7 posts tagged “christmas”

The presents are opened, the kittens are worn out, and all is happy and well at our house.  Merry Christmas!

It's the weekend!!!  Yippee!  Yesterday was a long but good day.  I filled another CVS prescription and got a 2nd CVS $25 giftcard.  Then Charles and I went out last night and essentially finished our Santa shopping.  We spent $77 at Toys R Us (GAK!) but I think we're done.  And I kept the total on each kid within $3 of each other.

We then hit CVS, got $54.08 worth of merchandise for $0 out of pocket!!  (I used about $36 off my two gift cards, but since I didn't pay for those...)  I am stocked on good nites until at least February, on batteries & tissues for quite a while, and added a few more stocking stuffers etc for the kids, plus a couple of cleaning supplies.

My team at work had their annual white elephant gift exchange.  I had the Chia Pet Shrek stolen from me, but ended up with a huge pair of bear slippers.  When I walk up to Morgan with these on he runs in terror!!!

I'm at a plateau on my weight loss.  Next step is a "coach approach" appointment today at 9:30 am at the gym.  It's not quite a personal training session, but sort of.  I've struggled for six months getting to the gym regularly, so this is step #1 in trying to tackle that.  Charles and I are hoping to get to see "I Am Legend" at the first matinee this afternoon.  He's been dying to see that movie, and with his mother here we don't have to pay for a sitter.  I tackled cleaning Connor's room Thursday evening.  We made huge progress, and even managed to get some new-to-him furniture installed in his room.  Today we have to sort through his toys and purge what we don't have room for in preparation for Santa Claus.

I don't have much to say this morning, but I hate to leave my loyal readers with nothing new.  I did so well in November and here I am in December slacking off.  My MIL is here for a visit.  The kids are quite excited to have her here, and the kittens seem to be enjoying her dog Sassy, except for the fact that Sassy eats some of their food.  Ah well, Morgan always fusses if his food isn't fresh, this is one way to keep food fresh!

I have no plans for tonight (YIPPEE) but once I get paid tomorrow, it's back out shopping to finish up Christmas.  Can you believe it's less than two weeks?  EEK!

Connor and the rest of the children's choir sang in the choir loft today with the big choir.  He was quite proud of himself... as you can see. 

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We put the Christmas tree up today, much to the amazement and curiosity of the youngest members of our family...

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I shudder to think what will happen when it has ornaments, and pretty packages underneath it...

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I have dinner cooking in the crockpot already, have emptied, refilled and started the dishwasher, and have Connor dressed and ready to sing at church today.  Not too bad for 9:30 am on a Sunday!  Duncan isn't feeling well this morning so Charles & Duncan are staying home.  Today is the first advent Sunday, and the "hanging of the greens" at church.  Should be a good morning!

Sorry, I didn't mean to go a few days without blogging.  Let's see, what have you missed...

Kittens.  They went back for their booster shots and a follow-up to their spaying/neutering.  Both are doing well.  I was surprised that Morgan has gained 1.1 lbs in three weeks.  He's now 5.1 lbs.  Brigit only gained .1 since then, to a total of 4.6 lbs.  Brigit does not like going to the vet, and growled at the tech when they put her back in her carrier to go home. 

Connor got to go with me to pick them up as he just had a doctor's appointment at 2:30 on Friday for an ADHD medication check.  He's lost 2.2 lbs in less than a month.  And grown 1/2 an inch.  I'm starting to get a little worried about this, as he is eating everything that is not nailed down.  The doctor is going to check his thyroid and urine to see if anything else is going on, and we are changing ADHD drugs AGAIN.  This is getting so tiresome, but it's a necessary evil.  He's not doing as well at school and we need to get this fixed.

I normally am cheap about backpacks for school, and buy a new one each year on sale at the before-school sales.  Last year they both were wearing theirs out, so I gave in and bought nice ones from LL Bean.  Would you believe one of the zippers busted on Connor's?  So I called them, and they sent a new one.  Look at how rough the old one was after just over 7 months, two of which he didn't use it at all...

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All I have to do is return the old one, and we're done.  I was pretty disappointed that we had an issue, but thrilled with their attitude about fixing my issue.  If you can't tell, the old backpack in the picture on the left is the left one.  My kids are rough on their stuff!

Today we got a nice surprise, Santa came to visit our neighborhood.  He was brought by the local fire department and the marines.  He was collecting for Toys for Tots.  The whole family walked up to meet him, and I got these pictures:

WooHOO.  I did much better than I thought I would since I didn't plan on shopping much at all!

Black Friday -- I hit Michael's before 9am with my 25% off your order coupon.  Spent $11 on me, including Christmas lights.  Spent $26 on the kids for stocking stuffers.  They had a whole aisle of $1 items that I paid 75 cents each for, plus a $7.99 art kit I paid $3.74 each for.  That really put me in the holiday mood.  I always struggle with my budget and what i'd like to get the kids for Christmas, so getting some neat small stuff has brightened my week.

Black Friday Deals at CVS

CVS....   thanks to ECBs, coupons, and a fabulous sale, I got $56.14 worth of stuff for $16.25!!  I thought I was going to make another run today, but they were out of the item(s).  Ah well, you snooze, you lose.

On to Office Depot... used some hoarded coupons to get a ream of inkjet paper for $0.52!!

Last stop Food Lion.... $60.84 worth of groceries for $19.52!  That won't happen very often but it sure was a great day.  Plus I have $3.00 off my next order!

Not a bad way to spend my birthday weekend... I turned 43 today.  I'm wearing my new Pandora bracelet, a gift from my family, and I have some $$ to spend when I go to my 3D Christmas workshop on Monday night.  Charles took me out to dinner Friday night since we had free babysitting, after i worked on my Christmas cards all day with my SIL.  I'm not quite done, but they are all made, and simply need signing and addressing.