$3.94 Owl Earrings

Lately, I love owls. Not somber owls. Not stern owls. Not judgmental owls.

Goofy, wide-eyed, cartoony owls.

Last week when I went to the Hobby Lobby to purchase Mod Podge and glitter so that I could tart up an old pair of flats, I spent some time browsing the jewelry aisles. Because that's what you do when you're at the Hobby Lobby for Mode Podge and glitter. I also spent time in the yarn section, the basket section and... oh, hell, all of the sections.

Any-hoot. I made some earrings, for $3.94:

Owl Charms, 2 per package, $1.47

Twist Loop Earwires, 2 per package, $2.47

Jump Rings (already owned)

I love them! I love them even more considering I almost bought the exact same owls - with less cool earwires - on Amazon for $9.99 (regularly priced at $25.99).

Numb Ladyparts and Routine Knitting

Last year I bought an exercise bicycle at the Goodwill for $10. I did this because I thought I maybe kinda sorta would give it a try. Maybe, possibly. See, it was only $10, which was important because then, later, when I never used it ever ever ever, at least I wouldn't feel guilty for not exercising AND for wasting money.

Except then I actually used it, and I used it a lot. A lot for me, anyway, which was anywhere from 90-120 minutes a week. It was uncomfortable, to be sure - most of the time I would hop off of that sucker at the end and my ladyparts would be completely numb. NUMB. MY LADYPARTS. That's right, you get quality and value in your blog reading here at Not Too Crazy! But even with my brain missing my ladyparts for the duration, I rode that damned bike.

And then I broke it. I broke it but good, too, snapped one of the pedal arm thingie whoosits in a way that was either unrepairable entirely, or at least cost-effectively.

That was some number of weeks ago. I've been shopping around for a new - actually really for serious retail-new new - bike, but. All the bikes I looked at seemed not to meet what I needed in one way or another, or if they did I would add them to my amazon cart to deliberate for a few days and then they'd go out of stock.

So, today, I happened upon the perfect bike (it's even one of the chair kind, not the ladyparts-killer-bike-seat-kind) and so of course, I told Tim. Sweet, understanding, long-suffering Tim, who has listened to me hem and haw and waffle and complain about exercise bikes for what has turned into months, you guys. Months. And I continued to waffle, even during the course of this conversation, but then:

Timothy: and look, hands-free

me: i'm still waffling btw

Timothy: you could do ROUTINE KNITTING in this thing

me: HOLY SHIT SOLD

He wins at being my husband. For real.

Condensation Sleeve

It's officially summer even though it's not officially summer, because it's stupid hot outside, the a/c struggles to keep up, and both kids are happily going about their summer camp experiences.

Sidebar: Big thank yous to everyone who offered suggestions about what to pack for lunch in the comments, on Facebook, Twitter, and LiveJournal, and wherever else that post propagated. So far (day two, heh) so good.

The challenges of packing for a full day of feeding a hollow-legged preteen are numerous. Not just what sorts of food, but but the right way to transport and store it, as well as how to keep it fresh and edible in a non-climate-controlled environment. We bought an insulated lunch container, and then set about tackling the problem of keeping the contents of said container cool.

Rather than purchase those freezer gel thingies (because they kind of freak me out), I thought: Why not just refill a drinking water bottle, and freeze it?

The only reason I could think up was condensation - as the ice in the bottle melts (Tim pointed out that the gel thingamabobs would do the same thing, anyway, so why bother buying them?) , the condensation on the outside would get the food items wet. Ew.

Not a big deal, in the grand scheme of things, I know, but why endure a tiny problem that could be solved via knitting?! :D

Condensation Sleeve

Materials

• Worsted weight cotton yarn (I've used Lily Sugar & Cream and Red Heart Eco Cotton)
• US 7 (4.5mm) DPNs (I use four)
• Tapestry needle
• Stitch marker

Directions

First, we're going to knit the base of the sleeve, starting from the center and increasing out until the area is large enough to cover the bottom of a 16oz water bottle.

R1: Cast on 7 stitches, divide across two needles

R2: Join, place marker between stitches 1 and 2 to help keep track, knit one round.

R3: Increase every stitch (14 stitches)

R4: Knit

R5: Distribute 4 increase stitches (18 stitches) across round (approx. every 3rd stitch)

R6: Knit

R7: Distribute 6 increase stitches (24 stitches) across round (approx. every 3rd stitch)

R8: Knit

R9: Distribute 8 increase stitches (32 stitches) across round (approx. every 3rd stitch)

R10: Knit

R11: Distribute 10 increase stitches (42 stitches) across round (approx. every 3rd stitch)

R12: Knit

Here's what the base looks like at this point:

Any photo can be clicked to embiggen

Now we'll start working on the body of the sleeve with Round 13:

R13: K3, P3

At this point, repeat Round 13 until the sleeve is long enough to accommodate your bottle of ice. Bind off, and don't bother blocking!

Here's the finished product:

Here's the happy camper with his new mohawk, showing Condensation Sleeve enthusiasm:

Lunch and Two Snacks?

I need ideas.

One of my children will be attending a fantastic day camp this summer - the director assured me that the children always go home "tired and dirty at the end of each day". Which: PERFECT.

This camp, however, does not feed kids. There is no cafeteria. They require that each camper pack a lunch and two snacks every single day. So, basically, any food that the kids eat has to be prepared and sent from home. For 8 weeks.

Help. Oh, help.

I purchased one of those many-compartmented lunch cooler thing doohickey-mabobbers yesterday, so we have the containment unit handled. I will soon be purchasing some of those cold-brick things to include.

But what to pack? Please (oh please!) share some of your household's lunch-packing standards in the comments. Thank you!

Making the Most of Your Amazon Cart: Let's Save Some Money

Did you know that Amazon's prices fluctuate daily? Sometimes multiple times per day for any given item? I didn't. I kinda sorta maybe did, but I didn't realize that it occurs as often as it does, and I didn't have a good handle on how I could use that to my advantage.

So after a good number of years of watching Phillip post about price fluctuations in his cart, it dawned on me that maybe he was on to something, and maybe this information would be useful for me to share, too. So yeah, I know I'm not discovering anything groundbreaking here, and that people have been doing this forever and ever.

This practice is new to me, however, and I was quite surprised at just how much money I could save on my holiday purchases if I camped my shopping cart. So, dear reader, I offer it to you. Ready?

You should start early - I don't think it's too late to start now for this year's holiday purchases, but I like to start at least 6 weeks in advance.

It's important for me to mention that I have an Amazon Prime subscription. As I do more than 75% of my holiday shopping online, it pays for itself each year - and then birthdays and other purchases are just a bonus. If you tend to do most of your shopping offline, then a Prime Subscription is not for you.

Next, I look for the items I want to purchase on Amazon, taking care to ensure that they are Prime items, and I add them to my cart.

Here's where the magic happens: Don't proceed to check out and purchase everything in your cart. Sit on it. For WEEKS. Really!

Every day, take the time to go and view your cart at least twice a day. Amazon will notify you (at the top, in red) of any price changes which affect items in your cart. The prices don't change in just one direction - in the space of a few hours an item can price can go up or down as much as 50%. It kinda sorta smacks of playing the stock market, to me - you have to sit and watch as prices go up up up and down down down, and judge for yourself when the best time to buy might be.

When you feel like you've watched long enough and have reached the best price you're going to get, move every other item (the ones you don't intend to purchase) to your "Saved Items to Buy Later" by clicking the button. Make sure all that's left in your cart are the items which have hit your purchase point that you're ready to buy. And then, check out! Go! After you complete the purchase, go back and move the items back into your shopping cart by clicking the button.

For example, I placed an order today, for 4 items that have been in my cart for 25 days. I'm not going to tell you what the items precisely are, because hey! It's pre-Christmas! (and my husband reads this!). For purposes of this post and the sake of standardization, we'll assume each item carries an average shipping cost of $3.99. I'm not going to include the purchase price of the Prime subscription, as my subscription for 2009 had already "paid for itself" by September.

Item Price (when added to cart)	Shipping cost	Subtotal	Actual Price (at checkout)	Savings
$49.99	$3.99	$53.98	$32.99	$20.99
$29.99	$3.99	$33.98	$16.99	$16.99
$19.99	$3.99	$23.98	$8.99	$14.99
$9.99	$3.99	$13.98	$4.99	$8.99
$109.96	$15.96	$125.92	$63.96	$61.96

If I had completed my purchase at the time I added the items to my cart, I would have spent at least $109.96. I ended up spending only $63.96. That's worth spending some time loading a web page, if you ask me.

So, to sum up:

-Add items to your cart but don't complete the purchase.
-Log in to your Amazon account at least twice daily to check for price changes.
-After awhile, you'll get an idea of what the highs and lows are. Keep track.
-When you're ready to buy, move the non-intended items to "Save for later".
-Make your purchase!
-Move the remaining items back to cart.