Long week

I took the afternoon to work on packing things up to be mailed.
Why make a tag:

 Basically you send whatever you want. The person I was sending to liked Hello Kitty.
Altered a card for a swap:

 I totally just put the square on it.
I had a package in the mail, finally.
Why make a tag:

 I'm so excited about that snail.
There was another one, but it was postage due. I'm tired of getting those. I also told the postman to send back the one I got the notification about on Wednesday. I messaged that person and she said she had checked to see if she was ok. Maybe I should have seen it first.
Valentine's Day swap:

We had to send 5 Valentine's items. I kept tweaking this one. I finally went with these items and filled the pencil pouch with some fun stuff:

Stickerpalooza:

 We had to send 10 new packs of stickers.
I also made a pink pocket letter:

I realize I didn't have to make the whole thing pink, but I thought it was a good challenge for myself. I also signed up for a green pocket letter and I'm going to challenge myself with that as well.
Saturday: I had to close at the library and it was mostly dead until we hit closing time. There was this guy and his daughter and they came down about 5:55 (we close at 6:00pm) and started checking out, they took about 12 minutes to finish up and leave. But, that was the most annoying thing all day, so not a bad day. I found some mail when I got home.
wish of die cuts:

 Love these, they remind me more embellishments.
Wish of tea:

 Not sure how I really feel about these.
Snowflake pocket letter:

 It's cute, but I'm not a big fan of the pocket letters that announce what the goodies are in the back.
Sunday: I did laundry.
Monday: I opened at the library and then closed at the bookstore. It was a bit busy for a few hours and then I went on my 'lunch' and got back about 5 and it was so dead the rest of the day. They sent me home about a quarter of 8 and I made the bus. I found a few mail items when I got home.
Wish of tea:

 These look interesting.
Sticker swap:

 Not so excited about these. You can tell they are the cheap ones from Walmart and Dollar Tree. I do like the pandas (cause I already have them), the summer ones, the travel and the birds. I liked the ones I got in the first swap, they were more diverse and interesting.
A surprise tag:

It's cute, but I don't do coloring books. I'll pass it on to someone else.
Tuesday: I started at the bookstore and closed at the library. I was dragging by the end of the day. I worked 11 hours each on Monday and Tuesday. It was a bit much. I'm getting too old for this. But, unless I find a better job, it's gonna keep happening. My co-worker said I looked defeated last night. I totally just came home, took my shower and went to bed. I feel like I was too exhausted to sleep, it took forever to get to sleep.
Wednesday: The morning came way too soon. I was again drained in the morning. Did my errands of sending mail out and stopping at grocery store on the way home. Now I'm just sitting.

It's Do Nothing Day!!!

It's time for the Wednesday Medley, head on over to Terri's blog at Your Friend from Florida, to see what other people answered.
I totally meant to do this this morning. But I've had a long week. I've already worked 27 hours this week. I'm getting too old for these long days and working so many jobs. 

Wednesday, January 16th, is National Do Nothing Day!! National Nothing Day was proposed in 1972 by columnist Harold Pullman Coffin. This day has been observed annually since 1973. Of course, the way to celebrate it is to do nothing! 

1.  To commemorate Do Nothing Day in SOME way, tell us something about your life (or the life of someone close to you) in 1973!! Sorry, before my time. But, my parents say they were married 10 years before I was born, so that would be about 1973.

2.  Now that we are thinking back, please tell us what your favorite past time was as a child. Sitting on the roof of our porch and reading. I always thought it looked dangerous. It wasn't because the roof isn't very sloped, but it was fun.

3.  What is the best way to cheer you up on a bad day? Music. Or just a really good book. Or chocolate.

4.  How old were you when you first started dating? Do you remember your first date? 23, I didn't date as a kid. I think my ex came over and saw my apartment. I'm not really sure.

5.  Today is also National Fig Newton day.  Do you like figs/Fig Newtons? I do not like figs. I liked the ones that had other fruits in them, just not figs.

6.  Tell us something random about your week. Like I said above. I've already worked 27 hours this week. Monday and Tuesday I worked 11 hour days. By the time I closed last night at the library, I was so exhausted I felt drunk. My co worker told me I looked defeated. Totally felt defeated. Funny thing is, I think I was too tired to sleep, it felt like I laid there for an hour before i fell asleep. I'm so tired. I need to figure something else out soon. It's going to be too much.

More food

Today I woke up, got my stuff ready for work and went in to work, only to find out they didn't need me. I got some more training and then my boss told me she over scheduled so if I wanted to go home, I could. So I went shopping.

My first stop was HyVee I was looking for their bagels, I didn't find any, but have you seen these?

 Peanut butter Ding Dongs and Twinkies? I was tempted to try them, but I have a bunch of food already and it's mostly sweets.
I also saw this:

 I didn't read the sign very well, I thought $4 was a bit much for a shell. I see now it's solid. I didn't find anything to buy, so I headed over to JoAnns. I really wanted to buy something, but couldn't find anything.
I found this obnoxiously confusing sign, though:

 It's hanging in front of the Mrs. Sparkle & Co. The sign specifically says Excludes Ms Sparkle & Co $1.99 embellishments.
I headed over to the Salvation Army, but didn't feel like using my debit card for $4 of stuff. I guess it really does help to not carry cash.
Next was Hobby Lobby, I was looking for a little something extra for my Valentine's swaps.
I was saddened with the Valentine's selection.

 stickers, dino ornament, stickers, pick, magnet, miniatures.
The stickers, and Valentine's stuff was 40% off. The Christmas stuff was 90% off. I thought the word stickers would be cute on things. I was also looking for something pink, so I picked up the dinosaur ornament. I found a few Valentine's things, the felt animal stickers (mostly for the unicorn that you can't see), the heart shaker stickers and the mini unicorn pieces. The cashier rang up the sparkly hearts as Valentine's Day, but they were with the stickers. I really thought the cat stickers were cute, and the sticker book matches a collection of project life cards I have. I picked up the magnet because it was cute, it was 40% off, too. I figured I could cut the stick off the cupcake and use it for something else. I spent about $24.
Last stop was a local Asian food store. I haven't been to one in a long time, most of the time I have no idea what I'm getting, I just pick up stuff that looks interesting.

 corn snack, husband cakes, butterfly crackers.
I've had this corn snack in a pink bag, that was strawberry flavored. The husband cakes looked interesting, they are. They're kind of like a puff pastry and I'm not exactly sure what's inside, it looks like red bean paste, but doesn't taste as sweet. I totally picked up the butterfly crackers for the purple sweet potato cookie rolls, there were two packages in the box, I haven't tried them yet.

 jelly drink, taro mochi, Beijing wheat flour cake, Qingke Mahua.
I've had the jelly drinks before, they're really good. I realized when I got home, I could take one for each day I'm at the bookstore. I've had the taro mochi as well, it's really good. Last time I bought some, I kept them so long they got hard, I will try harder this time. The wheat cakes were also weird, they have a filling I think it's dates, but doesn't taste as strong. I have no idea what the other one is, it wasn't very sweet until the end, it was kinda boring. I spent about $27.
I went home and had lunch and tried everything.
I put together a favorite animal tag:

 and a favorite color of pink tag:

This is why I was looking for pink things and picked up the dinosaur ornament and the sparkly pink heart stickers. And then I decided to just send this keychain that I already had. I included the tissues, a unicorn paper bag and some stickers in the keychain. I felt bad about sending something so boring (the keychain) for the tag, but we have to send something new, and that's all I had, so I included extras. I figured the person I was sending to might not appreciate the dinosaur, and I don't like just sending stickers.

Lots of chocolate

 Tuesday: I basically slacked off, but I got a few things done.

Wish for self-adhesive jewels.

 This was for a swap called I Need 'Dis, we would post a list of three items we needed and someone else would send them to us. Someone asked for double sided tape and foam mounting pieces:

 Happy Mail:

 I was really trying to keep these flat, but I wanted to send the hot chocolate and figured I'd send the cup cozy, too.
a wish for clear stamps:

 I signed up for a swap called Winter in Blue and white, ATC swap. This swap is usually over the top, but this time she asked us to keep it fairly simple.

 I went with shakers. I like how they turned out. When I mailed them out, I realized I was supposed to mail them in a bubble mailer, but didn't. Hopefully I get them back OK. I read my first book of the year, it was a board book, so not very exciting: Mrs. Peanuckle's Vegetable Alphabet.

Wednesday: I opened at the library and had a game that night. 

One of the aides at the library was leaving that week, so I made a farewell card for her:

It was so dead at the game, I didn't walk home because it was so icy. I made my fitbit happy, I hit 10,000 steps before I left the game. Got home, took a shower and went to bed. I did email the bookstore again and emailed someone else in the bookstore asking if they knew anything about the schedule.

Thursday: The smoke detectors decided to wake up the whole house at 6:15, I could not get back to sleep after that and was tired the whole day. I heard back from the bookstore, the person doing the scheduling said she was trying to get it done that day and basically everything that I signed up for I would be working. I found some mail.
This is from the I Need Dis swap, I asked for hedgehog washi:

 Someone had sent me some tea with that top washi holding in down. I want the whole roll of it, but I won't get it. I made some stuff.
Penguin and Polar Bear ATCs:

 Winter pocket letter:

 I used some temporary tattoos on it, sadly, you really can't see them.
I also finished my first book of the year: The Potlikker Papers by John T. Edge, it's about the history of food in the south. I really enjoy reading about the history of food or restaurants. I also read Mrs. Peanuckle's Fruit Alphabet.
Friday: I was again rudely woken up by the smoke alarms, this time it was at 5:15, I did get back to sleep after this one, but later when I woke up I felt like crap and didn't do much during the day. I heard back from the bookstore again, actually late Thursday I she emailed me saying she was sorry she hadn't gotten back to me, she was interviewing all day. Friday, I had another email, saying she was working on publishing the schedule. They use a scheduling software, but the temps (that's me), just go by whatever schedule they send us. Our link seems to expire between Aug and Jan or Jan and Aug, depending on when it is. I did not get an email to check the scheduling software this time, so I'm going by what she originally said. I got an email later in the day from a lead student, they basically just emailed me back what I said I was available for. One of those days being Martin Luther King Day, which they have shorter hours on, so I had to verify that I wasn't working that day. I have to admit, I'm kinda looking forward to the 25th when I'm done working there. It has been such a hassle this time to get the schedule.
 Saturday: I had a game to work. I'm not so sure what I think about the fitbit. I was pacing at the game and it whined at me while I was pacing. The whine I figure is that I'm supposed to be moving every hour. I walked home, but still didn't make the 10,000. It was in the 50's. The weird warm weather we've been getting (40's) makes me think the world is going to drop really bad weather on us. I read another book: The Not-Quite States of America by Doug Mack about the territories of the US, that was interesting.
Sunday: I ended up taking down my winter decorations, I was just sick of them and wanted to see all my other stuff. I found $30 in one of my die cast cars and a Reece's peanut butter tree while I was moving stuff around. I took all that stuff I bought after Christmas and have been opening stuff when i have a bad day or just want to open something, it totally helps my soul.
I made another winter pocket letter:

 I love how cute this one turned out.
I also created some 3x3 Valentine's cards:

Read a few more books: Pete the Cat and the Missing Cupcakes by Kim Dean, The Unsolved Mystery of the Loch Ness Monster by Terri Sievert and Water Monsters by Brian Innes
Monday: I found Ren and Stimpy characters at Dollar Tree on the 27th. I finally found the characters in something where they both looked like the cartoon. I kept finding them where Ren looked ok, but Stimpy looked weird and vice versa. Plus, these were only $1 each, can't beat that.

 Opened at the library and ran some errands on the way home to get ready for working at the bookstore. I decided to open another savings account and transfer the money I'm getting at Hilton into it, I can now afford to do that. I don't know what I'm saving it for, one of my friends suggests a house, but I think it will be nice to have the account.
Stopped by HyVee Drug on the way home for some chai mix. I found these round blind bags for $2, so I bought them all.

 I opened the silver one and it turned out to be a penguin. They are actually Christmas themed mini stuffed animals, but I still love them. I picked up some Valentine's chocolate, but then noticed they still had Christmas chocolate, some of the same flavors, but cheaper.
I put together some swaps/tags.
Secret sister swap:

 My partner liked pens, notebooks, socks, chocolate, anything faith related, bath bombs, washi and fun keychains. I added the stuffed snail and a couple snail figurines and some better hot chocolate after this picture was taken. I love putting these together.
Wish for travel ephemera:

 Surprise tag:

 I received 4 things in the mail.
Magnet tag:

 I'm unhappy with this, it doesn't look brand new, and we're supposed to send new stuff. Also, it's kinda boring.
From the I Need Dis swap, asking for flower die cuts

 She also included some cute stickers and washi samples. I like what she sent but I asked for stuff that wasn't dainty and a lot of those flowers are.
Happy mail tag:

 This person did a great job on this. She always sends good stuff.
I Need Dis, asking for flower die cuts:

 Love these, they look like old timey flower packets.
I also made some Valentine's treat bags:

 This is another time where I made the bags because I didn't have enough. I love how they turned out. I also almost used up a paper pad. That hasn't happened in a long time.
Tuesday: I had training at the bookstore, it wasn't really anything I didn't know. I got done in time to head to the library for our annual soup celebration lunch. Lots of good food there.
I put together some tags. stickers;

 Project life cards:

 Wednesday: I opened at the library and had a game that night. I was trying to decide if I should walk home from the game because we got back to winter weather and it was cold. When I walked in, a co-worker who always walks home was standing there and that answered my question. She walks in the same direction I do, I decided this year I needed to walk home more and if she's there, I'll walk with her. I love that at the end of our shifts, she's getting her coat on and she asks are we walking? I kinda wish we could be friends outside of this job. It was kinda cold on the walk home, my face was really cold, but it wasn't covered. I basically jumped in the shower when I got home and went to bed.
Thursday: I needed to go to the mall to return some clothes to Kohl's. Stopped at Walmart on the way there:

 tape, stickers, bookmarks, leggings, heart.
I was surprised there was still some Christmas stuff left over. Not much, but I picked up the bookmarks and some chocolate (which I apparently forgot to take a picture of). I'm still trying to practice picking up double sided tape everytime I go in. I also couldn't pass up the elephant washi or the unicorn stickers or the stuffed heart. I wanted to pick up another bralette but couldn't find the right size. I'm also trying to pick up more leggings. I wear them so much around home and then as layering when I go to work and then under my pants when I work at Hilton, and the ones I have are slowly dying. These ones are really soft and very thin, I won't be wearing them outside the house. I also bought some protein bars, Santa chocolate, Twix, and a white chocolate unicorn. I was bummed they didn't have much in Valentine's stuff out.
I wandered through the mall, stopping to browse in JC Penney and the Hallmark store. My next stop was TJ Maxx, they still had a bit of Christmas stuff too.

 chocolate, snacks,
I love getting food at TJ Maxx, they always have some of the most interesting stuff and it's pretty good priced. I picked up the cashew pops to take in my lunch to the bookstore, I'll probably take the snack bites as well. Totally just picked up the round box of chocolates, the other chocolate, the pretzels and the marshmallows just cause they were on sale.

 clothes pins, Hatchimals, clips
I loved these clothespins before Christmas. I wanted the Hatchimals just to have some and I needed the clips.
My last stop was Kohl's, my mom had given me some shirts for Christmas, but she got me XL, which was too big, so I took them back. I was going to get some new black pants for work, but I still didn't want to pay the sale price. I did pick up these though:

I would never buy this full price, but I'd go for this price. I still have about $30 left on the gift card, so will be back some day. I was going to stop at Claire's but since I had all those balls from the other day and I decided to walk outside the mall instead of inside I didn't. Which was fine, I only used my debit card at Walmart ($24), I used cash at TJ Maxx ($30) and used the gift card at Kohl's, so I technically only spent $24. I told my co-worker once that when I use cash I don't think of it as spending money, because I count it when I get it out of my account, but not after that. She told me it was still spending money, it is, but I've already accounted for it when I took it out. I'm having the hardest time warming up when I go out and come home during the day. I think the heat is set up differently this year. It's not as warm feeling when I get home. I'm only working 6 days at the bookstore, and I may be more excited about the day I'm done than I should be. Like I said it was so much work just to figure out if I was working, and it's so much anxiety (I'm not sure why) getting ready for it. I think it's just all the standing and the older I get the harder it gets (I know I'm not that old) and then I'm exhausted by the time I get home. I did schedule weekends into my work time this semester and later mornings, I know that will help, but... So, I'm working 8, 5, 11, 11, 5, 8, 5, 2, 5, 11 hours the next two weeks between the three jobs. I should not work the 11 hour days, but then it wouldn't be very many hours.
I'm also a little tired of the drama in my mailing groups on facebook. The one where I send a ton of mail out, revamped and booted a lot of people out. A lot of these people went into two new groups. I'm all three of the groups, but seeing as I have only gotten 5 pieces of mail for the whole month, I'm kinda annoyed that some people are not sending what they're supposed to. And then there's the whole drama of the switching of groups and who was allowed into certain groups and not sharing about groups with others and I don't really feel like people care about me in them. I'm taking a break until the end of the month, one to just save a bit of money, one to wait for the stuff people owe me, and one to just see if maybe I should stick with my art groups. I need less stress and drama in my life not more.

Happy new year

Thursday: after my shopping excursion, I found some happy mail waiting for me.

Winter happy mail:

 I've already used the felt mittens and one of the bags. I attempted to use the temporary tattoos on something, but of course it didn't work. I love the penguin gems.
Friday: I closed at the library I actually had to work a 6 hour shift because of the weird week. I was thinking after I got home that Fridays wear me out and then I realized it's because the other days I work (M, T, W), I sit a lot. Fridays and any weekends I work I walk around the library a lot more. I feel a 5 hour shift of standing/walking around should not wear me out.
My dad had commented at Thanksgiving that he wanted some cookie butter, so I picked some up for him at Trader Joe's on the 13th when I had my fun day with my aunt. When I was at Hyvee on the 23rd, I found some there for like $6, when I was in Fareway on Friday I found this:

 I didn't realize it was so popular everywhere. Now, the one above and the one at HyVee is a different brand than the Trader Joe's one, but it's nice to know I can buy it locally if I want to. I've never actually tried it, so I won't need to buy it.
Found some mail when I got home.
Wish for cute pens:

 These are colored pens, not what I would consider cute. I was thinking ones decorated with unicorns or have neat caps or something like that.
Keychain tag:

 This came from Australia, and she included the cute magnet as an extra. Love it.
Saturday: I had no plans. I was going to go to a coffee meetup, but then when I realized it was the first day I had all to me since the 15th, I decided to just be lazy at home.
I made a snowflake pocket letter:

 I put together a few tags.
Wish for pens:

 Surprise tag:

 And received some mail.
wish of cute pens and something chocolate and surprise tag.

 Again with the not cute pens. Also, I guess I should stop asking for chocolate, last time someone sent me a big Hershey's kiss, this time I asked for not Hershey's and I get hot chocolate, which is chocolate, but not what I wanted. The surprise tag is the lip balm at the bottom, it's very fragrant.
Send me something unique:

 I originally thought these were for the magnet tag, as they are magnets. But, then I did some investigating and figured it was the SMS unique tag. I love them.
I also finished a Christmas explosion box that I started shortly before Christmas:

 Sunday: I did laundry early and got it done before I had to go to work. The library was weirdly quiet and annoying chilly. Apparently the boilers decided to stop working Friday afternoon for some strange reason. It actually wasn't too bad, I dressed a little warmer than usual because I was cold on Friday (though I didn't know about the heat issue until I went in on Sunday). Other departments were much colder because we have a lot of windows in the new building. We got an email suggesting to dress warmly for Monday as well.
Monday: I wore the penguin sweater I had gotten on the 27th. I felt very furry, but I had a few people tell me they thought it was nice. These were random patrons that I didn't know, so figured it was actually pretty cute.
Found some mail when I got home
wish:

 it said wish for something fun, but it was supposed to be for something else, these are fun, too.
destash:

 Not usually what I get for destash, but I like the cactus stickers.
wish for tea:

these smell amazing and I'm excited to try them.
I finished my last book for 2018: Heartland about a lady growing up poor in Kansas. It was good, it was just really dry. It took me like 4 days to read it and it was less than 300 pages. I could tell the difference today when I started another book and got through 200 pages pretty quickly. My plans for the evening were not exciting: Swanson fried chicken dinner with sparkling apple pear juice. I did stay up barely to midnight and went to bed.
Tuesday: I woke up to a text from my mother saying Happy New Year. My phone is on do not disturb until 9AM because people bother me too early, I should just start putting it on silent when I want to sleep in. Her text came in at 9:09, I was still asleep, but couldn't go back after that so got up.
Totally slacked off today. I knew it was January 1st, but totally forgot I had to pay my rent until about 5, I was not the only one who forgot about it.
So, in theory, I'm at the bookstore next week. I say in theory, because I haven't heard back from them, yet. Which is really annoying, they said we had to send them our schedule by December 10th and I haven't heard anything since then. I ran into someone else at the library on Sunday that works there, too, and she hasn't heard anything either. They're running very late this year. Supposedly I signed up for training next Tuesday. I actually had to revise my schedule today, because I forgot I had switched a Jan Sunday for Dec 30 to help a co worker out. That makes it so I work a Friday I thought I had off. I felt kinda bad, and then not so much, because they hadn't gotten back to me with a schedule yet. I feel you can't ask someone to give you their schedule so far out and then not get back to them for three weeks and expect nothing to change. I'm hoping to see an email tomorrow, but I guess we'll see.