Tag: Home Depot

Three Day Weekend Equals Three Visits to a Craft Store

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting, Life

This past weekend was busy.  It seemed like there was no time to do anything.  I hoped for more progress than I got on my list but I don’t know when we could have done more.

Saturday I paid bills, worked on budget and we went to my sister-in-laws wedding.  Sunday we went to several stores.  The first was Home Depot and after that I sat in the car while Vicki and Ken went into the stores.  Vicki and I did go to Joann’s.  There were Ibottas and coupons.  I got a lot of money back for buying yarn I was going to buy anyways and 10% back.  Additionally I had a coupon for 20% off my whole order.  On Sunday, I had two coupons for 60% off any regular priced item.  I got two lengths of luxe fleece.  This is super soft fleece which is normally $15 – $20 per yard.  I only buy it when I have big coupons or it is on steep discount.  I also found lace I liked for the front window.  Ken had put up an dark blue ugly curtain I didn’t like on our front door.  I looked through the lace.  There was this gorgeous feeling white which I loved the feel of but didn’t really suit the room.  Vicki picked out a color I liked but I didn’t think Ken would.  I’m not sure he likes it but I do.

Monday Vicki and Ken went back to Home Depot to get a range hood.  Ours has been getting louder and louder as well as working less.  They picked up one.  Ken came home and installed it.  We discovered more strange things about how they did things in our house.  The range hood is on the same breaker as our garage.  Vicki and I went back to Joann’s because when we were there on Sunday we picked up some buttons on clearance.  These are the fancy buttons which normally cost anywhere from $1 – $5 each but on clearance for 50 cents.  When we were there on Saturday the buttons had all sorts of prices on them but they rang up as 50 cents.  So Sunday we went back specifically for buttons.  Vicki and I picked over what they had and then found a table to lay them all out at.  We weeded through and narrowed it down.  I still spent over $20 on buttons.  But I got a great deal on them.  Plus I got the 10% back on Ibotta.

All three days we went to Joann’s and I used coupons to save big, bought stuff on clearance, or used Ibotta to get rebates.  I saved over $16 in rebates from Ibotta but in savings from the coupons and in store sales I saved over $85.  I saved almost as much as I spent so really good deals.

As for what did get accomplished, I got bills paid.  That was on my list.  Ken finished the closet space in the family room.  Next step is for Vicki and I to figure out what we want out there.  I did work on crocheting all weekend.  I got six sets of hand towels / dish towels done.  I also prepped five fleece blankets for crocheting.  I crocheted the edging for two of them.  Other items I worked on, I got four pairs of earrings and four scrubbies made.  I organized all the stuff which had been accumulating on my couch.  I’m going to keep working on dish towels and hand towels.  I have three skeins of scrubbie material so I’m going to keep making them up.  All the excess crocheted items are going on the rummage and craft sale we’re going to have.

I got stuff done.  I shouldn’t feel bad I didn’t get stuff done.  I just didn’t get the stuff done I planned to get done.  In the meanwhile, I’m going to keep crocheting and adding to my stockpile for the sale.  I have excess fleece in the craft room which I plan to make up into blankets for the sale.  In my head I have a list of things I want to make for the sale.  I’ll see how far I get in making the stuff.  I’m trying to only use the yarn I have on hand.  I’m trying to use up my stash of yarns and reduce the amount of stuff I have in my craft room.

Ultimately a productive weekend but not productive for my list.  Part of me says to let go of the damn list but another part of me knows I’ll forget things if I don’t keep my list.

Mood Matches the Weather

by eileentroemel, posted in Life

Exhaustion doesn’t cover how I felt after the move for my daughter.  It was a lot of driving, stress, and drama.  However, she’s in her apartment and working on getting settled.

Unfortunately for me, the drama doesn’t stop.  We paid Home Depot for them to install new doors.  Ten days ago we went in but hadn’t heard from them when they told us in a few days we’d get a call.  I called them on Monday night and finally yesterday I got a call to schedule an appointment yesterday.  The woman on the phone acted as though she was doing me a favor.  Apparently the money I spent at Home Depot was enough to get polite customer service.

My brand new scooter has been giving me grief.  I turn it on and the light flashes.  I’ve already been in touch once with the people and they sent me a new battery and charger.  However, it is still doing the same thing.  The scooter is supposed to be able to freewheel – as in you can push it along as needed – and it doesn’t.  I put in a complaint and got a call at 7:30 last night.  It was the same guy who I talked to earlier.  He was condescending again.  His response was basically I’m doing things wrong.  His tone and demeanor on the phone were unpleasant – like I was wasting his time.  I wasn’t able to get to my scooter when he called so I’ll be calling him again today.

It’s only Wednesday – hopefully nothing else goes wrong.  I’m thinking of building a comfy fort at home and giving up being an adult for a while.  I keep telling myself the weekend is coming and for a change – I don’t have anything planned for the weekend.  My biggest plan is to work on publishing stuff and some crochet projects.  Aside from those things, I plan to sleep a lot and do as little as possible.  That’s the plan and for now, I’m going with the illusion that all my plans work out.

Errands, Bookwork, Snow, and Organizing

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting, Life, Writing

This morning I got up much earlier than I wanted to but I paid bills, did budget, and placed an order with our butcher shop – Sorgs.  Ken and I ran out to Sorgs through snow and wind.  After Sorgs and bringing the stuff home, we went to Joann’s, Home Depot, and Wendy’s.  At Joann’s I bought material for gifts I’m making.  Of course I had coupons.  While I spent $29, I saved $32 in the process.

At Home Depot we priced out projects we want to do to the house.  I asked a lot of questions and the people were very helpful.  We picked up what we needed to finish my shelves for the craft room.  On our way home we picked up lunch.

Ken has since finished my shelves.  My next stop will be going to the craft room to organize and put away all my goodies.  For now, I’m working on catching up the checkbook and recording my sales for March.  I’ve also figured out how to automatically calculate a breakdown of my sales – so by month by vendor by book type – in January from Kindle I sold how many crochet patterns, or novels, etc.

Formulas and I in Excel don’t always work.  Stephanie helped me find the right one.  I got it set up, copied and now all I have to do is enter my sales by book and it figures out how to count it.  I can now easily tell which category of book is selling at what percent, percent of sales each month compared to the total annual sales.  I can tell you through which vendor I sell the most books.  Finally I’ve broken it down by category and vendor.  This should allegedly help me focus my marketing.  I might have to do some graphs to get a better handle on it.

In the last half hour, I’ve looked out my window and saw blue sky and driving sideways snow.  Welcome to Wisconsin’s spring!  Goofy weather.

On to organizing.  I am hoping to make my craft room look much more presentable by the end of the day.  I’m also hoping to have to ask for minimal help from Ken.  However, I shouldn’t be moving shelving units around so we shall see how things go.