Wednesday, June 29, 2016

An adventure

My aunt and I traveled to a city about 2 hours north of here. My aunt texted me on Sunday asking if I wanted to check it out this week, I said sure. It wasn't as interesting as I hoped it would be. We decided at one time it was really hopping, but not so much now. When we were on our way out of town, we found most things had gone from downtown to the outskirts of town. There were a lot of strip malls with big stores and restaurants. All the interesting buildings and sculptures were downtown. It was very sad that there wasn't a lot going on downtown.
This bear was outside the library:
 This moose was by the mall:
 We went to the Frank Lloyd Wright hotel. That was pretty cool. Sadly, Wednesday is the one day they weren't doing tours, go figure. We did get to look around ourselves.
Found some interesting looking chairs in a lounge area
 Also, love the carpet, it reminded me of his stained glass
 There was a 'living room' sculpture in their park. The chair
 And the couch
 This was in front of their Civil War memorial (you can kinda see it in the background on the right)
 The otter was in front of some stores
 This was a really cool looking apartment building
 This lady's dress looks like it's made out of concrete. Sadly, the plaque that told about it, didn't say. You can see that there's a cage of rebar and then the skirt.
 A fish and friends
 This one was called The Sitting Couple, the plaque encouraged you to sit on it and take a moment.
 We got some pre-lunch ice cream at a place called Birdsall's which was the place to go for ice cream. We then walked to The Quarry for lunch. I got a vegetarian sandwich. It was delicious.
 This was a gate into an alleyway
 I loved the look of this building, I wish I knew what it originally was.
 I thought this was Humpty Dumpty, I think he's my favorite sculpture. His name is actually Mr. Eggwards
We also visited the childhood home of Meredith Willson and The Music Man square. That was interesting. It was kinda weird, but the bottom floor of his house is set up, just like my parents old house. By that time it was about 3 and we were ready to leave.
 On the way out of town we found a Dollar Tree. It is bigger than the one here, and I found some of the new stuff I've been looking for.
 a cutting board, honey buns, dried pineapple and papaya, cookies
 Those cookies are yummy!!
 Frozen cup, Minions cup, gift bag, animal squirters, Almonette cookies, and some chocolate
 I hit the jackpot with cookies this time. A few weeks ago, I picked up some cookies at my DT, and they were not very good, but these are so good. I got a couple more plastic cups, Frozen with Olaf on a sunny day, and a Minions one, it's actually a moving picture, depending on which way you turn it, you can see the minions move and the fireworks explode. I picked up the fish squirters, just for fun and the gift bag because I love the pattern. I was thinking I could cut out the images and use them in art.
 a journal, coffee stickers, bird stickers, underwater stickers, flower stickers, Lisa Frank sticker book.
 I finally found some of those new DT stickers. Coupontoprovide mentioned that these dimensional stickers are just the same image layered with foam tape, so you could peel them apart and have double the stickers. I love that idea, especially with the bird ones. I wasn't going to buy the coffee ones, but up close, they are really cute. There were some of the 'Love' ones there, but I wasn't interested in those. I did buy two sheets of the birds and the flowers. I also picked up the Lisa Frank sticker book, someone had flipped through one the other day on YouTube and I love some of the larger stickers.
 a funky pen, cat stickers, a notebook, some of the new DT washi.
I'm trying to fill my pen cup at work with pens with big round tops, I thought this was a cute one to add. These are the Lisa Frank-ish cat stickers I've seen. I picked up the notebook because it was cute, I can always send it off in a swap in the future. And I finally found some washi. Weirdly enough the animal one on the bottom row, is smaller than the rest of them, it doesn't look opened, I'm a little disappointed in that. I'm also disappointed in the washi. When I looked at it more closely at home, it's not what I would define washi as. The first washi I picked up, was at a store that mostly sold washi, it's the thickness of tissue paper. That's what I like, these are more the thickness of computer paper, and are not as translucent. I really don't like them. I like that you get quite a bit, but I don't think I'll be buying more in the future if I find it, unless it's something really cool, like owls.

I would be doing much better at my spending freeze if I would stop going to the dollar tree. I spent about $30 this week, last week $20, and the week before that $40. I need to stop spending. There was a Hobby Lobby right next to this Dollar Tree, and my aunt asked if I wanted to go over there. Since all I ever do is go to the clearance section and I believe there's a sticker sale going on now. I said no. I know different stores put different stuff on clearance, but after all the great stuff I found at the Dollar Tree, I knew it was better to not be tempted.

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Hodgepodge Vol 271

Head on over to Joyce's blog to see what other people answered. 


1. It's officially summer (in the northern hemisphere anyway). Which summer month is best and why? July, cause it's my birthday month.

2. Can you swim? I can. I love swimming. How did you learn? I believe my parents paid for swimming lessons when I was a kid. June 27th is National Sunglasses Day. How many pair do you own? None. I used to have a pair of prescription sunglasses, but when they broke years ago I never replaced them. It's just too expensive.

3. What characteristic do you judge most harshly in yourself? I don't know. I do berate myself when I do something stupid. How about in others? I also don't know. Maybe not being frugal. I do hate it when I see other people wasting money or things.

4. Robert Frost wrote the now well known poem entitled The Road Not Taken. What's a road (literal or figurative) you've always wanted to travel, and where do you hope it takes you? I'm not doing very well with these questions. I don't really have any roads I want to go on.

5. Popsicles-yay or nay? Yay! If you answered yay, what's your favorite flavor? I like ones that have chunks of fruit in them, I don't really like the ones that are basically sugar flavored water.

6. Brexit-on a scale of 1-10 how knowledgeable are you on what's involved here? (1=very knowledgeable and 10=what's Brexit) Is this news you'll follow or is it something you think won't impact your life in any way shape or form? I have no idea what Brexit is, so 10.

7. Share a favorite song on your summer play list. I was actually listening to it this morning while reading the questions. Summertime by Kenny Chesney
The chorus is:
Two barefeet on the dashboard,
Young love and an old Ford
Cheap shades and a tattoo
And a Yoohoo bottle 
On the floorboard
Perfect song on the radio
Sing along cause it's what we know
It's a smile,
It's a kiss,
It's summertime

This was actually one of me and my ex's songs. It came on my MP3 player one day when we were coming home from my family's timeshare at Okoboji. My ex owned a Ford truck at the time. I had my bare feet on the dashboard, my sunglasses were not cheap, I have 3 tattooes, but there was not Yoohoo. It hit the nail on the head, this was in August, we had just started dating that May, and had just decided we were in love on that trip.

8. Insert your own random thought here.  Tomorrow, me and my aunt are traveling to a town north of here, I'm kinda calling it a birthday trip because my birthday's on Saturday. I'm not entirely sure what we'll do, but it's always nice to get away, even if it's only for one day. 
I've asked people to send me goodies for my birthday, I know one package was mailed on Monday, one was mailed today, and maybe I'll get some surprises. I plan on waiting until Saturday to open them, plus I have a big gift bag of stuff I bought for myself. 
I do have to work Saturday afternoon, but I'm planning to bring in treats. I'm also hoping my co-workers will decorate my desk and sing me Happy Birthday after we close. I'm also going out with a friend for supper. 
I think it will be a pretty good birthday.

Saturday, June 25, 2016

Long Walk

So, my app says I walked 7.8 miles today. I'm not sure I believe that, when I went to calculate it online, it said it was only about 6.8 miles. Either way, I was pooped when I got home. Took a shower, and took a nap for most of the day.
Here's what I picked up (nothing I need), but I love doing this.
 2 frogs, the blue one was free, the green was 25 cents
 The ornament, Batman and the lizard were free. The Wizard of Oz toys were 25 cents for the set
 The pig was 25 cents, the clown was 10 cents, Stimpy was free and the rest were 25 cents each
 I don't recall how much these were, but the bunny rabbit was $1.00
 The snowmen and the boxes came together, I believe they were 50 cents, the rest came together as well, I believe they were 50 cents too. I'm not entirely sure. I bought everything in this picture, the one above it, and the one above that except the clown and pig, and somehow it came out to $4.25
The Hello Kitty stickers and the pom pom guy were 50 cents together. The other stuff was free.

At one point, I looked at my app and it said I had walked 4 miles. Four miles just doesn't seem that much anymore. I guess when I walk about that much every time I go garage saleing, it just seems like less.
The sale I spent the most at, was selling water and I was kicking myself for not buying one the first time I stopped, so since it was on my way back home, I stopped and bought one. After drinking it, I had enough energy to make it home. There were some sales (turned out to be four) in a neighborhood that I normally don't go to unless there's other ones nearby. I don't think it was really worth it to walk over there, all I got was in that last picture. I do love the Hello Kitty stickers, but I could easily never have known they were there and been fine.

I have a staff pool party that I told someone I'd go to tonight, I'm so tired, I'm afraid I'll fall asleep on a tube in the lazy river.

I really need to pack. It's about a month away and I'm not really closer than I was at the beginning of the month. If someone could just come over and wash all my dishes and pack them up, that would help a lot. I figure, I've got the kitchen (which is a disaster), the equivalent of one bookcase full of books, my desk, the cabinet under my TV, my DVDs, and a chest in my bedroom. And then, there's all my art stuff. I need to finish two pocket letters and get them out by Tuesday. I have a birthday gift I need to send out, then I should be finished with art stuff. I kinda wanna leave my art room until last, because it helps me keep my sanity.

Friday, June 24, 2016

Macaroons

My workplace is having a pool party tomorrow. I learned last night that my swim suits don't fit, so I went to Target today to find a new one. Dollar Tree is right about across the street, so I messaged a lady in one of my Facebook groups who was looking for some flower stickers, to see if she wanted me to pick up some if they were at my DT.
They were when I went last Saturday, but you never know. I did find a swimsuit at Target, even though it was on clearance I still paid about $28 for it. I hate that clothes are so expensive, but I won't shop for certain things at Goodwill. I also picked up a coat that was on clearance for $20, I didn't need it, but I've been looking for one for awhile, so I didn't want to pass it up.
I actually found a few things at DT that I've been looking for. I love this bag:
 Who wouldn't want macaroons?
 Sadly, I don't have a use for it.
Found some more bow tie paper clips, some cute animal erasers, another lace sticker, some glue dots, the Dory stickers are from Target, and some gel pens.
I only picked up the animal erasers because there was an elephant in it. I picked up the lace sticker for a swap. I've been seeing people haul the glue dots, and I like glue dots, I've just never seen them at DT before. Like I said the Dory stickers are from Target. I was going to pick up some of the yellow ruler tape and the Dr. Seuss quote erasers, but as I've learned if I don't buy them the first time, I never see them again.
 duct tape, two glitter tapes, and two of the self-inking stamps.
The duct tape was in a box labeled spring, that tells you how long it takes my DT to get things. I had just asked someone about the quality of the glitter tape, and then I found these on an end cap, so I grabbed them. I had to pick up two of the 'handmade with love' stamps. I've been wanting a rubber stamp that says this for awhile, and when I saw them in other people's hauls, I really wanted them. I believe all the other sayings were there too, I just wanted this one.
Here are the flowers I picked up
 dimensional flower stickers.
I saw these last Saturday when I went in, but they don't really interest me. I thought I'd see if they were still there for someone else who was looking for them. I try to do that when people can't find stuff, I would hope others would do that for me, too.

I also got an interesting package from Grace today. I asked for happy mail for my birthday on Crafty Lori's wishing video, and Grace said she'd send me some. Sadly, I'll wait a week to open it.

Monday, June 20, 2016

That's life

Sometimes I miss what I had in college. I loved (still do) learning about criminal justice. I miss going on motorcycle rides, and I miss talking to like minded people about CJ stuff.
I love my life now (most of it), but I never get to see the police stuff anymore. I've loaded up my staff pics with my love of criminal justice and true crime. I have The Siege by Cathy Scott-Clark about a hotel that was seized by terrorists and kept all the people inside as hostages. Kitty Genovese by Kevin Cook, about Kitty Genovese who the bystander theory was based on. The bystander theory basically says that if you view a crime and a lot of other people view a crime, you are more likely not to report it because you feel that someone else will. That is untrue for Kitty's story. She was followed home, assaulted and then killed right inside her apartment building, and it was led to believe that a bunch of her neighbors saw her getting assaulted and didn't do anything. I have The Most Dangerous Animal of All by Gary L Stewart about Gary's search for his father and finding out his father was the Zodiac Killer. I read Cries Unheard by Gitta Sereny about Mary Bell, one of the youngest kids to kill multiple people, apparently she wasn't the cold blooded killer we all thought her to be either.
I miss having people to interact about criminal justice and police work. Most of the officers I know on my PD don't talk to me anymore, I don't really run into them anymore. I'd heard awhile back that they really didn't like me, but the source of that wasn't really reliable. All the cop blogs I follow seem to have dried up, but I get why.
I got to interact with an officer tonight at work and the conversation was not about my life and what's going on in it. And I want to tell someone with CJ ties, but I have no one to talk to anymore.
I was thinking I wanted to watch the last episode of Third Watch, but I just got rid of my VCR tonight, so that won't be happening. I miss that show. There are so many good cop shows from my childhood that I miss. New York Undercover, Pensacola: Wings of Gold (OK this is about Marine fighter pilots), Third Watch, Cover Me, Nash Bridges, Walker Texas Ranger, 21 Jump Street, Pacific Blue.
I took down my Hott Guys blog because I just didn't see the point of having a blog of pictures of guys I thought were good looking. In theory, I got one of my favorite cops from the TV show Cops to comment on a few of my posts, Officer Pilutik, that was a nice thought that the guy actually commented. It was probably some random person pretending. I am bummed I lost those comments, though.

I really miss the motorcycle culture as well. I used to have an ad on craigslist looking for rides. Risky I know, but I never got in trouble, I feel I can get a pretty good read on people. I miss the feeling of a motorcycle ride. I found my helmet in a closet the other day when I was cleaning out. No way would I get rid of that. I haven't used it in years, but it still fits, and I want to have it if the opportunity ever comes up again.
The Harley store in town does these rides in the summer where bunches of bikers get together and go on a ride to some place and then eat and come back. I got to go on a couple of those, I really miss that.

I miss having a connection to people outside of work. At one time, my life revolved around my ex, now I feel it revolves around work. If I'm not there, I'd rather be. All my friends are from work.

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Shopping haul

I am seriously failing at not doing things I said I wasn't doing. I'm gonna give up on saying that. Anywho, I had a bad day at work on Thursday and my mother pissed me off yesterday, so I went shopping. Thursday, I had one patron who made my day bad, I felt like the car lady in Planes, Trains and Automobiles, except I couldn't say "You're fucked!" at the end, because this was real life and it was a phone call and not a face to face interaction.
So, I went to Target and the Dollar Tree today. I really don't need to buying anything since my birthday is in a couple weeks (July 2nd) I was only going to buy a few things, and I did pretty well at Target, the Dollar Tree, now that's a different story. I loaded up my cartwheel, but didn't really feel like spending much at Target, so I just checked out Bullseye's Playground and the clearance sections. School just barely got out here, but Bullseye's Playground is in back to school mode. Here's what I didn't buy:
Thought this was cute
 I really wanted it for the cake stamp
 Love erasers
 more erasers
 Thought these pencil bags were cute
 I need alpha's
 Lots of Dr. Seuss, I really wanted the chunky erasers with the quotes on them
 More Dr. Seuss
 This is the shark from Finding Nemo/Dory. There were a lot of Finding Dory things, too
 numbered washi
 apple tags
these were chalkboard tags
  these were felt
  these were like wood veneers
 a cute mason jar shaker tag
  apple linen goody bag
  graph paper tags
  felt notebook paper banner
  a very cute crate with rulers
  Love this notebook, but it had dots not lines inside
  this is what my basket looked like at first, there is a package of those Dr. Seuss erasers, wood veneer like alpha stickers, yellow ruler like washi, solid green washi, solid purple washi, a package of Finding Dory shaker stickers, a magic washcloth. Then I decided I didn't need it, so I put back everything except these:
  Hello panda cookies, felt pencil stickers and owl paper.
I spent a grand total of $3.09 I think.
Then I went across the street to Dollar Tree, bad idea. I originally went there to find these emoticon plushies I saw in Gracie's Dollar Tree haul, but my DT never seems to have stuff right when it comes out.
 Here's a very few pictures of what I didn't buy:
 this one I did buy
  these say the days of the week in the paperclip
 these also say the days of the week
  love this owl, not that I have a whiteboard.
  these new solar things looked like Dory and Nemo. They had a shelf end devoted to Finding Dory and these were on it.
Now, what I did buy (way too much):
  dried apricots, gummy bears, freeze dried peach slices, butterscotch oatmeal bars, gummy fruits, freeze dried apple slices, and wax bottles
  puffy cookies, butterfly cookies, cream cheese and chive crackers, pirouline chocolate hazelnut, and palmeritas.
 Sadly, I found out I don't like dried nectarines, freeze dried peach slices, puffy cookies or the butterfly cookies. I guess it's good I only spent $1 for each of them. I usually don't go down the cookie aisle, but Cheap Crafty Girl had the puffy cookies in one of her last hauls and I really wanted to try them.
 I almost bought all the lace looking stickers I found, I was surprised I found them, my DT is not very good at having the stickers I see in hauls, plus they were hidden behind some others. I was also surprised to have found the glittery owls and flowers. The other glittery ones were there too, I just wasn't interested. I also saw the dimensional flowery looking ones, the ones with the pansies and daffodils, but I wasn't interested in those either.
  a solar frog, ice cream and owl stickers, mini butterfly gift bags, a flower bookmark, gel pens, a pink jeweled pen, and up at the top, the one thing I actually went for, hand soap.
I spent about $42. That's more than the time I gave myself permission to spend money. But, I don't feel bad about any of it. I bought multiples of the stickers for a friend. I'm not too pleased with the cookies, but they will be going to my work, and like I said at least they were only $1, I'd be really disappointed if I spent more than that for them.