It's November

Sunday: I finished my gift bag advent calendar swap:

 Made a few birthday cards:

 Another one:

 And an ATC:

And of course, I did laundry.
Monday: I left work a little early, and was so happy that all I bought at the grocery store was milk. I found some mail when I got home.
A wish for happy mail:

 An Initials tag:

 I'm not surprised she sent washi. I expected that because that's what I sent for the W tag.
I also received a SMS unique:

 I thought it was very unique and it had elephants on it. What I didn't like is that Amazon is already doing Black Friday deals.
Then I totally convinced myself to go shopping. I saw this cute dish towel at TJ Maxx for $7, I'm not paying that much for a dish towel.

 Here's what I did buy:

 Wrapping paper ($3), herb & garlic cassava chips ($1.50) pistachio truffles ($5), and three boxes of shortbread cookies (2 were $2, one was $3).
I realized I didn't have any Christmas wrapping paper and one of my upcoming swaps requires that I wrap the gifts. I was hungry, but the pistachio truffles are for Christmas, I'm hiding them from myself until then.

 Ugly Christmas sweater ornament ($4), mason jar salt shaker ($1.50), gift bag ($2)
I couldn't pass up this ornament, or the salt shaker, I totally took the top off and I'm gonna use it as a vase. I bought the gift bag to make art with the hot air balloons.
Walmart:

 gift tags ($1), flat back pearls ($1), unicorn ornaments ($2), feather stickers ($2), dog salt and pepper shakers ($1), flamingo pom pom keychain ($1), Christmas bird ($5).
Thinking I might decide to do an Advent calendar like thing for this one swap I have. I loved the champagne colors of these pearls. Also, loved the feather stickers. I couldn't pass up these cute s&p shakers, not for that price, or the flamingo. Figured I'd use the ornaments, s&p shakers, the flamingo and the bird in swaps.

razors ($4), double stick tape ($6), Reese's snack ($4), Hershey's ($1 each)
Still hungry, I needed the razors and I always pick up the tape when I go to Walmart.
After getting home, I bought a bunch on Hollar as well. I haven't bought anything from there since early this year. There's just been nothing that I really want, but they sent me an email about toys, and of course that got me. Typical.
Tuesday: I attempted to finish some books and put together a happy mail tag:

I also found a fall happy mail tag in my mail:

I love the stickers, the socks and the felt leaves. What I'm confused on is, why my partner mailed this on the 27th when it was due in my hands on the 29th, she was actually supposed to mail it on the 15th. It's kinda annoying that I send my stuff on time and others don't.
  Wednesday: I dressed up for Halloween but found my fix on my boots is not good enough. The back of my boot has worn through to the hard plastic on the heel, I tried gluing some soft fabric over it, but I either didn't get it in the right place or it moved and gave me a blister today. I guess I won't be wearing them to work tomorrow because my plan is to walk home after.
I finished a Christmas file folder pocket letter:

I had received my return Altered Library card pockets swap, but there was only one in it, so I'm waiting for the other two. Funny story, one of my other groups had an altered library card pockets swap, too and my partner for that one, sent me two instead of three pockets. Why is it so hard for people to read?

After taking my shower, I realized UPS had dropped off a couple boxes. One had this plate:

 the ribbon and stickers in the next picture.

 And the other had the napkins. The plate is about 8 or 9" in diameter. As you can see, the plate didn't really make it. It was wrapped well in plastic wrap, I feel if they had more other things in the box, it would have been fine. There was 3 or 4 inches on empty space above it in the box. The second box that had the napkins in it, was about the same size. Such a waste of a box for something so small, but i have a couple more mailing boxes.
Thursday: Was the 1st, and I had to sign up for health insurance. I hate having to do this every year. I was so excited when I got hired as a salaried person that I would have the benefit of health insurance. The city offers it, but it's like half my paycheck. I hate having to go through the marketplace every year. I always dread it, too. It's so much stress on me, even though it's not that bad.
I got some destash in the mail:

 It was a pretty good package. I've started taking what I don't want of my packages and creating the next destash I'm sending out from what I've gotten.
It was the first day of basketball season, and we started it out with a women's game. The sky was so beautiful, I had to snap some pictures:

 I was going to start walking home after the games, but when I got out to the street the bus pulled up, so I figured the world was telling me to hitch a ride.
I sadly found out, that my backup boots made my feet hurt, and I should get a new pair of black pants, but they will hold out for awhile.
Friday: I went to Target, Walmart and Dollar Tree looking for Christmas stuff. I was going to go to BAM, but I kinda convinced myself I don't need a day by day calendar. I want one, but last year I went pretty early and was disappointed with the selection. I don't use it really that much.
My first stop was Target and they barely had anything for Christmas set up, so I left without buying anything. That could be a first.
Next stop, was Walmart:

 boots ($20), socks ($3), shower liner ($5), Iowa Halloween book ($5), aloe drink ($2), Sharpie highlighters ($1), Hershey's bar ($2), Milky Way bar ($2).
I was disappointed that I couldn't find the size I really wanted for the boots (8), but I can wear a 7.5 comfortably, so I picked them up. I'd like to buy another pair to have a backup, because I don't just wear them to one of my jobs they are my boots for the year. The socks, and Sharpies are for a swap. I'm collecting a nice holiday selection of Iowa books, I just need a Christmas one and I'll have a nice set. I picked up the drink, Hershey's and Milky Way bars just to try out. I needed a new shower liner.

 ornaments ($2 each), popsicle ornament ($1), Sharpies ($1), squishies ($3), ornament ($2), Acetaminophen ($7), earrings ($2).
The ornaments are all for swaps. These Sharpies are for a friend, I loved the squishes and earrings and I needed the acetaminophen. I ended up spending about $62, that was a lot more than I thought, but after the boots, the shower liner, the book and the pain pills it was expensive.
I wasn't going to stop at Dollar Tree, but I had $10 in cash, so I decided I could pick up 8 items max. It might've been the shortest Dollar Tree receipt ever.

 hand lotion, stickers, chocolate, sticky notes, lifesavers, pens
The chocolate and pens are for a swap. I loved this owl hand lotion, stickers and sticky notes. Though I'm not a fan of the wings on the llamas on the stickers, I'll probably trim those off. The lifesavers are for my dad for Christmas. When I was a kid, these were the ones he really liked.
I'm very disappointed that I didn't find much Christmas in the stores. Though when I got home, I realized I could almost put together the 4 swaps I had signed up for in my one group. I do need another gift for my brother. I need a nice looking reindeer that's not covered in glitter, and probably some sweets, then I'm done. I was telling a friend I'm in 9 Christmas swaps, that is more than one per group on Facebook. I'm thinking I'm done with swaps for awhile.
I found happy mail:

 I have to stop wishing for 'happy mail' i mean, just seeing envelopes in the mail box for me makes me happy. I'm usually not as excited after opening theme. I'm thinking I'll be laying off wishes for awhile anyway.
I also received a loaded envelope:

 I think it's cute.
Saturday, I ended up opening at the library, and it was hectic. We had satellite voting, a book sale, all our meeting rooms full and a short program in youth. My plan was to go shopping on the way home, sadly when I left it was raining. It wasn't too bad, so I went anyway.
Found some cute stuff at Worldly Goods, our local fair trade store.
Snail ornament:

 I wanted this badly, but it's $15.
Hedgehog purse:

 This was $32
Llama wallet:

 I'm not sure how much this was.
I was checking stuff out to see what I wanted to buy for an upcoming fundraiser for the library.
I stopped in another place called Lindsey Loo's. They're supposed to be consignment/artsy/retail. They're original retail was more cabinish, and it looks like they've gone back to that. It was pretty sad, not going back there anytime soon. My next stop was a flower/gifts store called Everts. I wasn't planning on buying anything, figured I'd stop back by on Wednesday when they're stuff is 40% off on my way to the fundraiser at Worldly Goods, but I had to pick these up:

 The ornament reminds me of an old chocolate mold and was $5.50, thought I'd pick it up as something different for my mother and there were only 2 on the tree. The pretzels were $6ish. They were marked at $9.50 but were 40% off, which I told the lady when I walked up and she still rang it up full price. As she was fixing it, she and the other lady there just kept saying they were sorry about it, and it kinda felt like they were waiting for me to say it's ok. I'm trying not to do that anymore, I feel if you can't do your job correctly, I shouldn't have to. Especially when I told her.
My last stop was Hyvee Drug, I needed some more chai:

 and I also picked up the combos, cause they're yummy.
I found some sticky notes when I got home: