beverly

I also had a great time at Target - although I am glad I got there when I did (6:30). I got the last of a couple things they brought out of the back rooms for me.

OK, so mine wasn't a big ticket item, the Star Wars X-Wing legos at TRU. I would have been there in time if my lovely MIL hadn't insisted that I waste half an hour looking for her in the Meyer & Frank line because she showed up late and then forgot to get her cell phone out of the car and then needed to whine to me about how she really needed me to stand in line with her (I was dropping off two of my kids as a favor already) so that she could get a fifteen dollar gift certificate to buy my christmas present with. What? I wanted to tell her to just be a cheap witch and get me a package of ugly socks again! I just can't figure this woman out at all. She insists on shopping at the most expensive store in the mall, whines to me about how my husband & I are crappy parents because I stay at home and he doesn't make enough money to buy our kids a bunch of unnessessary crap or a new car or whatever the money issue of the moment is, but she wants to spoil my kids' Christmas (they went with her so that she could buy them clothes at the above mentioned store and earn it by standing in line for their $15 gift certificates) by telling me that instead getting the kids something they really want, I need to take care of what she wants to do. This is of course after I asked her if she was going out and she told me no, so I invited her to go with me. What a mistake! I hope she feels like an idiot because she was something close to 500th in line, so she wouldn't get any gift certificates anyway and then my kids hated all the slutty clothes that she wanted to buy them! Arg! I should have known better than to try and invite her to do anything with my family - it always ends up with something stupid to hurt my feelings or keep me from taking care of the kids so that she can do it her way. If I would have kept my mouth shut and let the older kids go to TRU while I hit Walmart and Target like I had originally planned, things would have gone just fine. It's not like she actually needs the discount. She is getting one present from my FIL that covers my whole budget for 5 kids. You would think she might clue into that since she tells me all the time how wrong it is for my husband and I not to dump our kids off to be raised by other people so that we can make enough money to look as pretentious and cool as she does. Why do I try when all she cares about is money? Can she not get a clue that she rarely sees her grandkids because it always turns into a gripefest about how we don't spend enough money on our kids (one kid had to pay her own way to camp because her dad and I could only pay for one summer camp, not the three different ones she wanted -so we're bad parents. Our 8 year old only got a good quality cd player for her birthday and a homemade cake instead of a lot of presents and some nasty buttercream covered concoction - so we're bad parents.) OK I'm done venting now. Thank you all for putting up with this, my poor husband doesn't need to hear it again, he knows it better than I do.

quarter after 1 here.... Waiting unyil the baby goes back to sleep so that I can make coffee and pack the car to leave at about 2:30.

Roosevelt? (Franklin) when we entered WW2? Am I right? Do I get a prize? lol... So much cleverness here! Maybe I'll catch some.

Turkey; vegetable pie (for brother's vegetarian gf), baked squash; mashed taters; fruit salad, rolls; 3 big veggie trays with fun dips/sauces; chocolate cream, cherry, apple, lemon merangue and pumpkin pies; carot raisin salad; deviled eggs; some nasty Jello concoction; chocolate chip cookies and snickerdoodles. And some tuaca & cider and pumpkin milkshakes.

Cookie dough freezes great - don't freeze your chocolate candies. For drop cookies like oatmeal or chocolate chip, you can use ice cube trays and pop them out and into bags when they are all stiff. My husband's bachelor friends like these in tins still frozen. Then they can bake up a few at a time in the toaster oven and have fresh homemade cookies that are still warm from the oven whenever they want.

OK - maybe my kids are weird - Maybe it's cause they don't watch TV 16 yo dd Hand crocheted gloves A nice sushi set Cell Phone Light Saber (Red) Socks Blankets Books Movies CD's Pants Anything Checked 13 yo dd Legos Movies Light Saber Anything Star Wars New curtains "infinity of" mini DV tapes Pants (she can't ever find any to fit because she is 5'11 and not real round) Sweaters that must be from Good Will (?) Anything Polka Dotted 8 yo dd Porceline (sp) dolls CD's Pants Doll clothes Strawberry Shortcake stuff Charms for her bracelet A Detective kit Red Sparkly Shoes like Dorothy in the Wizard of OZ

lol... I thought that only happened in my car! What I really want and can never find any more is some CHRISTmas paper. Angels, mangers, wise men... Other than that, each kid gets their own color of ribon and Santa delivers in Santa paper.

I once drove 70 miles to BF shop through the snow! Left at 11 pm, got there in time to get a coffee and hit the lines at 2 am. Fun fun Fun! Glad we moved.

If you wear tights or nylons under your jeans, it still works pretty well. Then just bring a skirt to slip into later - or look all hippie chick like me and just wear the skirt over your jeans too.

Star Wars Millenium Falcon Lego Set at Target is $49.99. Walmart site says they carry it. Chutes & Ladders, Candy Land, Cuties, etc are all 3.88 at Target also. Just a little cheaper than the 2 for $10 at Walmart and you don't have to get a pack - you can choose what you want. Hope that helps - Also Fred Meyer ran a coupon in their circular that gives 20% off ALL camcorder and video tapes until the 26th. Do they honor coupons as part of price matching?

I'm a SAHM, but I homeschool all my kids. My highschooler will have to work on her correspondence school classes, but she only spends a couple hours a day anyhow. My middleschooler has to write one essay, finish watching the last half of Roots, three algebra lessons and a chemistry experiment (that reminds me - I need to go buy some distilled water). My 2nd grader does a virtual school, so we are stick with a full work load until Thanksgiving day. And there's the baby too! Both Grandmas want to steal the kids for cleaning and baking all week on top of that! Thankfully, we had my second grader's birthday party over the weekend, so my house is relatively tidy and I can cook and teach at the same time LOL. The whole family is getting ready though - planning snacks, getting our lists ready, etc. We'll do our final planning Thursday after dinner. I can't wait.

Wow! Another great spot to stop! I am really starting to get excited about this!

My mom is so excited to be back home in Oregon to shop with us, she is taking me and the older kids out to a champaign brunch at some shmancy hotel. I am so spoiled this year!

So there is a local store that does a pre Thanksgiving $2 toy sale. I asked my husband to stop and get 1 specific toy for our 8 year old daughter (a Kelly Tea Party Doll). He came home with every doll in the collection (6), 4 Matchbox sets, 3 Megabloc action figure sets, 3 different Mr. Potato Heads, and every Fisher Price or other toddler toy (8 more toys). Why? He was so proud of himself! It doesn't matter that our baby won't be able to use any of the toys until his birthday in June, that our 8 year old only wanted the Kelly doll or that no one else has any use for a potato head! He's dangerous! We wouldn't eat again until March if he was really in charge of shopping. Then again, I can't send him out for groceries either (we're still working on the 50 lb bag of rice that was such a great deal when he bought it 3 years ago). Lol... Any others who have wildly divergent shopping patterns than their SO?