Stuff crossed off, stuff not.

I always have the mental list.  I was able to check a few things off that list this weekend.

1.  We visited Grandma and I put up her Christmas tree.  Yes, it is early, but we don't think that Grandma will actually make it to Christmas.  The little tree brings her so much joy.  K- said that it made Grandma's face light up.  It is true.  It is just one of those 6' spiral outdoor trees that she has me put ornaments on and she just thinks that it is the cats meow.  Hey, bless Grandma and her love for her tree.
2.  I was able to order our Christmas cards.  Now, this seems like no big thing to most people, but remember that I am an artist and tend to be a bit particular.  This year, our photo of us is kind of far away to accommodate a rather large statue, but we had a close up of K-.  It took me hours to find just the right size/layout through Snapfish.  I paid a bit more than I usually do, but ended up going with the 5 x 7 card.  It's all good.  It's ordered and it is checked off the list.
3.  We managed a stop to Sam's, picked up a bunch of things and now don't need to go there probably into the new year.
4.  On our way to Sam's, I saw that NTB was running a tire sale.  The tires on my vehicle have been quite a pain in my side since we've owned my vehicle, so I thought it was worth the look-see.  Hubs checked at Sam's.  They are having a sale soon, but don't have my tires in stock.  I'd have to order them and pay for them in advance, have them gathered up and shipped to them and then go to have everything put on.  They don't do alignment, so I would have had to go elsewhere for that.  Turns out that tires, road hazard, disposal, tax, alignment and the balancing stuff all turned out to be $650.00.  That, my friends, is one heck of a deal.  Sadly, I have very large tires on my truck and people don't generally have them in stock.  To add to that pain, they usually want you to have to do a bank job in order to afford them.  We were looking at the possibility of spending over $1000. in tires alone.  We were thrilled.  Because the Browns were busy playing, everyone was at home.  They had my truck up on the rack with tires removed by the time I signed the paper to allow them to actually do so. 
5.  While waiting for NTB to work their magic, we walked to the party supply store.  Miss K- will be having a Willy Wonka themed party (classic thankyouverymuch) and I needed to track down some supplies for the event.  We're going with a couple different purples and orange.  K- picked out some multi colored polka dotted purple sacks for pinata grab bags (my MIL does the pinata every year).  We'll be having a pajama party and projecting the movie on the big ole wall of our events building at church.  She is so excited!
6.  My sister and I have started to develop our shopping plan for Black Friday.  We are those crazy people that are out at 4 AM.  Usually, I go with my sister as support.  This year, I'm a girl in need.  I have myself set on a camera for K-.  I have $60.00 in Target gift cards from My Points, so the camera I'm looking at would cost me about $20.00.  I look at the gift cards as free cash, so my supplementation is the monetary chunk I'm actually counting.  A 20ish dollar big Santa gift isn't such a bad thing. 
7.  All of K-'s uniforms are dried and ironed, awaiting their wear this week. 
8.  I got K-'s Scholastic book order submitted. 
9.  Laundry washed, hung to dry on the line and the laundry bucket is empty. 
10. Two crock-pot meals in a row.  They are two day meals, so we have a lovely dinner for tomorrow already.  The great thing?  It is safe food for Hubs, so he won't have any issues.
11. The 100 Book Challenge photos have been sent off to Miss S- and Mr. B-.  I'm now in charge of updating the board AND! awarding the prizes.  (I swear that they saw me coming!)  I'm trying to devise a way to award prizes with minimal class disruption.  I've taken photos of the prizes and hopefully those in charge will agree that the teachers need to just have the children choose off the sheets.  That way, I can just put the prizes in their mailbox, instead of pulling kids out of rooms to choose.  I have to do that with books, but that is a different thing altogether. 

I was going to paint today, but we took the detour to tires.  After that, we basically figured the day was shot, but Hubs has two weeks of vacation to take before the end of the year or he'll lose it.  He said that he'll bust out the kitchen on his time off.

I have to work on the PTA Membership directory.  That is the thing that is hanging over my head.  Geeze o' Pete, it is taking forever.  I switched programs over to be compliant with National PTA and it has been a pain in my behind.  That is my thing to tackle when I get off here.  If I can get that thing done.

I've been waffling on the annual Christmas letter.  To do or not to do?  I try to make it light, happy, a bit of a recap but with much Thanksgiving.  It is just a one pager that is 12 point font on paper that generally has a pretty bit margin to it.  My brother has ribbed me about it for years, but I do actually have people (Aunt Patti!) that seem to really enjoy it.  I don't know.  I'm on the fence.  Frankly, nothing giant has happened so I'm thinking I can just skip. 

So here is your opportunity.  Belt it out internet.  Love the Christmas letters or hate the Christmas letters?  Don't worry.  You aren't going to hurt my feelings. 

Since my smiles are sprinkled above, I'm cuttin' out.  Have a good night and a great day!