Gifts in the Mail

So I took part in an ornament exchange hosted by Abbily Ever After. A few days ago, my ornament arrived and it is PERFECT! Truly! There were actually two ornaments - the main one was a GORGEOUS blue butterfly. The cool thing about it is that my Mom LOVED butterflies. She passed away about 3 1/2 years ago, but every time I see butterfly stuff I think of her. So this is a perfect ornament on my tree to remind me of my Mom. The second ornament looks like a piece of that ribbon candy, that I happen to love. So cute! The ornaments came from Ice Cream Mama, who, although I don't know at all, managed to pick something perfect. Thanks!

Who Knew?

Who knew that a trash can is useful as both a food source and a toybox? Big man, that's who. My little guy loves going through the trash, finding "yummy" treats to eat, and lots of fun stuff to play with. Ewww. If you come to visit you may notice all our trash cans up on top of tables or other surfaces. Now you know why.

Betty Crocker I am Not!

I am one of those women. I admit it. I am one of those women who buy cookies and pass them off as homemade at a bake sale. I didn't mean to be one of those women, but here I am.

Our daycare has several bake sales per year. Being in a federal building, they have lots of hungry workers and we always make good money. I always participate. I think there are three kinds of contributions to bake sales -- truly, from scratch, homemade goods; boxed mixes that you bake, and store-bought stuff. I have always been in that second category. I buy the mixes from the store - add eggs, oil, water, whatever.and I always throw in something new - different chips, candy bars crushed up, nuts, etc. Then I figure it was kind of homemade.

This year my friend's daughter was selling cookie/brownie mixes as a fundraiser. I figured it was perfect. I could help her out and use these for our bake sales. So our bake sale is this week. Sunday night I go to the freezer to get the mixes out and am surprised by what I find. First, the chocolate chip cookies are already preformed - ready to just pop in the freezer. I felt a little bad about not adding anything, but hey - whatever. So I started those cooking.

Then I looked at the brownies. They were in a aluminum pan and the directions say "thaw and serve". What? Thaw and serve? Oops..these are cooked brownies that were just frozen. I turned to my DH and explained what it said. He starts laughing. I say, "if you think I am above cutting these up and packaging them for the bake sale you are so wrong". He keeps laughing. So I did. I let them thaw, cut them up, and packaged them for my bake sale.

Do I feel guilty? nope. They taste awesome! And this afternoon some federal worker will be happily enjoying it. Besides..I THAWED them all by myself.

My own litle sugar plum

So about a week ago I took the girls to the cutest version of the Nutcracker. It was only 50 minutes long, and in a very informal setting. It was perfect. It was actually at a storefront in the mall, only sat about 30 people in folding chairs, and encouraged the kids to clap for the dancers and boo and hiss at the mean Mouse king.

In preparation, we read the Nutcracker story and I explained repeatedly that there would be singing or talking - only dancing. They were so excited to go. We get there and sit in the second (of 2) row. K sits on my left, B on my lap, and Nana on my right. They were excited and a bit nervous about what was going to happen. The show starts and they are captivated. Then B starts to speak.

I've talked about how B is a very verbal child. Now, at 3 1/5, it is like my life is retold in running commentary. B started talking about the show - "look mommy, they are dancing and not talking, just like you said. You said there would be no talking and there is not, just dancing. Look at that pretty lady dancing, she is dancing and holding the nutcracker. She is very pretty and she is good dancer..." on and on it goes. She wasn't shouting but she wasn't exactly whispering either. Luckily the people around us found it cute. The best part was when the nutcracker was doing a solo. B says "mommy, why is that boy dancing?" I said he was telling his part of the story. She says, in a not so quiet voice "well, I just think he looks silly. Ballet is for girls not boys." At this point the room cracks up and I am certain the poor 17 year old who is playing the nutcracker can totally hear her. Hopefully he took it in the right spirit!

The favorite part for the girls were the costumes on the sugar plum fairy and other sweets. Afterwards they got to go take their pictures with the cast. Of course, they would go nowhere near the mean Mouse King. They loved it and immediately started asking when they could go again. B constantly talks about how she loves ballet "but not that mean mouse king".

Can't judge a book...

So I've had this personal little boycott of JC Penney going on for about the last 5 years. Why? I HATE their commercials. Over the last 5 years the majority of their commercials have revolved around the woman who needs to shop and the incompetent man at home who either can't take care of the house or can't take care of the kids without the woman. Really annoying, so I decided I just wouldn't shop there.

Fast forward to our house addition and ALL THOSE WINDOWS! I needed to get drapes and was having a very hard time finding ones that weren't $200/panel. I found these that I loved at JC Penney.com. I had a coupon, so I decided to end my personal boycott. Since then I couldn't be more pleased with my experiences. Although my drapes were on back order, they were very good at keeping me updated about when they would be coming. They arrived and were gorgeous. Then on black Friday I went there to buy my curtain rods for the same drapes. They had great ones on sale, I opened a credit card and got another 10% off, and the lovely saleswoman offered to group all my rods into bunches of $75 so I could use the stores $15 off $75 multiple times! I ended up getting them all for about 1/2 price! I was so psyched. About a week later I get a sweet note from the saleswoman thanking me for working with her - despite the fact that she knew I lived 400 miles away and wouldn't be back anytime soon!

A few days later I went to hang the drapes on the new rods, and I realized they had only sent me 14 when I ordered 16. I figured I was sunk since I they had been delivered about a month ago. But I called and they didn't question a thing. Refunded payment on the two that never arrived, and said they would charge it again when they shipped out the two.

I couldn't have asked for better customer service. I guess you never know!

Updates and some links

A few updates:

• House - we are slowly moving stuff in. Fireplace is installed. Shower doors still being worked on. Will post pictures soon. Babysitter coming tonight so we can get some more stuff out of storage. Drapes look awesome, and the $99 rug I got at BJs works perfectly (especially until we can get mucho bucks to buy a HUGE rug).
• Big Man - he is addicted to eating crayons. The girls never did this. Any tips on getting him to stop? He doesn't just chomp the tops off, he munches on them too. Ick.
• K - my oldest has an issue with the seam on tights and socks. It must be right along the topside of her toes or she will completely lose it. It drives me nuts, because I think it is so ridiculous. However, a friend yesterday said she can relate and knows of others who have bought seamless socks and tights to avoid this problem. Really??!! I thought she was just insane.
• My running - I am still doing about 2.5 miles 3x a week. Turns out the gym I wanted to join to run inside during the winter doesn't open until 6:25. Scary to say, that is too late for me. I was thinking I'd run outside, but what to do about the cold? A friend at work recommended REI. I got great polartek stuff that actually allows me to be warm without sweating when it is cold outside. So far (it has only been as low as 35) it has worked.
• Xmas shopping - I have started and am getting there slowly. The hardest part is getting B to tell us what she wants. So far she wants whatever K wants.

While looking for some Christmas ideas, I stumbled on this awesome website. You can print out personalized Christmas stories for your kids, there are games, educational worksheets, etc. It is really great and FREE!

Any other good sites you can recommend?

Why Less Can Be More

When I travel for work I always get to stay at very nice, swanky hotels. Lots of glam, amazing bedding, plush towels, robes, etc. And its easy to get used to. But have you ever noticed that at those la-tee-da hotels that work is paying upwards of $270/night for, they nickel and dime you to death??!! At this last one in Las Vegas, the bottled water in the room was $8, if you went downstairs to the shop you could get it for the bargain of $6. For a small bottle of water people. And this is Vegas -- without a car it wasn't like I could hop over to the local CVS for supplies. My Dad (who came on my business trip with me) and I got room service one morning. I had a bagel and cream cheese and watermelon juice. Dad had an omelet, toast, juice and coffee. The bill was $60! $60!!!!!!!! I mean, it was really good watermelon juice, but what the (*#&$#

Last week when we went to DH's grandmom's for Thanksgiving, we stayed at a Country Inns and Suites. I cannot say enough about it. For $100 we got a one-bedroom suite (so the kids were out in the main part of the room on the pull out sofa). It came with full breakfast for free - including eggs, sausage, cereal, yogurt, pastries, bagels, waffles, juices, etc. And in the evenings there was a free dessert buffet in the lobby! Seriously, you can't beat that! They had an indoor pool and hot tub, and even a lending library of books - including kids books. It was so nice.

Funny how the places that get more money up front still charge you more, while the smaller joints give you more. Interesting...