Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Thanksgiving Hodgepodge

It's time for Hodgepodge, head on over to Joyce's blog to see other answers
1. Are you settling for something?
Sometimes I think I'm settling in life. But, then I realize I don't know what I want out of life, so how can I be settling?
2.   This year many will be open all day Thursday, giving shoppers a jump start on 'Black Friday'. In your opinion is this a good thing or a not so good thing? Will you be shopping on Thanksgiving Day?
I don't think it's a good idea. What do you really need to go and get on Thanksgiving. Having said that, I have gone shopping on Thanksgiving. A couple of years ago, when my grandma and aunts came to our house, we did go to K-Mart, to get my grandma some shirts. There's not a K-Mart in my grandma's town, and my mother wanted to make sure the shirts fit her before buying them and everyone could give their opinion on them.
I've worked in retail and probably will again in the future. I don't think it's nice for the workers to have to give up their Thanksgiving to work, I think it's rude.
3. saw a recent article on the twelve best shopping cities in the world. In order they are-New York, Tokyo, London, Kuala Lumpur, Paris, Hong Kong, Buenos Aires, Vienna, Dubai, Madrid, Milan, and Seoul. Ever shopped in any of the cities listed? In which city would you most like to pull out the plastic or cold hard cash?
I've been to New York, none of the others. I'd love to shop in Paris, I'd totally check out the bakeries and their flea markets (or whatever they call them over there).
4. When did you last dine by candlelight?
No idea.
5. What do you have too much of?
Stuff. As I was looking at my decorations and tiny figurines and other things decorating my apartment recently and thinking about moving, I was wishing I could have a sale and just have people come through and buy things right now. I'm trying not to accumulate more decorations/knick knacks/stuff.
6. The Hunger Games...are you a fan? Did you read the book(s)? Will you/have you seen the movie? Will you/have you seen Catching Fire? No spoilers please!
I am a fan. I wasn't until we had a showing of The Hunger Games at a staff movie night, and then I had to read the other two books. I've been waiting to see how they adapt the other two books into movies. I won't actually see Catching Fire until it comes out on DVD and we have it at the library.
7. Share your plans for Thanksgiving Day. The who, the where, the what...especially the what! As in what's for dinner? 
My brother has already arrived and he will be making dinner. It will only be the four of us this year. After dinner we're going to play Amesopoly (see my previous Hodgepodge to learn about this) and then finish the night watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
8. Insert your own random thought here.
I told my mother I was going to make a side dish for Thursday, but I am so not in the mood to make anything. I was thinking about making a corn dish I made a few years ago, but I have no idea where that recipe is. Anyone got any easy ideas for me?

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Exciting Swap

So, I've been rather bummed lately, I'm not entirely sure why, it might be because I haven't found any swaps to join this holiday season. I've barely participated in any swaps since summer. Tuesday, I found the one below:


I have to send 12 individually wrapped gifts, containing a minimum of $30 but not more than $40 worth of gifts before shipping, sending something I would like to receive but put together to cater to my partners tastes, and post my gifts and link up on their reveal post after Christmas.
I love this idea. I'm so excited to have something to do. I don't do much of anything when I'm not at work and I have so much fun buying/finding gifts for other people. I can't wait to get the info on my partner. I think this will be great fun.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Wednesday Hodgepodge

It's time for Hodgepodge again. Go to Joyce's blog to see what other's have answersed and to join in.
1. What lesson has failure taught you?
Usually to keep trying. But, lately, I just keep running into walls, so it's getting harder to keep picking myself up and keep trying.
2. What decision are you glad you made?
Not a huge decision, but I bought a Minion shirt recently, and it's become my new favorite shirt, it puts me in a good mood everytime I wear it, and lots of people comment on it. So, good decision, even though I'm trying not to spend money on clothes.
3. I've been a little bit surprised to see fully lit and decorated Christmas trees popping up for the past several weeks in friend's Instagram feeds. So tell the truth-is your tree up and decorated, and if so when did that happen? If not, when will you be decking the halls?
Yes, my decorations are up. I got sick of staring at my Halloween decorations, so last Friday, I pulled out my boxes of snowmen decorations. But, most of them are snowmen, so it's not as bad as Christmas. Of course the few more Christmasy decorations I have are in the same boxes, so those came out too.
4. Solitaire-Poker-Rummy-Hearts-Go Fish-Old Maid...which game of cards would you most like to join?
I like solitaire, but you can't really join solitaire. I do enjoy Uno too, but trying to get my family to play games is so hard. I did see an Amesopoly (My high school made this when I was in high school as a fundraiser, it's Monopoly, but with places around my town instead, pretty cool) on sale in the library bookstore, so I told my mom we were playing our copy at Thanksgiving, I'm making them do it too.
5. This question comes to you courtesy of a Facebook friend, who once upon a time had a blog...When you're feeling stressed do you snack a lot or are you more the 'can't eat' type?
I like to eat. I generally end of watching movies and eating. Though lately, I've tried not snacking as much, I don't buy as many snacky items at the store when I'm there. I should really go for a walk, because those endorphins that you get when walking helps to put you in a good mood.
6. Have you ever reviewed a product or service on line? Was your review favorable or less than favorable?
No
7. What was the best conversation you had yesterday?
My co-worker and I talked about work.
8. Insert your own random thought here.
I was going to tell you all how bummed I was that my plans this week got cancelled, but then as I was making my way to my blog to put up this post, I saw some holiday swaps posted to other blogs on my blog list. I'm so excited, I signed up for them, and hopefully, I'll have two swaps that I'm now a part of and get to send some people gifts.
As I was typing the above, I was thinking, maybe I'm more bummed because I have already finished most of my holiday shopping. I LOVE buying/making gifts for people. I LOVE sending gifts to people and with my closer people seeing their reaction when they open what I've sent. Apparently I just need more people to give gifts too.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

First Snow

It's time for Wednesday Hodgepodge, head over to Joyce's blog to see everyone else's answers.
1. Describe a typical Sunday from your childhood.
We didn't do anything different on Sundays, basically the big thing was reading the Sunday comics.
2. How comfortable are you with uncertainty? Explain.
I like to plan ahead. I think I got that from watching my mother as a kid. I like to plan so nothing comes as a surprise. There's some uncertainty about my job next year and the only way I know to deal with it is to stick my head in the sand. I can't really plan for it. If I plan for something I know I'll have everything I need when I need it. I always make sure I have everything in place before going places, that I don't have to worry about needing something I don't have.Granted I can't do that with all uncertainty, I can't do that medically. I have something I noticed this morning that I really can't do much about except go to the dentist and see how much money I have to spend on it. I really like to be self-sufficient and not depend on other people. I think I may have gone off topic somewhere in there.3. What have you accomplished recently that might be described as crafty, as in 'arts and crafts' crafty? If crafty doesn't work for you, how about handy? Or both?
This is the last thing I created. It was a 6x6 piece of artwork for a Halloween swap. Other than that, I haven't been creative at all lately. I really need to get back into my artwork, it really helps to calm me down. I don't have any swaps coming up (ok, I have one, I'm not too worried about it), and I do better with a deadline. I've been meaning to take my vintage hankies and make a stocking (or several, I have a lot) with them, but I haven't sat down to do it yet. I really should, then I could try to sell them on my Etsy shop, and make a little money off them.
4. Have you ever worked in a 'food place'? What did you take away from the experience?
No. My brother worked at KFC when I was younger and he would come home reeking of grease, his car, his clothes, he had to hang his winter coat on the back porch because it smelled so bad. I'm not sure I could. My nose is so sensitive that I get sick walking by several fast food places on my way to work.
5. Cold turkey, talk turkey, what a turkey...in recent days, which turkey phrase or idiom best applies to you and why? Click on the word turkey if you need to read more about the meaning behind each phrase.
I don't know, I don't pay attention to those.
6. If you could have any one guest join your Thanksgiving dinner table, who would it be?
Not a clue
7. What is one thing you must accomplish today?
Today (Tuesday, when I'm filling this out), I need to do my laundry. Nothing huge.
8. Insert your own random thought here.
I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping. I usually try to have it done by Thanksgiving, I like to shop throughout the year, sometimes the best deals are right after Christmas. I was going to pick up some Dove peppermint bark the other day, but I told myself to wait, that was weird.
Last year, I spent way more than I should have/or could afford and told my family, I wouldn't be spending as much money on them this year. Whether or not they believed that, I'm not sure. I try to pick up gently used items at garage sales a lot. My mother collects Santas, my brother reindeer, so they're pretty easy to shop for. Though, I find it harder to find reindeer my brother would actually like. I have a few more items to pick up for them, I figured I'd hit downtown soon, and Target. My father is the hardest to shop for, he doesn't collect anything, he's legally blind, so I can't buy him books or movies. He told me earlier he had a couple more expensive things he wanted and I should just add money to those from my mother or brother.

I'm sorry, you can all hate me for my shopping habits.

On another note, we had our first snow yesterday, or at least our first sticking snow. We did have a tiny snow a few weeks back, but nothing stuck. I forgot about the snow until I opened my curtains this morning. It's not actually stuck to sidewalks or streets. I've seen people post on facebook that they didn't know where it came from, but if they were paying attention, they had been forecasting it since end of last week. I'm actually surprised we haven't had any until now, it's just that time of year.

Wednesday, November 06, 2013

It's Wednesday

I meant to post this yesterday, but I had to go vote before I had to work, and then I only had a couple hours between my jobs and more important things came first, so here's a little later Wednesday Hodgepodge:
1. What's one way you're like your siblings? If you don't have siblings how are you like your lifelong best friend or cousin?
I'm not sure how I'm like my brother, I think we're very different. I do know we like to give things that makes other people happy. We always try to find some new and different Santa for my mother for Christmas. We both like Garfield, we both love Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi.
2. What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of yourself at age eighteen?
High school.
3. Sculptor-actor-painter-dancer...if you could excel in one of these arts, which would you choose and why?
I do consider myself a mixed media artist, I used to do more paper arts, but I love sewing things as well:
 I made this stocking last year for a swap, but my partner wanted something else, so I got to keep it. It's a sheer green fabric with a couple trims on the top and a sticker I sewed on for decoration.
 This is an altered candy box for a swap. I covered the top with dictionary pages, layered some doilies and buttons on top. I also added some pink shimmery spray on it.
 This was for a hatbox swap. I covered this one in dictionary paper as well. The top is layered with sewing trim, a doily and some wooden roses. The sides have some buttons and some flowers from an old dishtowel.
 This was for a needlebook swap. I used purple felt as a base and added vintage trims, a doily and buttons to it.
This is a cute tag I found. I covered a tag with decorative paper, some stickers, a paper flower that I colored with alcohol inks and a chipboard squiggly.
If you'd like to see more of my work, check out my other blog: The Frog Palace.
If I had to choose from the ones in the question, I'd love to be a painter.
4. What's a scent that takes you back in time, and where does it take you?
Fireplaces. My ex's parents had a fireplace we'd curl up in front of around Christmas time. I'm not big on scent memories.
5. November is for Peanut Butter Lovers (National Peanut Butter Lovers Month). Are you a lover or a hater? What's your favorite dish/recipe that calls for peanut butter?
I love peanut butter, though it doesn't seem as good lately. I used to love Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby ice cream with chocolate covered peanut butter filled pretzels but the last time I had it, it wasn't so good. I love making peanut butter cookies.
6. What do people thank you personally for most often?
My job at the library, my mother also thanks me for scanning pictures for her.
7. What event this year are you most thankful for?
The building of our new library. Technically it started last year and it won't finish until next year, but I'm so excited for when it is finished. Every time I go over there, I see more new things.
8. Insert your own random thought here.
After what seemed like a good interview last week, I didn't get that job. I think I may have failed the online test I had to take. There were a lot of questions about things I had to give my opinions for. I was telling this to a co-worker, and she said they used to have them at her other job too. Apparently it's not that easy to pass it, which kinda makes me feel better, but I'm really bummed out about not getting that job. I was hoping to get it and not have to worry about anything else. Now, it's time to contact one of my other jobs about hours in January, and I don't know if I can work anything else into my schedule until after that seasonal one is over.
Someone should just give me money.

Friday, November 01, 2013

Halloween at the library

Yesterday, I dressed up as lost and found:
There is a stuffed animal, a bookmark, a scarf, one earring (we never get a set), a button, a toy lizard (our prize for the summer reading program was toy lizards), a ring, a piece of artwork, a pin, a photo, a keychain, a toy car, a sock, a key and a bag.
I got lots of laughs when I explained my closet and was told how creative it was. A few people I work with asked if anything had come out of our actual lost and found. Nothing did, everything I had at home, but we have most or all of these kinds of things in our lost and found.