My holiday shopping is done...I think. I shipped out most of the packages that go out of state already (including to the stepkids) and my kids' and hubby's presents are hidden in a storage closet waiting for me to wrap them all. My kids received the usual assortment of clothes, make-up, toys,and electronics - depending on their age. I bought my husband a down jacket (got it uber cheap on sale so couldn't NOT get it) and one of those Keurig single brew coffee makers (he is a coffee-aholic). He usually gets music stuff at birthdays (and we sometimes skip Christmas gift exchanges between us and just concentrate on the kids) but I wanted a change! The kids won't let him smoke cigars anymore (so no dutch masters cigars for him this year) but he made out pretty good. With sales and coupons, I was able to get him the highest model Keurig coffeemaker at a low price and then several boxes of the different coffees for the machine.
The stepkids for Christmas - well, I think I'm just going to wait to talk about that. My husband is holding out hope they won't be mean this holiday but I'm not holding my breath. It is feeling a bit like a bi-polar Christmas with them this year so far.
How many women answer the door in lingerie when their ex's are coming to pick up the kids? I was remembering when the ex tried answering the door in hardly nothing (and she didn't realize that I was picking up the kids for my husband, lol). I am thinking it is more common than seeing a man answering the door in mens sexy lingerie for their ex?
Too funny. One of those "ex" moments that always makes me chuckle a bit all these years later.
Turning 40 doesn't have to mean drab and boring, right? Not for me - I still have another 40 good years in me!! Once I finish losing my weight, I plan on sporting some great fashions like those found at ELLOS.
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| Boys would love these jeans from Ellos! |
There is a 7th grade teacher who I don't get along with because he brings his religion to school with him (it's a public school and his religion isn't my kids' religion). Anyway, my son has him this year and he hopefully learned to keep his mouth shut after my daughter's year with him because he didn't give his religious rules on the first day of school to the class like he did before. Perhaps my whole "separate of church and state...you aren't a private school" spiel to the principal worked? Here I thought I was going to make my own funny t shirts to wear to parent-teacher conferences this year and now I don't have to. As long as he behaves, I'll behave. I can behave. Really.
My husband's parents brought me their old gps unit to see if I could get it updated for them. It stopped working and is requiring an update but the update has to be bought. Seems to me that buying a new gps unit would be the smarter choice. My ex brother-in-law knows cheap trucker gps (he's a truck driver) but I don't know gps units. I just use my cell phone, which my in-laws will not use except for an emergency phone they use only for an occasional phone call. Any ideas on good little gps units as a christmas gift?
Read more...I'm not a huge Oprah fan but I know many are. Right now, you can get a one year subscription to O Magazine for only $9.00 at Amazon (shipping is free). Buy a subscription for you and one for a friend!
If you have a vintage t-shirt fan on your holiday shopping list, check out the vintage t shirts at Junk Food Clothing. I found a Joan Jett t-shirt! I LOVE Joan Jett. There is also Madonna, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Who. There's more than rock t-shirts too. They have Disney, Nascar, Star Wars, Super Heroes, NBA, NFL and more. What a cool site!
Read more...Do you guys know what is the best way to sell kids' clothes? Is it through consignment shops or garage sales? I have a ton of clothes for both boys and girls - baby clothes to age five in girls and baby clothes to age 10 in boys. That is a lot of clothes! We're done having babies (unless there is an oopsie baby) so there is no point in my hanging onto them.
Read more...Our Christmas shopping for my stepkids is done. My stepson is getting an Ibanez electric guitar and my stepdaughter is getting a Breedlove acoustic guitar. Both great guitars! We got a Best Buy kind of deal on the electric guitar. It's worth more than we paid for it. My stepdaughter's guitar is going to be a joint Christmas/birthday gift because it was expensive and her birthday falls within a few days of the holiday! I don't think she'll realize exactly how great of a guitar she has but hubby did good on picking out the right guitars for both of them. I hope they like them!
What is the best place to shop for women's clothes for trendy yet affordable clothes? I did not get the fashion gene but as the weight drops off, I want to shop for better looking and better fitting clothes. If I could figure out how to lose weight fast, I'd get myself some great clothes for the holidays as presents to myself.
I know of JCPenney, Wal-Mart (where I don't want to buy my clothes from anymore), and Maurice's but I want better choices. Any ideas?
We had an awesome shopping day this morning! My teenager has a dance on Friday and we were scrambling to find money in the budget for a dress. I did my fancy bookkeeping (rob Peter to pay Paul deal) so off we went.
Walking from store to store gave me some aches and pains, and the wish for joint pain relief as it felt like first my hip needed to be popped and then my knee, but we met with success!
I found a cool store for shoes to buy at great prices when I finish my weight loss goal and we found a dress for my daughter marked down four different times. We only paid $9.86 for my daughter's dress! I didn't have to rob Peter after all.
Every year for many years, I have done as much as the Christmas shopping that I can online. I find the best deals browsing the Internet and buy online. I never thought that I was doing was green shopping until now. For me, it was all about avoiding the dreaded malls.
Now that I know it is also helping the environment by using less energy and reducing emissions, it makes it that much more fun for me. Helping the environment is important. We recycle what we can weekly in our house. I use vinegar and water in place of harsh cleaning chemicals. My kids have been members of their school's environmental team for the last couple years so it's a family thing now. It's not something I have to force them to do. It's normal routine for them now.
Now I really need to stop playing around on my blogs and get to work Christmas shopping. I'm late getting organized! It's not quick or easy shopping for our six kids (plus I do the shopping for our kids from their grandparents too). I am one busy Mrs. Claus at this time of year!
I was in Rite-Aid yesterday picking up a prescription for my husband, just browsing the aisles (to pick up things I likely really didn't need) and they already have their Autumn stuff half off! What's that about? It's too soon to put Autumn decor on sale (in my opinion anyway).
They had this really cute rooster that I stopped to look at. I'm not sure why since it's not in my decor but it was cute. If I had rooster pictures or rooster dinnerware, it'd look cute in my dining room. Since I don't have either, I could stick it on my deck and pretend we have roosters like some of the neighbors. Except ours would be quieter!
Who else is dreading Christmas already? With school starting, that means Christmas is just around the corner and we are going to have a hard time this Christmas. It's not going to be the usual this year and I hope the kids understand and appreciate what we are able to give them.
Instead of junk, I want to pick a few good items for gifts for the kids. I want gifts where the box isn't more interesting than the gift inside (how many times has that happened?). Playmobil has nice playsets for kids to use their creativity. I know my son is going to want video games but I would like one Christmas that was video-game free. Can you imagine? I'm sure my son can't.
I'll figure out a way to get a couple nice things for each of the kids and it'll be a good lesson for my kids in appreciating what you have because there are many families who are worse off than we are. I'm not sure my stepkids will understand but we will see.
I was wondering who here is in a household that pays child support AND buys clothes for their stepkids? I guess I could post a poll, but thought I'd just write a post instead!
We have always paid child support. It's a given and that isn't going to change. When the kids were younger, we also bought them clothes as well. It's not that the ex didn't buy for them as well but it was easier for us to keep clothes for the kids here after I was basically accused of taking my then toddler stepdaughter's black stretch pants by the ex AND her sister. After several phone calls from them, and my looking all over the house again to shut them up (even though I KNEW I packed them in my stepdaughter's bag), they never did apologize for hassling me even though my stepdaughter showed up wearing them on the next weekend. That was the first time I was accused of doing something I didn't do but if you're an unhappy person, I guess some people just can't help themselves.
Plus, she'd send the kids over in their dirtiest and ugliest clothes when we had something special going on (like pictures). We got their pictures taken in those dirty clothes and sent them around to family - - if she didn't mind it looking like she kept the kids in rags, then ok, lol. When we didn't have anything going on, they'd be in cute little matching outfits. Go figure, huh? Who knew when you married a man with kids to make an instant stepfamily that the hassle would go on for years and years.
I would buy my stepdaughter the most adorable little girls dresses. After realizing they were never wearing any of the clothes we bought for them if we sent them home to the ex's house, we started keeping them at our house and a wardrobe was born.
Now that they're teenagers and we rarely see them, I don't keep clothes for them here. It'd be a waste of money. We might pick up a t-shirt or something to send to them, and include some clothes to open at the holidays, but that's the extent of our clothing shopping for them.
Summer is here. Officially, it doesn't start for a couple weeks but when you have kids, summer starts when school lets out for the summer. My kids got out of school a few days ago.
I dread summer feeling and looking the way I do. My thyroid isn't under control and the weight is getting worse. I put on a pair of shorts a few weeks ago when I was taking the summer clothes out of storage and almost had a crying breakdown after seeing myself (wearing the ones that still fit...some didn't anymore which was bad).
Then my husband dragged me through shoe stores looking for a nice pair of sandals for me to wear (yes, my husband!). Men aren't supposed to like shopping. Maybe he thought it'd make me feel better because I suppose shopping for women's shoes does make some women feel better. Shopping has always made me feel worse, especially summer shopping where you wear less. He doesn't understand that. I'm female so I MUST like to shop! Well, not this female.
I want the weather to stay cooler so I can wear jeans that hide my thighs with a pair of boots that draw attention to the length of my long legs as opposed to the width of my thighs! I am not looking forward to the less is more clothing requirements of summer this year.
Graduation is right around the corner. I'll bet you can't believe how fast time has flown! We have two more years yet and then we'll be feeling the same way when my stepdaughter graduates from high school. She's a good kid so I'm sure she'll be just fine as an adult, hopefully even better.
I never know what to do for graduation gifts though for friends and family who are graduating. It's easy to throw some money into an envelope but in the case of close family, I think a gift that means something should be given.
Jewelry is something that can become a keepsake for a child through college, into marriage, and perhaps passed onto a child, your grandchild. I've always wanted an ankle bracelet personally. I think ankle bracelets are very attractive. They look great whether you are casual in a pair of shorts or dressed up for a night out. If you would like to order an ankle bracelet for your grad, Lauren Klein has a great special right now of 10 percent off for Graduation coupon code grad09.
Speaking of graduation, I know there is a big "to do" over President Barack Obama speaking at Notre Dame this year. The First Lady, Michelle Obama, has been setting some fashion trends for some people, showing up on magazine covers with what she's wearing taking center stage at times. I wouldn't be surprised if the First Lady wears an ankle bracelet.
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