Christmas Decorations

This is a picture heavy post. I haven't been in the mood to dig out my holiday decorations yet, I keep seeing the Christmas lights and other people's decorations, but I couldn't get myself to do it. Yesterday, I decided it was time. Most of the reason I didn't want to get them out is that I have over 300 snowmen in my collection, and it's a lot to bring out. But, then I got smart, why not just get out my favorites? So, I did:

 This is a button tree I won last year at our Festival of trees, I got a few owl ornaments last year for Christmas, and it has become an owl tree. It actually never gets put away, I love looking at it all year round. I bought the blue and orange owl on the right top at a fundraiser this year, it's actually a coin purse. The owl at the top is actually a cell phone holder. My other new addition this year (as of yesterday), is the blue one on the right side, it actually says "Baby's first Christmas", but it was just too cute to pass up.

 I'm sorry this picture is blurry. If you can see, the tree is one of those porcelain ones with plastic colored lights, that you put a light bulb in. My grandparents had one of these when I was growing up, so when I saw one at a garage sale last year, I had to have it. I never plug it in because I think the bulb is too powerful for it. It's decorated in Merry Moos, they're from a swap I did last year, they measure 2" x 1". The white girl at the bottom is one of the ornaments I received last year in the button floozies swap.

 This is the top of my DVD case, you can still see the painted pumpkin I bought last month, it's so cute, I can't throw it away. There's also a hippo ornament in there that I bought yesterday, too cute.

 This is where my old TV sat, I have a hard time finding tall items to put in it for every season. You can see the tree stump birdhouse guy I bought this summer, I dressed him up with a top hat ornament I found at Walmart yesterday (can you see a little theme, I went Christmas shopping yesterday). I also love the hot air balloon ornament I got in the vintage stocking swap last year. The snowball I bought this year, I was trying not to buy more snowmen, but he's so cute, under his hat is a candle. The cup next to him I got in a trade at an antique store this month.

 This is the top of my DVD case. The little black tree I got a couple years ago at Borders. I love how my snowmen pop against it.

 This is on top of another of my DVD cabinets. The poinsettias are clips I got last year.

 These are on top of my radiator. The nesting dolls my parents gave me a few years. The bird is from my shopping trip yesterday.

 In this picture, is another of my trees, it's actually a part of a tree in our yard that we had to cut out, because it was dead. I stained it and have been using it as decoration for awhile now. Most of these snowmen are kinda heavy. I had to put them here to hold the sewn decorations onto the scarf on the book shelf. To see more of the sewn decorations, go here. There's also a seahorse keychain that I got when we went to Hawaii a few years ago. I love the "world's greatest crafter" ornament hanging next to the seahorse. My best friend from high school gave that to me.

 This is the top of another bookcase. My favorite snowmen here, are the "peppermint" candles. I also couldn't bear to put away the velvet painting in the background.

 This is further down on that bookcase. I love the stocking holders, even though I don't hang stockings on them.

 This is my radiator in the kitchen, my kitchen snowmen stay out all year long. I guess they're my favorite favorites. The one on the left is a singing one, it came with Hallmark cards one year. There's also a cute praying snowman, I got last year. I love the unhappy frog, he was a present from a former employer. There's a couple cookie jars there, I looked in one of them the other day and it had candy I totally forgot about. There's also one in the front that has a beanie on, I always thought of him as an "artist" snowman.

 These are on the top of my refrigerator. They're mostly ISU snowmen. Iowa State University is located here in Ames, IA. The university used to come out with a new snowman every year, and my parents would get them for me, unfortunately they stropped do that. These mostly stay out because it's so much work to get them in and out of their packaging.

 This is in my entryway. I sprinkled some of my smaller snowmen throughout my vehicles. I love sailboats, the one on the right is made out of foreign Coca Cola cans that I found in Washington, D.C. one year. There's also the USMC's 250th anniversary commemorative silver dollar, I'm very proud of that. On the left, you can see the glass bottle I altered.

 Here's the top of the cabinet, with more snowmen around my vehicles. The fighter jet on the right is also made of foreign Coca Cola cans, I found it in New Orleans. The Mustang, is my favorite version of that car.

 Here are the stockings I made this year, they started out for a swap, and then for some reason, I didn't want to use them, and my partner decided she wanted a more traditional stocking. To read more about them, go here.

 This is also in my entryway, on the other side of the above doorway. The letters spell out collector, with snowmen being the "O's". On the left side are a dress form ornament that I got in last year's button floozie swap, and a tag.

These are mostly this year's button floozie swap, the stocking is from last year. I'm still waiting on one more from this year.

news

Hello All,

How have you been?

Last week, we started moving the library, and we now have the whole collection at our temporary location. We had to be out of the old location by 11/29, so this is wonderful. It's been so much fun. Unfortunately, now that we have the whole collection moved, it's back to normal tasks, and I won't be using my muscles again.

Starting on Tuesday, I've had some kind of bug/cold. I was so tired while I was working on Tuesday. Yesterday, I called in sick after walking four blocks and feeling like I could pass out. Today, I still feel like crap, just not as much. Hopefully, I will be back to a condition where I can work on Sat when I'm scheduled next.

 

I'm still waiting on swaps that were due awhile ago, and I signed up for 3 more. I'm so excited, one is Little Pink Studio's Vintage Stocking Swap. We have to make/decorate a stocking for our partner and stuff if full of goodies for them. I participated in this one last year and had tons of fun with it. Another is a holiday goodies swap through one of my Yahoo! groups, we're filling the tiny Priority mail box with gently used supplies and sending it to a partner. I love these kind of swaps, it's always fun to get supplies. My last one is an Ornament swap, where we send each other ornaments, I participated in this one last year too. Unfortunately last year I forgot about it until my partner emailed me, not this year, I'm on top of it.

 

Hope you all are having a great day and....

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

New purchases

A couple weeks ago, I picked up these gorgeous roses at Walmart. I just had to throw them out this week. I forgot how nice it is to have live flowers in my home.

 Yesterday, I trekked downtown to check out what people were putting up for Christmas. One of my favorite spots is Anything But New, they're a small antique store. I took in some vintage Christmas ornaments I had and traded them for the elephant bank and the snowman cup you see below. Another stop was our local flower shop that always has such great items. I bought the owl pick for me and the needlefelted snowman for my mother.

 Last night was a fundraiser at one of the local stores. Twenty percent of the proceeds went to Project Smyles at the library, I spent way too much money. I picked up the reindeer for my brother, he collects them, and every year it's getting harder and harder to find good ones. The owls are for me.

 I couldn't pass up these cute paper pieced cards either.

Cerri at Little Pink Studio is having her Vintage Stocking Swap again this year. I'm a little divided on whether or not I want to join. I loved doing it last year, but right now it seems people are having a hard time getting things to me on time. I have a swap that's due in partners hands this Sat, I haven't received anything yet, I have one that was due in hostesses hands last Sat, haven't received that back, I have the one that was lost in the mail, and I'm still waiting on the 2nd box. I'm just getting sick of receiving nothing or junk in the mail lately.
I know I'm also stressed about the upcoming move at the library, I'm excited but also stressed. And of course it's getting into the holiday season, which even though I'm usually done with things early, I still stress.
Speaking of holidays, I'm done Christmas shopping for my brother and mother, and wrapped all their presents last night. After spending a lot for presents last night, I decided not to spend so much and stop at less presents.

odds and ends

So much has been happening since I last posted. Let's start with a picture:

I signed up for the Fall Favorites Swap on Nicole's blog, the above is what I sent my partner. There's a sparkly brown leaf, a teddy bear magnet, a wallhanging of pumpkings and acorns, a teddy bear wearing a pumpking shirt, glow in the dark skeleton socks, pumpkin spice Hershey's kisses, an owl on a jack-o-lantern figuring and a couple maple leaf pins. My favorites being changing leaves, Halloween costumes, pumpkins, owls (I know these are all year, but in decorating they come out more in fall), and pumpkin pie (also a Thanksgiving thing, but after Halloween, these Hershey's kisses aren't around anymore).
I mailed this out early October, her first package to me got lost in the mail and I'm still waiting on the second one.

The big thing I've been worrying about lately is the upcoming move at the library. We have our location pinned down, we'll be getting the whole collection in the space and most everything we feel we'll need. Our maintenance person already has people over there getting it ready for us to move in. We're working on getting all the stuff we don't need for two years moved out and into storage. We stopped taking requests on items to focus all our energies on the move. We will start moving on the 16th. Now that it's November, I realize how close it is. I'm trying not to think about it when I'm at home, because it seems we still have SOO much to do before then, but it's still kinda freaking me out.

I stopped going to garage sales, I haven't even looked at the ads since probably early October. I just don't feel like spending my money right now, and I have more than enough stuff in my apartment. I actuallly realized how little money I have in my bank account at the beginning of the month, so I really don't want to spend money. I will have to go to the grocery store soon for food.
I joined a Christmas ornament swap on the Button Floozies blog. I'm almost done with my ornaments, I love them. I will post them on my craft blog once I know my partners have received them. We were supposed to make 5, 4 to send out and one to keep, but I had enough material to make 6, so I have an extra I'm not sure what I'm going to do with.

Church sales

Well, I was right, it didn't live up to my expectations. Here's what I got between two church sales:

A cute teddy bear, a rose, a mug, a sugar bowl (?), some trim and a cute little cross stitch pillow for my mother. I also bought some dutch letter bars, some lemon bars and some other kind of bar that looked good.

My mother and I both decided that the bigger church sale didn't have near as many vendors as last year. I also decided that maybe it was more exciting last year because it was new and we'd never been there.

Snowmen

Remember how I said I wasn't going to garage sales anymore? My neighbors were having their annual one and I had to check it out, I'm glad I did. Here's what I found:

 very cute snowman candle (my favorite purchase), Santa (for my mother), snowman cup, and a cute glass bowl (also for my mother).

tiny light up glass Christmas tree, 101 Dalmatians DVD(I love this version and I don't have it on DVD), a very cute get well book.
I spent $8.00 there. Today, my mother and I are going to a craft/rummage sale at a church, we went last year and had such a fun time. I'm afraid that it won't live up to my expectations though. Stay tuned for pictures of what I buy there.

My weekend

Warning: This is a picture heavy post.

This past weekend, my family went to my grandma's apartment, which we are cleaning out because she won't be coming back to it. Here's a few things my mother gave to me:

 Some of the items I picked up because I thought they might be nice gifts like the weekly organizer and notes pack, still in original packing. The candle makes me think of my grandma.

 I also picked up these two notebooks for gifts and the partylite candleholders.

 The sparkly balls are actually plastic fruit covered in sequins, my grandmother was an avid crafter. I picked out the two thimbles to add to my collection, I liked the jingle bell ladybug and the rooster. The cat and small yellow piece are magnets.

 Here's the buttons we found in her sewing supplies.

 I'm sorry this is such a horrible picture, it shows the glass buttons and shell or mother of pearl buttons I found.

 A bunch of nice trims.

 I now have a ton of eyelets and googly eyes. The brown piece is the beginning of a head made from pantyhose.

 Some butterfly cut-outs, miniature doves and chickens. The best of this bunch is the vintage pipe cleaner bugs.

 A paper cake, butterfly applique, some green buttons, an angel kit, another plastic fruit encrusted in sequins, an eyelet setter, miniture toadstools and a leaf.

 I love the graphic on the Sewing Susan needle case, some ribbon and more miniatures.

 A very cute tin with matching cards inside.

 Some tiny cards for artwork

 And more cards

And more cards.

I've been having trouble lately buying anything at garage sales. I think I've realized I have a lot of stuff, and I really don't need more. I couldn't resist things this weekend, not that moving them out of my grandma's apartment and into mine is better than getting rid of them, but I tried to only take things that I would use.

Fall Decorations

A few weeks ago, I went shopping and picked up some fall decorations:

 I joined a monthly flower club at my local flower shop, the flowers for October were a carnation and some kind of mums.

I fell in love with this huge fly, which is now hanging from my ceiling. I couldn't resist the tiny gourds, they are now sitting in one of my vintage wine glasses. I had seen these little hedgehogs that are dressed for Halloween last time I was in this store, and I totally wanted one, this time I splurged a little for one, but it's so cute!

New Buys

Last weekend I found a few things to buy. I bought the most at a sale I didn't plan to go to.

 a cute snail planter, a tiny stuffed bear, an angel, a snowman and a keychain, packet of play money, I thought they'd be fun to use for collage.

Today was the annual art fair downtown. My mom and I usually go, but this year she had to go clean out my grandma's apartment, she's getting worse and we don't think she's going back to it. Here's what I picked up:

 3 cards and a magnet from Lisa Victoria, I can never resist her stuff, my refrigerator has a bunch of her magnets on it, plus I have cards and prints throughout my apartment.

 Another of Lisa's magnets, a fish and a frog made from 2 liter pop bottles. Last year I almost bought a pink fish and didn't, and I thought about it all year long. This year I decided the purple went with my pink bedclothes better.

A metal butterfly pick, a pair of earrings from Suzanne LaTour Stevens, every year my mom buys herself a pair of earrings, I thought she'd like these, so I picked them up for her. And my best buy of today: this very cool sun catcher from Jamie Smisek. "Windchimes and decorative hanging pieces handsculpted using silver flatware, glass beads and other antique objects". This one is made from the bottom of a leaded glass bowl and a fork. So very cool.

The library's book sale was this weekend too, though I have to say the selection wasn't very good, I did buy $6.00 worth of books though.

Speaking of the library, we've hit a glitch in our moving plans. The city attorney was trying to work out the lease with the place we were pretty sure we were moving in to, and then on Wed night, my boss calls me to say that we didn't have the place anymore and we were looking at other options. The assistant director said the realtor got an offer for a 10 year lease on the place and now we're out of luck. We are looking at a place that was our plan B, so cross your fingers and hold your breath for us. The assistant director assures us we're staying on our moving schedule, meaning we'll be moving in less than 2 months.

Friday, I got a jury summons in the mail. I don't mind doing it, I'd like to, I'm just not sure of how I'm getting there. That's bothering me at the moment.

Great Movie

I just watched the movie, Battleship. I LOVE it!!!

It's based on the game Battleship. The US is sending messages to a planet somewhere else, and some aliens decide to come and try to take over Earth.
After the Naval Destroyers are sunk, they go to Pearl Harbor and pick up the battleship, Missouri and attack the aliens.
I love how they used the Missouri, it felt like a hat tip to Under Siege. Also, Rihanna stars in it and I think she does a great job.

I love the Navy in the movie and the action. It's now on my Amazon wishlist along with the soundtrack.
They also use actual WWII veterans for parts at the end.
I was watching the extras and there's one about making the movie, and everyone gets to tour current Navy ships, I would love to tour the Missouri. So VERY cool.

Check out the IMDB page on it, here.

Also, wait until after the credits to watch another scene.

Bored

I went to one garage sale today

I think I'm in a rut. I have a little extra money, but I can't find anything to spend it on. I know that's good, but it feels weird. I went to 4 sales last week and didn't buy a single thing. The sale I went to today, is one the lady puts on twice a year. It rained a lot last night, so she had a bunch of stuff moved inside and hadn't moved it out yet, plus she didn't have any signs out. When I got there she was chatting with someone, and barely stopped to say hello. I found more than 2 things I wanted to buy, but decided if she couldn't be nice enough to chat with the person looking at her stuff, I wasn't going to buy them.
I went downtown yesterday to 4 different stores and couldn't find anything worth my money either. I love the stores I went to, but I almost feel that it has to be really good for me to buy anything, or maybe I'm saving for another day.
On the weekend of the 23rd, there is a local art festival downtown, the library's having their book sale, and there's another celebration. So, maybe I'm saving for then. I'm really looking forward to it and it won't come soon enough.
Also, on the 18th, there's a ladies expo, that I think might be fun to go to, but I keep talking myself out of buying an early ticket. I think most of the reason I originally wanted to go was that the first 300 ladies get goodie bags. But, I'm betting those goodie bags will be really girly stuff that I don't use anyway. I sure don't need more stuff at my house.
The weekend of the 29th, there's a junking jaunt around central Iowa. My mom and I went to a similar one in June. It was fun, but this one will be right after the weekend of the 23rd which sounds more exciting and I hope to spend money at.
I went to the dentist today, to get a cavity filled. When I get there, I have to wait about 5 minutes after my scheduled time. Then, I get in there and the helper (don't know what they're called), asks me what I'm here for and I show her my tooth with a hole. She says there's some discoloration, let's see if its decay. I know it's decay honey, if you poke at it, you can see/feel it's a hole. She decides it is, and goes to get the dentist. He pokes at it and says I don't have to worry about it for a few months if I don't want to. I have extra $$ now, I want to deal with it. He says he could do it, but I'd have to wait about half an hour. I love how they all figure I don't know my own teeth. I rescheduled for next Wed to get it filled.
I'm so sick of seeing the dentist, I've seen him 4 times and another one to get my tooth filled. And after today's appointment, kinda makes me not want to go back. People seem to be annoying me more than usual lately, I don't know why.
I kinda feel bored with my life. I have my routine, but I really hate not working Fridays, I get bored watching movies and reading. Anyone have any suggestions?

Updates and annoyances

Hello All,
Sorry I haven't been on here lately, not much going on. This past Wednesday, I got my tooth pulled. I was more nervous afterward than before. I did not like that experience, I couldn't feel it, but I could hear him pulling on the tooth, and there was soo much blood afterward, it totally freaked me out. I'm so glad I have another one to look forward to.
Also, on that note, I found out it was way less expensive than I thought it was going to be. My dentist said it would be somewhere between $800 and $900, so when I went to make the appointment, and they said $180-380, I just figured it was $1800 - 1300. Last Monday, dad and I went to cash out some savings bonds to pay for it, so then I had a little buffer afterward. I sent a bunch to pay more off my credit card bill, and I just paid off my medical bills from breaking my butt. I still have extra $$ in my checking account, but at least this way if anything comes up, I won't have to worry.
The other day, I find I have a hole in one of my teeth, I'm really pissed at my dentist about this. I mentioned to him, that I felt something there a few months ago and he told me it was nothing. Now, I have to get another cavity filled.
On Monday, after getting the money, my dad proceeded to tell me I had to remember I didn't have that money in my savings bonds anymore. I never think of the savings bonds as money I have because I don't have access to it. He also told me I needed to get another job so I had the money for things like this. I told him I was doing ok, he said it was just because my parents were doing fine, and because I wasn't paying rent. That really pissed me off, I don't know how many times I've told them I can pay rent now and they just say that I should keep the money.
He also said I needed to be looking into the future with money things, what was I going to do down the road. I've also told them, I'm doing that with my library job. Hopefully, when they add the next salaried position, I'll get it. I just read somewhere that around 50% of college grads are unemployed, so shouldn't I be lucky I have a job (three even). I just wish my parents would lay off, like that will ever happen.
Not a lot going on with garage sales, I went to 4 this weekend and couldn't find a single thing to buy.
I've been trying to get online to do stuff on my desktop, but my modem (or other internet related things) keeps acting up, so I can't connect. I can't do everything on my kindle, and with some things, I'd rather not use the kindle for.
I also haven't been making art lately. Mostly because my mom keeps getting on me to clean my apartment. We had an argument about it last week. I've decided I just have a lot of stuff, and not a lot of room (maybe that's why I couldn't find anything to buy this week), she'll never like how I live in my apartment, but she'll also accept things, she'll just keep complaining. So, I've been afraid to get my art stuff out (I have a closet, that when I create spills over in my hallway, and is hard to walk through when I'm in a project.) because she'll whine.

What's been going on in your lives?

What a crappy day

We went to the zoo on Sat, and though I was disappointed, here's some pictures for you to look at while I complain about today:

 lion fish
So, this morning about 12AM, I woke up in pain, my mouth was hurting again. For the next 6 or so hours, I alternated taking pain pills, walking around, sitting, rocking, crying and laying down.

 wallaby
This morning I called in sick to work and went to the dentist with my mother. He said it's one of my molars that needs to be extracted. I had to tell my mom that, she was surprised as I never told my parents about my two molars that need pulling when they bug me. There's a reason I never told them, because then I get the whole spiel about how I should have brushed my teeth more and these are the consequences, blah, blah, blah.

 I went over to the oral surgeon to make an appointment, I'm going to have it done on the 29th. They said it would be $1100 to $1300. I can't afford that, I'll have to put it on my credit card and come close to my limit. I asked if I could pay over time, no they need the money that day, no wonder people go into debt.

 turtles
So, that means I'm not allowed to have another sick day or take any more days off work. I'm also not allowed to buy anything I don't need.

 lion
Unfortunately, that also means I can't afford to send out my giveaway packages. I'm really hating my life right now.

 monkey
My boss at work was very understanding and hopefully, I won't have to take off work the day after the extraction.

 giraffe
Now, I'm going to go take a nap, because I am soo tired.

 possum
I got a prescription for antibitics, and while waiting for 30 minutes, I became so tired and bored. I didn't buy the apple juice, I didn't buy the chocolate eclairs (which were very marked down), and I didn't buy the topical gel for tooth payment. I really wanted to pay for my prescription in cash, but it was $12, and I only had a $10

very cool sculpture
On my way home, I stopped to buy some bus passes, they also cost $12, and since they don't take cards, that didn't happen.

I'm also extremely hungry, as it hurt to chew this morning, so I didn't really have breakfast, and now it's too close to lunch to eat breakfast.