My friend, Rachael, did a lovely post that struck home with me. I'm with her and am thinking of a schedule to have for box time. Must work that out.
In the meantime, Hubs is on vacation this week because he's earned more time than he thought and if he doesn't use it, he'll lose it. Hold on, I needed to take a breath after that one. He's puttering around the house doing man things like rewiring the surround sound in the living room and re-shelving all of the movies . . .
As for me, I have baking and cooking to attend to. I also have a half gallon of ice cream calling my name and sadly, it is 10:10 PM.
With that, I'll bid you a farewell for the week. I've got family and things and stuff and Black Friday.
Have a wonderful holiday!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Because a great deal makes me feel as if I have battled the retail beast.
Y'all, I feel like I'm super-power Santa Mama. The one and only big thing that K- has been asking for is a Nintendo DS. Now, Hubs bought me one last year at the resale store. It was basically an open box thing, but being a kid, we wanted to get a new one so that the warranty went along with. I was depending upon Black Friday to make that happen for me, but the only place that had it listed for sale was Walmart.
I'm not a huge fan. Especially on Black Friday. Last year, there was a family trying to swindle the cashier. They were switching things out, having her ring things up, taking them off, wanting more, not having enough cash, no try this card, well take that off . . . It ended up being that she had 3 additional co-workers watching over the transaction AND! a guard in uniform WITH! her hand on her gun.
Isn't that a warm and fuzzy feeling?
Given that, my sister and I swore to never again deal with the monster that is Walmart during Black Friday. I'm more of a Target shopper all the way around anyhow.
Target? It was my ticket to present-purchasing happiness.
I was looking through my late-to-arrive-on-my-doorstep issue of the Sunday newspaper and like a vision, there it was in the Target ad. The Nintendo DSi was on sale for $119.00. (Savings of $30.00.) That made me extra excited since I had $60.00 in Target gift cards that I had earned from My Points to use for K-'s Christmas gifts anyhow. Let us review my deal, shall we?
The upside? I'm thrilled that I have this purchased. I wanted to purchase her a camera and this one has one (or two I think I read) included. We can purchase the games used (Hubs handles that) and the Leapster you can't. Have you checked what some games are going for on eBay lately? Eeek!
The downside? It's white. It is the only color choice available. I will be able to wipe it down and K- is a pretty careful kid with stuff.
A note to Target about a downside:
Please consider moving your customer service to THIS COUNTRY as opposed to India. The young woman talking to me didn't understand what I was trying to tell her when I was asking how to input my gift cards. In the end, I finally taught your customer service agent how to help anyone else who might encounter the problem. Also, when she started helping me, she was without a computer. It's kind of difficult to help someone with an internet order when you don't have access to the internet yourself. Just sayin'. This is not the first time that I have encountered issues with your overseas customer service. 2 1/2 years ago, I was trying to buy two Britax Regent car seats, because they were not available in store. The young man I talked to finally gave in and took care of the problem when I announced the massive sum I was spending on two car seats. Please, oh please, give Americans these jobs.
So there we go. K-'s necklace arrived just yesterday and it is beautiful. Of course, Mrs. Claus made that. All I need to do is to pick up a box of Fuzzoodles at the local craft store and I'm done with the three gift process that is K-'s Christmas. They are $6.00 at the craft store and she just loves them.
I feel shoppingly accomplished. Believe me, I know it's not about a stuff thing. We really wanted to get her something nice and she is now old enough to appreciate it.
Smiles in my weekend:
- My sister is feeling so much better. A friend came over and gave her a chiropractic adjustment. She also took her truck (High Ho Silver rides again!) for a ride down the driveway and to the bus stop. She made it, but got nervous when another car was coming towards her. I told her that will happen from time to time and that she has to get back in the saddle before the snow flies. She was able to go to the tow yard to retrieve her purse and she got a really good look of what she walked out of. Oh my.
- I've accomplished writing ye ole Christmas letter (hey Aunt Patti!) and I've made K-'s birthday invites this evening. We found some stupendously gold glittery paper at the craft store that makes her invites look like lovely golden tickets. Now grant you, it took three gluing options to finally get the printed portion to stick, but Zots to the rescue!
- As soon as I hit publish, I will be assembling and addressing Christmas card envelopes. The Christmas cards that also include a birthday invite (gotta save on postage!), I do believe will call for additional postage. I'll take a ride past the post office to purchase my stamps and to confirm my stamply thoughts. I took an Excedrin Migraine at about 3 PM and still feel myself going strong. It'll be a long night, so why not put all that energy to good use?
Have a great day!
I'm not a huge fan. Especially on Black Friday. Last year, there was a family trying to swindle the cashier. They were switching things out, having her ring things up, taking them off, wanting more, not having enough cash, no try this card, well take that off . . . It ended up being that she had 3 additional co-workers watching over the transaction AND! a guard in uniform WITH! her hand on her gun.
Isn't that a warm and fuzzy feeling?
Given that, my sister and I swore to never again deal with the monster that is Walmart during Black Friday. I'm more of a Target shopper all the way around anyhow.
Target? It was my ticket to present-purchasing happiness.
I was looking through my late-to-arrive-on-my-doorstep issue of the Sunday newspaper and like a vision, there it was in the Target ad. The Nintendo DSi was on sale for $119.00. (Savings of $30.00.) That made me extra excited since I had $60.00 in Target gift cards that I had earned from My Points to use for K-'s Christmas gifts anyhow. Let us review my deal, shall we?
Now, between tax and the very nominal shipping cost (sadly, this one didn't qualify for the $50.00 and up free shipping, but it was only $4.44), in the end it was $71.50. That, my friends, is cheaper than the $89.00 that Walmart had the DS Lite for and that isn't even figuring in the 6.5% tax on top of it.Nintendo DSi - $149.00Target sale - 30.00Target price - 119.00My Points - 60.00Balance due - $59.00
The upside? I'm thrilled that I have this purchased. I wanted to purchase her a camera and this one has one (or two I think I read) included. We can purchase the games used (Hubs handles that) and the Leapster you can't. Have you checked what some games are going for on eBay lately? Eeek!
The downside? It's white. It is the only color choice available. I will be able to wipe it down and K- is a pretty careful kid with stuff.
A note to Target about a downside:
Please consider moving your customer service to THIS COUNTRY as opposed to India. The young woman talking to me didn't understand what I was trying to tell her when I was asking how to input my gift cards. In the end, I finally taught your customer service agent how to help anyone else who might encounter the problem. Also, when she started helping me, she was without a computer. It's kind of difficult to help someone with an internet order when you don't have access to the internet yourself. Just sayin'. This is not the first time that I have encountered issues with your overseas customer service. 2 1/2 years ago, I was trying to buy two Britax Regent car seats, because they were not available in store. The young man I talked to finally gave in and took care of the problem when I announced the massive sum I was spending on two car seats. Please, oh please, give Americans these jobs.
So there we go. K-'s necklace arrived just yesterday and it is beautiful. Of course, Mrs. Claus made that. All I need to do is to pick up a box of Fuzzoodles at the local craft store and I'm done with the three gift process that is K-'s Christmas. They are $6.00 at the craft store and she just loves them.
I feel shoppingly accomplished. Believe me, I know it's not about a stuff thing. We really wanted to get her something nice and she is now old enough to appreciate it.
Smiles in my weekend:
- My sister is feeling so much better. A friend came over and gave her a chiropractic adjustment. She also took her truck (High Ho Silver rides again!) for a ride down the driveway and to the bus stop. She made it, but got nervous when another car was coming towards her. I told her that will happen from time to time and that she has to get back in the saddle before the snow flies. She was able to go to the tow yard to retrieve her purse and she got a really good look of what she walked out of. Oh my.
- I've accomplished writing ye ole Christmas letter (hey Aunt Patti!) and I've made K-'s birthday invites this evening. We found some stupendously gold glittery paper at the craft store that makes her invites look like lovely golden tickets. Now grant you, it took three gluing options to finally get the printed portion to stick, but Zots to the rescue!
- As soon as I hit publish, I will be assembling and addressing Christmas card envelopes. The Christmas cards that also include a birthday invite (gotta save on postage!), I do believe will call for additional postage. I'll take a ride past the post office to purchase my stamps and to confirm my stamply thoughts. I took an Excedrin Migraine at about 3 PM and still feel myself going strong. It'll be a long night, so why not put all that energy to good use?
Have a great day!
Friday, November 19, 2010
Praising God with hands high and with crocodiles rolling.
I've got to tell you as I sit here and cry, my sister and my nephew are fine.
She was busy running frantically from one place to another, pulled out in front of a vehicle and rolled her van.
She had her seatbelt on.
L- was strapped firmly into the car seat.
When they came to a rest, he started crying. She was able to release both of them, knock the back window out with her elbow and climb out.
Of course, she only had liability insurance.
It's just a van.
My people are okay. L- was checked out and released from Children's Hospital. LeAnne said that she thinks she is fine and just wants to go home.
Like a good Baptist, I'm preparing them dinner.
ETA: I took dinner out and was able to lay my eyes on my sister. Long story short, she had a migraine, the light was bright and the van that hit her was dark green. She didn't see it. It clipped the back passenger corner of her van as she had almost reached the road that she was trying to drive down. When she got hit, she went flying through the air, skidded and remained upside down on the roof. In a surprise turn, the van actually turned on its side. She was suspended, as well as L-, and so when his car seat let loose, she said he just kind of dropped into her arms. She is very sore. He is without any damage. She has a scraped up elbow. She also got a call from the insurance company. The other people who were involved have an attorney who has already contacted my sister's insurance. Oh, this should be fun. I did tell her that they call them accidents not an "on purpose."
In your prayers of thanksgiving tonight, can you belt another out for us?
She was busy running frantically from one place to another, pulled out in front of a vehicle and rolled her van.
She had her seatbelt on.
L- was strapped firmly into the car seat.
When they came to a rest, he started crying. She was able to release both of them, knock the back window out with her elbow and climb out.
Of course, she only had liability insurance.
It's just a van.
My people are okay. L- was checked out and released from Children's Hospital. LeAnne said that she thinks she is fine and just wants to go home.
Like a good Baptist, I'm preparing them dinner.
ETA: I took dinner out and was able to lay my eyes on my sister. Long story short, she had a migraine, the light was bright and the van that hit her was dark green. She didn't see it. It clipped the back passenger corner of her van as she had almost reached the road that she was trying to drive down. When she got hit, she went flying through the air, skidded and remained upside down on the roof. In a surprise turn, the van actually turned on its side. She was suspended, as well as L-, and so when his car seat let loose, she said he just kind of dropped into her arms. She is very sore. He is without any damage. She has a scraped up elbow. She also got a call from the insurance company. The other people who were involved have an attorney who has already contacted my sister's insurance. Oh, this should be fun. I did tell her that they call them accidents not an "on purpose."
In your prayers of thanksgiving tonight, can you belt another out for us?
Thursday, November 18, 2010
He will see you now.
Smiles in my day:
- I had a great meeting with Mrs. S- today. K- is on track. Everything is good.
- The PTA directory rough draft is in my hands. :)
- We had a great time with the kids this evening.
- My house is cleaned, my beds stripped and remade.
Have a great weekend!
Signing my life away at the customer service counter.
I've had a cold. Nothing serious. Really, I've suffered much, much worse. Since I've had this continual evening and early morning tickle in my throat, I've found that the Advil Cold and Sinus that I had in the cupboard has helped out a bit.
Today I took the last one in my cabinet.
Now, that may not seem like a big deal, but since people like to boil stuff like that down for met*h, I have to go beg pharmacists or customer service personnel for the OTC drug(s) that I may need. God forbid should you actually need Advil and cough syrup at the same time.
I visited the cold reliever aisle. No dice.
I visited the pharmacist. Nope. Go to customer service. (Seems weird, since every other store has OTC at the pharmacy.) Okay then.
I go to customer service. I hand over my ID to purchase my drugs o' relief and I kid you not, the girl had to check 10 pages of drug log-in's to make certain that my name was not listed. After a rather thorough check, She wrote down about every bit of information from my driver's license. I could be wrong, but my height and slightly inaccurate listed weight may have been written down, too. I had to sign the listing.
The customer service clerk apologized. I told her that really, I promised that I wasn't going to the street to make anything illegal. I really just wanted to take it for my own cold relief. She was saying that she thought it was slightly ridiculous and I agreed that in a way, I see that but there was just a me*th lab 1 block down from a school in our city that just blew up. She then told me that there are some people who will come in and ask (in a drug type drawl), "How many boxes can I get?" Considering that they just sold me a 40 ct. box and it will take me a year to go through all that, I can't imagine why they would want more other than for illicit activities. She said that at that point, she'll tell them none. She'll refuse them. She said that she can tell.
I hate that she is put in that position.
I know that I've talked about this before, but it still surprises me each and every time. Wow.
Smiles in my day:
- K- got a 100% on her math test! It was a 4 page (2 pages double sided) test that was addition and subtraction and she neatly wrote her answers. Didn't question herself. She didn't erase all over the place. She was sure of her answers. Quite amazing since doing subtraction flash cards has been quite painful. I'm going to meet with her teacher to see what ideas that she has to have me help K-. I want to make certain that the ways that I help her are in line with what Mrs. S- is teaching. I don't want to teach K- a way to figure out subtraction that she can't use at school. It appears as though she needs visual cues to pull subtraction around.
Have a great day!
Today I took the last one in my cabinet.
Now, that may not seem like a big deal, but since people like to boil stuff like that down for met*h, I have to go beg pharmacists or customer service personnel for the OTC drug(s) that I may need. God forbid should you actually need Advil and cough syrup at the same time.
I visited the cold reliever aisle. No dice.
I visited the pharmacist. Nope. Go to customer service. (Seems weird, since every other store has OTC at the pharmacy.) Okay then.
I go to customer service. I hand over my ID to purchase my drugs o' relief and I kid you not, the girl had to check 10 pages of drug log-in's to make certain that my name was not listed. After a rather thorough check, She wrote down about every bit of information from my driver's license. I could be wrong, but my height and slightly inaccurate listed weight may have been written down, too. I had to sign the listing.
The customer service clerk apologized. I told her that really, I promised that I wasn't going to the street to make anything illegal. I really just wanted to take it for my own cold relief. She was saying that she thought it was slightly ridiculous and I agreed that in a way, I see that but there was just a me*th lab 1 block down from a school in our city that just blew up. She then told me that there are some people who will come in and ask (in a drug type drawl), "How many boxes can I get?" Considering that they just sold me a 40 ct. box and it will take me a year to go through all that, I can't imagine why they would want more other than for illicit activities. She said that at that point, she'll tell them none. She'll refuse them. She said that she can tell.
I hate that she is put in that position.
I know that I've talked about this before, but it still surprises me each and every time. Wow.
Smiles in my day:
- K- got a 100% on her math test! It was a 4 page (2 pages double sided) test that was addition and subtraction and she neatly wrote her answers. Didn't question herself. She didn't erase all over the place. She was sure of her answers. Quite amazing since doing subtraction flash cards has been quite painful. I'm going to meet with her teacher to see what ideas that she has to have me help K-. I want to make certain that the ways that I help her are in line with what Mrs. S- is teaching. I don't want to teach K- a way to figure out subtraction that she can't use at school. It appears as though she needs visual cues to pull subtraction around.
Have a great day!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Religion brought to you by children in the single digits.
We are Baptist. My nieces are Catholic. When we were on one of our many cab rides in NYC, my sister-in-law pointed out a gorgeous Baptist church just a block down from our hotel. I think that her girls were asking about being Baptist and I told her that we believe a little differently, but it all comes around to God and it's all good.
"Jesus is in my heart," K- announces.
My 9 year old niece said, "What? He's where?"
"Jesus is in my heart," K- repeats.
My 7 year old niece proceeded to turn to K-, knock on the area of her heart, bent her head down to K-'s heart and said, "Jesus? Hello? Are you there?"
:)
Smiles in my day:
- Getting the rest of the directory information for PTA handed over. Thank goodness!
- Having someone happy to handle the directory compilation for me.
- The fact that the store did so well this weekend, tons of our Christmas merchandise flew out the door and there's not the amount in back stock that I thought we would have.
- K- wearing the thick wool and fleece lined hat around my mother-in-law's house, flapping and hooting. Even though there were a few girls in her class that laughed at her hat, A- thought it was way too cool. She decided that she wasn't going to be bothered with what they had to say and I'm thrilled with that.
Have a great day!
"Jesus is in my heart," K- announces.
My 9 year old niece said, "What? He's where?"
"Jesus is in my heart," K- repeats.
My 7 year old niece proceeded to turn to K-, knock on the area of her heart, bent her head down to K-'s heart and said, "Jesus? Hello? Are you there?"
:)
Smiles in my day:
- Getting the rest of the directory information for PTA handed over. Thank goodness!
- Having someone happy to handle the directory compilation for me.
- The fact that the store did so well this weekend, tons of our Christmas merchandise flew out the door and there's not the amount in back stock that I thought we would have.
- K- wearing the thick wool and fleece lined hat around my mother-in-law's house, flapping and hooting. Even though there were a few girls in her class that laughed at her hat, A- thought it was way too cool. She decided that she wasn't going to be bothered with what they had to say and I'm thrilled with that.
Have a great day!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Tales from the Trenches: My mind is filled with PTA.
I worked for 2 1/2 hours last night on compiling PTA directory information. More specifically, I didn't consider lying under my blankets until about 12:30 AM. I was wide awake, but very tired. I probably fell asleep well after 1 AM. Hubs is suffering from a cold that I'm trying to fight off. Between the two of us dealing with that, then Hubs coming to bed close to alarm time while constantly clearing his throat, my heavens I'm tired.
This morning I was at school at 8:00 AM. I worked on directory stuff for 45 minutes.
This evening I've worked on compiling more information needed to award a donut party to a class.
Then I talked to the kind woman who is taking pity on my soul and she is actually doing the directory off the old format from last year. Tonight, Cindy is my hero.
Then I talked to another PTA member about her membership entry problems with the National PTA entry site. We got on to talking about the PTA cookie drive for Thanksgiving and my help with transportation of Santa Shop items. (I refuse to work Santa Shop because I work holiday retail and I cannot do more retail than required at the holidays. I volunteer for just about everything else. That one I had to put my foot down.)
Then I had to call someone to confirm that it is a donut and juice party (again with the food rewards) for the class with the most members. We got on to talking about plans for a retirement celebration for the school office assistant. (We love her.)
I had to e-mail my monthly newsletter submission by the end of this evening. I got it done.
Y'all, I'm tired!
Have a great day!
Smiles in my day:
- K- had a lovely report card. She is doing as expected in most things but above in a few things. The entire behavioral section was all +'s. That made my heart very happy! As a prize, I bought her a hand knit owl hat from work, but she is concerned that people will make fun of her. I'm wondering if being tired was getting the best of her. We'll see how she feels about it in the morning. She had it on. She had a smirk. She just needs one person to tell her how cool it is. That someone needs to be someone other than her mom. I told her that I'd take it back if it isn't what she wants.
- That my kid has such a great school and a very involved PTA that makes a ton of great things happen.
- A nice, toasty bed waiting for me. 'Night all!
ETA: The owl hat is a "hoot" (couldn't resist.) K- loves it. She was flying and hooting all morning long. She just felt like a PTA orphan. She wore it to school today and thinks that it is just wonderful. Score one cool point for mom.
This morning I was at school at 8:00 AM. I worked on directory stuff for 45 minutes.
This evening I've worked on compiling more information needed to award a donut party to a class.
Then I talked to the kind woman who is taking pity on my soul and she is actually doing the directory off the old format from last year. Tonight, Cindy is my hero.
Then I talked to another PTA member about her membership entry problems with the National PTA entry site. We got on to talking about the PTA cookie drive for Thanksgiving and my help with transportation of Santa Shop items. (I refuse to work Santa Shop because I work holiday retail and I cannot do more retail than required at the holidays. I volunteer for just about everything else. That one I had to put my foot down.)
Then I had to call someone to confirm that it is a donut and juice party (again with the food rewards) for the class with the most members. We got on to talking about plans for a retirement celebration for the school office assistant. (We love her.)
I had to e-mail my monthly newsletter submission by the end of this evening. I got it done.
Y'all, I'm tired!
Have a great day!
Smiles in my day:
- K- had a lovely report card. She is doing as expected in most things but above in a few things. The entire behavioral section was all +'s. That made my heart very happy! As a prize, I bought her a hand knit owl hat from work, but she is concerned that people will make fun of her. I'm wondering if being tired was getting the best of her. We'll see how she feels about it in the morning. She had it on. She had a smirk. She just needs one person to tell her how cool it is. That someone needs to be someone other than her mom. I told her that I'd take it back if it isn't what she wants.
- That my kid has such a great school and a very involved PTA that makes a ton of great things happen.
- A nice, toasty bed waiting for me. 'Night all!
ETA: The owl hat is a "hoot" (couldn't resist.) K- loves it. She was flying and hooting all morning long. She just felt like a PTA orphan. She wore it to school today and thinks that it is just wonderful. Score one cool point for mom.
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