Shopping Round-Up!

First of all, I *love* to say 'Round-Up.'  It is just fun to say!

Besides just being fun to say, it also reminds me of the time I was 18- living in a ghetto apartment with friend from high school and totally enjoying being young, stupid and having a hell of a good time.  Yeah, I was very poor and would sometimes have a can of corn for dinner-  don't be sad, that was very rare.  My roommate and I usually ate very well, by 'dating for dinner.'  What's 'dating for dinner?'  It's just like it sounds- kinda like prostitution, only instead of a crumpled up wet twenty dollar bill tossed at us after the 'date,' it was a plate of food.  And we didn't even have to put out.  We just put up the appearance of heading in that direction.

"Wait, Kory- what are you talking about?  Get back on track- the ROUND UP."

Oh, yeah.  So, the Round-Up was a cheap diner about a block away from our ghetto apartment.  If we had a few bucks, my roommate, Deana, would join me for a biscuit and a big cup of iced tea.  (Or, as we pronounce it here, 'Ice Tea.')  We would sit at the Round-Up for hours and watch all the senior citizens come in for late dinner/early breakfast after the square dance at the Masonic Lodge across the street.  I got the biggest kick out of the old ladies and their gigantic frilly dresses.

Okay, enough rambling- here's the ROUND-UP!

Let me begin by saying that this week- I HATE MICHAELS.  Why?  Because they have the Spellbinders for Buy One Get One Fitty Off, which translates to WORST DEAL OF THE FREAKING CENTURY.  Because now I can't use the rather generous 50% coupon (generous, but still stingy, as it's only valid Friday and Saturday 6-7JUL).  Wait, am I right?  I can't use the coupon on a Spellbinder cuz they're already on special?  Or if I only buy one, does that make it NOT on sale and I CAN use a coupon?  I'm asking you because if I asked a cashier at Michaels, I'd just get a blank stare and whatever answer they can best pull out their ass at that moment.

SO: MICHAELS: 50% off coupon, good on 6-7JULY- only.

Alright, now on to JO-ANN!

They've got the Vagabond, designed by our crafting lord and savior- Tim Holtz, for 169.99.  The bad news?  It's WEB ONLY.

Their 40% OFF Papercrafting SALE continues, too!  Which is like being able to use one regular coupon on everything you buy, instead of going to every store in town with Holly and handing her cash and a coupon to get something else.  CONVENIENCE!  Thanks, Jo-Ann!

J's also has a 50% Off coupon for this Friday/Saturday, too.  AND a 20% off total purchase, INCLUDING sales!  WhoooHOO!

And over at Da HobLobs-

Hobby Lobby has angered me.  Yeah, they've got the usual 40% off coupon, but they've marked Sizzix/Cuttlebug/Spellbinders at 30% off, killing the coupon.  Is the universe conspiring to keep me from getting a new set of Spellbinders at a great sale price?  I guess there's the sale at Jo-Ann, but still...
And you know what, Hobby Lobby?  By only putting the dies at 30%, and not having any other great sales this fabulous 4th of July week, you have effectively given our great country a big middle finger.  That's right.  You have insulted this great country by not having a better 4th of July sale.  How do you feel about yourself NOW?!

Enough of the chain store talk- let's talk about a local shop!

I went to Whole Lotta Scrap, yesterday, with Darla and Tanya- two of the most funnest people over at Scrapbook.com.  And I took a picture, to slightly illustrate how much I love Whole Lotta Scrap!

There it is- that's why I love Whole Lotta Scrap.  The largest selection of Mr. Holtz's dies ANYWHERE in town!  That's not even all of them!  Their Tim Holtz section is so big I couldn't even fit it all in the frame!  So which die did I pick up this time?  The new Decorative Strip 'Washer Border.' I love it!  I thought about getting another-  the Vintage Valise, Rickety House AND the new Globe were ALL calling my name.  But since I couldn't decide which one of those three I really wanted the most at that moment, I said no to all of them.  Heartless, yes, I know. 

Well, speaking of craft 'n scrap stores, it looks like one has exploded in my work area.  I gotta go, I've got to try to clean up and organize stuff.  Wish me luck.  I might get a few sheets of paper into my new (on sale!) plastic paper cases before I get distracted by my total laziness.

Sickness and Shopping

I am surrounded by sickness! 

I am sure that's a line from a play or movie or something.  Doesn't it sound dramatic?  "I AM SURROUNDED BY SICKNESS!" 

I could just be imagining that it's from something-  I do that, often.  I'll say something that sounds horribly dramatic and think it's from some Academy Award winning performance- but it turns out it's just a bad line from my tv-movie-of-the-week-style life. 

So, yeah-  I got sick.  It was dramatic.  I know how to sell a cough to the balcony. 

I ended up needing to go to visit the DOCTOR.  I had a sinus infection.  And I had to have a shot.  Which, when they asked me if I was going to be okay getting the shot- I was like, 'Yeah, sure.'  Shots don't bother me. 

What I learned is:  SHOTS don't bother me, as long as I can see where the needle is going.

So, after a shot....some pills....and a (too small) bottle of fantastic liquid medicine- and lots of rest, I was ready to reenter society. 

Saturday, I went to DEMO DAY at My Heart's Fancy-  made a fun card in the shape of a birdhouse, using some new dies, Mr. Holtz's new SPRING Distress Ink colors, and that fun 'kissing' stamps technique.  Which, I read a tutorial about in a magazine, recently and really wanted to try- but forgot about it until Saturday morning.

Headed up to Jo-Ann yesterday-  in the rain.  It was great- there was hardly any traffic, so the drive was fast and relaxing.  It's amazing how relaxing a drive to Jo-Ann can be, when you don't have to spend the entire drive honking, screaming and waving your hands at other drivers.

What did I see when I entered the Papercrafting Aisle at Jo-Ann?

50% off!  Half off nearly everything in these holy aisles. 

I bought:

Two new sets of Spellbinders! FITTY OFF!
The Tim Holtz 'Old Jalopy' Die- 10 bucks! (No clue what I'll do with it?!)
I GOT A NEW, big-ass Fiskars paper trimmer! Huge! With a wire to show exactly where it'll cut- FITTY OFF!!!

and I picked up lots of little things (ALL *HALF* OFF!!!) that I'd kinda wanted/needed- such as:

A WATERBRUSH!
ANOTHER PACK OF MINI-MISTERS!
A PAIR OF CUTTER BEES!

...and a few other odds 'n ends- but that's the highlight. 

So what's the purpose of this story? 

When you get sick, you sometimes NEED to go to the doctor.  Then, you go to Jo-Ann and buy anything you want....

Well, if you twist my arm...

11:15AM CST:

It's almost time for my lunch break. 

CoWorker Michelle decides to take my PayDay-Friday Fever and run with it-  she practically gets down on her hands and knees and BEGS me to accompany her to Basket Market, as she is in need of alphabet stickers. 

By begging, I mean she just said, "Kory, let's go to Basket Market."

The next thing you know, we're flying down the interstate and she's honking and shouting, "OUT OF THE WAY, GRANDPA!"  (This part is not exaggerated.  She really shouted this at a Cadillac that was trying to make it off the off-ramp.)

The Mother-Land

Look at that blue sky!  If that isn't a sign from the Lord himself that we're doing the right thing, I don't know what IS!

While Miss Michelle dug through stickers and then disappeared into the Christmas aisle for the better part of 45 minutes,  I was crawling around the scrapbook aisle and found these treasures:

Wood Flags!  Studio Calico!

Sexy envelopes!

Here's everything together:

A new Sizzix/Basic Grey tag die!

Little black letters!

Crazy red letter stickers!

We stopped by the Portland Express Mart on the way back to work, for a nutritious lunch of Heat Lamp Burritos, and returned to the office to this:

The other ladies in the office went to pick up cupcakes, from Cuppies & Joe, on THEIR lunch hour!  Cake Party!

Happy Friday to everyone!

-kory





PayDay Friday: Part Two!

Yeah- that's right.  Part TWO.  The PayDay celebration so big that it had to be two posts!

This second part will be much, much shorter.  Promise.

After all the Jo-Ann Grand Opening excitement, I really just wanted to go home.  And crash.  But we had to check out Super Target.  It's next door.  I debated buying a box of silver binder clips.  Holly debated over a plant.  We changed our minds and decided, no, let's go to Goodwill.

And that took some convincing.  I don't like to go to Goodwill.  Well, I do- but I'm always so discouraged because I rarely find anything.  I was all, "NO! LET'S GO TO BASKET MARKET!!!!"

Holly is a Goodwill Guerilla.  She can find the coolest stuff at the thrift shops.  I'll often be at work, slaving away at my desk, and she's texting pics to me from thrift stores across Oklahoma.  The coolest things.  I'm still kicking myself for missing the text about the ventriloquist dummy that she found- I would kill to have that scary little thing sitting on a chair in my room!

So, Holly talked me into Goodwill.  And I actually found things!  A vintage Better Homes 'Entertaining' Guidebook.  So cool.  I love the photos in vintage entertaining books.  And the recipes.  Hilarious.  I have an old cookbook, that I think I stole from my Mom, just because it has a recipe for something it swears would be 'perfect after a night of energetic folk dancing!'

I also found a nice tripod, still in the box.  Surely, I'm going to need something to steady my camera, right?  And it was only 4.99.  I also picked up a couple of records.  You know, for my record player.  Have you seen my amazing record player?  I'll haft show it to you.

So, Holly found a giant old globe.  I was jealous she found it, but didn't try to wrestle it out of her arms because it was HUGE and I didn't have any place for it...

Holly drove me back to Jo-Ann, and dropped me off at my truck.  She said she was going home to take a nap.  But I know better.  She was hitting more thrift stores and didn't want my competition.  Or my whining for BASKET MARKET.

And BASKET MARKET is exactly where I headed!   I jumped in my big manly truck and headed to the least manly place in town.  The HOBBY LOBBY OUTLET!   I know I'm always going on how it's called BASKET MARKET but it like an undercover Hobby Lobby outlet.  Yes, the majority of the stuff is wholesale floral and wedding supplies.  But you go in, you turn to the right, and cross under this sign:

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, through this passage is the promised land.

At first, I kinda felt out of luck.  It had only been about a week or week and a half since I've last checked out the Basket Market.  When I made my first descent into the scrapbooking aisle, I really felt out of luck as I saw the three hundred packages of Hobby Lobby brand brads that have sat there looking lonely and unloved.  I think those poor brads have been there for ten years.  They're dusty and sad.  Not even their 1.00 price tag can find them a new home.  BUT WAIT- what's all this?!  There are so many new packages of stamps that they're almost jumping off of the wall hooks!  WhooooHAW, restock!!!

I found lots of stamps.  Too many.  I had to restrain myself.  I grabbed so many on the first pass that I had to sit down on the cold concrete floor and decide what I really NEEDED.  Yeah- believe it or not, I don't just buy EVERYTHING I get my hands on- I DO try to really put some thought into it!

I realize that I'm not 19, anymore, when I try to spring up from the floor.  I realize that I'm not even 29, anymore, when I think- I might be trapped.  My injured knee isn't going to let me get up off the floor!  (I hurt my knee last week, at the theatre, trying to climb down a dangerous metal spiral staircase.)

As I'm thrashing about the floor- something catches my eye.  What is it?

Well, if you keep up with my goings on, you will remember that last week, I saw and fell in love with the Studio Calico Mister Huey Color Mists.  Yes- that's what was on the shelf.  A nice selection of MISTER HUEYS!!!  And the EVEN BETTER part?  They were TWO DOLLARS EACH.

You would've thought I saw priceless jewels.  Well, they kinda are!  None of the local stores carry them.  I was about to order them from scrapbook.com- but they were out of a couple of the colors I wanted, so I wanted to wait until they had all the colors I wanted IN STOCK so I could order them all at once.  But I LOVE being able to just buy something IN a store.  I hate paying and waiting for the mail.

I grabbed every color of MISTER HUEY that caught my eye.  And then some.   

They didn't have 'Clay,' and a few others I'd wanted- but I can order those later.  At least, now, some of the compulsion is quelled.  But they did have CALICO WHITE- which is the one that has been most recommended to me- so here, allow me to model it for you:

Now, here's where I learn an important lesson.  

Things might only be one or two dollars each.  That doesn't mean you can fill a basket with the things and  only spend ten dollars.  This is a lesson I have to relearn.  Every time I go to Basket Market.  These things do NOT add up in my mind.  I will fill a basket with two dollar items and be dazed and confused when the cashier says, "That'll be 54.19."  WHAT?!  I only bought 27 two dollar items!!!

No, I'm not complaining.  Look at these great stamps I found!  

There it is- the Part Two of the Pay Day Celebration haul- Basket Market style.  I even found a few colors of Distress Stain (also 2.00!) and the Goosebumps texture spray that I saw mentioned in the scrapbook.com forum earlier in the week.  I said I would buy some and sure enough, I did!

See you all later- the Craft Donkey inspired me to make a card.  

-kory