Thursday, September 27, 2018

People are fun

Sorta, we'll get to that later.
Saturday, I had to work and found 
Happy mail in my mailbox when I got home:
 I don't really consider it happy mail. I see it as paper scraps. They took away the favorites file in the group, but I still don't see why scraps of paper are considered happy mail. I can see the stickers and the washi samples and the napkin.
I also put together a few tags.
Disney:
 Autumn:
 SMS Halloween:
 I totally just took all the Halloween stuff I got in other swaps and sent it out for this one.
Sunday, I went to our local art festival with a friend. Saw these cool paintings:
 And this booth:
 Unfortunately, the older I get the less I buy. It seems to be all big pieces, or pottery, or metal pieces, or jewelry. Stuff that I can't afford, won't use or don't have space for. I feel things were more affordable when I was a kid and there was more I wanted to buy.
How cute is this guy?
 It was about 4 feet tall and bouncy, it would have been cool to buy and put in the backyard, but of course not in my price range.
I found a few things:
 some postcards (Ames, is my town), a cute keychain (for a friend)
 and some beautiful notecards
 Monday, I went to work and found 7 packages when I got home.
Shabby chic/vintage pocket letter:
 Love this, it's so cute and the goodies were nice too.
Private pocket letter swap::
 This is not a pocket letter, it's paper cut up to fit in a pocket letter sleeve, the back was the same, just different paper. She apologized that it wasn't better, it couldn't get worse.
Scavenger hunt:
 squishy: lifesavers gummies, Salty: cashews, Useful: marker, Oversized: eraser and Rectangular: sticky notes.
50 Loose stickers:
 I've decided not to participate in this tag anymore, as you can see, they're mostly kid's stuff. I can bet there's one sheet of owl stickers that she just cut up along with the emoji stickers.
ATC:
 I like this one. I love this tag. I always try to make my ATC flat so as to send with one stamp, and I love getting them back.
Orange happy mail:
 I should've guessed that orange would be Halloweeny. Not happy.
Disney:
 Not pleased with this one either.
My mom gave Kohl's cash of $30, and I couldn't find anything to spend it on, except chocolate.
 I still had about $1 leftover. She mentioned that it was a wonderful gift, not when it's to a store you don't shop at. If it was TJ Maxx or Walmart or Target or a number of other stores or even just actual cash it would have been a great gift, but that's my mother. It also had to be used this week, which is probably why she gave it to me in the first place because they're on a trip.
I also put together some packages. One of the owners of one of the groups I'm in mentioned that she didn't have any fall themed paper, so I sent her some:
 Red happy mail:
 Tuesday, I put together more packages.
V
 I had the hardest time with this letter, I wanted something flat, because I'm tired of spending money on postage. I know I can't have it both ways. So, I went with v for vintage and violet.
Surprise.
 I figured cards, and stickers was a good surprise.
I also made a shaker with tulle:
 I think it turned out rather cute.
I received a snail tag:
 It's a grid notebook, pretty sure I won't use it either.
Wednesday, I went to work and of course to the post office afterwards. I was a bit disappointed in the postal person. I tried my hardest to make things flat. I had four envelopes that I tried to send with one stamp:
Anywho, they are flat, the bottom one was a bit heavy, but the postal guy told me he had to put a non machinable stamp on them because of the stickers and washi tape. I've never had that issue before. 
I got happy mail when I got home:
 Today, I went shopping. I needed to get out of the house, cause all I do is go to work and come home. I don't know if it's because I don't really have anything to hang out with anymore or if it's because I'm in the basement and I don't get any natural light, but I feel myself wanting to get out more, but then all I do is go shopping. My plan was to hit Dollar Tree, Walmart, Target and then wander back by Hobby Lobby and the Asian food store.
First stop was Dollar Tree
 gift bags, socks, tulle, magnets.
I went by how items were on my receipt for pictures this time. I saw these gift bags last time, love them. Totally bought them even if I'm only going to cut them apart to make something with. I need fuzzy socks for the winter, the tulle to make more shakers, the magnets for my swaps, plus they were wicked cute.
 toys, squishies, gnocchi, hair elastics, duct tape, washi, lip gloss.
Cause I apparently can't not buy kids toys, figured I'd use the toys and squishies for swaps. I was surprised to find the gnocchi, I love this stuff and it seems to be served at only upper scale restaurants, I'll have to look into sauces for it. The last hair ties I bought seem to break really easily (of course if my hair was longer, I could use them). Duct tape was one of the reasons I had to go shopping, I picked up a roll here in case I couldn't find it anywhere else. I'm not a big fan of Dollar Tree washi, but this one had bees, unicorns and pineapples. There were two other packages, but they only had one roll each in them that I wanted. I thought I'd use this lip gloss in a swap as well.
Next up was Walmart,
They are upping their game in the 'planner' aisle:
 I didn't like any of the patterns and I have tons of washi.
Also saw that Tamagotchis are kinda coming back, there was a bunch in the clearance aisle.
 Found some strawberry ramune:
And this wicked cute storage box:
What I bought:
 leggings (3.88), Twix (1.34) , marshmallows (0.75), Reese's (4.88), magnets (1.50), everyburger (1.98)
I need more leggings, but I think these would be wicked cute with a black dress. It was lunch time, I was hungry. Also, the Reese's have three different kinds: regular, white chocolate, and the one with the pieces in them. Thought I'd use the magnets in a swap and the everyburger were just cute.
 pencil pouch (1.50), oreos (1.88), stickers (1.94), flipz (2.68), duct tape (1.50 each), hershey's (1.00), notebooks (0.97), tape (5.84), glue dots (2.00) and Olaf buttons (0.75).
Thought I'd use the pencil pouch, notebooks, Olaf buttons and stickers in swaps. Also, why is it, that the stickers were more expensive than the three pack of notebooks? I couldn't believe they had these oreo bars in minis and a multipack and the best thing was they rang up for cheaper than I thought they'd be. I couldn't pass up glue dots for $2, and I always pick up the tape when I come in here. I almost ran out one time, so every time I go to Walmart I always pick up some.
I was wicked tired by the time I got done at Walmart, but since I had to walk by Target on my way home, I still went in.
Found some interesting fall flavored food
 Not sure how I feel about pumpkin spice twinkies, the cupcakes sounded better.
I really wanted this:
 what I bought:
 chocolate (3.50, 2.99, 3.50 respectively), gummies (1.89), oreos (2.99), tea (2.33) and a worm (1.98)
It was not my intention to get all food, but that happens sometimes. I picked up the worm cause I wanted a blind bag something, I'll probably use it in a swap. The Brookside was 2 for $7, but it was also lunchtime and I was hungry. I was annoyed that this bag of Flipz which is bigger was only 30 cents more than the smaller bag I got at Walmart, I guess it's only 2.5 oz larger, but still. I picked up the gummies for a friend. I love these oreos, they are pistachio flavored. And I found out the other day I like Earl Grey tea, and apparently it has caffeine and chamomile doesn't.
I found mail when I got home.
Letter M
 They are mailing bags, interesting take on the letter. I like them.
RANT NEXT:
And then there was this:
That company has not been at this address for at least 3 or 4 years, yet we keep getting mail for them because they're address online is still this address. Normally, I just throw things away, but when it's a check, I take it to the post office. So, I took this to the post office yesterday, wrote the not at this address return to sender in front of the person at the desk and today I get it back like this. Normally I also cross out the address, but since it's a window envelope I couldn't. So, I go in and ask to talk to a supervisor, turns out she crossed out my note and said to deliver it back. Said she didn't know if it got delivered to the wrong address in the first place. People don't write that on it if it's delivered to the wrong address, they put it in a mailbox to be delivered correctly. I guess they left it on my carrier's desk (I don't know why they couldn't just throw it back in whatever bin gets it back to the sender), the person doing my route this week is apparently a sub and didn't know what to do when they found this on their desk, maybe return it to the sender like it says? So, the supervisor googled the address and it says online our address (because for some dumb reason they won't change it online and we can't figure out a way to change it without giving them a new address, maybe I should type in some random address), so she said send it back out. Still pissed about it, and thank you so much for opening your mouth and telling me how inept you are.
So, I'm spending the rest of the day watching Angel and doing whatever I want and avoiding the stupid people of the world.

Monday, September 24, 2018

This is how we do it

It was not my intention to stay up late to write a blog post, but something got me thinking tonight.
One of my facebook groups posted a question asking what band did we fall in love with after hearing just one song. That got me thinking about what song brought me back to my childhood (also cause Youtube was playing it at the time.
When I was a kid, I was really into police shows (I still am, I just don't watch broadcast TV anymore) and one in particular that I watched was New York Undercover. Basically it was a black guy and a hispanic guy, two detectives that went undercover in New York each week on a new assignment. I think it's funny that my parents let me watch that when they wouldn't let me watch NYPD Blue, they probably had the same amount of violence in them (that was their reason for not letting me watch NYPD Blue). Anyway, the hispanic guy's father had a blues club and every week, there would be some artist that performed at his club, and they were actual artists. This one song, This is How We Do it by Montell Jordan hit me one week when it came on, and just stuck in my mind. Years later, when my brother gave me his mp3 player cause mine had died, it had this song on it (this was probably when I was in college, in the 2000's).
I was immediately swept back to the 80's and that show. I have no idea why this song did it and I don't remember any other song on the show, but I loved that I had the song. I was also amazed that my brother had it. We used to listen to rock that was popular in the 80's, but then one day the radio station that we listened to, disappeared and I remember trying to find another one and finding a country station and being swept into that. My brother was not into country.
The other day, I was watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and afterwards wanted to listen to TURTLE Power, so I looked it up on youtube, after finding it, I wondered if I could find This is how we do it, and Youtube has been taking me back to my childhood.
I just looked up New York Undercover on IMDB, and found it started in 1994, so I was 11 years old when it started, I am amazed (but very happy) my parents let me watch it. I don't know why I was (and still am) intrigued with the police, but I do know when I was in kindergarten and they asked what you wanted to do when I grew up, I drew a picture of a police officer. No idea, I have no urge to become a police officer, but true crime and that stuff still interests me.

Saturday, September 22, 2018

lots of mail

I don't know how to make myself happy anymore. I thought I was tired because I was working too much and then I stopped working so much. Then I thought I needed a day with friends, and then I went and spent a day with a friend shopping. So, then I thought it was because I needed time off work, I'm back to my regular schedule now that it's September, so I had the 6-9 off and then the 13th, the 15th and 16th, the 20the and 21st. But I'm still grumpy. I wonder if it's because I need to go out walking, but I don't really walk a ton unless I'm garage saleing and nothing is either in my area or sounds worth it to talk me into going out. It could be the pop thing, when I was working a ton, I had pop to look forward to, because I needed something to get me through the day. I did have a Mountain Dew on the 11th because of a stressful day at work. I'm *trying* to drink more water, but we're back to not liking the taste. I don't drink that much during the day. At least when I was drinking pop I was drinking liquids, when I just have the water and milk, I don't drink near as much.
I do enjoy getting mail, but the other day (further down in this post) I got 5 packages in the mail, but then I opened them and I wasn't as excited. I've cut back on what I send in my mail group because other people are so behind on sending me stuff. I don't see the point of spending so much money getting things out if I'm not getting things back.
Anywho, found this package on my steps as I wandered off to supper on Wednesday night.
 It's a dollar store tag. I like it, because I've already bought these, but then I'm also bummed because I already have these. Now that my Dollar Tree is getting better stuff in, I don't get much interesting/different stuff on these tags/swaps.
Thursday, I had my 5 package day, but like I said once I opened them, not so exciting.
 This one is for a Favorites tag. I like them, but that flower one at the top is obviously used because there's barely anything on the roll. I shop my own stash, too, but I have a ton of stuff that's brand new that I send people, especially when you're supposed to for a tag.
 This one is for a Dollar store $5 swap. We were supposed to pick at least $5 of items for this swap. I'm not very happy about most of it being fall/Halloween. I'm not a fan of Halloween, and even less a fan of crafting for Halloween. I'll never use the stencil, the napkins will be going to the library, I'm planning on mailing the leaves out for a fall tag. But, maybe this person read what was posted on my mail group: swapping isn't about sending what other people want.
 This one was a fall decorated washi tube. If it was a Halloween decorated washi tube I wouldn't have signed up, so I was a bit annoyed that it was mostly Halloween themed. She did include a bunch of nice crafting stuff in the tube, but I think I'll be filling the tube with Halloween stuff and sending it off in another swap.
 This is for the letter U tag. I had a hard time with this tag, so I like the creativity of using  University of Kentucky, but did the whole package have to be themed around it? I almost joined the magnet tag to send the magnet to someone else.
This one was for a this or that tag. Basically the other person lists two things they're willing to send and you pick one. I picked 50 loose stickers. I'm annoyed that most of them are kiddie stickers. That's the reason I stopped participating in other sticker tags, people just seem to send kid's stuff.
I know I should be happy that people are sending me stuff. But, when it's stuff I'm not gonna use for anything I'm just collecting more stuff, I don't need more stuff.
I didn't do much of anything productive on Thursday, mostly just sat in front of the computer and watched a bunch of movies. 
Friday, I finished a book, that felt really long but was only 318 pages. It was so nice to ignore the world and get lost in a book. I forget how much things give me pleasure when I don't do them very often. Maybe I need to get back to doing the things that give me pleasure and not spend so much time in front of the computer. Hah! Good luck with that.
This is another this or that tag. I chose Gorjuss girl stamped images. I just wanted to know what was so cool about them. I'm not impressed, I'll probably pass them off to someone else, but that's fine.
My parents are going on a cruise for a few weeks and my mom asked if I would water the plants for them, I'm not sure why. She normally asks someone in their building to do it, which I believe is more convenient for everyone. She said she had asked so and so twice already, I could have said maybe you shouldn't go on vacation so much, this is their 3rd one since the start of July. Anywho, she texted me last night asking when she could drop off a key. She could have just left it in my mailbox, which would have been easier for everyone. But, she texted me when I was reading my book, so I wasn't paying attention to anything else. I texted back that I'd come by this morning about 10. So, I wonder over there and knock on their door, which I know they're home cause I can hear a tv or something going on. No one answers, so I text that I'm there. She comes out, gives me the key and I see my dad's in the kitchen watching/listening to his Ipad, so loud he couldn't hear the door, plus he's got hearing issues. After giving me the key, she says I was trying to connect with the airline company, I hope I still have a connection. As if I'm wasting her time, I told her I'd be there at 10, it was 9:57 when I knocked, maybe you shouldn't start something three minutes before someone's coming over. She's also supposed to be writing instructions up, I'm watering plants, how hard can it be? She hadn't done that yet, but would email me them, they're leaving sometime today. And then she hands me a coupon of Kohl's cash that has to be used next week. She says don't throw away this money. I probably spent all of 10 minutes tops with her and she annoyed the crap out of me. I know I should do this out of the goodness of my heart because they are my parents, but if you know the history of me and my parents, you'd understand.

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

supper

Tonight was supposed to be a good night.
My brother was in town, so we were going out to supper. I went over to my parents beforehand and delivered his birthday present, his birthday is at the end of September and I didn't want to mail it.
Here's what I got him:
A Bob Ross bobble head and a pop up book about computers from the 80's.
We grew up on Bob Ross, he gave me Bob Ross socks one year for my birthday, so when I saw this bobblehead at Target a few months ago, I knew I had to get it for him. He works in computers for his job, so when I saw this pop up book about computers from the 80's in the library's used bookstore one day, I snatched it up. He was very tickled to receive both. He turned into a little kid playing with the pull tabs and checking out the pop ups. That's the first time I've got a reaction like that from him for anything I've gotten him.
I went out to supper with my mother, brother and cousin. We went to a local place, we had a good time at supper and then my brother asked my cousin if he was still up for going out to the bars and asked my mother if she wanted to go, I wasn't asked.
I also might have been a little rude at the end when he made a joke about me paying for supper and I said he still owed me a birthday present. I'm still annoyed at the world for not acknowledging my birthday. My parents got me the trip to St Louis, which wasn't that great (that's the reason I didn't blog about the whole thing, I don't want to remember it), my mother did give me a pair of socks on the trip that I told her I didn't want (because that's how she is). I didn't get a card from either of them. My brother did wish me a happy birthday with a text. I only received one card from someone I know in real life. My best friend gave me a bag of fun gifts. I had asked on one of my groups for people to send me cards and if they hadn't I would have gotten that one card. I wasn't in town or at work for my birthday, so I guess no one had to remember. I was hoping I'd come back to some in my mailbox or at my desk. Nothing. I'm sorry I'm a little bitter about it.
I give so much of myself to everyone else, is it so hard to buy a cheap card?
Anyways, I kinda wanted to go out and do something fun, but bars are not my thing, I doubt I would have enjoyed it. This cousin was always my favorite growing up to me, he's about 3 years older than me, fit in with my brother and another older male cousin we had. He was always nice to me growing up.
I really wanted to relax with a nice violent movie, because they always make me feel better. But, I should be reading my books and getting through those.
I'm listening to the Rock of Ages soundtrack, because music helps with everything. I might have to go on a long walk tomorrow

stickers

Friday: I went to one sale, it was kinda disappointing, I spent a whole $1.25. I picked up a stress jack o lantern and a vintage pin, I didn't even take a picture. I got my brother's birthday presents wrapped:
 He works in computers, so I thought it'd be funny to give him this pop up book about computers from the 80s and we grew up with Bob Ross, so I'm giving him a Bob Ross bobble head.
I worked Friday afternoon, and picked up a swap on my way in.
We were supposed to fill a small priority mail box with crafting supplies. It did not have to be Halloween, but my partner sent a bunch of Halloween stuff:
 Saturday, I went shopping. I was originally going to go to a few garage sales, but I think I was coming down with a cold and I needed to go to Dollar Tree for sponges and a gift bag. I was going to hit Target and Walmart cause they're really close by, but I was so tired when I got done at the Dollar Tree that I just came back home.
Dollar Tree:
 the gift bag, I over estimated and it is huge. Way too big for what I needed it for, but oh well, I'm still using it. I also needed sponges and these dehumidifier things.
Snacks:
 Because that's one reason you go to the Dollar Tree. Snyder's pretzel pieces of garlic and mustard, chamomile tea, Haribo berries, bacon jerky, Swedish fish tropical, Sweettarts ropes and some cream cheese and chives crackers. The Snyder's has not been that great lately, so I probably won't buy them for awhile. I had a wicked sore throat Friday and somewhat on Saturday, so I picked up the tea. I love these berries and someone introduced me to the Swedish fish and the sweet tarts. Thought I'd try the bacon, not a fan, and I planned to take the crackers to work.
 pencil pouch, stencil, wall stickers, magnetic bookmarks, washi
The pencil pouch looks like a mermaid tail. I picked up the stencil for a swap. I love the wall stickers, picked up the other stickers for some of the animals. I can't believe there were magnetic bookmarks for $1. Also, loved the decorative tape, one has flowers, one has watermelon and the third is kind of a cooking theme with mason jars
 I can't pass up the sticker aisle. I found the fancy stickers and the planner stickers. Also thought the silver backed ones were pretty cute. Found a few glittery ones as well.
I did get a few tags put together.
This or That stationery:
 This or that stationery:
 This or That sticker sheets:
 ATC:
 pumpkin:
 Sunday, I was kinda productive, put together a few swaps.
Dollar store $5 swap, two partners:
 Second partner:
 Orange happy mail:
 vintage/shabby chic pocket letter:
 I'm not really sure if it's shabby chic, but I'm going with it.
Lisa Frank pocket letter:
 I'm still feeling under the weather and have an annoying cough. I found some happy mail when I got home:
SMS unique:
the unique item was the bunny bookmark, she also granted some wishes of something fun (the coloring pages), a surprise (the stickers and uplifting quotes) because I've been a little down lately.
SMS different:
 I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'm not really interested in doing a cross stitch project right now.
Also, found a secret sister package.
 Which I'm really not happy with. The two potholders say faith, family, friends. I think it's rude to send religious things if you don't know a person is religious.
They recently took out the favorites file in this group because 'swapping isn't about sending people what they like' So, I can see why this one is more fallish themed, it's just not so much for me.
I had stopped at the grocery store on the way home and found some great deals on their baked goods:
 Sadly, not everything was as good as I wanted it to be. The bottom left are called cherry snails, there wasn't enough taste to them for me. The bottom right are raspberry chocolate chip muffins, which were good, but kinda soggy on the bottom. So, I took the snails and muffins to work. The top are raspberry white chocolate scones, I know those are good.
Tuesday: I slept in a little bit, that helped with whatever this thing is I have. I put together a tag.
U:
 originally, I just had the pens as utensils for writing, but I thought that wasn't good enough, so I added more. Something useful of a pot holder, the utensils for writing of the pens, some unicorn tags and I put in an umbrella card, as well.
I found some mail on my way in to work.
Letter T:
 tote bag, tabbed folders, tattoos, towel and test tube toys. I like the creativity of what my partner sent, but I probably won't use anything but the tote bag.
Sewing tag:
 I also finished an ATC:
 Wednesday: I feel I used my brain extra hard at work, it feels fried, I even stayed an extra 15 minutes trying to figure out/research something weird.
I found this fruit at the grocery store on my way home:
 I also found a couple packages in the mail.
Dollar Store $5 swap:
 we were supposed to send each other $5 worth of stuff from the Dollar store. My partner went a little over, but I like the variety.
SMS energizing:
a bath bomb.