Hodgepodge Vol 265

It's Hodgepodge time again. To see what other people answered, check out Joyce's blog.

1. What's something fun you're looking forward to on your May calendar?

Garage sales. I went to a few a couple weeks ago, but May is really when they start up. This weekend I have a couple big ones on my calendar, and someone to go with me, I'm really exited. 

2. What are some images that come to mind when you hear the word mother?
The kitchen, I don't know why because my mother was not one who stayed in the kitchen a lot, but I always think of those TV shows where the mother is in the kitchen. I also think of our garden, my mother spent a lot of time there.

3. What's something beautiful you own or have seen that's made of glass? 

I love stained glass windows. I don't have a lot of glass things. I try to stay away from glass ever since I sliced my hand open a few years ago on a glass glass and had to get stitches.

4. Was today typical? If not what made it unusual? 

It was pretty typical. Except for the number of holds I checked in. I work at a library, when you request something and it comes in for you, it's called a hold. I worked 4 hours at our front desk and I believe I checked in about 7 carts of holds. I can't tell you how much a cart holds, but I wouldn't be surprised if you could get more than 20 books on it, but less than 40. And these were books, audio books and movies.

5. What is a quality you wish you could have more of?

Patience. I am not a very patient person. I notice it a lot lately, and I'm trying.

6. What's the next major purchase you need to make? Will it happen in the month of May? 

I don't really have one. I do have to move in August, so I'll have to put down a deposit on an apartment, that will be rather large.

7. What responsibility/job/work did you dislike while growing up but has proved helpful to you as an adult?

I don't have an answer.

8. Insert your own random thought here. 

I've gotten into this new art craze of pocket letters. Basically you take a 9-sleeve pocket, fill it up with cards you've created and then fill it with goodies and send it to someone. I LOVE doing it.

Here are a few I've created:

This one the theme was flowers

 This one came together around a springish rub-on set I had

This one is a sea/vintage theme

 This one is hearts

 This one is just a spring theme

 And this one is gold:

I can't wait to make more.

Garage saleing

It's garage saleing time. I was going to go to a few yesterday, but after being on my feet all morning, I talked myself out of it.

I'm afraid that might happen more often this year. I open at the library on Friday mornings, I wonder if I just couldn't take an hour or so break and then go back out.

Anywho, I went to 5 sales this morning (it would have been 6, but one didn't start until 11). Most of the sales I went to, were close together.

I really wanted to buy something, mostly cause it was the first sale of the season I went to. There was also a box of stamps, but I didn't buy anything. I talked myself out of a cross stitched piece.

I picked up an Alf puppet from the free bin, there was a packet of colored paper I almost bought.

There were two more sales in the next block, I picked up a Care Bear for my collection for $1.00.

I had two sales left on my list, as I headed to one, I realized it didn't start until 11, it was 8:50. I find it weird that people wait so late in the morning to start their sales. I get out of the house at 8 or a little after, I'm not gonna wait around til 10 or 11 for a sale.
I didn't buy anything at the last sale either.
This makes me think about what's on my list for this year.
1. Buttons (always)
2. vintage stuff (mostly trim, but whatever)
3. Baked goods (always)
4. craft supplies

I'm not sure what else is on there. A few of my co-workers have asked me to keep an eye out for a few things. They know I won't buy it if it's too expensive.


I had a great post in my head, and then I took a shower, and it's gone. I've learned, I need to take the shower shortly after I get home, it feels really gross to let thee sweat dry on my skin. I walk everywhere, and I usually average about 4 miles everytime I go garage saleing. I didn't think I walked that much this morning, but when I got home, my phone said I walked 3.56 miles and burned 409 calories. I downloaded an app from Map My Run just to see how much I wander around in stores. I usually log my walking into the Map my run website, but I think the app is a little more accurate. I also like that it has a map, so I can see where I am. I mean, I don't get lost, but sometimes I not sure the best way to get to stuff.
Today, I learned I should drink a glass of water before I leave, and one when I get home. I switched purses today, this one works great. The one I had last year, was a little too small to hold my list of sales and my bag and my wallet.
Next week I work Saturday, so I have Friday off, I'm hoping there will be some good sales Friday morning. The week after that is a citywide garage sale of a close city, and I'm really excited about that.

Massive Shopping Haul

I know I should really go to bed and post this tomorrow, but I want to finish it while it's still on my mind. I gave myself permission to spend money on things today, with the idea that I wouldn't buy anything I didn't need after this (except for garage sales, because garage sales help me keep my sanity). So, I spent way too much money, but I should be set on things for pocket letters and anything I want to make and send through the mail.

I started out at The Dollar Tree:

 Gummy bears, that neat vintagey duct tape people keep talking about, and a few notecards. I've been decorating the outsides of my envelopes when I send them out, and this tape was just randomly sitting in a bin, so I thought I'd get it. I'm also loving sending cards with things I send out, I used to make the cards, but sometimes things would get delayed because I had to make a card, so I started picking up cards to just have. I totally talked myself out of the gummy peaches, surprise Hello Kitty chocolate eggs and a few other things.

 Some puffy alphabet stickers, some frame stickers, a couple sock coin purses, and a couple fabric tape rolls. I made a flip book last night, and I was adding some letters and realized I don't really have any alphabet stickers, so those were on my list for today, I really like these. The frame stickers were just cool. I love the sock coin purses, a few years ago, they actually had tiny socks, like baby socks that they made into coin purses, these aren't really socks. I bought one for a friend. I love that I found the fabric tape at my Dollar Tree after seeing it on people's haul videos on Youtube, and I bought two cause once you find it, you never find it again (like their neat canvasy pencil pouches).

 More stickers. I love owls, you will see a lot more in this post, and I'll probably have to make an owl pocket letter or flip book to justify how many I bought today. I saw the pearls I've been seeing, so I got the teal, there was only one of these. The pen is really cute, every time you click it, it changes sayings, I thought it would be fun to include with some happy mail to someone. And some activity books, if you've been reading for awhile, you know I don't need anymore of these, I just love them.
I didn't take a picture of the tiny buckets I bought to use as garbage when I create, I'm really good at just throwing my garbage on the floor, I thought these would help, or the sponges, cause who really needs to see pictures of sponges.
Next stop, was Target

 The multi paper pad set from the dollar spot for $3, mini envelopes for $2, flag paper clips for $1, some clothespins for $1, two Scotch tapes for $.88 each, and some tags for $1. I saw the paper pad set last week, and talked myself out of it, and then proceeded to think about it all week, so I bought it, I'm not sure I'll use it, but I can send some of it for goodies. I bought two of the tapes because I thought I could send one for goodies as well.
I noticed there was a set of 12 clothespins with pastel decorations on them in the dollar spot for $3, if anyone's interested.
I also picked up some socks for a wish I fulfilled on Lori's wishing video. And some blue mountain dew. I used up the last of my gift cards which I feel I used way too much on crafting supplies.
Next stop was Walmart

 I went in the sticker section all because CheapCraftyGirl says she finds a lot there, bad decision, I totally blame her. Panda stickers, monster stickers, robot stickers and a tiny clipboard.
The sticker aisle is not the aisle to go down, and I only looked at the 97 cent stickers. I picked up the tiny clipboard because I love the miniature notebook paper on it, it was also 97 cents.

 Xmas tree clothespins, 3 bottles of purell, flower clothespins, some gummy watermelon. These two packs of clothespins were sitting in a box of miscellaneous items in the crafty aisle. The Xmas ones were 10 cents, I thought I could save them for pocket letters next Christmas. The Purell's were in the clearance section for 75 cents each, I thought I could send them along. The gummy watermelon just looked good, until I got home and realized it said sour.
There are no pictures of the nightgown and flats I picked up.

owl stickers, robot stickers, mini forest stickers, gold script letter stickers, owl stickers and cat/dog stickers. All of these were 97 cents. So, can you see a pattern of owl stickers? I picked up the gold script because I really liked the look of it. And the others were just cute.Last stop was Hobby Lobby

 Most of what I picked up was in the clearance section, which I always visit, but I usually limit myself to stuff under $1, I went a little higher today.
Round paper clips for $1.79, washi tape for $2, jar die cuts for $1.99, and a hedgehog charm for $2.
I should be well supplied for paper clips and clothespins for pocket letters now. I picked up the washi mostly for the checkered one, I've noticed when I look at washi there always seems to be one I want and one I don't. I'll probably send the British flag to someone. I love these little jar die cuts, everyone seems to be obsessed with the jar thing, I'm not really interested in punches or stamps, but I liked these.

 owl stickers, monster stickers, travel labels, ATC size cards and bags, sea themed ATCs, travel themed ATCs, mini gift cards and an owl needle craft.
Again with the monsters and owls, these were both $1.99, they have a kraft paper background look with glitter and there's two sheets in each pack. So, this is a really bad picture for those labels, basically they're address label size (like to address a package to someone), I thought they were really cute for $1.79. The ATC sized things I think will be perfect for backgrounds, and the bags I can put things in in pocket letters, they were all $1.50 each. The mini gift cards are a burlap pattern, they were $1. And an owl, it looks like you thread colored thread through the holes, that was $3.59

 The pack at the top was called Baby Sn@p pack, tiny x-acto knives, refill tape for my tombo dispenser, two 6x6 paper packs. I bought the paper pack because it has some very cute not baby cards and elephants, it was $5.99, I'll probably sort out the baby items and swap with someone, I don't know anyone that's having a baby anytime soon. The whole reason for my trip was for tape refills and 6x6 paper. I really wanted double sided paper, but paper is expensive, the paper was $5.99 each. After making my flip book last night, I want to do more, and then I ran out of tape, I used my 40% off on that making it $7.19, cause tape is expensive too (originally $11.99 for the three-pack). I didn't have any6x6 paper in my comfortable colors, someone sent me a pack of bright 6x6 paper in the past and I used that, but it was a little bright. I picked up the knives because I don't have a craft knife and they were cute, they were $1.99

 

There was also a trip to Wendy's for lunch in there. I totally weeded down what I picked up at Hobby Lobby after guestimating how much my original pile would be.

I went after work about 1:30, and got home about 6pm. It's always nice to be on my feet all day. I finally had supper at about 8:30, and I'm now winding down to go to bed. At least tomorrow's my day off.

I really want to start creating something new, but my craft space is a hallway, and when I get out everything to create, it looks like this:

That's looking to the east, toward my bedroom, I'm standing at the west at the top of my stairs, somewhere in the middle is the doorway to my living room. So, it's not very convenient, and since I suck at organizing my craft supplies, it all comes out. It's much nicer at the moment, there are patches of floor, but I still have to take large strides to get to my bedroom. Also, it's been very warm lately (80 degrees in my apartment), so the AC guy is coming soon, and he has to have access to all the rooms. So, I might have to hold off of creating for a little while.

 



Target, Dollar Tree and Hobby Lobby Haul

I went shopping yesterday, again I was hoping to find some of the great stuff I keep seeing on YouTube, but I guess I should just accept the fact that my stores are not as great as other people's stores. My town is not huge, it only gets bigger 9 months of the year when the college students are here, sadly they go elsewhere to shop.

I worked yesterday morning and went shopping after work, I don't have a car, so I walk everywhere. My first stop was Target, please excuse my foot at the bottom of the picture, I didn't notice it there until I was editing the picture.

I wanted to check out the dollar spot at Target, sadly there wasn't too much that was new. I did find the two washi tape the black stripe and the gold stripe both for $1. I had picked up some gold stripe tape Christmas season of 2014 and used it all up, I almost got two rolls of this tape, but I decided I liked the black stripe tape as well. I love the Hello cards for $1, I keep seeing people pick up these cute notecards and I wanted some, when I want to write a little note and not have to make a card. I also picked up the Zootopia eraser for a friend. I love the blue garden gnome, he was $3, I picked him up for my desk at work, thought I'm at my desk so little, I'm not sure why I did. I saw the fruit erasers in someone's haul video, I love erasers. I don't use a lot of pencils, or erasers, but I love collecting them, especially when they're only $1.00. I've also been on the lookout for cute tights for awhile, so when I found these daisy tights ($8), I thought I'd get them.
I did talk myself out of some notebooks. I don't use notebooks, but I keep seeing people haul them. I found the set of notebooks that had three sticky flags, three small square notebooks and a large one that were so cute, but I only wanted them to send them to people with pocket letters. I also saw the notebook with the gold hearts and pen, and talked myself out of that. I have so much stuff at home that I don't use and will probably send with pocket letters, that I really don't need more.
I was supposed to look at their jewelry, but I keep forgetting. I want some simple black dangly earrings. I also want to go to Claire's and check out what they have, I keep hearing about sales they have there, and want to go. My Claire's is in a mall where there's a few other stores I want to go to, and I'm not that great at talking myself out of stuff.
My next stop was the Dollar Tree:

 Again, I was looking for stuff I see in people's hauls, especially the cool bow and rose stickers, but didn't find those. Like I said, my stores are kinda sad. I feel every time I go to the Dollar Tree, it's pretty picked over, yesterday they did have a lot of boxes out but it didn't really look like they were stocking anything. I love the Dollar Tree because everything's $1.00. My friend and I usually go, but she's been working a ton lately, so we haven't made it to the bigger ones down the road.
I did pick up some cute owl pencil sharpeners. I love owls. Some Velcro fasteners, I saw someone use these for an envelope in a craft video. A cute emoji pen, saw this on someone else's haul video. I have some pens at work that are pom pom monsters, they have big heads like this guy, I thought it would be cool to have a whole mug of giant circle head pens. And gummy jelly fruits, I love these, I can't pass them up.
I went to JoAnn's, too. I've decided there's nothing I want in my JoAnn's, every time I go there, I never find anything to buy. They don't have the dollar bins anymore, they barely have any papercrafting supplies, I never see good paper or stickers. So, I've given up on mine, maybe next time I'm in Ankeny, I'll check that one out. I had a coupon for 15% off my total purchase, I was trying to find a pencil pouch for a wish I granted in Lori's wish video and a chain and clasp for a necklace I broke (or more it broke when I touched it) Monday night.
My last stop was Hobby Lobby. I try not to buy anything for full price at Hobby Lobby, they always seem to be having sales and I love their clearance section.

I picked up this cute robot wood piece for $.40, these two jewelry pieces for $1.50 each and some washi tape. They were having a paperstudio sale where everything was 50% off, so I thought I'd pick up some washi. I'm hoping I'll actually use this washi. I'm really good at picking up washi but not actually using it. I thought these patterns would be easy and versatile.

Week of April 3rd

I've been reading some past blog posts and think I should restart my weekly update, if not for you, than for me. Not that I've been doing a lot.
Sunday, was my mother's extended family Easter. It was fun, but it was really windy and the place we had it, didn't have a lot of great places to hide eggs. There were only 3 people looking for eggs and one doesn't turn one until the 28th, so not that great. We had a lot of great food, though. Lately when I go to my family get-togethers it's not as much fun as it used to be. No one really talks to me and they're not very interested in my life. They are very interested in my cousin's new baby, I'm not that great with babies and I don't really get into them like most other ladies seem to, so I'm not really interested in the baby. On the way home, I learned my parents are going on a cruise with my brother, his girlfriend and her parents around Europe. I'm not interested in going, but I am a little jealous that they'll be able to go on this really fun vacation, and now that I get vacation days (and don't have to worry about the money I'm not making by going on vacation), I wish I had somewhere to do. I was also saddened that I basically heard it second-hand. They were talking about it with relatives at the Easter get-together, and I don't know when it is, but I'm guessing late April or early May. I suppose it would have to be after school gets out so it works in my mother's schedule. It really bummed me out.
Monday, it was windy. I'm getting really tired of the wind. It's been in the 40's but feels like the 30's because of the wind, and since I live on the 3rd floor, it always sounds way worse than it is. I want to go shopping, but it's also been saying it's going to rain, and when it's not very warm until later in the afternoon when I have to go to work or close to when I have to go to work, I don't want to go. Once again, I've been watching YouTube and loving the videos of people's hauls and what they've found at stores. I have a few Target gift cards to use up, so I wouldn't actually be spending money. I've wanted to go and look at after Easter stuff, but there wasn't anything I didn't get myself for Easter that I still wanted. I've noticed that when I read or see a lot of people getting a certain something I want it, even if I know I'll never use it. That happened with milk glass, when I finally bought myself a toothpick holder, I didn't understand what all the hype was about. Now, it's notepads and pens and stationery stuff that I see everyone getting from the dollar spot at Target. So, I didn't do much on Monday, I finally finished a book that has been renewed way too many times. One of the perks of working at the library, is that I get more renewals on my items than the patrons, but that can also be a bad thing. I have a tendency to not read things as fast as I should. I'm trying to finish the 20 or so books I have sitting on my floor. My goal is to have them finished before I move, that shouldn't be that hard. Though, I also need to stop picking up the books that are 300+ pages. The one I finished on Monday was almost 400, the one I finished yesterday was almost 600 and one I'm in the middle of is almost 900. I also broke a cute necklace, or more I took it off and the spring in the clasp broke. So, since I have coupons for JoAnn's I guess I'll be going there soon.
Tuesday, my schedule changed a little to help a co-worker, so I worked the evening shift instead of the morning, that threw me off a little. It was nice to sleep in, but I had to remember to go in in the evening. On my other blog, I've been mentioning pocket letters. And I've been trying to find people to swap with. A couple YouTubers said they'd swap with me and I found a beginner's Pocket letter group on Facebook so I joined that. I now have 4 people that are willing to swap with me, so I need to get started. I'm a little stressed about my healthcare. I do get benefits now that I'm salaried, unfortunately I don't make enough to be able to afford what the city gives for healthcare, so I signed up through the marketplace. Since, I don't make a lot, I qualified for a discount, I just had to send them some extra paperwork. So, I uploaded it in December, fast forward to March where they sent me a letter saying I still needed to give it to them. So, I mailed it to them. Halfway through March I got a second notice. I called the marketplace help line and the guy said all he could see is what I see, how is that helpful? I uploaded it again, including something I didn't realize I needed and mailed it to them. Tuesday, I got the same damn letter, except it was a final notice. There's nothing more I can do, there's no number to call to verify that they got it, or that it's the correct information. I don't have anything else, so it has to be the correct information. I'm afraid that once the end of the month gets here, I won't get the discount, I'll have to cancel my health insurance (cause I can't afford the full price of the marketplace either), and then I'll have to go back to Planned Parenthood (they're not bad, I just had a heck of time with making appointments that worked for both of us), and have to pay the penalty for not having health insurance because I can't talk to someone. I guess I'll have to start looking for another job again.
Wednesday is my laundry day. I'm tired of walking somewhere to do laundry, at least it's free. I totally planned to go to Target and shop, there are a few things I need, plus I have cartwheel savings for one of them, but as I was coming home from doing laundry it rained on me. My weather app didn't tell me it was supposed to rain. So, I ate lunch, watched movies and got stuck on Youtube. And I stayed up way too late.
Thursday. I've already got stuck on YouTube. I was going to check all my morning stuff on my Kindle and not get out my computer, but it was doing something weird with my Facebook messages, so I got out the computer. It's all downhill after that.
Friday was a waste of a day, I got lost watching movies and youtube. I did get dressed and go to the post office, because I promised someone I'd mail something out, and I didn't have an excuse not to do it, except I'm lazy. So, I went to Fareway as well. I really need to get some pasta mixes and bake my fish and mix it together. The bottom half of my freezer is full of fish, hamburger, pork pieces, and chicken. I really need to bake it up and eat it. Saturday, my mom and I are going to a fashion show, I texted her on Thursday asking what her plan is and I haven't heard back from her. I'm guessing she'll either call or text me tomorrow morning and try to make a plan and then get bothered because I have to work and won't be able to respond right away to her. It's frustrating that she waits until the last minute to make plans. I do want to plan my days, or at least my time in between work and when we go to the show.
Saturday, worked, made an absolute mess on my floor getting ready to create some pocket letters and then went to the fashion show. It was fun, but kinda boring this year, we were kinda far back so it was hard to see the clothes. My favorite parts of it were the plus size models (which I feel I never see in the fashion show) and the post it note outfit

Hodgepodge Vol 262

It's Hodgepodge time. Check out Joyce's blog to see other people's answers.

1. What does retirement mean to you? Are you planning for it, not thinking about it, looking forward to it, or dreading it?
Retirement is so far in the future (at least I hope it is), that I'm trying not to think about it. A month or so ago, after I got paid and paid all my bills and still had money in the bank, I was so excited. I was telling my parents this, and my mother asked about how I was planning for retirement, I just wanted to enjoy my money for the moment, I don't want to think about retirement, yet.

 2. It's International Guitar Month...do you play? Does anyone in your family play? What's a song you especially like to hear played on the guitar or a favorite song featuring the guitar?
I like hearing the guitar, and I have great respect for people who can play the guitar. I really like the beginning of Wild Child by Jimi Hendrix, that's a great guitar riff.

 3. What's your comfort food?
I don't know anymore. I would have said fried chicken a few days ago, but the other day when I was particularly depressed I cooked some and it didn't do anything for me. Maybe donuts or ice cream. I love ice cream. I think it's weird that no one's comfort food (or no one I've talked to), is something healthy.
Maybe hamburgers, I love hamburgers.

 4. What's one activity or area of your life where you absolutely never procrastinate?
Paying my bills. I like to write the check, or pay the bill right away, otherwise I'm afraid I'll forget about it. I don't always get them mailed right away.

 5. Who does the grocery shopping in your house? Does your local store bag the groceries for you or is it a do-it-yourself kind of place? Do you like someone packing your groceries?
I am the only one in my house, so I guess it's me. My grocery store bags my groceries, but sometimes I feel that their goal is how many bags they can give you. I try to bring my own bag, because I live a block away and don't like to carry a lot.

 6. What's the coolest thing you've seen in nature?
Water. There is this park, my mom used to take me and my brother to when we were younger, and we used to explore the pathways and the creek that ran through it. One time, we found this beautiful waterway, where the water created a pond, but had a small waterfall flowing into it. It's not really something I can describe, but we had so much fun in it, and I could never find it again.
My zodiac sign is Cancer, and I'm always particularly drawn to water, I love exploring it, and things that grow/live in it. I don't think you can go wrong with water.

 7. Share a favorite quote about home.
Sadly, all I can think of is "Home is where the heart is" I don't really know many "home" quotes.

 8. Insert your own random thought here.
I watched The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2 this morning. I love this series. I usually read the books before the next movie comes out, but since this was the third book broken up in 2 parts, I didn't feel the need to read it again. And because I read the books, I knew what was coming, but it still upset me. I'm excited to get it on DVD/Blu-ray.

Shopping Haul

I've been sucked into YouTube and the videos on all the shopping hauls (I didn't know that's what they're called now, I'm embracing it) people are doing. Sadly, my Dollar Tree, Target and it seems every other store I have are not near as cool as the stores people shop at. I know they live in bigger cities and have multiples in their cities, but I watch the videos and want what they have. So, I go shopping and get disappointed that I don't always find what they're buying. And since shopping makes me so happy (whether or not I have space for things, or really use things), I go shopping.

So, I've been shopping, the first few pictures are from a few weeks ago, my friend and I went to check out a new store, that ended up being closed because of spring break, but as you can see I still found stuff to buy.

First stop, Mayhem Comics:



 Litchi flavored Ramune, Chucky key chain, Storm figure, Wolverine figure.
I love Ramune, it's kind of like Sprite, but comes in many flavors, this time I chose to try Litchi, sadly it wasn't very good. Last time I was at Mayhem, I really wanted this Chucky keychain and it was still there when I went back this time, so I figured I should buy it. The two X-Men figures were in a couple blind bags that were on clearance. I love the Wolverine one, though I'm not quite sure why he's stepping on a skull, that's kinda weird.
Hy-Vee, Hobby Lobby, Jo-Ann's and a few other stores are in a strip mall altogether, so I have to stop at all of them when I go.
Next stop, Hy-Vee:

 I picked up a few Russell  Stover eggs for Easter baskets, fudge brownie for my mother, maple cream for my dad, and birthday cake for me.
Next up, Hobby Lobby:

 I try not to buy full price things at Hobby Lobby because there is certainly nothing I need (mostly) there. I always stop at the clearance section in the back and try not to buy things that are more than $2.00. This time I picked up some patterned tags, some baby stickers, Star Wars pins and some Goop. I really did need some E6000, because I misplaced mine (and then of course found it after buying a replacement, typical), I couldn't find any clear though, the two they had at Hobby Lobby dried white or black, I didn't even know those existed. So, I bought the Goop, which looked about the same, when I used it the other day, it's very smelly. I hope it works though. I bought the baby stickers because I had bought some wedding ones kinda like these where you could take out the wedding sticker and still use the frame, so I got these with the same idea.
Last stop that day, was an Asian food store.

 I love the Asian food stores we have. I'm always trying to try new foods and these places always have something different, unfortunately, mostly everything's in an Asian language so I don't know what I'm getting, so it's always hit or miss. Usually I find something good, if not I either take it to the library, or give it to a friend, everyone wins.
Anywho, egg tarts, cake balls, some kind of bread/cake, and a milk drink. I've had the egg tarts at an international food thing before, the cake balls I googled, they kinda dissolve in your mouth, they're a nice light sweet snack. I haven't quite figured out what the bread/cake things are, but they're yummy. And I've had the milk drink before, it's kinda like milk with a spice in it.

These next ones are from me wanting to get all the cool stuff from people's videos. I really wanted to go last weekend, but I also didn't want to go out of the house, and you can't really have both. I have a few Target gift cards that I wanted to spend.

 I'd seen so many cool things in the videos about stuff in the Target dollar spot, that I really wanted to know if my Target had them. They had quite a few, but not near as many. I found Epic for $4.75, that's a great deal since I've been wanting this movie for awhile. I had cartwheel savings for the Star Wars puzzle and the Frozen blind bag. I got the Star Wars eraser puzzle for a friend, it ended up having Kylo Ren and the orange/white robot. The Frozen had Kristoff, I really wanted the girls or Olaf, basically I bought it because my Cartwheel put it at 50% and my Target gift card made everything I picked up at Target free. I love buying notebooks, pens and pencils, so when I saw the Dr. Seuss pencils in the dollar spot, I picked them up. The boxes were my solution to needing small 'baskets' for Easter presents.

Everything here is from the Dollar Spot except the bowl, the pens and the paper clips. I've been wanting a tiny post-it notepad since I bought the cute Easter ones for Easter baskets a few weeks ago, but they didn't have any of the Easter ones left, so I picked up this set that has a tiny post-it note, a larger magnet and a pen with it. I love the wooden buttons. The zig zags are stickers. There were other paper clips in the dollar spot, but these were $0.88 on clearance. I bought the cards cause they were cute and blank. And pens, explanation above.

Next up Dollar Tree

 Gummy fruit, S'more crunch, gummy peach slices, gummy carrots, Hello Kitty surprise egg, life savers, chocolate seashells, and chocolate chicks. I have to say Dollar Tree has some surprisingly good candy, it's a very interesting selection, very different than you'd find in other places, and for a dollar who passes that up? The gummy carrots and lifesavers are for my family Easter next weekend.

I picked up the bag for a friend who has a birthday on Monday, I looked at the gift bags in Target because I had cartwheel savings, but they still weren't $1. Another set of notepads, more pens, some candles and a cute pencil bag. I saw this on one of the videos and I love that they had it, sadly they didn't have any of the cute stickers that the videos had. But, my Dollar Tree's kinda sad.

 

Now all my pens, pencils and notepads from this haul are living in the pencil bag, but they have nowhere else to go. The Ramune has been drunk, Chucky is on my bag, Wolverine is sitting with other geeky stuff on my shelves, I already had Storm, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do with her.

The eggs have gone into their respective Easter baskets. The tags and stickers have gone into my craft space as has the Goop. The pins were used for a present. I've tried and shared all the things I got at the Asian food store.

Epic is on my movie shelf, the Star Wars figure has gone toward a present, the boxes have been used as Easter baskets, Kristoff has gone to work. Mostly I haven't done anything with the writing implements and the notepads. I'm sure they'll get use some day. And I really need to stop spending money. As much pleasure as shopping gives me, it is hard to do.

 

Find anything cool in your neck of the woods?

Handmade Etsy Swap

I joined a swap through Chaotic Goddesses a month or so ago, called the Handmade Love Etsy Swap.


For this swap, we were supposed to load up our Etsy favorites and our partner buys some stuff up to $20 and sends it to us.
I joined this swap for two reasons, I really wanted to do a swap (I love swaps) and I like collecting art from other people.
There were an odd number of people that signed up, so it wasn't just a one-to-one swap. I was paired with a partner to send to and a different person was sending to me.
My person to send to was one of the swap hostesses, Angie of My So Called Chaos.
She really likes elephants, home décor and skeletons. So, I bought her a pair of skull earrings and a handmade elephant chain.
I also altered a box for her. Skeletons and not something I have a lot of, but I found just enough material to make her this:

 Head over to my other blog to read about the process.
Judy from The Knotty Needle sent me a package. Here's what she sent me (sorry the pictures are weird, I got the package shortly before I was to go to lunch, so the pictures are on my front porch.)

 She sent me this bag of extras to make my own stuff:

 This one was on my Etsy list.

There was also an altered pin, but after opening the print above, my ride picked me up for lunch and I opened it in the car. I'll get a picture up soon.

There's a new swap going on at Chaotic Goddesses (almost, sign-up's start on Monday), you should check it out.

Hodge Podge Vol 260

It's Hodgepodge time again. Head over to Joyce's blog to see other people's answers.

1. Has spring sprung in your little corner of the world? Other than the calendar how would I know? What's your favorite thing about spring?
It has, we have crocuses and snowdrops blooming in the front yard. I can see leave for tulips, and daffodils and iris' as well.

I love that garage sale season starts soon

 2. Besides the weather, what's put a spring in your step recently?
I recently got a few Target gift cards, those definitely help

 3. How does Easter impact you?
I create my own Easter basket and always put something together for friends. Plus my mom's side of the family usually gets together.

 4. I saw this somewhere on Facebook and thought it would make a fun Hodgepodge question. Which of the following would you find most disappointing...
 a just stuffed taco shell breaking open and spilling out before you take the first bite? dropping a just-purchased Starbucks/Dunkin Donuts coffee? opening the peanut butter jar and finding it empty? upending onto the sidewalk a just-purchased ice cream cone? a burnt bagel popping up in your toaster when you're rushing breakfast? or cutting into an avocado and finding out it's rotten? 
Probably the ice cream

 5. What's something held together with tape at your house? Or a paper clip? Or a wing and a prayer?The cover to my bathroom light. It's a light with a fan, but the cover to the light doesn't stay on very well. We tried to put it in like it's supposed to be, but sometimes when you're sitting on the toilet, it falls right on your head. The only thing I've found for a solution is to tape it on with packing tape.
6. Do you feel underappreciated? In what way?
Sometimes. I like giving gifts to people, and I do like being thanked for them. I know you shouldn't do things for people if you expect something in return, but sometimes it's nice to be acknowledged.

 7. What's something you'd build if you knew how?
I'm not really big on building something, I'm more of a crafter.

 8. Insert your own random thought here.
I'm excited for Easter. I created a few baskets for friends, one for my mother, and one for me. I can't wait to see people's reactions. Plus my friend's birthday is Monday, and I put together a pretty good gift for her.

Currently...

Have you guys ever read those Currently... posts? Where people post what they're currently doing? I love those, I've seen them pop up on some of my blogs, most recently Pinstrosity, so I thought I'd post one.

Here we go....

CURRENTLY....
Reading...I'm in the middle of a few books (as always) The Longest Kill: The Story of Maverick 41 One of the World's Greatest Sniper by Craig Harrison, The German War: A Nation under Arms 1939-1945: Citizens and Soldiers by Nicholas Stargardt, The Hot House: Life inside Leavenworth Prison by Pete Earley, War of Two: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the Duel that Stunned the Nation by John Sedgwick, A Very British Murder by Lucy Worsely and The American President: From Teddy Roosevelt to Bill Clinton by William Leuchtenburg.
The Longest Kill, I'm barely into. I started it Sunday night, it's requested by other people at the library, so I thought I'd actually read the book instead of turning it back in and re-requesting it. So far I've read about his life up to him joining the army.
The German War is all about the Germans experience of World War II. At first I didn't think I could really read it, but after awhile I got into it, it's a pretty thick book, about 500+ pages. I really do love a really thick book though, and I seem to be particularly intrigued in World War II, I've read about the Nuremburg Trials, quite a few books on the horrors of the concentration camps including one about the history of them. I'm not quite sure why this topic intrigues me so much.
The Hot House, is very interesting. The author actually was granted permission to go inside Leavenworth, which doesn't happen very often, and interview some of the inmates. It's an interesting perspective. If the book wasn't falling apart, I might add it to my Staff Picks shelf at the library.
War of Two, I'm about the first chapter into. I can't really say if it's interesting or not, but I find the topic interesting, I like reading about the American presidents.
A very British Murder is about the fascination people have with murder. It's about English fascination, but I think a lot of what she covers applies to other countries as well. I was trying to get it finished before it was due today, but that didn't happen.
The American President is also a very thick book, about 800+ pages, but I find it fascinating. Like it says, it covers the presidents from Teddy Roosevelt to Bill Clinton, it's very interesting.

WATCHING...movies as usual. I just finished The Intern today, that was pretty funny. I watched Antman last week and that was hilarious. I laughed very loudly and a lot during that movie
LISTENING....I don't really listen to a lot of specific things. My Ipod's usually on shuffle, though the other day I just wanted to listen to Jim Gaffigan the comedian, I guess I needed a little laughter.

EXCITED FOR....my day off tomorrow. I worked Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Today. Which isn't really that much, but I feel like I was on my feet a ton, and my feet are tired of standing. I have been sitting and on the computer since I got home today about 2:30. I'm not planning on doing anything interesting, just relaxing.
I am kinda excited about eating some of the snacks in my February Freedom Japanese Market snack box. They are a company in Japan that gather up popular snacks and send them out once a month. I tried a small box last year and wasn't very impressed, but I signed up for their mailing list and kept wanting to try another one. Last month they had a special of 10% off, so I splurged and went for the family pack. I was so excited to get it in the mail yesterday.
I'm always on the lookout for interesting and new foods, and Asian foods are very interesting and new. We have at least 3 Asian grocery stores here and I try to frequent them and try new stuff. I don't always like the stuff I try, but it's fun to try.

WORKING ON....Not a ton. I'm still trying to clean, sort and get rid of stuff, but I'm not very motivated to do it. I have packed some stuff up, but then I have less things out and it's kinda depressing.
I have put together an Easter basket for a friend. I'm excited about that. I guess that should be above.
I'm also trying to keep filling out the Wednesday Hodgepodge and blog more frequently. I have a swap coming in the mail at some time in the near future, so there's a post there.

AT THIS EXACT MOMENT...I'm sitting on my futon staring at the blank TV screen, listening to my growling stomach tell me I need to eat supper.

I stole these currently words from My So Called Chaos today, from her March 11th post.

Hodgepodge is back

Hi All, I'm back. I keep reading the questions and then forgetting to write a post, If you'd like to read other people's answers, visit Joyce's blog, here. 

1. March is National Women's History Month. In that vein, who are three women who've been influential in your life? How so? 

Probably, my mother, mostly because she's my mother, I wouldn't be here without her;

my high school art teacher because my art got so much better after taking her classes and she encouraged me to go into art,

and my upper boss because she said she still has no idea what to do with her life and neither do I, so it makes me feel better.

2. In what ways do you think women have it easier than men? 

I think people are much nicer to women, we also have much cooler clothes than they do.

3. What do you need most right now: faith, love, hope, or peace? 

I don't know what I need, but I know I'd really like some love right now. I'm so sick of being single.

4. Do you have a collection? If so, what do you collect and why? 

I have so many collections. I collect owls cause their cute, I collect snowmen cause it makes me easy to shop for. Honestly, I don't have really good reasons for collecting things, usually I collect things cause they're cute. I collect elephants and frogs and minions and toys from my childhood and picture frames and vintage jewelry. I collect too many things and it's really hard to stop. I heard somewhere that if you had three of something, you had a collection, so I'm sure I collect a lot of things.

5. Plaids, checks, polka dots, stripes...your favorite?

I like polka dots, but it depends on what your talking about. I really like things with polka dots, like backpacks and washi tape. But, I also like plaids, it's a nice pattern. If we're talking clothes, probably stripes.

6. In what ways are you the same as your childhood self? 

I still like to play. I kinda laughed when I heard about the adult coloring book fad, because I've always liked doing what keeps my stress down. I have a tendency to do dot-to-dots, there's a company that has Extreme Dot-to-Dot books, with pictures that are over 1000 dots, are on two pages, that use symbols or coordinates. I find that extremely calming, or last night I had fun just attaching things to pages with tape. I also like playing/collecting toys from my youth.

7. You're a contestant on the TV game show Jeopardy. What category will you ace?  

Something about books. I used to go to a trivia thing with my family, and when they asked about contents about popular books, even if I hadn't read the books, I still got all the questions right.

8. Insert your own random thought here. 

I'm loving our weather recently. Today it got up to 70 degrees. It's supposed to be pretty warm for the next week or so. I'm afraid once we get back to normal weather, we're gonna be so cold. It's only March and in Iowa we still could get snow.

Shopping

I went shopping yesterday. I've been seeing people's great Easter finds, so I went to fill up my Easter basket and find some cool stuff for friends.

I went to Dollar Tree last, but the pictures are backwards, because it was how the bags were layered in my bigger bag. I always take a large bag to put all my purchases in because it's easier than carrying multiple bags because I'm walking. Anywho, here's my purchases:

 a lighter for candles, body wash, gummy candy, a metal bookmark, some post note arrows, Hershey kisses with hazelnuts, key lime pie and tiramisu dessert chocolates, Pez gummy bears, bunny washi tape, and some push pins.
I have some candles from my 12 Days of Christmas swap, and while I'm not a huge fan of candles, they smelled so good just sitting, I thought I'd light them, but my lighter thing wasn't working. I didn't know where to find them in the stores, but walked down the right aisle at the Dollar Tree and there it was. I've been needing some body wash, but I don't like to spend a lot of money for it, so it's the perfect price at Dollar Tree. The candy aisle is a very bad place to walk down in Dollar Tree, they have some great candy, I bought some gummy Pez candy, some gummy fruit candy (I devoured them today, the pear, tastes just like pear, soo good), there's key lime pie and tiramisu chocolates and Hershey kisses with hazelnuts in them. I bought some push pins for work, and some post-it note tags for my books, I have a hard time remembering where I finish reading in a book unless it's at the end of a paragraph, so I thought these would help. I bought a neat metal bookmark and some bunny washi tape for an Easter basket.
Next up, is Walmart:

 some rose chocolates, a set of owl kitchen towels, etc, purple mini clothespins, hairbands, and some chalkboard butterfly clips for an Easter basket.
The rose chocolates were from Valentine's Day and on sale, but I thought they'd be cute to put in Easter baskets. The owl towel set has towels, hot pads, oven mitts, and washcloths, I thought they'd be great for my new apartment, I'm packing them somewhere and not use them until after I move.
I've run out of hair ties and since I didn't cut my hair this year, it's getting very long. I'm going to have to figure out something new to do with it. It hits the middle of my chest, and all I do with it is put it in a braid, French braid or pony tail. Anyone know any easy things to do with long hair?
The tiny purple clothespins and butterfly clips for an Easter basket. I thought I'd glue some tiny MOP buttons to the purple clothespins.
First store I went to was Target:

 A package of gummy bears, Minions chocolate egg, an Avengers chocolate egg, a Star Wars chocolate egg, and some Cadbury cookies
The gummy bears are for an Easter basket. I actually bought two of these Minion eggs, they have a Minion toy inside the egg. The Avengers and Star Wars eggs also have toys inside them, they are fro my friends' Easter baskets. The Cadbury cookies had discounts through the Cartwheel app, and they sounded yummy to try. I find it's really nice when there's something I want to try and it's on the Cartwheel app.

A Scotch ideas book, some Spring stickers, cute pencils, some sticky notes, Minion Easter eggs, green paper 'grass', two Minion puzzle erasers, and some mini clothespins.
All the Minion stuff went into my Easter basket. The Scotch book, pencils, sticky notes and clothespins were for an Easter basket. I bought the 'grass' to make spring/summer altered Altoid tins.

I asked one of my co-workers if I could create an Easter basket for her, and she said yes (I don't run into a lot of people that say no, if you want to give them a gift). If you read my last post, you know I wanted to create an Easter basket for someone. Since, Easter is at the end of March, I figured it was a little late to find a swap, so I'm putting together one for a friend. I always put together a little thing for another few friends, so I have a couple things for other friends.
My Easter basket is full, so I'm not buying anything else for myself. I probably won't buy anything else for my friends either, I might find some more stuff around my apartment, though.
I have been such a slacker on getting things done lately, it took a lot to drag myself out to go shopping yesterday. I have been watching Piinksparkles on Youtube. She's so cute, and buys such neat stuff, I totally got sucked in.

life

Hello all. My life is so boring right now, I still have nothing to talk about. I get up and read my books and then go to work, or vice versa.
As you all know I signed up for Chaotic Goddesses Handmade Etsy swap, I was totally pumped for it, and now I feel like I'm failing miserably at getting together a swap package for my partner. I visited her Etsy favorites site, and picked a couple things, and a few of them told me they were unavailable, or the one I really wanted to get her, the shop is in India (or some far away place like that). I did get one item in the mail today, I also picked up something from a local store that's like one of the things on her favorites list. I'm not sure it counts as a handmade item, it is handmade, but it's from an actual store, so I'm not sure. I was also pumped to make something for my partner (which I'm still gonna do), I'm just having a hard time figuring out what to make. I don't want to send something breakable because I never know how to package those things, and I have gotten things in the past that haven't made it to my house in one piece.
I got my tax refund this past Monday, came about the same time as my paycheck, that was nice. I've been trying not to spend money (it's a lot easier when you don't go anywhere), but then I'm reminded that Easter is coming (at the end of March, that's kinda weird) and I want to put together an Easter basket, plus I have to stock mine. I've also read/watched some videos on YouTube about the cute things that people are picking up for Easter. Speaking of Easter, does anyone know about any Easter swaps? Like I said I want to put together an Easter basket for someone, but I don't have anyone to give one to. I haven't seen anything on my blogs about Easter swaps. I could go for a spring swap, too.
I'm slowly eating my Valentine's Day candy which I picked up on the 15th, which is pretty much the last time I went shopping, more or less. I guess as long as you don't count me going to Hobby Lobby with my mom and buying two mixed bags of buttons as shopping. I really shouldn't go down the button aisle at all.
I'm looking forward to garage sale season, even though I'm trying to downsize and I seriously need to clean and sort through all the stuff in my apartment. I just love the thrill of the hunt that comes with garage sales.
I haven't been doing the weekly Hodgepodge lately, mostly because the questions are very appealing to me, or most of them will be and then a few I don't like. I will try to push myself to do that.
I recently finished The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. I like his books, but I find it really hard to get into them. I read Dead Wake about the Lusitania disaster and I liked that book too, but again found it very hard to get into. I've been wanting to read Devil for awhile, I kept hearing about how good it was, plus it was the 1893 World's Fair and about the first serial killer, H. H. Holmes. I find serial killers fascinating, I always wonder why some people turn out one way and others turn out another way.
I'm in between books at the moment, I'm trying to make myself read the ones I can't renew, but I have them in order of when they're due back at the library, and I find it hard to read one that's due back later than another one. I also suspended all my book requests until after I move. I have so many books from the library to read, plus ones from book sales that I want to read and then get rid of, plus all the other stuff I should be doing.

Handmade Love Swap

I was gonna mention this in my post yesterday, but since one of the requirements for this swap is to have a post on it once you've been accepted, I thought I'd wait to see if I'd been accepted.
I haven't done this swap before, but I also haven't been disappointed in any swap I've done with CG Swaps. I've also been wanting to do a swap for awhile.
So, I decided to sign up for the Handmade Love Etsy Swap after mulling over it for a few days, and I just got the email not so long ago, that I was accepted.

For this swap you send a package worth $15-$30, containing at least one item from your partners Etsy wishlist and other goodies that are recommended to be handmade.

The reason it took me so long to sign up is, I'm moving in August, and I don't need more stuff, and that's what you get in swaps. But, the fact that I love swaps won out. I love finding the perfect item for someone else, and I love getting the perfect item from someone else. Plus, this one encourages you to make things. And I've been itching to do a swap where I make something cool for my partner.

Some more info on the swap:
Sign-ups started last Monday, February 15th.
Sign-ups will end tomorrow Monday, February 22nd.
Partners will be assigned this Wednesday, February 24th.
Packages must be mailed by March 12th
Swap posts linky opens on March 16th.

I really do love Chaotic Goddesses swaps. I've participated in their 12 Days of Christmas swap since the first year I found it, about 3 years ago, I think?  I love reading about what other people get in their swaps even when I don't participate. They just finished a Book and a Cuppa swap not too long ago, where people swap mugs, books and other goodies. While I really love reading about this, I never participate? I do love books, you should know this by now if you're a regular reader (I work in a library). But, since I work in a library, I always have waaay too many books checked out and waiting to be read, so I don't own a ton of books. I also don't use mugs that much. I just recently started drinking chai lattes on the mornings I have to open at the library (and I need to find a little more variety on those), but I have one cup that I use, wash and use a few days later. So, I just don't bother with that swap, though it is very fun to read about what other people have gotten.

I'm always open to swaps, and I've noticed that since I cut back on swaps because I didn't have much extra money to spend, I'm more bummed out. I was hoping that by joining more swaps it would help brighten up my life. I'm also looking for more creative, handmade swaps, if anyone knows of any, let me know.

I've noticed there's very few posts about this swap on the linky, so please people, sign up, I know it will be fun.

odds and ends

It's been way too long, I apologize. I just haven't had much to write about, I don't have a lot of pictures either.
I had a doctor's visit in January, I haven't seen the doctor regularly due to my health coverage. When I saw my doctor a few years ago, they did bloodwork, when I went in this year, she said my cholesterol was a bit high, so I'm supposed to be lowering it. I googled it a little, but I'm still not totally sure what's good to lower your cholesterol, anyone got any suggestions?
I have been enjoying the part of being salaried where you get paid the same amount of every paycheck. It's been very nice to pay all my bills at the beginning of the month and still have money left over.
Most of the month of January, I've been working at one of my temporary jobs, putting that with my regular job at the library, it was very tiring.
I have gotten myself one of the Pop! figurines:

 Snarf from Thundercats, a cartoon from when I was a kid in the 80's, is in the upper left corner. I've been wanting one of these figures, but I didn't want just any one. Me and a friend went to a local comics store, that has a ton of them, when I saw Snarf, I knew he was the one. I also picked up some blind bags that included Groot, Raphael, the Cheshire cat, and Mowgli.  I spent way too much money on random things that day.
Saw this on the way to work one day:

 It was shortly after one of our snowfalls, the next day when I walked by it, it was mostly melted.
Found these panther sculptures on ISU campus one day:

 My muse finally came back, so I created a few Valentines:

The rest and how/what I made them out of are on my art blog, here.

The end of this week we are enjoying very high temperatures, yesterday the high was in the upper 50's. I'm ready for the end of winter. I'm loving that everything is melting. I know there's still more winter, and we may get more heavy snow, but I am loving the warmer temperatures.

I've been bored of everything lately. I'm not sure why. I plan my weekly grocery trips around what's on sale at the store, I think that might be part of it. I might splurge on something next week, to see if that helps.

Hodgepodge Vol 250

It's time for Hodgepodge. I'll admit I haven't been very interested in the questions lately I really liked these. Head on over to Joyce's blog to see what other people answered.

1. Are you ready for new? Is 2016 likely to be very different than 2015? Do you want it to be?
I'm ready for new and different. I will have to move (I hate looking for jobs and living quarters, both of which I have to do). My co-worker said I could live in her basement apartment, so I have a backup even though it's at the top of my price range, but with my anxiety of looking for a new place, I might just fall back on that. I hope it's different. I'm hoping to get more distance from my parents again. I'm not a fan of doing laundry at their place and seeing them every week.

 2. January 6th is National Technology Day. Currently, what is your single biggest struggle or frustration when it comes to technology?
I hate not knowing why something doesn't work. I want to know what the problem is and fix it so it can work again. I also hate getting stuff and not knowing how it works. I got an iPhone last August and I'm still figuring it out. I bet if I actually sat down and looked into it, it wouldn't be so bad, but I don't want to be stuck to my phone. I like the fact that I don't check email/facebook/etc on it all the time, but I also love that I can if I don't have the internet. I recently figured out how to use the flashlight on it. I think that's one of it's best features.

 3. It's that time again...time for Lake Superior University to present a list of words (or phrases) they'd like to see banished (for over-use, mis-use, and general uselessness) in 2016. You can read more about the decision making process here, but this year's top vote getters are-
So (at the start of every single sentence), conversation (as in hotly debated topics where we're invited to 'join the conversation'), problematic, stakeholder, price point, secret sauce, break the Internet, walk it back, presser, manspreading (common in larger cities where some men take up the entire bus or train seat by sitting wide), vape, giving me life (refers to anything that may excite a person or make them laugh), and physicality
 Which of these words/phrases would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word not on the list you'd like to add?
I like getting rid of "so", I think it's a meaningless word, and makes you get your point across so much slower than it needs to be.
4. Share one of your current health related goals.
I don't make New Year's resolutions, but as I'm getting older, I decided to try to do some things to help with my health. I'm trying to take a multi-vitamin every day, take calcium pills every day, drink more water and eat a clementine every day. OK, it doesn't have to be a clementine, but they're easy. I know we're only 6 days into the new year, but I have drank a bit more water, I didn't buy pop today when I really wanted it (I did yesterday, but I've learned it helps me deal with stressful people, I really needed it), I've been eating clementines since I bought a bag on Saturday, I've been taking vitamins since I bought them on Sunday, and I've been taking my calcium pills every night, too (mostly because I get heartburn at night and they help). Here's hoping I continue these habits.

 5. Let's talk fifty shades of gray. As in the color. Gray is currently a popular color in home decor, paint, wardrobes, hair, wedding party attire, and more. Are you a fan? Do you have the color in some variation in your home or wardrobe?  Gray hair, the old gray mare, gray matter, gray area...which gray idiom can you most relate to right now?
I'm not a fan of the color gray. I like color, when I get my own house, I'm totally painting my walls in a color. I don't use a lot of gray in anything. I have a pair of gray leggings, and gray as a background on some of my favorite shirts.
Probably gray hair, but more of white hair. I am apparently prone to getting white hair early, I've had a few since I was in my 20's and I feel I keep finding more.

 6. Certain foods are considered 'lucky' if eaten on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. Cooked greens to bring economic fortune, black-eyed peas or lentils also symbolize money, pork which symbolizes progress, fish for good luck, and if you're in Spain 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight. Did you eat any lucky foods on the first day of the year? Is that a tradition in your home? Of the foods listed, which most appeals to you?
I didn't eat any of those, unless you count shrimp, crab or lobster as fish. We went to Red Lobster for New Year's Eve and I finished my entrée for both my meals on Friday (those portions are huge!).
If I was going with which one is yummiest, probably grapes, but if we're going with what I want in the new year, cooked greens or black-eyed peas for money. I would love to have more money, but I know it takes work.

 7. What's the single biggest time waster in your life and what, if anything, will you do about it this year?
My computer and the internet. I sit down in the morning (when I don't have to work early) and get up hours later wondering where my time went. I really should just do what I do when I have to work early every morning. I know I don't have a lot of time to spend, so I just use my kindle fire which is way more limited on what I can do. Plus, I have a tendency to play Bingo on my laptop, and that takes up a lot of time. I have a lot of time, and if I spent it on other things I wouldn't complain so much. I would also return more books to the library instead of renewing them all the time.

 8.  Insert your own random thought here.
It's January, which means I get to work more. I love when I get to go back to the bookstore, but I found out today (OK, I already knew, but realized it more today), I need new tennis shoes. Last time I was at the bookstore (August), my feet would hurt in the arch and I couldn't figure out what it was. I don't wear my tennis shoes in my position at the library anymore, so when I wore them today and had the same pain, I figured out (sorta) what my problem is. I'm just not a fan of buying things that cost a lot of money.