Goodwill Find Caused Me To Organize

I ran into Goodwill the other day just to pass some time since I haven't been finding much of anything in the store as of the last few months and I walked to the back where they bring out the new racks that will be stocked by the workers and found a stack of paper in packages.

Of course when a crafter finds a stack of paper in packages we have to look and see what it is and when I saw, well I quickly put the whole stack in my buggy! Especially since they were marked 99 cents and with my discount card that would put the cost at 90 cents. I went through and checked all the packages and there was one that was open and only had a few sheets in it so it when back on the rack but the others went back in my buggy. 

Did I mention that the paper packs were Stampin Up? Yes you heard me right...Stampin Up! I ended up with the following lines -

Attic Boutique (2)

Beau Chateau

Berry Blossoms

Delicate Dots

Festive Finery

Holiday Thyme 

Letters to Santa

Nursery Nest

Parisian Summer

Pocketful of Posies

Woodland Park

Simply Scrappin Kit - Just Delightful

Simply Scrappin Kit - Island Blossoms

I was beyond thrilled with my find, because ya know I don't have enough paper *okie does a huge eye roll*, but I knew it was going to cause me some problems because the holders I have my Stampin Up papers in were full and I would have to reg-organize to get the new paper in the appropriate order. Luckily my friend Carmen and I have been on TV date nights watching Game of Thrones and I was able to sit and work on the paper organization while watching TV with her. Since she is in Houston and I am in Oklahoma our TV date nights are on the phone. I have been trying to get her to watch Game of Thrones for a few years now and she wouldn't do it but once she did she hasn't been able to stop watching. I have seen all the episodes at least twice so it is nice to be able to explain things to her during the show as they happen. Oops...got side tracked!

I got out my label maker and went to the closet and got some more paper dividers, which I am out of now and will have to find something else to divide collections in the future, and went to work. I like to keep some of my paper collections by alphabetical order. I will make a bit of confession here and tell you that I had a couple of collections in there that didn't have dividers so it had been awhile since I had worked on keeping my Stampin Up papers organized. I did know I had them, just didn't have them organized with dividers. 

Since each collection matches up with Stampin Up cardstock I thought it would be nice to know what colors match and instead of having to do a search each time I wrote them on post it notes and put them on the dividers so I have quick access. After doing a search and finding SCSDSP Color Chart it was easy to get the colors for the collections.  I don't normally buy the SU designer paper unless it is on clearance *okie figures everyone knows okie doesn't like paying full price* and luckily for me all the papers I had were in the list since it hasn't been updated since 2014. The asterisk next to the cardstock name means it is still available. 

While I was at it I made an Excel spreadsheet inventory of the Stampin Up Designer Paper I have, don't ask me why I did that because I have no idea other than I like making inventories of some of my crafting items. But I do plan on going in and marking which cardstocks I do own *okie honestly believes this need to organize is a curse at times*. Honestly though, it will make it easier to just open up the Excel file and quickly see if I have what matches instead of having to rummage through my papers. By rummage I mean pull out the folder with paper which is organized by color and check the name on the tab.

I really need to work on my 12x12 cardstock organization since I found some more things to use as paper holders at Goodwill last month (which I will post about when I use them) and if anyone would like to come help me do that I will allow you pool time and all the cold beer you can drink!! 

The Dishwasher Saga

When I moved into this house about the only draw back in my book was...NO DISHWASHER! My landlord told me if I got a dishwasher he would get it installed and I have been drooling over dishwashers ever since and just haven't had the extra money to put out to get one.

Well y'all know my love of Goodwill and finding bargains, right? It just so happens few weeks ago I found a Kenmore stainless steel dishwasher, which matches the other appliances in my kitchen, at Goodwill for $30.  I figured for the price I would take a chance and buy it and with my discount I paid $27. One of the workers told me that the man who dropped it off said it worked great and they were just getting new appliances or something. My daughter actually had to go pick it up with her car because she had a hatchback. Chuck and I rode in my car because I figured he would have to load it for me since I wasn't sure how heavy it would be. Chuck said it was really light but then again I think he can easily bench press over 200 pounds so I don't trust his judgement in that area very well.

I had to wait until this week until the landlord could send someone over to hook it up. Of course I could have kept bothering him about it but I was in no hurry really. The guys came Monday to hook up the dishwasher and everything seemed to be going okay until we turned it on and water was going everywhere. After some observation we pulled it back out and it was leaking from the upper arm mechanism. I think it probably got busted when one of us was trying to shove it under the cabinet, not realizing there was a hose at the top of the dishwasher because of the insulation that was wrapped around it. I was able to find the part online and order it without any problem and it was about $15 including shipping. They guys said to just call them when it came in and they would finish installing it. 

The next problem was it was not draining. I spent almost every night this past week watching videos and reading websites about reasons a dishwasher won't drain. I took apart the inside of the dishwasher and cleaned off the piston valve *okie wonders how many people even know there is a piston valve in dishwashers* and it looked okay. Next I laid on the floor and watched the motor run while it ran a cycle. The dishwasher wouldn't run a full cycle either, it would stop and I would have to open the latch and then close it back and it would start back up. This would happen several times during a cycle and the dishwasher still wouldn't drain. I watch videos about circuit boards and motors as well. I even know where the solenoid is on my dishwasher, along with some other parts and wiring. I still couldn't get it to drain and kept having to bail out the water. 

I finally decided too unhook the hose from under the sink and blow in it to see if it was clogged. I could hear bubbles inside the dishwasher where the water was standing so I knew it wasn't the hose. For whatever reason I grabbed a bucket and some bowls and turned the dishwasher to rinse and closed the latch and LO AND BEHOLD the damn thing ran a few seconds and then started draining! After it finished the cycle I opened the door and sure enough no water in the bottom. 

My next task was to see if the problem of the dishwasher not draining was also the cause of the dishwasher stopping during the cycle. I went outside and cleaned up my ice chest so I could bring it in the house for water to drain into because I was tired of sitting on a hard ceramic tile floor and didn't want to have to sit there with my buckets and bowls. This is a picture of how my kitchen looked while running a trial cycle and the dishwasher draining into the ice chest. 

I am glad to say that with the hose in the ice chest the dishwasher ran just fine! Now  just have to wait until next week for the guys to come finish installing it and fix the problem with the drain under the sink. When I texted him yesterday that the part came in he said he would come this morning and do it but I told him not if it's his day off and he needs to spend that time with his family.

Now with a working dishwasher I might not mind cooking as much because clean up will be so much easier. Okay who am I kidding...I still won't like cooking!

For the Love of Buttons!!!

My sister came last month for her yearly summer weekend with me and we of course had to go to Goodwill and she kept looking at a bunch of tins and talking about how she loves tins but she didn't like any of the ones they had at the time and so the tins stayed. The next week when I was in there the tins were still there and some gal was looking at them and I noticed she opened one and told the person she was talking to on the phone about the tin and said "it's got some stuff in it". I couldn't see what was in there but I was certainly curious and my memory banks immediately thought of all the grandma's that would store buttons in jars and tins and was hoping beyond hope that the contents of that old rusty tin held those little bits of plastic treasure. Luckily she put the lid back on the tin and walked off. I immediately zoomed my buggy two aisles over and picked up the tin and took of the lid and LO AND BEHOLD it was filled with BUTTONS!!

Being one not to want to over look leaving treasure behind I picked up each tin to see if there was something else in the others and I did find two more tins that had buttons in them. I could have cared less about the tins and they actually went back to Goodwill last week but I was thrilled with the contents! There were even some buttons still on the cards and there is no telling how old the buttons are as some had started crumbling around the edges.

There were other things in with the buttons and this picture shows an old campaign button and some other little items that were in the tins. One of them is a Jr. Red Cross pin and another is a little Knights of Columbus *at least okie thinks that is what it is* pin. I have no idea what the share a ride jingle bell is about. 

The buttons were quite dirty from being in the tins as the tins had rusted so of course I had to wash all of them before starting the task of separating, organizing and storing. These were all the white and off white colored buttons from the tins and was really pleased how well they washed up. The biggest part of the buttons were white but there were some colored buttons in the trove.

Adding so many buttons to my stash called for an overhaul of storing many of my buttons. I knew I would need more storage options and found some cute little jars at Dollar Tree that worked out great. The tall jar holds buttons that I will be using more vintage type projects. And yes....I was that meticulous about my organization *okie wonders if anyone really expected anything less*. 

Oh and I want to show you what I did with the buttons that were still on the cards! Instead of taking them off of the cards I decided to use a shadow box I had purchased, and before you ask yes it came from Goodwill as well, so they can be displayed. I used some Graphic45 Steampunk Debutante paper for the background and then just 

I thought I was done with ever buying buttons but then the other day this jar of buttons were just sitting on a shelf at Goodwill and I couldn't resist putting it in my cart. Now before you judge just know this jar only cost me 99 cents...HOW COULD I NOT TAKE IT! Plus this jar has a lot of colored buttons and I might not have those colors!