Minion magnet

March 21, apparently the mail was delivered very late this day, it was not there when I got home from my shopping day, but I found it the next morning when I headed out, and it was way too early for the mail to have been delivered.

I found a kindness Day tag:

 In this tag, the poster choses someone for someone else to send something to. So, someone asked for someone else to send me washi. These came from Ali or Wish, so they took about a month to get here. They're pretty cute, that top one on the left has jellyfish, the bottom one is really thick with stingrays, I'm not sure what the top one on the other side is, the middle one has planets and seahorses (weird combination), the last one has bubbles and raindrops.
My first stop, was a local drugstore/grocery store. 

 I specifically went here for the chai, cause it's orange (not when you make it, but the package is), I had to pick up some batteries for my smoke detector, and I figured while I was there I'd look around and see if they had other orange things. Found the tongs, and a citrus peeler, my partner said she liked cooking. I found the bracelets, they came in a set of orange and black (the high school colors here) and I just wanted the Reese's egg. Spent $14.
My next stop was a British foods store that I've been trying to go to but has been closed lately:

The Kinder eggs were 75 cents each, I know the Bueno is good, and I didn't feel like charging that little on my card so I picked up the chocolate mix for $7. Spent about $12.
Last stop was a local fair trade store:

Apparently I should just start there next time I need colors. First thing I saw was the joy nut, and then the scarf and then the llama and then the bag. Spent $18.
Found more mail when I got home.
A wish of sticker flakes:

 A wish of tea:

 And a wish for something minion:

 I minions would always make me happy, apparently not when you send me stickers. It might also be because I have a ton of stickers.
March 23rd, got a wish again for sticker flakes:

 March 24th, put together my orange swap:

 Figured I better send the stuff I got at my local downtown, they were more unique and mostly orange. Other than the stuff I showed above, I also included some orange eggs from Hobby Lobby and some orange wrapped candies from that chocolate mix.
Also, put together something touristy:

 Thought this map I picked up in St. Louis last year was pretty cute and some post cards from there as well.
Made a card for a swap using scraps to create a card sketch:

 Also put together a happy mail tag:

 Monday, one of the buildings across from the library was coming down, I stopped and watched it for awhile after work:

 Found a mermaid tag:

 I wish people wouldn't just send stickers and washi, I want something different.
A rainbow tag:

 Again with the stickers thing.
A National Old stuff day tag:

 Not very excited about this either, I like the card inside more.
Wish of tea:

 Wish of tea:

 I have a lot of different kinds now, I stopped wishing for tea a couple weeks ago. I'll start in a month or so when I run out again.
March 28th:
Put together a surprise tag:

 And had an interesting interaction with a bunny rabbit on the way to work:

 This little guy let me walk right up to him. Thought it was weird, so when he ran in circles when I finally got him to run away, called animal control, had to leave a message. While waiting to hear back, he tried to jump on a wall and ran right into it. A guy stopped his car because he was watching me with the rabbit and while we tried to keep it out of the street it unfortunately got past us and a car ran over it's leg. Everyone else was stopping except for this ass who stepped on the gas and ran over it. Sadly, it did not kill it, only broke one of it's back legs so badly it was dangling off. The other guy called animal control again and got through to a person, and they made their way to us. Unfortunately animal control is pretty far south and we're in the middle of town and the bunny keeps running around freaking out everytime a car comes close to it. We finally got it corralled by a door to a church when the animal control officer showed up, pretty sure they had to put it to sleep.
Found this in the mail:

 The return of the scraps card.
March 28th, made an Easter pocket letter:

 put together a scavenger hunt swap.

 This is for a different group than the other scavenger hunt swaps and though I kept telling myself I shouldn't do another one, I'm giving this group a try. We were supposed to have something shiny (gem stickers), something round (squishy keychain), something flat (bird picture), something furry (purple keychain) and something green (the buttons, though I may change them out after I get my green swap).
Received some spring die cuts:

 I love these. I like that they are different and from store bought packs instead of ones you do yourself.
And also this guy:

Not sure what it was for, but it's a minion, I love it. It's the first minion magnet I've gotten.

Orange things are hard to find.

Sunday: I got bored. I had done my laundry on Saturday to help my roommate out, so I didn't even have that to do. I put together a Grant a wish tag: of Reese's Eggs:

 I know there was a lot of watching YouTube and I tried to read some of my books because I have a lot out, but I was just bored. I tried making stuff and made a junk journal/birthday card for a friend:

 And I put together a St. Patrick's Day tag:

 We just had to send something green, so I chose this magnet.
Monday: I received a butterfly swap:

 We had to send each other 10 butterfly die cuts, though I feel most of these are punches not die cuts.
Also received my secret sister package:

 I totally needed foam tape and decorative duck tape. I already ate the Kit Kats and used some of the washi, which was from the dollar tree. I didn't realize they sold tiny tubes of washi at the Dollar Tree, wish mine did.
The rest of the package:

 These are the items I probably won't use. I may use the gel pens at the top. I won't use the rest.
Tuesday: got a birthday package for a friend put together:

 A few goodies from the Asian food store, a bird ornament and a tiny stuffed animal I thought kinda looked like a Pokemon character. It doesn't look like it's that much, but it weighed 10 oz, I think it's the metal bird.
A mermaid tag:

 A rainbow tag:

 After putting together the Reece's eggs, I thought they'd be kinda heavy, so I went to plan B for the Grant a wish tag, my person had also wished for a pocket letter and something Lisa Frank, so I made a Lisa Frank pocket letter.

 And then I was so excited that I had it so flat and could send it as a letter, looked to see who I was sending it to and found out it was the same person I was sending the rainbow tag to. So, I kept the pocket letter and just slipped some Reece's eggs in the package. I just go down my list when I'm doing these, I don't notice ahead of time, who I'm sending to.
Wednesday: wasn't anything special, work, post office, grocery store, sat on my butt the rest of the day.
Thursday: I had to go to Walmart for some tape, and Target for some leggings, thought I'd also hit Dollar Tree to see if they had something interesting in the color orange. I signed up for a color swap where we send a bunch of stuff in our partner's favorite color, my partner's is orange. It's not an easy color to fine.
Target:

 Shorts ($8), leggings ($18), Tsum Tsum blind bags ($1.49 each), Reese's carrot ($1), Hi-chew strawberry ($1.49), towel ($1).
So, the bulk of my money there was the shorts and leggings. I bought the shorts to wear under my skirts in the summer, so my legs don't rub together. I have some Monistat chafing cream, but apparently I don't know how to put it on because it doesn't seem to work, so I'm going back to shorts. Sadly, these didn't cover the annoying parts of my inner thighs that rub together. The leggings were too small, so I have to take them both back. I won't be doing it soon, it's not like it's a long walk down there (it's about a mile away), but I'm just not interested in going back so soon. I figure I'll exchange the leggings for a bigger size and I don't know what I'll do about the shorts, I really do need them for under my skirts. I couldn't pass up the blind bags again. Last time I got two sets of a large Snow White and a small Dopey and a large Mufasa and small Simba. Today, I got Jack Skellington and Sally both large, and Donald and Mickey both large and then a Crush and mini George on a wave and Mike and a Monsters University M. The Reese's carrot and the towel are for the swap. I hadn't seen the Hi-chews in strawberry, plus they were on sale.
Walmart: found a few cute things that I didn't buy. Like this wicked cute stuffed sheep:

 I was pretty close to buying it, it was only $3.
And this weird looking T-shirt:

 I was tempted, cause it's so strange, but I didn't.
And how cute are these Minnie ears?

 I almost bought them for one of my groups, but they aren't put together real well.
My purchases:

 Mario egg ($1), razors ($4), tape ($6 each), socks ($1), minion marshmallow ($1), Reese's snacks ($2).
The double stick tape and razors were the whole reason I had to go. I have been so seldom shopping at Walmart lately, that I've almost run out of tape. I wish there was a place I could get it cheaply and would just send me more on a regular basis. Also, when I got home and went to put the razors away, I found I still had one left. Oh well. Totally had to get the Mario egg and the Minion marshmallow for my Easter basket. The socks were pretty cheap and I thought they'd look cute under a green skirt I have.
Dollar Tree:

 All the stickers. Apparently I felt I didn't get enough the last time I was there, so I got more. It started with the googly eyed ones, there's a s'mores in there, and then I saw the flowers ones and knew I didn't have those. Thought I didn't have the spring ones, but when I went to put them away, saw I already had two. Picked up the Tsum Tsum ones for a friend, and the rest were just cute. As I was putting them away in my box of unopened stickers (I might have a slight problem), I realize it was wicked full, not sure I can fit more in it. Also, picked up the cards because I like to send some of my smaller tags/swaps in an envelope, but not by themselves.

 So, apparently the 'snack zone' is a new thing. They were stocking it on Saturday, so I picked up some good looking stuff. I had picked up a vanilla and a chocolate filled croissant on Saturday and they were good, so I picked up the strawberry and cream cheese. The pound cakes and bear claws and danish looked good the other day as well. The cornbread crisps, stroopwafels and white Twix were just different. Picked up the Whitman's bar for my Easter basket. I had seen someone mention the birthday cake 3 Musketeers and though I'd try them, not a big fan of them. I now have a snack drawer instead of a chocolate drawer.

 I gave in to the cute bunny for my Easter basket. The glow sticks, twine and squishy cat for the swap. I wanted to find some cooking baking things in orange because my partner likes cooking/baking, but they were all red.
Put together a springy tag:

These are from a swap, I thought windchimes were pretty springy.
So after not finding a lot of orange stuff, figured I'd go to some stores in our downtown tomorrow and see if I couldn't find more, plus it will be something different, not stuff you can get in the big box stores. If not, I'll go to Hobby Lobby. I'm just not drawn to orange, and even when I was looking for it, it was really hard to find.

Springy medley

It's time for a spring Wednesday Medley. Head on over to Terri's blog at Your Friend From Florida to see what other people's answers are.
I realize it's been awhile since I did one of these. I've been slacking on reading the blogs I'm subscribed to, and then I go in once a week and read them all. Anywho, here are the questions:

1.  The first spring flowers are usually daffodils, dandelions, lilies, tulips, iris. and lilacs. Which one of those choices is your favorite?  Have you seen any yet?

I haven't seen any yet. The first flowers of the season I usually see are crocus, and snow drops. But, we're still having melting snow, so maybe we'll see some flowers soon.

2.  What is your least favorite thing about spring?

Mud. I do not like walking in mud, but I'd take it over ice.

3.  Okay, what puts a spring in your step?

The warming up is definitely putting a spring in my step. Saturday I went shopping with a friend, I started the day with my lightest winter coat and changed into a hoodie (mostly because we were traveling in a car) at about noon. It was so nice out.

4.  What is your favorite springtime song?

I don't know of a song that's actually about spring. But this song popped up on my MP3 player the other day and I was yearning to go out on a road trip.

5.  What really says spring to you?

warm weather, birds singing, flowers blooming, no more snow.

We're getting the warmer weather, have a high in the 60's this week. I heard birds singing this morning. I haven't seen flowers yet, but I'm sure they're coming. And the snow is slowly leaving.

6.  Tell us something random about your week. 

I admit I sat and thought way too long on this. Obviously nothing random has happened this week, Though last week I was watching this video on YouTube about random cafes in Japan. There was a cat cafe, an owl cafe, and a hedgehog cafe. It got me thinking, if there was such thing as a guinea pig cafe, I'd totally work there.

Here's the video:

Fun with a friend

Friday: I read all day. Took care of a bunch of books, whether finishing ones I'd started or reading a few short ones. 

Saturday: Last basketball game of the season, I didn't realize how excited I was about it. It was raining when I left, and unfortunately a bit more slippery because I thought it would be easier to walk on but the sidewalks were still shitty. I almost fell when I left for work. I made it down the driveway and walked in the street to the bus stop, the streets were much nicer. Asked my mom for a ride home because I was afraid of it being bad. It was a lot better when I got home, it had stopped raining and stuff had drained so there weren't puddles everywhere. Found a package when I got home.

Quick Crafty swap:

 We had to send each other a couple crafting items, total of $3. I probably won't use the bows, but I really like those butterfly buttons.
Sunday: read more. I had opened all the surpriseamals and here's what I amassed:

 A bunch of the Dalmatians and koalas for the Valentine's ones, but also the extra surprise (hedgehog), pink bear, elephant, white bear, polar bear, and zebra, For the Christmas ones, I had double unicorns, a green penguin, a grey penguin, grey cat, owl, candy cane bear, and the extra surprise (silver moose), I also had a couple regular ones: the pink fuzz ball, and the multi colored dragon. I enjoy opening them and the mystery about what's in them, but I don't particularly enjoy once they're opened, so I won't be buying more.
Monday: It was icy again in the morning, asked my landlord about getting a bit more ice melt and they basically said, just wait it will all melt off soon.
Found some mail when I got home.
Washi swap:

 Wish for tea:

 And an empty envelope:

 It was supposed to be a Valentine's Day tag, when I posted it to the group, the person sending to me said it was supposed to be a keychain. I'm amazed how people think things like that can be mailed in a regular envelope and won't get damaged or jump out. If you send anything breakable, it should be in a bubble envelope.
Tuesday is always my catch-up on getting things ready to be mailed day.
Secret sister:

 She said she liked adult coloring books, colored gel pens, mermaids, blank cards, embellishments and buttons. She had mentioned somewhere that she didn't have very much washi. I think I did pretty good.
Butterfly swap:

 we had to send 10 die cuts to a partner.
Wish for Kawaii stickers.

 Wish for stickers:

 she said she liked Disney and cacti.
And I made a Taped up Thursday tag:

 We had to make a 4x6 piece of art with washi.
I actually had not signed up for any tags since Thursday. I felt so accomplished being done with a lot of my tags and swaps, I just didn't feel like dealing with the world. Also, I found out on one group if you get 12 people granting your wish, you have to grant 12 other wishes, I can't really afford that. So, I made sure the wishes from that group were all filled.
I did sign up for one tag, Pineapple:

This is a pineapple squishie from Dollar Tree.
I really wanted to go shopping on Thursday, but we were in a Flood watch from 1PM on Tuesday until 7PM on Thursday due to warmer temperatures and the forecast of rain until Thursday night. We were in a dense fog watch from 9PM Tuesday until 1PM Wednesday. Found a wet spot in the back of the library (staff area) and it will probably be there until we're out of the flood watch.
When I got home from work on Wednesday, Facebook was messed up. I like to post my mailing photos shortly after getting home on Wednesday so I don't have to worry about it later. It's amazing how annoying it is when things don't work. My mail from Wednesday.
Unicorn tag:

 I think it's a bit childish. I like it, but I hate that it's basically a kid's stuffed animal.
Wish for tea:

 These all sound interesting. I was very annoyed that Facebook wasn't working. I should have read a book, but I hate it when the world tells me what I should do. I'll read a book when I want to read a book. I basically wasted time on the computer and watching Youtube. 
Thursday was my day off. Read a couple books: Imbeciles by Adam Cohen about Eugenics and the laws about sterilizing people, and Working Stiff by Judy Melinek about a medical examiner and the things she encounters.
I found a wish granted of tea in my mailbox.

 Friday: Found a St Patrick's Day loaded envelope swap in the mail:

 A better look:

And a surprise tag:

 It's hit or miss on what I get on these tags, too. I'm not sure about signing up for them in the future.
Saturday, I finally got to go shopping. My original plan was to head out to Hobby Lobby, JoAnn's and the Asian food store and a few places downtown and then go home for awhile and then meet a friend and get some blizzards at Dairy Queen. So I went out to Hobby Lobby and found a few interesting things. These were all in the 'spring' section, I think they're supposed to go outside, but I'm not sure if I'd trust Hobby Lobby things outside.
A cute snail and sloth:

 Dragon:

 Hedgehogs:

Birds:

 My haul:

 ribbon flowers ($1 and $2 respectively), mermaid stickers ($2), purple trim ($1), charms ($1 each), frog garden stake ($2), charm ($3), washi ($3).
I totally waited too long and there wasn't a lot of clearanced items left. I found some in the decorate your own shirt aisle and picked up the ribbon flowers. The purple trim has flowers on it. All the paper studio stuff was 50% off, so I picked up these layered mermaid stickers and the washi. The washi has animals with flower crowns on them.

 Easter stickers ($2 each), resin bunnies ($2), eggs ($2), Christmas ornament ($1), fairy girl ($3).
I did want to wait until Easter stuff was 40% off because I wanted Easter stuff, but I wasn't going to pay full price for it. I try not to pay full price for anything at Hobby Lobby. I really liked these stickers. The bunnies in the middle are wooden with little fluffy tails. I really liked those bunnies on the right side, they had little flower wreaths. There were some resin lambs that I wanted to buy, but there was at least one where the paint was messed up on it in each package. I saw these bunnies and there was only one package, so I grabbed it. I liked these eggs and hope I have an Easter swap, I'd love to include them. I found this yeti thing ornament in the back in the regular clearance aisle and totally had to have him. I also just liked the fairy girl. I spent about $29 there.
Next up was JoAnn's:

 rosette stickers ($2 each), ribbon ($0.50 each), wooden pieces ($0.50 each).
I totally picked up the rosettes because I'm not good at making them and I figured I could easily put something over the top of them. I figured if I didn't use the ribbon, I could include them in swaps. I noticed after getting home that I wasn't charged for the owls on the right side. I spent about $12 there.
While I was in JoAnn's my friend texted me and said her daughter and her would be in town soon and did I want to go to a thrift store, I said sure.
Next up was the Asian food store:

 green tea Hello Panda ($7), strawberry corn snacks ($2), green bean cakes ($12), wafer roll ($2), corn snacks ($2).
I love Hello Panda, though I usually only see them in strawberry or chocolate, so it's fun to find another flavor. I didn't want to buy the large package, but there was no other choice. I've had the corn snacks before and picked up the regular flavor for a friend. I didn't know what those cake things are on the right side and when I got home, I found out I paid $11.99 for them, they better be damn good, I'm going to be very upset if they're not good at all. The wafer rolls just looked good.

 Lychee mochi ($4), wheat flour cakes ($7), coconut and mango jelly ($2), and chocolate cookies ($4).
I love mochi, and lychee sound great, when I opened the package, it smelled wonderful. The last time I bought wheat flour cakes, they were really good, these were a different packaging, but I thought I'd try it. I like the 'jelly', it's more like tiny containers of jello, they're really good. Spent about $42 there.
At that point, I had started home. After getting halfway there, I looked at my phone and noticed I had missed a text from my friend stating they were at the Asian food store, so I turned around and went back.
I met them at the Asian food store and we headed over to the thrift store, I didn't end up buying anything, my friend asked if I wanted to go anywhere else, I asked if we could go to the Dollar Tree, so we did.

 bandaids, nail art, strawberry muffin, giant whoopie pie, air fresheners, shower cap, sponges, more bandaids, hair ties, cards, croissant.
My Dollar Tree had just installed their Snack zone and they had a ton of good looking snacks, I wanted to load up on those, but I refrained and only bought two filled croissants (I ate one), a strawberry muffin and a giant whoopie pie. I'm running low on bandaids, and I know these aren't a great deal (though we found out at Target, they're a good deal for decorated bandaids), but if I have to have a bandaid on, I'm gonna have a cool one. I picked up the mini bow nail art for crafting stuff. I needed the air fresheners and the sponges and the hair elastics, I also picked up the shower cap for showers. I take a shower every night and my hair takes awhile to dry and it's only getting longer, so I thought I'd try wearing a shower cap. I also always seem to need blank cards. I've noticed I have a lot that people have made for me, but I don't want to part with them.

 stickers, squishies, pen, figurines, notebooks, tape dispenser.
I'm surprised there weren't very many stickers this time around. I love these squishies, one is a cat on it's back and the other is a sloth. Found this cute donut gel pen (though I didn't notice it was a gel pen until I got home). Thought these figurines were cute, one package has a fox, raccoon and hedgehog, the other has a frog, turtle and owl. Also, couldn't pass up these notebooks even though I certainly don't need more and how cute is that donut tape dispenser? I can't decide if I want to keep it or pass it on to someone.
Here's the packages of notepads:

 I totally got the top set for the sharks and found out there were octopuses in it as well. I love that second set. It's 'Be kind' with a deer, 'Be Brave' with a bear, 'Be wise' with an owl, and 'Be clever' with a fox. Spent about $28 there.
Next stop was Target.
Found these cute mugs:

 And some interesting Bob Ross games:

 My haul:

 Twinkies ($3), mug ($3), flag ($1), envelopes ($2), Tsum Tsums ($1.50 each)
I was curious about the taste of these limited edition Twinkies. I couldn't pass up the mug, it says 'Due to unfortunate circumstances, I'm awake' I only have two mugs that I use as mugs, I have quite a few I use as holders of things, but I loved this one. Had to pick up the flag, I'm going to put it in my mug at work and call it a pride flag. I needed envelopes. I have a box of these, but I can't find them, now I'll have enough for ever. I saw these Tsum Tsums at the checkout and totally picked them up, I found out later they were $1.50 each, normally $5.99. Spent about $14 there.
We decided while walking around Target that we needed food at that point, so we went to Dairy Queen and had lunch. It was about 3pm at that time.
We headed to Fresh Thyme next.

 Ok, we actually went to Petco first (cause it's right next door), I wanted to hold a guinea pig for a bit, but they didn't have any in. The guy I asked, said next week, maybe.
I found this egg custard pie at Fresh Thyme and really wanted to pick it up, but I didn't.
After getting done there, we decided to hit Staples and be done for the day.

Stickers ($1), pom pom keychain ($2), surprizeamals ($2 each), tags ($0.50), squishy ($1), stickers  and cards ($1.60)
 I haven't been to Staples in years, it's way down south and I just have no desire to go to anything by it, so I don't. We headed straight to the clearance section. I found out later I wasn't charged for the owl stickers. The pom pom keychain was just too cute for $2, and as we know I can't pass up the suprizamals, these were also $2, and I was so excited to find the guinea pig in one and the walrus in another. I thought the deer tags were cute. I love the octopus, though technically, it's a sticker. Also, owl stickers and llama cards. Spent $13 there and we headed home. Found some mail when I got home.
Rainbow happy mail:

 I'm disappointed in them. Not sure about this tag in the future, either. I'm also annoyed to see the postal date on the package, it said March 13th, but the person who was sending to me said she mailed it on February 25th.
Wish for patterned duct tape and tea:

I have so much loose tea, that it fills my special tin for it, so I think I'm done wishing for it for awhile.
I spent about $150 today, I feel I'm good with shopping for awhile. We never did get those Dairy Queen blizzards, so we're going to hang out again in the future some time.