Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Fleas

Because of the flooding last week, I decided I needed to pick up some more pocket pages, and Hobby Lobby had their PaperStudio and Stampabilities stuff 50% off, plus Halloween, fall and Christmas was 40% off, so why not?
And of course, they didn't have the pocket pages I wanted. I had picked up a sea and a travel pack of ATC cards when they were on clearance, that's what I wanted. Of course, I didn't leave empty handed:
 I took a chance on a couple of misc paper packs that were on clearance, they 8.5x11 was $1.79 and the 12x12 was $2.99. It was a pretty good chance, there were 50 sheets in each and I think about 10 in each I didn't like. I loved that pumpkin sheet it was $0.29. I've been wanting the pink lemonade paper stack and I told myself next time they had the 50% off sale, I'd pick up one, so I got the tiny one for $4.49. The beach stickers matched the ATC cards I had, so I picked those up. I liked the rectangular sticker papers, the one on the left actually matched a pocket page set I was considering, I thought they'd be great little embellishments. Someday I plan to do a travel themed PL or flipbook, so I picked up these stickers. All the stickers in this picture were $1.25
 I saw these wood snowflakes last time I was in and thought they'd be fun to play with, they were $2.99. The star stickers I found in the clearance aisle, they were $1 each. I have the succulent washi and paper and have been meaning to pick up the stickers, these were $.99. I also liked the Christmasy stickers beside them. I don't usually do Christmas cards, I'm more of a winter card person, but these were really cute. They were $.99 also. I found this roller stamp in the clearance aisle for $2.99, I originally picked it up in case someone else was looking for it. It doesn't have a listing of the images, when I googled it and saw all of what it had, I decided I should keep it. I've been wanting this travel washi for awhile, and if I ever do the travel PL/flipbook it will be great, it was $2.49. I had to pick up the owl ornament, it was in the Halloween section, I saw it last week and told myself when Halloween went on sale, I'd pick it up, it was $2.39. I also liked the little Frankenstein head, I should have looked at it a little closer as I found a glitch in his mouth, oh well he was only $0.88. I like these pumpkin stickers, I'm making a fall flipbook for someone and thought they'd work well, especially with the stickers I bought at Walmart last week, they were $1.19. I did pick up this set of pocket pages for $2.49. And lastly, the package of string holders at the bottom was $0.42, I was sending someone some embroidery floss and I have no idea where mine are at the moment, it seemed easier just to buy these.
I also went into the Asian food store on my way home, I was looking for mochi, but they didn't have any in the flavors I wanted. But, you can't leave that store empty handed either:
 I can't read Asian characters, but I can kinda guess what I'm getting. The rolls on the side are milk rolls, every time I buy some kind of bread product it doesn't usually work out, but these are great. The purple box is taro pudding. Taro is purple sweet potato, it's so good. Their pudding is kinda like flan in consistency, it's actually a box of little tiny pudding containers, not what I was expecting, but still good. The 3+2 cookies turned out to be weird. They're like saltines with filling. The top one is blueberry, the bottom one is cream and coffee, I thought it was chocolate so I was very bummed about that one. The pink bag is corn sticks with strawberry frosting. I don't know if I can fully explain these. They're like cheese puffs, but don't really have a taste, the best thing about these was the strawberry frosting, but I was hungry the other night so I ate the whole bag. The cans at the bottom are a milk drink, I've gotten them before. They are milk like, a bit sweeter and a little bit thicker.
Today was interesting at the library, I found these guys on my desk when I walked in:
The note on them was from my roommate, saying she hoped they'd make me smile after our soggy weekend. They did. It's Freddy Krueger and Chucky. They are Mopeez stuffed people made by Funko.
Then we heard there were fleas, so we closed for the day and when I go back tomorrow night it better be all taken care of.

I will need to make a dollar tree run again. I realized I need some better air fresheners, the ones I picked up last week are not very good. I guess I'll go for the name brand ones this time. I'm also hoping there's a plastic container I can use as a garbage can in my crafty area (I'm also hoping the floor is dry enough soon so I can create). My 2017 planner got wet, so I need another one of those. And I saw someone's video about Christmas there. I try to pick up some things early on that I know people will like so I don't have to worry about the rush/madness the closer it gets to Christmas.

How's everyone else's week?

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Art festival

I'm trying to be more on top of my blogging. Today was a local art festival that I went to with a friend. While I love going to it, it feels like there's less and less I really want to buy. It's mostly jewelry, large things to hang on your walls, furniture and large art pieces. They are all gorgeous, but I don't have the budget for most of it, and the other stuff I'll never use.
I bought a couple items:
 My mom's been sick with the flu, so I bought her this cute little heart dish. My brother's birthday is next Friday, he works in computers, so I bought him this keychain. I know he won't use it because it's metal and he flies a lot, the less he has to take out of his pockets, the better.
I did stop to get my winter chai, it's been a little chilly in the mornings and it does help me wake up when I have to open:
 That's Tiger Spice Chai, I bought individual packets of Tortoise Green, Elephant, Orca and Flamingo. I wanted to see how they compared to the Tiger Spice.
I also found a couple cute things in their clearance section:
Some cute flair buttons for $1, thought I could use in friend mail, an angel that says "you are loved" on it for $3, I got that for me and a pack of mini greeting cards for $3, I've been eyeing these for awhile, and now that they are on sale, I thought it was perfect.

The 'mini' flood in my last post took out all my white cardstock and a whole shoebox full of pocket letter inserts, including a couple packs I bought. I decided next time Hobby Lobby had their 50% off sale of Paper Studio, I go get some paper. I really don't need more paper, I can easily cut more PL inserts, but I do kinda need cardstock. I think I might have lost my white computer paper too, but I'll have to do a little more investigating. Lucky me, this week they are having that 50% off sale, plus 40% off Halloween. I didn't look at Halloween at all last week because it wasn't on sale. I hope not to spend too much, but you never know. I'm failing miserably at saving money. :(

Friday, September 23, 2016

Too much water.

My day started out pretty shitty. Last night we had a pretty big rain storm that just kinda sat over Ames for the whole night. When I got up this morning, I put my feet down in a puddle, this one to be exact:
 And at the end of my bed, there was actually standing water:
 You can see it's not so wet here from the doorway:
 A close-up of the end of my bed:
 And looking into my closet:
It wasn't the greatest thing to wake up to, but after seeing that some people had 5+ inches, I feel a bit better that it wasn't worse. I did read on Facebook that someone's basement collapsed because of all the rain.
It was mostly because we got so much in so little of a time. I read this morning we got anywhere from 4.25 to 7 inches, depending on where you were in the city. It sounded like downtown (where I am) got the brunt of it.
I got to run away to work this afternoon. I love that about work, if you want to get away from your personal life, you just go to work. Of course your personal life is still there when you get back. Thankfully mine had gotten much better. It turned out the massive amount of rain was too much for the sump pump, so once we got that started again, it sucked a lot of the water out. Looking at my bedroom floor right now, it's hard to see what is wet, and what isn't. It's still pretty damp on top, and I'm sure plenty wet underneath. But, it's just stuff, none of my important stuff, like electronics, movies, books or library books were on the floor, so that's good. I did lose a shoebox full of pocket letter inserts for my art, as you can see in that last picture. That's what I'm most bummed about, I had some project life cards, and some Paper Studio cards in there that I really wanted to use, but I don't think it's worth it to try and dry them.
I'd love some healing thoughts sent my way.

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Needed to get out of the house Haul

I am not catching up today, I actually got this all today. I've been spending way too much time in my house, and decided I needed to get out. I've either been here or at work, not much else. I've also had a hard time getting motivated to create and someone suggested going for a walk, I'm pretty sure spending money was not included. So, I went shopping. 
 First stop was Hobby Lobby, I hadn't been there in awhile and I knew fall and Christmas were 40% so I thought I'd see if there was anything interesting. Apparently last week paper was 50% off, it's a good thing I didn't go then.
I took a few pictures of some stuff I wanted, but did not get. Pretty much all the 3D stickers except The Paper Studio and Paper House were 40% off.
 I wanted these because they were so cute:
 But, I don't do a lot of Christmas (or holiday specific) things, plus I decided I could use my own materials and make something similar.
I loved these:
 Some of them were puffy, some were just patterned, but again with the holiday specific and I probably wouldn't use them.
I liked these:
 They were not on sale, and I decided I could probably recreate them, I just needed a reference picture.
Here's what I did pick up:
The hearts/arrows stickers were in clearance for $1.79, they are also vellum, I think they will work well on a lot of things. Like I said Christmas was 40% off, so I picked up the felt bird stickers and the plaid washi for $2.39 each. I thought the birds would be very versatile for winter, they have little scarves on, I almost picked up some owls dressed for winter as well, but I thought these were more fun. I really like the plaid washi, it's thinner than most washi, but not the really thin strips. I also thought I could use it for more than Christmas. I had to pick up the owl stickers, two of them have little tiny crocheted circles for their bellies, I may not use them. I also loved these "yay" tags, they were not on sale, I guess I could have used a 40% off coupon, but I always forget about it.
Next, I went to JoAnn's. I haven't gone there in awhile (except for the one out of town) because I never find anything to buy. They don't have a very good craft section and never have anything I see people haul on YouTube, today I couldn't even find their clearance section. I only went because they sent me a 60% one regular priced item coupon, sadly I couldn't find anything to spend it on.
Next up was The Dollar Tree. Once again, I didn't find what other people were hauling, my Dollar Tree is sad. Here's what I did pick up:
 Some unicorn/rainbow stickers for a PL I'm doing. A couple more of the layered/glittered stickers. Some Halloween pencils for another swap. Some blank cards, I really need more of these, I have a tendency to put off mailing things because I don't have a card to send with my RAKs or granted wishes. A sympathy cards, one of my supervisors had a death in the family.
Honey roasted peanuts (it was lunchtime), sadly they weren't very good, those will end up at work. Indulgent Trail mix, I love trying new things at the Dollar Tree, if you don't like them, at least all you spent was a dollar, there were too many raisins in this. Dr. Pepper twizzlers, I have yet to open these, but they sounded interesting. Lavender Sure Scents, my coat closet smells a lot like feet. Zombie gummy candy, why not? I drank the Cherry Coke I bought, I also put back a few stickers, but most everything was picked over.
Next up was Target, I know I was just there on Sunday, but I didn't get much time to truly shop, so I went back to look at the Dollar Spot and the candy.
Gremlins DVD, it was on sale for $4.20, and I didn't have it. All the candy here was $1.00, so why not, plus it was special Halloween candy. The gummies are specially shaped, the Reece's are pumpkin shaped, the Twix are ghost shaped and the Butterfinger are skull shaped. I love these fall stickers, I found them in the dollar spot, I also found another cute sticker book, but it was with Halloween crafts for $2, and 216 stickers. I don't need another notepad, but I saw someone haul this, and I love it, plus it doesn't have to be Halloween and there are two notepads in there, so I can gift them separately. I've been seeing people haul these stamp sets but they didn't interest me. This one has handmade by stamps in it, I can use those for everything. They are: a heart, "Handmade for you" with floral sprigs, "Made by __" and "Hand made with (a heart)". You wouldn't be able to find 4 stamps for a dollar each anywhere else, and I don't really have a handmade stamp I really like. They look pretty ok for dollar stamps.
Last stop (not exactly) was Walmart. I wanted to see if they had anything good in their Halloween section and to look at their clearance.
 And then I went down the sticker aisle, not a great choice. I picked up the fall critters, pumpkins and unicorn pegasus for 97 cents. I'm doing a flip book for someone and it might become fall themed with all the fall stuff I keep picking up, plus I grabbed the sticker book which has cute critters I could use as well. The unicorn pegasus are for the same PL as the pegasus from the Dollar Tree.
I did find some good deals in the food clearance. I picked up the Happy Birthday cards so I could have some ready to give people. Again, I have a hard time getting things to people on time because I figure I always have to make a card, I forget that people just love that you remembered to think of them. Mango filled marshmallows, these are Hello Kitty and they are so good, I've probably eaten half the bag already. Mango and strawberry hi-chew, this is an Asian chewy candy, as well as the Botan Rice Candy. Creamy chocolate biscuits, because who passes up chocolate cookies?
My actual last stop was Wendy's for lunch. I thought I'd splurge a little because I just don't for food very often.
Next time I need to go for a walk, I should just walk. I'm sure it will be better for my soul and my bank account.

Sunday, September 18, 2016

Again

I know I said last time, that I was going to try and not do this, but I got lazy.
Last Friday, my friend and I went to Micheal's and a larger Dollar Tree than we have here. First up, Dollar Tree:
 slipper socks, DVDs, cards, pom pom key chain, yellow monster, owl eraser, bandaids, conditioner
My apartment is cold, so i picked up some of these socks, they are very snuggly and warm. I was surprised to find DVDs and Blu-Rays at the Dollar Tree, but there were some good movies in there, so I grabbed Parkland, Good Neighbors and another one that I can't read here, and don't remember what it was (it's probably a horror movie). I picked up a few condolence cards for co-workers. I found one of those pom pom keychains everyone's being hauling. I love these monsters, I love monsters in general, and they just make me smile. That owl is a dry-erase board eraser, but he's so cute. He's also a magnet, so he's on my refrigerator. I couldn't pass up the minion bandaids and I needed some conditioner.
 Guacachips, hazelnut spread, Nutella, Piroulines, caramel apple cuts, peanut butter pumpkin heads and some gummies.
I've seen people haul these chips, so I thought I'd try them out. They were pretty good. I wanted to see how the generic hazelnut spread stood up to the Nutella. I love Piroulines. The caramel apple cups and peanut butter heads were for friends, they weren't as good as I wanted them to be. And I can't say no to gummies.
 pirate stickers, halloween stickers, heart stickers, moving stickers, dinosaur stickers, under the sea stickers.
Do I really need to explain stickers?
 coffee stickers, flower stickers, flair stickers, binder clips, washi tape
I believe I don't need to explain this picture either. I was very excited to find the flower and flair stickers and some of the new washi. There were other washi, but I really liked these.
Next up, JoAnn's:
 I don't usually go to JoAnn's, but I wanted to see if theirs was better than ours. Not so much. I did find this punch to buy for 40% off.
Last stop (actually these are backwards, so it's the first stop), Micheal's:
 rosettes, ephemera pack, rubber stamps, spiders, drink stickers, wood pieces, mummy stickers.
I picked up the rosettes thinking I could easily take off the St. Patty's pieces and just use them as rosettes. The Halloween ephemera pack was on sale, it's Tim Holtz. The rubber stamps were on sale too. I picked up the spider clips for friends. The drink stickers turned out to be 24 cents. I've been wanting some wood pieces, so I picked up these clocks and owls. I just loved the mummy stickers.
 A couple Halloween sticker books, some charms, appliques, bling, and felt halloween stickers.
I've always wanted some of these sticker books, plus they're only $1 (cause that never got me in trouble). I picked up the frog charm because it was under $1, the flower ones because they reminded me of Hawaii, and the chain because it was basically a bracelet. I don't know why I picked up the appliques or bling. I just love the felt stickers.
 donut and whale stickers.
I was very attracted to whales on this trip.
I didn't go garage saleing last weekend or this weekend. Last weekend I felt I had spent way too much money on my trip. This weekend, I couldn't find any in my area, and I was looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday.
This weekend, my brother came in to visit and today we went out for brunch.
 I got lemon ricotta pancakes, they were great.
Afterwards we went to Target. I found out a great way to not spend money on things I don't need, go shopping with my family instead of friends.
emoji stickers, monster notebooks, stickers, washi
I picked these emoji stickers up in the dollar spot. They're not exactly what I thought (I think I got excited because they were emoji). I'm doing a Halloween swap through FB, I don't have a lot of Halloween stuff, so I picked up a few more things today. The stickers were $1, the notebooks $3, and the washi $2.

Monday, September 05, 2016

Catching up, again

I'm catching up again. Someday I will actually be caught up. The week of August 21st was all work. I worked about 40 hours at the bookstore and 20 at the library. It was pretty much get up, make lunch, go to work, go to other work, come home, go to bed. By the time the 28th rolled around I was ready for a break. I should have just vegged out at home, but there was a Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle fair downtown that I wanted to go to. I need a new wallet and was hoping to find one there.
Sadly, it wasn't that exciting, there was a lot of furniture and stuff I just wasn't interested in. Also, not a lot of vendors. I found something interesting in one of the stores that were open, though:
 It's a nesting doll of American presidents, it starts with Clinton and goes back five or six presidents I think.
 And a nesting doll of Soviet Leaders. I just thought they were funny so I had to grab a picture.

Monday, I went home sick. I don't know what it was, my roommate thinks it was stress. I have no idea, I felt much better on Tuesday and the rest of the week was work again.
Friday, I didn't have to go in until 11:30 at the bookstore and there was a garage sale right next door, so I checked it out.
 I picked up this whole pile of yarn for free, the only thing I bought was the corner rounder at the bottom for 50 cents.
 I don't know what these are but I liked them. Does anyone know what they are or what you're supposed to do with them?
Saturday, I didn't have to work until 1, so I went to a few sales. I have finally given up on the Mapmyrun app. It said I walked 9 miles on Saturday, which I didn't. It keeps telling me I walked about 4 more miles than I did. It's weird it has a giant diagonal line saying I walked all those extra miles in a matter of minutes. So, I got rid of it. Anyone know of a good app to track how much you walk? I don't really care about steps or calories burned or anything like that, I just like to keep track of how far I walk.
The first sale I went to had advertised kids selling cookies and lemonade, when I got there everyone was eating donuts. If they were selling donuts I totally would have bought some. I think I was a little annoyed that they were all eating donuts in front of the shoppers, so I didn't buy anything.
Here's what I picked up:
 snowman, stuffed monkey, Hello Kitty cards, die cuts,  tree necklace, minion, O character, Spongebob Squarepants stickers, a bag of carebears.
The next sale had a lot of paper crafting stuff, but I thought the prices were a bit high. From what I saw, I could get most of it at Hobby Lobby when they have their 50% off sales for the same price and they'd be brand new. I did pick up the bag of die cuts for 50 cents and a necklace for 1.75.  When I opened the bag at home, I realized there wasn't much in it and just kept a few of the diecuts.
There was a neighborhood of sales that I went to. It was fun to have so many sales so close together, but I didn't find a ton. I did pick up another snowman, I think I need to weed those down again. I also picked up the two plastic toys and the Hello Kitty cards. I like gathering minions for my desk at work. The pink one is from the movie Home, when you push the button on the top of it's head, it's hands come together to form a heart and the circle on it's belly lights up.
At the last sale, I picked up the care bears, the stuffed animal and the stickers. I can't pass up care bears, and for some reason I couldn't pass up the stuffed monkey either. I don't know why I picked up the stickers.
At the library for the month of September, we're having a staff swap table in the break room where you bring in unwanted things and other people can take them. I think it's great timing, I have finally been told I can unpack, and I have found quite a bit to take in.
I also found a few things to take home, like these:
 I'm getting into the emoji craze (though I still don't get why everyone likes the poop emoji). Apparently these were happy meal toys, I love them.
Today, my parents and I went bed shopping, so hopefully they can deliver the bed on Wednesday and I'll have a bed again. I've been sleeping on my futon mattress on the floor, which isn't so bad because it's much better than a regular futon mattress.
I also had to stop by Target for some cereal and of course found some other stuff:
washi tape, pens, planner stickers, stickers, memo pad, pencil toppers, erasers.
They had their Halloween stuff out in the Dollar Spot, I wanted to spend more time browsing, but my mom was there and she gets impatient. I had offered to have my parents just drop me off and I could walk home, so I don't know why she was impatient. I found a lot of cool things, but again talked myself out of a lot, too.
Cause I totally needed more washi, pens, stickers and notebooks. I took a chance and picked up the glitter washi. It does not flake off glitter when you breath on it, so if I go back and find some other colors, I'll pick those up. Yep, I bought some more gel pens, but these are very nice. The teal one writes very nicely over dark paper, the other colors are navy and gold. I guess those are the colors for their new stationery line. These planner stickers seem to be the new line too, I loved the little page flags on the second page (that you can't see). I wanted to use them for banners on pocket letters and flip books. I picked up the chalkboard stickers for some swaps. I don't know why I picked up the notepad, probably because it was cute and $1. I picked up the pencil toppers and erasers for some friend's Halloween/fall presents.
I spent the rest of the day unpacking. I think I have most of the kitchen unpacked. Which is a feat in itself, because I went from a full size kitchen to one probably a quarter of my other one. I have 3 cabinets and 5 drawers. I have had to weed out a lot. The plus side on that, is one of my co-workers kids just moved off to college and has no kitchen stuff. I'm finding it a little of a challenge to arrange stuff, I barely have room for my kitchenware (pots, pans, cups, plates, etc), let alone space for my food. I did move my microwave to a different spot than it has been and that gave me a bit more counter space. I think I'll have to find some counter organizing stuff. I also think I need a spice rack.
I will really need to be organized in this space because it's so small. All the rooms/closets with the exception of the bathroom in my old apartment were huge and I lived there for about 10 years, so it's an adjustment.
This week brings my last week at the bookstore and Friday I get to go shopping with a friend I haven't seen in awhile, I think it's a great end to the week.