Score!

I received a list of 'my' new kids the other day. Quite a few of them are smalls. A lot of K and lower grades. I like that because I get to keep them awhile, or usually. Sometimes kids move away or circumstances change, but I love having them around for a few years. 

I treasure those relationships, as you know.
Building them means I have to look at the kid(s) and actually see them, then figure out what they love and then find a way to help provide some of those things. I do it almost subconsciously because I've been doing it so long.

One of the things I do is spend some of my own money on programming supplies. Do  I have to do that? No. I can take what's provided for me and manage to run a good program. In addition, I will be given a site budget to make some other purchases, too.

But that takes time, and sometimes it's really hard to wait, both for them and for me.

We all know what bored kids do, too. Much easier to provide the things that will keep them engaged. One of my favorite occurrences is the kid who doesn't want to leave when their adult comes to get them.

The pressure is a little larger for me this year, starting a new site and building a program isn't difficult, but it takes a great deal of thought and planning and if you're me, obsessing.

I visit Goodwill often. Most of what I wear came from there, more than a few things around the house are from the Goodwill Elves, too.

And let's not forget the real reason I go there so often... my job.
As if I could, it's on my mind all the time.
Is it a healthy obsession?
I don't know. But it's a thing.

The past couple months I've been shopping for my job. Picked up a ton of programming supplies. Books and games and storage containers (mostly little jars) for miscellaneous tiny items. Buttons and little beads and some of this and some of that.

I went to Goodwill with Eric on Friday. We don't get to go together often, but the stars aligned and we both had the day off.

I know that most of you won't get the thrill I did when I spotted this great little game.

I opened the box and found it was in brand new condition, too. A bonus. All the little lizards and the lids are there, no paint chipped, no bent edges on the magnets.

It was $3.99.
If you're curious, as I was, here's the link to purchase this little game on Amazon.

No way in hell would I ever spend $65.00 on a GAME... but I am pretty happy to have found it. Doesn't require reading, so the smalls should enjoy it.

Want to come play?

Goodwill Hunting

We zipped across the river to Vancouver yesterday.

First stop was the Goodwill outlet center (aka 'the bins').

It's an interesting place.

For the uninitiated, there are people who make a living from scrounging through the bins and then reselling things. I can't imagine trying to make a living that way, it's a pretty dirty place. And people are rude. At least some of them.

I was Google-searching for the addresses of a couple locations in preparation for our excursion when I found a few stories about people who were making a living that way, some of them had been banned from Goodwill for LIFE, some were under restraining orders from other shoppers... it was crazy.

All that over crappy used stuff.

There were a few vultures yesterday, putting their carts along one side and effectively blocking the entire side of a bin, they had to go through it  FIRST before anyone could get there... they didn't want all their stuff to be gone, I guess.

We didn't spend a bunch of money, just found a few things.
But just going is the fun? part.

Lyssa is working on reselling some toys, she found a few things she was happy about.

We also visited a couple retail Goodwill locations.

Those are interesting, too. They seem to specialize, one being particularly good for furniture, another for toys, still another for books. I'm sure they take the demographics of the store's location into consideration when they're sorting.

In one of the Vancouver stores, there were lots of porcelain selections, none of which came home with us. My hoarding tendencies are more about art supplies and crafty things.




The expression on this first doll's face seems appropriate under the circumstances, hung up on a board in all her nice clothes, looked at by everyone who walks by but just.. left hanging there.

And look to her left.
Is that a vampire behind the other doll?
You won't convince me otherwise, especially considering my latest choice in reading materials. 

Aaaargghhhh!!

I thought this one was actually holding a microphone when I looked at the photo, said to myself, 'hey that's odd, I didn't see that when I snapped the pic' then realized what I was actually looking at.

Drop the mic

This next photo cracked me up because of the eyes. I don't understand how someone felt a need to repaint, but if you enlarge the photo, you'll see how creepy the girl looks.

And I thought the smaller girl in back, looking on, was sort of cute and innocent.

 

The 'eyes' have it.

Hug me

AbsoLUTEly unnecessary. But decorative.

Paint me like one of your French girls...

Not pictured... the two older ladies and one man (none of them were together) who didn't seem to realize that one's nose is connected to their whole breathing system, so had their noses uncovered. Are people really that goddamn stupid? I was going to take photos of them, too. But I decided I didn't need the craziness it would cause.

Today I haven't gone anywhere. All that thrift store shopping made me want to stay home, where it's not as crazy.

Most of the time.

The Dregs

Lyssa and I went out and wandered through some Goodwill stores today.

We'd planned to go yesterday, but I got smacked with a gigantic migraine.
First one I've had in six weeks!

Except for about three hours (15 minutes here, 20 there) I slept ALL DAY.
And all night, too.

Did all that sleeping work?
Sort of.

I still ended up having to take some migraine medicine, something I've tried to avoid since the whole exploding BP game.

Sumatriptan does tend to raise BP, but I just checked mine a little bit ago and it was 112/79.
 
I'll take it.


I've also had more than one Excedrin.
Ibuprofen may have made an appearance in the drug cocktail, too.
Oh, and I took a Vicodin.

I did not take all of those things at once.

No word on which thing actually worked, but I can report that I saw an aura with this one. And that I dug out a barf bag (unused) from the last hospital visit 'cause I thought for sure I was going to need it.

I ended up not using it in case you're curious.

So our expedition was postponed a day.

Lately I've been looking for a few very specific things when I go, along with the usual browsing.

I hit the movie section first. I have a smallish collection of movies that I've been known to watch more than once. If I see one I loved in the past, I usually grab it to add to the rotation. We were at the Goodwill Outlet ('the bins') last week and I found the first season of True Blood on DVD. I've had it recommended to me by more than one friend, so I grabbed it.

I found that I enjoyed it, so now I'm on the hunt for other seasons. While I'm waiting, one of my friends told me the books were better (aren't they always?) so I asked my librarian (aka Tami) if she had them.

She had quite a few of them, we picked up the bag when we delivered some brownies to them last week.
Turns out she didn't have the first four.
Dammit.

So I did what I usually do.
I turned to Goodwill.
For about 20 bucks I got five books so I could read all of them in order.

I had to order them from Goodwillbooks.com, but it only took a couple days for them to get here.

I'm on #2 right now, but I didn't read yesterday for most of the day.
It made my head hurt more.

After the movie section, I look at the toy aisle, the crafty stuff aisle (paper goods, beads and stamps and little bits of this and that) to bring home.

Although I've been leaving toys on the shelves due to the no job for the foreseeable future thing. :::sigh:::

I look at cookware.
Trying to find a specific mixing bowl and Eric has this weird obsession with cast iron lately, too so I see if there's anything I think he'd like.

I check out the furniture, cruise through towels and sheets, glance at men's shirts (Eric) and women's clothing although I don't really need any of that, and I'm out the door.

I noticed some interesting things today, though.
We went to three Goodwill stores.

At all three they had many of the same movies, in the same positions on the shelves.

Two copies of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban were on the shelf with one copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. At all three stores! There were two copies of The Patriot and a copy of Master and Commander (which I found to be one of the more stupid movies EVER) next to Ocean's Eleven. Also at all three stores.

Multiple copies of The Pursuit of Happyness scattered throughout the movie section, a movie we watched once while we were visiting the time share at the beach. That movie pissed me off when I saw it and I'm still pissed off now when I remember the basic premise, which is 'selfish asshole works as an unpaid intern, loses wife, home. Takes kid and sleeps in public restrooms and shelters and is rewarded with multi-millions for being a negligent husband and father.'

Something we can all aspire to, I guess.

I found a package of plastic page protectors at every stop today, too.

Every store had multiple owls. One of them was a good three feet long, a metal sculpture that is meant to hang on a wall. Lyssa said she could just see the lacerations she'd get after hanging that thing up. Owl sculptures, stuffed animal owls, pictures of owls. A really swell owl made from pine cone pieces and some acorns.

Hey, I didn't say they were all works of art.

I saw the same blue-with-silver-stamped-on-seahorses shirt in two of the three stores, but one was XL and one XXL.

I came home with a drawer organizer for some of my art supplies (Ikea) and a flannel shirt. Yeah, winter's coming faster than you'd think. Oh, and I picked up a dvd copy of the Lion King. The cashier asked me if I checked it, as movies are not returnable. I confidently told her I had checked and that I've been really lucky with movies, only had one in ten years that wasn't okay.

Today we made that TWO in ten years.
That damn movie didn't work.
:::sigh:::

Goodwill is interesting to me. Each time I visit, I see at least three things that I'd definitely have donated, too. Ugly sweaters or stupid pointy-toed bitch shoes, various home decor, glassware. Once in awhile I find something that surprises me.

"Huh. I would never have donated that if I had one."
Not that I buy whatever it is. Or not usually.

The clothing is getting more difficult for me. I have to wear cotton. It's not just a preference, I get a fine little rash from things that contain more than 10% polyester.

So many manufacturers are adding a large percentage of poly or rayon or some other ugly/sweaty/itchy stuff to the fabric. I can't figure out how anyone could sleep in something made of polyester. Or sleep on poly sheets, either. UGHHHHH.

So many of the shirts I might have been interested in if they were cotton just stay hanging there, lonely. They'll show up at the bins, and probably sooner rather than later.

So tomorrow is Friday. Eric works 4 day work weeks most weeks, with Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. We're going to get up and go to some of the outlet stores, starting in SW Washington. We will wear gloves and masks and I'll still feel dirty until I get back home and wash/scrub/wash some more.

But maybe I'll find more movies.

IF the headache isn't back.
Right now I can feel the pressure lazily revolving behind my right eye.

And what exciting things are you up to?

I did nothing

In the parking spot next to mine at Goodwill on Monday was an older white van.

From the items visible up against the windows, I surmised this was a person who's probably living in her van. Some cat food, a blanket, two pillows, some fast food wrappers, newspaper.

The passenger side of the front seat was heaped with more of the same, mixed in with some shoes and what looked like a computer monitor.

As the store doors opened, the person in the van got out.
From her appearance, I figured my first opinion was correct, living in the van.

She had some unknown pieces of stuff in the side and back of her matted  and greasy hair and was wearing a torn and rumpled shirt and dirty pants.
She was gigantic.
At least six feet tall, and very heavy.
She went into the store while I was still getting out of my car. By the time I got inside, she was halfway across the store, leaning on a cart and scrolling through stuff on her phone.

During the 40 minutes or so I was in the store, that's what she was doing. Leaning and scrolling. She'd wander one or two aisles over and stop and scroll some more.

So I'd gone through the whole store and found nothing I needed.

I wanted to see what movies were on DVD. I came around the corner into that area, and she was standing in the middle of that aisle, scrolling through her phone. I got about 10 feet from her and was hit by this horrible wall of smell.

You know the sour smell a forgotten-next-to-the-sink washcloth gets after a couple days? That. And old sweat. Feces. Rotting fruit. Dead meat. Under that, the smell of illness.

It was so bad. I think that getting any closer would have caused me to throw up.
It's always important, but when you're a large person, it's especially important to keep clean.

A person can have skin breakdown in certain spots due to being unclean. It's not healthy. When someone has been unwashed for a long time, they sometimes are no longer even aware of how they look or smell. Or they've reached complete apathy. All of those things are sad.
I didn't say anything or react, I just turned away.
Ended up not looking at movies. I left the store.

I'm writing about this 'cause I don't know what to think.
I would not offer my own shower to this person, I have no idea what's going on. Is she psycho? Violent? Just someone who's had a run of bad luck? I don't invite most friends into my home, so I'm not inclined to invite strangers. And really, walking up to someone and asking if they need a shower? Or saying, "You need a shower." Neither one of those seems appropriate.

I wouldn't walk up to someone and offer to buy lunch or something, either.
Some feel threatened by that. Or insulted. I don't have a ton of extra to be offering right now. She had money, or at least I think so, she had several items in her cart.

I ended up doing nothing at all.
I felt bad for her, though.

Which is still doing exactly nothing, I know.

I wondered if there was something I should have said or done.
I know, just strangers passing in a store.
I pass a lot of people in a lot of stores without a second thought.

But I felt sad for her. Sorry that she's in the situation she's in. Curious as to how she got there.

I wanted to do... something.

Retail Therapy

You've heard that term, I'm sure.
Referring to something like, 'when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping'. Ha.
Today was non-retail-but-still-shopping therapy.

Did some Goodwill Hunting with my friend Tami on Tuesday.
Tami on Tuesday...
Could be either a great novel or a girl band, don't ya think?

That's Tami on the left. I have no idea who the chick on the right is.

We went to two different Goodwill stores. We got up early to do it, I don't like shopping there when it starts filling up. I don't think that Tami hates crowds as much as I do, but she's a good sport. Picked her up at 8:45.

After a bit of shopping, we had lunch together. We got put in 'the quiet corner', but I am not sure why the guy who seated us thought we were going to be quiet.

Ha.

We always have a lot to talk about. Catch up on. But of course no personal details will show up here. :)

Drove past a furniture place advertising a chair/sofa combo for *only* $799.00.

I can't even imagine that.

Tami talked about someone she knows who redecorated her house a few years ago and shared the prices of the furniture etc.

We discussed being lousy consumers. I can't say whether or not Tami is a lousy consumer, but I really am, I check Goodwill first before I go to the regular store when I'm looking for things like craft supplies, towels, sheets, suitcases. Garbage cans and plastic bins and TV trays. Clocks and movies and kitchen gadgets.

I am sitting here in the momcave as I write. Looking around for everything in here that I've purchased from Goodwill stores. Books. Lots of books. Art supplies. The cubbies on my corner desk, the lamp that I repainted sitting just to the right of them. A pencil/pen carousel in front of that. The little cubby sort of thing that sits over the dvd player that my recently acquired cheap-but-not-from-goodwill smart TV sits on can be hooked up and all that. The entertainment center to the right of that that's going back to Goodwill soon... it was Matt's, I used it for ages but I want to put shelves in that spot now that Lyssa has moved out. The old TV is still sitting in the cubby, it's heavy and I haven't asked Eric to move it yet, but I need to take it to Goodwill, too. They have an electronics recycling service.

The bedspread and pillows on the bed. The plastic bins in the closet that hold a ton of things for work. Quite a few of those things, beads and toys and books and assorted crafty things came from Goodwill, too. Folded up behind the door, the card table I use for tie dyeing with my kids at work. The little dresser that sits underneath the corner desk, each drawer crammed full of CDs. A bunch of movies on dvd. The tall and comfortable swivel chair that sits in front of the desk. Paper and edging scissors. That's just this room.

Every room of the house has stuff in it that came from Goodwill. I wish I'd kept track of how much they cost vs how much retail would have been, but I suppose that might be sort of appalling, too, since I've been shopping at Goodwill for more than 20 years. And I rarely leave without buying at least one thing.

So while we were driving from there to here, we discussed my $7.99 jeans from Goodwill. The ones I bought last week were blue-tagged, meaning they hadn't moved from the sales floor in X amount of time, so were half price. Four bucks for a pair of jeans I'd pay at least $40.00 for in the store.

They're nothing exciting, either.
Just a pair of mom jeans with a little stretch and a reasonable price tag. Not worth 40 on my best day, but I only paid $3.99 for them, I can move, sit and stand in them all day long. What's not to like?

Picked up a lined windbreaker/raincoat, too. All my coats with hoods are either way too heavy or way too warm for spring rains. It's currently clicking around in the dryer, all the drawstrings are smacking the insides. I imagine I'll be removing the clunky plastic pieces from it, just didn't occur to me to do it before I put it in there.

So do you shop? Retail therapy? I find that getting a few really good deals can improve my outlook on life, at least temporarily.

I found a wastebasket for the Momcave today, too.

The one I had in here was, in the words of my Grandma Fern, 'no bigger than a fart bucket.' I don't know what that means, but I wish I could call Grandma and ask.

The new one is a heavy ceramic thing, embossed with ferns.. I wonder if that's a sign from Grandma?
Colored a soft blue and green.
Let me see if I can manage a photo here, don't go away.

Bigger than a fart bucket

what's done?

Not much.
I do start out with good intentions.
Alllll that time, stretching out before me, I'm going to get this, this, that, this, that DONE...

And then I don't get it all done.
I don't even get most of it done.

If you see my motivation somewhere, send it to me, will you?

Some of my not-so-productive time has been spent reading things on the internet.
News stories.

A five year old girl has been suspended from school for using her imagination.
She found a stick that looked like a gun and 'threatened' her classmates.
I am seriously past the point of laughing, this is serious shit. Kids aren't allowed to even say the word gun without the adults around them going into shock/peeing down their collective legs.

I can clearly recall the play acting I did as a kid. We all shot each other, fell off cliffs, were overrun by enemies. We died 20 times before lunch.
"I shot you!"
"NO you did NOT!! You MISSED me!!!"

I can't change the mind of the educrats I encounter. But what I *can* do is ignore it when kids are cutting each other's arms off with light sabers and pretending to either kill or be killed.

If they're standing right in front of me, I have to say something. I keep my tone mild, "Guys, we're still at school, let's not be playing with guns, okay?"

But if they're over on the other play structure and I'm being kept busy fetching the zipline for Kimmie, you can't blame me for not seeing/hearing everything that happens. Especially when I'm working so hard to ignore it.

The kids who are imagining aren't a threat to anyone.
Once again I wonder why the adults in charge don't have memories of being children.

Is there some magical age at which that happens? And if so, I have to be way past that age myself, yet my imagination didn't shut down.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The headline reads, "2-year-old found in diaper near Cabela's in Tualatin".
Interesting. The only things I've ever found in a diaper are a little more mundane. I hope the child is okay, but don't people read their words out loud anymore before hitting enter/publish?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is news?
Crayola is retiring a color. Dandelion.
Do retired crayons go to a special retirement home?
There aren't many retired colors, according to the article,they also retired Prussian Blue, Maize and Raw Umber. So I guess an uncrowded retirement home?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And I've been wasting time watching movies, too.
I completely ignored the Twilight series when it came out. Wasn't the least bit interested.

But one of my kids was talking about the story a few months ago, said to me, "You know that part where she figures out that Edward is a vampire?"

I had to admit that I did not know.

So she thought it was weird, but I promised to look into it.

I bought the series at Goodwill and read it. All of it.
It wasn't bad, actually. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

So when we were on our vacation, I found most of the movies at Goodwill for $1.99. I figured why not.

But the last one in the series wasn't there, so I ordered it from Amazon this week. That showed up on Thursday afternoon. I knew it was coming, so this week I re-watched the series.

It was interesting. The movies stuck pretty close to the books. Definitely not for everyone, but I didn't hate it.

However, I have to say that I still think Robert Pattinson is one strange looking dude. He did fit the part, though. And is a much better actor than I would have given him credit for.

The critics hated Kristen Stewart, calling her performance 'wooden' and saying lots of other unkind stuff, but I thought she fit the part, too. In fact, I thought the casting was pretty good.

I have other movies to watch. And a lot of stuff to clean off my kitchen table. Every time it gets piled up, I hate cleaning it. And I promise myself that I won't let it get that way again. And every time, it gets all messed up again.

So that's today's agenda.
Moscow on the Hudson and cleaning off the table.

I can't believe the week is already over.
::sigh::

What are you up to?

Psycho..er psychic flash. I had a psychic flash.

I picked Tami up Sunday morning a little after 10. The plan was to go to Goodwill before it got crowded, then hit the dollar store and then out to lunch.

As we drove from her house to Goodwill, I commented that I worry about running into Fluffy. That you know how people look back and say to themselves, "Oh, I should have said ____!"

That I was in no way ready to run into her because I simply don't know what to say or how to react.

I'm definitely not willing to make nice, let bygones be bygones, take the high road... fuck that and fuck her, too.
I don't care what that says about me.

I don't always hold a grudge, but when I've learned that I can't trust someone, I will never trust them again.

And there's no reason to be polite or decent to someone who is complicit in child abuse.

When you scrape away all the layers of the stupid shit she's done, the mean-spirited way she treated everyone who worked so hard to build their programs, the lies... well, there's still the fact that she was/is willing to let her asshole friend be emotionally abusive to children. She knew what a bitch Twatwaffle is. She stood by and allowed the abuse to continue. She's still allowing that piece of crap free rein to run her program and be alone with children.

She's made no effort to put a stop to it.
And that? I won't forgive.

Regardless... shitty person. Ruined my job. Let's not forget that she also shit all over Lyssa by proxy, too. Since of course she doesn't drive and could not continue at my school without me.

I'd prefer never seeing her simpering face again. The whole semi-helpless, hand-flappy, 'I'm just a dewy-eyed girl from Texas' thing that so infuriates me. She does it to manipulate people, of course.
I'm sure that had something to do with her ability to fool the big fish.
Some men are easy to lead around, if ya know what I mean.
Blech.

When we pulled into the parking lot at Goodwill, I told Tami, "I think that's the bitchmobile!" She said, "Do you know the license number?"
I did not.

We parked, got out of the car and went to the entrance. Goodwill tried to protect me by not opening the automatic door. But some women were coming out and the door opened for them.

As Tami grabbed a shopping cart, I looked in through the opening inner doors and saw her.

Fuckin' Fluffy, with her stupid cow face and Twikki hair.

And in utter disgust and more than a little pissed off, I told Tami, "I can't go in." 

We reversed direction, went back to the car. Drove to the dollar store after once again passing the Bitchmobile, aka Cuntcar and getting a good look at the license plate. I don't remember the whole thing, but it ends in ZZ. Close enough. I doubt there are many cars of that type with that license plate.

So we went to the dollar store and I found the plastic tumblers I needed for our snowglobe project. We wandered around in there a few minutes, probably at least 10 to 15. Got back in the car and drove back to Goodwill.

Where the goddamn Bitchmobile was still in the parking lot.

Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaackkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!


So instead of going in, we went out for lunch.
We always have lots to talk about, and this time was no exception.

I love my friend.
I love that we can tell each other things that we'd never say to anyone else.

And she's a good sport, too. When we finished talking eating, it was a little after one. We'd planned for her to be home by one, she has some books to write, after all.

But she said, "I still want to go to Goodwill."

Of course it was much more crowded and noisy and overwhelming by then, so I didn't get to really look as much as I'd like to. But I'm glad Tami's such a good sport.

And now I know the license plate (or enough of the license plate) that I will not be surprised if she's inside a store or whatever and I see her car.

No word yet on what I will say if I am already in and that rotten old cow comes in later.

I'm spending money on my kids again...

I'm back to spending a little money on my program again, although I don't HAVE to, it helps me to keep the kids occupied when I do.

I bought a dollhouse yesterday. The mom who wrote the Craigslist ad put her six year old daughter's words in the ad. Something about how she doesn't play with it, and would like to use the money from selling to get a robot bird.

It's one of the Swedish/German Waldorf design type. Trendy and ridiculously expensive when new. The birch wood with bright panels design. Comes apart and can be rearranged into several different configurations. Ten different rooms.

A handful of dolls, all the furniture, little animals. The one I found on Amazon was $150.00 without all the accessories. I got it for $40.00 with all the stuff. I had to drive for an hour (half hour each way) to pick it up, but that's okay. I talked to the little girl, thanked her and handed her the cash and told her that I work in a school and that the kids would probably really enjoy the house.

I was right, even Dane, who will be eleven soon, was playing with some of it.

I texted the mom in the evening to let her know it was appreciated by all the kids and told her to pass it on to her daughter. She said thanks and she would.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~We did our Goodwill hunting this morning. Sometimes the place is dismal, you go in and don't get a damn thing. But today was a good day for finding things I needed.
Yay.
I found a large plastic bin to put the dollhouse in and a smaller bin for the furniture and dolls.

I found two pairs of jeans, and even though they used to sell them for 5.99 and the price has gone up and they're generally $7.99 now, that's still a good price for jeans. Found a copy of a book I've been looking for, and a brand new backpack for my laptop/art supplies when we travel. That way I don't have to clean out my usual pack. It was a $60.00 thing from Target, but they donate all their unsold piles of merchandise to Goodwill and I paid 15 for it.

I didn't find two things I was searching for, a shower curtain tension rod and a generic cloth tablecloth for the holidaze. Snowflakes or something floral... wouldn't want to offend anyone when they come to sign their kid out and have to gaze upon the tablecloth.

I will probably end up buying some fabric and just hemming the edges. I'll toss a few glittery snowflakes on the tabletop and call it good.

The shower curtain rod is for my doorway to the back room at work. I need to hang up some sort of curtain. It would be great to do shadow puppets, too. I'll keep my eyes open.

I got up a little after seven this morning so we could get there before the majority of the crowd. And now I'm sleepy. So I will set this to post and go take a nap and hey, how are YOU doing?

Something new...

I have been threatening to do it for ages. I made a creative space. :)

Back in June, Amy's grandma was closing out her house and moving. She was selling pretty much everything. I bought a corner desk that Grandma made herself. It cost me 10 bucks. A bargain.

It's quirky and oddly shaped. I had a little dresser that fits under one end, there are shelves under it, and it's a big and solid piece of furniture. I'm happy to have it.

So I spent a good portion of the day trying to organize stuff. I still have a ton of things that are part of my job, but it's all my stuff. Need to rotate it in and out at work.

I've found my electric pencil sharpener, all my different varieties of colored pencils, most of my movies (still can't find my damn Harry Potter movies) and I feel pretty much like a teenager.

The old TV is in here, I have a DVD player, my stereo will get moved in sooner or later... simple things make me happy, I guess.

I don't think I'll be spending all my time in here, but it's nice to hang out and be able to put my hands on the specific art supplies I'm looking for. They've been strewn all over the house with no order whatsoever for ages.

Anyway, that's what I have been doing instead of writing a post.

Now I need to haunt the local Goodwill and see if I can find myself a new office chair. The folding chair I'm using right now makes my butt hurt. I had one in here, but we bought Lyssa a computer and she has the chair in her room right now. They're usually about 10 bucks at Goodwill. Lyssa will be working with me this week, and we like to stop at ours on the way home. It's usually just opening as we drive past.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ran into an old friend at the grocery store yesterday. We have never been best friends, but we talked a LOT. The homeschool stuff that used to bring us together has passed, her kids grew up, too. I got her new email address, her old one didn't work. I know, 'cause I tried about six times to email, it bounced every time.

So I sat here yesterday afternoon and tried to condense the last four years or so into one email. Another thing that kept me from writing here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monday I am back at work. I know I had most of a week off. I do own a calendar. But I could cheerfully have another week or so of not getting up at 5.

We're gearing up for the whole deck the halls theme I do every year with the kids. Ornaments and little pictures and a project a day until school is out for Christmas.

Which reminds me. I need to find the elf cutout that Matt painted for me a few years ago so I can get started with the pictures. It's going to be a gift for the parents of all my kids. My manager bought little blank folders and envelopes for the kids to decorate. I would like to show you a few photos, but of course that's something we're not allowed to do.

Ah well.

Meanwhile, I am going to wrap this up and go hang out with my man in the living room. I appreciate his patience with my little quirks. He didn't even raise an eyebrow about the whole craft room thing.

How are things going for you? Keeping busy??

So those three babies?

They are worth between three and four hundred dollars brand new.
They were $4.99 each.
Not sure what the used price is. Will do some checking.
I will make sure they work by adding the batteries here in a bit. If they work,
I will be selling them on Amazon.

Ah.. maybe not. They do work. They're actually sort of creepy. But in doing a little research on Amazon and eBay, there is such a broad range in prices that I wouldn't make enough to pay for the pain in the ass. So good news.. the kids will be able to play with and enjoy the babies the way I intended. :)

In other news...
Our manager* exempted three of us from today's training. For someone with the educratic leanings she has, that's a big deal. From my conversations with Sunshine, I already knew several days ago that I wasn't going to be forced to attend, but did not get official notice until Wednesday evening when my manager texted me.

*It occurred to me that I haven't given her a name yet. She's sort of a Barbara. Let's go with that, shall we?

So I won't be sitting in a room with a bunch of people all day long. I won't be going over the same stuff I've learned/done for the past eleven years.

It will be a bit awkward to see the other site directors this coming week. We were asked to sort of keep it to ourselves, just not show up. So at Thursday's training, while we were all packing up to leave, everyone was saying, 'see ya Saturday'. And I was answering, "Yeah, see you later."

I'd kinda like to be there to see how Barbara handles their questions and comments. It's actually sort of a courageous move, she has to know that they're going to ask and that people are going to be pissed off that they had to be there and we didn't.

But it truly is a waste of the company's money to pay us to sit there for the whole day when we could probably teach the entire class. And with more enthusiasm and expertise, considering we're the ones actually doing the job.

Anyway. Matt's coming over. I have to get showered and decent. And eat something.

Hope you have a good day. What are you doing today?

How to shop at Goodwill

The way it used to work was like this.

Get into car. Drive to Goodwill store. Park. Get out of car. Go into store. Grab a cart. Check out the toy aisle first. Check the aisle with the colored pencils and craft supplies and paper. Beads. Then check furniture. We are looking for a dresser to fit into our built in entertainment center. We figured all the video games and movies etc would fit in the drawers and the TV can go on top. I've seen a lot of dressers since we made that decision, but haven't seen the right one yet.

After the furniture section, I rummage through the clothes. I've become a lot more choosy about what I wear, though, so usually I don't get anything. They have raised their prices. Many items (t-shirts, linens, housewares) can be found brand new for lower prices than our local Goodwill, and I've started spending a great deal of my discretionary income somewhere else. Considering that everything they sell was donated to them, you'd think they could do a little better.

I wander through the books on my way to the cashier. I'm choosy there, too. Unless there's something in the display case that I'd like to see, I'm done.

That's pretty much my Goodwill tour on any given day. In and out in about 20 minutes.

Now, I can't do it the same way.

Before I even walk in the door, I have to get something out of my bag to help fortify me while I'm there.

Yeah, these bad boys are saving my sanity.
A little over a month ago, all the Goodwill stores added a VERY DAMN LOUD new sound system and some powerfully shitty music to their stores. It's no longer a fairly quiet experience to shop there.

I have asked different cashiers what happened, and have been told that I'm not the only person who doesn't like the noise.

I think it's appalling that I have to use earplugs to even walk in, but if I don't have the earplugs, I am not going to be able to shop there.

To be fair, when I shop the store is usually almost empty. If I can't get there first thing in the morning, I don't like to go. There are too many people and there's too much noise and crowding. When they cram in a horde of the Great Unwashed, the noise seems to be absorbed a little. Not enough.

They rebuilt the store a few years ago, and instead of taking the opportunity to move the aisles six inches further apart, they crammed everything into a smaller space than they had used before. It is nearly impossible for two carts to pass side by side. It's a serious pain in the ass.

If I wanted to listen to rap/screaming noise/crappy music I would turn on my own radio. And control the volume.

I plan to send this post to our local Goodwill, but I'm willing to bet that none of them give a rat's ass.

Off Goodwill Hunting

If you know me, you know how much I appreciate sleeping in.
I never get enough sleep. In fact, I can sleep eight or nine hours, get up and have a little snack and in an hour or so, lie down again for awhile.

Getting up early is a necessity, and one I avoid whenever possible.

But I woke up at 6 this morning with a mild headache. Got up and took a couple Excedrin and went back to bed for awhile. Didn't really sleep, the Excedrin is about 90% caffeine, I think.

So we ended up getting out of bed early enough to get showered and decent and breakfasted.

Maybe I'll find something awesome... and if I don't, well, I am out with my favorite guy.

Just started the dishwasher and I'm off. :)

That little voice...

I had an interesting experience this morning.

Goodwill is on the way home from my job, and coincidentally opens just about ten minutes before I drive by. Perfect opportunity to beat the crowds and nutjobs.

Or usually.

I pulled up in front of the store and parked.

Most of the time there's someone either leaving after shopping or someone just driving in, but the only person in the parking lot was a scruffy looking guy on a bike. He was very dirty. Orange coat that was so filthy it probably could have stood up on its own. Dirty hair and jeans and a backpack. He was trying really hard to do a Winnie the Pooh thing... 'tut tut it looks like rain' or 'I am just wandering around doing nothing in particular don't look at me, nothing to see here, la la la...'

He made me nervous, weaving in and out of the cars on his bike (which looked like an expensive one) and trying to pretend he wasn't doing anything. I thought he was acting suspicious but I wasn't sure how to put it into words.

I wasn't about to get out of my car while he was cruising around, though.

I just had a bad feeling about him.  Something just didn't feel right, ya know? And I'm accustomed to listening to that voice. So I did.

So I sat in my car, fiddling with my telephone and contemplating just leaving and going home.

Then the store doors opened and three or four people came running out, arms full of merchandise. They ran over to a bike that was parked by the wall, and the guy on the bike who'd been acting as the lookout zipped over to help them cram stuff into their backpacks.

The manager of the store and another person who works for Goodwill ran out after them, shouting. The manager, who is a very physically imposing woman, towered over the little crackhead woman who had one of the backpacks, frantically trying to stuff things in.

Three other employees came from the donation center doors and sort of... stood there. Trying to look like they were backing up the manager, I guess.

The small woman was yelling and crying at the manager all in one word, "I just need a break I deserve a break give me a fucking break!!"

A man who was with the group whipped out his iPhone, saying, "I be filmin' this, I be filmin' this!!!" as he pointed the phone at the manager. (And am I the only person who sees something really fucked up when someone who has a fucking iPhone is robbing the local thrift store??)

The manager said, "I GAVE you a break!! I told you to leave!! Now you have to come back in and give my stuff back."

There was more yelling from other people, and the original guy, who'd been keeping watch took the backpack plus his own and left the parking lot.

"Come back in and give my stuff back or we file charges! The police have been called!"

So there's this huge crowd around the front door, the employees and the criminals. I wouldn't have been surprised if someone pulled out a firearm. Tempers were high and the situation was volatile.

I started the car and drove out of the parking lot in the opposite direction so as to avoid the group.

Here's an odd thing, though. Just before I'd decided to leave and while all that crazy shit was going on, a little old lady pulled up in her car and apparently didn't see anything amiss even though it was right at the front entrance. She got out of the car and walked right past all of it as if it wasn't even happening.

I did hear sirens heading that way, and although I don't know they were heading for Goodwill, I hope they caught some of the shitbags. I'm really tired of stuff like this going on, and it pisses me off that I couldn't even get out of my car.

But I *am* glad I listen to that little voice.

Goodwill Hunting SCORE!!!

I found a very cool thing today.

First of all, I spent $2.99 for this beautiful item. This is a video link. It's less than 2 minutes long.

(I got the clownfish.) It is still in the original box and has never been assembled. All the parts are there.
I can't wait until tomorrow when I go get it filled with helium and try it out.
Oh, and I'll need batteries.

Last week a couple of the children told me that I'm really just a big kid myself.
They may be right.

Then, I found a sunglasses case for my big-assed sunglasses.
It's hard to find a hard case that will hold them, and I really hate buying things at retail prices.

I found a black one. And I just happen to have a white pen...

I'm loopy..

In more ways than one.

I found this at Goodwill today. Seven bucks. They retail for $34.99.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy6CP955x2w

It's a little thing that even smaller kids can do, I think. Although my first attempt is a little uneven, it was quick and not that difficult to do.

I'm sitting here with a nasty headache again... the weather has been too hot, very humid, and the atmospheric pressure I think is playing a part, not sure. But I'm outside a migraine pill and getting ready to head for bed.

So I am going to take a shower and all that and go to sleep.
When I wake up at 5 (note to bladder... that's FIVE, not 4:30. Not 4:40. FIVE.) it will be Friday!! WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Jennifer wasn't in school on Thursday. I knew she was having a genuine illness on Wednesday, and called her mom about it. I sure hope she's feeling better. Poor kid. Besides, I get lots more interesting stories when she's there. :)

Funfusion and Fate

We use a ton of perler beads at work. For those of you not acquainted with them, you take a peg board and arrange beads in a sort of picture, which you then cover with a sheet of parchment and iron them. They melt together.

Most packages of them come in a big multicolored bucket. To buy single color packs is expensive enough that I don't buy anything but black, white and brown. Those are the ones the kids use to fill the big spaces in the designs and the ones we run out of the most.

But at Goodwill this morning I found a couple large packages with the colors all divided into little separate bins.

::happy dance::

I ended up with 15 peg boards, two pairs of tweezers, a bucket of multicolored beads and two huge plastic bins, all separated by color. After looking them all up, the closest I can guess is about 75 bucks. Possibly a little more.

I spent 12 bucks.

And here's the interesting part. It seems I was meant to have these. I opened up the bucket of pegboards, and on the back of them were the initials S.V.
Which are my initials.

Anyway, my bargain of the week. Will definitely put it to good use. :)

Pick. Up. The. Baby.

Lyssa has a job interview on Monday.
We visited Goodwill on Sunday morning to find her some clothes to wear for it.

There was a woman in there who had a very small baby in a car seat clipped to the baby seat in the shopping cart. I'd guess the baby wasn't more than a couple weeks old. Tiny little girl. With a great set of lungs.

She was crying. Wailing. That piercing newborn cry that is (supposedly) impossible for the mother to ignore.

Well, not this 'mother'. She was absently trying to get the baby to take a pacifier while appearing completely indifferent to the need the child had to be picked up and cared for. She walked along, ignoring the baby's cries. Shopping. Looking aimlessly at this and that.

I was surprised at how angry it made me. I wanted to grab her, shake her, and yell in her face. "WHAT the HELL is wrong with you???"

I didn't. I said nothing.
I didn't look at her directly.
But I was seething.

I did not let my babies cry, and it bothers me when someone else does it. Oh, my babies cried a little... sometimes I was in the shower and would put the baby in the infant seat so I could see him (or her) and get my shower while he or she cried a bit. Or I'd be helping Matt with something and Lyssa would have to wait a few moments for my attention.

But this thing today wasn't a temporary thing. Not a 'wait a minute, Mommy's hands are busy'. This was neglect. And I wanted to slap the woman. I admit it.

It wasn't my baby, but she sounded hungry to me.

As the 'mother' passed by, I saw a bottle of formula sticking out of the pocket of her jacket. Why she didn't plug that into the baby's mouth I do not know. The baby didn't want the pacifier, that's for sure.

And no, I don't advocate stuffing a bottle in a baby's mouth while walking around, either. Take the baby out of the seat and hold him or her and talk to them and love them while they eat, whether you're feeding the baby yourself or bottle feeding.

I was shopping with Tami once at another Goodwill when a similar incident occurred. Neither one of us could stand it. We nearly ran for the other side of the store so we wouldn't hear the baby crying.

So what do you think?
I know better than to say anything. It's not my baby, and there are nutty people out there. Interfering and causing the 'parent' to become pissed off may very well lead to further abuse of the child.

But it really, really bothered me to hear that little person crying so loudly and seeing such a callous (non)reaction from its mother.

What an Asshole!

I worked a little today and decided to stop by Goodwill on my way back home. Wandered around a bit. My attention was caught by a young-ish dad (30s?) and his two little boys. One was about 3 or a little younger, sitting in the seat of the cart, and the other maybe 5. He was riding on the front of the cart. Both kids were talking constantly while their 'father' tried on some shirts.

He kept telling them to hush.
Be quiet.
Stop talking.
He got stern with them and threatened to 'beat their butts'.

Then he moved the cart a little and parked next to a display that included some fuzzy, furry jackets.
And said to the littlest one, "DO NOT TOUCH."

Well of course the little guy was curious and touched the fuzzy coat.
The dad turned around and saw him and slapped his arm.
It sounded like a pistol shot.

The little boy began crying.
He sounded utterly devastated.

I was standing right there next to them and couldn't control myself. I exclaimed, "Jesus Christ, Buddy!!"

He whirled around and glared at me.
Snarled, "Fuck off."
Turned away, pushing the cart, and left the store.

And after a moment of surprised quiet from most of the other people in the store, life just... went on.

I hope that little boy is okay. Slapping a child on the arm isn't considered abuse in this state, although it's a mean and shitty thing to do.

I still can't believe he parked that little boy next to something so tempting and expected him not to touch! He's a baby! That's what they do.

:(

What a piece of work.

Today, Lyssa found Jesus

Lyssa and I decided to hit the 6th St. Goodwill Tuesday morning.

I was walking along, minding my own business when she brought Him to me. His picture (in living color) was emblazoned on this weird-assed styrofoam egg. It made me feel peaceful just to hold it. Wait, no it didn't. Instead, it awoke in me this amazing urge to get my phone out.
:)

Tuesday seems to be my day off lately. Since summer hours, well, SUCK DONKEY BALLS, we're each getting shafted er, stuck with one day off a week. If it didn't just kill me on my paychecks, I'd be a little happier about it. But it does.

Speaking of getting the shaft, I found an unusual pencil sharpener. It occurred to me that it's a pretty specialized item. Where (besides a proctologist's office) would such an item be needed?

Alyssa suggested, "Anywhere one uses a pencil sharpener. Besides a school."

No, I did not buy it.
Would you?

Someone got left holding the bag...

I may have mentioned that my baby is home.
She wanted to go to Michael's this afternoon.

We piled the whole family into the car, drove to the car wash and then to Michael's.

Quite exciting, really. One of those Sunday outings that live on in memory forever.

We finished with a trip to Goodwill.
I don't usually go there on the weekends because people are so rude and there are so damn many of them!

The store is overcrowded, too, and people aren't very good at keeping an eye on their kids. I get tired of being stepped on, run into, and the 'music' they play over the store's speakers.

I get overwhelmed and sometimes there's someone at one end of an aisle, someone at the other end... and I start to feel trapped and panicky.
Why yes, I am a little nutty.
A touch agoraphobic, I think.

Which is why I don't like going on weekends, I guess.

So I was in the craft aisle.
It draws me like a beacon. I work with kids, you know.

And there, nested between two bags of yarn, sitting on top of some wooden stamps was a bag of Jesuses. Big Jesus and middle sized Jesus and baby Jesus and Jesus on a Cross and Jesus sitting on a rock and Jesus on a bookmark and a glow in the dark Jesus... it was a Jesus Jackpot!

There was a woman with two rowdy kids and a large shopping cart blocking my access to Jesus, so I figured I'd go around the corner and find Lyssa and bring her back with me. I thought the woman would be gone by the time we returned to the craft aisle, and I could get Lyssa to hold up the bag and I'd take a photo.

And when I got back to the aisle, Jesus was gone.
Ascended into someone's shopping cart, I guess.

Now I could draw some parallels about religion, things like 'when you go searching for Jesus, he's always hard to find' or 'where's Jesus?' which is a game like Where's Waldo?

Except of course Jesus is the guy in the white robe and sandals. No hat, no glasses.

Ha.

Anyway, someone bought that $4.99 bag of Jesuses and I find myself wondering exactly what one would do with a whole bag of Jesus?

One of life's mysteries.