Goody Goody Grab Bags!!!

I stopped at the Open Door Mission thrift store yesterday afternoon and found thing great goody bag for $3. Once I got home I kept admiring it and picking it up but didn't get a chance to lay it all out until this morning. There is a whole bunch of neat trim, ribbons, pipe cleaners, tassels, elastic, and even a few zippers. I am going to have a lot of fun with this one!


I am really enjoying the warm weather that has finally come our way. I hear it is supposed to be ugly this weekend. Eric dragged me out for a 2 mile walk last night. I also had to go to Walgreens to get some cough drops. I'm sick! Damn it! I also ended up with a good amount of Russell Stover marshmallow and coconut filled chocolate eggs. Whaaaaatttttt? They were 75% off and delicious! I spent some time out on the porch today transplanting our herb garden to a bigger pot and some other houseplants that had a rough winter. I wanted to plant a couple other things but ran out of dirt. Around dinner time we went to the mall. I got a slice of pizza and a salad. It was pretty good. We walked around and people watched then got stuck in Kmart when the mall entrance closed at 9. We had parked at the opposite end of the mall and had to walk outside around pretty much the whole thing. I was working on organizing in my craft room until I was interrupted and had to come in here.

Happy Easter!

It seems like it has been a very long time since I wrote last. I don't even know where to start. I have been keeping busy with lots of different things and dealing with some crazy crises (I hope that is the plural for crisis. Yes, more than one crisis).

I have been home to Middlebury three times since last weekend. I had my car checked out and it would not pass inspection without over a thousand dollars worth of work. My Mom has been thinking about getting a new Camry and was planning to give me her current Camry. It is now going to happen sooner than we expected. The second visit was due to an unfortunate situation with my sister's job. The third visit was with Eric to celebrate Easter and to eat a ham dinner.

We have also been dealing with some shitty apartment and landlord issues that cropped up unexpectedly in the past two weeks.

I signed up with a temp agency and should be hearing about a job assignment pretty soon. Things are kind of crazy around here but I really need to make some cash pretty soon.

On Saturday we ate dinner with our lovely friends Ivo, Indira, and their two year old Tin. I have mentioned them before as they used to be our neighbors. They have their own house now and are home after spending the winter visiting their families in what was once Yugoslavia. They are some of the best people we know. We are so happy they are back! Indira gave us this great herb garden basket as well as some neato things from their trip. In this picture there are bay leaves grown at her sister's house, a chocolate bar, a candle, some heart ornaments, a post card, and a sea sponge.

I have been trying to work on my crafts as the Farmer's market begins the first Saturday in May. I haven't gotten as much done as I had hoped. I purchased some inexpensive baskets and spray painted them. They work great to display book clips and zipper pins. My Mom printed me up some new cards that I have been cutting up. This week I took some of my wears to Bernier's Vermont Shop in Rutland. It is a new shop that only carries local products produced in Vermont. Hopefully they are busy and are able to sell a lot of my stuff there. I need to visit a couple more stores this week.

It has also been a week to try some new products on the market. I was pretty darn hungry tonight after not eating much all day long. Freshly showered and in my pajama pants, I ventured out to the local Wendy's to utilize the drive-thru window. I saw and ad on TV today for the new Frescata sandwiches they have. It is a sandwich made of freshly baked “artisan” bread with turkey or ham, swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, and plenty of mayonnaise. There is one with pesto and roasted red peppers I will try next. It definitely seemed healthier than eating a fried chicken patty or burger. It kind of hit the spot and really wasn't bad at all.

I also tried Coca-Cola Blak, a small shrink-wrapped glass bottle of Coke with coffee essence. It is good. However, I have three issues with it: It is too small. It is too expensive. It has aspartame in it as well as high fructose corn syrup. Why? Make it regular and make a diet version too, but not regular and diet combined.

I also found Hershey kisses in the cherry cordial flavor. Trish had given me a few at Christmas time and I haven't seen them since. This weekend they were in the Easter aisle at Walgreen's. I think they are really good. Good luck finding them though.

Another thing...They demolished the old Ames building in the Green Mountain Plaza. They are making way for a Super Stop and Shop, PetSmart, Michaels, and a few other things I can't remember. Also, there is a new hotel almost finished next door.

I haven't been thrifting too much lately, but I stopped by the crazily overpriced Salvation Army and picked up this cool thingie for $3.50. I thought I would put stationary in it on my desk.

It has been a good week for music. Eric helped me get my CD burner working again. I had to do a little extra work but I managed to make a great CD for Indira. My sister gave me Youth by Matisyahu, Rabbit Fur Coat by Jenny Lewis, and Vuelta by Richard Shindell. They are all so good.

Another CD that I am dying to get when it comes out is Broken Boy Soldiers by The Raconteurs. Check out their cool Commodore 64-esque website. I have heard Steady As She Goes on the radio and I just can't get enough of it.