My Holiday Coupon Success!

Man the holidays are a busy time!  I'm finding that my poor little blog is taking a backseat to cookie baking, present wrapping, and online gift shopping.  But I'm happy to say that the majority of my gifts are purchased and wrapped, so next week will hopefully be a little less nutty.

I've been pretty impressed with my budgeting abilities this holiday season.  I've always been one for looking for bargains, but this year I've REALLY been paying attention for great deals and coupons and online coupon codes.  As it stands now, if you combine my savings using coupons, coupon codes, and the Black Friday deals, I have saved $218.22.  I have also received $50 worth of gift cards for purchases that I made and was able to put towards additional holiday gifts.  And that does not include sales (other than Black Friday) or any other bargains, of which I've been able to find many.  So yeah, I'm pretty proud of myself.  This is the first year I've really tried to take advantage of coupons and coupon codes, and I think it's paid off.  I've been doing Black Friday for several years now, and that's one of the best ways to save on some great gifts.  You don't have to go at midnight to get those deals either, especially if you aren't looking for the high ticket electronics items.

And since my shopping is pretty much finished, and my gifts are nearly all wrapped (don't hate me!!) I'm looking forward to spending next week ENJOYING Christmas time for a change.  And by "enjoying" I mean baking a gazillion different foods and cleaning my house like a mad woman.  Ahhhh, the holidays....

A Note to Family and Friends:

Dear Family and Friends that will be giving or getting presents to or from us:

I want to apologize for the crinkled or ripped paper.  The missing or deformed bows.  The bent or warped boxes.  The random puzzle pieces that may have fallen into your gift bag.  And, of course, any broken, damaged or otherwise destroyed Christmas gifts.

I have an (almost) two year old.

Sincerest Apologies,

Kyla

As I finished writing this he grabbed a bat and started beating one of the boxes.  I'm really sorry guys....

Barbie Basics

I was shopping today, and while leaving the store with a few Christmas gifts in hand, I happened to see a table of Barbies as I was walking out of the store.  I caught them out of the corner of my eye, but I forced myself to pause, and take a better look.  They were a line of Barbies called Barbie Basics.  Barbie was wearing the perfect little black dress.

And I smiled. 

I had an Aunt that loved everything Barbie.  She worshipped Barbie.  She must have had a zillion Barbies in her collection before she passed away, all gently held and dressed, with hair and clothes in perfect condition.  Her face was the first thing that came to mind when I saw that Barbie.  She would have loved it.

My Aunt passed away a few years ago, she was young, but had lived surprisingly long life.  Both mentally and physically handicapped, she had a funny side, a spoiled side and a gentle side.  My sister and I loved to make her mad when we were younger, and tease her about boyfriends when we were older.  We were never mean spirited, and I think she liked the attention.  And her Barbie collection was legendary.

Thinking about her today, and that Barbie, made me smile.  A nice thoughtful moment to interrupt my Christmas shopping.

And I almost went back to buy the Barbie.

A Fun Website!

So yesterday I came across the website goodreads.com.  It appears to be the perfect website for me.  Basically, you set up an account, select your favorite genres, and rate books you've already read.  Once you have rated a big group of books, the website generates recommendations based on what you liked.

PERFECT!

I'm always trying to figure out what to read and just looking at bookshelves in stores or the library can be overwhelming and time consuming.  While not every book the site recommended to me looks like something I would enjoy, it suggested quite a few that I'd forgotten I wanted to read, and many others that do look enjoyable.  And since the site saves my list of "To Reads" and "Recommendations", anytime I find myself in need of a recommendation I can just log in to my account and find something that appeals to me, and is available at the library.

Again, PERFECT!

I'm so excited to find this site.  So excited.  And while it will never be as good as, or as thoughtful as recommendations from friends and family that know me, this will be a wonderful tool when I'm in a pinch, and an even better tool for keeping my "to read" list organized.

Woohoo!  Bring on the books!!

Oh...Christmas Tree

Well, I'm almost embarrassed to post a picture of our Christmas Tree.  But, because it's soooo ridiculous, I'm going to go ahead and share.

As always, we are trying to pinch pennies this holiday, and while I much prefer a live Christmas Tree to a fake one, the prices can be kind of ridiculous.  This year I saw an ad that the Limerick Fire Department was selling trees at a local tree farm, any size for $20.  It appeared to be a cut and carry arrangement, so we decided to give it a go.

As a note, there is a difference between a local tree farm and a local Christmas tree farm.

The trees at this farm were all 20-30 feet tall.  We were told to choose anyone we'd like and they top it and cut it to size and strap it to the car.  Determined to stick to our $20 Christmas tree budget, we decided to make the best of it and see what we could find.

Another note, the tops of trees look different when they are 20 feet in the air.

We picked out a tree top that was relatively straight, had only one tree top, and wasn't filled with pine cones.  The firemen cut it to size and tied it to the roof of our car.  They accidentally tied the doors shut at the same time, so I had to crawl in through the back, but that was minor.

When we got the tree home all we could do was laugh.  It is perhaps the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen.  The addition of lights and ornaments have not helped this poor tree.

So while everyone else is sharing beautiful pictures of their full trees with beautiful lights and decorative ornaments, I can contribute my scraggly, scrawny, unevenly lit, unevenly decorated, Christmas monstrosity.

Fortunately we all have a good sense of humor.

Polar Express!

Choo Choo!!!  Last night we took Ben on the Polar Express at Portland's Narrow Gauge Railroad.  I got the tickets a few weeks ago for 50% off, and was really excited about kicking off the Holiday season with a train ride.  Since this is Ben's first Christmas as a walking, talking, kiddo, I've been eager to get him involved in festive things so he can start to get excited!  And boy was he excited!

We met my mom at the train station and had a few minutes to play on the little wooden train inside.  For a kid who doesn't spend a lot of time around other kids, Ben did a really nice job playing, and didn't kick, punch or push any of the other little kids (phew!).

We boarded the train (coach tickets, we're not classy enough for first class) and found a seat on a not-too-packed car.  The Christmas music was blasting through the speakers and Ben was in heaven.  He had his coat off and was bouncing up and down within minutes.  I asked him if he was excited and he threw his arms in the air and went YAAAAAYYY!!! 

The train started to move but after only a few minutes we had a stop and were boarded by "elves" who brought us chocolate chip cookies and hot cocoa.  Yum yum!  The conductors passed through collecting our tickets and gave the kiddos special golden tickets.  After the tickets were punched, the elves moved through with special jingle bells for everyone.  When the train started moving again, Chris Van Allsburg's The Polar Express was read to us through the speakers and we listened and ate and jingled our bells until the train stopped again at the North Pole and was boarded by Santa Claus!

Santa made his way through all the cars giving hugs to all the kids and wishing them a Merry Christmas.  Then Santa said his goodbyes and the train chugged back to the station.

It was short and sweet but very exciting to all the little kids on the train.  For an evening adventure with an almost two year old, it was perfect. 

Not Very Crafty...

Plan:  Get Ben up from his nap, trace his hand onto some felt, cut it out, decorate it with googly eyes and ribbon and make a cute Christmas ornament for Auntie Kelsey.

Reality:  Get Ben up from nap, trace his hand onto some felt, discover that scissors can't cut felt, find new scissors, discover Ben would rather eat glue than touch glue, glue the googly eyes myself, discover that glue does not stick to felt, force glue and felt to form an unwholesome chemical bond, watch googly eyes fall off anyway, attach ribbon with glue, watch it fall off, attempt to punch a hole in felt to tie ribbon through, jam hole punch, rip felt ornament trying to un-jam hole punch, throw crafts away.

No, I'm NOT Martha Stewart.