Cherry Blossom Mother's Day Card

Yard sale womp: I guess not every weekend can be a lucky yard sale weekend.  I probably went to about 10 today, and didn't find anything that I liked.  I did see the old school game "Connect Four" for what looked like 25 cents, but a dad snatched up when I walked by the second time around.  I also saw a kettlebell that some guy was offering for $3.  I would have picked it up if it was more than 5 pounds.  Wah.  Anyway, I saw the same co-worker that I saw last weekend too.  She found some books and medieval figurines for her son.  She said that if I ever needed a partner-in-crime in the yard sale game to let her know.  Who knew that people would actually be interested in yard saling with me?!  Ha ha.

Food: I tried out a new place to eat called Boloco with Beth.  She's been there, but I hadn't.  I tried the spicy BLT which was yummy.  I was a little nervous that the dressing would be too spicy, but it was just the right amount of kick.

Card:  I can't believe that Mother's Day is right around the corner!  The approaching holiday is what inspired me to do this card.  I also wanted to crack into some sheets of rub-ons that I got a while back at a yard sale.  The plastic of the rub-ons allowed me to do some watercolor resist with the Tim Holtz ink pads.

Card Specs: 
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird.  Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo, Tattered Rose, Mustard Seed
Stamps: My Sentiments Exactly!
Rub-On: Jenni Bowlin Transferware Flowers-Black and Bird & Branch
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Other: Liquid Pearl in Buttercup, Rouge.  Staedtler Triplus Fineliner

Happy Hour

Let the record show that I did got to Happy Hour tonight. 

You're shocked, I know.  This never ever never ever happens. 

However, a little change in my schedule now and then wouldn't hurt right?  My boss is in town and I figured this would be a good way to spend time with her outside of the office. Plus, cheap drinks and food are definitely a bonus.  I got an appletini and shared some chicken tenders with a co-worker.  The alcohol made me feel really sleepy so I stuck to just one. 

Yay for being social...and not a hermit.  I'll go to spin tomorrow.  If I go TH and FRI, I can say that I went to 4 classes this week, which is pretty good.

Speaking of spin, a co-worker asked me if I was going to the staff breakfast on FRI.  Um, no, I'm going to spin class. My boss hears me.  "Is that during work hours?"  Oh crap.  Was I not supposed to say that?  She starts laughing.  Ok, whew.  I think she knows that I go to spin on FRI.  I mean it's on my calendar.  Everyone at the office can see that.  Based on our touch-base conversation earlier today, she didn't have anything negative to say about my performance, so I guess we're good. 

Well, she did say that I need to slow down when I talk on the phone on conference calls.  "You sound like you just want to get your piece over it."  Well, yes!  I guess I just shouldn't make it so obvious that I want it to be over.

Crazy Happenings in the Neighborhood

I was watching the Real Housewives of Atlanta reunion tonight and I could hear something going outside.  I didn't think much of it until the voices got louder.  The lady next door (we'll call her E) yelled out "Get out of my house!  I don't care!  Get out of my house!"  I could hear a man's voice walking away and cursing and saying something about how he's helped this family before.  I could hear someone else say "I don't want to get involved."  Once it was quiet, I peeked my head outside and saw the newbie neighbor, Tracy (she lives two houses down) with her phone out.  I asked what was going on and she walked over.  Based on what she said and what I heard earlier, I was able to piece together what happened: when I came back from CVS earlier this evening, I saw E and asked her what had happened to the elderly neighbor (we'll call her J) because I hadn't seen her or her dog in a while.  E explained that the elderly neighbor around the corner has gone to live with a family member because she's been falling a lot lately and hasn't been in good health.  Some of her family came to move some of her furniture earlier, but some of it was left outside, and E planned to move it into her house.  Flash forward a few hours later, when the screaming started happening outside.  I guess another neighbor wanted this furniture.  I guess there was some confusion of who should get the furniture.  Tracy said that if the yelling continued, she was going to call the police.  I was tempted to do it too, but before I could peek outside, it had gone quiet.  While we were talking, the guy that had been screaming walked by and apologized for the yelling and dropped a pile of wood at the neighbor's house.  Maybe it used to be a drawer?  I was so confused.

Really, guys, really?  This is yard sale season, so I'm sure that you could find a dresser for a reasonable price without the drama.  And for a man to yell at a woman like that (well, to yell at anyone like that, but especially a woman) was totally out of line.

In other news, a nearby townhouse was on the market for only a day.  I saw the sign go up on TH saying that there was going to be an Open House today, but when Robyn came over, she said that there was an Under Contract sign up already.  Aw, man.  I was so ready to see it, but good for them though!  It'll be interesting to see who moves in.  Hopefully, they are nice and not crazy/loud.

Yard Sale Finds and Dumplings

Yard sale finds:  I set off early today to check out some yard sales, and of course, I came home with quite a few goodies.  The next neighborhood down had quite a few families that wanted to sell their unwanted items.  I lost count of how many sales I went to because some yard sales were so close together.  I probably went to 10?  I ran into my co-worker at one of the sales.  I hope she found some goodies.  She complimented me on my pink pullover, "Tina, pink is your color.  You look good in pink."  I had to laugh on the inside because there was a time where I stayed away from pink.  FYI, total spent today: $12.

The yard sale price of this puzzle was $4, but I got it for $3. I thought it would be a good challenge.

Mouse= $1. I have been looking for a mouse to put in my office laptop bag.  The pocket one that I had previously died on me.  I'm going to keep this one in my home office, and put the original home office mouse in my office laptop bag.

Set of 4 Garfield mugs = $2.  I kept one of the canoe ones since it's a duplicate, and I'm going to see if I can sell the remaining 3 on Etsy or Ebay for a profit since these are vintage (1978).  These are old school, from McDonalds.

I got all these cards for $6.  All except the teapots is a set, so I kept the kitty cards for myself (they look like Ginger) and 1 of each of the square cards, and I'm giving the rest to a friend for her birthday.

Etsy Shop: I spent the afternoon working on listing items in my Etsy shop. I dug around my craft supply closet, and I found things that I had duplicates of or in retrospect, didn't really like as much as I thought.  Hopefully, they can find a new home where someone will use them.

Dumplings, Week 3: Robyn came over tonight for dinner.  I made her work for her dinner by wrapping some dumplings up with me.  Yum, yum!  

Sigh of Relief

Weird dream: This morning was so disorienting.  I had this dream last night (or rather, early this morning), that I was told that I had some papers that I needed to turn in for my Spanish class, but I couldn't find them and it wasn't even clear what I needed to turn in in the first place!  I'm not even in school anymore.  What the heck?

Boston: When I finally got out of the initial fog of waking up, I reached for my phone to check for any updates regarding the search for the Boston marathon bombing suspects.  So much had happened over night.  Something happened at MIT.  There was some gunshots.  Watertown was in lock down.  I was pretty much glued to the TV all afternoon, or at least it was within hearing range.  I didn't know whether to cheer or cry when I saw that the suspect had been apprehended alive.  What happened this week is so sad, but hopefully with this guy brought to justice, that'll help everyone move on and heal.

Productivity: I was definitely more productive today than yesterday.  I went to spin class in the morning, followed by some grocery shopping.  Then I made some meatloaf and set up my closet on Poshmark.  They don't charge for listing so I figured it's worth a try.  I bought a value pack of ground beef at Giant, and I was able to use 2 pounds of it today...one pound for the meatloaf and one for some spaghetti sauce.  The last pound will be used for the dumpling filling.  My friend Robyn's going to come over to help me make them.

New Nails: During a lull in the news broadcast tonight, I decided to do my nails again.  I went with white again, this time with Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear in White On (2 coats).  I didn't really see a difference between this polish and OPI's Alpine Snow, so maybe I won't get a bottle of the OPI one since this cheaper version does the trick just as well.

Fall-To Layout #236

Lazy day: I didn't do much on my day off today.  Well, nothing exciting anyway.  I drove around to Target, Old Navy, TJMaxx, Ross, and eventually the Asian supermarket.  I walked away with some new Thickers  (Flakey in red and woodgrain, Fellow and Serenade), a new stamp set, and some groceries. Blah, boring.  I came home, ate lunch, took a nap on the couch, and woke up in time to go to spin class.  Blah, more boring stuff.

Fall-To Layout #236: The neighbors that live across the street from my parents have moved to a new place.  It feels bittersweet because it's sad to see such a nice family move away, but I am happy that they were able to find a bigger and better place to accommodate everyone.  When I was making this card and trying to pick a rub-on to use, I decided to send this card to them and chose the Congratulations one.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan
Stamps: Hero Arts- Envelope Pattern
Paper: My Mind's Eye- Bloom & Grow
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Large, Lifestyle Crafts- Nesting Lace Circles
Stickers: Basic Grey Bloomers- Pyrus collection
Rub-On: Stampin' Up- Chit Chat (sentiment)
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen

Song of the Day: "Tonight I'm Getting Over You" - Carly Rae Jepsen

Hello Card

At the office: It was a such a nice day outside today!  I went to get some fresh air and of course, do some window shopping at my favorite nearby stores: New York and Company, Ulta, Marshalls, and CVS.  The only place that I bought stuff at was Marshalls (4 sets of Thickers for $1.49 each: Stroll, Notarized, Memo and Zebra).  Apparently several of my co-workers wanted to get out of the office too because I saw one of them at Ulta and 2 at CVS.  I was eyeing some of the Milani stuff on sale but decided against it.  One of my co-workers complimented me on my make-up.  I politely said thank you, but I was laughing on the inside because my daily make up routine takes very little effort: a quick swipe of eyeshadow/eyeliner/mascara/blush, and some sort of lip product.  No concealer or foundation today.  Maybe that Freeman stuff that I've been using lately and the sun that I got this past weekend have been helping my complexion.

She mentioned that she wanted someone to teach her how to do liquid eye liner.  I recommended YouTube since you can learn all sorts of stuff on YouTube.  While wandering around the hair product aisle, she picked a Loreal product up that I had a coupon for, so I dug out my coupon organizer to get it.  My other co-worker was like "Where did you get all those coupons?!  Look at how they are all organized!"  Oh, come on, is this supposed to be a surprise?  If there's a good deal out there, I will find it!

While I didn't go to the gym tonight, lifting the 40 lb containers of kitty litter was quite the workout!

Target: Speaking of good deals, I found a good one at Target tonight.  40 lb. kitty litter was $15 each.  If you buy 2, you get a $5 Target gift card.  Plus I had a $2 off coupon.  This translates to getting $30 of kitty litter for $23.  Bah ha.  I figured I'd go with the two boxes of litter since it's not like RJ won't be using it all.  40 lb goes a long way for one kitty.  I put some in his box when I got home and he immediately went to bathroom, like he was giving his stamp of approval or something.

Card: I wanted to use some of the Thickers that I got today, so I went with the Stroll ones.  I cut strips of a paper pack that I hadn't used in a while and was already out.  I adhered the strips down and put the chipboard letters on top of them.  Then I added the faux stitching and paper flowers.  

Card Specs:
Paper: Making Memories- Chloe's Closet
Stickers: American Crafts Thickers- Stroll
Flowers: Recollections

I'm taking TH and FRI off this week.  4 day weekend, woot!