Saturday, April 28, 2018

Stickers

Sunday: So, Younkers is closing. I googled it and found out that Des Moines (about an hour away) stores were clearing out, so I thought I'd see what our store was doing. Not much. I really need some new shoes with support for my job. A month or so ago when my brother was in town, we started talking about fitbits and I said something about how much I walk when garage sale season starts up (soon, I hope) and my mom said I needed a fit bit, I said that would be nice. The next day as we were driving to a family Easter get together I told her, I'd rather have a good pair of shoes for work, so I thought she'd get me some. A few weekends ago she asked if I wanted to go to Younkers to check out the sales, I was busy then. So, after reading about Des Moines' stores I thought we should see about our store. There were a bunch of signs saying store closing, everything must go, fixtures on sale and everything up to 30% off, that's really not that much. I don't shop at department stores like Younkers and JCPenney and Kohl's because I can't justify spending that much money on one piece of clothing. I did find a pair of shoes for about $60 after sales, which I feel is about typical. I also bought a pair of shorts for $50, which is a bit high for me, but these were the comfiest shorts I have ever tried on, and it's almost shorts season. I could not spend $70 on a pair of black dress pants even if I wore them every day to work, or $50 on a skirt. My mom ended up buying the skirt for me, I figure that covers our earlier conversation.
I was hoping to find some sandals and shirts, but not at those prices. I don't know when the final closing date is, but I might check them out again. I feel the need to go to Goodwill and get a bunch of clothes.
Monday: Got a bunch of swaps packaged up to be mailed.
Green mail swap:
 and a ton others, no pictures though, I'm going to try and take more pictures of what I send out.
I also started getting mail from my new group today:
 Dollar store tag (something you get at a dollar store)
 Sticky notes tag
 I grab tag (you comment what you're willing to send out and the next person posts "I grab" and then what they will send), this one was for washi samples and 25 stickers, though I only counted 23, the hearts are one sticker.
I also received a pink card from another group:
And then this cute card my cousin's kid made:
It's another thing I would have put on a bulletin board if I had one.
I also didn't drink any pop today, which is huge, considering it's Monday.
Tuesday: Basically got a bunch of swaps ready to be mailed.
 This and That swap, we had to pick 5 items from a list to mail to our partners:
 I chose lace samples, 2 ATCs, 3 altered tickets, 4 inchies, and 3 altered paperclips.
I have been so not in the mood to make stuff lately, it was a lot of work to make the things for this swap. I like how they turned out, I just had a hard time getting started.
I also received some mail.
Send Me Something Cute:
 And my May calendar tag:
I watched a few movies that needed to be returned and spent a lot of time on Facebook and Youtube.
Wednesday: I opened at work. I spent $43 on shipping, mostly stuff for this new Facebook group I'm in. It's so addicting, it has these things called tags, the admin posts something that you will send and then you 'tag' the person ahead of you and send it out to them. There's also what's called wishes, you list about 10 things that you wish for and then someone grants those wishes and when you get a wish granted you have to grant someone else's.
 So, here's what I sent, the top envelope is a Send Me Something (SMS) soft and 2 sticker sheets. I chose a purple fuzzy pom pom keychain from Dollar Tree because her favorite color is purple. Next up is two sticker sheets, the next one is SMS squishy I chose a squishy I bought at Target, the last one is sticker sheets as well, the last one is a wish (I made an ATC for her)
 This has a dollar store tag (something you buy at a dollar store) I chose a journal, a keychain tag I had a little issue with this and then found a cute Trolls one at Hobby Lobby, a magnet, a D tag (anything that starts with D) I chose diecuts, and a button/pin tag (those round buttons everyone has).
 This one has a wish (she asked for vintage paper), green happy mail (5 pieces of green happy mail, that's the photo above with the cactus), reusable tote, wish (she asked for ink pads).
This one has a floral paper swap, a bird pocket letter swap and a washi sample swap, I also sent a tag swap today.
Remember how I said I was going to stop spending money, not if I'm in this group. I need to be a little more mindful of what I send and what I sign up for. I'm still waiting on tags back from 2 weeks ago, so I'm a bit bummed about sending so much out and still waiting on getting things back. Of course this is an international group and people are sending from all over the world. Sadly, no mail today.
Thursday: Watched a few movies, got a book done. Got some happy mail.
Stickers:
 More stickers:
 Work was a regular Thursday night, pretty dead.
Friday: No work went through some more movies, also got some happy mail:
Destash:
 Stickers:
I'm impatiently waiting on my subscription box, it usually takes a week to get here because it's mailing from England, but a week was the 24th. I honestly forgot about it until someone on the facebook group mentioned they received theirs in the US, now I really want it to get here.
Saturday: I had to work the afternoon, it was nice and quiet, kinda weird for a Saturday. I enjoyed it.
I stopped drinking pop on Sunday, I've been drinking a lot more water, but I'm hungry like all the time. I just want to munch on stuff between my meals. I also want to have a pop, not so much because I'm craving it (I'm kinda craving the taste actually), but because I want something that tastes different than water and milk. I did pick up some flavored water that I like, Nestle splash wild berry, but it leaves an annoying after taste in my mouth. Someone suggested La Croix and I've tried a lot of flavors of that, I wish there was more flavor to wash out the carbonated water flavor. I haven't tried the things you put in your water, though I did pick up some crush ones at Dollar Tree last week. I took them to work, but haven't tried them yet because my water bottle doesn't hold a lot of water.
I went to Hobby Lobby today for some double stick tape. Last time I was there they had an 8 pack for $8.99 and if I use the 40% off coupon it's about as much or a little more than a 4 pack at Walmart. They didn't have the 8 pack and the 4 pack is priced the same, so I didn't pick any up. I had two other things in my basket and then I just got annoyed that the one thing I went for wasn't there, so I put them back and walked out without buying anything. I wanted to buy something but there wasn't anything I really wanted to spend my money on.

Saturday, April 21, 2018

Weird week

So, it's been a weird week, weather wise. It's been cold, the temperatures have ranged from the teens to the 60's we're having today. We had a day where I had to pull out my winter coat that I wear for the teen weather, plus there was wind. We got snow two days this week, we were under a winter weather watch Wednesday through 1AM Thursday, we had rain and snow and sleet and hail Wednesday morning and supposedly got 3-5 inches of snow, but by the time I went to work Thursday afternoon (around 4pm) it was all gone. And now the forecast shows highs in the 60's for the next week, I certainly hope so, I'm so tired of winter.
Sunday, I worked, it was kinda busy, we had an author tea, thankfully everyone was confined in the auditorium, so I wasn't overwhelmed like I was on Saturday. My co-worker offered me a ride home by way of HyVee, I may have gotten a little too excited about going to HyVee. I just get really tired hanging out with myself. I picked up 4 pints of ice cream, 3 Haagen Daz (mango and raspberry sorbet and a pistachio ice cream) and 1 of Ben & Jerry's.
Monday, I realized when I went to work I was still overwhelmed from Saturday.
Tuesday, I went shopping, see my previous post for that. I also created a calendar tag for a swap:
 I've been having a hell of a time being creative lately. I joined a new group on Facebook where you basically just send each other happy mail, which I love, but it's a bit of money in postage.
I also finished another explosion box:
 I finished with a person in mind and then when I went to look up their birthday, I couldn't find it. Not sure where I got the idea that it was this week. Oh well, I have one for the next birthday that comes around.
Wednesday, like I said we were in a weird weather thing. I got hit with snow and sleet on the way in to work, then it tapered off while at work, when I left about 1PM, it was snowing again and visibility sucked.
I got happy mail:
This is from my new group:
 My partner was to send me something that started with B.
Thursday, I slacked off in front of the computer all day and regretted it when I went to work and stared at the computer. I had a patron say something that the library was putting on was offensive to them and I felt sad that they were so close minded.
Friday, I went to lunch with my mom, I wanted something exciting from Panera, but it wasn't to be. We also went to a vintage store in a close town and Ben Franklin. It wasn't exciting.
Today, I was going to to go to a garage sale, but I stayed up too late, and didn't feel like going out. I did finish another explosion box for a supervisor:
I bought this paper pad on Tuesday telling myself I could only buy it if I used it for this explosion box:
It's very springy and I wanted to do a spring/birthday explosion box.

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

More shopping

I ran out of foam tape a few weeks ago and had to pick up some small padded envelopes for a swap, so I went to Dollar Tree, Walmart and Target today.
I wasn't sure if Dollar Tree would have foam tape and clear packing tape, so I made sure to stop there first.
 I bought all the sheets of stickers with the bicycle on it, it was only like 4, but still. I saw them in someone's haul video and was excited to see that my Dollar Tree didn't have them. I didn't have this sheet of butterfly stickers, so picked those up. I liked the hydrangea stickers and picked up two of those. I had to find something that starts with C for a swap, so picked up this notepad with cacti on it. The birthday card is for a co worker. I picked up the notebook to track my swaps. I found these cute keys in the wedding section, you get 12 for a dollar, I don't know what I'll do with them, but I couldn't pass them up.
 I bought two rolls of the foam tape, as well as the packing tape on the red roll. Now that my hair's short, I need the bobby pins to keep it out of my face. I'm trying to drink more water, but I don't like the taste of it, so I picked up these flavor things to help. I picked up the dry erase markers for work. I picked up the hedgehog cause he was cute.
My next stop was Walmart.
 I don't need more paper, but I said I could buy it, if I used it for a co-worker's birthday card I was allowed to buy it. I picked up the photo album for a swap. The Equalizer is a movie I keep checking out from the library, so why not buy it? I picked up 4 of these envelopes, I really wanted a package of them, but they didn't have any. The granola bar things were on sale for $1 (but, of course they didn't ring up as that, I'm glad I caught it before I paid), thought I'd take them to work.
Last stop, Target:
 I spent under $3 here. I picked up the cactus drink float to go with my C swap and then decided to send something totally different, that and the pens were in the dollar spot for $1. I picked up the oreo bar because I had a cartwheel (I also have a coupon for a free one, but I keep forgetting to put it in my bag).
I found some happy mail when I got home:
They are die cuts from my new facebook group.
Tomorrow, the forecast says we're getting more snow, but it's supposed to be in the 50's at the end of the week.

Saturday, April 14, 2018

Chaotic Day

Today was kinda nuts. We had this huge kids event at work and it was a bit much, there were tons of kids and parents and too much was happening all around me. I know no one could tell, but I was very stressed, I don't know if it was being overwhelmed or anxiety or what, but I felt like I was about to collapse. I usually try to avoid the library during this event and I will switch if I realize I work next year.
I decided to go shopping on my way home since the weather did not cooperate yesterday. I was afraid it wouldn't cooperate today, too. It was raining and windy on my way into work, I chose a heavier and longer coat. Just as I got to work, it basically started pouring and sleeting, my legs were soaked from the thighs down, my boots as well. I ended up drying at work, and the weather went from raining, to snowing to raining, and people told me it hailed and sleeted, too. That was all in 5 hours, welcome to Iowa. It stopped doing it all by the time I left, so I decided to head over to Hobby Lobby and an Asian food store.
Here's what I picked up:
 I spent about $13. I don't really know what things are, I just kinda guess every time I go, sometimes I get lucky and find stuff I've already had. I do not know what the pink and purple drinks are, but when I drank the purple one it was kinda like a grape milk drink. I think I was supposed to shake it because when I got to the bottom, it tasted more watered down. The middle drink is Litchi flavored Ramune, which is kinda like sprite and flavored. I don't know what the yellow package is but they reminded me of Umaibo which are very yummy, and they taste like them, too. The pink is a strawberry flavored snack. The purple one said it was taro flavored filled pillows. They remind me of the Quaker squares cereal filled with a little cream, they're not very good.
Hobby Lobby:
 I went to get a paper pad I saw a few weeks ago, but they didn't have any (which isn't bad, cause I don't need more paper). The two Trolls containers were mystery keychains, they were $1 each. The wooden feathers, diecuts, arrows, and banner pieces were $0.75 each. I seem to be attracted to feathers lately. I picked up the diecuts because they have llamas, sombreros and cacti. I'm not sure what I'll do with the sombreros. I thought the arrows would just be fun. The cacti gemstones were 50% off, so $1, I love cacti. The banner pieces I thought I'd flip over and use for a card. The vellum envelopes were $1. The flower pieces were $0.49 each, I thought they'd make good embellishments.
These were in the Easter section, they were 90% off. I love rice crispie treats, they're a little hard, but they're still good.
I wish I could stay home and hibernate for a month to get over the nutsness of this day, but I have to work the next two days. Tomorrow is Sunday, which is enough to make us busy, but we also have an event that's supposed to pull a bunch of people in.s

Friday, April 13, 2018

I cut my hair

Let's see, what have I been up to since March 31st? Not a ton. I made a birthday card for a friend on April 6th:
 Saturday, I received this beautiful lavender and green loaded bag:
 I made an embellishment box on Sunday:
 And a bird pocket letter:
 I also joined a new facebook group last week where you send out a lot of mail and you get a lot of mail. I do want to cut back on my postage, but I'm excited about this group.
Tuesday, I decided to cut my hair, here's a before:
 And here's an after:
 I usually grow my hair until it annoys me. I've been trying to get it long enough to hit my waist since 7th grade (about age 13, I'm turning 35 this year), but I've never had the patience to let it grow. I measured it, it was 22 inches they cut off. I donated it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, the lady cutting it said I should donate it to Wigs for Kids, but I found you had to have it in 4 different ponytails before cutting it, and everyone keeps saying that Locks for Love is bad (cause they sometimes sell hair to offset their costs), and Pantene also only takes the one ponytail. You can't tell in the picture above, but my hair has a little wave to it when it's short, so one side is a little wavy and the other side is more flat. I believe I last cut it in late 2012, so it's been awhile.
I also got a welcome to my new group package in the mail on Tuesday:
 A random stuff swap:
 And some altered paper clips:
 Wednesday, everyone at work said my haircut looked cute. I also found out who doesn't really notice things.
Thursday, I got a wish granted from my new group, I asked for cactus anything:
 I may or may not use these. I haven't really been in using stamps lately, but I do like the clear stamps.
Our weather has been really weird lately. There were some nice days in March and then we had snow, this was March 24th in the afternoon:
And then we had nice days and the snow disappeared. On Easter it was in the 30's and cold, and then it went back to the 40's and 50's. Yesterday it was in the high 60's and I thought today was supposed to have a high in the 70's and sunny, but when I looked at the forecast last night it had changed to 60's and rainy. And this morning, the high was only 50 and rainy.
I was originally going to walk up to our north Walmart and the mall and go shopping, I took the bus instead. I didn't find a lot:
 The tide was on clearance for $13, I haven't had to buy any yet, but I know they're not cheap, so I got that. The ziploc bags were on clearance for $2.50, and the other bags were $3.62. I have started gathering all the goodies people give me in swaps and keeping them together in ziploc bags.
 a bralette for $7.44, and a Reece's snack for $3.24. I noticed my bralettes are getting a little old, but I guess that's what happens when they're under $5 and you wear them almost every day. I've already eaten the Reece's.
I found these cute guys:
I figured I can wear bunny earrings any time of year, and for $0.30 each, who can pass them up?
As always, my mall is sad, but I wanted to see if there was anything interesting at TJ Maxx:
Last time I was there, they had these cute unicorn cards and I'm very sad I didn't pick them up. I did, however find these cute gift boxes for $2. I also go there to find new and exciting food, which I didn't find this time, but I found good food. The marshmallow kebab was $2.99, the cashews were $4.49 and $4.99, the rice crispie treat was $2.99. I bought some dark chocolate sea salt cashews at Target in February and have been trying to find them again since then, but I can't. It seems I really liked the salt part of them, because I don't find these that good. I've had the rice crispy treat before.
I'm a little bummed, because I didn't find anything really fun. Of course I was saying the other day, I don't need more stuff and most of this is stuff I will use up at some point, as opposed to crafting stuff which I may hoard forever.
I will be going to Dollar Tree tomorrow, and I'll probably talk myself into Target to check out the Dollar Spot, and Hobby Lobby as I walked right by it on Tuesday.

Monday, April 02, 2018

After Easter shopping

I decided last night, if I just got up and went shopping I could be back long before I went to work. Woke up at 8, figured the world was telling me I should go to all the stores. Double checked Dollar Tree's hours online and off I went. I decided to go to Target and Walmart first going back to JoAnn's later because they opened at 10. I left about 9, as I walked past Dollar Tree it looked very empty, but it was ok, because I was going back that way to Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's later.
First stop was Target:
bunny rabbit, two squishies, an activity book and a care bear
 I stopped at the Dollar Spot, but they were restocking it today. I found out apparently 9AM on Mondays is when they restock, or maybe just move things around. Like after Valentine's Day, their seasonal section was very picked over.
I did find the top squishie, the bunny and the care bear in the Easter section. The other squishie and the activity book were in the dollar spot.
Next up was Walmart:
 I may have gone a little crazy with the Cadbury buttons. I wasn't going to pay $1 each before Easter, but I'll gladly pay 50 cents each after. I picked up the giant Snickers because it was only 80 cents.
 I couldn't pass up the Iowa Easter book. I don't know why but I have to always pick up stuffed animals. I did pass by the ones at Dollar Tree.
 I found a few stickers and a cute bag.
Next stop: Dollar Tree:
 a couple keychains, some glue dots, lace, list pad, paper, cards.
I totally picked up the keychains for friend mail. I finally got the glue dots I wanted, I liked the lace. The list pad and the cards are for me. I picked up the paper for friend mail as well.
 Stickers. No justification needed.
 More stickers. I've actually been looking for these.
 Boring stuff: bags, shower poufs, antacids, hair ties, envelopes. This picture is more for me than you. But it is the reason I had to go shopping today, it's time to switch out my shower pouf.
gummies and chocolate.
I was going to go to Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's, too, but as I was heading over to JoAnn's (after spending about $60), I decided I didn't need to spend more money or need more stuff. We all know I have too much.
I decided to put a few things in my birthday bag. I figure by the time my birthday rolls around in 3 months I will have forgotten about them.
I should just do After holiday shopping. It's not like I need anything.