No one can figure out why my pain doctor wanted to do just one knee at a time, but the doctor I am now seeing kept it that way. There was a scheduling hiccup in which I was told my appts were ALL on Friday, but after the first knee they changed to Thurs. Even on the reminder call I was told it was on Friday. So I went on Fri and didn't get the shot. I could have pushed, but they are just swamped and are working hard to take care of all of my pain doctor's patients. (For those who don't remember, my pain doctor just suddenly decided he wasn't ever coming back right before Christmas. I got a call on the 22nd about it!)
J and I had gone to the city early to pick up some bakery items that Wiz and my mom wanted. We had a few min to kill before when we thought my appointment was, so I popped into Michael's to pick up a specific item. We found grab bags for two bucks each and I got four. We opened them in the car and were SHOCKED at what was in them. Baskets of all sizes, notebooks, erasers (cute mary engelbreit ones!), paper and plastic takeout food boxes that sold for two dollars on sale or four new, all sorts of things. Since we didn't go to the doctor, we went back. I ended up buying ten more grab bags.
I got more stuff than I could have DREAMED of. Two scrapbook albums that are beautiful and take 14 by 14 inch pages, a pack of 50 pages of paper with candy can stripes around the edges and 2 smaller books to hold 4x6 photos were in ONE grab bag. I got a penguin ornament I wanted to buy for thank you before Xmas but it was sixteen bucks, and a garland with big buttons that I wanted that also was nutso expensive. I got some cute little things that we left with my mom for my niece, incl matching headbands to share with her bff. I don't get to give her gifts so I leave things at my mom's house for her housecleaner;s grandkids. Mom makes sure niece gets first pick As her housecleaner is a total sweetie, I leave things for her kids too.
I got six packs of the expensive cards you put photos in, three dozen glitter stickers - the ones wtih rhinestones arranged in a pattern like mittens or pumpkins or whatever. SOOOOOO much more.
Jess went through everything and wrote down what it was and how much retail price was. At the halfway point it was over $300 worth of stuff and all I paid was $28 plus tax! I haven't seen her final total, but I won't be shocked if it is around $700.
Have any of you been to any of the $1 Jewelry stores? We have one in town here and a different named one in the city by the Michaels I like. I have been impressed by what I have found there. Not so much that the jewelry is high quality, though for what you pay it is very good quality. I needed some seed beads for a project and got a $1 necklace and earring set (all for $1, as most necklaces have a pair of earrings with them included in the price) that had just the right color. Unlike the ones I buy at craft or cross stitch stores, I have had very few that I could not get a needle through. They come strung on fishing line, so they have to be a certain size on the inside diameter.
The one in the city also sells bags of broken jewelry. A snack size ziploc is two bucks and a sandwich size is five bucks. The lady working didn't have many bags made up, but she let us fill our own from two shoe box size plastic bins of broken jewelry. We got AMAZING stuff. I am acquiring beads to use for a Christmas shirt project for J and my one little cousin, and some of these will be wonderful for that. J is working on making jewelry, and has a great stash for a ton less than she could otherwise purchase. Plus we had a TON of fun!
Outings to places like this have shown me that while she digs holes for herself on some issues, she is working super hard to earn our trust on the stealing issue. She was careful to let me know that she didn't have pockets or that if she did her pockets were empty before we went into anyplace and before we walked out of anywhere. She has no come up with anything we didn't know about either, which is huge progress. The one time thank you was going to give her something he bought fo her xmas gift and lost, she aske him to do it in front of me so there were no mixups. Taking steps like that doesn't end the suspicions, but it does help quite a bit. I think she is afraid I won't ever take her into another store again if she is caught stealing while she is with me even one more time. And she is right, because that is exactly what will happen.
All in all, it was a great, and fun, shopping week! What are your best bargains lately? Oh, I also got a wonderful 100% cashmere scarf in the mail - I got it for just fifteen bucks online!! It is far better quality than I thought it would be, and had a price tag from a major dept store at 99 bucks!!
J and I had gone to the city early to pick up some bakery items that Wiz and my mom wanted. We had a few min to kill before when we thought my appointment was, so I popped into Michael's to pick up a specific item. We found grab bags for two bucks each and I got four. We opened them in the car and were SHOCKED at what was in them. Baskets of all sizes, notebooks, erasers (cute mary engelbreit ones!), paper and plastic takeout food boxes that sold for two dollars on sale or four new, all sorts of things. Since we didn't go to the doctor, we went back. I ended up buying ten more grab bags.
I got more stuff than I could have DREAMED of. Two scrapbook albums that are beautiful and take 14 by 14 inch pages, a pack of 50 pages of paper with candy can stripes around the edges and 2 smaller books to hold 4x6 photos were in ONE grab bag. I got a penguin ornament I wanted to buy for thank you before Xmas but it was sixteen bucks, and a garland with big buttons that I wanted that also was nutso expensive. I got some cute little things that we left with my mom for my niece, incl matching headbands to share with her bff. I don't get to give her gifts so I leave things at my mom's house for her housecleaner;s grandkids. Mom makes sure niece gets first pick As her housecleaner is a total sweetie, I leave things for her kids too.
I got six packs of the expensive cards you put photos in, three dozen glitter stickers - the ones wtih rhinestones arranged in a pattern like mittens or pumpkins or whatever. SOOOOOO much more.
Jess went through everything and wrote down what it was and how much retail price was. At the halfway point it was over $300 worth of stuff and all I paid was $28 plus tax! I haven't seen her final total, but I won't be shocked if it is around $700.
Have any of you been to any of the $1 Jewelry stores? We have one in town here and a different named one in the city by the Michaels I like. I have been impressed by what I have found there. Not so much that the jewelry is high quality, though for what you pay it is very good quality. I needed some seed beads for a project and got a $1 necklace and earring set (all for $1, as most necklaces have a pair of earrings with them included in the price) that had just the right color. Unlike the ones I buy at craft or cross stitch stores, I have had very few that I could not get a needle through. They come strung on fishing line, so they have to be a certain size on the inside diameter.
The one in the city also sells bags of broken jewelry. A snack size ziploc is two bucks and a sandwich size is five bucks. The lady working didn't have many bags made up, but she let us fill our own from two shoe box size plastic bins of broken jewelry. We got AMAZING stuff. I am acquiring beads to use for a Christmas shirt project for J and my one little cousin, and some of these will be wonderful for that. J is working on making jewelry, and has a great stash for a ton less than she could otherwise purchase. Plus we had a TON of fun!
Outings to places like this have shown me that while she digs holes for herself on some issues, she is working super hard to earn our trust on the stealing issue. She was careful to let me know that she didn't have pockets or that if she did her pockets were empty before we went into anyplace and before we walked out of anywhere. She has no come up with anything we didn't know about either, which is huge progress. The one time thank you was going to give her something he bought fo her xmas gift and lost, she aske him to do it in front of me so there were no mixups. Taking steps like that doesn't end the suspicions, but it does help quite a bit. I think she is afraid I won't ever take her into another store again if she is caught stealing while she is with me even one more time. And she is right, because that is exactly what will happen.
All in all, it was a great, and fun, shopping week! What are your best bargains lately? Oh, I also got a wonderful 100% cashmere scarf in the mail - I got it for just fifteen bucks online!! It is far better quality than I thought it would be, and had a price tag from a major dept store at 99 bucks!!