Showing Off My Bag Pins & Patches!

 I first got my Fjällräven Kånken bag in 2018. I needed a bag, and I liked the style of those particular bags. I went with a nice neutral brown, with the purpose of having it always matching my outfit and my style. I also intended from the beginning to deck it out with patches, pins, and keychains as I came across them. 

The Full bag, in all it's glory - including all pins and patches up to this point! (Sadly, the yellow tassel on the right came apart shortly after this photo, and had to be discarded).

But, I purposefully avoided seeking out pins and patches intentionally just to collect. I only wanted to include pieces that meant something to me personally. And so, over the past 8 years, I have slowly and thoughtfully added the pieces that are on there now. Sorta like a mobile scrapbook journal but with pins & patches. As a result, I have a bag that means a lot to me, has seen me through many seasons of life, and isn't chock-full of meaningless over-consumed trinkets. 

As an aside, this item turned out to be an incredible purchase as the bag has held up amazingly well, and I think it's one of my now-favorite Buy It For Life items!

Anyways, I thought I would set aside a post and give you a little tour of what is on my bag, and what each thing means! 

~*~*~*~

✧ I ❤︎⁠ Boro Pin

This button came from a coffee shop called Boro Coffee Co. that me and my husband and oldest son visited when we went to Pennsylvania to visit my father who lives up there. The coffee itself wasn't the best, but it was a sweet trip that we took with my dad and we enjoyed the outing, and this button is a great item to remember the trip by. 

✧ MABOI Missouri Pin

This is a very special keepsake pin coming from my dad. I always get a little forgetful when I think about what the pin is EXACTLY about, so here are my dad's words: "MABOI is a Missouri organization of about 400 members, mostly in the St. louis/St. Charles area. Building officials, building inspectors, fire marshals and fire inspectors, plan reviewers are all members. I was a member for 30+ years and also served on the board of directors. I was President 2000-2001." -My Dad

✧ Sump Coffee Pin

The skull is modeled after Scott, the owner and founder of Sump Coffee. Below is a coffee branch and a portafilter.

This pin showcases one of my favorite coffee shops in Saint Louis: Sump Coffee. This shop is a favorite because I've been there the most times after Course Coffee. They have really quality drinks and also the shop aesthetic is so cool! If you're ever in the Saint Louis area, you gotta stop by this one. I will say, they switched to dark roast not too long ago and so I don't like the taste of their coffee as much as I did in the past, but they will still deliver a quality cup that's worth stopping by.

✧ Boy Scouts Patch

This is one of the only patches in that the design itself has nothing to do with me personally. This patch is special because I found it in an antique shop in Hannibal, MO on a little weekend trip in October of 2018 and thought the aesthetic matched the bag perfectly. I also just really liked the patch itself and it was a great take-home souvenir for the trip!

✧ The Mud House Button

When my husband Cody and I first got married, we did our honeymoon around Saint Louis, trying many different coffee shops in our area of Saint Louis and Saint Charles (there are a lot!). We called it a "CoffeeMoon". One of the places we stopped at was The Mud House in Saint Louis. I love that I got this button to not only remember the place, but I like having a button to remember the CoffeeMoon by. 

✧ American Flag Patch

I don't remember exactly where I got this patch. I believe I got it at an antique shop. I have no idea why the flag is backwards, I can only guess it was sewn wrong during production. The symbolism in this one is obvious, in that it reflects my American heritage!

✧ NASA Apollo 11 Patch

I had a cool NASA pin on the day we went to this attraction as well, but unfortunately it broke awhile back and I had to remove it from the bag. 

This is a really cool patch that I got at the Saint Louis Science Center in August of 2018. They were doing a special exhibition about the Moon Landing and Apollo 11. It was a really cool event and they even had the full Apollo 11 Command Module on display! I have always been fascinated by space facts and space exploration, so this patch not only commemorates the cool trip to the Science Center, but also my love of space in general!

✧ Vertical Harvest Bible Chapel Gold & Silver Pins

From age 8-ish to age 18-ish, I attended Harvest Bible Chapel, Saint Louis West location, which was part of a larger chain of church plants in the US, originally stemming from Harvest Bible Chapel in Chicago, led by James McDonald (former pastor), none of which is any longer actively existing. At our church location, they gave one pin to those who had been there 5 years, and 10 years. I don't remember which finish (gold or silver) was given to which tenure. But, somehow I still have both pins even though it's been 10 years since I even went to that church. I must say it wasn't my favorite church experience, but I went there during the formative years of my teenage years and thus the church and especially the bible study experiences I had there had a great impact on my walk with GOD and on me as a person. So, I look back with general fondness on the whole period. 

✧ Home Depot Associate of the Month Pin

Definitely the most damaged item on the bag, this is one of two Home Depot related items on my pin. I received Associate of the Month recognition a handful of times throughout my employment since 2019. I have always loved working there and enjoyed being with the people I get to meet while working, both customers and fellow associates. This pin commemorates my time at the stores, and working from home for awhile too!

✧ Home Depot Platinum Patch

This one the threads are coming off a little bit, I need to go over it to secure it onto the bag!

This is the second of the Home Depot items on the bag. When you do something as an associate worth recognition, leadership will, at times, award a "Homer Award". It comes with a patch and a little paper with what you're being recognized for. Every 3 homers received equals a small bonus on the next paycheck as well! And every 12 homers is a milestone called the Platinum - with the Platinum you not only receive a small cash bonus, but you get to pick a prize from a collection of goods (So far, my three Platinums I chose - a knife set, an air fryer, and a food processor. They have items to pick other than kitchen items, but I always go for those! Yes, I still use all three!). The next time I reach 12 total homers, I will receive a Diamond, which is the highest award you can receive. Apparently you get an even nicer prize choice, and you get a pin with a real diamond in it. That will be a great future pin to add!

✧ MAMA & Stay The Course Keychains

These are the two keychains I currently have on my bag. The first one, Mama, is from a care box that was sent to me by a friend when I was pregnant with my first son, Malachi. I love having it on the bag, because being a mama is obviously a huge part of my life and who I am now. The second one is from Course Coffee Roasters, which I have praised on the blog many a time before. It is one of several pieces from Course on the bag, to commemorate my love for that place!

✧ Garnet Birthstone Angel Pin

I love that I have a birthday in January. I feel like a lot of people are born in May, June, July, you know, summer months. I don’t meet that many people who have birthdays in January, and it just makes me feel special because I LOVE Wintertime. Obviously, a January birthday is part of who I am, so I have this angel pin that has garnet, which is the January birthstone. I have no idea where I got this pin, but I think it's really cute and precious! It's the only "blingy" item currently on the bag. 

✧ Blueprint Pin

This pin is another from a local coffee shop. This one is from Blueprint Coffee. I personally don't go there anymore, but I still like the pin and like supporting local coffee, so on the bag it remains. I do love the brake shop location, though, it has similar vibes to Upshot Coffee Brake Shop in St. Charles.

✧ Flower Pin

This one is one of my favorites on the bag, and it is the largest! It has three pin backs to it, it's so big. This one I got at one of my favorite nurseries here in Saint Louis. Rolling Ridge Nursery in the beautiful Webster Groves area. I have purchased several plants there, and one day I found this pin there on sale, and knew I had to get it! This pin signifies not only my fondness for a specific plant shop, but also my love for house plants in general (should I do a house plant tour next??).

✧ Teleo Coffee Pin 

This is yet another local coffee shop pin. This one is for Teleo Coffee in Kirkwood, which we have been to several times. They have a really admirable set of values as a company, their mantra is "love your neighbor", and they are very community and locally focused. I also love that the pin kind of also represents the Kirkwood area, in that my dad used to live and work there before he moved to Pennsylvania in 2022. So in that way, Kirkwood is very dear to me!

✧ Course Coffee Patch

This is another of the three items on my bag dedicated to Course Coffee Roasters. They no longer sell this patch, and so I'm glad I picked it up when I did! What I would really love, however, is if they would make a patch of their compass logo, as that's my favorite design associated with their branding. But for now, this patch will do!

✧ St. Charles Patch

This is one of my favorite patches on the bag. This patch very obviously symbolizes my home and heart as a Saint Charles, MO resident. Me and my husband met in Saint Charles, fell in love, married, lived, and raised babies in Saint Charles, and it is truly a home to us! I am very happy to live where I do, and also happy that it is so close to the county I grew up in of Saint Louis. I got this patch at Joy's Collective Market, an antique and vendor market on our beautiful Main Street. 

✧ Course Coffee Button

Ok, this is the last of the Course Coffee items on the bag! Lastly, is a button. Again, I would love this design as a patch or a pin, because I prefer patches and pins to buttons... but still, I'm happy to have this button and wear it proudly on the bag!

✧ Bird Patch

This pretty patch represents two things for me. First, my love of nature and wildlife/birds. I grew up birdwatching thanks to my mother who put out birdhouses and bird-feeders for us kids to look at and help maintain. As a result, I have a pretty good knowledge of the different bird species and an appreciation for birds in general! The other thing this bird represents is my employment at my very first job, at Michaels, for that is where I got this patch. Having got the job when I was only 17, I did a lot of growing up at that job, and had fun and benefited from the learning experiences. An additional thing I love about this bird patch besides it being so pretty, is I'm really happy with the placement! The tail fits perfectly in that little space between the pocket and the zipper, and the feet look like they are perched perfectly on the bag's front pocket, which I think gives a lot of character to the bag's trinket layout. 

Well friends, that wraps up a tour of my bag decorations! 

I haven't added anything new to the bag in a couple of years now. Again, I try not to go out of my way to find things just to collect and consume. I wait until the natural process brings me a new thing here and there that proves itself worthy of being on my bag (how many times have I written "bag" in this post?? LOL!!). 

ALSO, I wanted to give a shout out to THESE PIN BACKS that I got on Amazon. I had so many issues with the regular pin backs that each of my pins came with. They were constantly breaking and falling off. But since I got the better pin backs, I have not had a single problem breaking or failing me in any way. So... if you are wanting to collect pins on something, I highly recommend those pin backs in the link!

Anyways....... Let me know if any of the patches, pins, or buttons stands out to you in any way. I am very curious what you think and if you enjoyed the bag tour!

That's all for now - 

~ Amaris // ☆

I Am Slowly But Surely Adjusting // June 2025

Here it is! The Life Update I've been promising. 

A lot has changed in my life, which has prevented me from posting as often as I said I wanted to back in the beginning of the year. And apart from that, life has just progressed, like life always does, even in the mundane and somewhat boring ways. 

But if I've learned anything as I've gotten older (I'm 27 now..... holy crap I'm old...) it's that the passing of time is very precious. My son will never be as young again as he was today. My body will never look quite the same as now. My marriage won't be in the same young stage as it is in right now. Life is so precious even in its mundanity!

So here they are, the bullet points of What's Been Going On!

⟢ I Quit My Full Time Job to Stay Home With My Son

(This one is a long one, LOL)

This one was a huge step in faith in which I quit my full time job doing inside sales for Home Depot, working from home. It was a great job, really, and I enjoyed it immensely! The job worked perfectly for me and my family for 2-1/2 years. I was able to have my son at home with me while working to provide the major part of our household income. All my breaks and lunches were right here at home, where I could cook, clean, play with my son, take a shower, etc. When I got off work for the day, I was right there at home ready for the evening, the second I clocked out. There was no commute, and no need to drive anywhere. I could (and frequently DID) wake up barely 10 minutes before my shift started to get those extra Z's! 

But, all was not paradise. It was a full time job which meant 40 hours of my week that I didn't get to have full time attention to my son. We had to stay inside, all day every day. And what's more, the job itself became a bit of a problem. I've always been a good worker, with attention to detail, organized, and who worked well with other people. But towards the end of my time there, they had a few people leave and they weren't being replaced. So everyone else had to absorb the extra work, and it became tiring on many of us. What's more, my relationship with my boss began to deteriorate as I was dealing with the increased and changing expectations, which was made harder by the fact that the boss person just didn't do their job very well (let's face it, the boss was probably stressed too). It got to the point where I was feeling anxious to go into work. I would think about work on the weekends, and while I still loved many aspects of the job, I just wasn't excited to do it any more than I was stressed. Several workdays had me clocking out with tears of frustration. My husband had been encouraging me for months that we can quit this job and figure out the finances - "we're not stuck here, GOD will provide", he would say. But I was scared. I didn't know how we would figure out how to make it. I made a lot of money and I just didn't know how we could get it to work. 

At the beginning of May, I reached my breaking point. I had a video meeting with my boss, and told her I wanted to go back to a store in 2 weeks, to work part time. The amount of freedom and excitement I felt! I still had no plan and no understanding of how we would make things work. But, I took the leap. The HUGE leap of faith. Frankly, I was scared to death! But, I did it anyways.

Here we are at the beginning of June 2025, and we are still alive and surviving. Yes, the money's tight. I miss being able to eat for my cycle (steaks during Menstruation, salmon and kombucha during Follicular, etc. etc.), I miss my regular massages, I miss being able to cook for other people more, and I miss many other aspects of the privileges of... you know, HAVING MONEY. But, we are working on it. And picking up hours here and there to make ends meet. We haven't been kicked out of our apartment yet so that has to show for something! And changes always lead the way to make new connection and new networks. I already have offers to do some clerical work for minimal hours at home for a few business partners that my husband and I know, on top of working 2 nights a week at a Home Depot store in my area. Things are still shifting and we are still getting used to everything, but there has been a tremendous amount of blessing and promise as GOD confirms the decision we made!

⟢ I Am Reading 25 Books in 2025

See my last post for a recap of the year so far in books! Here's the list of books I'm currently working through and hoping to finish soon:

• The Story of Knights and Armor | by Ernest E Tucker (A book I read as a kid while homeschooling - I remembering liking it a lot and decided to pick it up for nostalgia's sake and also because it's a pretty easy read to get me to my goal!)
• Tess of the d'Urbervilles | by Thomas Hardy (I found this at a book fair here in Saint Louis - I am only 3 chapters in but liking it so far!)
• Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep | by Tish Harrison Warren (I had to read this one after loving Liturgy of the Ordinary so much. And already, this book has me tearing up numerous times already!)
• The Flourishing Family: A Jesus-Centered Guide to Parenting with Peace and Purpose | by David Erickson (I followed them on Instagram while back because they aligned with my views on not spanking children, among many other parenting values that I hold to - this is a very hyped book that I'm very excited to get into. So far I have just read the intro!)
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond | by Elizabeth George Speare (This is a favorite from when I was a teenager. I'm reading this with my "book friend", we meet on Mondays!)
• The Lord of the Rings: Part One: The Fellowship of the Ring | By J. R. R. Tolkien (I'm reading this through with a few girlfriends! It has been very nostalgic and a great path down memory lane because I have only read the series once when I was a teenager!)
• Mansfield Park | by Jane Austen (I'm probably going to finish this one next - I have been "speed reading" it to get through it in order to move on to Tess mentioned above. I plan to watch the movie when finished! Or is it a series? I don't actually know, LOL!)
• Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles, #2) | by Marissa Meyer (I'm having a hard time getting into this one. I'm not sure if I'll finish it honestly!)
• Show Them Jesus: Teaching the Gospel to Kids | by Jack Klumpenhower (re-reading this with my hubby!)
• Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents (this one goes without sayin', you can just look at some of my recent posts for context, LOL!)
• The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work | by John M. Gottman (Ok, I like this book... but the amount of exercises is annoying and a little daunting. I just wanted to read something and didn't want or need something so hands on, and frankly that's making it take a long time to get through! Time will tell if it's overall worth it...)

While enjoying a Nitro Cold Brew from Course Coffee Roasters in St. Charles!

I have a few more books planned to read as well as some of these reach completion, but I will discuss those probably in a future post this year!

Ok, now for a few shorter updates (aka "shorties")!

⟢ Life With Malachi (aka "Poobiss")

"Poobiss" is the nickname we have given our son. He will be 2 this month! Every day is an adventure, and it feels like he picks up new abilities and developments every day! The latest fun quirk... he has started pretending his morning banana is a plane by swooshing it into the sky with his hand and making an airplane sound! 

⟢ Making Lots of Sourdough Bread

Behold my newest food-related hobby! I picked this up about a year ago. I will have a post coming up soon in which I describe my current routine! But for now, I'll share one of my recent loaves: 

I'm still working on my scoring -- but look at that crusty crust!!

⟢ Experimenting with Coffee Syrups / At-Home Brewing

Since quitting the job, one of the ways we are saving money is by making our coffee drinks at home. I have a method for making an at-home latte with the Aeropress. But syrups are really where I can be creative! Here is one of the recent recipes I came up with, I'm not sure what to call it, but it reminds me of a cookie of some sort!

1 cup cane sugar

1 cup water

2-3 tbsp (to taste) molasses

2-3 tsp (to taste) vanilla

1-2 tsp (to taste - not too much because it easily overpowers) almond extract

pinch cinnamon

Place over low heat on the stovetop and let it sit for at least 4 hours. The longer the better!

As you can see, the measurements are very much adjustable to your preference, the main portion to stay accurate is the sugar and water, because this is the simple syrup base. Everything else is just flavoring!

⟢ Art

I have been wanting to practice art more, especially with different mediums than I have historically used. My favorites in the past is vine charcoal and pencil. But this year I started trying to be more colorful, having bought a box of Crayola pencils and crayons! And very different as well, when I made my 2025 vision board collage, which was done with layers of magazine paper. Here are a few recent pieces: 

Made with crayons

Pumpkins! Made with colored pencil

The Vision Board I mentioned :)

I should mention the orange piece and the pumpkin piece were made from pieces I found online, and were copied freehand by me. 

I will wrap up this post with a few movies my husband and I watched together recently: 

⟢ Movies

- 10 Things I Hate About You

- Interstellar

- Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

- Freaky Friday

- Enchanted

- Spy Kids

There you have it! A glimpse into my life. Heaven knows there is plenty more I could have included. 

I will be back soon, with another post. Until next time - 

- Amaris ☆ //

The Four Things Tag

Hello, Peeps! It is I. Your old friend. I seem to have neglected this blog for a whole month. Again. *is sorry*
I do still enjoy blogging, but right now it's literally the last thing I think about these days. So much is happening in my life right now. So many changes. Good changes and bad ones. Wasn't it Charles Dickens who said in a book 'it was the best of times, it was the worst of times'? Or something like that. I don't know.
Anywho, here I am with a small tag I stole from Coffee, Classics, and Craziness who posted it quite awhile ago... *shrug* but hey. It's alright.

I hope you enjoy reading!

The Four Things Tag

Four Jobs I've Had:
~An Unnamed Craft Store
~An embroidery/personalization place
~That's it!

Four Things I Don't Eat:
~White Chocolate (... usually because it's too sweet)
~Corn tortillas (ewww)
~Store-bought eggnog (homemade I don't mind..)
~Spicy salsa (the spice overpowers every other flavor)

Four Places I've Lived:
~I lived in the same house for 19 years
~We moved this May to an apartment
~Also I house sat for a week once (it was great. Lots of alone time)
~Hotels during travels

Four of my Favorite Foods:
~Pizza
~Homemade chili
~Pretty much any homemade pasta dish
~Homemade tacos & nachos

Four Movies I've Watched More Than Once:
~Forrest Gump (1994)
~Amazing Grace (2006)
~The Book Thief (2013)
~Any Marvel Spider-Man movie (even though I don't care for the rest of Marvel except Benedict Cumberbatch)

Four TV Shows I Watch:
~Sherlock BBC
~Call the Midwife BBC
~Poldark BBC
~Monk

Four Things I'm Looking Forward To This Coming Year:
~Taking a trip for the first time in 4 years (I know right)
~Getting an iPad so that I can begin drawing digitally! Also more practice in general *thumbs up*!
~Spending time with my best friend & her dude
~Positive lifestyle changes that need to happen in my life.

Four Things I Can't Live Without:

~God (of course)
~My best friend
~Music of all types
~My internet friends... I've made several this past Summer and I love them <3

Four Places I've Visited:
~Niagara Falls (in like 2003 or something)
~The St. Louis Arch (couple of times)
~Garden of the Gods in Colorado (in 2011)
~The movie theater (because why not)

Four Pet Peeves:
~Inappropriate meme accounts on Pinterest and Instagram
~Poorly written characters whose only job is to react to various happenings in the story
~When older people don't give younger people proper instruction/training and then treat the younger person like it's their fault and they're stupid
~Arrogant customers who act like they know more than you about your job

Four Things I Wish I Could Do:
~Jump off the high diving board without hesitating/being terrified
~Fly
~Have a career in art so I can work from home in my bed & pjs (this is a legitimate wish of mine, ok)
~Have more time to read books like I used to :(

Four Subjects I Studied In School:
~British Literature
~WWII
~Astronomy
~Home Economics

Four Things Near Me Right Now:
~Fall decorations
~My water bottle
~My iPhone X
~A Chimney)

Well, that is all! I hope you enjoyed reading. I loved taking time to actually write on this blog for once! Thank you for sticking with me. <3

I hope you are having a good day. :)
-Amaris

All pictures in this post are taken by me from my Instagram.
Please credit if you use! :)

A Few Thoughts About My Jobs

 Not that this matters to anyone, but...
September 23rd, 2017 marked the two year anniversary that I got my very first job! 

To say the least, I've learned some things. I've had quite a few experiences. 
I was inspired by a post on Cordy's blog awhile back (sorry I can't find the actual post to link you: you'll just have to settle for a link to her blog), when she talked about working at her job and some of her experiences, and it got me thinking because I've never shared too much about MY job on my blog.
So I thought I would do that.
To give you some context, I'm going to just tell you that my job is one of these three stores: Hobby Lobby, Michael's or JoAnn Fabrics. 
Basically, I work at a craft store. 
(There. Revealed.) But I'm not telling which. :)
Plus, I actually just got a new job as well! But more on that later in this post.

Here are 10 random thoughts about my experiences:
   
~I love it when I get a customer that is sweet as a marshmallow. These are the people who actually take the time to be polite to you (because what do you know! Cashiers are people too!), and when they leave your register, you kind of feel sad and empty and regretful. You miss the person. Because they were so nice, and you don't want the niceness to end! And you remember them even after your shift is over.
I love those customers.

~Speaking of nice customers, one time a customer bought me a frappuccino. She was a regular customer who always comes in to buy the same thing, and we got to talking about Starbucks one time, and she told me she has a lot of Starbucks gift cards because lots of people give them to her.
Long story short, she offered to buy me a coffee.
I told her she didn't have to, but she said was glad to do it, and she went out and brought me back a grande mocha frappuccino (with whipped cream).
Next time I saw her at the store, I gave her a thank you card that I had made for her.

 O ~At a craft store, I see a lot of women customers, but I love it when men come into the store, because usually you can tell that they are completely out of their element (because it is a craft store, after all), and it gives me a chance to be an extra big help to them, because usually they don't know what in the world they're looking for.
All they know is that their wife sent them in for something but they don't know where it is.
I don't know; I guess it just amuses me to see a guy who doesn't know what in the world he's doing.

~Speaking of men customers, I love it when couples come into the store, because usually it's the wife or the girlfriend shopping, and the man is literally just looking around and following her like a lost sheep. Even so, most of them are completely content for their wives or girlfriends even if they're bored, because he knows his girl is enjoying herself shopping. And it's just fun to see that situation.
But most of the time, anyways, they just look kind of confused, like this: 

"C'mon, honey! Time to go."

~I learn a lot about people in general from working as a cashier. It makes things interesting. I can learn about how people react to different things, what sets them off, what irritates them, what gets them going depending on what subject you bring up...
All kinds of things. It's all very interesting.
I'm very into psychology, and retail is a great place to appreciate the way people are, and why they are like that. Like I said, my job has taught me a lot about things like that.
Some of the things I've learned I use for myself in real life- all because of something I saw in a customer one day at the store.

On a more serious note:
The age-old question: Can Customers Make You Cry?
~Well, there were only two times when I was driven to tears because of something at work.
The first time, a customer bought two flower arrangements, and I asked politely what they were for (You know. To make conversation, and all that), and he told me his story (I won't share all of it, it's probably personal). Basically, his wife died of cancer and his son died of an extreme car accident - all within four weeks of one another.
He told me how he used to be bitter toward God about it, but the Lord has taught him a lot since the two deaths, and he's not angry anymore. The flower arrangements were for their graves. I know it sounds like he was putting me on, but I can tell when people are doing that, and he was not.
I told him I would pray for him, and I did.
When I got my break I cried for the guy.

The only other time I was driven to tears was actually not a customer's fault, it was because of a mistake I made. A customer had bought some things, and after she had paid, she wanted to go back into the store to look at another item before leaving. So, she left the bag of paid stuff with me to hold for her at the register, and I set the stuff right next to me while she went to go look at the thing.
Well, she eventually came back up to the register to pick up the stuff she left with me, but when I was going to hand it to her, I realized that it wasn't where I had put it. 
I looked all around my register area, when it finally dawned on me that- (Lord have mercy) I had GIVEN THE BAG OF STUFF SHE BOUGHT TO ANOTHER CUSTOMER BY MISTAKE.
The poor lady was maaadddd. Thankfully, she didn't cuss me out or yell at me or anything, but she was realllyyyy really mad. :/
And of course we didn't have any more of what she had bought.
So she couldn't get a replacement for the stuff that I gave away.
And she needed it all by the next day.
Yeah. I cried later.

​I tell you, though. That's a mistake I'll never make again.​

Let us return to happier subjects.
 ~Our store location is nearby a pet store, so a lot of times people bring their pets in the store, which means I get to pet them. I've seen lots of dogs and cats of all sizes. 
And of course, that makes my own pets at home get jealous when they smell other animals on me. 
(No, I'm serious. One time my dog didn't speak to me for a whole month.) 
 
~Since we're talking about animals, one time, it was a truck day (you know... the day when the 'big ol' truck' comes and they have to put the stuff on the shelves for people to buy, and all that), and somehow or another, through the big truck loading door, a bird flew in. So the poor thing flew around and around the store until she finally flew into the cart area by the front door, and I swished her (or him... ) out to freedom. 
That bird has now got a very interesting story to tell his/her little birdie friends.

 
~Also speaking of animals: there is a customer who comes in sometimes, and she has this very particular key chain. It's a bunch of strings of yarn, and on each string, there is a name spelled out with those black-and-white letter beads. Names like Tommy, Sally, Susan. She's a very friendly woman, and one time we were talking about the key chain, and I asked her "Are those your grandchildren's names?" (For she was that age), and she said no, they are in fact, her cat names. Not just her current cat's names, but her previous cat's names were all on there. 
Every cat she's ever had has a name on her key chain. 
So, she told me all about the cats while pointing out the different name strings. 
"That's Tommy, he was a tomcat."
"This is Pumpkin, he was one of those real orange cats."
"This is Peanut, he's still with me but he's old."
And so on and so forth.   
She was a very interesting woman.     

 And the last thing:
~Ah yes, I told you I had another job, didn't I? I suppose you want to know a little about that too, huh? Especially since some people I know have been asking about it, so they can read this and know these things.

Well, I won't tell you too much (you know... stalkers and such. Got to keep 'em guessing), but I will tell you these things:

• I went in for the interview the day before I got my driver's license (talk about timing).
• I got the job and started work on September 8th, 2017.
• It's not a super long ways from my house (which makes my mom happy).
• It's very different from the kind of work that I'm used to.
• It's an independently owned business.
• The hours are much longer than I'm used to- but I like it (and I have come to terms with the fact that I will have to get up early every single weekday for the rest of my life).
• I really, really like the job.
• Except for the radio, because we're supposed to have a certain station on while we're open.
  And I. Don't. Like. The. Station. At. All.
  #why taylor swift #why

I don't have a specific job title, exactly. I guess you could call me the Storefront Manager. Because I'm 99% in charge (well, kind of. "In charge" sounds pretty powerful, and it's not exactly like that) of all the stuff that happens at the front desk, as well as taking orders and sorting packages that come in the mail, plus lots of other stuff. That kind of sounds like a big deal, but it's all on a rather small scale. Basically I have the storefront all to myself most of the time.

It's very different from what I'm used to, but I really like it.
~~~ 
Well anyways, that about sums it up, folks! 
I think I shall leave you now, because it is quite late and I have to get up early (you can imagine for what).
So I hope you enjoyed this post (you did, didn't you?), and I shall see you later.
Bye!
-Amaris