Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Hodgepodge

It's Hodgepodge time. Head on over to Joyce's blog tomorrow to see what other people have answered.

1. It's National Waffle Day (August 24th)...what decision are you currently 'waffling over'? (or share one you've recently 'waffled over')
Working on Sunday. It's my first day off in 2 weeks, but I guess I signed up to work a volleyball event. I got the email from our scheduling software last Sunday and was so annoyed with myself for having signed up. I did decide to put out a sub request and thankfully some took it. 
2. It's the middle of August, but I'm already seeing lots of autumn-related posts. Do you think we rush the seasons? If so, does that bother you? I saw (here) an end of summer bucket list that included-
make s'mores, read a new (or favorite) book in the park, eat something delicious and bad for you at a state fair, be a tourist for the day, have a pot luck picnic, book a last minute summer getaway, relax by or in the pool, take a hike to watch the sunset, have a day on the lake, try a new summer recipe
Which activities on the list might you squeeze in before summer officially comes to a close? 
I don't like s'mores, I don't like reading outside (too many other things that catch my attention), Iowa's state fair has already passed (I am kinda bummed about that, but it rarely fits into my schedule), I can't afford a summer getaway, no pools here to relax by, I'll probably be working when the sun is setting, no lakes around and I have a little snafu with my kitchen.
I wouldn't mind being a tourist for a day, but that probably won't happen either. My neighborhood will be having a potluck picnic on Labor Day, but I don't know if I'll be going. I really would love to have a day at the lake, but that doesn't fit into my plans either. 
3. Your favorite summertime 'art' found in nature?
I don't think I have specific summertime ones. I love how sometimes the world makes you stop and pay attention to things, like when a butterfly flits by.
4. Stephen R. Covey is quoted as saying 'We judge ourselves by our intentions, and others by their actions.' Agree or no? Do you define yourself based on your intentions, your actions, or something else? 
This is way too deep for how tired I am this week.
5. Are you useful in a crisis? Elaborate. 
I feel I am. I haven't been in a big crisis before, I have been at the bookstore when basically our whole computer system shut down. If people give me something to do, or I know what to do, I am extremely calm and can just do it. Sometimes I like chaos.
6. What's been your go-to dish this summer? Is it something you'll continue making as the seasons change?
I have been really utilizing my microwave lately. Like I said above, there's a little snafu in my kitchen so I haven't been able to use the stove/oven. So, anything I can easily warm up in the microwave. I have been doing a lot of cheese tacos with lettuce lately.
7. Adult coloring books are a thing now. Have you jumped on the bandwagon? If not is this something you think you might enjoy?
I'm not a colorer per say. I did pick up a few coloring books to send in swaps, plus these two:
These are basically the whole reason I chose to do the Hodgepodge today, I skimmed the questions and saw this one. 
Coloring has never been my thing, I don't know why, I've just never really gotten into it.
I had to buy the Where's Waldo one just cause it's Where's Waldo, I love search and find things. I think I have all the Waldo books from when I was growing up. I have found Waldo in the whole book, whether I go back and color it or not, I don't know.
And I love the sentiment of the second one. It's got all these quotes about not really caring what other people think in it. All of my friends thought it was pretty funny, too. I feel they all need a page. And I did color a little bit on one page the other day.8.  Insert your own random thought here. 
It's bookstore time again. Sadly, I think I'm getting a little too old for this, or I just need new shoes. It's tiring me out so much more than it used to. Though I think part of it is, in this position at the library, I stand in one place much more than I used to. I love the fast pace of the bookstore and the job, it's just tiring me out way too much.

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Stickers

It's been a few weeks. A few busy weeks. As you know, I moved at the end of July. I won't go into detail, but some things aren't really done and it's stressful.
I started at my temporary job at the bookstore last week, worked a long week and this week will be longer. I have picked up a few things.
I saw this Where's Waldo coloring book at the bookstore and had to buy it because it's Where's Waldo. I'm not into the whole coloring thing, but I love Where's Waldo.
 Last weekend, I did make it out to a few garage sales. I had Saturday off, so I thought I'd see what I could find. I believe my total was under $3.00.
 a solar owl, stuffed elephant, glass vase.
The solar owl just turns his head, I really like him, unlike my other solar things, he's very quiet. I picked up the elephant cause he was cute. The glass vase is actually an Avon vase.
 A package of lace.
I loved this. Not that I need more lace or trim, I loved the mint green pieces and that ruffled pink piece in the middle bottom. I'm hoping to alter a book and give it a lace cover, if I could ever unpack my craft stuff.
This past week I worked about 30 hours at the bookstore, and my regular 20 at the library. I did pick up a few shirts
 It's usually customary for me to pick up a shirt every time I work, but I haven't been doing it the last few semesters, mostly cause I have enough shirts I don't wear. The Cy was only $10, and I loved the teal on one the side. Iowa State University's colors are cardinal and gold, so it's nice to find something non traditional. I'm kinda tired of all the shirts with Cy and the I-state logo. I also had to buy this The Very Hungry Caterpillar pencil case. I certainly don't need another pencil case, but this one is made by Out of Print, and I love their stuff. I really wanted one of these last year when they first had them, but I couldn't see spending $12 on it. The bookstore had a special where they were 20% off, I still shouldn't have spent the money for it.
The other day while we were training I saw this coloring book and had to have it:
 I love the sentiment. It's a great coloring book. I feel I should take a page to each of my friends, they'd totally get it.
Yesterday, I needed washcloths and shower curtain rings, so I went to Dollar Tree and Target.
You can never get just one thing at Dollar Tree:
 Theraflu, washcloths, shower curtain rings, pen, duct tape, self-laminating sheets and erasers.
I picked up the Theraflu because I thought it would be a nice alternative to the liquid stuff I usually take when I'm sick, it doesn't expire until next June, and I'll probably get a cold this winter.
I did get the washcloths and shower curtain rings. I originally thought I'd need to go to Target for the rings. I set up my shower curtains yesterday and took a shower for the first time this month (I've been taking baths because I didn't know where my rings were). I feel I will be too tired to run a bath this next week, so I wanted to get it set up.
I could not pass up donut and typewriter duct tape. I certainly don't need more of that, though.
I picked up the pen thinking I could easily pop off the flat back pearls and use them. They are glued on pretty well, I'll have to try a different method or just keep the pen.
A few weeks ago, someone left some Asian papercuts on my desk, they are cut out of rice paper, which is extremely delicate. I thought I could use the self-laminating sheets on them and make them a little more durable. I've never used these, so it will be interesting to see how they turn out.
I also couldn't pass up the erasers. They are little animals with moveable legs and they stand up.
It was all downhill when I got to the sticker aisle, they had quite a few new ones
 animals, cupcakes, banners, words, and robots.
I tell myself I don't need more stickers, but when they're only $1, I have a hard time passing them by. I did put a few sheets back. I found the puffy little tooth stickers, but I really don't like the tooth ones. I really want the owls, the elephants and the little animals ones. I was actually surprised they had some of these, I feel my DT doesn't get things in when they're so new.
I loved these layered animals.
I had to pick up the cupcakes and the birthday banners, I feel they'd be great for birthday cards.
I have a hard time passing up robot stickers. I have made one pocket letter, but I think I'll have to make another one with them.
I also love these word stickers and feel they'd be great on a flip book. I picked up one sheet just for the hot air balloons.
 I also found the washi tape sheets. When I first saw the videos of them, I wasn't really interested in them, but when AmandaK said they were more vinyl, and not actually the thickness of the DT washi I got interested. So, I picked up the flowers, the owls, the birthday and the farm animals. I put the Paris and another one back. I wish we could mix and match, there are a few on each sheet I don't really want.
I also loved this sheet of alphas.
 dimensional stickers, birthday stickers.
I found these dimensional stickers also. I didn't pick up nearly any of these, these two sheets were the only ones I really liked.
I was only going to Target to get the shower curtain rings, when I found them at DT, I really didn't need to go to Target, but I thought I'd see if anything new came in.
Sorry the photo's blurry. Banners, gel pens, erasers, binder clips, erasers, tsum tsum, notecards
They seemed to have a few new items in the dollar spot. Everything I got was from the dollar spot except for the tsum tsum.
I got the banners because I thought they'd be great to use for art (the package actually said placecards).
I was excited to find the gel pens. Sadly, when I got home the blue and orange work sporadically, they are also very thin. No more Target dollar spot gel pens for me (It should really say, no more gel pens for me). I wanted both the eraser packs when they first appeared, but I didn't pick them up then, I thought I should pick them up before they disappear.
I loved the placecards with the doily print on the side. I also loved the binder clips, they are gold with words imprinted into them.
I've been wanting a Tsum Tsum for awhile, but none of them were cute enough to spend $5 on. They were on sale for $3 yesterday when I went and this Captain America was there. I really like him.

Next week brings more work

Saturday, August 06, 2016

Collective haul

Sorry, it's been awhile. I moved last weekend, and while I really wanted to go garage saleing, it just wasn't in the plans. This is gonna be long
According to my phone, I went to Hobby Lobby on July 21st. I remember why now, CreativeYoungMama on YouTube had posted her paper hauls and said that paper was 50% off. While I was watching her video, I really liked the Hooray Baby pad, so I went to look at it. She also said that there was a lot of new paper pads. When I got there, there was a lot of empty shelf space, they had moved all their clearance stuff from the shelves, hangy things into the clearance section.
Here's what I picked up:
 Hooray Baby paper pad, Best Day Ever paper pad, feather loose paper, succulent loose paper, chevron loose paper, Bedtime Story paper pad.
I loved all the cloud and hot air balloons in the baby pack, when I got home I went through and counted how many were specifically for a baby, I believe it was about five. The Best Day Ever pad had a lot of fun patterns and hot air balloons as well. I was looking at the Mint To Be Fab paper pack that everyone was so excited about, there were only a few sheets in it I really liked, one of them was the feathers. When I looked at the single sheets, the feathers were there, so I picked up two. It is only printer paper weight and 8.5"x11". I loved the succulent paper, I bought the succulent washi a few weeks ago, I'm sorry I didn't pick up the succulent stickers, but I have way too many stickers. I love the colors in the chevron print as well. The Bedtime Story paper pad, is 3"x4". I loved the prints inside, they're all Mother Goose-like, very cute. They have plain colors on the backs of them.
 birthday stickers, mustache gems, 4th of July banners, felt owl stickers, mini playing cards, donut/sprinkle washi.
I always check out the clearance section when I go to Hobby Lobby, usually it's all I go to.  I was eyeing the birthday stickers last time I went to Hobby Lobby, I love the little jar in the left bottom corner. I picked up the mustache gemstones for a swap (not quite sure I'm still going to use them for it, though). The 4th of July stuff was marked to 80% off, and I loved these banners, they don't all have to be used for 4th of July. When I was at the register, the cashier rang them up at normal price, I had to inform her that they were actually on sale, so I bought 4 of them (also picked them up for that swap, but if they don't work, I still love them. Fall stuff was on sale for 40% off, so I picked up these cute owls. The mini playing cards were with the jewelry supplies. I'd been eyeing the donut/sprinkle washi for awhile, so I finally picked it up, I told the cashier it was the only thing I was getting that was regular priced, I realized when I got home, I should have used a 40% off coupon on it. Oh well.
 metal key, owl picture, resin owls, owl key, wooden keys, bag of trim
I found a lot of cute owl things in the jewelry clearance, which is in a different spot than all the other clearance (logged that in my mind the last time I was there). Like I said a lot of cute owl stuff (you'll see more owls in a later haul), I'm not really sure what to call that owl rectangle, this one and the two owl pieces I was eyeing last time I was there. The two owl pieces I thought would make really cute earrings (if I did jewelry). The owl key was just cool looking. Like last week I didn't realize there were wood pieces in with the jewelry makings, I didn't find anymore though, maybe they were clearancing them all out. This bag of random trim was in the regular clearance section, I looked at the pieces the other day (I don't know why I hadn't opened it before), they are pretty cute. The white and peach are rose trim, and the top one has pink and white trim in layers.
 Their spring stuff was on sale for I think 70% off. The birds and pineapples are toothpicks (bought them for the same swap, still not sure about that). The hedgehog is a pick to go in a garden, I don't have a garden, but he's wicked cute. I kinda wish I could just break off the metal pick, but I don't think that's possible.
After I got all moved last Saturday, I went shopping downtown because there were sidewalk sales going on. One place basically had their whole store on sale. They had their sale cellar marked down another 50% on what it was already marked down. The rest of the store was like 60% off, I don't really know.
 The star says wish. They had ones that said hope for Christmas last year, I was hoping to find one of those, but I'll settle for this one. The mug is a jack-o-lantern from some other year. I don't know why I bought it, I hardly ever use mugs, just in the fall/winter when I start my day with chai. I love the color of it, it's a really dark army green color. The tiny pink thing is a glass Christmas tree. I would love to send it out in a swap, but I have no idea how to package things so they don't break in the mail. The orange thing on the end is an owl, it's from this year's Halloween/fall collection. The crown is glittery with gemstones. It's got a few gemstones I think I should remove and re-glue, which is kinda sad because it was originally $12. I'd love to send it in a swap too, maybe a Christmas one, but I think it'd be fine for any gift swap. The owl is from last year's Christmas collection. I totally needed another owl. The reindeer has a mirror on the front, it's for my brother he collects reindeer. I also bought some chocolate covered trail mix.
 I got these at another store, I just wanted to see if they had anything exciting for the sidewalk sales. I've picked up the Disney stickers at Walmart in the past and I've been searching for them ever since. The notepad with the telephone and the butterfly notebook were each $0.50, I'd never seen them at this store, but I had to have them. I love the telephones on the notepads. The cross stitch in the top corner, I got with a magazine.
I really wanted to go to Hobby Lobby and other stores, but I was so tired on Saturday. I went out shopping for a few essentials on Sunday, I'm glad I waited until Sunday, so I wouldn't be tempted by Hobby Lobby.
 I picked up some donuts and milk for breakfast at HyVee and some Minion tic tacs, cause they were only $1.
I headed over to Dollar Tree for some off brand Chlorax wipes for cleaning of my old apartment (check it out in the next (or previous) post), and of course I found a few other things.
 I found the infamous fox boxes, they were just sitting with the boxes all nesting in each other. I was wandering down the aisle and saw the big one, as I picked it up I heard it rattle and found the others in it. The brown thing is a hamburger dog toy. For some reason I can't handle not buying stuffed animals. I don't know why. I did see the Webkins animals, and I had the hippo in my hand, but decided it wasn't doing anything for me, so I put him back. I was actually surprised I found him so soon after I'd seen everyone else hauling them. My store is sad, and a few years ago, I didn't have a store, so I really shouldn't complain, but they never seem to get the new stuff when I see it in other people's videos.
Thank you cards, gel pens, notebook, shower curtain, shower liner, pencils, emoji notebook, duct tape. I also wanted to pick up some thank you cards to get to my moving crew, so I got the really cute ice cream ones and some more formal looking ones. I seem to have a thing for pencils, pens and notebooks, I certainly don't need any more of them, but if they're cute looking I pick them up. I feel I already have a set of these gel pens. I needed a new shower curtain and shower curtain liner for my new apartment (sadly I don't know where my shower curtain rings are, so I haven't hung them up yet). These pencils have velvet on them, how cool is that? I bet they're really hard to sharpen, too. I also found some of the emoji things, they had markers also, but I didn't need markers with emojis on them. I also picked up some more duct tape, so when I start mailing packages again, I'm set.
 erasers, binder, tape, cards, stickers.
I want to create a back to school kit (or just a fun package) for someone, and I loved these erasers. I saw this binder on Halie Hostler's haul video. (I just realized watching that video again, I have now picked up the binder, donut notebook, erasers and stamp set that she had). I loved it, I really wish I had a need for it. This tape was with the above notebook, I bought two packs. I love these house cards, they are blank so I could use them for whatever, I might cut them out for embellishments. I also picked up the owl back to school stickers. They are actually layered chipboard, I have started separating the layered stickers, I take off the top layer and affix it with double stick tape and I get about two sheets for the price of one. It doesn't always work, sometimes the top layer isn't the same (it's got less details or parts) as the bottom layer.
Monday, my mom helped me clean my old apartment and as a celebration, we went to Red Lobster and stopped at Target for some stuff (of course I picked up more than I needed).
stickers, notebook, cards, three composition books. The Dory tape is actually from the Dollar Tree (it got in the wrong picture). I've been seeing people haul the Dory stickers and I LOVE the otters inside. I haven't seen the movie yet (won't see it until it comes out on DVD and the library gets it), but there are some wicked cute character stickers. The donut notebook was not as cheap as I thought, but I really wanted it. I'm tempted to photo copy it and use it for embellishments or background papers. I thought the note cards were really cute. I love making my own cards, but sometimes I don't want to sit down and make them (or like now, I can't). I've also seen people haul these little composition notebooks and was so excited when I finally found them. Like I said, I love note books, I also love that they can easily be sent with swaps, that's usually my plan when I buy them. I love the Dory tape from the Dollar Tree, I've never bought these tiny tape rolls before and I don't know how much is on a roll, but I like the octopus.
Yesterday, there was a church sale I go to every year, so I checked it out. I didn't realize how busy it was to go right when it opened. I've gone on the Friday before, but I guess never right when it started. I don't think I'll do that again.
Hanky, plate, Bell jar, plastic spoons, notecards, trim, more trim.
I picked up the plate from Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, just because it was from there. I recall going there once (maybe) as a kid and it was always somewhere I wanted to go. I don't know if I'll use it. I picked up the jar because it was a blue Bell jar. The plastic spoons were free, I'm always running out of spoons, and they were cute. I picked up the cards because I thought they were all like the top one, when I got them out to take the picture, I found the rest are blank in the middle, I'm a little bothered by that. I don't know how much trim is there, I kinda have it on it's side so you could see, but it was really cute and vintage. So was the other bag of trim, there's some tatting in it. I also loved the hanky with the painted rose on it, I certainly don't need any more hankies.
 Here's the owl stuff. Owl bag, Christmas kits, pig wine stopper.
I don't need an owl bag, especially not a little kid one, but I'm sure I'll figure out something to do with it. I mostly picked up the owl stuff because they were owls. I think it would be pretty cute if I used the pillow boxes for my Christmas gifts. I picked up the pig wine stopper for a friend.
 For my birthday this year, I asked for one of these drawer things, I anticipated needing better storage for my craft stuff since I didn't have a giant closet to put it into at this new place. The black one my mom got me, the white one I picked up at the sale for $4.00. It needs a little cleaning, but why not. I'm not entirely sure how much they cost, but I bet it's more than $4.00.
Today, I had to go to Dollar Tree for sponges, I used my last ones for cleaning on Monday.
 sponges, bubble bath, shower curtain, moose munch, rose petal soap
I'd been picking up the heavy duty sponges that only had 2 in a package, I stopped to read the package today and realized these are every day use and you get 3 in a package. Since I now have a bathtub, I want to try having a bubble bath, I also got the rose petal soap because I have a bathtub. I love this frog shower curtain, as you can see above I already picked up a shower curtain, but this one is way better. It was lunchtime and I was hungry, that's why I picked up the moose munch.
And so as not to leave with a boring picture
gel pens, robot stickers, googly eyes, notebook, self laminating sheets.
I picked up these gel pens last week, and they write so nicely, so I picked up more. The blue roller balls I haven't used before, but I'm a sucker for pens. I've been eyeing these stickers and since my DT will not get the new cute puffy stickers (I want them so bad), I got these. They actually haven't had new stickers the past two times I went, it's been very empty in the sticker spot, and today the books were almost all cleaned out. Another notebook. I picked up the googly eyes because they are special Halloween ones, they have colored irises, not that I use a lot of googly eyes. I picked up the self-laminating sheets because I've seen people haul them too and I wanted to try them out.

The next post will be showing my old apartment.