Entries from November 2007 ↓

                                             $52

is the average amount of cash that women under age 34 lose track of each week - meaning they’re not sure where they’ve spent it. Source: Visa survey

What is a Hublot Watch? (And would you spend more than $52 on it?)

Gift Giving Season Edition of Thursday Thirteen

(I am going to ask 13 questions about the gift giving season and answer them myself, but please feel free to cut and copy the answers and play along in the comments section or your own blog.)

1. If/When you receive a disappointing gift what is your reaction? a.Honesty, b. Return it later, c.Hide it forever on the top shelf of your closet… C. Hide it forever on the top shelf of my closet
2. If you gave someone a disappointing gift, which reaction would you prefer? (See question 1 for answer choices) Again, C. Hide it on the top shelf of their closet forever
3. When do you start your seasonal shopping? I try to shop throughout the year. I only get about 1/4 of my shopping done that way though. The rest I start in October.
4. For me the gift giving season is… a. exciting (when else do I get to spend all that money?) b. stressful (It’s a lot of pressure finding that perfect gift, and besides it breaks my budget.) c. neither really (I just get it done and that’s that.) It honestly depends on the year. Sometimes it is more stressful than others. Unfortunately money is always a stressor. I hate that. But I do love to buy things for others. (Just wish I had a million dollars to do so.)
5. Would you rather get a more expensive gift that you didn’t love (but liked already) or a less expensive gift that’s something you’ve been wanting. Hmmm, that is a hard one… how expensive are we talking? LOL If it was like a car, heck yes, I’d rather that over my new sheets!
6. If you find a gift item you want to buy for someone steeply discounted do you just count that as the gift and be done with it, since it’s actual retail value is higher, or do you feel since you spent less you need to buy an additional item to compensate for the discount you received? I used to feel obligated to buy something else, but over the past couple of years I am losing that feeling. I really feel like things are not always worth what you pay for them, which can mean in both a positive and negative way. I always try to even the value out of my gift for equal people (such  as my siblings, children, etc.), but I don’t always spend the same amount of money on them.
7. If someone requests something they want very badly but you feel it totally doesn’t suit them do you buy it anyway? No, actually I won’t.
8. Do you prefer practical gifts (such as a vacuum cleaner, a new winter coat, a dishwasher), or luxuries that you wouldn’t get otherwise (jewelry, cashmere, electronic ‘toys’, etc.)? Can I vote an equal mixture? This year hubby and I bought out new comforter set and sheets as early gifts to each other. That is practical. And my in-laws bought us our new mattress, which I am not sure whether to view as practical or not. On the practical side, it’s a mattress. On the luxury side, we had an okay queen sized one, but the king is a heck of a lot nicer! I asked my parents for scrapbooking stuff. Definitely luxury.
9. Would you rather a. a gift card to pick out the perfect item yourself or b. a total surprise Gift card, definitely. I can make the money stretch that way. But I would feel sad if there was not a couple of small things to unwrap.
10. Do you wrap your gifts  a.a little here and there, b.a couple of big wrappings, or c. all at once at the last minute! Usually a bit at a time with one bigger wrapping at the end.
11. Are you a peeker? Heck, yes! I am the one that reads the first chapter of a book, followed by the last chapter, then the middle. Yes! I need to know what’s going to happen. Surprises are for the dogs!
12. When it comes to gift wrap do you use a.all different kinds of paper from all the different rolls in my collection, or b.one single style each year? Well, the one style thing would fit into my little bit of OCD that I probably have, however I can’t resist the 75% off after Christmas clearances and I always have tons of different kinds. So I use a variety.
13. Which is better; Giving or Receiving? Hands down giving - to my kids.

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday.  Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged!  If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments.  It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Find more Thursday Thirteens Here.

Melissa tagged me for this fun little game. I’m excited because my brain was stale and I had no idea what to post.

1. The first random place I’m going to show you is my new bed, which I am most definitely in love with. My Overstock purchases arrived yesterday (only a day late. Yes, I was counting!), which included this new comforter set as well as my Christmas present to myself - 800 thread count sheets. They are Di-Vine!

2. This is my mail holder organizer thingamabob. Only it’s really unorganized. It sits on my computer desk and if I have something I’m not sure what to do with, I stick it here. I actually had a better photo of the entire thing but ended up having to crop it because there was a paper there with my husband’s full name and social security number. Guess that’s not such a great thing to post on my blog, eh? You can see there are some of my free samples in this pile (post-it notes - what a great thing and actually come in quite handy), several pkgs. of ovulation tests still in the wrapper (good intentions to give them to a friend who is TTC), and um, labels of some sort. Yeah. I need to go through this pile.

3. This is obviously my fridge. I love how clean and bare fridges look but I can’t bring myself to empty mine. If you zoom in you will see from top to bottom, L-R, my kids, my husband’s brother and fiance’s engagement photo (I took it), my baby’s sonogram photo, last year’s holiday photo of my kids, one of my favorite photos of Warrior, Warrior and I at his first birthday, my sister and her husband’s engagement photo (I took it), my husband and I, my husband as a babe, and my husband as a toddler. Down below you will see the ever popular Leap Frog Letter magnets and the even more popular Nascar magnets. No, we are not a Nascar family by any means. But we have two children who are obsessed with Nascar for what reason I have no idea. (Most boring sport in the world if you ask me!). But you best not remove the magnets or mess up their order or the wrath will come down upon you in mind boggling proportions.

4. These are beautiful flowers that my sister painted above my dining room window and arched doorway. Freehand people, freehand!

5. This is my foot. More importantly my toenails. I can never, ever, ever go w/o them painted. I have not shaved my legs for two weeks, but my toes will never not be painted. It’s that important to me.

6. I’m sad that this picture got hacked off when it was uploading for some reason. :( (My computer is totally on the fritz and rebels every time I try to upload something to it.) Anyway, this is the shelf above my kitchen sink with my egg collection. I bought my first egg on my honeymoon - the egg beater. My MIL bought me the rest. If you start a collection of anything, or even not start a collection but have one item from a collection, she will find you every single other item that goes with it. It doesn’t matter if they only sell it in one store 13 states over, she will find that item! Anyway, I’ve actually become quite fond of my egg collection and I have 4 shelves full of silly egg things.

Okay, I am going to tag Julie, Karen Beth, and Suz.

Wow, what a title for this post, eh?

First off I must apologize for my blogging break. I am having another bout of…. butt kicking… or whatever it is exactly that pregnancy does to me. I’ll spare you the details, but it’ll suffice to say that I was not having any parties or anything fun like that.

I did however have, let us count them, not only 1, not only 2, but 3 thanksgiving dinners! The first one was delightful…. while it stayed down. I didn’t attempt the second or third. Too gun shy. But the smell of turkey makes me feel so green. And let’s not get me started on what Green Bean Casserole does to me. I actually have never tasted or even seen it. But I had to make it for yesterday’s dinner and can I just ask for the love of all that is good why anyone wants to eat that stuff? Ewwww!

I would just like to say that I posted about being thankful for my husband because I am double, no triple or quadruple thankful for this fine specemin of a man. Actually he shouldn’t even be called a man because he is better than any other man I know. He stayed up all night with me Thanksgiving night while I did disgusting things with bodily fluids (you can stop covering your eyes now, I’m done with the bodily fluid talk) and told me I was beautiful and he still loved me. If I had any doubts about keeping him before, they are definitely gone. (No honey, I didn’t really. That was just for dramatic effect.)

Now how about some linky love, linky love….

Teeny Manolo is giving away 3 great gift certificates to Amazon!

Kailana at an Island Life  is giving away this awesome animal bag from Boon! I’ve never seen anything like it! She’s also giving away a gift cert. from Julian and Company

Look at Karen Beth’s creativity! I’m impressed!

I got a new bed! I got a new bed! I needed a comforter quick. And cheap! This is what I decided on.

cufflinks

A new home
Bed (Our new bed!)
Chemotherapy
Deaconesses at my church (of whom I am part of)
Each day my family and I are granted with health
Forest
Good Friends
Husband
Icecream with chunks of Reese’s PB Cups and Hot Fudge and PB toppings
J. - my sister
Knowing I have enough food to feed my family and never have to worry about it
L. - my husband
My family
Nikki, my SIL
Others in my life who have reached out to me far and above what I’ve expected in the past months
Playgroup Mothers
Quilt my mom made for me before I got married
Remission
Surprise pregnancy
The big back yard I have now
Ultrasounds (to peek at my new little one)
Vehicle (I can’t imagine not having a reliable one)
Warrior
X - Hugs
You!
Zofran!

(I totally stole this idea from Kelly. She did it and I thought it was really fun.)

Happy Thanksgiving to each of you! Hope you have some super good food and are surrounded by those whom you are thankful for!