National Junk Food Day

July 18: I had 3 garage sales on my list, they weren't that close, but I still wanted to go, mostly because I haven't seen very many close garage sales. I had to leave about 9, as I had to refuse an item at the post office for postage due. I could have done it after I got back, but I knew I'd be wickedly hot and sweaty and I'd just want to go home. I was correct, it was only in the 80's but felt like it was in the 90's, my shirt was very wet and I was ready for a shower and a nap. I ended up not buying anything, I'm trying to do better at that. I walked about 4 miles and was pretty exhausted when I got home. I was very lazy for the rest of the day, I even took a 1.5 hour nap in the middle of the day.

I received a flat tag:

A cute llama journal.

July 19, I recall doing my laundry and reading a book. I don't have any pictures, I barely make 1000 steps on my fit bit and none on my phone. 

July 20: I opened at work, and we had a few weird things right when we came in. I ended up leaving an hour early for vacation.I got a bunch of mail.

Last week the world annoyed me, so I bought some octopuses, they showed up on Monday.

Octopus Stuffed Animal, you can get that here, Blue Octopus Yarn doll, you can get that here, and Crochet Octopus, you can get that here. I spent more than I should have, especially with the trying to save money and not buy things I don't need, but I think they were well worth it. Now I just have to figure out a place to put them.

I also received a File Folder Mermaid Pocket Letter:

The inside:

The back:

And all the goodies:

This isn't due until next week, so I haven't even started mine.

A wish for something kawaii:

Two notebooks, the second one is covered in sloths.

And another flat tag:

Very useful. It was a great mail day.

July 21: I needed to go shopping for some random stuff. My plan was to go on the 22nd, when I have the day off, but I forgot about the thing I have in the middle of the day. If my schedule wasn't changed, I'd have it right after work, due to the change of my schedule, it's now in the middle of the day. I could totally still have gone shopping, I just didn't want to show up all hot and sweaty.

My first stop was Target, I found these cute Corelle plates:

I don't need plates, but they were too cute.

What I did buy:

Mini glitter gel pens (3), pencil pouch (3), paper accents (1). I totally picked up the paper accents for that mermaid file folder pocket letter. I have an issue with pens, I really wanted to get some gel pens I saw someone get at Dollar Tree, but these are too cute. Also, how cute is that pencil pouch? I have an issue with pencil pouches too. I had a birthday discount that saved me 5% discount on my full purchase, it expires August 1st, but I doubt I'll be back before then.

Next was Walmart:

Olaf bank (1), bookmarks (1), dog and donut stickers (1), double stick tape (7 ea), Mario stickers (1), khaki shorts (15). Olaf was in the clearance aisle marked at $5, but he rang up at $1. I picked up the bookmarks because they would be cute to send washi samples on. I'm always needing tape, it used to be I'd pick up one package every time I went shopping. Now that I'm trying not to go out that much, I've been picking up 3 at a time, the last time I was at Walmart was June 15th. I just really liked these stickers, I just can't stop buying stickers. I've been wanting some khaki shorts for work, sometimes I get tired of wearing skirts and dresses to work all the time. In the winter I have pants. I totally skipped the food and the toys.

Last stop was Dollar Tree. 

drain strainers, pens, notepad, banner, blind  bags.

I think it will just be a constant to pick up these mesh strainers, there's nothing in my bathtub drain to catch the hair, so I use the tiny ones of these strainers. I have a ton of the large ones as I don't need anything for my sink drain because there's a garbage disposal. I picked up the mermaid tail pen for the mermaid file folder pocket letter. I picked up the banner for something else, but I don't think I'm going to use it for that. I picked up a couple more of the Ryan's World blind bags, this will probably be the last time I pick them up.

pens, word search, journal with stickers, panty liners, keychain, blind bags, shower pouf. 

I'm always needing these pens, except I got home and realized I didn't need them yet, maybe I can stick them in my new pencil pouch. I'm having a hard time finding my word search book, I realize I could have gotten a smaller one, but I really liked this one. I just bought the journal for the stickers. I picked up the pom pom keychain for my bag. Some more blind bags, these are really fun, and since they are usually $5 or more anywhere else. I'm thinking I'm only allowed to get blind bags at the Dollar Tree. That way I won't be getting tons more. I passed up a lot of clearanced toys at Target. I couldn't pass this shower pouf by, it looks like a pineapple, I can always use a shower pouf.

It's National Junk Food Day, and I knew Dollar Tree would be the place to go for snacks.

Chocolate filled biscuits, cheese danish, apple pie, hazelnut spread M&M's, Toffifay, cherry pie, double chocolate chip cookies, Lucky Charms bar, vanilla filled croissant, Cinnamon Toast Crunch bar, strawberry and cheese bear claw.

I don't have to be at work until the evening, so I had plenty of time for shopping. I was not as sweaty as I thought I'd be, but still plenty sweaty.

Junkin

July 14th: I found a cute birthday card on my way into work:

Inside:

And work was pretty slow. When I came in they said the afternoon was really busy. We did have a tornado warning that drove us back to our shelter. That was a fun 15 minutes. 

July 15th: I had off. It was a pretty lazy day, though I did finish a book because it was requested, I need to get back to my reading part of a book a day. I have 25 books checked out, quite a few I checked out this past weekend have requests on them, I need to be reading them.

I did get a mermaid tag ready to send:

And a Winner Takes All, said I'd send 3 sticker sheets.

July 16th: I worked the morning, we were pretty busy, just not people busy. It was the first day we were processing unclaimed holds (items that didn't get picked up) and there were a ton. We processed them by hand and that was a lot of work. I expect the list to be pretty long for awhile. 

Our local art center was having an art supply sale (a bunch of their leftover stuff from classes), so I stopped by on my break. Picked up a bunch of jewelry:

And a box full of card fronts. Spent $13. Spent my whole break there. Had to take a moment without my mask in a room away from people to catch my breath. I had been running around the library all morning, and it's summer in Iowa, so the humidity hits you in the face when you walk out the door. The art sale was outside. Stopped at the post office on my way home, basically only had to pay for some international stamps. 

Found a Disney card

+ whatever other stuff:

That was the swap, making a card that was Disney themed and some other crafting stuff.

I had an Avengers marathon last weekend and finished up on Wednesday. I decided I don't seem to like the Thor movies, I like the Captain America ones. I was a bit confused with Infinity War and Endgame. In Thor Ragnarok, they leave with a spaceship of survivors and then run into a giant spaceship shortly after leaving Asgard. In the beginning of Infinity War, the giant spaceship was Thanos and his people, and he killed everyone on the ship from Asgard except Thor. In Endgame, the Avengers (what's left of them) go to recruit Thor and find him on Norway with the Asgard survivors. How are there survivors when Thanos blew up the ship after killing everyone?

Friday: My mom and I ended up going to a couple of the Central Iowa Junk Jaunt places. The few that were outside. It wasn't too bad, I would have liked to go to more, but seeing as how next to no one was wearing a mask, I'm sure this was better. I was trying really hard not to spend money. 

Our first stop was a flea market in the side yard of JB Knacker. I took pictures of all the stuff I wanted to buy, but didn't.

This beautiful, heavy, pink glass glass:

I really wanted this, but I don't have a space to put it, plus I believe it was like $4, and I'm cheap.

A cute ear of corn glass bottle:

Very cute, my mom ended up picking this one up.

A geode.

Totally wanted this one, too, but again, no place to put it.

Found a guitar:

My friend's been looking for one of these for awhile, so I totally sent her a picture. She said she was amazed I remembered that she was looking for it, as it's been a long time since we had a conversation about it. I'm rather good at remembering stuff people want me to look for.

Here's what I spent my money on:

All the trim was 10 cents a piece, I couldn't pass up vintage cool looking trim. Also, this is a bad picture, but that round thing is a needle keeper, it has graphics that look like a can on it, totally bought it for the graphics. Total spent $1.20. Big spender.

There was also a veggie seller, a trailer with clothes, a tent with a bunch of signs and a couple more vintage vendors. 

At that point, my mom said I could go inside and then changed her mind saying if I was exposed, I'd expose her (she's in the high risk group, due to age) when I got in the car and took off my mask. I'm trying to figure out her reasoning. I go to other places where I'm exposed (wearing my mask the whole time) to tons of people, I'm not sure why this place would be that different. I don't mind so much that we didn't go in, but her reasoning seems off.

The second place we went was Red Granite Farms. I was very disappointed in this place. The map said they'd have vintage vendors, they didn't They're a farm that sells veggies and flowers, and that's about all they had. It looked like they had done some succulent potting workshops in one of their barn rooms, so they had planters, but people were coming for "junk" so it was very disappointing that they didn't have any.

Our last place was Red Barn Rustics. They did a great job with set up. This place normally has stuff in a barn with not a ton of room. This year they set it all up in their front yard. Lots of clusters of stuff nicely spaced out. I was very impressed.

Beautiful green bowl

Love the color on this.

Candle holders:

I was thinking how cool these would be filled up with buttons.

A beautiful gian red jar:

This would've looked nice with a ton of Mother Of Pearl buttons. I was rather amused with the Goodwill tag of $4, I don't know how much they were trying to sell it for.

A nice chair that reminded me of college:

Different chair, from the same place.

Why it reminded me of college so much, it's actually from Iowa State University, where I went to school.

A cute powder blue vase:

This one was a really nice color, too.

A nice picture frame.

The flowers were 3D, if I had a place I would've bought this one, too.

My brother collects canes:

Mom and I weren't sure if he was still collecting them, plus he'd have to drive here and home to get it.

A couple of green plates:

I love these, too. I just don't have any room for all this decorative stuff.

Also found this sign:

I'm not sure if it was actually vintage, as we saw a couple signs I could swear were from Hobby Lobby and just aged.

We got back home about noon. We were going to get lunch from somewhere, but I just wasn't into it. It was already 81 degrees at our last stop, felt like 91. Heat doesn't seem to bother me that much. I figure it would more this year as I haven't been out in it much, but it doesn't seem to bother me that much. I can handle the heat and the humidity. Probably not tomorrow afternoon, as we're going to be in a heat advisory, temps in the high 90's but feeling in the low 100's. I had to mail something, so headed out to the mailbox and the bank to cash in some change and to the grocery store. My new schedule has me off on Wednesdays, but working Thursdays, so figure I'd just shift my Wednesday stuff to Thursdays, I just had a big box of card fronts I was carrying home on Thursday. I'm *trying* again to eat healthier, and failing miserably. I've been having Green Giant veggie side dishes with tuna. I had salad today, but also a Mountain Dew, mostly because I was going to get one with the carry out meal we were going to have.

Found some mail. A 4th of July pocket letter:

With lots of goodies:

And more goodies:

A Dollar Store tag:

Love these stickers.

And a pen pal letter:

Here's my salad:

It was on sale. I can usually get about 2 meals with a salad kit, so I'll have some tomorrow as well.

It was an ok day, got stuff done. Also read a book. Felt very productive with that. Found 3 garage sales to go to tomorrow. Of course, they aren't near each other, the furthest away starts at 9, but the way I'd go to them, it'd be the middle one. I also have to go to the post office to refuse a postage due. I love how they always say it's a letter, only when it requires that much postage, it's a parcel

nothing exciting

July 11th: I had to work the afternoon, found some stuff on my way into work. A wish for fruity tea:

These look really good.

A wish for anything unicorn:

Very cute.

A Thirsty Thursday of tea:

I'm ok sending stuff you've gotten but didn't like, but that Zen tea, with a stain on it, how do I know the tea bag inside didn't get wet and ruined?

I made some fabric clusters for a swap:

I had to only make 6, so I kept the one in the middle on the bottom, it's more of a ribbon cluster than a fabric cluster anyway.

July 12th: I had to work again, I put together a flat tag:

I got this for a flat tag in the past, it's not something I'll use.

Another flat tag:

Received these for a thrift store tag in the past, again, something I won't use.

I got my laundry done, typical Sunday.

July 13th: I had to work in the morning, I'm tired of slow work days. We're open ish. We're open for people to pick up their holds, that's about it. We're definitely not busy.

I also got some unhappy news. I had a plan to get together with my aunts on Friday for Junkin in June (had to be pushed back because the world fell apart), and they decided it was too much risk, which I get. We had talked a bit on Thursday about it, they had started with no we're not going to do it and then said they'd do a couple outdoor places and went back to no we're not going to do it. Again, I get it, I just wish they had stayed at no, changing their mind gave me hope. I'm tired of nothing exciting happening. This was the one thing I'd been looking forward to, it was keeping me going, now I have nothing. 

I got a few happy mail wishes put together:

Another happy mail wish:

And a last one, they're all about the same. Coloring page, stickers, washi samples, memo sheets, envelope and a project life card.

I also made a Garden card and matching bookmark:

Obviously not a ton matching, but the stickers on the bookmark are came from the same sticker sheet as I used for the card, and some of the papers are the same.

Made some mini envelopes:

These were fun, but the tutorial we were suppose to use measured in cm, and I found that a bit hard to follow, mine kept coming out wonky, so I included some extras. We only had to make 6.

No mail, which is really annoying for a Monday, Monday is supposed to be the big day of mail.