What's bugging me? Shoddy merchandise - clothing, household items - you name it, nothing is "like it used to be."
On the weekend I purchased two sets of queen size sheets and a comforter set in a bag - well, out of that, one pair of sheets and the set are going back - I bought the comforter set at Home Sense, I was hopeful, but it wasn't to be, the comforter was way too small for the bed and the black pillow sham had a white stitch randomly placed, not another white stitch to be seen on the sham! So disappointed!! The sheets I bought at Costco, I had never purchased a pair of sheets there before, but there was a lady getting a pair, not her first pair as she praised them to the highest - I would be hard pressed to say anything good about them, they were too tight on the bed, I didn't like the feel of them and worst of all, there was a hole in them!! It's no sense to buy sheets that are too tight for the bed, I bought a new set in the summer, they just made their way to Value Village - they shrunk up so much, I couldn't even tuck in the sheet. The one set of sheets that I did keep are so wrinkly after washing and drying, I will need to iron the pillowcases - that is a step back for sure, I can remember my grandmother doing that! It's a sad situation - one set of sheets were made in China, another in Bahrain - to tell you the truth, I don't even know where Bahrain is!!! I think you'd be looking a long time to find things like this made in Canada.
That brings me to clothing, nearly every piece of clothing now has to be hung up to dry, or it will shrink to nothing, clothing doesn't last!!! My husband had a winter jacket this year, that had to go back, the stuffing started coming out of it, just after normal wear. I bought a pair of leggings, pulled them on once, a hole!
And while I'm on a little rant, here's something that bugs me about blogs and Instagram - people that don't respond to your comments - I always try my best at that. And, on that note, I'll close this post!
I started colouring in July, this is what my stash of colouring books looks like now, I was very lucky at Christmas - it was definitely a colouring Christmas!!!
If you're colouring, I'm interested to know your preference in coloured pencils and markers. I prefer to colour with pencils but some pages just call for markers, really, just about every page in the "Fantastic Cities" page does, as the images are so small.
I started out with a small box of Hilroy pencils, I quickly knew that would never be enough, I bought a small box of Crayola, then moved on to the big Crayola box. I was happy with the array or colours but as I coloured more, the leads started to break, sharpening was really doing a number on them. At this point, I probably would not buy any more Crayola.
I was hoping for something better for Christmas, I wasn't disappointed.
My husband secretly picked up the box of Sargent pencils the last time we were in the US at Hobby Lobby, I really like these pencils, there are 56 different colours, there are so many extras in this box which is great. I also received a metallic box of Faber Castell pencils, I like the way these ones colour too. My son gave me Prismacolor Premier pencils they are beautiful, they glide along the page, the colours are vibrant, I love them! I might be spoiled!!
My first package of markers came from Dollarama, they're not bad at all, I had one dry up, maybe the cover wasn't on tightly, and one tip break off. So, I thought I had to have more colours, I bought this box of Maped markers at Staples, not good - I couldn't even finish a flower and the marker was dried up, it happened to me twice, I haven't used them much since - I don't want to ruin another page. Do you use markers and what kind?
Storing your pencils is another problem - where to put them for easy access. My husband bought this art box at a yard sale or thrift shop, he made slots for my pencils and now I have a really nice storage box. It opens up on top too so I can keep extra paper in there to put between the pages. I love it!!
This page I did with the Prismacolor pencils, in the Animal Kingdom book.
Another page from the Animal Kingdom book, done with the Sargent pencils. I really like this book and any book that has thick pages is my favourite!
I'd love to hear what your preferences are...
