Shopping/Returns

SHOPPING/RETURNS

With the Holidays, it means lots of shopping. And for me to enjoy shopping I have to be in the right mood for it. I feel like I'm on shopping overload lately, way too much for my own good! Plus to enjoy shopping I have to enjoy what I'm shopping for. I have to say men and boys are not enjoyable to shop for. They do not like clothes or shoes or perfume or dolls or anything girly (thank goodness on that one!). So really it is no wonder I save the guys for the end of my list.

Another particularly difficult person/people to shop for are my inlaws/parents. I never know for sure what to get for them and they have such different interests than me. I have, in years past, told Laren that is his job but he highly dislikes the chore also! I guess if money were not a factor I would have no problem outfitting everyone in my life with everything they want.

This morning I was out shopping for Christmas lights. I hate having to spend dollar after dollar on thing after thing this time of year. And anyone who truly knows me would attest that I dislike spending anytime of year. But this is our first Christmas in this house and we have more than enough mini white lights, but not enough of the colors. I'm copying Jenny and Angie's idea and going with the red and white lights for our house, above the icicle lights. And with decorating for the holidays, I have found if I do not get what I need right away it's gone!

That is what happened with the strings of red and white lights I wanted. I went to both Walmart and Target and they were all sold out! So this morning, I had a few other things I needed to get (including more stickers for my potty training little guy) so I tried another Walmart and between that and Hobby Lobby I was able to get what I was looking for.

Our lights on our house the way we have them now, without any red.

ETA: We can't put lights on the top part of our roof because we have a ceramic tile roof and those babies break without much effort. So we are left to lighting only the bottom half of our house. Laren's kind of glad it worked out that way! ;)

And because I was out and it was on the way home I had to stop at Costco, a real quick stop so I could be on time to pick Rilyn up from Kindergarten. It was slow getting out of there but I made it in time to get Rilyn by the skin of my teeth. I will be so glad when we get a break from half day Kindergarten and preschool. I just get Rilyn there and I'm back already to pick her up!!

And along with the shopping comes something worse: returns. I hate returns. I hate having to dig through all my receipts to find just the right one. I hate that I have to drive 20 minutes to return an item that cost $3.99. But who wants to just throw the money away on something you can't use, like the wrong size of glue sticks for your glue gun? You can't even gift those! LOL ;)

So now I have my lights, 2 strings of red and 2 strings of white but now I have the extra strings of red I got just in case and the wrong size glue sticks, some ribbon that I found something I like better at a different store and a few other miscellaneous items to return to about 4 different stores.

Tuesday

Tuesday

This morning has been busy. It started with my early walk this morning. The temperature was 22 degrees (F) but surprisingly I felt hot about midway through the walk, probably because I dressed so warmly using double layers. I rushed home pulling into the driveway as Laren was pulling out to go to work.

I got the kids up and out the door to school. This is one of my biggest fete's of the day, really. Some kids awake and get going easier than others. And of course I want my kids to make their beds and pick their rooms up, every morning. It doesn't always happen and it doesn't always/usually happen according to my specifications but it usually gets done. I also make them unload their section of the dishwasher, get dressed and eat breakfast, do their hair and make their lunch if it still needs to be made.

So yes, I get that it is kind of a lot to do for them in the mornings. But there is time, if time is used appropriately to get it all done. I usually have to spend most of my time reminding Kyle, my 7 year old son, to stay on task. He really likes to play around wasting his time away! On mornings like this morning, it was going the rounds with my tween whose hormones are kicking in and she is not very respectful at times.

After getting everyone to school, even a little bit early so Alyssa could set up for the school store, Tyler and I came home to get a bite of breakfast. I had a Visiting Teaching Appointment first thing. But first, I had to take Rilyn the Homemade Bread I made yesterday for her belated Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast this morning and Kayla her forgotten lunch.

The gal that I visit taught today has her husband away in Iraq. He just left about a month ago. She is dealing with that and getting ready for the holidays. It was nice to catch up on all that is going on with her. I can't help, however, to feel a little sad for her that it must not be easy to have her husband gone at this time of year especially.

Tyler playing with a train while I was VTing this morning. He LOVES trains!

During the visit, Tyler told me he had to use the potty. Victory!-- Since we are in the throes of potty training. But when I got him to the bathroom I discovered he already went. I put him on the potty anyway and he did go some more in the toliet. After the visit, we were running late and so I had to change his wet pants and underwear in the van.

Rilyn's Kindergarten had their Thanksgiving Feast today and I wanted to be there for her. The kids had a good time and I did too.

Rilyn (on the right) at her Thanksgiving Feast.

It felt weird to be doing Thanksgiving today. I guess after Thursday, with all the shopping and decorating, I've been in Christmas mode now for almost a week!

Rilyn's class had a substitute teacher for the day, one that I knew from Church. And I had the chance to catch up with some of "my" school friends that I know from helping out in the school. So that was kind of fun.

We got home in time for lunch. Then it was Tyler's nap time, it still is Tyler's nap time but he is in their giggling with Rilyn and not sleeping. He is to that age where he usually naps, but once or twice a week he refuses to.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a Good day! I love that we live close enough to get together with family. Kallie and her family came over for the day.

Kayla rolling out pie dough.


The day before Thanksgiving Kayla and Alyssa helped me make pies, the dough for our rolls (it has to be refrigerated overnight), and chop the cranberries. Kayla not only helped with all of that, but she also helped with the TONS of dishes and clean up!

Alyssa making the pumpkin pie filling.


One of the things about baking is that it dirties a ton of dishes and makes a big mess! But it is worth it particularly on days like Thanksgiving!

Kayla and I getting a self portrait in front of our handiwork.

AND we used the tricks suggested on Good Things Utah for our pies and notice how we got no black spots on our Pumpkin Pie and our Apple pie didn't boil over into the oven.

The morning after Thanksgiving, Laren and I found ourselves up and groggy at 3:25 am to go shopping. Thankfully our big electronic purchase (plasma TV) had been made earlier in the week. At 4:00 am we were at Kohls, at 5:00 am were were Walmart, at 6:00 am I was at Target and Laren was at Circuit City. Then I went back to Walmart and Laren went into Bed Bath and Beyond to get me some stocking holders for the mantel. (It was right next to Circuit City, otherwise I'm sure I'd have had to do this errand myself. He doesn't go in stores like that unless he is compelled to by me! :) )

Apple pie, Pumpkin Pie, Sour Cream Lemon Pie and Pumpkin Cake that Kallie made.


We were back home by 8:15 am with most of our shopping done, everything but a couple of items. Our wallets are lighter than ever now! Our kids will be excited, we hope! I can't spill what we got because my older 2 girls read my blog.

My 5 kiddo's decorating the Christmas Tree 2007.


My kids started decorating the house for Christmas bright and early Friday morning. Around 9:30 am I went back out for round 2 of shopping with Kayla and Alyssa who really wanted to hit some Black Friday sales. I took them to Home Depot, Kohls, Walmart and Kmart. (Yes, I ended up at Walmart 3 times on Friday morning - blech! I call Walmart my necessary evil!)

We finished up most of the rest of our decorating this morning.

One of my favorite

One of my favorite websites is this one. It is Good Things Utah. Of course I live in Colorado not Utah so I always watch the segments I like online. This month they are doing one each Friday where each of the 4 gals, Nicea, Angie, Reagan, and the other gal (can't remember her name) each take us on a tour of their favorite room in their home.

Also, they have some great recipes. I plan on making these Holiday Mint Cookies I saw on the show last week. It is a great show, I wish we had something like it in Colorado. Instead we get something called Colorado & Company which is basically like an hour full of commercials advertising different products and services. Boring!

Also, as long as I'm on the "Utah" kick right now, I read awhile back a great article on how the Huntsmans, Jon and Mary Kaye, the Governor and his wife, adopted from China after they had their own children. It is a touching story. It makes me think of Andrea who did something similar only adopted hers from Korea, I believe? Maybe it was Cambodia, I can't remember for sure but I remember reading her adoption story in her archives sometime ago and it was very inspiring!

And speaking of the article on the Huntsmans and Utah, I love these "profiles" Doug Robinson does for Deseret News. I've read them on a myriad of different people, Larry Miller; John Stockton; John Stockton's son, Houston; Marjorie Hinckley; Sheri Dew; Orrin Hatch; Sharlene Wells Hawkes; Michael McLean and the list goes on. I read them from time to time. They are harder to find since they've reconfigured the Deseret News website. But I like to print off these "profile" stories focusing on various individual's lives and then read them while I take a long, hot bath.

Thanksgiving Dinner Menu

Thanksgiving

This is the tenative plan on what we're having for Thanksgiving Dinner.

Turkey
Stuffing
Cranberry Salad, a really yummy family recipe from Laren's side
Mashed Potatoes
Gravy
Homemade Rolls
Green Beans
Homemade Apple Pie
Homemade Sour Cream Lemon Pie
Homemade Pumpkin Pie

I think that covers it. I will do a store run in the next couple of days to get the last minute things I still need to get. It should be lots of fun.

And a few things I'm grateful for:

*My WONDERFUL husband: Laren.
*My Super children: Kayla, Alyssa, Kyle, Rilyn and Tyler.
*The Gospel.
*Our home.
*Our vehicles.
*Clothes to wear.
*Food to eat.

Sick

Sick

We have tried for the last 3 weekends to get into a flu shot clinic. The first weekend I realized after we arrived I had the wrong Saturday. The second weekend, we got there 5 minutes after they cut the line off even though we were early.

Yesterday, on the third try, we got the kids up early. Laren was going to stay home, he didn't want to hassle with waiting in a line for a flu shot. After a little convincing he came too. We stopped along the way and got Krispy Kreme donuts for Laren and the kids. This was a different "clinic" this time than the other one we tried for. It was a drive thru flu clinic. We let the kids bring their portable dvd player, books and gameboys.

I brought along the book I'm currently reading The Wednesday Letters and my new Josh Groban Christmas cd, even though I typically don't listen to Christmas Music this early in the "season."

It turned out that our wait was different than expected. It was supposed to be a "Drive Thru" flu clinic, and it was for most people but not us. If you had children under 8 with you you had to get out and go in to the walk in clinic. So we all had to get out and wait in line inside, so much for bringing all our gadgets to make our wait more enjoyable! We had a relatively quick wait though, about 30 minutes.

We all got the flu shot, with Tyler going first and me going last. Later in the day, about 6 hours later right before I took Rilyn to a friend's birthday party I started getting achey. I took her to the party and ran to Target. By the time I got home I was so achey and miserable and cold I climbed in bed. No number of blankets could help to warm me. Not even the heating pad worked.

Finally, Laren got me some rice filled socks that he microwaved and it got me warm. Of course then I was hot and couldn't get cool, typical for a fever. My temperature was 102.4.

Of course it had to be me that got sick, side effects from the flu shot. And here I was the one pushing for it so much. Maybe next time we'll skip it? I'm happy to report I'm starting to feel better today. I was actually looking forward to Stake Conference today. Why couldn't I be sick on the day I had a bunch of wild and crazy Sunbeams to teach?

My To Do List

To Do Today...

This morning was so beautiful. The most beautiful morning in a couple of months. The sunrise was a gorgeous reddish pink with a scattering of clouds reflecting the beauty. It was warm enough to get away with a light jacket, a balmy 53 degrees at 6:00am!! I'll take it!! If only the rest of winter could be so warm?! I had my enjoyable morning walk and I'm back and ready to get going with my day!

Get dressed X
Get kids off to School X
Read Scriptures X

Breakfast for Tyler and I X
Do Laundry, wash/dry/fold/put away (X) last load is in dryer. The rest is folded and put away or hung up.
Vacuum X

Declutter paper X
Sweep X
Mop X

Make Shopping List X
Return Curtains to Walmart X
Take Walk with Tyler X

Continue to work on Potty Training Tyler (X in progress, as I imagine this will take weeks!)
Look over Primary Lesson X (did this even though, I realized it's Stake Conf. this Sunday, so now I have a headstart for my lesson in 2 weeks!)
Get kids from school X

Make Dinner X
Get activities ready for girls' friends tonight X
Find address on Flu Shot clinic X


Yikes, one of those days that will hopefully be productive and useful but busy. Yesterday Laren was home sick from work and I helped out in the classes at school then stayed to have lunch with Kyle, Alyssa, and Kayla.

I also went to Costco and picked up our Christmas cards and the must have Egg Nog for Thanksgiving! Laren was disappointed that they do not have his favorite Gallo Salami in yet! Also, checked out those bigger flat screen TV's which we want to get. Our current (huge 27") tv is dying, it won't change the volume without popping the menu up. It takes like 5 minutes to change the volume up or down each time you want to and the picture is getting worse and worse.

We need a new one, but geesh these things cost a pretty penny! It was good day, but I felt like I didn't get as much done as I would have liked.