I had some complaints about auto starting music before, but it's Christmas now & I'm not taking a poll this time. There's just 18 days to deal with it. : )
In other news, I hope to be adding some posts about what we've been doing this evening. I may post-date them in order to keep things in order. So scroll down & take a look around at what he's up to.
Saturday was the annual Ladies Christmas Tea at Grandma's church. This was my second year to attend & I decorated a table again:
We were very colorful, using my Fiesta dishes and Christmas balls as the centerpiece. It was very simple, but I thought it turned out beautiful.
I sat at our table with Grandma & Aunt Wee, while the table next door seated Grana, MawMaw, Aunt Erin, Suzanne, Jan, Kristi & Marlene. I completely forgot to take pictures at the tea this year! To see us at last year's tea, click here. I did take some pictures of the tables when we were up there decorating the night before. They're on my flickr.
We've been busy with Christmas activity around here! I decided I waited too late to make an Advent/Countdown calendar this year, so we went with the traditional Countdown Chain. And the crafts have begun!
And how about this - 5 Minutes for Mom is having an amazing some amazing Christmas giveaways this year... including a $500 Home Depot Gift Card! Wow, that would almost cover a water softener! I've got every appendage crossed that I can manage to cross and am trying to teach the kids how to cross their fingers, too! : )
Is it Christmas yet?
Right before I graduated from college, my best friend & I went by ourselves on a camping trip. We called it SUKA '95 and vowed that every year we would do something special together. Suka has since grown to include husbands on some years and children as we've added them. I'd like to think that by the time our kids are college aged, they'll have some fond memories of Suka get togethers past.
This year was a wonderful visit as always. We shared lots of love, laughter, and back rubs! And the kids enjoyed each other's company, too. We exchanged some Christmas gifts...
and went on an adventure down by the pond while Elizabeth was napping...
We took in some Christmas lights at the park...
And Sarina & David enjoyed warming themselves by the fire!
In my head, I called this year, "Bump" because my best friend & I, in addition to having the other kids within a few months of each other, are also both pregnant again. I could kick myself for failing to take a picture of the two of us together. I think this was the first time we got together when we both had the baby bumps showing. You'll just have to imagine it in your head.
Click for SUKA '07
The water guy came out to test the water today. He found no sulfur, but I always thought the water smelled like metal, not like sulfur. His iron test showed 2 parts per million, even after going through Dad's whole house filter he'd installed. So he guessed that it might be 3 ppm if it wasn't going through the filter.
Then he did a calcium test. He had to keep adding his drops into the water, waiting for the color to change. Drop, drop, drop... Finally the water changed, which showed 50 grains. Combined together, that gave us a hard water score of 60 grains. He said usually when he tests & finds hard water, the score is about 10-15 grains. We have extremely hard water.
That's why I smelled metal & the toilet tanks already have brown film inside (iron). That's why the dishwasher element turned white after the first wash, I have to clean the dishes after washing them, and I have to clean all the fixtures every day to keep them from getting white crust (calcium).
How is it that Grandpa has such good tasting, very soft water just a few miles away?
I assembled the tree the day after Thanksgiving. Got it lit & decorated the next day. Then Dad added the star the next day after that!
OK, here's the deal - the outlet mall opened at 11pm Thanksgiving night!
Carter's had already sent me an email about their sale starting at midnight - 50% or more off every item in the store. Shoppers arriving between midnight-10AM got a coupon for another 10% off your entire purchase... while the coupon supply lasted. And on top of that, I found a coupon from the Star-Telegram for a $10 gift card to any store in the outlet mall, while supplies lasted. So...The jacket & vest, two little shirts for Elizabeth, a dirt cheap skirt for next summer, a pack of truck underwear, and an adorable pair of tights = about $20 after all discounts.
My first midnight sale & keeping MawMaw out way past her bedtime = priceless.
So then I came home & napped... because now I didn't need to be at WM at 5am fighting the crowds to get a cheap WM brand coat that may or may not have lasted. But because I love my husband, and we saw that Target had the game he wanted for half the usual price, I got up again at 4:45 and headed to the Wax store.
I arrived in the parking lot at 5:30. They opened at 6am. The line waiting to get into the store was down to the garden center doors at the Lowe's next door. So, I parked over there & got in line. Everyone seemed to be chipper. As people started pouring in behind me, I heard them talking about how awful their experiences were at WM earlier.
Then a guy came down the line giving everyone in line a coupon for a free chicken biscuit from Chick-fil-a. Don't you just love them!??!? Then some Lowe's employees came out into the garden center getting ready for their opening at 6am. One of them hollered out, "You know, some of y'all could come over to our store!" The other hollered, "Hey, one of you guys pull me out a TV & save it for me, OK?"
5:55am - The frigid air becomes filled with drizzle. A crowd starts to form close to the doors of the store. People who've been waiting in line start to get agitated. The lone security guard is loosing.
6am - The doors open. The line starts filing inside and a pack of about 30 people who were not in line bolt toward the door. People are more agitated & start hollering things I won't repeat. People from the back of the line started sprinting, passing people who've been waiting longer. I got in as quickly as I could. No, I did not run. I went straight to electronics.
The game was all gone. The game system was all gone. I left empty handed.
My sleep-deprived, pregnant self was about to start crying when I remembered the free chicken biscuit. I was starting to feel better with some chicken & Diet Coke in my system. Then Silent Night came on the radio, I sang along & enjoyed the rest of my morning - I sang Christmas carols with the radio all the way home, I thought about how blessed we are and how I know I am more blessed than the people who ran & pushed & shoved & grabbed up what my husband wanted. I enjoyed the beauty of a deserted county road with fall colors and falling leaves, and the fact that I was going home to my own house. I moved all the boxes that were still stacked where the Christmas tree will go.
A couple of hours later, when everyone else got up, Dad & I decided to try another Target for his game. They were also out, but I was able to get a rain check, so even when the game goes back up to full price, I can still get it for half-off. The checker at that store mentioned that another store that was just 4 miles up the road was rumored to still have the game system. So we went on.
I'm happy to report that after Dad had saved for the game system for 2 years now, I got the last one they had at the 3rd Target of the morning! And that it came with a free $60 Target card... which I can now use when I go back with my rain check... making Dad's game absolutely free, with gift card to spare!
So overall, Black Friday was a success for me! And guess what - the system came with Pac-Man! And 2 kid games that I've already listed on eBay!
This is just a teaser... but Black Friday started already around here! : ) I've already come back home! And yes, the time stamp is correct!!! Stay tuned for more details...
I know it's not Thanksgiving yet, but bear with me for just a moment...
I've been wishing for a kid-friendly advent calendar for a few years now, but have never found one that I just fell in love with. Growing up, we made a countdown chain out of construction paper every year. Here's the chain we made last year, but with preschoolers, it usually end's up being Mom's chain. Making it & tearing off just one loop every day didn't seem to hold their attention.
This year, all these great homemade ideas have just fallen into my lap... so I may start thinking about making one! Not sure when I'll do that with boxes to unpack, Christmas presents & curtains still needing to be made, decorating & baking to be done! Here's a few links for those of you that may be wondering what you're going to do for yours:
So what does your family do for advent / countdown to Christmas?
