What the Junk?!

Monday...right?

Yes, it's Monday.  I got my pen pal letters done today! Yay!  I also got them all mailed off.  I had three new ones in my box.  Not new pals, but new letters from old pals.  lol

I was thinking of Starbucks while out, but it was rainy and bleah out, so I just came home after the post office.  I came home to a bit of a mess. The new container I had in the closet to catch the drips was working well.  The old one tipped and fell out on the floor. UGH!  I cleaned that all up and put it back.  I put another heavy item in there to keep it from tipping again.  I hope that helps.  It's supposed to rain for days.  BOO!  

I did take a picture while I was in the post office.  I love the old boxes they have.  There are little windows on most of the boxes so you can see if you have mail or not.  I love this old building.  It's very vintage. I just wish they had lockers.  At my old post office location, if you go something too big for your box, you got a key.  It would open a locker and you could just pick up whatever it was that didn't fit in the box.  It was quite convenient.  

Letters but no lattes!

I sat down today and got my letters written and then went to mail them off. It's quite hot outside today.  I should have known when I was trying to sleep last night and it was so warm that I had to turn the air conditioning on!  It's been on all day today, too!  I was walking out the door to mail my letters and realized that one of them didn't have a stamp.  I ran back into the house and got a stamp and then went back to my car.  I drove down to the post office and ran in. I dropped my letters off and then checked my box.  I had five more letters waiting.  Well, four that I'll actually answer.  The fifth was from an inmate. ~_~;  I used to write a few of them, but they always get the idea that we are in a relationship and that is not going to happen. I don't want to date anyone on the outside either. LOL!

I had thought about going by Starbucks while I was out because I have a bunch of stars and I could have gotten a free drink, but I figured with it being Saturday, they would be really busy so I skipped it!  Plus it was hot and I have no air. I prefer hot coffee and today was not the day. If I had air, yes, but I don't.  Oh well! My stars don't run out anytime soon, so I'm good!

 

I'm not dead.

I haven't felt well for the last two days.  I felt like I had a slight cold or something the last few days. I feel better from that today, but I have a migraine. D'oh!  So, I don't feel like I have a cold anymore, but I'm constantly sick on my stomach because of the migraine.  I didn't start a puzzle yesterday or today!  Why?  Well, one reason was me feeling so bleah.  The other is my puzzles are running out and I am not sure when I'll be able to re-stock.  I have some 1000 piece ones and some old 500 or so ones, but I am trying to make them last.  Hopefully, I can get to the Dollar store next week.

My friend brought me some delicious food on his way home from work.  He got me a cheesesteak, fries, and a coke.  Lots of the local restaurants are doing takeout specials since they are all closed for dine-in.  It was a delicious lunch and I enjoyed it very much.  It was nice to not have to worry about fixing anything!

I hope I'm feeling a bit better tomorrow. If so, I'll run out to the post office, but that is the extent of my plans for going out tomorrow. I need to check my box and after I do, I hope to write letters.  I have two waiting for me unless any more came that didn't show up on informed delivery.

I am participating in Camp NaNoWriMo! I declared my book/novella today. I am only going to put a 20,000 word count on this project, but I might go more.  I have a basic outline in my head and I've gotten pictures and information in Scrivener for tomorrow's start.

Friday!

I finished the puzzle today. I also wrote 7 pen pal letters and mailed them. I received two more in my box. Yay for more letters. I am glad to be caught up. I plan to write back soon to the ones that I got today. 

Yes, that is an extra piece to the side!

No puzzle today

Yes, I didn't start a puzzle today.  I meant to, but I was working on my Linux laptop longer than I planned.  Last night, I was going to see bout getting out my Linux laptop and putting Journey on it. It's the journal app I used on my Android phone, my MacBook Pro, and online.  I saw where it said you could download a Linux version.  I was excited so I got the laptop out last night, plugged it in and booted it.  It booted and then I got an error message about missing packages.  What?  ARGH! I used my Google Foo to look up a solution.  I went through the steps and it started loading. Yay!  But, it just kept loading. For over an hour.  I knew I wasn't going to fix it last night as it was late and I was tired, so I left it alone.

I got on it around 1:30 today and worked on it.  I went into recovery mode (something I had done last night) but I did a few more things in there, installed a few things via the terminal and rebooted.  Success!  I had to play with it a bit and then went to download Journey.  Sadly, since my Linux runs on i386 and not 64 (Bit? I forget the specs but I know the 64) it won't work.  At least I can use the cloud version!  Oh well.

So, I got my Linux laptop up and running without losing any of my stuff.  I don't have anything on there that is not backed up somewhere else, but I didn't want to install fresh and have to download all my apps and set up my personal settings again. I was happy to get this going!  As I was still playing around on it and hoping to find a way to make Journey work (I never did!) my friend texted and asked if I'd like to meet him at a restaurant that is near to his workplace. I said, sure! I went and we ate and then I drove home. I stopped by the post office and checked my box.  I got two penpal letters from regular pals and a letter from a potential new pal. Yay!

As I was leaving my house to go meet my friend, I had been waiting on a package. I checked my package tracking app before I went to my car and it wasn't delivered yet. I go out, get in my car and notice the mail truck drive down the street.  I drove out and noticed my package.  He had come right after I checked the app! lol . I turned around and went back to my house (I had pulled out of the driveway and was heading up the street before I saw the package) . I grabbed it and carried it with me.  I knew it was swag from Twitter Insiders but I didn't know exactly what it was.  I was so excited to get home and open it up!

I joined Twitter Insiders well over a year ago and I join in on discussions there and they send out surveys every so often. I got picked to win some Twitter Insiders swag!  YAY! I love swag.  I got four really nice items.  A tote bag, a water bottle, a notebook, and a pen.  I love it all and I took a picture of my goodies to share:

Nifty, eh?  I love swag!  I love that it is all useful things, too!  If you've read this blog for a while, you'll know how much I love notebooks and pens! It was a good day for mail.  Swag and penpal letters. :)

 

 

Friday?

It's another one of those days where it doesn't feel like the day it is. LOL The snow was mostly gone today when I got up. I knew it would be like that, but it was still disappointing.  There is still some left in shady areas, but as soon as it warms up, it will be gone too.  It was so pretty while it lasted.

I drove down to the post office today and mailed a huge stack of mail.  After mailing it, I checked my box.  I got a letter from a friend, a new potential penpal, and some junk mail.  The potential new pal is iffy. It's a guy, and I have several male penpals, so that isn't an issue.  The verbiage of his letter is troubling.  When a guy describes himself and says he hopes we become 'good friends' sends warning bells off in my head.  I post in my pen pal ads that I am looking for friends ONLY but guys seem to overlook that.  The few guys I do write are cool and we are good friends and they know I am not interested in all the junk! LOL!

While I was out, I ran by the grocery store and picked up a few things I needed and they were busy as hell! I was lucky and they opened another register and I followed another lady over to it.  She had a buggy full and I had three items and she told me to go ahead.  That was nice!  I was joking with her and the cashier that with how busy they were I was scared they were calling for snow again! 

I started a new puzzle today and it's pretty. It's going to be intense tomorrow.  I got the sky, tree line, and the water finished, but now I have to do the boats and the buildings.  It's very busy and colorful.  I'm enjoying working it though.  

Before I share the picture of the puzzle progress, I'd like to do an update on "What I'm Using Evernote for Today."  Well, I made a simple tracker in Evernote to keep track of all of my Fossil bags!  I have three columns, the bag, where purchased, and notes.  I can keep track of my bags easily this way and it's a great reference.  I know I've said it before but I love my Evernote!

 

Snow is so nice!

It did snow today! It snowed for several hours and it never covered the streets, but it did coat the houses, cars, and yards.  It was lovely and I enjoyed sitting in my window watching it fall.  At first, I didn't think it was going to stick at all, but after about an hour, I noticed that the ground started looking white.  It started sticking. Yay!  I took a bunch of pictures and I uploaded a few to share.  It was so nice to sit and watch the snow.  I didn't just sit idly while I was watching the snow!  I got my pen pal letters caught up!  It took forever and I mean, forever, but I got them done.  I will head out tomorrow to mail them off and check my box.  I am pretty sure I only have one letter there now.  It's from an unknown person so it could be a new penpal inquiry.  We'll see when I check my box.

After it started to get dark, I finally closed the window and started work on my puzzle.  I finished it right before fixing dinner. It's a pretty puzzle and it was fun to do although it did get a bit intense in spots.  It's a picture of a location in the Czech Republic.  It's buildings along a road and has some body of water in it. Very pretty!  Here are the snow pictures and the picture of the completed puzzle.

Not the most exciting snow pictures, but at least I was able to get some before winter is done. It will all be gone tomorrow I'm sure.  

  

Starting the month off right!

How you ask?  Well, I went to mail off my letters.  My mailbox was full but not one of the things in there was a pen pal letter. D'oh!  I left the post office and went to Starbucks. I thought starting the month off with a cascara latte would be a good thing since the syrup is going to be gone soon. I'm going to miss my cascara syrup. I'm glad I was able to get one more. I hope to get over there before they are totally out.  The Barista told me that the last bottle they have runs out on the 7th, so I hope to get one more.  I know they won't run out of the syrup because I'm the only one that orders it. lol

NaNoWriMo is at an end!

It's hard to believe that today is the last day of November and it's also the end of NaNoWriMo!  I am happy to have another NaNo win!  It was a good month of writing.

Today, I sat down and finished my letters.  I started them at Starbucks but I hadn't taken the actual letters with me so I finally got those done today.  The past few days I've had bad migraines and I was not in the mood to finish any of them.  I got those done today and plan to mail them out tomorrow.  I would have mailed them out today, but my friend wanted to go eat so I went with him and it was too late when I got home to run to the post office so I will go tomorrow.

I got my Yule tree up tonight.  I almost didn't put it up this year.  I will share pictures of it below along with my stack of pen pal letters.  I am planning to make myself go to Starbucks once a week again and get my letters done there.  If I have a dedicated day each week, I'll get them written in a timely manner AND I'll get to get Starbucks every week. It works for me! :P

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Here is the pretty stack of letters ready to go tomorrow:

Starbucks Whoo Hoo!

Guess where I am?  Did the subject line give it away? :p  Yes, I'm at Starbucks.  Believe it or not I was able to get a table!  At first, I was thinking I was out of luck.  I looked in and it didn't look like any seats were available at all.  The comfy seats at the front were the only ones empty and those are not the best for writing on a laptop. At the old location, yes, but not here.  I was happy to find a seat though and sat!  I hadn't been here 10 minutes when someone left one of the little tables.  I jumped up and claimed it before they got out the door. lol   I am in it now.  I've done today's NaNo writing and I've written pen pal letters!!!!! Yay! I've actually written my pen pal letters.  Whoo Hoo!  My hands are tired now, so you should be glad I'm even writing a blog post. LOL

 

It's been busy and slow in here tonight. After I moved to this table, most of the other ones cleared out except for my favorite one in the corner of course! LOL  It stayed pretty empty for a while and now they are rolling along pretty well again.  I am not sure how much longer I plan to stay. If I were at my favorite table, I'd probably stay longer, but I'm not, so there is that.  The guy that was sitting here left a while ago, but I didn't even turn around to see if I could grab the table.  I am pretty comfy here and this is my second favorite table. LOL    The little tables are all along one wall, there is a long table to the right of them when you are sitting at one.  If you sit at my favorite table, you have no one behind you or beside you.  If you sit at this one, you have people behind you but no one beside you.  The other two little tables have the long table next to them.

 

I just peeked, someone has claimed the other table.  Oh well! :P  I was able to get my hands on a bunch of Starbucks cards while I was here. I'm hoping I got the entire collection.  Well, except for the multipacks. You can't get those without loading them.  I got a bunch, so I'm hoping I have them all. If not, I can go and check on the site I use and see which ones I need so I'll be able to look for those.  Hopefully, I have them all!  That would be cool, cool, cool! :P

 

I'll take a picture of what I have when I get home and share it.  For now, I'm going to sit here and enjoy being here for a bit longer before I pack up and head out.  If it clears out some, I might stay a while longer and I might just head home.  I have almost finished my drink and I am not planning on getting another one tonight. :P

 

I just know it was great being able to do NaNoWriMo from Starbucks again!  I totally missed out last year and I didn't want that to happen again. :) . Now, I just have to decide what to fix for dinner when I get home and put away the clothes I washed yesterday. D'oh!  Actually, not a D'oh, I knew when I washed them yesterday that it was so late that I'd put them away today.  I was able to get some detergent yesterday after using the last drips and drops on my bed linen. I needed more detergent and I only had a dollar. I was tempted to go to the laundry and get one of those individual ones they sell.  Then, I thought about the dollar stores.  Dollar Tree would have a bottle for $1 but I was hoping I didn't have to drive over there. (at that point, I had planned to come here to write) . I went to Dollar General and found a regular size bottle of one of the few brands I use for $1.  Score!  I thought it had to be a mistake, but I checked before buying it and it was $1.  I am totally broke so I was happy to find it so cheap!  I love my dollar stores! 

 

Ahh!  I am home now.  The internet and my MBP were not playing nicely together at Starbucks for some reason.  Luckily I copied and pasted this huge post into Evernote just in case.  Good thing I did because I had to restart everything and would have lost my post.  Ahh!  I am going to post this before anything else goes wrong. ;p