Kibit13

My dad loves the micro helicopters too. Our dog, not so much! I wish we could find one that he could use outside. I'm getting my Dad a 6qt Presto Pressure Cooker for Christmas. He has been wanting one for a couple of years. I am also putting a few bags of dried beans in his stocking! Does your Dad work outside at all? I saw some fleece or flannel lined LL Bean jeans. (Woolrich makes them too) I am getting a pair for when I walk my dog in our frigid winter temps. I am looking at them for my Dad too. LL Bean Fleece Lined Jeans $49.95 Free shipping. No minimum. Until Dec 20 http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/23962?from=SR&feat=sr LL Bean Flannel Lined Jeans $49.95 Free shipping. No minimum. Until Dec 20 http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/23958?from=SR&feat=sr Woolrich Flannel Lined Jeans $69.00 http://www.woolrich.com/woolrich/browse/productDetail.jsp?icParent=subCategory&icCategory=cat10008&icProduct=1969&icSort=

You should get her the book New Good Food by Margret Wittenberg, there is a pocket guide too. I have both books and they are wonderful. The book tells you about all types of grains, nuts, seeds (like Quinoa). The book talks about different ingredients and how to cook them and would be very helpful for someone eating a vegan diet. http://www.amazon.com/New-Good-Food-rev-Ingredients/dp/1580087507/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1288231970&sr=8-1 I don't have any recipes for you, but I think a dish like stuffed butternut squash would be good. Here is a recipe for Roasted Acorn Squash with Squash Risotto and a recipe for Tomatoes Provencal. Roasted Acorn Squash with Squash Risotto http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/1759 Tomatoes Provencal http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/1375 By the way a few of my good friends are vegetarian and they do not like Tofurky. :)

doublehsmom's post reminded me of the photo books that you can make on Shutterfly. They are so cool! I am getting a necklace for my Mom from etsy that has our names on it. Super cute and inexpensive too! http://www.etsy.com/listing/48580956/sterling-silver-handstamped-personalized?ref=sr_list_14&ga_search_query=mom+sterling+silver&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=&order=&includes[0]=tags&includes[1]=title http://www.etsy.com/listing/58258860/trinketssterling-silver-hand-stamped http://www.etsy.com/listing/59122235/more-mixed-upsterling-silver-hand

My Mom and I were watching The Santa Clause and The Santa Clause 2 last night. When I looked over at my husbands iPad and the calendar said the 25th. At that moment I realized that it is now 2 months until Christmas!!! I have a decent amount of gifts purchased. I am almost finished shopping for our out-of-town relatives. I know what I'm getting for my Dad (6qt Pressure Cooker) I have ideas for my Mom and I have half of the gifts for my brother. It looks like I'll be beginning my gift wrapping soon! I am also thinking about how I am going to decorate this year and we will be bringing some Christmas decorations to the consignment shop. (We have more than we could ever use) We have thanksgiving dinner planned and we are working on Christmas dinner. I am sure I have a lot more to do, but right now I am happy with what I have accomplished for Christmas 2010. Are you excited about Christmas? Do you feel like you have a good plan for the holidays? HAPPY 2 MONTHS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!! Only 61 more days!!!:holiday03

My Mom is visiting and we watched A Christmas Story the other day and Christmas Unwrapped: The History of Christmas http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0251021/ Which was very interesting. We also watched a short film that was included as a special feature on our Christmas in Connecticut dvd it was a modern story of Jesus's birth. Modern for 1945/

I think it also depends on the area where you shop on BF. My area is slow and there are not a lot of people waiting in line or pushing and shoving.

I just saw ZhuZhu pets in the Walmart toy ad. I didn't realize they are still popular. I have seen them at Big Lots (I believe they were 2 for $8 the other day) I also saw them on sale at Build-a-Bear and a few other stores.

They have these on sale for the same price at their store too. We also found some college team t-shirts for $4.99. I am not sure how long it is going for, but yesterday at the store you could get a free subscription to Sports Illustrated. Now I am not sure if it was because of my friend using her rewards card when we checked out or if they were giving it to everyone. I didn't pick up any of the sweatshirts, but they looked really nice. My husband has a ton of Nike team sweatshirts that have held up very well and these sweatshirts look and feel similar.

Which App did you get? This would be perfect for me. I hate carrying around heavy notebooks while I am out shopping during the Christmas season. I have also begun taking pictures of presents I have that need something to go with it. For instance I found a cute necklace for my Mom and I am looking for earrings to go with it. I took a picture of the necklace and have it on my ipod touch (my husbands old iphone) and when I see earrings that might work with the necklace I pull up the picture and look at how well they go together. I just started doing this and it works really well. Adding a Christmas List App will make it even more efficient.

They had some really cool Lego sets in the TRU "Great Big Christmas Book". These are Star Wars themed. I think my brother would LOVE the AT-AT and he is 35! http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/tru.php?page=47

This year I am buying for 22 people, but twelve of those people are couples (6 couples) and they are getting family gifts. We also buy angel tree gifts and I will know how many we are buying for when the trees go up.

How cool! I am so glad your family knew how much you would love him and brought him in to your family.

My brother wants a $249 Warhammer paint and accessory set. SMH!

When my husband and I got married my Mom made stockings for DH and I for our home. My Mom has my original stocking that she made when I was a baby and she made one for my husband that she keeps at the house too. When my brother left she kept his original and made him a new one too. Every Christmas she hangs all of our stockings. She even sends a few stocking stuffers for DH and I and my brother and we do the same for my parents. When we moved out we got together with Mom and picked out ornaments that we wanted for our tree and Mom gave us some new ornaments too. I would include everyone on the "Our Family" ornament. You, DH, DS, DD and SIL. I think your daughter will like it a lot. :)

We've decided to go with the original retail price when I buy gifts. So if I set a limit of $25 per person and I find a gift that has an original retail value/price of $25-40, and I am able to get it for $15-20 (or less) than I will buy the gift and then be finished with that person even if I haven't spent $25. Then I put the leftover money back in the bank. This is my first Christmas shopping/buying/giving this way. I used to spend every last drop of the $25 and give gifts that had an original retail value of at least $50+ dollars. Last year I spent $30 on my niece and the original retail price came to $150. (Robeez, Gymboree, DKNY) The reason I have stopped doing this is we've been making people uncomfortable with the amount that we are giving. Their words, not mine. I have explained that I always look for good deals when I shop and that we do not go over budget, but I don't think anyone in DH's family believes that we can find $150 worth of quality gifts for $30. When we do gift exchanges with a specific limit they always think that we go over the limit even though we don't and most likely spent less than they did. I have also heard that people felt uncomfortable giving us a $25 gift when the gift we gave them was a $50+ gift. I'm not sure why this is the case, but I am going to do my best to stick to or close to the original retail price. I don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable about a gift we give :) at least with DH's family. My family knows how I shop and they love it. Heck, my Mom taught me and after we open our gifts we will sometimes say, "OMG, I got such a great deal on this!" Has anyone else had this issue? Quite frankly I am not sure how anyone shops for the holidays without looking for an awesome deal!

Thank you. That is so sweet of you to say! I am a bit nervous, I've never made four books at one time. My Mom just drove in from Ohio and she is going to help me! :) Gotta love mom's! We are going to a craft show this weekend and I hope to find a unique piece for each book. I really think the books will be great for my MIL's grandchildren to get to know her. I know she would want that.

I don't have children, but I do get this way for the people that we buy for. I think it's natural. You want to give gifts that you believe the person will enjoy so when you are "done" and you see something else that you know they will love then you want to give that to them too. I am trying to get away from this especially with my niece and nephews. Last year I kept finding stuff for my niece and since it was her first Christmas and she is the only girl besides the SIL's in a family filled with boys I could not resist buying her all of these cute girly clothes. The problem then became that I wanted the nephew's gifts to be even with her gifts. Ugh! This year I am sticking with a set number of gifts and doing my best to stick to it. (It's hard. Little girls are so much fun to shop for!) I decided to do this after looking back at Christmas last year. I was so stressed about gifts. I wanted everything to be perfect and the amount and quality of the gifts to be equal, etc..... We shouldn't stress about gifts, it isn't any fun. Maybe you feel this way because you have finished shopping early and it is only October? It does sound like you have done a great job and I am sure everyone will love what you give them. Just think, since you are finished shopping you will be able to enjoy the holiday season more.You all can take in a holiday play, bake cookies and enjoy this time with your family. The best gift of all. :)

I use my ipod touch and notebook for this now. I am the same way. I have to know which way a storm is moving. I used to use a weather radio, but it would take 30 minutes or longer to get back to my town and then it was just a quick bit of information.

Were you able to speak with anyone in management? Try emailing them to see what they say. If you do not get any help there maybe you could find a friend that would like to buy them from you. You could even try to exchange them for the other shirts without a receipt. I could understand if you were trying to return them, but you were exchanging them. Even if you had returned them, you still paid for part of it with your debit card. Unfortunately I have been reading more and more bad things about Sears customer service.

I looked at the store and they have some cute things. I remember browsing here last year and they had some nice deals on some blankets and such. The store says it is for Plus Sizes. The models look like normal healthy women. When did normal, healthy women become plus sized?

I have my niece and nephews almost finished. Boy13, Long sleeve Nike team dri-fit shirt ($10 Marshals, was $40 at sports store!) $10 itunes card (free). B/4 T-shirt of his fav football team ($6.99 Marshals) and I still need to pick up a stuffed football from his fav team and maybe some jeans. B/3 Football jersey from his fav football team ($5 Marshals, end of season last year) (B/4 got a jersey last year) and either a stuffed football and/or jeans. G/18 months a pink and purple satin and tulle petticoat type skirt ($5 Marshals clearance, very nice and well made. I was shocked and very happy to find such a amazing deal on it. I've seen similar for well over $30-$40) A onesie in the same shade of purple ($3.99) and I'm making a headband to go with it. I have the scrapbooks and most of the supplies for the memory books for my DH's maternal grandparents and his brothers. I just need to make copies of the photos. I am leaving some pages without photos in the books so they can add a few of their favorite photos of their mom. I have the frame for part of DH's dad's gift. I have ideas for my parents, but I haven't purchased their gifts yet, but I do have some stocking stuffers for them and my brother. I am not sure what to get DH. We decided to cut back on each other this year since I got him a new Xbox360 and Halo Reach Legendary edition in September and he gave me a MacBook for my birthday (this month) and we purchased an Apple Airport Extreme router this month too. Now I need to figure out what to give his assistant for Christmas. She and I have become good friends and I like to give her gifts that she wants, but would never buy herself. Hmmmmm

My favorite store last year was Gymboree. I was able to get 2 winter coats for $14 each (I believe that was the price) They are normally ~$50.

I have never seen this before. Was it Walmart or Target? TIA

Last year I emailed Targets store Customer Service and they said that yes they would do price adjustments. I printed out this email and brought it with me just in case I had any issues and thankfully I did not. I love that they do this because their are some Black Fridays where I can't get to Target. I try to buy there when I can because they are closest to me and I like that if I lose my receipt they can look it up on my card. I can see that they wouldn't PA doorbusters, but I haven't purchased any of them lately so it was never an issue for me.

I'm making memory books for my DH's maternal grandparents, his two brothers and one for DH. They will be filled with pictures of their mom. She passed on eight years ago. Pam was so close to her boys and her parents and I know she would like this gift. It is going to be hard to make, I'll need a case of Puffs because I'm already getting teary eyed just thinking about making them! I am also thinking of making a lap quilt for my brother using t-shirts from all of his different duty stations and deployments. However, I'm not sure if I have enough time for that so I may save that gift for Valentines Day or Easter.