2024 Stash Shop Project

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The goal this year is to shop my stash using items in two month increments with the goal of both rotating through a collection and using items up.

For the first two months, here’s what I chose:

When I began, I didn’t have much of the Pur foundation left, or rather, the pump no longer pumped out product. I removed the stopper and ended up with almost 2 full months of use. So the BB cream never got used, nor did the jane iredale primer.

Here’s what how it went for the rest of the items:

I made progress on the mac fix plus, finished the Pur foundation completely, finished more than one container of powder, finished the concealer and the eyebrow pencil. Basically I ended with some powder, the fix plus, and eyeshadow primer.

2 items not shown in the above photo because I forgot to add them-a mally liner which I’ve used pretty religiously over the past two months and a sample size of mascara which I ended up taking to work because I kept forgetting to put on mascara at home.

Because I finished so many items I was able to get that collection under the 200 mark which I’ve been trying to do for 3 years!

So, here’s how I am proceeding for the next two months:

I am pulling out my mac paint pot again as I know these have a tendency to dry out. I’ve got a wet and wild brow pencil, an urban decay eyeliner in goddess, neither of these will be used up in two months but I am glad to get some use out of them. For base products, I’ve got this maybelline age rewind concealer which I think is starting to go a bit off. So I want to get more use out of that, and I’ll probably keep using this until it’s gone, but that’ll be more than 2 months. I also have the Purlisse bb cream which I meant to use last two months but didn’t. I am eager to use this as well. I am keeping the mac fix plus and the mac mineralized skin finish powder. I’d love to finish the powder! I won’t finish the fix plus but will be delighted to keep using it.

Lots of great finishes over the past two months, but no more really on the horizon. I don’t honestly think I can finish any of these in two months. But I’ll enjoy them just the same!

2024 Stash Shop

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I’ve decided to do my stash shop a little differently this year. Instead of a 3 month stash shop with a midpoint post and the rule that I have to fully refresh at the end of 3 months, I’ll be doing a 2 month stash shop. There will be no midpoint update. And I do not have to fully refresh. If I want to work on something with the intent to fully finish it, it can stay in the project for the following 2 months.

Here’s where I am starting this year:

There are no colored makeup products in the first two months as I am enjoying rotating through. Currently I am working on my cream products and enjoying their use.

So, here’s what I’ve got for the first two months.

Mally eyeliner-this is a black eyeliner and it’s super easy to apply. So easy that it’s a bit tricky because it wants to be too thick of a line. But I do like it.

Essence eyebrow pencil-my hope is to use this up.

Bare Minerals concealer-I have worked on this for 3 straight months or longer and I think it’ll be gone in 2 months.

Pur love your selfie foundation-This will be gone within the first month as I’ve already worked hard on it for 3 months straight.

Mac fix plus, looking forward to working on this one and I’ll probably just keep it in the project until it is gone. Obviously that’s not going to happen in 2 months.

Purelisse foundation-I really like this foundation and the only reason I haven’t used it much is because I’ve had too many to work through. This will be a joy to use when the pur foundation is gone.

I have two powders, hourglass and mac. I want to finish the hourglass and then keep working on the mac powder.

I have a sample size of jane iredale primer, it doesn’t work well under the pur foundation but I have high hopes for the purelisse foundation. We’ll see if it works.

The clinique mascara needs to be tossed at the end of the 2 months, so it’s in the project so I can remember that.

And finally the Milani eye primer. This works well, and I’ve been using a mac one lately so it’ll be nice to get back to this.

By the end of the first two months, 6 of these items should be gone. That’ll be a great start!

2023 Inventory Stuff

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I rather failed entirely at keeping my inventory in the last month of the year so I don’t have a ton of good data, but I can give an overall account.

Makeup itself, I started the year with 228 individual makeup items, and my hope was to bring that number under 200. This has been a goal for a couple of years but it’s finally a goal that’s fully in sight for 2024. But it did not happen in 2023. I got to 206. I finished a lot of items, but I did purchase one palette and some mascara and one eyebrow product. Obviously though, the amount I finished outweighs what I purchased so that’s good! I’ll hit the goal of under 206 with confidence this year.

As far as other stuff, bodycare/skincare/haircare/perfume-I don’t have an exact count of where I started, but it was somewhere around 194. At the end of November it was 139 but I kind of lost track and knew I’d restock some items during black friday sales, which I did. However, I can give also give a rough estimate about the number of items I finished looking back through the blog for the year. The number of items, not including sample sizes of anything, is 115. This is makeup and other combined.

And now for my final empties photo of the year, this is November and December combined.

I don’t think I am going to do empties and inventory update posts in 2024, but I am going to personally keep track of inventory and be on a replacements only low buy again. It worked well.

2023 Shop the Stash finale

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October 1, 2023

November 15, 2023

December 31, 2023

I haven’t been blogging often lately, it’s been a very busy couple of months. But I did take some various photos and wrap up my projects with my holiday time off.

I started with 8 items, and finished with 4 so I finished half the items in the final quarter. I finished up the setting powder completely as well as the eyebrow pencil in the final month and a half. All that is left is the foundation, brow wax, eye liner, and concealer.

I did not expect to finish the eyeliner and the brow wax so no big surprise there. The foundation I felt would get close to being done, and that’s the case. I had to remove the stopper, but there’s enough in there for a few more weeks of use. The concealer as well is super close to being done. Both of these will go into a new project so I can get them finished up.

This ended up being a pretty good way to rotate through stash but still finish items this year, and I’ve enjoyed it. I’ll be doing a similar thing in 2024 but with a little more rotation.

4th Quarter stash shop update

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As is typical at the end of the year, I am in the middle of my 4th quarter stash shop and am just kind of over the whole panning thing at the moment. I am glad I chose a more limited number of items to work on this quarter so that I could do a thorough makeup rotation as I typically am inspired to do toward the end of the year.

Here’s what I chose at the beginning of October:

I am delighted to report that I have some empties!

Now, the original container of Bare Minerals powder was a place holder, as I had a total of 3 containers, two travel sized and one sample sized. I have now used up the sample size and one of the travel sizes. I am hoping to finish the final one over the next month and a half.

I finished the mac fix+, it was a come back item from earlier in the year and is now gone.

I finished the jecca blac hydrate primer-unfortunately this one had started to go “off” a bit and didn’t smell too great. A reminder to not over purchase items, as it turned out to be a really nice primer overall, and I wished I’d used it sooner.

For the remainder, I made good progress on each I think. I will be able to finish the eyebrow pencil for sure, and potentially the bare minerals concealer. I don’t think I’ll be able to finish the foundation but I should be able to get it to a place where it can be finished in the new year quite easily. The eye pencil is slow going and the brow wax is progressing.

As is also typical this late in the year I’ve been thinking through what I’ll do for project pan/stash shop in the new year. I think I’ll do a potential 2 month rotation instead of 3 but with the option to bring back an item for another 2 months in hopes of finishing it.

Again In Stitching

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I’ve made a bit more fun stitching progress over the past week or so, and am enjoying both projects immensely. First up, we have the fox and rabbit mystery stitch along, Royal Gardens:

Yesterday I finished the November clue and have set it aside to wait on the final December clue. This has been a fun stitch along as well as a massively good learning experience. However, I don’t intend to do next year’s mystery project. I think I’d prefer to search out known patterns at this time, and already there’s such a backlog in my brain of things I’d like to create.

Next up, progress on a pattern I did choose and am definitely eager to keep working on! The Pavane for these Times. I finished the second page, so that’s two pages out of nine complete and I just started on the third.

The one project that I need to get back to but haven’t yet is the temperature tree. I still need to add all of October’s leaves as well as the rest of the year. At least the tree itself is complete. I am sure I’ll get October added soon but I haven’t been super inspired about it yet.

2 Months of Empties

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I have saved my trash again and have photographed it for 2 months of empties and another inventory update. But I just wanted to give an overall update. I did not clearly count what I started with, but at the first February update I had 192 items, and after this November 1 update I have 135. I had made the point to purchase very little in order to take advantage of end of the year deals, but now that I am close to it, I am not certain really how many items I need even now, which is a pretty good feeling.

Here’s an assortment of the larger items I finished up over these past two months. There have been plenty of other sample size items as well, but I just can’t be bothered to keep those types of things anymore.

And now for a listing of the categories that have changed, for better or worse.

Sunscreen-I finished 3 total and now have 3 total in stash. I aim to get that down to 2, and will be able to do so before the end of the year. 1 mineral sunscreen and 1 regular sunscreen.

Cleanser- I finished up 2 over the past two months, leaving me with 3 total. I will likely always have about 3-one for the shower, one for my sink, and one to travel with.

Retinol-I did not finish any but purchased 2, as I am close to finishing 1. I now have this fairly dialed in to one I like best so I’ll just be repurchasing that. Currently I have 4 but will end the year with 3.

Face Masks-I finished 1 and I have 1.

Cleansing oil/balm-Finished 1, purchased 4 to stock up and try some new. Since I do wear makeup almost daily I do run through these regularly. Currently I have 6 in my collection and will not purchase more before the end of the year.

I finished an eye serum and purchased an eye serum, I have 2 right now.

I finished a vitamin c serum and purchased one which I dislike. I’ll be on the hunt for another while I finish the current one up.

I received a free lip balm so now I have 8.

I used 3 moisturizers up, and I have a few more close to being done. I also received a sample size. Currently I have 7. I won’t purchase more before the end of the year.

Moisturizing serums-I received and used 1, and also used another so I have 3 in my collection currently.

I finished a hair primer and have none.

I finished a hair gel and have none.

I purchased a hairspray because I am close to finishing the one I have. I have 2 currently.

I used a thickening spray and only have 1.

I purchased a texture spray and now have 4.

I finished a shampoo, I now have 4.

I finished a conditioner, I now have 7.

The lush kitchen subscription box strikes again here:

-I received 2 more body washes, but did use 2 up so no change in numbers.

-I received a body moisturizer in the lush box, but did finish one as well, no change in numbers.

-I finished a hand cream and now have 4-heading into the winter I may end up getting more.

And finally fragrance-I received 2 but used up 3. So my numbers only went down by 1.

All in all, a pretty good couple of months. Further, it’s easy to determine that I still have plenty in most categories, if you think about it I went a full year JUST trying to work through all the shampoo and conditioner samples in my collection alone. So, I don’t even think I’ll end up purchasing much on end of year sales because it feels like I could easily get through another year without purchasing too much more.

Weekend Stitching

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I made a point to have a nice relaxing weekend, since this upcoming weekend is a flyball tournament. There’s never much time to do anything but flyball on a flyball weekend, so I try to plan very gentle weekends before and after.

I started a new stitching project, I discovered Long Dog Samplers last year but did not feel I had the stitching expertise yet to try one. This year, after working on linen all year long, I decided I am ready.

The pattern is Pavane for these times, and I am so excited to have finished the first page already. There are 9 pages. But, the next stitch along clue will come out this week so I’ll get back to that shortly. However, both the stitch along project and the temperature tree will be done at the end of the year, so I am primed to find all the other projects for the upcoming year that I can create!

Then Something The Same

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Back to the cross stitch again-I had come to a stopping point with my projects. I had started another larger project but was deeply uninspired about it. I had my poppies project in the living room, but was working on some knitting there, but also did not want to break down the cross stitch station in the living room. I wanted to start something entirely new, some large project and even went so far as to plan it. But I was also just too busy to get to the stitching shop while it was open to pick up thread and linen for it.

So, I decided to work on a tiny project I already had in my collection. A bit of a palette cleanser so to speak. Something tiny and pretty and easily finished in about a week.

These tiny daffodils turned out to be just the ticket. The kit came with the little frame, so it really did feel like a very complete project once finished. I did start on another tiny project, but also got sidetracked with puppy sitting, spinning, and then being able to go get supplies for a new large project.

Now For Something Different

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Or maybe very much the same. For many many years, spinning was posted on this blog. But I really haven’t done much of it as of late.

Last week, while our flyball team was at Can Am, I was asked to take care of a 4 month old puppy of a teammate while she and her flyball dogs were gone. So, we had a scrappy little dog in our home along with our own dogs, and when you have a 4 month old dog around, you spend a LOT of time outside.

The weather was truly perfect, probably the last good weekend of weather for this season. Unseasonably warm, and when not warm, certainly mild. Good patio spinning weather. So while the dogs were outside playing, I decided to do that patio spinning.

Back in the spring, I had started spinning some batts, I’d finished one batt and started the second. But I didn’t finish the entire spin, and I set it aside and didn’t pick it back up again all summer. So, when I needed a patio spin, it was an easy decision to just grab that project on the wheel and bring it out to work on.

I was delighted to get through the remainder of the second batt, and then ply the project as well.

It turned out to be a pretty good seasonal spin, the colors lend themselves well to October. I’ll show off the full skein once it’s dry.

Then I turned my attention toward the next spin, and delighted myself with some plain superwash merino in gorgeous jewel tones. I really enjoyed getting started on this one.

That being said, for me, it feels a bit like spinning “season” is over and I am likely now going to focus on other things again for a while, this will not get worked on again until the spring unless some other unusual situation pops up.

Stitching through the weekend

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In record time I blew through the October clue of the fox and rabbit mystery sampler.

Only 2 more clues to go and I’ll be finished! I’ve got a few things hanging around that I am going to work on, but I also may decide it’s time for a new project as well. Mainly because I’ve decided that I love working on linen more than anything else, and both linen projects are at a stand still. Glad I didn’t overindulge in aida based kits prior to this realization!

More Updates from the Stitching Realm

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I’ve actually been doing a bit of knitting lately as much of a surprise as that is but haven’t gotten an opportunity to take a photo. But I am also interspersing that with a fair amount of stitching.

The Fox and Rabbit 2023 mystery sampler has again gotten the most work added to it.

I am now at a place where I am “caught up” and can begin on the October clue.

So I took the opportunity to get a photograph of where I am overall in the project while moving the frame to a new position.

It is certainly coming together and has been a real joy to stitch. I’ve also learned a lot this year. But next year i will not do a mystery sampler or a temperature tree, instead I will just devote myself to whatever I’ve got going on and not rush myself to “catch up” on anything at all. I suspect it’ll be a very busy year of flyball travel anyhow and I won’t have a ton of time for this type of thing.

4th Quarter Stash Shop

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And now on to the final quarter of the year! Here are the products I’ve chosen to concentrate on over the upcoming 3 months:

I have considerably lightened the number of products I am concentrating on. Because as is often the case at the end of the year-I would like to cycle through all my colored products. So from my stash I’ve pulled out all the eyeshadows, blushes, bronzers, and highlighters. I will use them and then they get added back into my stash. Honestly this is a good way to decide if I want to keep them all or if I am kind of over it. But even more so, it helps keep me focused on what I already have while the busy holiday season is upon us.

So, for this quarter we have:

  • Mac Fix Plus-this was in a previous stash shop this year and I am close to being done. This will get finished.
  • Pur love your selfie foundation. Not my favorite foundation but perfectly usable. A little light for me this time of year but I’ve paired it with a powder that tends to darken it. Let’s see if I can come close to knocking out a 4th languishing foundation in my collection! (I don’t think I can finish but I can get close!)
  • This Bare Minerals concealer has really been with me a long time and also does not look nice under my eyes, so I am going to concentrate on it this quarter as a cover up concealer and see if I can finally remove it from my collection. This weighs 15 grams.
  • There’s no way to finish such a large navy eye pencil but I am going to concentrate on it.
  • The Jecca Blac primer needs to get used up. I’ll use this until it’s gone even though I have almost no use on it yet. Even if it takes longer than 3 months, it’s getting used up. Starting at 17 grams.
  • I am sure I can finish the eyebrow pencil, which will be good because it’s not a fav and I have a fav I am going to move to using exclusively once I finish up all the extras in my collection.
  • This eyebrow wax from elf is something that I’ve used over and over and almost no movement is ever made on it. But, also, I have no eyebrow gels for hold anymore, and I don’t want to purchase new right now. I plan to make this work. This currently weighs 13 grams.
  • The Bare Minerals powder is deceiving. This is a tiny sample size product, but in reality I have this plus two travel size containers and so I am going to keep using them all until they are gone. This is a powder that tends to darken my foundation, so it’s not a favorite and using it up seems wise.

I am eager to see how I get one with this, but also with the knowledge that I don’t think that there will be many finishes this quarter. That should be ok though as I’ll be well occupied and entertained by deliberately cycling through all my colored makeup in general.

3rd Quarter Stash Shop Finale

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I am just going to say at the outset that despite using these items for 3 months, nothing that I didn’t fully finish changed weights in any way! It was a disappointing 3 months of tracking the weights on the items because despite knowing I was consistently using these items there was no tangible way to see that. But, many items were fully used up so that part is a win.

Here’s where I started:

And here’s where I finished. Though I very quickly dipped out on a number of items. The lip product as well as the cream cheek products just didn’t get used. But, I fully finished the sunscreens, the setting spray, the powder, and the foundation. Plus the mascara, as it’s now been open for 6 months.

Everything else had consistent use, and I do think you can now see a dip in the bronzer pan. I am still not done with the primer unfortunately but progress was made. It feels like this quarter was a weirdly successful but felt unsuccessful month! And I am not really sure why that is. It might be just a feeling of getting tired of the project which often does happen this time of year.

Next quarter I am going to make enough changes to keep things interesting for me personally to finish out the year, and then have a think about what I’d like to do next year.

Post Vacation Stitching Update

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I had a vacation this month in which I drove halfway across the US with family members, a cat, and two vehicles, one of which was a uhaul. Needless to say the 3 days spent on the road no stitching was accomplished, I did drive one of the vehicles the vast majority of the time, switching between car and uhaul.

But once that was complete, I spent some time with my parents. When they asked me what I’d like to do for my visit my answer was basically do what they do as retired humans. So, there was a fair amount of stitching time along with board games, bike rides, water exercises, and volunteer opportunities.

During my trip I brought along the bothy threads poppy project I’ve been working on. I was able to work on the greenery quite a lot, and as of right now I have finished half the project. This photo was taken before finishing half, but I am very close at this point:

This project really has not been my main stitching project, I’ve spent more time working on the mystery stitch along overall, here are some of the newer motifs on that project:

I’ve taken a bit of a break on this one as well, and got the August temperature leaves placed on my temperature tree:

I also fully finished stitching the remaining branches so that they are all ready to go for the last 4 months of the year. It feels a small miracle that I’ve kept up on this, but with only 4 months left to stitch I know I will finish it.

I did also start a new project but not enough is done on that to show off, it looks like a cacophony of colors at the moment with no discernible meaning.

My goal for this upcoming weekend is to get working on the mystery stitch along again, and then in the upcoming week start working on placing the leaves for the month of September.

When I Said…

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When I said I was back to stitching, I was not kidding apparently. Over the weekend I finished a large white poppy on my bothy threads project:

I’ve been working on it for months and really struggling with the color and my eyesight. It was tough! But, now I am able to work on some of the greenery and that’s much more pleasant.

I also am hard at work on my stitch along:

With the border complete I was able to finish a few of the other months of clues.

I believe that I am now only 2 months behind. I do not think I’ll be able to catch up prior to October but I’ll be able to get far closer to caught up.

The other project I’ve got is my temperature tree project, I believe I am caught up through July and need to work on August. But, I doubt I’ll get to that until October at least. I have been very pleased with my stitching projects this year, my first year stitching (as an adult.)

I’ve started stitching again!

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This year has been full of busy things, my mother in law’s health downturn and then subsequent passing away in the spring, plus a lot of family in town for those things, then us taking up flyball and doing a lot of weekend trips for it, plus navigating two foster dogs in our home, we just had so much going on. On top of that was not one but two Legends of Zelda games that really took my focus as something small and easy I could do that did not take a lot of brain power while fostering. While I am not anywhere near done with Tears of the Kingdom, I’ve also backed off my game play quite a lot as I kind of want to “savor” the game instead of playing all the way through.

So, I have recently gotten back to doing some stitching! And I am really enjoying it. When I got back to my stitching projects, I decided I’d really love to work my way around the border of the fox and rabbit 2023 sampler. It took me ages, but I also knew that having the border set and knowing that it matched up would really help me make sure I had the correct placement of the various motifs that I’d be stitching in.

I am delighted to report that I have made it around the border completely and it did indeed match up appropriately. It wasn’t without its drama as I did have to remove large sections and restitch them, but the end result was correct and matched up perfectly. I can see a couple places where I used different colors than other places, but I think it’s charming and ok with me and I don’t feel an overwhelming urge to change it at this point.

I wasn’t quite sure at all which motif I’d take on next now that the border is done, but immediately I saw that there was a bee so I started with that one because what is more charming in a garden than a bee? I do enjoy insects. I hope there will be a few more within the project eventually.

Empties and 2 months of makeup inventory

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When I looked at my empties bin last month it looked rather light so I just skipped a post completely. I did finish up 10 items but most of them were sample or travel sizes not really worth saving. Honestly I looked at my bin this month and said the same, despite the fact that over the course of 2 months I did finish up 20 items total. I don’t save the makeup items I finish in my quarterly stash shop as I’ve already posted about them, so in addition to the 20 items accounted for here, I did also use up a fair number of makeup items as well.

These are the larger and more significant items I finished up. Most of them took me FOREVER. So they feel like real wins in the end.

As for inventory changes:

-Regular sunscreen went from 5 to 3.
-Gentle cleansers went from 3 to 2.
-Regular cleansers from 4 to 3. I use regular cleansers at night and gentle ones in the morning.
-Face masks went from 3 to 2 with the finish of the freeman exfoliating mask. Hopefully it won’t take so long for the next product as they are much smaller.
-Eye cream from 3 to 2 as I finished the clinique.
-Daily moisturizer went from 8 to 7 but only because I finished a sample size.
-I made a lot of progress on moisturizing serums, going from 7 to 4. I should easily finish another by next month.
-Hair gel/balms from 2 to 1 and there’s only about one application left on the one, that’ll be gone next month.
-I finished the very large paul mitchell mousse bringing me from 3 to 2. Sadly I have another large paul mitchell mousse and I didn’t love the one I just finished.
-I finished a shampoo, going from 6 to 5.
-I finished the joico hydrate pack which I considered a conditioner, going from 9 to 8 in that category.
-For body lotions I went from 9 to 6, two of which are pictured above in my empties. The other I did not save.
-For fragrances, I went from 36 to 32, using up a number of samples. I am hoping to finish some more samples next month but it may not happen, we shall see.

So really even though from a photographic perspective it doesn’t look like much I think the past two months have been quite successful. In part because I also did not bring in anything new.

That being said, I always knew that starting with the fall 21 days of beauty sale and then moving into black friday deals, I will make purchases. I’ll just attempt to be slightly better about taking inventory before making purchases in order to make wiser purchases and keep inventory relatively low. I also know that my lush kitchen subscription box is starting up again in October, I paused it through the hottest months as I don’t want melty items sitting on my porch waiting for me to arrive home in the heat.

3rd Quarter Stash Shop update

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At the beginning of June I began my 3rd quarter stash shop and secret project pan. This is the mid-quarter update. And, I have no weight changes on anything at all, but also I finished a bunch of stuff so the progress feels pretty darn good.

The beginning photo:

And now;

Lets first talk about all that I fully finished-both sunscreens are gone, the little setting spray is gone, and the foundation is gone.

I didn’t take a photo of the Nars bronzer or the Charlotte Tilbury blush because I used them once and they didn’t work with the foundation at all. I concentrated on using the foundation.

As for the rest, no changes in weights at all which may be disappointing but also I’ve used them consistently so I know progress is being made.

-Too Faced Natural Face palette, I’ve been using the matte bronzer, the lighter highlighter, and the more neutral blush the most. I have also used the brighter blush from time to time. The matte bronzer and the lighter highlighter do seem to have a dip in them now.
-The concealer is being used regularly and I may experiment now with it as a foundation. But if that doesn’t work, I’ll just keep using it regularly. It probably will not be finished after this quarter but it’s good to have gotten use out of it.
-I have sharpened the eyeliner at least twice now and I try to use it every time I am creating a more warm toned makeup look.
-I do believe that you can actually see good progress on the rimmel stay matte powder. I do want to finish this up this year, so if I don’t finish it over the next month and a half it’ll go into my last quarter stash shop too.
-The Becca primer had light use as it didn’t pair the best with the foundation. Now that the foundation is gone I’ll get more use out of this.
-I’ve been making consistent use out of the eyebrow pencil which I like so much that it’ll be a forever pencil after I run through everything else in my stash. Same with the mascara and the nyx shadow stick.

I don’t believe I’ll actually get to finish anything else in the remainder of the quarter unless the powder is gone. Other than that it’s just an attempt to get good use out of everything.

The biggest win of this year so far I think is that I began the year with 12 foundations (or 11 and a light mixer) and now I have 9 (Or 8 with a light mixer). None of the rest are particularly close to being finished up but I am just so delighted to have made so much progress, fully finishing up a foundation every quarter so far. I don’t think I could manage to do that again in the final quarter but if I started now, maybe? Might be worth a try.

June Empties and Inventory

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NOT a banner month by any means. After 5 months of being very careful about purchases I managed to run out of a number of things, indulge in something small, and then receive a number of freebies with the purchases I made. Here’s how that all shook out.

There were a number of smaller items as well, which will be reflected in the inventory numbers. Again, I’ll mention the numbers that change but leave out categories with no change.

  • Sunscreen, down 1 so now I have 5.
  • Received 2 travel sizes of gentle cleanser, bringing me up from 1 to 3.
  • Finished a retinol, but did not purchase as I have back ups. Now I have 2 remaining.
  • Finished a clarins eye serum and replaced it with a clinique serum. Still at 2.
  • Finished the Sunday Riley CEO glow oil and replaced it with another version, still at 1.
  • I finished a lip balm! Now at 7
  • In the number of freebies were 4 travel/sample size faced moisturizer so now I am at 8, it doubled.
  • I received 2 moisturizing serums, bringing me from 5 to 7. Again, freebies.
  • I finished a texture powder for my hair, and replaced it. so still at 3.
  • I finished a texture spray and replaced it with 2, so I am at 3 with that.
  • I received a travel sized shampoo, so now at 6
  • I received a travel sized conditioner, so now at 9
  • I finished a full size body moisturizer but then received 3 so now I have 9.
  • My lush sub box had like 3 body wash type products so that’s up to 12 this time.
  • I indulged with a purchase of 4 sample sizes of le labo fragrance, but did also finish up 4 sample fragrances so that category remains the same at 36 where it’s been for 3 full months.

So, while I was not able to bring my overall inventory down, and while I did purchase some items both as replacements and also some that were less within the “rules” I set for myself, I am still well below where I started at the beginning of the year.

I do, however, have a regret. During some of the spring sales there were times with hair items I should have moved forward and made a purchase even though I wasn’t out of the item I was about to purchase. I didn’t pull the trigger in part because I just forgot. But I should have because I could have gotten those items half off. So I need to keep that in mind for the fall sales events, if I see them half off, I do need to pick them up.

I’ve put a 3 month pause on my lush kitchen subscription box so at least I will not have those items arriving over the next few months. That should help get things back in line. To be honest I should even cancel for a while since I have such a ridiculously large number of body washes. But I do enjoy the box so much. So I’ll start with the 3 month pause and see what happens after that.

3rd Quarter Stash Shop

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I am on to the third quarter of the year and on to the third quarter stash shop, which is delightful. I am hoping for another round of success, including a couple of finishes.

Listed out with weights:

  • Too Faced Natural face palette- 284 grams (most of this is packaging, it’s really heavy!)
  • Too Faced concealer-I’ve been using this for years and I think I can finish it up, or rather at the end of this stash shop I should let it go even if it isn’t done. But, I may also be able to use this as a foundation if I finish the foundation in the project. Currently 56 grams.
  • Nars cream bronzer-59 grams. I may not use this all that often but it’s nice to have it in here.
  • I have two sunscreens this round, both of which I want to finish. The clinique I keep upside down so that’s the line when it’s being stored upside down, not a lot left. The supergoop weighs 15 grams.
  • Rimmel Stay Matte-this is one I am hoping to finish and it seems doable, it’s already got a lot of pan. I did weigh it, it weighs 30 grams.
  • The eyebrow pencil I just want to get use out of but it’s unlikely I’ll finish it this time. The eye pencil is nearly done and I would like to finish. The tone of it is perfect for this time of year, nice and bronzy.
  • I am going to try using my nyx jumbo pencil as an eyeshadow primer, currently it’s at 14 grams and has never been used.
  • L’oreal colorriche shine lipstick-again, this is a good time of year to use this and it’s an easy lipstick to wear, very creamy. I will not finish it but I’ll enjoy getting use out of it.
  • Charlotte Tilbury beauty light wand-11 grams, I am not sure how much of this I’ll get used but it’s nice to have an option.
  • One of my mascaras that is open, I won’t finish over this quarter but hoping this keeps me from opening another mascara.
  • Becca Ever Matte primer-12 grams. You can see it has been used in other projects, and I really want to finish this one over the quarter.
  • Mac fix plus stay over-21 grams and I am sure I’ll finish this one!
  • Catrice HD liquid foundation-I will also certainly finish this one. I’ve been using it since I finished the CYO foundation last quarter so now I know it’ll be done. I will then try to use the concealer as a foundation to finish it up.

Initially when looking at this grouping it feels a bit overwhelming but at the same time, I do expect to finish a few up pretty quickly and then I’ll be able to pair down the photos.

I am having an idea for the final quarter. And this idea is to bring back anything over the previous year that is close to being done and that a final 3 month push might fully finish up. That’ll be interspersed with other items that aren’t close to being done, but it seems a nice way to fully finish some things. If I look back over the year I’ve got a concealer close to being done, 2 setting sprays that could be finished, plus at least one setting powder. I’d still have the freshness of working on new things but that would be paired with a few more finishes for the year.

2nd Quarter Stash Shop Finale 2023

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For a stash shop and not a project pan, the second quarter was very successful as I did manage to finish 5 items.

Here’s where I started:

And now that I have finished:

A small note-I forgot to take a photo of the Mario Badescu spray-but it had consistent progress all the way through and I have about a third of the bottle left to finish.

I finished the Becca backlight priming filter, the CYO foundation, the eyebrow pencil, and the mascara in this round. In the last round I had finished the charlotte tilbury gloss.

Now on to weights:

  • Natasha Denona Bloom palette-despite wearing this almost daily there was no weight change. It’s a very pigmented palette so I think you really get a lot of bang for your buck. I can’t really see any noticeable dips or changes in the pans either.
  • Milani eyeshadow primer-I used 2 grams of this product so that seems pretty fair over 3 months.
  • Ciate London Powder-46 grams to 39 grams, again pretty good progress and within line of what one would expect I think.
  • Bronzer-Again, this did not show any difference in weight even though I used this exclusively.
  • Nars creamy concealer-1 gram used. I have determined that I really like this concealer and I am glad I have it.

As for the rest-while I used the eyebrow gel, and it’s just a tiny sample size, it’s not used up. My melt sample sized lipstick is almost done, and I will complete it by the year’s end. And I think I sharpened the eyeliner twice during the 3 months but I also didn’t wear it all that often, it’s kind of smudgy and likes to bleed so it was slow going with it.

All in all a very successful stash shop round that I really enjoyed. With the bonus of being rather productive for finishing things!

May 2023 Empties/Inventory Update

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I am just going to dive right in and do the empties photo:

I did have a fair amount of smaller items as well, little sample sizes I used up. Mr. Ink and I just got back from a vacation in Las Vegas, and I’d brought some face masks with me, which meant I finally finished some face masks from the stash.

And for changes to inventory numbers in certain categories:

I finished a gentle cleanser, leaving me with only 1. I finished up the one from Lush which was quite nice.

I finished a regular cleanser, the clinique all about clean, that category went from 5 to 4.

Face masks is where I finally really made some progress, splitting my number in half, I am now down to 3.

I also finished a cleansing balm, a tiny travel size. I plan to use to travel size container and refill it with whatever balm I am working on at a given moment.

I tossed a lip scrub that had gone off, and have now fully removed that category from my inventory list.

I finished up two daytime moisturizers, the Kiehl’s with sunscreen and a tiny one of moisturizer without sunscreen, going from 6 to 4.

I finished a sample size of moisturizing serum, and a large one (cosrx snail 96 power essence.) This took me from 7 to 5.

Here’s a purchase-I purchased a mousse to take on vacation with me since the two I had are jumbo sized and not great for travel, went from 2 to 3.

I worked through the skip shampoo, it smells like 7 up which is a weird feeling. This took me from 6 to 5.

And then I also finished the Amika hair mask, which I consider a conditioner. That took this category from 9 to 8.

I finished up one of my mother in law’s body lotions, as well as the soap and glory call of fruity which I absolutely hated the smell of. So that category went from 9 to 7.

Lush kitchen subscription box gave me two new body washes this time, taking my inventory from 7 to 9.

And while I finished one little perfume, I also received one from lush so that inventory did not change, standing at 36.

I think I can make some headway on sunscreens this month, finishing up some close to done travel sizes. Pretty sure my vitamin c serum will be gone next month. I am hoping I can get through another moisturizing serum or two. I am willing to bet I’ll finish a texture powder and maybe I’ll also finish another shampoo. I will certainly finish another body moisturizer. And I am genuinely hoping to finish up a couple sample sizes of perfume. Other than that there’s not a lot I feel I can finish this month.

Also, I have kitchen subscription box coming in this upcoming month but then am taking a 2 month break. I am getting a little overwhelmed with the body washes, plus, it gets too hot on our porch for me to feel comfortable leaving a sub box there during the day when it gets delivered. I am really hoping there’s not something that pops up that I really feel fomo about. At the same time, that’ll further reduce my numbers and help me enjoy the body washes that I do have.

Foster Dog Updates

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We haven’t fostered any dogs since we had the mama and a litter of puppies last year. And quite frankly, my dogs really enjoyed the time off. Meanwhile, we were going through a lot of stuff in our lives that wouldn’t have lent itself well to having foster dogs around. We did take care of a few foster dogs for other foster homes for short periods of time, and that’s how we were able to engage in our rescue dog assistance.

However, I’d agreed to a very small, only 18 pound dog right before my mother in law broke her hip for the third time. In what was perhaps the absolute worst timing imaginable, that dog arrived in our city on a transport the last day of my mother in law’s life. Thankfully another foster home in the rescue was able to take her for a few days while we got ourselves sorted with family and funeral arrangements. And even more thankfully, she contacted me to let me know that this little dog was very easy and easy going and would have no trouble fitting into our household. She was correct.

This little dog arrived at our home at a time in which there were like often 12-15 people at our house at a given time. And she charmed ALL of them. She had no trouble at all fitting in our home and at the age of over 2 years, was also housetrained and perfectly well behaved.

She is spunky and happy and really good, and has found her new home which she will join this evening. Works out well for us because we have another foster dog arriving Saturday. Just enough time to give my dogs a bit of a break. And, I promise to actually post a photo of the one arriving this weekend before she’s leaving our home!

2nd quarter stash shop update 1

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A brief overview, I picked a full face of makeup to concentrate on for the second quarter with hopes of using some and finishing some, here’s what I started with:

A month and a half in I’ve had some very nice progress. The photo was taken outside and I am now thinking that wasn’t the wisest choice as it was early morning and I had a lot of shadows going on, but here we are anyhow:

The Nars concealer, I hadn’t really used it before but in this month and a half I’ve used it almost exclusively and really enjoyed it. I’ve used 1 gram of product.

The Mario Badescu facial spray has decent progress being made. I won’t finish it before the quarter is over but I’ll have made a good dent.

The CYO foundation is obviously going to be done by the time I finish the project. I am excited about finishing up a second foundation this year. I won’t roll in anything new, I’ll just explore my stash until I choose one for the third quarter once this is done.

Becca Backlight priming filter is also likely to be done this quarter. I didn’t have a primer in the first quarter as it didn’t work with the sunscreen I was trying to finish. So, this will be the first primer finish this year.

I’ve really been enjoying the Natasha Denona Bloom palette. However, it’s just so full of pigment that I can’t see any progress. There’s been no weight change either. I am really hoping that I can use a gram of this by the time the quarter is over.

I’ve made great progress on the ciate london powder! I started with 46 grams and am down to 41 grams. I don’t think I can finish this up in the quarter but I am delighted to be working on it and maybe I can finish it before the end of the year.

The bronzer is also pigmented and does not show any difference in weight. But I do believe I am seeing a slight dip in the product so that feels like a decent start.

2 grams of milani eyeshadow primer have been used up. I really appreciate this primer and will likely purchase it again in the future once I have finished this one up.

Here’s a surprise item, it’s the anastasia beverly hills brow gel, which I thought I put in the original stash shop but did not. I have been using it regularly though and am hoping to use it up this year as it’s just a tiny sample size.

Rare Beauty mascara, I’ve used this exclusively and really liked it. If I were to see it on sale again I’d purchase it. It does not transfer and looks great. It is, however, either drying out or getting used up as I now have to layer it quite a lot to get the results I did at the beginning.

Charlotte Tilbury sample size lip gloss is gone! And on that note, I failed to get a photo of the melt lipstick but it’s about halfway gone. I believe I can finish that as well over the next month and a half. And if not then, certainly by the end of this project.

Wayne Goss eye pencil, this is a very creamy formula and wearing it during the last month and a half has shown me that it slides around and doesn’t really stay put. Now that I say that, I think it may benefit from a bit of eyeshadow or powder over it. That being said, I like the look of it, kind of smudgy and unkempt. I don’t hate it but I am not wearing it all that often. I’ve sharpened it once now.

The l’oreal brow pencil, I know you cannot see it, but it’s almost finished. So, that’s another one I’ll have completely finished by next month. Out of what I started with, 6 items should be gone by the time I am done with the current quarter. I feel great about that!

I am rather delighted with this project. Despite saying I was not going to do a panning project this year, I finished 5 items last quarter and will finish 6 this quarter which would be a very successful project pan if that’s what I was calling it. The combo of choosing items in my collection that I want to enjoy plus choosing a few strategic items to work toward finishing has been extremely effective in keeping me engaged plus motivated.

I still think I’ll do a 2 month at a time stash shop next year, but for this year, the project is working very well as I envisioned it at the end of last year. I do have something a bit interesting up my sleeve for the final quarter though. I’ve got enough sample sizes or categories where I just don’t have a lot of collection to go through, and I am thinking for the last quarter I may roll back in anything I got close to finishing this year but wasn’t quite successful with in hopes to finish it up completely in the final quarter.

2 Updates for Stitching

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The slow mo weekend we really needed after the funeral and all the family left happened last weekend. I had a very long to do list but had also been suffering from a great deal of inertia and so I knew that I also needed to rest and contemplate and have a lot of quiet. Which I did get and I did go into this week feeling so much better overall. The to do list is still too long but looks a bit more manageable from where I am standing now.

I got a Lowrey stand for my stitching a couple weeks ago and have been testing it out. I found that the 11″x17″ frame I was working with for my fox and rabbit mystery sampler is so large that it throws off the balance of the stand and tips it over. So I popped on down to the stitching shop this weekend to get an 11″x11″ frame to see if that made a difference. While I moved everything over to the new frame, I took an opportunity to photograph the project. This is 3 out of the current 5 clues complete:

So far so good! I am still really enjoying this one. However, I’ve set it down and will need to pick it back up here shortly.

Meanwhile I’ve been working hard on my Bothy Threads poppies. I finished the orange poppy and moved on down to the white one, plus got to start on some of the greenery as well.

So, obviously stitching is still going well and I am enjoying it immensely as my relaxing hobby of choice.

Stitching Update

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My Bothy Threads poppies are really coming along! I kept meaning to go back to my mystery stitch along but I just haven’t.

Since the last update I finished the red flower and am now almost done with the orange one. After this, there’ll be a white flower and a whole lot of greenery. I am kind of looking forward to the greenery at this point. But, I do want to get back to my temperature tree and then my stitch along.

April 2023 Empties

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And inventory update!

Let me start at the top, over this past month my mother in law experienced health problems that ended up with her in hospice and then subsequently passing away. As such, we also moved her out of her assisted living apartment, and I absorbed some things into my collection. I also found a few things in sorting and organizing that I added to my collection. I did not purchase them but I did not previously know about them to list them. So I accounted for them this month.

The only items that came into my collection via purchase were from the lush subscription box. And here’s the empties that were worth noting:

I finished a texture spray and a hairspray. I also finished a handcream which was not a scent I appreciated. I finished a clinique eye makeup remover (but found another in my basement). I had a travel size of Cosrx aha/bha toner and an elf moisturizer I was able to finish up. And I finally finished my travel size of Mugler Alien perfume. I finished up a couple other sample size items as well, and one thing I finished was a travel size of briogeo shampoo but it didn’t get photographed.

Overall, even with accepting items into my collection the numbers are going down. I started keeping overall numbers. I began all this with 207 items I was tracking-again many of them sample, travel, or sachet sized. I am now at 167 at this point in the year. I am also at a point where I may have to purchase a thing or two, but I also intend to keep waiting it out until the situation is dire and/or there’s a sale going on I can take advantage of to replace a thing or two. I am going to add the overview below, and again, I will only talk about a category if there’s been a change.

Cleansing Oil is a category I used, and I had 1 cleansing oil. I found a half finished micellar water in my basement and for lack of a better category to put it in, I added it to this category, now I have 2.

Nighttime moisturizer went from 3 to 2.

Toner went from 5 to 4.

Hairspray went from 2 to 1.

Hair wax went from 2 to 1-but only because my husband had his first professional haircut in 20 years and I gave one to him.

Texture spray went from 3 to 2.

Shampoo went from 7 to 6.

Body Moisturizer, this one went way up. I received one in my lush subscription box and then also added 3 from my mother in law’s apartment. So I went from 6 to 9 in that category (as I’d also used one up) and I’ll be working hard on finishing these.

Body wash went from 6 to 7 because I again received a lush body wash in my subscription box.

For fragrance, I went from 40 to 36, using up one travel size and 3 sample sizes. And I am on a mission to be working my way through more sample sizes this month. I am delighted with the results here.

Overall it feels like a bit of a light month for empties but I also feel like I knew that going into it already and I did manage to go through more than I thought. Further, with all that was going on this month really any empties at all feel like an accomplishment.

As for the upcoming month I think there are a solid 7 items that I will certainly finish and then add to that whatever fragrance samples I manage to get through this month. I am imagining 2 or 3 lush items will arrive via subscription box, so I should stay well within my goal of more leaving than arriving.

A Stitching Update

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I got bored with the two projects I’d been concentrating on, the temperature tree and the fox and rabbit mystery stitch. I then realized that it was unnecessary to power through them, instead I could just devote a little time elsewhere. After all, I’d started a Bothy Threads project a few months before but put it down because I was so excited about the other projects. This is where I left off on January 12:

And now, picking it up again and devoting a lot more time to it;

I am close to being done with the first poppy and eager to work on another in a different color.

I have also realized something, and that is that I much prefer working on linen. Once I work through the kits I’ve already purchased I will not be picking up any more kits with aida as the fabric. When I first took up this hobby I was delighted that there were fully prepared kits to purchase and that seemed so much easier than trying to purchase a pattern, figure out size of fabric, purchase fabric, purchase all threads. But in reality, making my own kits will be a much better option for me now that I know my preferences. But it’ll be a year before I have to do that I suspect. I’ve got the two projects on linen, this project, another large kit to stitch, and a smaller kit of three tiny floral pieces. I think that should last me all year.

Stitching will be taking a slow down now, we’ve got a foster dog coming this weekend and we are watching someone else’s foster dog this week. These types of activities don’t lend themselves to a lot of stitching time!

2nd Quarter Stash Shop

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After such a wild success with the previous quarter I am all inspired to start on my April, May, and June choices! And by wild success, I mean I finished a foundation I hated. Hah! But honestly I had convinced myself that I was going to be working on that foundation bit by bit throughout the year in hopes to finish, so finishing it in the first quarter felt extremely successful. And I did that even with 2.5 weeks off from makeup in the latter part of the first quarter.

This gave me renewed inspiration to target more foundation. I think that if I really pushed it, I could conceivably finish two more foundations in my collection this year. And I am going to move toward doing just that. Here’s the stash shop for this quarter:

Nars Radiant Creamy concealer-currently weighs 25 grams-this one won’t be finished in 3 months time, but it is newer in my collection so I am eager to get to know it.

Becca Backlight priming filter-I’ve marked where I am on this with a line. Since this item no longer exists for sale, I would like to finish it up. I think I can finish this one in the second quarter.

Mario Badescu Facia Spray-the line is all the way at the top since I haven’t used this much at all. I do not think I can finish this in the quarter but I can sure try and see how far I get! I would like to target this enough to finish it this year.

CYO foundation-this one is in an airless pump so the line shows where it is now and the lines will go up the container. With this one more than half finished I do think I can finish it this year. I do not know if I can finish it this quarter though, we shall see. With the Stila foundation being gone, at least I will not be trying to juggle two foundations.

Natasha Denona Bloom palette-weighs 142 grams currently. I have not had an opportunity to really play with this face palette and I am truly excited to do so. It has 2 cream products and two powder products so it really encompasses a variety of ways I’d choose to wear my makeup. The cream blush is rather dark but any time I’ve played with it I’ve managed to make it work pretty well even so, with a lighter hand.

Ciate London powder-this weighs 46 grams at the moment. I’ve had this in my stash for a good long while now, and typically I use it only on my undereyes. However, I’d like to get this finished or at least to a place where it would be an easy finish later.

Milani eyeshadow primer-this weighs 12 grams and while there’s no chance I’ll finish it this quarter I don’t have a lot of eyeshadow primer options in my collection so this’ll have to do.

Sugar mini bronzer-weighs 18 grams-this has been in my stash for ages, I received it in a subscription box. I’ll use it this quarter exclusively and see how far I can get with it. The pan is not large but I remember it being fairly pigmented so I’ll need a light hand.

Rare Beauty mascara, sample size. I did not weigh this. Once the quarter is over, I will need to toss this as it’ll have been opened for 6 months.

Melt lipstick, color frisky. This is a sample size and it’s a warm neutral. I think I can finish it this quarter.

Charlotte Tilbury lipgloss, a good option when the tones I am using aren’t as warm. I think I can finish this as well this quarter. And since I already finished a lipgloss this year it would be delightful to remove another two lip items from my collection.

L’Oreal brow pencil-Sure would like to get this one used up this quarter! Probably doable. If not this quarter than I’ll make sure to finish it this year in some manner.

Wayne Goss eye pencil-this is very new in my collection and it’s fun to add items that I haven’t really played with before. I’ll be using this in addition to the clinique eyeliner from last quarter as I do want to finish the clinique one this year.

So that’s it, a nice little curated collection of makeup to concentrate on. If I am fortunate I’ll finish 6 of the items in the quarter and if I don’t finish them I’ll be moving them far closer to the point at which they’ll be far easier to finish in a future project pan. I am yet again really excited about this quarter and while I know I’ll kind of hit a wall and get irritable about these constraints I’ve put on myself, I’ll also be really pleased with progress.