Bookmark Dump and Around Here. A twofer

Around Here

Boy, it's been crazy over here this last month or so. Between the holidays and other super exciting stuff that's been going on, I've been out of touch with blogging. I will share more in detail in a few weeks but trust me, it's been an adventure.

Reading:
I've been trying to find a book I actually like but lately I've been missing the bullseye with this and end up abandoning ship. I'm currently reading the sequel to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Hollow City. I read the first so long ago that I forgot everything so I'm totally lost. Not sure I'll be able to finish this one too. But I still love our library. They have crochet magazines!

Watching:
I've been hooked on American Horror Story Coven. I like it much better than the most recent one, Freak Show. Also, Getting On (HBO Go), America's Next Top Model (Huluplus), Manhattan, (Huluplus), and Helix (Netflix).

Loving:
I took advantage of the buy 3 get 3 Bath and Body Works Black Friday sale, and I bought 3 body washes with their matching lotions from the aromatherapy line. The Stress Relief fragrance is AMAZING. I can't get enough.

Decorating:
I painted our basement Ryegrass green from Sherwin Williams last weekend. Once we get some furniture set up down there, I'll share some pics. But right now it's a mess. But once again, trying to find the right shade was torture. We must have tried 6 greens from Home Depot and Sherwin Williams that just looked awful down there (and fuck the price of paint samples, seriously). There's not much natural light downstairs so they looked so different than in the store. Well, Brian wasn't having it so he went on Pinterest (yea that's right! I taught him well!), he found a green he liked and purposefully bought an entire gallon without getting a sample. It was a genius idea because no matter what, that was going to be the color we were gonna paint our walls and live with, end of story. And it happened to be our favorite anyway so, phew! But I'm seriously done with painting these textured walls. What a nightmare.

Work:
Work has been great. I'm still terrified of driving on the highways around here for fear of being driven off the road. But I'm enjoying the flexibility of working 3 days a week and with a coworker willing to work with me on what days I want to come in. As long as I cover her on Friday's she's happy.

My car:
So on the way to work this week my car decided to crap out. And when I say crap out, I mean the gas peddle just decided to stop working so I couldn't accelerate and the angry Colorado drivers wouldn't have any part of it. I put on my flashers and hoped for the best! I turned around and came home instead of making the hour drive to work and just swapped work days. OF COURSE when I brought the car home and Brian tried it out, it worked perfectly for him so we didn't take it in to save money on a useless diagnostic test. The next day I attempted to go to work again but this time the car completely shut off at a stop light! So once again, I put on my flashers, panicked, pulled into a diner, and called Brian to save me. He swapped cars with me since my car works for him and I took his car to work and he took mine to his (since he works super close to home so if it did crap out on him he could at least get a ride). We finally took it in and it looks like it's a dirty/clogged fuel line from bad gas or something and somethings wrong with a sensor. I have no idea.

Christmasing:
We aren't going home this year but I am happy to be staying safe and calm and away from airports. But I'd love to host a New Years party at our house! And I hate to sound like such a scrooge, but I'm growing tired of buying gifts for people left and right. Money is super tight so it stings to buy toys and crap that kids will probably only use twice or clothes they will outgrow in 4 months. And especially when there are birthdays a few weeks before Christmas, dayumn! I figured that lots of people in our family conceived on or around Valentine's day. Bow chica bow wow. I love giving gifts more than receiving them but still. I hate the materialism.

We are going to stay in our friend's cabin in Breckenridge after Christmas for a few days and we're bringing the dogs. I'm super excited for a vacation! And a super cheap one at that.

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I hope you enjoy this weeks dump!

These orange marmalade ice cream sandwiches look delicious!

A gift guide for children of the 80s.

9 adorable DIY ornaments. I especially love the cactus ones!

A pretty desktop from The Lovely Drawer.

Gift ideas for crocheters. I want #6.