that they were changing the rules on my rewards points so that they expired virtually on arrival, which would render all of my years' worth of careful hoarding useless. There were no big-ticket items on their site that I wanted, so I exchanged the points for several $100 gift cards at Sephora, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Staples (yes, Staples, because I am a dork). The Sephora ones were gone in a flash, but I was saving the Bed Bath and Beyond ones to make a bedding purchase.

Tonight was finally the night; armed with my gift cards and a rare, magical coupon for 20% off everything in the store (rather than just 20% off one item, as usual), I went to Bed Bath and Beyond. There was a lovely shirred grey duvet cover, with a throw pillow and a set of silvery sheets, that I had my eye on, as well as a lighter down comforter to make up for the fact that my standard comforter is 'extra warm' (silly in California, I bought it during the winter here when my Palo Alto apartment's heat wasn't up to snuff) and therefore much too warm most of the time. But, when I got to the cash register, imagine my horror -- somewhere, either through user error or a mixup at the fulfillment center, I didn't have cards for Bed Bath and Beyond, but instead for Bath and Body Works.

Luckily I noticed before handing them to the cashier, but I was mortified, horrified, and annoyed. How I didn't notice before is beyond me, but they have the same number of syllables and the same blue color scheme that I expected. I ended up buying the bedding anyway because the 20% off coupon actually shouldn't have worked on the duvet cover and sheets but it did anyway, and I had my heart set on them at this point. But what in the hell am I going to do with $300 worth of gift cards for Bath and Body Works?! If you hit the sales, you could use that to buy 50 bottles of bubble bath. Granted, I love bubble bath and many other shower- and bath-related accessories, but $300 is a bit much even for me.

I shall persevere; the cards don't expire (supposedly), so I'm in no rush to stockpile a lifetime supply of bubble bath. And if any family members have already purchased or intend to purchase the bubble bath items on my Christmas list, please feel free and know that I will love it despite this; a couple more bottles of the stuff makes no difference in the ocean of bubble bath that I will have in the future, and I won't make it to Bath and Body Works before Christmas anyway.

That was the most annoying aspect of an otherwise mildly annoying day. I got up way too early to try to beat traffic, which succeeded, but since I only got five and a half hours of sleep, I wasn't very productive as a result. I got done what I absolutely needed to get done, but I was pretty surly by the end of it, and the bedding situation didn't help. When I got home, I discovered that the guy who I'm renting the garage from had put another car in there and not moved it, and I lacked about eight inches of being able to pull in far enough to be able to park there. Luckily I was able to find parking on the street, but if the car is still there tomorrow, I will be pissed. But, I calmed down when I got home, eating some frozen enchilada and finishing the book I started yesterday ("Soulless" by Gail Carriger; quite entertaining book about a woman in Victorian England who falls in love with a werewolf even though she personally has no soul and so is able to neutralize werewolves, vampires, and various other supernatural beings on contact). And now, I shall go to bed; morning will come all too soon, and I must be more productive than I was today. Goodnight!