Aunt Flo Again

It's that again. That time of the month I should say. I spent the first few hours of the AM feeling my body drip out of me hoping that it wasn't escaping onto my white sheet. I know, I know, why do I have a white sheet on the bed.

I know I've talked before about how I never really had bad cramps before but now that I'm 44 my body is revolting and trying to CRAMP it all out at once. While I was laying there this morning moaning I debated on calling into work. I actually looked at my text to my boss to see if the last thing I sent her was me calling in lol. It wasn't but the last time I called in was Sept 11. See a pattern here.

I managed to doze off for a bit and woke up to my alarm going off. That's when I noticed Scott was still in the bed. Usually he leaves for the train 15 minutes before my alarm goes off. Whoopsie! Looks like someone is late today.

I got up and went to the bathroom, decided to take a shower and then since I did that might as well get dressed and go to work right? Yep.

At work we are being required to log every file we work on to this website. Basically we have to account for our entire 8 hours into categories and put which person we worked on and how long. Which doesn't seem that bad but I work on like 30 files at time for 2 minutes each.

Remember Monday was a holiday.

Tuesday we go to work and I log on a piece of paper everything I did and how long it took. I started putting it all into the computer an hour before it was time to go home and ran out of time. I got to work this morning and spent another 1 1/2 hours working on it. Finally I got everything in there. I did some more work and logged my time on a piece of paper. Then we had a staff meeting.

Towards the end of the staff meeting someone said something that made me realize I had logged EVERYTHING ON THE WRONG DAY. I started my log on Monday. UGH GDMF.

So tomorrow morning I can spend another 2 hours or so fixing all that. You can't just switch the days in one big swoop, I'm going to have to go into each log and switch the day. What a pain in the ass. I still have to log all my work from today too. Hey at least I'm not bored right? They are going to love my log entry that is "4 hours logging time".

I know the reason behind all this is so they can figure out who to can. They tell us it's the other way around, so they know where they need to hire but I don't believe it. It's all a bit stressful.

After work I went grocery shopping ($275 and there is still space on the shelves in the fridge..) and then made pepper steak per Jessica's request. We all skipped bingo tonight. The last couple times there has been a bit of drama so what's the point of going if you aren't coming home feeling happy. My plan was to do some sewing but uh now it's 9:41pm so it's a bit late to start haha.

I did pay some bills though. I finally paid off Buster's eye removal.

We are going to have to get our septic pumped out as soon as Scott calls and gets them to come out. I told him I'm giving him that job since he's the one that needs to be here when they do it.

I don't do big people's poo.

Let's hope that works and we don't have to get whole new system for awhile. I don't have 10k and I'm not sure how I would get that much money without maxing out credit cards which I really don't want to do.


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Lodi Street Faire

Oh my gosh how do the weeks go by so quickly? Probably the same way my sink keeps feeling up with dishes and the laundry is always overflowing.

So all last week it was the "weather watch" for Sunday. Sunday was the big day! The biggest craft fair I have dared so far. The Lodi Street Faire! Now this fair was NOT cheap to get into and that was most of what I was worried about. Would I make enough to cover my booth fee? I had been furiously sewing for weeks to make sure I had enough good inventory that people would want to buy. I may have made 117 new mug cozies!

Monday there was a rain in the forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday. Wednesday it was thundering and lighting-ing and Rusty was a mess. I need to try buying him a thunder jacket. If that doesn't work I need to just ask the vet for some pills to chill him TF out. I gave him 3 Benadryls and that got him to at least stop pacing for a bit.

This is how it started, moved tables around 12 times after that ;)

After that the weather was looking great! 80 for Sunday! Saturday I look at the weather and there it was. The dreaded WIND symbol. GDMF. What is it about me that everything I plan for has to have either wind, rain or be 185 degrees outside.

At least I'm kind of wind proof. I have a back up wind set up so I'm not TOO worried. I have my 30 pound sand bags for each leg of my canopy so it won't blow away like that one time. (and oh my look at my first real show I did, I've gotten a bit more crazy with my booth now).

I had asked my mom if she wanted to come with me to help out so she did. She drove her own car but followed me over. From start to finish I never talked to anyone that ran this fair. So weird! You sign up all online. When I drove in the gate there was no one there. I rolled down my window to ask someone what booth number they were and she told me I'd be down a bit. When I thought I was kind of close I asked more people what numbers they were (out the window Grey Poupon style). Finally I found my spot. Mom was able to park real close and after we unloaded the car I parked right next to her.

The booth next to me had the quilts and it made a nice back drop to my stuff 

I had 2 older ladies on each side of me. The one to the right had quilts mostly and the one on the left had all kinds of metal stuff along with aprons and some other crafty things. All really nice women and my mom loved talking to them all. I keep telling my mom she needs to make some stuff up to sell. She is super talented and could make some great stuff! I know from this weekend she'd love having all the people to talk to.

When we first got there my mom pointed out the weights of the metal booth next to us. I was like yeah I don't know if I really trust those ones I've seen them come loose before. They had 2 on each leg (they might have had more weight to each one I'm not sure). Sure as shit at 3 pm that tent went flying. Those poor ladies!

In the morning it wasn't quite as windy and I was doing really well! I had made $50 plus by 9am. AWESOME! Way on track to making my booth fee back. My mom was super hungry so she went off in search of food. About an hour and a half later I was like where in the hell is my mom? I sent her a text asking if she was lost and I got back "yes". Haha. I think she got a little side tracked by all the fun stuff. So she finally comes back with no food. I was like MOM where's the food! She hung out for a bit and then went and got us some.

Later she took the little folding wagon she had given me and went to get this thing she thought she had to have. She comes back with this big wood child's buffet thing. I should have taken a picture. She wheeled it into my booth and I was like well that's nice lol. Eventually we stood it up and used it to set a few wine bottles on. Of course when it was time to go home it wouldn't fit in her car. Good thing my Dad could go borrow my brother's truck to pick it up. I told her she needs to remember she drives a Spark and not a van anymore lol. The gal next to us teased her and told her she should just get a Smart Car so everything will REALLY fit.

This is the 8am crowd, later you could barely walk down the street

The wind kept gusting and bit here and there and I had several wine bottles fall off the table (they are just used ones I use for display for my wine totes). Luckily most of the time the glass all stays in the tote when they fall and I just dump them out. I think I lost about 6 bottles. Around 2 it was super windy and I had to take down my key fob displays because they kept falling over even with rocks on the bottom of them. I also took down the window displays because they were making me nervous and the new shade back I got for the tent because it kept whipping. Next came my buntings because I couldn't stand seeing them fly around anymore.

So needless to say business pretty much came to a screeching halt around 2, but it was ok. I made more than 2x the booth fee so I felt fine about it! I will definitely sign up for the next one in May. Although with my luck it will probably rain and be windy ;)

Next Saturday  October 20th I have a booth in Fresno which is a bit of a drive but somehow I got talked into doing the show. Mom is going to ride with me so I need to take 1 box less, most likely just the wine bottles since I don't need to take that many anyways, they are just fun to put out when they aren't blowing off the table.

Hopefully she won't find anything big to buy ;) One of us might have to buy a truck soon lol.  I spent my day off on Monday (love that we get Columbus Day off even if it is a bogus holiday) doing some inventory, listing a bunch of stuff on Etsy and going to lunch with my friends. Now the rest of the week I need to work on a few more things I that people were looking for and or I sold out of.




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Random Bits and Bobs

Well I should be sewing or cooking dinner but instead I paid bills and read blogs. I guess those were both productive too.

I have spent all my free time getting ready for the big Lodi Street Fair this Sunday. I have a ton of mug cozies in process that I need to finish up and then I think I'm going to call the production side of things good. Maybe.

Here's a few recent pics, I'm way behind on sharing pictures here although I haven't done anything too exciting. Work, Book Club was Sunday, Bingo every Wednesday, Bunco last Monday, you know, not much.

So at work there is a big court yard and in the middle is an oak tree. Today I was walking by and was like holy cow look at all the acorns! I think I'm going to collect some from there (I was going to do it today at lunch then forgot) and some of the cup shells. I think the shells would be pretty on a wreath.  Might be fun to start some little oak trees too.

I actually cooked last night! Stew! Although it wasn't really cold enough for it yet but I love it. (yes that's ketchup, don't judge!)

My little book case at work. I got the pumpkin 2 weekends ago when my mom and went to a couple crafty type show things. Actually I got all the little pumpkins there. The white pot I got for admin assistant's day (shock, first time ever getting anything for that) and the can one used to have more and be cuter when I bought it in the summer at a craft show I was at. Those need to be re-potted.

Here is a rag wreath I made to sell. I have one more frame so maybe I will make a 2nd one but they make my nose stuffed up from ripping all the fabric. I was trying to the link for the page I used before that said how long to make the strips but couldn't find it. I ended up making them 1" x 6" (started with bigger but I didn't like how long they are). I just pulled out fabrics from my stash to use up. Seems a bit busy in the pictures but I like it in person and if it doesn't sell I'll just hang it on my door lol.

Well lucky me Trevor started making dinner so more time to blog.

I think I have made up my mind that I am not going to apply for the other position at work when they advertise it. UNLESS they make it so it pays more than my current position. I don't see the point of changing positions for a lot more stress if I'm not going to get paid more. Plus I like what I do now.  When I'm not sharing it with 2 other people.

Starting next week we have to do this time cycle study thing again where you basically have to log every minute of your day and say what you did. FOR THREE WEEKS.  It looks like we are going to do this about once a quarter. The last time we did it I just stopped doing it the 2nd week. I was like eh what are they going to do, fire me? But now I've actually seen someone get fired (not for that though) so who knows maybe they would!

Also now we are having to do this online training/quiz thing. It sounds like they are maybe going to combine 3 agencies. One of the agencies is in our office and I worked with them and get in their files so I know what they do, but the other one I didn't even know what it was. So that's fun learning all what a whole agency does in 10 short pages and then being quizzed on it. Like I'm going to remember all those government acronyms and which loan is called what and how long it is.

Basically farmers have to buy about 50 different kinds of insurance. What a mess. Sounds way too stressful to be a farmer.




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So Political

I never thought the day would come when I'd be into politics! Gah! I must be old now haha. But when the shit that is going on will actually affect you I think it's time to pay attention, am I right?

Today I watched most of the hearings. Now since I am affected by the Hatch Act I can't state my opinions on a lot of things but wow. 

First of all, it's really interesting to find out which of your friends are "old school" and think that if you went to a party and had a beer you should just expect to get raped.

Not remembering what happened afterwards is so off the charts and can't possibly be a bit of PTSD, I'm sure?

Thinking I should have kept all my calendars from the 90's. I might still have a few actually! You never know when those might come in handy.

I haven't really paid too much attention to senators in the past but seeing how they reacted and talked to other people was really interesting. Makes me want to read up about all of the big mouthers.

Apparently the FBI should come and fix this all.

And where is this Mark guy? Tempted to read his book but maybe from the library so he doesn't get any money from it ;)


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Hola

Wooohoo it's FRIDAY!!

I had to drive into town after work to pick up Trevor. We went to dinner (Panda Express) then the grocery store for breakfast foods so we don't have to hear any whining from Scott about not having the appropriate breakfast meats.

So we're all set for the weekend! My mom and I are going to some antique/craft thing tomorrow around noon just to hang out. Other than that I don't have any plans except some sewing, maybe a little yard work and definitely need to put away the huge pile of sheets & blankets.

I have cut out a ton of mug cozies so I just need to cut the batting and then assemble. Exciting!

Scott just got home and has already turned on the baseball game. So over having him watching baseball all the time. It would be ok if he was just WATCHING it but he makes so much freaking noise.

Off to read a few blogs, I actually was busy the last couple days at work. Probably because the other day I when I had to pick up my boss at the car dealership she got to hear me complain about how boring work was haha.

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Sewing Weekend

Can you hear that? That's me sighing dying of boredom. All I've done today is transfer two phone calls.


I spent the entire weekend sewing. It was great! I decided to make some more tooth fairy pillows for my booth since people still comment on how cute they were. So I started on those Friday and finished on Saturday.

When I got done with those I made myself go back to all the little bags I had started and work on those. I finished those on Sunday. I didn't put much extra stuff on the bags since I was bored of them and just wanted to get them done. Lots of pink since I was using scraps that I got in a box from someone. I've decided to call these "Treasure Bags" since they are the size to put your little treasures in!

I think next I am going to do another round of mug cozies since I am always collecting cute fabrics for them. First I need to get some more of the fleece I use for them. Although a neighbor gal who quilts keeps wanting to give me her fleece scraps and those might work for free.. I need to try out some of the pieces she brought me before. I'm all about free and thrifty.


Speaking of thrifty I went to the thrift store on my lunch and didn't buy anything. I hate when there are people in the areas I want to look at. Sometimes I'll just skip them and go back but today I hit my one main area and there wasn't anything new. The rest I didn't feel bothered to go back to lol.


I sold 4 patterns on Etsy this weekend which was nice! Last week or so I picked up 30 something new ones at the thrift store. They were like 20 cents each and then another 20% off so it's like free stuff. Then I turn around and sell them for $5 or more each. Works for me! I like that they are easy to store and ship too.


So I have 7 days of craft shows lined up (3 are the black Friday weekend event I did last year). My stuff sells so much better before the holidays so I'm trying to book myself up. Plus that's less time I have to listen to someone yelling at football games at home ;)





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Almost Died Today

So I almost died this morning.

I turned left out of our little neighborhood into the lane there and saw someone coming at me head on. They were passing someone illegally over a double  yellow line. Good thing there was a bit of a shoulder there. I love how people are willing to sacrifice themselves and others to get to work faster.

I know I've talked before about people dumping things in the country. Here's a fun one that showed up yesterday on the little side ride I like to take by my work. I'm thinking they tied it to the pole so they could pull it off the trailer as they drove away. People are such assholes.

Tuesday I stayed home from work with the cramps that are trying to kill me now that I'm old. I took Trevor to the bus and came back and had a cup of coffee. Then I went and laid down and woke up three hours later. Apparently that coffee had no effect lol.

Later in the day I did a bit of sewing. A few more bags.

These ones I didn't get the little cat wizard in a very good spot so he disappears when the bag is closed. Darn.

 

I think I'm already tired of making these. Maybe I'm just tired lol. I have a bunch started so I'll have to come back to them at some point!

I finally went grocery shopping with a list yesterday. I've got a menu for the week. So far I forgot to take some meat out when I left the house though haha. I'll have to have one of the girls take it out for me!

OH and big news. When I was home sick the other day the Cactus Lady got FIRED. I have never heard of anyone getting fired here so it's all so shocking and no one knows why she got fired.

 



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Scrappy Weekend

Did you all have a nice weekend? I spent all weekend playing with fabrics, sewing and washing clothes.

I know I've talked before about my "shower cat" Lucy who totally wanted love and attention any time any of us got out of the shower. So weird! I had started brushing her while she wanted the attention because she sheds so much (so weird she sheds more than the long hair cat). Now? I've created a monster haha. She thinks that every time I walk into the bedroom she needs to be brushed. I have about 5 different brushes/combs I use on her since they always seem to walk away lol. This is the back up one to the nice one ;) She's so cute.

I spent all day Saturday cutting fabric scraps into sized pieces. I had a BIG bag of scraps from one of the gals I had bought fabric off of and scraps that were mixed in with the flannel that I worked on before (sold a bunch of those).

Yesterday I finally got around to sewing! The fun part! I dragged out all my ribbons and rick rack. I did assembly line so I have a bunch of the pieces already to sew together, I just need to add some embellishments if I want them.

I used this pattern. The hardest part is sewing the rounded corners. I debated on just making them squared off but I think they look nice rounded. If I can do it nicely lol.

So here is my first one I made, which is the cutest.

Then I made these 2, I will have some with similar fabrics, since SCRAPS! and I was trying to use what I had without going into my other stash to match up colors.

 

 

So that was my weekend excitement! I did sell some more fabric that I had on the Facebook groups already so I made money while I sewed ;) I will have to go to the post office on my lunch since I have 3 bigger boxes and I don't like to make the mail man at work carry those to his truck.

Trevor dropped his phone for the 1000th time yesterday and finally killed it so he's using the little phone that keeps being everyone's back up phone. Probably have to go to the phone store after work to get him a new one but I really hate doing that. I was hoping Jessica would go for me yesterday but that didn't happen.

 

 

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TGIF

I think I say that every week! For only working 3 days this week they have been REALLY LONG days with almost no work to do.


There is going to be two job openings for the job that is one up from mine, although it doesn't pay any more. Sadly they are kind of far away from where I live. They can however be jobs that I might be able to work from another office so I am kind of playing around with the idea of applying and seeing if they would be open to me teleworking and working from my current office most days of the week. At least I wouldn't be bored. They are a lateral move money wise BUT the two offices where they are located get bay area pay so it would be about $10k more a year. I just don't want to have to spend that on gas and tires ;) I definitely wouldn't be bored in that position.


Yesterday after work I made some more key fobs. My goal was to make up them up until I ran out of the hardware, which I did last night.

Now to decide what to work on next. I have a big bag of scraps that I got in one of the boxes of fabric I bought off someone so I think before I do anything I'm going to trim those up.

I'm thinking maybe I will make more of the sunglass cases and maybe some more mug cozies. I keep collecting cute fabric for the cozies so I need to make them up! Also I keep selling all my cute vintage trailer ones. I need to get some more of those cute fabrics.

I have zero plans for the weekend so I'm hoping to get some fun sewing done! The big show I am doing is in one month!

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Closer to Friday

Just got home from bingo. Didn't hang out too long after with the girls because I couldn't stop yawning. Sad since I was the youngest one there. Although I think I'm the only one that actually went to work today. Maybe they all took Nana Naps haha.

Sadly I didn't win a thing at bingo this week.

Yesterday was a lovely day of staying home and sewing. I finished all these key fobs yesterday! I had them partially done so it seems like I did a lot more than I really did lol.

Making progress on my "black" scraps lol. I had to finish up a bit before I was ready to because Trevor wanted to go to bed.  Hopefully I can get back to it tomorrow after work. I have 15 more pieces of the hardware then I have to order some more. I guess I should just order some right? Hopefully these sell but the sports ones usually sell really fast. 

Today "Cactus Lady" came back to work. She got in a car accident MONTHS ago. She was driving to work and from what I understand a truck ran a red light and drove right in front of her. They said she was only alive because of her airbags. She has a boot on her leg, one of her arms is still messed up (of course her dominant one) and she has a walker. One minute you're driving to work and then BAM! disabled. I hope she gets a lot of pain and suffering money. Since we are federal we don't pay into disability like regular jobs so it's a bit more difficult to just go out that way. 

Yesterday I watched Season 2 of Ozark. I think that's a really good show. Who knew Jason Bateman still had it in him to make something good. Go child actor!!

Ok off to bed. I think I'll watch a few episodes of My Drunk Kitchen now that I was reminded about that show. AND I used to actually be funny when I go back and read my old posts. Must work on that again I think ;)

PS noticed Columbus Day coming up next month, I think I'll add a day to that holiday weekend again! 

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