Category: Product Recs and Reviews

What Amazon Delivered Today

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Honestly, I don’t order from Amazon all that often. Let’s say once a month and sometimes that’s one too many. I don’t keep a Prime membership because I don’t order enough or watch enough to make it worth the monthly expense. Which is going up in February. I usually save up the little things until I get enough for free shipping without Prime. Some months that’s just craft supplies. Some months that’s things I can’t find in any store here in the Mobile area. Sometimes it’s an actual book. Today was three items from each category. A craft supply. A baking supply. And a book. I ordered two books for Aubrey for Christmas. One came today. And while I’m sighing… why did I just order with Prime and it take five days for the first three items to get here? What is the point of Prime? Because I have never gotten anything from Prime in two days or less. I have gotten non-prime orders in less time. But that’s not the point of this post.

Point is, I placed an order so let’s see what I got.

 

First up, the book Aubrey was dying to have that couldn’t be found in town because we only have one bookstore in a city area of nearly 400k people and it’s not Barnes & Noble. There is a B&N across the bay in Spanish Fort, but I don’t have time to drive the 30 miles to see if the book is in stock right now. Target carries the first book in the series, so they got that one on Christmas day. We’ve been looking for the others ever since and finally broke down and ordered from the Zon.

Book Two came today. Book Three is supposed to come by Tuesday… we’ll see. Links are affiliate links. The disclaimer will be at the bottom.

The Witch Hat Atelier Manga Series is Aubrey’s current obsession. The covers are gorgeous, in my opinion. You can get the first book for less at Target, if yours carries it. Just saying.

Book 1

 

 

 

 

 

Book 2

 

 

 

 

 

Book 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the craft office supply item

Just some blank post cards. I’ve looked in every office supply and Target or Walmart store that I thought might carry basic blank paper products. And that’s not one single store.

Y’all, seriously, I really do prefer to shop local. Why does local make it so hard to shop with them? And now Best Buy and Target are getting rid of their DVD and Blu-ray sections. I can’t find CDs anywhere. No I don’t listen to streaming. I don’t like streaming. I like to own the media that I love.

But just postcards today, for thank you notes and greeting cards for the coming occasions. Like I said, I print A LOT!

POST CARDS 

no picture, they’re postcards … nice stock paper, heavy, matte. Not printed on either side.

 

And finally, Butter Nut Extract. For my favorite cake for my birthday. Publix used to carry Butter Nut but I haven’t found it in years. My grandma used to make a simple butter pecan cake that I loved so much. You can’t make it without the extract. And that’s the problem. Also the problem, no one will do a damn thing for my birthday, so I’m making my favorite cake and I need to make sure I have the right extract on hand. And I damn well got one big enough to make more than one cake. If I remember I’ll post pics of the cake at the end of the month. Remind me in comments.

BUTTER NUT EXTRACT

 

 

 

 

 

 

So there ya go, a look at my spending habits, and what I actually buy from the Zon.

Remember as with all Zon links:

Disclosure: As an Amazon Affiliate participant, any purchases made from the links on this blog will earn a small commission for me, at no additional cost to you.

Peace,

Mercy

 

 

 

Hello 2024

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I trust that we’re all settling into January as well as can be expected.

January is a tough month for me. Always has been.

My depression kicks in strongest in January and February. It’s seasonal. But also birthday related.

So, okay, I resisted the urge to buy a new planner. I have a stationary, planner, journal, small spiral notebook, addiction. I have a small problem with the planner/journal section of any store that has a planner/journal section. If I go into one, I must fondle the pretties. And if I fondle the pretties, I want to take them home with me. Where I have a small zoo of unused pretties… yes it is a sickness. It’s an expensive sickness.

And pens. I need pens. Like tons of pens.

And binders and folders and office supplies… and… I just bought another whiteboard that I have no use for, because I was going to get my shit organized and and and… well, it was on sale.

I went shopping with my husband last week. He needed new uniform pants. His had faded too much. Nothing wrong with the pants, they were still in really good shape, but they just weren’t black enough anymore. He bought dye. Thought I’d dye them for him… uh… do I look like I’m going to dye some pants? So I took him to Target and ended up leaving him in the dressing room area with two pairs of pants, one that he thought was going to fit him but I said wouldn’t, and one that was going to fit him but he didn’t want. And we got into a spat right there, that he was not walking out of that store with anything he didn’t try on because I wasn’t bringing them back and going through that store again… so I left him and went to the office supply section because it’s my happy place. And I bought a whiteboard and markers… just because… I don’t know. I was there for ten minutes and he never showed up. Yes I told him where to find me. I had to go back and look for him. He got the pair I told him would fit. Imagine that. I dared him to give me shit about the whiteboard.

Maybe I’ll use it to write down all the times he makes me want to go to the office supply section of a store just to keep from doing something in public that could get me banned from my favorite store.

Fucking man. It’s like he’s new here or something instead of 63. But you know, it’s somehow my fault that he was going to get the wrong pants… because of course it is.

Anyway… it’s been a January so far.

 

But back to the topic of planners. I successfully avoided buying a new planner. It was very very hard. I found three that I wanted. One that I WANTED. But I walked away.

Why?

Because, as with all planners, I start the year with great intentions, and end up never using the things much after February. I had to face this. I just want one to want one. As if having a book of dates will somehow change me and I will in fact get my shit together if I can only find the perfect planner/journal.

And… well… because I went through all of my hoard the week after Christmas and found one that had barely been used along with the bottle of Wite Out and I repurposed that planner for this year. And I took all of the various spiral bound notebook/journals because I prefer the spiral ones, and I put them into use. I have one for general notes. One for keeping track of ebay/poshmark,mercari listings. One for royalty payments (well, that one has been in use for the third year now). And one for keeping track of ebay/poshmark/mercari payments. I have six spiral notebooks and two planners stacked on my desk right now.

I do not have a problem. I can quit at any time.

I need new pens. I wish I could find color pens with erasers. That would be awesome. Aubrey says I need to check out the loose pen selection at Pop Shelf. The same Aubrey who likes to call me out in the planner/journal/notebook section. Aubrey has a pen addiction. But we’re not going to discuss that.

Anyway, if you’re interested, THIS is the planner I prefer. I’m using the 2021 version with a blue stripe cover, but the butterflies are pretty. I like much of what Blue Sky puts out. I’m not a sticker person and this is a basic large planner with plenty of space to write without all those little boxes of weird things that no one does getting in the way. I use mine to keep track of monthly book sales. And other things I need to have a running list of. The calendar is for keeping up with Aubrey’s school schedule. Or if you want, for jotting down thoughts. Whatever you want to do with it. Use it as a diary of sorts. Or find one you prefer. Just my two cents. Or don’t use one at all because does time really matter?

And as for pens. I still prefer the Papermate Ink Joy pens I recommended a couple years ago. I’m still using the set I bought a couple years ago. And while we’re on the subject of Papermate. I LOVE their Clearpoint pencils. Aubrey kept stealing mine for school. They hold up very well and have a nice grip. I mean, if you were interested in new writing implements. Or you have a kid that likes to steal your pens and pencils… you know… anyway… remember—

Disclosure: As an Amazon Affiliate participant, any purchases made from the links on this blog will earn a small commission for me, at no additional cost to you.

 

Hope we’re off to a good start this year. Hope it’s going to be a good year. Hope you achieve everything you wish to achieve.

Happy Writing!

Peace,

Mercy

 

How Often Do You…

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Use your printer?

Do you use a printer at all? I know some people don’t anymore. I don’t know why. I have to print random things all the time. I know a lot of stuff has gone completely digital but not everything has. But if you use a printer for a business, or for printing manuscripts for editing purposes… what kind of printer do you have? And how much ink are you using?

That is the question of the day. Why?

Because, I started this blog/website to satisfy the requirement with Amazon to have an affiliate account, and by god, I am finally going to use it for it’s intended purpose.

I’m going to blog about printers, and share with you buy links to Amazon for a printer I think you should absolutely upgrade to.

We print a small ton each month. Not just documents. One of my kids prints embroidery patterns. The other prints images for stickers. We all print something daily.

I had an HP big boy printer, I forget it’s name and serial numbers. It’s in my closet. There’s nothing wrong with it. I bought it a few years ago because I was supposed to get free ink for a certain amount of time and the print quality for photos was supposed to be the best around… well… I’m not going to say anything bad about the printer. It did it’s job. I never could get the free ink thing to happen. So I had to buy ink. A lot of ink. Tons of ink. I think I bought an XL black cartridge every six weeks or so and the color cartridge every two months. And after a year that added up to some big bucks. It seemed like every time I had to print a label for shipping I was out of ink.

So, I got tired of it. I ran out of both black and color ink at the same time in August and was standing in the ink aisle looking at empty slots where the ink was supposed to be. I went to four stores before I found the ink. Combined it would have been eighty dollars for the small cartridges. FOR THE SMALL. Not the XL. They didn’t have any XL and the price for both combined would have been a hundred. For ink.

I left without ink. And that was the last time I used that printer. I think there’s enough ink left in it to print one or two more documents. I don’t know. The warning box came up that last time for both.

I couldn’t keep paying that much money for ink that often. I couldn’t. And throwing away those cartridges… I do try to watch how much we contribute to the landfills. If nothing else I do try to do my part there.

So I decided I was done. And since I already had a second printer that I’d converted to a sublimation printer, I decided it was time to sink the money I would have spent on two ink refills and go ahead and buy a second Epson Eco Tank.

If you were on the fence about the brand,  you might be wondering if they are worth the price. Which isn’t as hefty as they used to be. Let me tell you, it’s worth it.

There is one con to both printers. And I’ll tell you about that, but first… let’s talk about the pros.

I spent a little over two hundred dollars after tax. The printer came with four bottles of ink. I filled each tank with the corresponding color… In August. We’ve done our usual amount of printing of labels and documents and more than our usual amount of anything needed color ink. And now, today, the last week of December, the ink levels for the colors have hardly moved. The black level is about 3/4 full. That’s four full months of barely any discernable ink usage. That’s roughly two hundred bucks in ink I would have bought for the HP in this same time.

If you wanted to get an Epson Eco tank but didn’t know if it would be worth it? It is. It really is.

Except for one wee problem, that I have with both printers.

The ink nozzles will clog from time to time. It happens on regular printers too, just not as often. You will have to clean your nozzles and printer heads a bit more often. And that can take a couple hours sometimes to get everything up to quality.

And if you didn’t know you should clean your printer heads and nozzles… when the print quality gets streaky, splotchy, or faded, but your ink levels are fine, that’s when you should clean. Check your manuals and follow the instructions. The printers clean themselves. You just have to have patience and not smash it with a baseball bat until it works through… several times.

Oh, and I should mention, that because I have two, I can’t seem to get the new one to work wirelessly, but that’s a me problem.

Now about that sublimation converted one.

Sublimation is when you print a special ink on a special paper and use heat to transfer the image to a special surface. Like mugs or tumblers or other heat pressed items. Unless that’s something you’re interested in, then you don’t need to worry about this next part, just skip to the end.

So, if you do want to use a sublimation printer for a printing business but the price of dedicated sublimation printers scare the hell out of you… you can absolutely use an Ecotank.

But you can’t convert a used ecotank. You have to start with a new, or never used machine. The term converting is deceptive. You’re not doing anything to convert the machine. You’re just simply putting sublimation ink into your ecotank tanks. Sublimation ink is not the same as regular printing ink. And once you convert you can never really go back.

As far as the ink usage for sublimation goes. I’ve had the converted tank for two years last month. I’ve only just filled the tanks a second time, but I haven’t bought a second batch of ink. The ink is thicker, and it goes a little faster but still in two years I’m still using the original ink. Though, I don’t print as much as I had hoped.

I have two different Epson Ecotank models. They use the same ink. I see no difference in them, save for color and serial number. They are exactly the same. Until you get to price.

If this helps you, that’s awesome. I’m linking the two Ecotanks I have below, along with replacement ink for the regular printer, and if you’re interested in sublimation, I’ll have the ink and paper I use linked as well. As with all links to Amazon… Disclosure: As an Amazon Affiliate participant, any purchases made from the links on this blog will earn a small commission for me, at no additional cost to you… but you can certainly look around for better prices.

First up is the printer I’m currently using for sublimation, mine is black. The price is really good right now through Amazon.

The Epson EcoTank ET-2800

 

 

 

 

 

Epson refill ink for both models.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Epson EcoTank ET-2803

it’s more expensive but I find no difference in the models

 

 

 

 

 

 

And if you’re interested in Sublimation printing below are the ink and paper I use. It is recommended that once you start with an ink to stay with the same brand, or at least empty the tanks completely before refilling.

Hiipoo Brand Sublimation Ink

 

 

 

 

 

 

A-Sub Sublimation Paper

This is the brand I’m using currently. It’s not for use for regular printing. There are other brands. Find one that works for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for playing along. I wish you happy printing in the new year.

 

Peace,

Mercy