Monday, May 25, 2020

Catch-up post

Saturday: I was thinking the other day I really missed garage sales. My plan this year was to go to every one in walking distance, so much for that.
I found my Anything Goes ATCs in the mail:
 I like the mouse and ice cream, I suck at coloring, so when other people send me things they colored, I love it.
I also completed challenge #12:
 "Money" - whatever that means to you (Canadian penny), Something that starts with the letter f (Fern), Something drawn or written in pencil (Drawing by my friend), Coarse paper (glitter paper), A label (cigar label), Bonus: a flag (page flag).
Sunday: I got the 13th challenge done:
 Something orange (top piece), Something with claws (hawks and lemur), A bell or bells, Stripes or striped paper, Calligraphy ('thank you'), Bonus: numbers.
I was about to sit down for lunch and a friend asked if I wanted to go to Dollar Tree. I convinced her to go to Walmart as well.
 Double stick tape, shirt, dress, stickers, composition book.
I keep cleaning out Walmart's supply of double stick tape when I go there, I just need a lifetime supply of it. The shirt has Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Oscar and Elmo and says Everything I know I learned on the street.
 Cup of noodles, brioche bread, Hi-chew, Ghiradelli chocolate covered cashews, yogurt covered pretzels, chicken bacon ranch sandwich.
As I was paying I asked the guy to just keep it to 2 bags, and when I got home, I realized, he just haphazardly put things wherever. It would have been better if he had a food bag and an everything else bag.
We ate some fried chicken and headed over to Dollar Tree:
 Since I was just there last Tuesday, I only picked up some stickers, some chips and some gummy raspberries.
Monday: work was nuts, we had 4 carts of holds come in over the weekend and the world finally got the message to return stuff. Everything was very full when I came in.
I found a spring notecard swap when I got home:
 and got the 14th challenge done:
 Something wet (coffee, I also realized the girl is crying), Lavender - the color or the plant (flower), A game piece or piece of a puzzle, Paper in "soft" color or colors, A business card or portion of (the scene in the bottom right corner), Bonus: a sticker (pink flower).
Tuesday: I went to work in the morning, it was our first day of curbside pickup, it went pretty well, we had a couple issues, but they got worked out.
I got the 15th challenge done:
 Something that rings (telephone), A plaid pattern (pink piece), A piece of map, Something in a hexagon shape, Text in a foreign language, Bonus: numbers.
I found a cute card in my work mailbox:
 We did a card exchange at the library, this one was colored by someone, I stuck it on the front of my journal.
Wednesday: I worked the morning again, I was at the phone station and it was pretty slow, I put in a ton of renewals on items we borrowed from other libraries. I finally put in my last (hopefully) order with Hollar, they used to have great stuff there, a bunch of the stuff had been sitting in my cart for at least a month, if not more. I decided it would be my birthday gift to myself. Originally, I was going to buy a pinata and fill it up with blind bags, but I also assumed I'd be buying them by now.
I finished the 16th challenge:
 Something that dangles, Something that starts with the letter J, A piece of a letter or note, A schematic, A rubber stamping in any color but black, Bonus: circles
I also got an owl card ready to be mailed:
 I realized, I'm getting grumpy again, I think it's because it never seems to be quiet at home, and it's driving me nuts. I can't go anywhere for quiet.
Thursday: I got the 17th challenge done:
 Something red, Two of something, Something that points or is pointing, A piece of envelope either side, Kraft paper or brown paper, Bonus: a sticker.
I put together a couple birthday packages:
 and another one:
 I just think it's more fun to get stuff not just a birthday card for your birthday.
I found two items in my mailbox, A ladybug card swap:
 This thing is huge, it had to be mailed in a legal bubble mailer. It's one sided, it's not a card, and if it is in your mind, then you need to send an envelope that fits it. She also sent a bunch of die cuts:
 which I love, I just figured they were all die cuts.
And a May flowers pocket letter:
 Also cute, goodies:
 And some embossed papers she included:
 I made a ladybug card:
 It turned out way different than I planned, but I still like it.
I had planned to go out to eat with a friend, but I couldn't deal with the world, so I just stayed home and did my own thing. I realized I hadn't been to Hobby Lobby since February, but I've been a couple other places that sell crafting supplies and participated in a ton of swaps and tags where we're basically swapping crafting stuff.
Friday: I worked the afternoon shift at the library. We had opened up hold requests on the website on Wednesday night and had about 500 come in, I felt like all we did on Friday was check in holds and check in holds and on and on. I went in to work early and mailed my stuff. I was going to do it Monday, until I remembered Monday is a holiday.  I received my Hollar box and put it away to open on my birthday.
I had an email from the You Matter box saying it was mailed and it should arrive on Tuesday. I haven't heard anything from the Blessedly Coping box. I'm so annoyed with these, I realize the world fell apart shortly after I ordered them, but I wanted them to get through this time. I think I'm done with subscription boxes.
Saturday: Slept until 9:40, which is really late for me. I accidentally got a 4-day weekend. I asked my boss if I could have Tuesdays off and do mornings. She was able to schedule me for when I asked, I didn't think about next week being a holiday. I watched ER and read on the computer all day.
Sunday: Slept until 9:30, and basically only got my laundry done. I dropped one of my facebook groups.
Monday: finally got out of my slump. Put together a May flowers embellishment swap:
 And made a Hello card:
 Made some tassels:
 These were really fun to make. I like doing them because I get to use up my lace and trim. I still can't see a change in my lace stash.
I also put together a scavenger hunt swap:
 Alphabet stickers, Brads, Clouds, Doilies, Embossed paper, Flowers, Greeting card, Hearts.
 Iridescent, Junk mail, Key, Lace, Map, Napkin, Ombre, Puzzle piece.
 Quilted, Receipt, Stars, Tissue paper, Unicorn, Vellum, Washi, X--our choice (a stencil).
Y--a note about yourself, and Zig zag.
I really liked this swap, I got to search through all my crafting stuff to find it. I found most of it within in 10 minutes. I have too much stuff.
I found this online:
Just wanted to say this is all a real lot for everyone dealing with anxiety, depression, trauma, compulsions, addictions, grief, poverty, toxic relationships, chronic pain or other types of ongoing battles. I see you and it's not your fault. You are more than your struggle. You are more than your job. This reality isn't normal and there's no normal way to react. The way you react is valid. Your mental and physical health is essential and a priority. You do what you can, when you can, with what you can. I'm sorry it has been so hard. Wherever this takes us, there will be better days.
I totally needed to read that today

Friday, May 15, 2020

Food haul

Wednesday: I got a sticker sheets tag in the mail:
 And made my ninth tag:
 Jewelry, something green, paper with lines, something found in a desk, something drawn in ink, Bonus: security envelope paper.
Thursday: I find it sad that both these items cost the exact same price:
 The Blue Bunny was not that good.
I put together a purple crafting items swap:
 The card I made to go with them:
 I made a couple ATCs for another swap:
 And made my tenth tag:
 Something you see through a window, Something you hold in your hand, a mushroom or small flower, a poem or portion of, a dictionary page, Bonus: a geometric shape.
I made a pocket letter for a tag:
Friday: I chose to go in to work for a few hours and made plans to have a picnic lunch with a friend. We're getting ready for curbside pickup next week, there's so much to think about.
I decided to get a sandwich at Subway, I also picked up some cookies:
 The Asian food store was on my way to the park we were meeting at, so I stopped in. I haven't been there in awhile, no big reason, I've just been going to the grocery store, work and the post office with some random jaunts to Walmart or Target. I also end up spending too much money there. I  spent a little over $30.
 multipack of taro, matcha and red bean mochi ($6), Yogurt flavor cake ($6), Cici jelly drinks ($5), Darjeeling Milk Tea ($2), Osmanthus cake ($3), Pork mini buns ($6), and two Thai milk teas ($1.30 ea).
I also usually have no idea what I'm getting there. The ingredients are usually on a sticker in English, so I just guestimate from that. I haven't had mochi in awhile, I'm not a big fan of the red bean ones, I find them very sweet. I could have gotten a package of matcha and a package of taro, but figured this way I wouldn't eat so much. I have no idea what the yogurt favor cake is, it looks like some kind of sponge cake. I've had the Cici jelly drinks before, they are really good. It came with 6 packets, 2 each of peach, lychee and mango. Also have no idea what the osmanthus cakes are. There's not a lot of taste, it's weird and I have no idea how to describe them, at least they were cheapish. I keep looking for interesting dumplings/buns, so I picked up the pork from the frozen section. I might have gotten more frozen things if I wasn't going on a picnic. I've had the milk tea before, it's very good.
I stopped at the HyVee gas station basically because I wanted a Mountain Dew, I also picked up a pistachio muffin that I ate for dessert.
 I'm not exactly sure why I picked up the sandwich, when I already had one. It just looked good.
My friend and I ate a opposite ends of the picnic table and just talked. She did give me this:
 It's cute, fairly certain it came from Dollar Tree, not the chocolate, I'm not sure where she gets this chocolate, she always seems to have it.
At about 2, we parted ways, I really wanted to do something other than lunch, but the world is still messed up, some day.
I found a RAK of a flipbook when I got home:
 Very cute:
 lots of nice collage:
 The goodies:
 I was thinking it was for a pocket letter tag the person owed me, I decided it was a RAK, as that tag was last week and she's in Romania, and she knew she was making a flip book, it makes me excited to get the pocket letter from her.
The tag today for that group was happy mail, I tagged three people, I think I'm tired of no mail.
 We had to choose 5 things from a list. I went with 5 memo sheets, 2 pieces of stationary, a sticker sheet, a card and envelope and a postcard.
 This one has the same.
 And this one has washi samples instead of a postcard and then an envelope instead of a card.
I also made my 11th collage:
Something you're thankful for (friends), Something that's alive (lion), A ticket of any kind (ticket washi), a part of a map (got it from a book), something stencilled (I didn't have anything, I ended up tracing around something), Bonus: a bug (butterfly).

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Minions and Monsters

Wednesday: Slept in until 8, still made it to work by 9, basically just worked on Interlibrary Loan inventory all day. Left about 3, found two pieces of mail for me. It's the first time in 6 weeks since I got mail on a Wednesday, I may have celebrated a little bit.
First item was a pocket letter:
 Cute theme, but I wish people would do more than just cutting up a picture and stuffing goodies in the pocket. I don't consider it a pocket letter if all you do is cut up a picture, try a little people.
 As you all know I love minions, so I liked it either way.
The second item was a penpal letter. I started one right back to her, I don't know if we'll continue writing this frequently, but I hope so.
I made my second tag for Margarete Miller's weekly challenge:
 The things to include were: Something with pink (the girl), Sheet music, Clothing tag (mother), List (clocks repaired), Book page, and the bonus was a Rubber stamping in two colors.
Thursday: thought the water in my chai mug made an interesting pattern:
 Spent about 4 hours at work, my boss agreed that we should do ILLs when we start curbside pickup of holds.
Found a couple pieces of mail when I got home, a spring card:
 A monster card:
 This was supposed to get to me by April 26th, my partner mailed it on May 4th. It's cute, I just wish she mailed on time, or let me know she'd be late. She hasn't posted that she received mine and I mailed it around April 21st.
I made my 3rd tag for the collage challenge:
 Bug/insect, Key, Sequence of numbers, "Ink", Quote, bonus was Something in black and white.
I finished the night reading Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. It was good, I was disappointed it had the multiple viewpoints, I'm not a big fan of books like that. I had to read the kid's story and then went back to the young lady's. I had already read The Baby Thief and Before and After which are both books on the same topic, the kids who went through the Tennessee Children's Home Society, I kinda felt obligated to read Before we Were Yours. I couldn't put it down, it was after midnight when I finished it.
Friday: I had a zoom meeting that ran longer than I expected, sometime in the meeting, our time limit was extended. I stopped at a local store on the way home, saw this huge gnome right inside the door:
 I bought a smaller one for myself:
 Since it was Easter, it was half price. I was on my way out the door when I saw a whole table of Easter stuff. There was another gnome I was debating between this one and the other one. The other one had arms, and I really like this style or no arms, so I bought this one, plus this has my favorite color hat.
A few other things:
 Some cute felt flowers, a mouse Christmas ornament and a unicorn Christmas ornament. I was going to go on Wednesday when mostly everything is 20% off, but I forgot. If I did, the flowers would have been cheaper. I found it annoying that I was the only person with a mask on, the store isn't really big enough to be 6 feet away from other people. My mom's all surprised that our numbers keep rising, I don't find it surprising, what do you expect? What I don't need to know is the exact number as the newsletter I get about it tells me. I realize it's a big number and only getting worse, I just don't need to know the exact number.
I made my 4th tag:
 Playing card (the flowers are cut from the back of one), Group of three, Bumpy surface (heart), Something that splashes (fish), Buttons, Bonus: a person or people.
Saturday: I received my giant destash from one of my groups:
 There was a ton of stuff in the box:
 I especially like the scrabble pieces above.
 And the resin pieces.
 A lot of fun ephemera:
 I found it better than the last one I participated in, more stuff I'd use.
 How about those trees?
 So much stuff.
I posted in the group event that I received it, and got a message today (Tuesday) from my partner asking if I had received it. It's not my fault I can't tag her in the event.
 I made my fifth tag:
 Path/road, Something cold, A favorite word, Part of a calendar, a Paper with a repeating pattern, Bonus: An illustration (bird).
My mom wanted cheesecake for Mother's Day, we couldn't find a restaurant that would deliver it, so I picked some up at the store, turned out to be $11 for a 2lb cake of 4 different kinds. My dad mostly paid for it, which was good, it was more than I wanted to pay.
Sunday: Got my laundry done, that's a given for a Sunday. I started it shortly before leaving to go to my parents. We were supposed to have burgers from a local place, but they weren't open for Mother's Day, so my mom made lasagna, not even close to burgers in my mind, such a giant step away. It's a good thing my dad paid for the cheesecake, as I didn't get to take any of it home. I would have liked to have a piece or two.
Made a card for a work card exchange:
 I love how it turned out, I hope the person I sent it to, likes it as much.
And my sixth tag:
 something Ornate (pink circles), a Dictionary page, something that Turns or spins (Ferris wheel), Something that begins with C (coupon), a Form or portion of, and the Bonus: Something you see through a window. I originally had it written down as something you see through, the window, and then when I was checking it saw there was another line, so I added the tree.
There was a virtual break room posted on our work thing online and one of the topics was to post your pet. This is mine:
 It's plastic. I got it in a swap awhile back, I think of it like WALL-E's cockroach. I keep trying to make it into a magnet, but it just keeps hopping off the magnet, it's not something fun to see on the floor in the dark.
Monday: I processed most of the ILLs we received since closing. The email about curbside holds starting was supposed to go out Tuesday, so I wanted to make sure I got them all processed. About half of them were for Home Delivery patrons, and we have no idea when we'll start that again. There were also some for people that didn't have email, we have to talk more about the wording on my phone call before I can process those.
Found 3 items in the mailbox when I got home, a dollar store tag:
 I wasn't pleased to see these. I was hoping for something else.
A sympathy card:
 And a birthday surprise, which I filed away to open on my birthday.
I tried to read some of my books, but just couldn't get into them. I made my seventh tag:
 Leaves, Something sweet (the little girl with her tea), a group of three, A math symbol (plus signs in upper right corner), a doodle, Bonus: a label.
I had a hard time with this one, I couldn't find a label or a doodle and couldn't figure out what to do with the leaves.
I put together a birthday package for someone else:
 She likes Disney, cats and Care Bears.
A sticker sheets tag:
 I actually got to bed at a decent time, apparently I spent a lot of time somewhat awake during the night, my fitbit said my sleep score was fair, I also woke up grumpy and tired.
Tuesday: I don't usually go in to work on Tuesdays, but I expected a lot of people to cancel their holds and to return stuff. I found out Monday afternoon we are encouraging people to return stuff. When I left, it was starting to come in, and we were starting to run out of carts. We're quarantining anything returned for 72 hours and then shelving it. It's a lot of stuff to sit for 3 days before you can shelve it, but it's got to be done.
I picked up my summer reading shirt:
 I also wanted to order the YA one which was a dragon, but they were out of my size when we put in the order.
I went to a late lunch with a friend to a local restaurant that re-opened. The place is huge and it was so quiet and empty, it was surreal. I talked her into going to Target and Dollar Tree as well. I really just wanted some interesting food for meals and ice cream. The grocery store I go to has a limited selection. Some of the shelves were pretty bare, like the frozen chicken shelf. I found a few things:
 Green tea, a couple frozen dinners, a sticker book and a caterpillar. I had a really good tea on Monday, it was from another country, but when I googled the name of it, it was apparently just green tea with lemon, I hope this one is as good. The mushroom risotto and tortellini just sounded good. I got the sticker book because there's narwhals in it. I got a blue one of these caterpillars in my Easter basket, now he has a friend. I really wanted some blind bags and a stuffed animal. I decided the blind bags were too expensive and the stuffed animal I found didn't have a tag, so I had the cashier look it up. It was a Little Joe Chickapig, and turned out to be $12, a little too steep for me. I had a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, but we were going to Dollar Tree next and it would have been soup by the time I made it home.
Dollar Tree:
 pen, bag clips, pads, gum, food, toys.
I really wish there was a version of this pen with blue glasses and ears. There was a pink one with yellow glasses and ears, it was too soft to pass up. I needed the bag clips, the pads and the gum (OK, I needed a gum wrapper for an upcoming tag for the collage challenge). I couldn't pass up the chomping teeth or the minions or Boo. I guess I got my minions after all.
 coloring book, stickers, book rings. I couldn't pass up the coloring book either, I just need someone to color the pages for me. Picked up the monster stickers just in case I sign up for another monster card swap. The other stickers were too cute. I needed the book rings to put my collage tags on.
I made my eighth tag:
 Person or people, Bubbles (word bubble), Crossword/puzzle, Text in a foreign language, Sticker from a fruit or vegetable (I didn't have any of these), Bonus: the next noun you hear someone speaking (sun).
I made a flower pocket letter:
And then was too tired to take care of other things, so sat down in front of the computer to take care of things. I was going to get to bed at a decent time (before or shortly after 10pm), it's not 10:40, so much for that. I was checking my fit bit app, and I haven't been to bed before or shortly after 10 since March. I need to get back to doing that. I don't know why I don't, I just get distracted.