Stocking Stuffer…. Schedule?!

Ok, so this post is more of an accountability thing than anything…. to make myself stick to it…. but if the idea helps or inspires one person like me, then it is worth typing.

Here’s the skinny – every year, I start Christmas shopping in October.  There are a few things I buy throughout the year, but for the most part, its October.

By Thanksgiving, I always say to myself, “Holy Crap!  The stockings!”  Stocking have always been a big deal in our house, and they are filled with stuff that’s no more than 10 bucks per item, but the problem is that many of the items ARE 5 to 10 bucks per item.  Yanno, razors (holy moly why are razors and blades so expensive?!?!) and specialty soaps, funky socks, makeup, small tools, etc.

Point being, by the time I fill 5 stockings (for the hubby, two teen boys, and my parents) it is a honking big expense.  And since I don’t think of it til the Macy’s Day Parade, I always only have 2 paychecks til Santa is supposed to be hanging these things.  This year was a tight economic year for us, so there were some things I wanted to put in the stockings that I just had to leave out.

SO.  This year, I got all OCD on myself, and made a schedule of stocking stuffers.  The plan is to spend about 20 or 30 bucks a month on specific items for the 5 stockings, with the hopes that by Thanksgiving, I won’t go into panic mode.  (20 to 30 bucks sounds like a lot – per month, but divided by 5, it’s really not that much- not to mention some months won’t be nearly that much.)

I won’t bore you with the entire list, but just enough for you to get the jist.

January – Any small exercise equipment like jump ropes, exercise videos, etc.  January retailers lean towards either organizational items or exercise stuff (for all those New Years resolutions) so I try to find any little specialty items like that.

February – heart shaped post it notes, etc.  Stuff that they sell for Valentines Day.

March – all razors and shaving items.  That should take up my monthly budget plus some.

September – mini flashlights, glycerine soaps.

October – candles

Etc.

I tried to plan items that might be available or on sale due to the specific time of year.  For months that don’t have anything specific like that, I chose the other fillers.  Hair items, office supplies, make up, etc.

I left the items with a shorter shelf life to put towards the end of the year.  Food, candy, even makeup.  I put candles at the end of the year, so I don’t have to worry about them melting with shipping.

I also tried to keep the most expensive items towards the beginning of the year, since anything after about July I’m spending tons of bucks on our Halloween haunt, and October forward I’m buying the big Christmas gifts.

I have a big box in the bottom of my closet, with 5 bags in it, labeled with each family members name.  As I buy the stocking stuffers, I put them straight into the bags, so I wont lose anything over the next year.  Yes, I have already bought stuff. 

Anyways, now that I’m putting it on the blog, I hope someone will email me in like April and ask what I have bought.  I really, really, really hope this works!

Good Grief!

Holy moly I have been away for a long time!  Lets recap:

• Spent my Fairy Hobmother money on smutty romance novels, that kept me away from the computer for a while...   
• Got pneumonia.  Wow, that was a lot of fun. 
• Two weeks after getting back to work from my pneumonia vacation, my mouth started hurting so bad I refused to open it to eat, talk, or breathe, so I went to the dentist who took my wisdom teeth out.  Don't wait til you are 40 to do that, I'm just sayin.  It made pneumonia look like a cake walk. 

  No models were harmed in this portrayal of sheer painful widom tooth terror.
• Became addicted to Pinterest.  1385 pins later, I remembered I had a blog. 
• Had a little party in my front yard at Halloween.  Some of yall might remember, my hubby and I are weird like that.  If you are interested in seeing what people do when they are sad they can no longer take their kids (who are now teen agers) trick or treating any more - go to Nickols Manor page. 
• Oh, got addicted to Scentsy.  No, that didn't stop me from blogging, I just thought I was listing all my recent faults and failures here.  :) 

I baked a ton for Thanksgiving, ate very little (the wisdom teeth thing was just last week) got home last night at midnight, took a 3 hour nap and then we Black Friday'd all day today.  Think I will go hibernate until tomorrow, when it's time to drag out the tree.

Kohl's had my favorite Black Friday deals, if anyone still has shopping to do.

If anyone is on Pinterest, I would love to have some more friends to follow - leave a link for me in the comments, so I can see what y'all are up to over there!

Yes Virginia, There is a Fairy Hobmother!

I'm sure you have already heard of the Fairy Hobmother, from Appliances Online.  He is known to flit around the Blogosphere, and sprinkle fairy dust in the Comments section of blog posts, sending prizes, and generally spreading cheer.

I heard about him last week on this post of Debbie's.  She said to have a chance to win, leave a comment with a wish.  So I left my wish.  It happened to be a wish (and a prayer) for a poster above me with much bigger wishes than I could have.

A few days later, I got an email from The Fairy Hobmother, who sent me a $30 Amazon Gift Card.   I can't tell you how shocked I was, I never imagined being one of the ones chosen!

I can only tell you that if you Google "The Fairy Hobmother" you will see many winners - typically  Amazon Gift Cards here in the states, while the denominations are all different.   It really is an amazing concept.

Did I also mention that while my official wish was for another, it just HAPPENED to rain buckets in Dallas over the weekend, so I think the Fairy Hobmother is telepathic as well.   ;)

To continue the tradition, The Fairy Hobmother will be visiting the comments section of this post to find other lucky people to bestow some magic upon.  Who knows, you could be next!

Thank you Fairy Hobmother!

Wow.

There just has to be something said for today being Dallas' 68th day over 100 degrees. 

My plants are dead, as is my lawn.  My foundation will never be the same.  The lake that I live on has boat docks literally sitting on dry land.  Where has my lake gone?!? 

I hate cooking in the heat.  No new recipes lately.  I hate going in the garage in the heat.  No new projects.  No new projects means nothing new for the house, and nothing new for Halloween so far, either.

Depression starts to set in at some point - the entire town is cranky, and little annoyances like long lines at the supermarket almost make us break out in a brawl.

My blogs have gone dormant, as have my outdoor activities.

Tomorrow, the 100s are supposed to break, with a cool front from up North that is supposed to take us to 94.  I know, some of you would still think thats hot.  Dallas, we are BEGGING for it.  We havent had a LOW temperature under the 80s in months.  We SO need this temp change.

The hurricane in the Gulf is not supposed to bring us any rain - which we desperately need as so many acres of land are burning at this moment due to wildfires. 

There.  I almost made myself feel better, just talking about it.  Heavens knows, you can't talk about it to your neighbors, its just not nice to make people cry!  *chuckle*

MOVING ON!

I hope you are all doing well - for the next 60 days I should be appearing at Nickols Manor exclusively, as we get ready for our annual yard haunt.  Our entrance columns and fence should go up in about 2 weeks, with the Countdown to Halloween sign for our neighbors, then the entire Haunt should be up for display by the weekend of October 1st.   Lets see if the heat will allow us to stay on schedule.  I will be back here in November for more wacky-ness!

One last thing.  I have a good blogging friend, Nita from Mod Vintage Life that has just lost a beloved pet that is more like a son to her than a pet.  She made a post about it here that just shows such raw emotion - it ripped my heart out.  If you have ever experienced a loss like this, please consider going to her page and letting her know that all of us in the blogging community are keeping her in our thoughts and prayers.  She has not made a post since letting us know about it on August 28th, and I just want to send some positive wishes her way.

Everyone stay safe, duck those hurricanes, enjoy Fall football, and if you are interested in Halloween at all - you know where I will be!

Why You Should Never Decoupage Your Fridge.

In your mind, the question might be why WOULD anyone ever decoupage their fridge.

To that, I answer - "I understand.  It's a bit odd".  But I'm all for color, and NOT all for little tiny specs of rust on a 30 year old white Kenmore fridge.  It looked like someone had done the toothbrush in rust paint trick, and there were tiny pin point sized dots of rust that would NEVER wipe off, no matter how many times I unconsciously tried.

There is no Before pic, people - it was too hard to see.  Just imagine a really old fridge.  Then one day, I was bored, and had the house to myself for a good 12 hours.  Just long enough to do this and be in bed asleep before the Hubby and Boys came home to see what I had done.

Scrapbook paper + Mod Podge + about 4 or 5 hours total = No rust spots.

Ok, so I liked it - the Hubby and kids liked it - My mother on the other hand, thought I was nuts.  But that was ok, she thinks everything I do is nuts, LOL.  I mean - it was just for us, no one else would really see it - I don't entertain in my kitchen.... hardly ever, LOL.  It hid the rust, it made me smile, and all was good in the world.  For about 2 weeks.  (And now, Why You Should Never Decoupage Your Fridge).....

Then it started making a noise like a small donkey being tortured inside the freezer.  Seriously, high pitched.  That lasted 4 days before I decided that I had to get a new fridge.  (Do I think the decoupage had more to do with the fridge dying than the fact that it was 30 years old?  Yes.  Karma.  Mama says you shouldn't do something like this, and suddenly - look what happens.  LOL)

So the new one was delivered today.   That led to Jayson taking pictures of my fridge for me, pulled away from the wall (as in the first pic) in order to move it out.  So.... in come the delivery men.  One little snicker, then two, as they loaded it on the dolly.  Who would ever decoupage their fridge, then expect strange men to be looking at it from an inch away?  Not me, that's who.

Wait, here's the best part.  One guy unloaded my pretty new black fridge onto the street.  Then they rolled out my Ice Box de Mod Podge and rolled it out to the truck.  Did they immediately put it up INTO the truck?  No.  They put it on the truck dolly at ground level, then began unwrapping the new one.  Jayson thought the old one looked so odd out there that he ran out to take a pic. 

  See them next to the old one, unwrapping the new one?

He was rushing to take the pic, because surely this would be the last time we saw ol' Mod Podge, right?  They would be lifting it into the truck in just a sec, right?

No, no.  It sat out there, just like this for 45 minutes.  My little dog was barking a storm at the delivery guys, so I took him out in the front for a walk - just to give our ears a break.  And in a short span of 10 minutes, I counted four cars that came to a complete stop next to this fridge.  I feel bad for my neighbors - people probably thought it was theirs!  Ya just gotta laugh. 

And just for the record - I have a grown up Refrigerator now.  The French Door Style is hard to get used to - but we are loving it. 

And the flowers you see on the island?  A mix of gorgeous lilies (my favorite)... Stargazer Lilies can fill a room like no other flower I have ever smelled.  I got these and an adorable card from my boys - This was one of my luckiest weekends in a long time.

Happy Mother's Day to my own incredible Mama - my Mom, best friend, confidant, my everything :)  And Happy Mother's Day to all my friends in blog land - I hope you smiled today. 

And..... don't decoupage your fridge.  :D