Venting

My mother said I was in charge of Mother's Day this year. Usually we drive up to see her side of the family, but that's not going to happen this year, anyone have any ideas for me? I thought we might go to some local gardens, and maybe have a picnic somewhere, but that's all I've got. I also bought her this really cool Vogue Sewing Book, it was published in 1975 and it's got some really cool stuff in it. I think I need something more for her present, but I don't know what.
I just realized (ok, I've known it for awhile, but it hit me a little harder) that I don't have a life outside of work. I think that would be OK if I worked all the time, but I don't my average week is 18 hours. I can live on it, but that gives me a lot of free time where I'm doing pretty much nothing. I have 2 regular days off during the week soon, and I have no idea what I'm going to do with myself.
Now that it's warm again, our ground bees have ret'd. I've decided they're not very smart. For the past 3 or so years we've had them and every year we have someone come and spray them so they go away, and then they come back, spreading further every year. Anyone know how to get rid of them for good?
Speaking of bugs, I found a wasp in my bedroom this morning. I was not pleased. I used to fine a few wasps next to my bedroom windows every year. Then I got central air, with the ducts in the attic, and we found a wasp nest up there. We got rid of it, and thought that solved the problem. Last year, I collected 2 hornets and 4 wasps. I'm getting really sick of finding them. I think there's a new nest up there, but I am not climbing up to find out.
I host an ATC group on Yahoo. It used to be so fun. Lately, not so much. Last year, I was going to take a month off, but then no one said they wanted to swap, so I pretty much took off the whole year. I started up again last fall, with a very small percentage of our regular numbers. Then people started not sending me enough postage, so I started paying out of my own pocket, then we lost one of the regular players (oweing me money too). February, we got a new member, but I didn't get the cards until the very last day (our swaps are monthly, I send out a packet of stuff, people make cards and are supposed to have the cards to me by the end of the month. They're also supposed to send a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope with enough postage to get their return cards and next month's packet back to them), and even one the first day of March. This is with 2 people plus me playing. And then I said I needed a month off due to being uninspired. One of my regulars complained, saying it sounded like the players made me uninspired, not that it could have been stuff in my life. But, I put a lot of time into gathering the packets together (every month we have a theme, and I put together a packet with items that go with that theme), and when people don't get things back to me on time, and don't even tell me if their mailed. It makes it a little annoying. Today is the last month of April, I still haven't received any cards. I'm thinking of just giving up. I had two more people join, but I haven't heard much from them, haven't gotten any interest in anyone to play in May. I don't know what to do. I do know that the stress from this group isn't helping me at all, and it might be better to just give up. I don't need extra stress in my life.

No Garage Sale Finds

Strike out at garage sales this weekend. I do have one picture for you though.

I had a neighborhood I wanted to hit yesterday, but I talked myself out of it. It was a pretty far walk, and I think most of the reason I was excited to go to it was that it was the first sale I had seen listed. I got home from work yesterday and pretty much lounged around for the rest of the day. I remember having a short nap in the afternoon, and then falling asleep around 8 or so, and sleeping for an hour. I was just so drained, I have no idea why.

Today, I had 3 sales I wanted to hit, one started early, one listed art supplies in their ad, and the last listed flowers. The first one, I couldn't find, I walked by where I thought it should be, didn't even see the address. The second one was just sad, no one greeted me, and the 'art supplies' were a basket full of spray paint. The third one, I realized I had been to last year, and it was just as exciting. I didn't find any flowers. I was hoping to find some nice flowers to give to my mother, she is getting over something from a few weeks back.

My plan for the afternoon was to go down to Target and Walmart. As I was on my way down there, I saw a sign for the first sale, saying it was in the alley. If it was, they didn't even have signs at the end of the alley to tell you, I didn't go back to find out.

I found a few things to buy at Target, some tights and the deoderant I went for. A month or so ago, I had been there and had seen The Hunger Games for $10, and I have been kicking myself for not buying it. It was still at that price, so I bought it, plus the 10th Kingdom miniseries for $5, I remember watching it on TV when I was a kid, I hope it's as good as I remember it.

I wandered over to Walmart, it's about a block from Target, I generally go to both of them when I go down there. I've been so bored with my clothing lately, I don't know if it's cause it's warmer weather and I want different clothes or what. I picked up this dress:

and 3 brightly colored T-shirts, as well as a nice purple tank top. I also bought some cute plastic cups (I never have enough cups in the right size) for $.87, I had to get a Brave one, a Finding Nemo one, Cookie Monster, and Hawkeye from The Avengers. I LOVE Jeremy Renner, he's become my new fav guy in movies. I also had to pick up some chocolate. I spent way too much money between the two stores and won't be spending more for awhile.
I was very bummed I didn't find anything to spend my garage sale $$$ on. But I'm glad I didn't buy something just to spend money.
On May 11th, one of the close towns is doing their city wide garage sale. My co-worker and I are planning to go. I've done this the past couple years. The first year, I went with my aunts, and while it was fun, I had even more fun last year. My mom said it was probably because my co-worker and I are closer in age than my aunts are. That Friday and Saturday, one of the sales I go to every year is having theirs as well. I plan to stop by on Friday.
I think it's a little weird that these are happening right before Mother's Day.

My plan for the rest of the day is to eat ice cream and watch movies.

Did you guys find anything good?

OOOPS

Hello??? Is anyone still there?
Sorry, didn't know it's almost been a month since I posted. Life had been boring, mostly just working. We did have two arrests at the library last week, that was interesting, and our phones went down for a little while today.
I have been so restless reading people's blogs about the great finds they're getting. There are a couple stores I visit during the winter months, but there wasn't much I wanted to spend my money on, especially since I'm so spoiled with garage sale prices. Plus, the big antique mall closed last year, maybe earlier, that one usually tides me over during the winter months.
Tomorrow, I found some to go to, and even more on Saturday. Granted it will probably be in the 30's at around 8AM like it has been the past few mornings, but I am so ready to get out and hunt.
A few things that are on my list this year:
~Interesting fabric, after making my fabric book, I've been itching to make another one.
~Small plates, the ones I've been using are pretty old and I've noticed lately when I put hot things on them, the cracks become visible. I'm kind of afraid they'll splinter apart soon.
~Pyrex mixing bowls. I bought one a few years ago after reading about all the hype and then didn't know why I bought it, but I've found I really like it's size.
~Other Pyrex pieces, I think it'd be cool to collect the baking dishes with motifs on them, plus they'd be good serving dishes, of which I have none.
~Buttons, of course
~Owls, just to add to my collection
~Glass bundt pan, my coworker asked me to look out for one of these a few years ago, I haven't found one yet
~The Feminine Mystique, I was reading the library's copy the other day, and decided I wanted a copy for myself.
And all the other fun stuff I see. I will still be buying baked goods, I will buy any craft stuff I find. I've been trying not to pay full price on craft stuff. I have enough of it as it is, but if I'm getting more I sure don't need to pay full price. On another note, I'm trying to get rid of some of it, I have boxes full listed on my Etsy store.

Hopefully, I'll have some pictures to show Saturday night.

Happy Easter

Well, it's been awhile since I posted on here. Not much going on, I'm waiting impatiently for garage sale season, and now that it's warmer, it's almost here. I keep reading about people's finds on the blogs I read, and keep wishing I had some fun finds to post. I did go wandering through downtown the other day, but didn't find anything I wanted to spend my money on, especially since things are way cheaper at garage sales. The biggest thing would be my fabric book that I posted the other day, see below.

I hope everyone's having a great Easter, here's what I got myself this year:

I tried filling my basket with something other than candy, but I couldn't find anything I really wanted to spend my money on, now I should have enough candy to last me awhile.

Big Project

I have been working on a big project lately, now that it's finished, I'm so proud of it, I'm sharing it with everyone. I've been reading on other people's blogs about them making fabric books, so I decided to try my own. I laid out the pictures as they appear in the book. I can tell you where some of the pieces came from, but most of them I don't know and just found in my stash.

I love this piece, I don't know where it came from, but it's so cool. The heart trim I got in a swap.

On the back of the first page, I have a sheer green piece and then a piece I bought at a garage sale. You'll see that only the fronts have trim hanging down. The second page, the background piece is from a store I used to work at, the three smaller pieces went together very well. I still feel this is missing something, but I couldn't find the right piece to add. The trim on the bottom is from a dresser scarf.

The back of the second page is a piece of fabric I've wanted to use on something for awhile, it's very bright, the girl is from a dish towel. The third page, the creamer and teapot are from another dish towel, the background came from a fabric packet with the piece in the background of the second page.

On the back of the third page, I used a sheer pink scarf, overlaid with another sheer piece that's shimmery, and then added a felt cupcake pin I bought here. You can also see some trim, it's hard to see, but there are peach pearls added to the middle of it. The fourth page, the top is a scarf, part I used in this project, the bottom is a knit shiny purple piece. The middle is part of a larger piece I bought at a garage sale.

On the back of the fourth page, is another piece from the fabric packet used on pages 2 and 3, I added a leafy piece, and a fabric leaf, I might have to go in and glue on a plaster acorn. The fifth page, the background is a piece I got in a swap, the leaf is from a dresser scarf that was edged with the trim used on page two (I got it in Okoboji), the trim is from Hobby Lobby.

On the back of the fifth page, the background is from a store I used to work at, then I just added some ribbon/trim pieces. The bottom piece isn't quite ribbon, it felt more papery, I was afraid it would fall apart when I sewed it on. The sixth page has strips of material, the turquoise is wove with black thread, the green is a piece I used in this project and this project, the brown is a shiny soft material. The hearts are something my mother gave me.

On the back of the sixth page, I have a flowery piece and some lace. The seventh page is a knit sparkly piece, with a doily.

On the back of the seventh piece, I used a vintage flowery pattern, some felt and a motif from a hot pad. The eighth page is a burgundy shiny piece and a vintage doily. The piece next to it was on the back, it reads: "Doilie from box of Linens - Ives - Late 1800's To 1910 Probably older". I got the trim in a swap.

The back of the eighth page is strips of suede, and a piece of sheer snowflake fabric. The ninth page is two purply pieces, the bottom is velvet. I used some shiny pieces for the top and bottom, a doily for the middle and some big flower trim for the bottom.

The back of the ninth page is a sheer piece of burgundy fabric, I added some metallic pieces to. The top piece is a gold sheerish fabric with embroidery. The tenth page is very shiny, I wish you could see it in the picture, it's also very soft. The bottom is a piece of fabric that I trimmed the flowers out of.

The back of the tenth piece was very hard to sew. It is a green ribbon that's extremely soft, but frays very easily. The circle piece I got at a sale. The eleventh piece is backed with very bright pink shiny piece, the "Love" piece I got at my grandma's, I added the trim since I posted before.

The back of the eleventh page is a olive green scarf with a piece cut from a hanky. The twelfth page is a thick piece with a doily and a felt alien from Hobby Lobby, I also added the trim, gotten from a swap, after taking the other scan.

The back of the twelfth page is a blue fabric with a corner of a hanky.

All the fronts of the pages are backed with quilt batting, when deciding on how to finish the book, I decided to add backs to the existing pages, rather than sewing them together. I also found out that all my pages seem to not be the same size. I added eyelets in the sides of all pages and have tied them together with ribbon, because of this, I can change the order of the pages any time I want to. I thought this layout looked pretty good together, but I may change my mind.
As I've mentioned above, some of the colors don't come out well in the scans, but I also wish you all could feel the book, it's a great mixture of textures.

AAARGH!!

That about sums up my last few weeks.
Not a lot happening here, working mostly. Miranda Lambert came here last Thursday, I worked her concert, that was fun. Lots of people, lots of people looking for a smoking patio (we don't have one), a couple people annoyed because they left and I wouldn't let them back in (it's policy). Lots of drunks at the end of the night.
We also got some snow that night. I got 6.5 hours of sleep and had to go to work at 8 the next morning. I did not have to shovel, thankfully, but I still had my mother complain to me. Sunday, was my day off in about 2 weeks, my plan was to sit and do nothing, but then I got a phone call from my mother saying I needed to pick at the snow on the driveway. I did, but apparently didn't do a good enough job for her, when I left Monday morning, I saw someone had done more. And then they left it in a pile on the sidewalk.
I've been trying to get over a cold/flu/who knows what lately, but since I've been working so much, my body has been having a very hard time fighting it. Yesterday, it snowed ALL day, it didn't stop until some time this afternoon. I'm not sure how much we got, but I'm pretty sure I shoveled 6 inches total yesterday, and probably a couple more this morning. The first time I went out about noon, it was heavy, took me about an hour. I went out a couple hours later and shoveled a couple more inches. This morning I was out at 7AM shoveling some more. I fully expected to get home from work and shovel some more. When I got home, my parents had done it, thankfully, I asked my dad if I needed to change and come help, he said no, but I bet I'll hear about it from my mother. Back to that pile on the sidewalk, my mother was working on that when I got home, I'll probably hear about that too. Something about how I didn't clear it off, that's what happens when you leave a pile and it freezes to the concrete.
My dad called me at work today saying some of my mail got in their mailbox. I get home and he says he was in my mailbox, because mine was in theirs, so some of theirs was probably in mine. I told him I'd rather he wasn't in my mailbox, and he got mad at me. It's mail fraud to be in someone's mailbox if they didn't ask you to. I don't understand why he couldn't wait for me to clean out my mailbox and give them their mail.
My arms and back hurt from shoveling, so everytime I bent over to clean out the drop boxes at work, my back hurt more. I love how my mom always has some reason for not shoveling (I was very surprised to see her out there today), but if I happened to mention that my back bothers every time I shovel, it would be an excuse and no one would care.

Sorry about the venting post, but I needed to.
Go over to The Frog Palace, for something neat.

Stressful Week

I'm not entirely sure why this week was so stressful, but it has been the most stressful week I've had in awhile.

I have a muscle somewhere near my shoulder that has been giving me fits lately, I have no idea why. This morning it was hurting, it usually doesn't bother me when I get up, just after moving in certain ways. I mentioned this to a co-worker, and he started to massage the knot out, and then the phone rang, and we had to work. After I was done with work, I went to find my boss, she's given me a massage before, when my back was bothering me at work. She told me I had two knots, one that was lower and felt like a pencil, and one that was higher and more like a ball. Apparently, I'm so stressed with my knots, I made her thumb numb, and I still have one of the knots. I'd love to know what's making me stressed, so I can stop knotting up my back.

It still hurts now, there's a couple spots that are actually tender to the touch. I'm not entirely sure if that's from the knots, or her massaging them out, she said I'd hurt when she was done.

 

To combat my stress, I have started a new project: a fabric book:

Head over to my art blog to read more about it.

What do you guys do to de-stress yourselves?

I'm so disappointed

After reading on other blogs about their great finds at stores and estate sales, I went to our two antique/consignment stores today. Unfortunately, I didn't find much. My first stop is a small antique store. I try not to go in there frequently because she doesn't move stuff out if it doesn't sell fast, I feel like I see the same stuff in there all the time. I did take in a Mason jar of buttons for her.

My second stop is a consignment store that has a lot of cool stuff. It's got 3 floors of stuff and they move it in and out, and stage things for holidays. Unfortunately, I didn't find much there either. Here's what I picked up:

 A green silk scarf, and a creamer. I plan on using the scarf to make something else. I found some cute hankies, but I can't justify spending more than $1, when I know when it's garage sale season, I can find them for cheaper. The creamer was just too cute to pass up.  I'm very spoiled by garage sale season, but I really liked it, plus it had already been there for a month.


My next disappointment is people. I watched the movie Compliance today, it is fictional, but it's based on true events. It's about this 19 year old girl working in a fast food joint. Someone calls saying they're a police officer and tells her manager that she stole money from a customer's purse. The "police officer" says they need to search her clothes and belongings, and then strip search her, and then says she needs to sit in the office naked until they come to get her. As time passes, the "police officer" on the phone asks the manager to have a male sit with her, the manager first gets another employee, who decides he won't do it, and then calls in her fiancee (who is probably in his 40's), to sit with her. When the manager leaves the caller tells the guy he needs to inspect her, have her bend over, spank her and then have her perform oral sex on him. This causes the fiancee to leave, and the manager brings in a much older worker, probably close to 60's, who finally says he won't do anything. The manager calls her regional manager, who the caller said he was talking to on another line, finds out he hasn't talked to anyone, and finally hangs up on the caller and calls the real police.
Apparently, this actually happened, a prank caller would call fast food places and say that someone stole something and then assault these girls over the phone. And nobody ever questioned him because he said he was a police officer. Unfortunately, I believe it happened, even as I'm sitting there yelling at the TV.
Studies by Stanley Milgram in the 60's found that people will follow directions if somone identifies themselves as authority figures. I guess they believe that people wouldn't lie about that and just follow blindly. I read about these studies when I took psychology in college, it's sad but it happens. I find it hard to believe though, that as your listening to someone giving you directions that make you ask multiple times if you should be doing it, and cause you to cry, that you wouldn't stop for a second and think about it.
I can't say what I'd do in that kind of situation, but I'd like to think my common sense would kick in. I know the police wouldn't call an establishment and have them strip search anyone. They wouldn't keep you on the phone for hours telling you to do things that you think are wrong. I'd hope I'd realize this, hang up and call the actual police line and ask for whoever I was talking to.


Back to happier news, if you're interested in some lace, I listed some on my Etsy store yesterday. It's a mix of mostly vintage lace, with a few pieces of newer trim thrown in as well. Go here, if you're interested. I don't usually promote my Etsy store on here, but I think it's a great deal (of course I'm a little biased).

Please post more of your finds, I hope to live vicarously through you guys until garage sale season starts in a few months.

Who's sick of winter?

I'm sick of winter and cold and snow, so here's some pretty warm pictures from my vacation to Hawaii in 2010. Enjoy!

 I learned today, that people are nicer than I give them credit for. I grew up being wary of people, and then majored in criminal justice in college, which made me suspicious of people. I don't have a driver's license. I really don't need one here, and I'm kinda scared of driving. So, I walk pretty much everywhere, anywhere I can't get to, or is too far, I take the bus. My mother always makes it a big deal to give me a ride anywhere, so I never ask (plus I like walking). In the past year, I've had people give me rides to places they aren't going, and even pick me up and take me back to where they started, and then of course back after, and they're not bothered by it. I generally don't ask for rides anywhere. This past May, a neighboring town was having their annual city-wide garage sale. I really wanted to go, I went with my aunts the year before, but they were busy last year. My co-worker who lives in this neighboring town, said she'd go with me. I mentioned I didn't have a way to get there, she said it was no problem coming to get me, driving around with me and then taking me home.

 Tonight, I was working a wrestling event, and would have had to wait for the bus for 40 minutes, or walk home in 15 degree weather, with who knows what wind chill (it's been below 0 all day). I don't mind waiting for the bus. I mentioned casually to my co-worker that I had to wait for the bus, and she offered to give me a ride home. She does live close by, but not that much. She also said, if we were ever working the same shift, she'd be glad to give me a ride.

 I'm not used to that. Like I said, I've always been wary of people. I keep my guard up when I meet new people and it takes a while before I'm comfortable enough to call someone my friend. I like that people are interested in me, and want to do nice things for me.

 I also learned, I like uplifting songs. Right now, one of my favorites is Firework by Katy Perry. I'm not a huge fan of her, but I like the song. Here's the lyrics, if you've never heard it:

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag
Drifting through the wind wanting to start again?
Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin
Like a house of cards one blow from caving in?

Do you ever feel already buried deep six feet under?
Scream but no one seems to hear a thing
Do you know that there's still a chance for you
'Cause there's a spark in you?

You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine
Just own the night like the 4th of July

 'Cause, baby, you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colours burst
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"
You're gonna leave 'em all in awe, awe, awe

You don't have to feel like a wasted space
You're original, cannot be replaced
If you only knew what the future holds
After a hurricane comes a rainbow

 Maybe you reason why all the doors are closed
So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road
Like a lightning bolt, your heart will glow
And when it's time you'll know

You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine
Just own the night like the 4th of July

'Cause, baby, you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colours burst
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"
You're gonna leave 'em all in awe, awe, awe

 Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
It's always been inside of you, you, you
And now it's time to let it through-ough-ough

'Cause, baby, you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colours burst
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"
You're gonna leave 'em all in awe, awe, awe

Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon

 It's all about how wonderful YOU are. I like that message, I'm gonna have to find more uplifting songs.

 holding seahorses

 our cruise ship

and here's a picture of me, with my Hawaii sunburn

Freak out day

and more ramblings from a strange woman.

So, this weekend I was in a lot of pain from my problem tooth. Yesterday, I made an appointment with my dentist for today, and in less than an hour it's coming out. That's good news, but I'm freaking out a tiny bit. I'm not scared, I did have this done back in August, it doesn't hurt, but I can hear it. That's why I'm freaking out, it's so close to my ear I can hear it, and it's not a nice sound. I looked at the x-ray, looks like it will be another easy pull, I went to the bank to make sure I had the money to cover it, if it's not. I'd have been fine either way, but I would have been under what I'd like to have in my account, if it turns out to be the higher number.
This morning, I decided it was time to get rid of my old microwave and set up my new one. Now, that it's not snowy out, I could put my old microwave on the curb, and people could see it, it was white. By, the time I got my new microwave set up, someone had already taken the old one. It wasn't a long amount of time, but I did extend it a little after shocking myself when I plugged it in. That was fun, not an experience I'd like again.

At least it's my day off, so I can recover from everything before I have to go back to work tomorrow.

Ramblings of a strange woman

Hello all,
What's been going on with me. Well, New Year's, it wasn't very exciting, I did make it past midnight, but mostly only because I had a Cherry Coke and was in the middle of a movie.
The library's been great, every time I'm working at one of my other two jobs, I find myself talking about it a lot. I really like working there, I plan to be there for a very long time.
Last week, I was at the book store for RUSH (when the college kids come back), that was a long week of standing for about 40 hours. I had already worked the 40 hours at the book store, when I went in to the library last Friday for a shift. I felt my weekend off was very well deserved.
This week we're back into very cold temperatures. Last week at the book store, it was below 10 degrees every morning when I went in to work. Today, the high was 14, they dropped that to 13 before I left work at noon. It was 2 when I left for work, and the wind chill was -11. I really do love Iowa, I just don't like all of it's seasons.
I signed up for a candy box swap, I had to decorate a candy box and fill it with goodies and mail it off to a partner. I finished decorating it Tuesday, and every time I look at it, I love it. I also joined a swap where we send something handmade with a heart on it to a partner. I decided to do some kind of sewing.

And then there's the moaning below:

I'm having a horrible day, week, month, whatever. I got a letter in the mail the other day saying my health insurance premium is going up to $200 a month. I can't afford that, I'm thinking about cancelling it. Someday, I'll have to have another one of my back molars pulled out, because I didn't brush my teeth in college, I'm thinking about having it done soon because I'm sick of picking food out of it. I keep spending money on stuff I don't need, I went grocery shopping today, and I didn't buy ice cream, but I sure didn't need the chocolate eclairs or the slice of lemon pie. I keep signing up for swaps to create stuff so I can make that connection that I keep reading about on other people's blogs. The meeting someone who becomes a great friend online, and sends you fun random presents. I have met a few people that I follow their blogs, but I've also met other people where I've sent them things, but feel it's a one sided relationship. Now, I know, I should be getting enough satisfaction in just making and/or sending people fun things, but sometimes I feel as if no one cares.
I work 19 hours at my job, which I LOVE, I just wish I could get more money. I know I could get more if I worked more, which I have the option to do, but after working 18 days straight between two jobs, sometimes I just want that day off to recover my sanity. When I'm not at work, it seems all I do is sit on the couch and watch movies. Maybe, that's part of the reason I sign up to do swaps, so I can motivate myself to do something else. I love the 3 jobs I work, I just wish I could make more money at them, and not have to get another job.
Sometimes, it feels like the only thing that makes me happy is to buy things, which in my current situation, doesn't really help anything. Listening to my music helps too, but sometimes not enough.

I think I'm just in a funk of being bored with cold weather and snow. I recently took down all my snowmen decorations. I was only going to take down some of them, but then realized I'd have to bring the boxes back out when I took down the rest. My decorations are so nice and colorful now. Most of them are garage sale finds, and I realized that when I go garage saleing this year, I need to be buying a few less things. This past year, I bought a lot of vintage linens/doilies/things, tea cups, saucers, heavy glass creamers and sugar bowls, sundae cups and wine glasses. I've decided to buy
more linens, I keep using them for my sewing and swaps,
more craft supplies, but only those I might actually use,
jewelry, I'm still on the look out for a cute tiny bracelet,
owls, I'm on an owl kick right now, I even have an owl corner in my apartment.

and of course I can't think of any others right now. I bought a Pyrex mixing bowl a couple years ago, and couldn't figure out the hype, and then this past December while we were cleaning out my grandma's apartment, I picked up 3 more Pyrex pieces, I'm still not sure why. Two of them are these small red rectangular containers, probably not more than 4 inches long, the other one is a casserole dish in this beautiful turquoise color with snowflakes on it. I really like that one, mostly because of the snowflakes, I'll probably actually use that one. I get that people like Pyrex, I just don't think I need to be collecting it.

All right, that's the end of my rambling, I hope you stuck around to read it.

Spending Money

So, my brother gave me a gift card for JCPenney for Christmas, last week I went online to spend some of it. I wanted to buy boots, but they didn't have what I wanted in my size, so I decided to look at their clearance clothing section. Here's what I got:

This is what I ordered, this cute little dress, 

And here's what I got: not such a cute little dress, totally not what I was expecting, I'm thinking about returning it. Anyone have any comments about how it looks? I think it looks kinda nice.

 Here's my second dress, unfortunately, I think it makes my hips look huge, so I might be taking that back.

This picture is kinda blurry, sorry. Anyways, I ordered both the shirt and the skirt. I like them both, plus they go great together.

 

I would love some feedback on how you all think they look on me, please.

After Christmas shopping

Decided to kill some time yesterday after work, so I took a detour to Hobby Lobby and an local flower store.

Found some great after Christmas deals.

The sparkly butterfly, elephant and blue poinsettia are from Hobby Lobby. The alien, gold ball, and snowman pick were from my flower store.

I also went to HyVee, but resisted the urge to buy Valentine's candy. I didn't buy any Valentine's stuff at Hobby Lobby either, but mostly because it wasn't on sale.

I'd love to find a great Valentine's swap to get into, I miss swaps.
I'm also missing garage sales. I stopped pretty early last year, I have no idea why. There's a few antique/consignment stores in my area, but they seem to have the same stuff all the time, so it just doesn't seem worth it.

HELP

Is anyone having problems uploading pictures from their computer? I click the picture icon, but it never loads the button to upload from my computer.

Any suggestions?

Swaps

I signed up for quite a few swaps this holiday season. One of them was an ornament swap where you send ornaments to a partner.

I sent this out awhile ago, so I know my partner's received it by now. She said she liked owls, and bright colors.

We were supposed to send these in order for our partner to receive them by December 7th or 10th, depending on whether you're reading the initial post or the email that was sent out with partner's information.
I hadn't received her package as of yesterday, so I emailed her this morning. She said she was waiting for my package to arrive to get my address. USPS says my package to her was delivered on December 1st, so I don't know what to think about that.

I also joined a swap back in November to make ATCs with flowers on them. The hostess lives in another country, so it took a while to get items to her, but they were due in the middle of November. I got an email the other day, saying they were on their way back.

I also joined a supply swap where we send each other a small Priority mail box full of Christmas-y supplies. That's supposed to be in my hands by Saturday.

The last 3 days I haven't gotten anything in the mail. I've worked 30 hours this week already and I'm ready for something good to come back to me.

The reason I love this season is that I get to give gifts to people, more so than the rest of the year. I love picking out things I think they'll like.

This past Sunday, we had my mother's side of the family Christmas. One of my cousin's kids seemed kinda bummed, so when we got home I put together a stocking for her, and since her brother is younger I didn't want to leave him out. I mailed them off today, they don't know about my blog, so I'm not spoiling any surprises. I just pulled things from around my house, the only thing I spent money on was shipping.

This first one is for her brother. I hope he'll like the stocking, it's not really boyish. I included a couple wind-up toys, some bug goo, and a bag of mint M&M's. I took the M&M's to the get together, and he really enjoyed them there.

 This next one was for her. The stocking is from my vintage stocking swap partner from last year. I included a butterfly clip, some lip gloss, a choker, a cute bird ornament, a snowflake ornament, journal,

 a couple more necklaces, some fingernail polish, some lotion, a pair of earrings, a "bobbing" chicken (he dances from side to side in the sun), and a cute sun catcher.

I think they're both fun stockings for kids.

Festival of Trees

A few weeks ago, I went to our local festival of trees. Here are some interesting ones.

 This one was a little weird, it was decorated by a local clothing store. They chose to attach the torso to the middle of the tree and then decorate the bottom of the tree.

 I love the silver and blue on this tree.

 Love the pink and green together on this tree.

 This one was decorated with corks. I've seen a few trees floating around the internet with this decorating pattern, I don't understand what's so cool about it.

 Loved the light green, blue and bright colors on this one. It was available for bid, but it went too high for me.

 Another one with blue and green.

 And another one, are we seeing a pattern here.

 This one my mom liked. We have an ISU tree that we decorate with red and gold ribbon/beads, and ISU ornaments. We top it with an ISU Santa hat, and put all mom's ISU Santa's underneath.

 There was also an art auction going on, they do one every year to raise money for the Octagon (an art studio). Here's what I put in the winning bid for:
This is a plastic chicken, it's probably a foot and a half long and a foot tall, it's feet are bent over so it stands on them. I just thought it was funky.

 This is a painting of poppies, I thought they were cute

 This last one I only bid on for the keychain. They're both pieces of leather with patterns stamped into them. I don't wear headbands, so I don't know what I'm going to do with it.