Sunday, September 27, 2015

frustrating

I apologize in advance, this post is mostly venting about my mother.
Today, we went to an annual art festival that I look forward to all year. In June, my mother and I went to an art walk, which is basically a bunch of stores hosting artists and their work. I met my friend while we were on it, and basically ignored my mother to hang out with my friend. I felt horrible about it that night. I decided when the art festival came around I'd go with her and basically focus on her.
In between we went on the Central Iowa Junk Jaunt for our birthdays and she was not the best company, she seemed bored with the day and that her time was so important that we couldn't have a good time. I decided next year, if I go on it, I'm going with a friend.
When we've made plans lately, she keeps waiting until the last minute to tell me what the plan is, she doesn't really say anything until the day before, so I don't know if we're still doing something and I can't make other plans because that would upset her.
I asked her on Wednesday about today's plans, she kinda brushed it off, so I texted her yesterday. She responded yesterday afternoon.
Today when she came by, I suggested she park in the driveway and we walk down (it's 3 blocks from my house), she wanted to park a block away and then walk down. That frustrated me, I thought it was kinda rude to use a parking space that someone else could use when she had access to a parking space no one else did. As we're getting out of the car she said she was thinking about not going, of course she wouldn't have told me that early enough to make plans with someone else.
I feel that's been happening a lot. She says we should do something and making it seem like it's such a chore for us to do it, and she doesn't seem to enjoy it as much.

I was also a bit disappointed in the art festival itself. Basically, it's big things to hang on your wall, furniture, jewelry, and pottery. I want something different and unique. I'm thinking it's also more exciting to do things with my friends and not my parents.

Saturday, September 26, 2015

New Frog

I've been a little lazy the last few weeks and haven't made myself go out garage saleing.
Yesterday, I had the day off, that was weird. I decided to go to a few sales in the afternoon as there was one that didn't start until noon. I did get up and go to one rather early and then killed time until later in the afternoon.
I don't have pictures from yesterday's purchases, but use your imagination, I bought a gallon size bag of mini beanie babies, a gallon size bag of kids toys from fast food restaurants, an old tablecloth, a cute bowl with a bunny on the side, a bag of butterfly pins, and a couple Matchbox cars at the early sale. This sale is a huge sale but I felt it didn't seem as big as most years.
I made myself go grocery shopping and then go to a few sales in the afternoon, I'm not sure I like going to sales that late in the day. I like to get up and go, and that sometimes is hard to convince myself to do. I felt the afternoon sales were a bust. I found an art book, and some book plates. I downloaded an app from mapmyrun earlier in the week and had it track my route and apparently how many calories I burned. Personally, I don't care about the calories, I did appreciate that there was a map when I was trying to figure out if one road ran into another, that helped me today too. I also think because of the bouncing around, yesterday from my purse, and then today with my walk, adds to the total that I "walked". But, I think it will be nice when I go to stores and wander around in them, cause I can't track my route on the map.
Today, I had an extremely hard time making myself go out. I also feel I spent way too much money. The other day, I thought I had finally trained my brain to not want stuff I didn't need, but I bought a bunch of toys today, and now I'm regretting it. I must work more on that.
First of all, I got these math books at a "Teacher Sale"
 They had advertised it as that in their ad, and on a sale as I walked up. I thought it was a little strange, kinda like others couldn't shop there. I love practicing my math (cause I'm not that great), when I was paying the seller asked if I was a teacher somewhere.
At one sale, I found some niceish Pyrex bowls. I believe the smaller one is a 403 and the yellow one is a 404.
 I just realized that means I have a whole set, but none of them are in really great condition. The 404 is pretty scratched, apparently the 403 was green. I noticed that when I was looking at it at home, there's a little green paint right along the lip, it's kinda weird cause that one was priced a $1 higher than the bigger one. My 402 has stuff rubbed off of it as well. My 401 is in the best condition, it was found in a resale shop and is harvest (?) pattern, no damage.
I went to the Farmer's market afterwards because I thought it might be the last one and I have been wanting to try the flavored popcorn that I've seen for sale there.
 I also think I might have spent too much money on that. I was eating the caramel apple flavor (upper right corner) and I think it's a bit too sweet, I should have just bought the kettle corn (upper left).
At one sale, I bought a whole bunch of tiny toys, I get really excited when I see little toys.
 So out of the above picture, I actually decided I only wanted what is in the below picture:
I have an elephant, frog, and pig collection, and now they're bigger. I was sitting here tonight, thinking I have way too much stuff, and this is how I get it.
Like I said earlier, I felt I had trained my brain to not buy frivolous stuff, but now that I'm salaried and have more money, I've gone back to my old ways.
I am planning on going to Target sometime this week to get some monster pens for my desk. I've also been buying more dressier clothes (I think those are something I 'need' though, because better job, I should wear nicer clothes). It's funny, I'm not that into Halloween, decorating, candy or dressing up, but this year I want to buy stuff, I want to dress up, I want the pumpkin flavored things. I also chalk that up to having more money.

Tomorrow, my mother and I are going to an annual art festival that I was so excited for, because I might be able to buy something, but I don't need anything,

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Busy Day

Yesterday was a busy day. I felt like I didn't really have time to relax until about 5:30.
I got up about 6:00 (rather early for me), I had volunteered to help with the library's Zombie run. It was pretty fun, it was just a little too early and a little too chilly.
My mother and I had made plans to go to lunch and then to a quilt show, so we had a nice lunch at a pretty new lunch place. I had a half sandwich and macaroni salad.
And here are the quilts, it's a lot of pictures:
 I remember last year not enjoying it very much. I think they were more traditional quilts, which are neat too, but this year there just seemed to be less of that and more experimentation.







 There were a lot that had embroidery accents and 3-D pieces.


 This quilt seemed very busy. The description said the creator wanted to use up all the little tiny scraps she had, then she affixed all these buttons on top of it.




 This one, the leaves popped off the edges of the piece.

 This one was huge, and it had all these elements on it. There was a lot of lace and layered details.
 Like this flower

 This one was all about leaves, the leaves on the side were painted on and then embroidered to give them more definition
 Here's a close-up of the ginkgo leaves



 In another part of the garden, they had a display of our campus buildings made out of natural things, like gourds and mushrooms, etc.




They also had a big part that looked like a natural wonderland with a plastic train and a giant gnome, kinda like a fairy garden. I was looking at that, and the first thing that popped into my mind was that my ex would have really liked that.
I hate that I do that, I just knew him for so long when I see something he'd like, I'd love to call him up and tell him, but that will never happen because of his choices.
There was a place to buy stuff, I wanted to buy stuff (mostly because I haven't been garage saleing because I keep being busy or it rains), but I could find anything I really wanted (I think I've finally retrained my mind to not buy things I don't need), but then we found this hallway with plastic totes filled with fabric. Basically, the idea was you filled a plastic bag with fabric, they weighed it and you paid by the pound. I don't need more fabric, mostly because I never do much with it, but I bought about 2 pounds.
After that, we stopped at the grocery store and my mother told me my aunt and uncle were coming over for Octoberfest. I wasn't really interested in going because I don't like beer, but I knew my mother would say I should try new things, so I went with them.
I got in free because it was sponsored by my bank and if you had your debit card that was your admission, I did pay for some spaetzle, it was supposed to be cheese pasta, it tasted like unseasoned dumplings and didn't look very appetizing. And then there was the beer, which I didn't like. I tried some. I thought it was really interesting, when I was telling my mom about the foodies and brew I went to about a month ago, she said I should have tried some of the beer, but she wasn't going to try any of the beer here.
I felt I didn't get enough to eat all day. Now that I'm home today, I'll probably spend the day eating and reading.

Monday, September 14, 2015

New position

Like I said in my last post, I got a salaried position at the library.
Tonight was my first shift. I survived (honestly, I didn't think it would be too bad), it's basically what I did before but with a bit more.
Friday, my boss said she had a an awkward conversation to have with me, that made me a little nervous until she started talking. Basically, I need to dress a little dressier for this job. That makes sense to me, it's a step up, I should dress a little better. Probably shouldn't wear my character shirts and jeans all day. She basically said either my top or my bottom should be more dressy. Like if I'm wearing jeans, I should have a nice top, or if I'm wearing a not so nice top, I should have nice bottoms on. I'm guessing there will be no more minion and Kirby shirts, oh well.
I did learn (I already really knew) that I need to hit the other second-hand clothing stores around Ames. We have quite a few and you can get some nice things for cheap prices. I spent way too much money last week after finding out I got the position, so I thought maybe I should wait until I had some actual money to spend.
It feels weird just leaving at the end of the night. I'm so used to clocking out at all my jobs, to just get my stuff and go, is strange.
I like that I will have more of a set schedule that won't change when ISU changes schedules.
I have a meeting with HR this week about benefits, I'm excited about that. I'm trying to figure out what I want and what I qualify if I don't go for the city's prices.
I like that I'm back to interacting with the customers like I used to. I like the chatting with them and learning about their lives, I felt there was more of a disconnect in the Aide position. Basically, you'd help them find things, but that was it.
I'm really happy, excited about this job.

Friday, September 11, 2015

Exciting News

Last Thursday, I had an interview at the library for a salaried position. This is the 4th time I've applied and I finally got the position. They called me Thursday night before I went in for the position I'm in now, and asked me to wait to tell people until they sent an email and had contacted the other applicants. I had a really hard time holding that in.
I'm rather excited to start. I bought some new shirts before my interview, and went to Goodwill last Wednesday and bought more. I've spent way too much money since I got the job. When I get my first (or second) paycheck, I'm gonna go get some more clothes.
Today, was my last day in this position, Monday I start in the new position. Thursday, I have a physical to make sure I can do what is expected of me. I was talking about that with my co-workers last night and we kinda laughed. The aide position is way more strenuous than the clerk position, I'm not really worried about the physical. I also have a benefits meeting with HR next Thursday. I believe that's informative about what I can sign up for, I am eligible for health, dental and vision. Depending on how much they are, I want to get all three, I do have to wait until November 1st before I can have those. I also get vacation, but not until after 6 months.

Tuesday, September 01, 2015

It's interview time

Yay!!! It's Hodgepodge time, head on over to Joyce's blog to see what other people are saying.
1. What's on your September calendar? Anything fun?
Thursday, I have a job interview, I'm not sure I consider that fun. September 30th is my brother's birthday, but we probably won't be doing anything. My art is in my workplace's breakroom to exhibit it, that will be fun. What I'm really looking forward to is the Octagon Art Festival, it's a big festival that covers 5 or 6 blocks filled with art vendors. It's always fun to look even if I don't buy much.
2. You might be described as a natural born _____________________?
artist? I don't really know. I know I'm good at art
3. September is National Courtesy Month...what one act of courtesy would you most like to see more of in your home, town, or the world at large? 
I would love for people to just pay attention to others, it seems so many people are just in their own world and don't pay attention to anything else.
4. Eager beaver, chicken out, clam up, or let the cat out of the bag...of the phrases listed, which one have you related to most recently? 
Maybe Clam Up, like I said above, I have a job interview on Thursday, but I don't want to say much about it, because it's the 4th time I've applied for this job and I don't know what I'm going to do if it falls through.
5. What's your movie theatre snack protocol? Do you chow down on snacks during the previews or wait until the movie begins? Do you buy snacks or refuse to pay those kind of prices? What's the last movie you saw in a theatre? How many thumbs up would you give it?
I don't go to movie theaters, generally there's too many kids, it's always cold and I just prefer my apartment. And I certainly can't afford the price of a movie and snacks.
6. Henry Ford is quoted as saying, "Nobody can think straight who does not work. Idleness warps the mind." Agree or disagree? Why?
I can see that. Since I got reorganized at my job, I feel like I'm not stretching my mind as much and I get bored, much easier.
7. What's the last job you completed or task you performed where you had to 'work like a dog' until it was finished?
I haven't had one of those in awhile. I am really good at joining art swaps and then waiting until the last minute to get them done.
8.  Insert your own random thought here. 
Like I said, I have an interview Thursday, I'm having a hard time deciding what to wear, what do you guys think?
The first time I applied, I wore the black skirt in the pictures and a nice black top, the next two times I wore black pants, the pink shirt and a suit coat. I thought it was maybe a little too professional looking (if that's possible), so this time I thought I'd go with a skirt.
Here's A, with the same pink shirt and the original black skirt
 B, with a different skirt and a new black top I bought
 And C, with the black skirt and black top
I know you can't see it in the pictures, but there is some nice detailing on the top. I'm also worried the top's cut a little low, but when I layer it with a tank top, you can't really tell. I wanted some color, but I don't have any brightly colored tops, other than the pink skirt. I thought maybe a nice necklace, but apparently I don't have any short pretty ones of those either. Also, sorry the color's off in the last one, my computer was being annoying and I had to re-take it this morning with bad light.