Plans. I have 'em.

I've been a little non-existent because Christmas!  It's right around the corner!

The other night, Hubs helped me haul the items up from the gift shelf in the basement so that I could start wrapping them.  I would have wrapped them downstairs, but it's a lot warmer up here. 

I'm happy to report that I only had to do one gift switch from my original labeling. 

I was able to scare up some things for additional kid gifts for the family Christmas Eve.  Each child has three gifts to open.  All of us cousins purchase gifts for the other kids.  Sometimes the count ends up uneven because of financial issues and others pick up the slack. 

This year I got the pleasure of providing 6 additional gifts. 

The way we look at it is this; we only spend $5-6.00 on each child.  If purchasing a few extra gifts evens out the count for all the kids, then it is all worth it.  I did have some items stowed away.  One child is receiving a 4 book preschool pack that I made up of books off the 75% off Target dollar rack.  Another is getting Monopoly Deal that I got for $3.25 from a Walmart clearance.  There is a jewelry kit that I purchased for a whole $1.97.  I have a Mad Libs pad that I bought for $1.98 from Barnes and Noble clearance and an additional lip gloss that was left over from my gift bundling that I did with some bracelets for the older girls.  I had my nephews that I was able to recycle gifts to that I purchased for my cousin's sons, but they never show up and we were tired of sending gifts along. 

K- has been off for the last two days.  She was off Monday for snow and Tuesday for wind chill.  Hubs happen to have been home for both days, which was wonderful because my lovely in-law's just flew back from Chicago and we weren't sure that they were even going to be able to get back to Ohio for quite some time.  They did hit a window from airport to airport, but flew in a blizzard on the way here.  They arrived safely, but it was really better that they were able to rest. 

Hubs has been continuing to work on the house.  He replaced all the outlets in the kitchen, which also called for him to finally bite the bullet and map the house on the electrical box downstairs.  In doing that, he is convinced that the people who did the circuit dedication must have been high, drunk, both or otherwise.  He did get it all done and it is wonderful.

So the balance of my week is:
-  Getting a book for my niece, boxing their gifts and getting them to my father-in-law to ship on Monday. 
-  Working all day on Thursday at school and sandwiching the IEP review in the middle of all that.  Remember that K- is on an IEP for speech and she has really started to blossom with some pronunciation problems.  The funny thing is that with her, it is truly an out-of-mouth issue, but it isn't causing spelling/reading issues.  That is really a great thing. 
-  Making cookie dough on Thursday night so that when I drop K- off for school on Friday, I can bust a move back home to get my Christmas baking rolling.  I kind of figure that what I can get done on Friday and maybe Saturday will be it, so I've got to get myself completely organized baking wise to get the job done.  I will be baking chocolate chip, chocolate chocolate chip/chunk, peanut butter, ginger hugs, raspberry thumbprints, apple cinnamon oatmeal, sugar cookie red hots and brownies.
-  We'll drop in to see Aunt Donna on Saturday.  I must call to let her know.
-  Sunday, I'll be baking, prepping and decorating for K-'s birthday on Monday.  I'll be working part of Monday, so I want to have as much done as possible on Sunday evening so that it isn't an issue.  Oh, I also need to drop by the church to pay for the room rental (a love gift, thank you my lovely church!) and pick up keys.  K- wants pizza and that's certainly not hard.  I have a Little Caesar's coupon for pizza and crazy bread, so that will be handy.  I've been gifted enough Sprite to keep NE Ohio well hydrated.  We'll make a Sam's Club run on Sunday to pick up some individual chippie bags (flu season, you know) and a veggie tray.  I'll bake rainbow cupcakes with rainbow frosting and we'll have a cupcake bar where the children will be decorating their own.  Because of all the Sprite, we'll be having Fizzy Lifting Drinks.  (Sprite, rainbow sherbet and sprinkles.)  Can you tell that we're rolling Willy Wonka?  ;)  We'll be watching the classic movie and taking a crack at a pinata. 

Busy, busy.  It's all in how I pace myself. 

Smiles in my day:
-  Hubs working so hard.
-  Remembering and getting up at 5 AM to hide Buddy our Elf on the Shelf.  Do you know how many nights a week I end up roaming the house in the middle of the night to give Buddy a new spot to sit in?  Shhhh.  K- doesn't know that!
-  Yes, I remembered to hide Buddy before I fell asleep tonight!
-  Giving K- her home spelling test this morning and she got them all right.  It makes me feel better, because I was a bit lax in reviewing them with her.  Having the first two days off school didn't help, either!  I know, excuses, excuses.
-  The Biggest Loser finale tonight.

Have a great day!