Thursday, January 31, 2019

It's cold

Sunday: Had to work gymnastics, and those people are really rude with their bags. Someone told me gymnastics is always like that. It wasn't too cold, probably because I was moving around so much to talk to people about bags. It felt like every single person had a bag, it wasn't everyone, but it felt like it. And most people were just rude about it. There was a lot of "I didn't know that" "It should say that somewhere" "It's so cold, I'm not going out to my car". We started enforcing this policy in November, there is no excuse to not know about it. We're like the last of the big schools to adopt it, and apparently basically any athletic event you go to has a policy similar to this. My mom gave me a ride home, though I think I would have been ok. I ride the bus which is usually a 5 minute wait depending on when I go to the bus stop. Went home and did laundry.
Monday: opened at the library. Went to lunch with an old friend. It was one of those lunches where your jaw hurts from smiling and laughing the whole time.
I really wanted to go to Hobby Lobby on the way home because it's their big clearance event time, but the windchill was wicked. It was worse going home then coming in, because it was in my face on the way home.
Found a bunch of mail when I got home.
Penguin and polar bear ATCs:
 Pink pocket letter:
 My Favorites pocket letter:
 Basically we took 9 favorite things from a list and created a pocket letter.
Secret sister swap, the priority mail envelope was packed:
 And all the goodies:
I'm loving the paper and the notebooks and the minion stickers and the purple owl magnet
 And more goodies:
 I'm loving the butterfly stickers and the tiny sign, and the hot air balloon notepad, and the tiny pens.
After getting home and getting all the mail, I decided to do a little crafting and made some heart tags:
 Put together a destash tag:
 Made a green card:
 Put together a happy mail tag:
 And then it was supper time. So, it's gonna be wicked cold for the next few days:
We were in a wind chill advisory from Monday 6PM until Tuesday 6AM and have now moved into a wind chill warning, which is from now until noon on Thursday. They're predicting wind chills of -55 degrees, can get frost bite after 5 minutes of exposure and they high on wednesday was -12, but I see on that picture above it's -8. The university is closed until Thursday, which never happens. Schools are closed and some businesses. But not the library, I know we never close (we've closed 4 times since I started 9 years ago {fleas, norovirus, sewer backup, and once for weather, because of a lot of snow}), but I kinda hoped after hearing all the other places closing that we would close. The director sent an email saying we're considered a warming center for the county, so better be there. And if you can't get there, it's on you, you'll be taking a vacation day or a day without pay.
Tuesday: There was a lot of book reading. I got all bundled up to go to work. My mother would not let me walk to work in the weather. I found some mail on my way into the library.
Tea:
 Favorite color tag:
 LOVE THESE.
cards:
 Loving these, too. Not sure I'll be able to use them.
We were so dead at the library, Tuesdays are usually pretty slow, but with the weather, I wasn't surprised that no one wanted to go out. I decided to take a vacation day for Wednesday, I was going to come in just to do interlibrary loan things, but found out that the volunteers weren't coming in (I didn't blame them), so decided not to come in, either. As we were leaving, most everyone went out early to turn their cars on. My glasses fogged over due to me wearing a scarf over my nose and then frosted over. I didn't think the temperature was too bad, it was just when the wind catches you. But, I also have a great coat. It's made by Land's End, and they know how to make coats for cold weather, they're a bit more expensive, but totally worth it. I was a little disappointed that my apartment wasn't as warm overnight as it was during the day.
Wednesday: I slacked off all day. Read a couple books: Not Buying it by Judith Levine, she chose to not buy anything that wasn't essential for a year. She slipped up a couple times, but it was fun to read. I think it would have been more fun if it was written by someone who indulged more to begin with. She didn't drink expensive coffee or go shopping a lot, so it would have been fun to read about someone else's experience, too. And, The Public Library by Robert Dawson, it was a photo essay of public libraries around the country with some printed essays as well. Pretty cool, but wish it was thicker.
Here's a screen shot of the weather when I got up:
 And the feels like temp:
It was so nice and warm inside the whole day (maybe even a little too warm, i'm in a tiny basement apartment, so when the heat is on constantly it doesn't have anywhere to go). I watched a movie: Down a dark hall and created a pocket letter. I was thinking as I was creating how much fun it would have been to have this day a few years ago when we were in the old house and craft with my mother.

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Wednesday Medley

It's time for the Wednesday Medley again, and I'm not working extra hours this week, YAY!!!

Here is a medley of questions you may choose to answer on your Wednesday blog.  There aren't any rules and there is no obligation. Link up if you want to.  I'm doing this to fill my Wednesday and if you are interested, then I invite you to join in!!  It might be fun!!



Tomorrow is National Croissant Day!!

NATIONAL CROISSANT DAY – January 30

NATIONAL CROISSANT DAY

In the United States, National Croissant Day is observed each year on January 30th. Croissants are a buttery, crescent-shaped rolls that are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.  
The key to a perfect croissant is laminating the dough. Laminating the dough is a process by which butter is folded into the mixture creating multiple thin layers of butter and dough. The result is a mouth-watering flaky crust and airy body.
Legend surrounds this pastry, as is often the case with a popular, worldly treat. What is known, is that crescent-shaped breads have been found around the world for ages. One of these was the Kipferl which originated in Austria as far back as the 13th century. This nonlaminated bread is more like a roll.
Credit for the croissant we know today is given to an Austrian military officer, August Zang. In 1939 he opened a Viennese bakery in Paris introducing France to Viennese baking techniques.
HOW TO OBSERVE
Stop by the bakery for a fresh, warm croissant or try making your own using this recipe: Croissants recipe.

1.  Well, I do love croissants when they are fresh, but day-old croissants need to be turned into a donut.  I happen to really like the croissants that have a donut-like glaze on them!  Sugar overload but so good.  So... do you like croissants?  What is your favorite way to eat them? I like croissants, though I don't think I've ever had a fresh one. The last ones I had were not so good. When we were in St. Louis, I bought a bunch for breakfasts and they were really good.
2.  Speaking of food... How do you handle stress? I do eat more (that's where you were going anyway, right?), but I try not to have extra food around the house to eat. I'm better at just ignoring the world and going shopping, or reading, or crafting.
3.  Out of the negative emotions of greed, anger, jealousy, and hate, which one would you say affects you the most? Maybe jealousy, I try not to let it get to me, but I kinda hate when my friends get the good jobs or have significant others or it seems like all the good stuff happens to them and all the bad stuff happens to me.
4.  Out of the positive emotions of compassion, positivity, enthusiasm, and initiative, which one is your biggest strength? No idea. I'm not that compassionate. I'm not a really positive person (I'm a realist), I'm enthusiastic if I like something. I find it hard to be enthusiastic if I'm not into something. I'm not good at taking initiative and doing things on my own. I feel you should ask one of my friends this question and see what they would say about me.
5.  What do you get every time you go grocery shopping, other than the staples such as bread, milk, butter, flour, sugar...frozen dinners. I live on frozen dinners.
6.  Please tell us something random about your week so far. By the time you all will see this, it will be Wednesday, the high is -12. Schools have been cancelled due to the horrible wind chill advisory/warning we have in place. A lot of businesses are going to be closed. But not the library, we NEVER close. I knew that listening to the forecasts earlier this week, but hoped when other places started closing (like the university, which also never happens), they'd close the library, no such luck. Got an email from the director, we're listed as a warming center for the county, so no way would we be closed. One of those times I wish I didn't work at the library. 
Though I'm really glad to be at the library instead of the basketball games, because those are still going on, too. Wouldn't want to cancel those. Not even the fear of getting frostbite in 5 minutes and temperatures of up to -55 degrees. 
I'm ready for spring.

Head on over to Terri's blog to see what other people answered this week.

Saturday, January 26, 2019

Shopping trip

Thursday: was long and cold. I was scheduled to work at the bookstore 9-5, it was pretty dead, I wanted to go home. I had plans to have supper with a friend afterwards, but it was really cold, we hit the high at 5AM of 18, it was -6 with a -14 degree windchill at 5PM, so we cancelled for the day. Got home and found a package waiting for me.
SMS Soft:
 A for effort, but I won't use it. It's a soft hat. I totally stayed in and read a book for the evening.
Friday: I closed at the library, it was pretty slow, probably because it was still cold. The high was 3.
Found an envelope on my way in to work.
Valentine's card:
 It was very sparkly, but I like the emoji heart stickers.
I also purchased a few books:
 I had the Jolly Postman when I was a kid, it was one of my favorite books. It had all these envelopes that you could open and take out the contents.
The top book I picked up for some of the things in it. Like this bookplate:
 And the title page, where the library punched out their library name:
 And the back pages with the check out card and library card pocket:
 I kinda wanna make a junk journal with it, but I'm not sure the pages will hold up, it was published in the 1920's.
Today, I went shopping. The 24th-26th was Downtown Dollar Days and I wanted to go on Friday, but most stores don't open until 10, and I had to be at work at 1, so with making time for lunch, I didn't want to squeeze it in. I headed out at 10, first stop was HyVee Drug. I was disappointed as they didn't have any dollar deals. I did pick up some chocolate for swaps:
 Lava cake kisses ($4), Russell Stover hearts (3 for $2).
Next up, I was going to go to a second hand store, but they have decided to go more clothing less other stuff and I don't really want vintagey clothing. I headed over to our British Foods store, but they were closed. I didn't go in to look at the sign that said why, I was so sad, I had been putting off going to it until today thinking they'd have some great deals.
After that, it was a store called Lindsey Loo's, they're supposed to be part consignment, part artsy, and part store that's rustic. I feel they're going back to their rustic roots lately.
They had a Christmas room with things half off.
 snowshoes ornament ($2) and snowman ornament ($2.25). I had to guesstimate on the prices. I know I spent $4.55, but she didn't give me a receipt. I was listening to my co worker talk to a patron yesterday and she was saying she liked to go snow shoeing. I picked up the snowman for a swap.
I went to a local kid's store next but again was disappointed because even though they said there was a sale corner where things were 70% off, I didn't see it. I also visited a local boutique that has Baggalini bags and local people's jewelry, but didn't find anything.
Next up, was Worldly Goods, a fair trade shop. They had a 50% off section.
 bag ($1), penguin ($5), elephant ($2.50), snowman ($6). I bought the bag for the snowshoes ornament above. The penguin is for me, the elephant might be for me or a friend (I haven't decided yet), the snowman for the swap.
Next, was a local flower and gift store, they just got these cute gnomes in for spring:
 They had their Christmas stuff 60% off, their sale cellar 50% off the lowest price and 20% off everything else in the store.
 hedgehogs ($2.10), pig planter ($4.20), book ($2), lamb ($2), tree ($4.80), flamingo ($5.80), snowflake ($4.20).
I picked up a hedgehog, the planter, and the lamb for me. The other hedgehog was for a friend. Figured I could use the tree, flamingo and snowflake for swaps and the book is for Mother's Day.
Last stop was a pop up store by a local antique company. There were a bunch of people in it. It kinda made me wish we had an antique store again.
 elves ($1 each), bag of misc ($5), jar of misc jewelry ($3), bag of magnets ($5), fish box ($2), glass butterfly ($1), pin ($2), hedgehog ($1).
I thought the elves were just wicked cute. There were a couple things in each of the misc bags, you'll see those below. I should have left the fish box behind, but it was the first thing I picked up, it was cute, so was the glass butterfly, I actually have a collection of these little glass figurines.
Here's what I liked from the bag of misc:
 I actually picked it up for those two glass monkeys, but I think that wooden boot is just neat.
jar of misc jewelry:
 Totally picked it up for the wooden elephant, but how cute is that whale pin and the pinecone pin?
The bag of magnets:
I love magnets, I wanted it for the butterfly and bird ones. I was happily surprised with the two Iowa ones and the Charleston one. This is the second time I've found a Charleston magnet in a random bag of stuff.
I think it was a good shopping trip. It was a little cold, but I dressed for the trip, so I was more warm than cold. I think my favorite finds were the hedgehogs and the magnets. My refrigerator is so covered with magnets right now, I need to start getting rid of some.

Wednesday, January 23, 2019

weekly update

Thursday: Got up, went to work. Not too busy. Found 4 packages when I got home.
Wishes:
 for cute pens, and she saw I liked minions. The planner was really cute, too, but I probably won't use it. How cute are the pens though? She was the first person to realize what I meant by cute.
Winter pocket letter:
 pretty cute.
Valentine's day swap:
 I love how she went over. The last few swaps I've done in this group, it seems they do the bare minimum and just send the 5 items that are required. I'm loving the minion stickers and the butterfly stickers, and the altered paper clips and the chocolate and the scrapbooking kit.
Secret Sister:
 This was another great one. Finally got a good one, it's probably the first one I've loved everything in it. I totally ate all the marshmallows and grape jelly candy.
My co worker and I had a couple great conversations while it was so boring. We got stuck in the nostalgia of great restaurants Ames used to have. I feel we don't have a lot of variety anymore. We also were talking about books. It was a great mail day, also nice to come home after a long day to all these great packages.
Friday: Closed at the library. Not too busy. I saw these bags in the break room and immediately thought I could make something with those.
 So, I took them all. They're kinda weird, they remind me of parchment paper. They are slick, but thin. Everyone was all worried about all this snow we were supposed to get Friday night. I thought it was so beautiful when we left. The temperature was perfect, the snow was still falling and it was so quiet. I also had a great conversation with a patron about movies.
Saturday: Put together a few things,
Another Secret sister package:
 For a different group.
SMS vintage:
 I was going to send some of those cards I bought at the antique mall last spring, but then remembered it had to be new (which is kind of an oxymoron, vintage but new), and I couldn't find them.
There was a double header that day, but I signed up to sub for someone at the evening game, bad choice. It was very cold, barely above 0, and the windchill was very negative. My toes, fingers and nose froze while taking tickets. My parents picked me up afterwards and we went to supper. I had mentioned the conversation I had with my co worker about restaurants and so we went to a new Italian place. It wasn't that interesting. Our waitress was a little scatterbrained, we had to ask for silverware and plates for the bread. I got lobster ravioli, which was ok, but not that exciting. When I mentioned we didn't have any good restaurants, my parents brought up a few, which are good, but not a lot of variety.
Sunday: I stayed inside. It was wicked cold that day, too. Got my laundry done, and finished a book: The Poison Squad about how unregulated food was in the early 1900s. I thought it was kind of like The Jungle but for other food.
Monday: Had to open at the library, no bookstore because it was Martin Luther King Day. That was nice not to work so much.
I put together a few things.
Valentine's Day card:
 I did not make the card, but it was too cute to keep to myself.
Grant a wish:
 They asked for a Valentine's ATC.
Envelope of sunshine:
 basically fill an envelope with yellow items.
Green pocket letter:
 I was going to go all green, but then found my cactus stickers and I have a ton that I just keep hoarding.
Tuesday: Started out at the bookstore. Went across the way to the little food store and splurged a bit:
 almond croissant, strawberry croissant, Oreo cheesecake. They were not as good as I wanted them to be. The strawberry croissant just had strawberry jelly in it. I wish the almond croissant had more almond paste, and the Oreo cheesecake was very dense for a cheesecake.
I ended my day at the library, another long 11 hour day. I decided the next time I work the long day, I should drink the pop at 3, because I certainly need the caffeine in my system when I hit 8 pm.
I found a pocket letter when I got home:
It was another winter pocket letter.
Wednesday, I opened at the library. I mailed my stuff out and I hate when one postal worker does something one way and then a different one doesn't do something the same. I have had 3 postal workers tell me that if there are unmarked stamps on an envelope I'm able to use them, but I've had a couple others tell me no I can't, I wish they could be a little more consistent.

Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Long week

I took the afternoon to work on packing things up to be mailed.
Why make a tag:
 Basically you send whatever you want. The person I was sending to liked Hello Kitty.
Altered a card for a swap:
 I totally just put the square on it.
I had a package in the mail, finally.
Why make a tag:
 I'm so excited about that snail.
There was another one, but it was postage due. I'm tired of getting those. I also told the postman to send back the one I got the notification about on Wednesday. I messaged that person and she said she had checked to see if she was ok. Maybe I should have seen it first.
Valentine's Day swap:
We had to send 5 Valentine's items. I kept tweaking this one. I finally went with these items and filled the pencil pouch with some fun stuff:
Stickerpalooza:
 We had to send 10 new packs of stickers.
I also made a pink pocket letter:
I realize I didn't have to make the whole thing pink, but I thought it was a good challenge for myself. I also signed up for a green pocket letter and I'm going to challenge myself with that as well.
Saturday: I had to close at the library and it was mostly dead until we hit closing time. There was this guy and his daughter and they came down about 5:55 (we close at 6:00pm) and started checking out, they took about 12 minutes to finish up and leave. But, that was the most annoying thing all day, so not a bad day. I found some mail when I got home.
wish of die cuts:
 Love these, they remind me more embellishments.
Wish of tea:
 Not sure how I really feel about these.
Snowflake pocket letter:
 It's cute, but I'm not a big fan of the pocket letters that announce what the goodies are in the back.
Sunday: I did laundry.
Monday: I opened at the library and then closed at the bookstore. It was a bit busy for a few hours and then I went on my 'lunch' and got back about 5 and it was so dead the rest of the day. They sent me home about a quarter of 8 and I made the bus. I found a few mail items when I got home.
Wish of tea:
 These look interesting.
Sticker swap:
 Not so excited about these. You can tell they are the cheap ones from Walmart and Dollar Tree. I do like the pandas (cause I already have them), the summer ones, the travel and the birds. I liked the ones I got in the first swap, they were more diverse and interesting.
A surprise tag:
It's cute, but I don't do coloring books. I'll pass it on to someone else.
Tuesday: I started at the bookstore and closed at the library. I was dragging by the end of the day. I worked 11 hours each on Monday and Tuesday. It was a bit much. I'm getting too old for this. But, unless I find a better job, it's gonna keep happening. My co-worker said I looked defeated last night. I totally just came home, took my shower and went to bed. I feel like I was too exhausted to sleep, it took forever to get to sleep.
Wednesday: The morning came way too soon. I was again drained in the morning. Did my errands of sending mail out and stopping at grocery store on the way home. Now I'm just sitting.