The Very Late Christmas Story

As a gift to myself for Christmas, I bought an expensive stationery advent box. I'd researched different advent options and this small business created the most beautiful items I saw when I looked at the previous year's boxes.

They went on sale Aug 2nd. I hesitated because it really is an expensive indulgence and did I really need this? But I talked myself into it because it would be my one gift to myself.

I clicked the buy button.

The description on their website said shipping by Nov 17th so it would arrive in plenty of time for the countdown to Christmas. Perfect. I put it to the back of my mind and went on with life.

And then November 17th came and went without a shipping email. I waited a week, thinking maybe they're just a little behind. Still no email, so I contacted them. I received an assurance that they were just a little behind and that the boxes would be mailed out shortly.

Cool. I can wait.

And then we're into December with no notification of anything being mailed. I join the shop's Facebook group, but there's no information there about the advent box. It takes days, but finally someone else asks about the box. No one from the shop answers. Then a few days later, the post disappears. The shop shares that order questions should go via email, not the group.

Within a few days, the shop sends out an email saying that they're far behind, but that advent boxes will go out in time for Christmas.

We get deeper into December. There's no chance this box is arriving before Christmas. I email the shop again, inquiring about my box. My expensive box. The response? We posted about this in our Facebook group.

Really? The same Facebook group where you said that you didn't want order issues mentioned?

She posted that day. My email had been sent three days earlier.

To shorten the story, the box finally arrived on January 2nd, well after the advent season. I decided to make it a New Year box and opened one package a day until they were all done.

The items are beautiful. The stress of spending that much money for a box and being met with sheer silence about the order were not worth it. If she had kept me up to date with the order, I would have been fine. If she'd said hey, we're dealing with a family emergency and I won't be able to keep on top of things. I would have been fine. But there were no explanations, no transparency, and no updates.

So while this shop has beautiful stuff, I doubt I'll order from them again because the experience was so unfun.

Pomodoro

This post contains affiliate links which means I might earn a small commission with no extra charge to you. 

I use the Pomodoro method when I write. Basically, it means you do your task for X number of minutes with a break when those minutes are up. Standard lengths are usually 25-minute writing sprints with 5-minute breaks or 50-minute sprints with 10-minute breaks.

My personal preference is the 50-minute sessions because the shorter one doesn't let me get deep enough before it's over.

Usually, I use YouTube. There are videos there that do the timing for me.

Only my favorite video was taken down, and while I've found other ones that are okay, I'm not crazy about them. I did some online searches and saw recommendations for actual physical timers that do Pomodoro.

I decided I was going to try one. This way I can play whatever music I want while I'm working, and I don't have to rely on whatever the person who put the video together liked.

This is the timer I bought:

It has two modes, clock and timer. I'm using timer mode here. All I need to do is turn the device so the number of minutes I want is on top. This is from Mooas and it's so easy to use. I love it! I got the yellow color because it has the 50-minute Pomodoro timer, but there are other colors for shorter times.

The timer takes 2 AAA batteries which are not included. Luckily, I had some on hand when the timer arrived, and of course, I immediately had to try it out.

It might be silly to be this excited about a timer, but when I think of all the time I've wasted on YouTube trying to find a Pomodoro session that I like, well, I am excited. Now all I do is start the music I feel like listening to, flip the timer for 50 minutes, and go. (I like instrumental music, BTW, frequently movie soundtracks, but not always.)

Anyway, if you're looking for a Pomodoro timer and aren't sure which one to get, I can recommend the Mooas Timer.

This post contains affiliate links which means I might earn a small commission with no extra charge to you.

Stationery Store Haul

I thought I'd share my haul of office supplies that I received recently. I ordered them maybe a month earlier than when they arrived. Maybe a little longer than that, but they shipped directly from China.

I'm not sure how I found this seller on Etsy. Maybe they were a suggestion on my home page when I logged in? But I was looking for a few things and this place had them at a reasonable cost. There were a couple of little glitches, but overall, it was a good shop with good-quality merchandise.

One of the things I really wanted were transparent dots to use with my planners. I thought I found a roll of them on Amazon, but when they arrived and I tried them out, I discovered they were not transparent. I can still use them, just not for what I was planning to use them for.

I ordered transparent dots from this Chinese store, ten rolls in assorted colors, and they were legitimately transparent. Yea!

This is the roll with various pinks. The two lighter ones were more grayish on the paper than pink, so I used the middle one and the one next to it. I haven't used the darkest pink yet but might in the future.

Here is a picture of a random page from my Everyday Carry (EDC) planner. I wanted the weekends to stand out for quick scheduling purposes. It ended up not being my best idea ever because putting any sticker in the same spot in a planner makes it bulky in that spot and difficult to write. Luckily, this was a weekly layout, so only 52 weekends. It's still bulky, but I can still write without it being an issue.

I learned my lesson, though. Going forward, I will use these dots in random spots throughout my planners and not in a dedicated location. That actually was the original plan. Just using them to highlight important things, so this shouldn't be a problem.

One of the glitches: A few of the rolls are duplicate colors. I thought I was getting 10 different colors on the roll. Not a big deal.

Dots 10/10. Exactly what I wanted and good quality.

I also found thin highlight strips with Post-it Note type adhesive, which allows me to move it around as I want. My plans were less specific here, but if I need to highlight something important, they're available.

Strip highlighters 8/10 because they are hard to get off the card. Not the seller's fault.

Another thing I really, really wanted was clips to hold my journal open. The more vellum and stickers I've put in here, the harder it is to keep it open when I'm writing in it. It's probably mostly the vellum's fault, but it's still annoying. The clips I ordered were $14.99 each on Amazon. For real. The exact same clips were available from this Chinese seller for around $9. Much more reasonable.

You can literally find these same two clips on Amazon. This is where one of the glitches happened, though. I wanted the cat clip, but the second clip I ordered had a planet on it. Instead, I got flowers. I would have preferred the planet that I originally chose, but this is fine.

10/10 The clips are heavy and great quality. Exactly what I wanted.

I also spotted some coffee clips in their store. These were an impulse purchase and are more useful as bookmarks since the clip doesn't have the strength of the cat and flower clips. I wouldn't trust this to hold open the planner for writing, but they're cute as page markers.

I wouldn't put them on a planner I intended to take out of my house because they might fall off, but for marking a page on a desktop planner, they'd work well, although they are bulky.

7/10 on the coffee clips. I like them, but they have limited usefulness.

There were a few more items I ordered: A pen with correction tape and a magnetic page clip (it's a knock off of the Oliclip. I'd recommend just waiting for the Oliclip to go on sale.) And this seller through in a pen and some page flags as gifts.

The tape correction pen is just as wide as the regular version and has the same issues the regular correction tape has, so it's the form rather than the function.

The Oliclip knock off didn't have the quality of the original clip and the magnet wasn't as strong. I'd rather pay extra and get the actual Oliclip. I bought collection of small ones and have some larger ones wishlisted for their next sale.

The shipping took a while, but I didn't need any of these things immediately. Buying from this shop was a surprisingly good experience.

Review Time: Office Supplies

I thought I'd do a quick review of some of the office products I was excited to try.

I blogged about them when the products arrived.

These involved sticky notes/flags that were not name brand sticky notes. There's a reason why I love buying the brand name in this category of office supplies. These products reminded me why.

No matter how cute these sticky notes/flags appeared, I can not recommend them. The stick was horrible on both, although one was worse than the other.

The planets/moons sticky notes were so cool! I took one off, put it down in my notebook, and wrote something. Then I started making real book notes and realized the moon was in my way. So I moved it.

In the name brand, that would be no big deal. In these notes? The sticky note never stuck well again. It curled up where it was supposed to stick. I had the windows open, and with hardly any breeze at all, the note was blown off my notebook and onto the floor. I thought it was a moth and I was slapping at it before I identified what it was.

Epic fail.

I was really looking forward to these little sticky flags. Not only to bookmark pages in my writing notebook, but to use them to highlight important notes. I have a dedicated Paladin League notebook, but the couples are all mixed up because I write notes as they come to me.

I knew it wasn't going to be good immediately. I was right. These things hardly stick at all, even from the first time. Definitely not worth the money.

Brutally disappointed.

The Tote Bag Saga Continues

If you've been following this blog, you know I've been on The Great Tote Bag search for a while now. Too long.

The problem is that I found the tote bag that fits me exactly right. It has everything I need and want. And LL Bean hasn't sold it since I bought it. I check regularly. My tweet at them went unanswered.

I thought about sewing my own tote bag--I even bought a pattern and some fabric to make it--but I'm still a beginner and this project seems daunting.

And so I continue to hunt for the best replacement bag.

There is a brand I've seen advertised on Instagram that looked intriguing. I order the bag that fit the size I wanted, but it was arranged so it was narrow, not wide, and the opening was so tight, it made it difficult to use.

Maika had another tote bag, though. The Carryall bag.

I didn't order it originally because I knew from the dimensions it was too big. Around Christmas/New Year time, though, they did a mystery bag sale and the price was marked way, way down. The only catch was that I wouldn't know which fabric I was getting. That's why they called it a mystery bag. My guess is these are bags they had too many of and they'd just grab one of the overstocks and send it out.

Spoiler alert: I got the Carryall in the fabric I wanted. Not all the fabrics were available. I believe there were around half a dozen there was a chance to receive. I lucked out here.

I was right--the bag is too big. But even though it's not right for a work tote, I still use it all the time.

It's roomy, with a large opening which makes it easy to get things in and out.

 

It has three interior pockets and a key leash, exactly what I wanted.

And I still don't have a new work tote because this is just so big! The company just came out with a new tote bag and it intrigues me because it might be close to the right size. I'm not ready, though, to test it out when the bags are more than I want to spend when they're full price. (Although have you seen the price of tote bags now?)

I'm kind of hoping they put the new bag on mystery sale this upcoming Christmas. That would be my ideal way to try it out. In the meantime, I'll keep using my old tote bag.

Keep Me Away from Stationery

This post contains affiliate links which means I might earn a small commission with no extra charge to you.

It's possible I have a small addiction to office supplies. Notebooks count as office supplies, right? But it's not limited to notebooks. If it's paper or pen related in some way, I'm all in.

A while back, I spotted some Post-it notes that looked like planets while I was on Etsy. As tempted as I was, they were ridiculously expensive and I passed. I saw them a while later on Temu, but I'd heard horror stories about them, so hard pass.

I'd forgotten about them until Amazon put them in a recommended for you window. Oh, yes, please! The price for a set of six was what the Etsy seller was charging for two! And they were on subscribe and save, which meant they 100% were going to be ordered.

And wouldn't you know it? That's the subscribe and save delivery that was delayed a day. They finally came, though. Here are my planets/moon sticky notes:

Earth, Mercury, Pluto, Mars, and two different versions of the moon.

This wasn't the only recommendation Amazon had for me that day. These are a different sticky product. They showed them being used as tabs, which would totally work in my notebooks because I could tab each individual book/story with a different color. I've got separate notebooks for each series, but the Paladin League is mixed up as I got ideas for later books and wrote them down.

I also have one notebook in my tote bag, so ideas for multiple series are completely mixed up in there.

But my other plan is to use these tiny, mostly round notes to call attention to important notes in my notebooks or in my planner.

The left side of the circle is cut off so they're not completely round, but I'm intrigued by the possibilities with these notes. I do have stickies that are completely round, but they're also much bigger than these. Too small for a long note, too big for a quick hit. I haven't used them yet and there are mixed reviews about the adhesive, so I have my fingers crossed that I like them.

Notebooks 🤩

I bought two new notebooks. The pinkish-taupe is a B6 slim and the gray is passport size. Both have more than 500 pages to write on.

Did I need new notebooks? No. I have plenty, but notebooks (and tote bags) are my weakness.

I like the B6 size because it's compact, but not too small. I haven't tried a slim before, but we'll see what I think of the narrower page.

The passport size is really small. I did know that it would be, but I didn't think through what I would use this for. I have other small notebooks, around this size maybe, but they're much thinner. I haven't used those either. I'll have to think about this for a while.

And while I'm talking about buying things I don't need and weaknesses, I picked up another tote bag. It has a lot of pockets on the inside and the outside that I thought would come in handy. My plan is to use it to store the notebooks filled with my writing notes. I have a bad habit of losing track of the ones I'm not actively using.

The tote bag ended up a little smaller than I expected, but that might not be a bad thing because it will be heavy when it's filled with notebooks. The pockets aren't quite as handy has I'd hoped, though. I wish there was a narrow one for pens and there isn't unless I missed it.

 

Mug Review

My 40 ounce water mug has arrived and I've had a chance to use it for a little while. Since maybe I'm not the only one dithering about what to pick up, I'm going to give my review. 

(I am not compensated in any way for this review and I'm still angry about the coupon crap this company pulled, so....)

This is the Brumate Era in the 40 ounce size. The color is verbena.

First, I'm brutally disappointed with the shade of pink. It looks so much more vibrant in the pictures than it actually is. It's more of a flat dusty rose. I thought the pictures I saw online from other customers were an accident of lighting, but then my images turned out the same, so it photographs prettier than it is.

I know there are people who will be elated that the cup is more dusty rose than bright-ish pink, but I'm someone who loves neon shades. The brighter the better.

Second, 40 ounces is heavy when the cup is full of water. But all the 40 ounce mugs/cups are going to have the same issue so it's not unique to this brand.

About the cup itself, it is completely leak proof. I tested it. I filled it to the top with water, followed the instructions for the lid, and tipped it upside down over my sink. Nothing came out. I shook it. No leaks. Major win!

The lid has three settings: Sip, Seal, and Open. The sip setting has a little bead-like thing to mark it and the seal side has a little depression. To open it, you position the piece in the center of those two markers. It comes with a sticker that says where each position is. I washed the lid with it on, the sticker stayed in place, and I'm leaving it there for now.

The top of the straw is silicone and comfortable to drink from. My water stays cold enough even after hours in the cup. The cup/mug came apart easily for washing and reassembled just as easily. It says dishwasher safe for the top rack. I did put the cap, straw, and the other upper pieces in the top rack, but I put the actual cup on the bottom because of its size. It came through the experience just fine.

The bottom of the cup has a layer of rubber/silicone so it doesn't slide when I set it down.

One of the things I am having an issue with is that the mug is top heavy. I know it's designed to fit in a cup holder in cars, but I've almost knocked it over a few times reaching for it and missing the handle. I guess the cup holder trade off is stability.

I started thinking I wanted the 30 ounce size because of the weight and the stability issues. A smaller cup would sit closer to the table and be less tippy, I think. But then my 32 ounce coffee mug arrived. A 30 ounce water mug wouldn't hold enough water.

Picture of my 22 ounce coffee mug, the 32 ounce coffee mug, and the 40 ounce water cup for comparison:

Overall, I really like this water mug and it's done its job--I'm drinking more water. This is has been something I've been bad at. It met my biggest requirement--leak proof--and if I can get it in the same neon pink shade as my coffee mugs in the picture above, I will love it.

I'm giving it 5 stars and trying to pretend I never had a coupon.

Every Day Delivery

I saw a headline while I was on social media, something about an Amazon delivery driver ragging on visiting the same houses every day with deliveries. I didn't read the article, but presuming the headlines are accurate, I was like, really? Really?

So I get my Subscribe and Save shipment at the beginning of the month. I was supposed to receive all my items on my day. So the Amazon delivery driver should have only needed to make one stop at my house for the entire week. That's not how it worked. Not because I ordered anything additional, but because of how Amazon shipped them.

Friday: Four items arrive.

Saturday: Three items arrive.

Sunday: One item arrives.

Monday: One item arrives.

That Amazon driver ragging about visiting the same house every day could be my driver after this week, but this was all supposed to be one shipment. Everything was supposed to come on Friday. The other days? That's Amazon's fault.

Which is my long way of saying that the driver complaining about the same house every day thing is totally bogus. Maybe he should complain about his employer sending things piecemeal instead of all at once like they said they would.

Coupon BS

I briefly mentioned this as I blogged about cups and more cups, but now I'm going to bitch about this in more length.

Brumate's coupon BS.

I'd been eyeing their cup for a while on Instagram and they had this spin the wheel and win a coupon thing. When I was ready to buy, I spun the wheel and got 10% off. My guess is everyone gets 10% off, and to my annoyance, I had to sign up for their newsletter to get that coupon. Argh!

But I decided to go ahead and do that because I was going to order the cup anyway and they'd probably put me on their newsletter list then, so at least I'd get a coupon out of the deal.

So I put in my order for an aqua cup (no longer available, of course) and go to check out. It won't take my coupon.

I try again. And again. Still no dice. I check the small print on the email with the code. Among the many, many caveats, it's not available for the Era cup I'm trying to order. Argh! and Grrr!

Now I'm irritated. (BTW, you should see the caveats on this coupon. It's probably applicable to like three products.) The next day, I get an email about my cart and then a second email with a 20% off coupon. Hmm. They know I ordered the Era since that's what I have sitting in my cart.

I was on my phone, and I prefer to order from my laptop, so I go to my office and bring the computer up and look at the email. And this time, before entering anything, I check the caveats at the end.

You guessed it. Not applicable to Era.

So my 20% off coupon is still usable for a few more days, but I can't apply it to any of the products I'm interested in ordering. Like for example, the large Toddy that's on sale because (of course) the coupon isn't good on sale products. Or bundles. Or sets. Or about a half dozen other things.

Seriously. If you're going to offer a coupon, I can accept some limitations, but they really limit it. I've never seen so many restrictions on a coupon before. I like the on product of theirs that I currently own and use, but boy they make it tough to actually buy anything from them without paying full price.

Decision Made

I'm sure after my previous post where I went on and on about 40 ounce water cups, that you're excited to see more, but I made a decision and ordered my cup. I went with the Brumate in the color verbena, which is a pink. Not my favorite neon pink like the cup in the picture to the left, but at least it's in the family.

Amazon actually got the cups in stock for like five minutes and I ordered right away. I went back to look and already there are only two colors still available.

I'm still lamenting not getting neon pink, but I'd really like to ditch the old Gatorade bottle I'm drinking water out of now and I had a gift card from Amazon so it made sense to buy it there while it was in stock. Rest assured, I will review the cup when it arrives in like two weeks. So much for two day shipping.

The picture in this post is the 22 ounce Brumate Toddy which I really love. I'd been debating getting the 32 ounce, and decided to just drift along with that for a while.

I was on the Brumate website, though, and saw it was last call for the 32 ounce size. Apparently they're not selling them any longer? I don't know for sure, but that's what it sounded like. They had the large Toddy on sale for 20% off. No neon pink available. Of course.

Amazon, though, had the 32 ounce Toddy in neon pink without the discount. But shipping was free and Brumate insists on charging a $1 fee to offset carbon and there's no way to get it out of the cart. I tried, but every time I went to check out, it was back. Because of the shipping fee and the carbon fee, the cost difference between 20% off on their site and full price at Amazon was around a buck. I decided it was worth a dollar for neon pink.

The 32 ounce Toddy might be too much coffee, but I don't have to fill it to the top, right? And I know this cup is leak proof, truly a toss-in-the-bag-and-go cup.

A Mug Dilemma

This post contains affiliate links which means I might earn a small commission with no extra charge to you.

I'd heard about the Stanley Quencher before all the hullabaloo hit the news with people camping out (!!!) to buy limited edition colors. But the cup is not leak proof, which means it's not toss in my bag and go.

I need toss in my bag and go. Like my coffee cup to the left. This is a Brumate Toddy 22 ounce cup and it is leak proof. As long as I make sure the lid is on correctly. I bought a decal with my name on it from an Etsy store, but in my impatience, I didn't put it on straight. I've decided to live with it.

Brumate makes a water cup, too. The Era. It comes in two sizes, 30 ounce and 40 ounce, but the 40 ounce was out of stock the last time I checked and the neon pink isn't available. I tried their website, signed up to get a coupon which they did not tell me would not work on Era.
Neon pink is sold out there with only a Notify Me option available.

Now I'm looking at Swig Life's Mega Mug. I really like the bright colors they have available, but I don't know. I'm waffling. I think I might like the Brumate Era better and I know their Toddy line is completely leak proof, so I'm sure their water cups are too.

I wish it wasn't such a big decision, but at $50 a piece for these mugs, I don't want to pick one I won't love. My current system is to refill an old Gatorade bottle with water and drink from that, but it's less than optimal. A big mug that keeps my water cold until I finish it would be better.

So do I wait for neon pink to come back in stock at Brumate? Do I go for Swig Life? Do I keep searching for a third brand that is leak proof? I hate making decisions like this. Do not even ask about my phone case decision, which left me with five phone cases that I don't use.

That Gouge Hurt

I have a gas cooktop in my kitchen. I'm assuming it's what the builder installed because the woman I bought the house from hadn't owned it for very long. It's fine, but the big issue is the knobs to control the burners are plastic.

When they're taking on and off to clean around them, it's apparently easy to break them. The manufacturer was charging $25+ per knob for replacements. I know because I bought three of them.

And then another knob broke.

I didn't want to pay that much again and I wondered if I could find a compatible knob for less money. And yes, yes I did find a cheaper knob. I got five knobs for less than $20.

Although I was a little worried about quality, they were much cheaper to replace and they couldn't be worse than the manufacturer's version.

And then they came.

These knobs were all metal. These things are not going to break as easily when they're removed and replaced after cleaning. I immediately swapped out all the knobs. Even the ones that weren't broken.

The short version: Shop online for better value than manufacturer replacement parts.

Instant Gratification

I was listening to a writing podcast on my commute home from the Evil Day Job (EDJ) and the guest had some very interesting ideas about how to write. Interesting enough that I wanted to read his book on the subject.

When I got home, I went to my laptop and put in the book title.

I found the book, but the ebook was like $5 more expensive than the paperback! That's a big difference, so even though I prefer to read on my phone, I bought the paperback.

It was disappointing. Not only is ebook my preferred format, but now I couldn't sit down and read the book right now! I consoled myself with the fact that I was able to get next day delivery. At least I'd only have to wait one day and Amazon usually delivers about the same time I get home from the EDJ.

But no, not this time.

This time when they said delivered by 10pm, they really meant delivered by 10pm.

I'm bummed and I know I'm spoiled. I love the instant gratification I get from ebooks. I want to read something? Buy and download. Minutes later, I'm reading my book. The one-day delay getting the physical book as bad enough, but to not come until late?

Seriously. It's too late to even start the book at 10pm.

Tote Bags: WTF?

I love the tote bag pictured to the left. However, this picture is now four or five years old and the bag is beginning to become worn. I would like to buy the same bag again, maybe with a zippered top this time.

LL Bean does not carry this tote bag any longer on their website.

I've been all over the internet looking for something similar. I never imagined it would be difficult. All I wanted was a simple tote with two pockets at the top of the bag for a reasonable price.

Apparently, I've asked for too much. ::confused face:: Many of the bags have no pockets at all or one simple zip pocket which isn't what I'm looking for. If they do have the slip-in pockets like this one does, they'll be positioned at the bottom of the bag. Why?

Then there's the size issue. I don't want a laptop bag. I don't want a travel bag. I'm not looking for a purse. I want a medium size tote bag. The one I have is 12" x 13" x 6" and it's exactly the right size.

Next issue? Price. I have actually managed to find a few bags that appeared to be what I wanted. I just needed to spend $250 for "vegan leather." Dude, that's vinyl and it shouldn't cost as much as real leather.

There is an option at LL Bean (again) that's a bigger than this bag by a few inches. Not optimal, but I could live with it and it has the pockets I like in the position I like. It also has a zipper on top which I've decided I need since I have to keep slamming on my brakes when I drive in Atlanta. (A story for another day.)

The reason I haven't bought it yet besides it being slightly bigger is the price. With tax, I wouldn't be surprised to see it going over $100. So I'm mulling this one over. And searching the internet some more for a bag that meets my criteria.

I wonder if I could sew my own?

Maybe Read the Description

I have this hardbound journal that I ended up really liking. It has a lot of pages in it. Much more than you'd see in a bullet journal type. I make notes in there, and when I remember, I transfer all my little personal Post-it note info into there.

I don't really use it often, but it'll be years before I fill it up. I set up an index in front, like you would for a bullet journal, and can flip right to what I need.

This got me thinking.

I have sheets of paper with writing ideas floating around my office. Lots of them. These are for things I'm not working on and haven't fleshed out enough to assign them their own notebook.

I also have two notebooks for The Paladin League because I filled up the first one.

Then my brainstorm hit. Why don't I buy another of those big, hardbound journals and just put stray writing ideas in there? I'd index it like I did with my personal journal and then I could corral the extra paper.

Two versions of the journal showed up when I did a search. They looked identical in the pictures. One was cheaper than the other, so of course that's the one I ordered. The new one arrived recently.

I found out why it was cheaper. It's much smaller than the original journal. Like the difference between A5 and B5 (if I have my sizing correct).

It's fine. It might work better to have a smaller book. It has all the same features of the original. It's just so small.

Next time, I should probably read the description and not rely on pictures. Lesson maybe learned.

In Search Of: The Sequel

And so a new quest began.

I bought a small tote bag. Very small. I knew it probably wasn't going to work as an every day tote and it didn't have the features I wanted, but I thought it might work.

The biggest problem? It only had one pocket. I have a key leash in my big tote bag, the one I've been trying to replace forever, and I thought if I bought a key leash I could attach to the handle, it would work.

Did you think I could find a key leash? Like anywhere?

I tried different search terms because maybe key leashes aren't called key leashes any longer. No luck. I got the same kind of results. Lanyards. Wristlets. Retractable. Carabiners.

After a ridiculous of amount of time, I found one on Etsy. It was exactly what I was looking for and couldn't find. It even matches my little tote bag perfectly.

Lunch Bag Quest Follow-Up

When I blogged about my quest for a lunch bag that didn't take up tons of space in the refrigerator, I added at the bottom that I'd chosen the snack box.

It wasn't a bad choice, not exactly.

It's good on days when I bring those egg cups you can buy in the dairy section of the supermarket. When I add a cup of yogurt, it's tight, but it still works. So I can squeeze in an egg cup, a yogurt, a wrap, a baggie of lettuce, and a baggie of deli chicken.

The problem? There is no way this snack box is wide enough to accommodate overnight oats, which is what I normally take for breakfast. Even if I switch containers to something narrower, I don't think it will fit. Not if I want to bring everything I need.

Here's a shot of the snack box from the side, so you can see just how little width there actually is.

I'm definitely still going to use this on the days where I bring eggs for breakfast, but I had to try a second option for oats day. It's supposed to be delivered today. Fingers crossed that this next option isn't too big and bulky.

Right now, all I can think is please don't make me have to learn to sew my own lunch bag. I'm this close to having to make my own tote bag, but that's another online shopping saga.

Say What?

After Christmas, I needed to return something to Amazon.

It was a cute pink rug that I thought would be awesome only when I received it, the color was more muted than I expected. That I could live with. What I couldn't live with was how slippery it was. My elderly father lives with me and the last thing I need is for him to slip and fall. So the rug had to go back.

Their return system is mostly slick. You click on return, get a QR code and bring the item to a UPS store to get shipped back for free.

What I don't like about this system? The receipt you get doesn't have the actual tracking number used for the package when it's returned. And secondly, once you hand it over to the UPS Store, it is completely out of your control.

Which is why the email from Amazon with the warning in it just gets me all mad. The warning? If they do not receive this product back, I will be charged for it.

My dudes, once I hand it over to the UPS Store and they scan that QR code, it should be considered 100% returned. I have zero control from that point on. If UPS doesn't return it, it's on them, not on me. Don't be sending me warnings and threats about charging me for an item that I returned following your instructions. For real.

I almost never return anything. I even thought about not returning this rug, but then I was like, what am I going to do with something this potentially dangerous?

Also, while I'm complaining about Amazon returns, what is with their drop down menu for why I'm returning the item? DID NOT LIKE was not one of my options. It should have been available. I had to pick some random reason that wasn't particularly accurate.

The thing that's crazy about this rug? It has tons of reviews, mostly 5 Star. And while I know some sellers game the system, it was several thousand reviews. I figured the rug would be fine. Not one person mentioned how slippery it was. I can't imagine that some kid hasn't been running and taken a header after losing traction on it, so huh?

Anyway, FYI Amazon, I did not appreciate your warning. Thank you very much.

In Search Of

You'd think buying a lunch bag to bring to work would be a quick and easy thing to do. Of course, I did have certain requirements.

Small. It needs to fit in the fridge at work without taking up too much space.

Stable. I don't want my overnight oats to be tossed around or end up on its side.

Attractive. This is the least important, but could I please not have something brown or gray or navy? I prefer loud patterns and exciting colors.

I've been using a plastic bag from the grocery store which is neither stable nor attractive, but it is compact. I wrap it around my lunch/breakfast food and it takes up almost no extra space. It kind of works, but as I said, my oats get tossed around and I really would like to not use a grocery sack.

I began my online shopping excursion optimistic and thinking it would take like a minute or two while I decided on colors.

By the fifth page of search results, I knew I was going to have trouble.

My search was "small lunch bag," but the bags that came up were too big. I have lunch bags these sizes already and I don't use them because they are too big. I'm not bringing a ten-course meal to work for heaven's sake.

The second search was "really small lunch bag." I did have a couple turn up that were smallish, but not that small.

Currently, I'm contemplating something called a snack box. It's small. I'm just concerned it might be too small. The bowl my oats are in might be too wide for this box thing. It would be perfect, though, on the days I do eggs instead of oats, so I might pick it up even if I only get part time use out of it.

I don't know. I never expected it to be this difficult to find something compact.

Edited to add: I went with the snack box. Fingers crossed that it's just large enough.