Weekly update

Saturday: mom and I went out to lunch. I was thinking I shouldn't have agreed to lunch with her, (my mom and I don't have the greatest relationship) that would be three weeks in a row with her: lunch on the 6th, family get together on the 13th and a few church fairs on the 20th.

It wasn't too bad, I think she got tired of me not telling her about my life and bombarded me with questions about a friend who moved to Minnesota in August. She was appalled that I couldn't find anything to buy at Kohl's for $30 except for chocolate. She said she was surprised I didn't need a new pair of underwear or new black dress pants. If a pair of underwear costs $30, I seriously don't need it. It's because I'm cheap, I'm not going to spend X amount on something I can get somewhere cheaper or I don't need. I did realize later I do need new black pants, but too late now. 

We went to a local little more expensive place and I knew exactly what she would get, Salmon Club, she's very predictable sometimes. I got pumpkin pancakes, they were OK. Not very flavorful, I tried them with sausage, which I didn't like and scrambled eggs, but eggs are eggs, nothing exciting there. I wonder if I had asked for over easy and dipped my pancakes in them, if it would have been better.

After lunch we went to a flower shop, they had their Christmas stuff out and I found a couple cute things.

This guy:

He's so cute!!! I really want him, but I have too many snowmen and it was too pricey.
Also, this guy:

Again, too many owls and out of my price range. I love his hat with reindeer antlers.
I didn't not purchase anything. I'm *trying* again, not to purchase more stuff, also this whole store was out of my price range.
When I got home I found
Red Happy mail:

puffy ladybug stickers, ladybug buttons, beads, fabric, fishing wire?, and gingham ribbon.
I actually have this exact sheet of stickers. Not sure what I'll do with any of it, it may just be sent in other swaps.
Coffee card:

I love this, it's a little shaker card. She also included a sleeve for coffee, that will probably be sent in a swap.
I put together a few things
Letter W:

washi, tissues
I had this pack of tissues with a W on it because my name starts with W, so people always send me initial stuff. I was always thinking of doing washi for W, so I put in a new roll and a bunch of skinny rolls, I don't like the skinny rolls. I also included a package of white chocolate hot chocolate.
Fall Happy Mail:

sticker sheets, punch outs, die cuts, handmade card, ribbon and a tag.
I totally tweaked the package after finding some other stuff. Most of this is the same though.
Dollar Store:

Got these in another swap for useful, but I don't use highlighters and I've seen them at the Dollar Tree.
Also, made some monsters:

I picked up the kit for these on the 4th when I went to Hobby Lobby. I love these little kits and always pick them up. They work for a fun, quick project. I usually end up giving them to friends.
Sunday: at least I can always say I've been productive on Sundays, I do my laundry on Sundays.
I also worked on some art projects while the laundry was going.
A loaded envelope:

I went with a fall theme, I had this big fox die cut in my stash, so I colored it with a silver marker and added the flower.
We had to make three 3x3 cards:

I think they're cute. I love 3x3 cards, they are so cute. Someone in one of my groups made me three envelopes for this swap, and then I lost one, so I had to take apart a second one to make envelopes for the cards.
A handmade card:

I'm not good at making cards.
I received this embossing folder in a swap:

I think it's rude to include embossing folders or die cuts in swaps if you don't know if the other person has a machine. So, I put it up for trade in one of my groups for a pocket letter. I have so much stuff, but I like trading for something homemade.
I granted someone's wish for a horror movie:

I bought this at the Dollar Tree, I've always wanted to watch it, so I got it. It wasn't as good as I thought it might be.
Monday: Saw this on my way in to work:

It's a house that's being demolished to make room for a new grocery store. On my way home it looked like this:

It was Columbus Day, so no mail. I hate no mail days. Mail just makes my day, it makes me happy to see it when I come home on the days I open and makes me excited to start my work day on the days I close.
Tuesday: I worked on some holiday swaps. I signed up for a garland advent calendar where we are decorating 24 gift bags and filling them. I didn't feel like buying the bags, so I tore one apart I had in my stash and made my own. And then realized I actually needed 24 instead of 12. I made the first batch with some red and green vintagey paper with Christmas cardstock as decoration. The second batch I used Christmas paper and of course messed them up. I had a few sheets that had patterns that had to face a certain way, like words, so the first one I cut it out sideways, the others I cut correctly, until I had to fold them and folded them upside down. But, because I'm using another Christmas cardstock for the main decoration to match the first batch, you can't exactly tell.
I did get about half of them filled up:

Bling, twine, tea, washi, decorative tape runner, ornament, cards, mini clipboard, tags, pin, hot chocolate, stamps.
Of course after selecting these I thought maybe everything should be Christmas. I'll be including those above, but I'm currently waiting for the other stores in my town get Christmas items in, I'm tired of Hobby Lobby Christmas. Also, I know I have to buy clothespins for the calendar, I don't have any of those.
I also signed up to to make an Advent pocket letter. I have made the base and backs, and have some of the goodies. I'm thinking of making it into a file folder pocket letter since it's three 9-pocket sleeves with us just decorating the last three sleeves.
And I signed up for a 12 Days of Christmas envelope swap. We're to fill 3x3ish envelopes with goodies. I'm using the smaller envelopes from an envelope swap I did last year, I've got most of those filled as well.
I still need to purchase numbers for all these.
I found some mail on my way in to work.
Send Me Something unique:

These are iron on patches. I don't find them particularly unique, but it's a fun thing to ask for. I love people's definition of this word.
A wish for anything elephant:

I LOVE this. I'm not a big necklace person, but I totally slipped this on for work on Tuesday and Wednesday. I foresee me wearing it a lot in the future.

Wednesday: I thought of this when I was in the grocery store:

We recently had a house torn down to make room for a new Fareway store. One of the meat guys was saying to a customer how much he loved the smell. I do, too, I realized tonight it's the smell of wet drywall which takes me back to restoring our house and scraping off wallpaper from the walls. I could inhale that scent all day.

I slacked off the rest of the day, I don't do a lot on Wednesdays.

Thursday: I really wanted to go shopping this week (I don't need anything, but it's one of my *therapies* that still makes me feel good. Mountain Dew isn't doing it, and a few other things I do aren't doing it either, but shopping still works), but it was cold. I did put a few things together.

Initials:

 I had to find something for J, C and B, So I chose jack o lanterns, cats and a bookmark.
Wacky Wednesday: Silly:

 I always overthink tags. I was going to go with just this notepad, but then I thought maybe it had to be something new, so then I was going to go with some monster tattoos, but I didn't want to cut the sheet or fold it in half or use a larger envelope to mail it, so I went with this googly eyed keychain.
Favorite color of pink:

 I originally was going to go with just the butterfly patch, but I thought I'd include the keychain as well.
No mail on Thursday either. Very disappointing.
Friday: I opened, I switched with someone so I could have Saturday off. Found some mail when I got home.
Letter W:

 word find, washi, welch's fruit snacks, warheads, werther's and warm socks. She said she included a bit more because my name starts with W. I love it all. Word finds are my favorite, though I have way more than I will probably ever use. Who doesn't need more washi? I like these little fruit snack things. I'm not a fan of warheads or Werther's but I decided last week that any candy/chocolate that I didn't really like I was going to put in a Halloween basket for a friend. I also love these socks. My apartment's in the basement so it's normally kinda cold, but in the winter, it's already nice and cozy warm, so I use them in the summer when it's chilly.
ATC:

 She said it was her best try, but it measures 4x3, so it's not really an ATC. I can't even trim it down to have it fit in a sleeve. I figure I'll turn it into a card.
Saturday, happy mail:
A penpal letter:

I asked for a penpal that would write longer letters recently. The last two letters I've gotten from some others are a page long, actually one was a memo sheet. Now, I know how they can have so many. When I think about pen palling I think of long letters and getting to know someone. I don't feel you can get to know someone in one page, or it would take a really long time. This person interests me, I feel I'll be writing back.

Today turned out to be a pretty good day. Like I said I had a family gathering, it used to be for my grandma's birthday on my mom's side but she passed away last year. I'm not always a fan of our get togethers, especially the older I get. Everyone always wants to know what's going on with finding an other and job prospects. I'm not interested in kids and there are some young ones that usually come and no one seems interested in my job. Today was a very small group, because my grandma wasn't there. I knew that was going to happen. We always used to get together for Christmas eve on my dad's side, but once his parents passed away, we stopped hanging out, though my aunt is trying to get back to that tradition. So, I knew that once my grandma passed away people wouldn't find it as important and we were actually told that in a text from my cousin. It turned out more fun than I imagined. I'm always bored on the 2 hour drive there and back. We had a smaller selection of food due to being a little unorganized and not many people showing up. After lunch, we went on a tour of all the places my aunts and grandma had lived in the town and that started stories about what happened at each place and memories. Then we went back to our lunch place and started looking at old photos which of course led to more stories and memories, and then there was a lot of laughter and I had more fun at this one than numerous other ones I've been at in the past.

Laughter really is the best medicine.

Plus it feels like Sunday because we usually do our get togethers on Sundays, so I feel like I have an extra day in the week.