lucyismycat

It's June! School is out, our local water park is open, the temps are heating up, we've been camping in the backyard (about as far away from my bed as I want to "camp" lol) and we got a new grill AND an ice cream mixer. Pretty good start to summer!

Middle of May already! We have had some rain to finally break up the drought, and now I just want to see the sun again. After today, my boys have 9 days of school left and then we can get our summer started, if the weather will cooperate. We've been cleaning up our property, moving flowers around and cleared one flower bed entirely except for some black raspberries planted by birds a couple of years ago. Maybe this will be the year I don't eat all of the berries and we can have jam. Not likely, but a girl can dream! I need to buy a lawnmower, but there's no big savings on those this year! My local Kubota dealer doesn't even know what is being shipped to him to sell - he just has to wait and see. Crazy!

Happy May! I'm here for warmer temperatures, if they ever show up with any consistency. Friday is my middle schooler's first school dance; not sure if he is going or if he and his little friends will want to do something else. We are done with hockey season (after we won states! woohoo!) and now my youngest is meeting with his goalie coach every Sunday. The oldest is in full swing for soccer season and then tryouts for that will start again at the beginning of June. Still working from home, we've passed the 3 year mark for DH and I both to be here. He goes to the office one day a week and I go on a different half day most weeks. We are so ridiculous that we picked different days to go in so the dogs wouldn't be left here alone for too long! We are waiting not-so-patiently for our local waterpark to open up...hoping for a long hot summer!

Here for April - March came in like a lion and went out like a bigger lion. Hoping things settle down for April, but more storms heading our way tomorrow night, so I'm told. So far we have avoided much damage, but many in our area were not so fortunate Friday night. We have a lot of limbs down, but nothing that a chainsaw and spring campfire can't fix. We drove through Alabama and Mississippi on our way home from spring break (after beaching in Orange Beach, AL area for the week). We ended up driving straight through, which we'd never done before, because my 11yo wanted to see our dogs a day earlier. So glad we did, we drove right up route 45 and had plans to stay in Jackson, MI Friday night. It was bad enough that we hit major storms in the southern MO area, we passed a lot of vehicles overturned on the highway. I drive a pretty high profile pickup truck; it was white knuckle all the way home through that. Glad to be home! Here for April - March came in like a lion and went out like a bigger lion. Hoping things settle down for April, but more storms heading our way tomorrow night, so I'm told. So far we have avoided much damage, but many in our area were not so fortunate Friday night. We have a lot of limbs down, but nothing that a chainsaw and spring campfire can't fix. We drove through Alabama and Mississippi on our way home from spring break (after beaching in Orange Beach, AL area for the week). We ended up driving straight through, which we'd never done before, because my 11yo wanted to see our dogs a day earlier. So glad we did, we drove right up route 45 and had plans to stay in Jackson, MI Friday night. It was bad enough that we hit major storms in the southern MO area, we passed a lot of vehicles overturned on the highway. I drive a pretty high profile pickup truck; it was white knuckle all the way home through that. Glad to be home!

Happy March! February was a Very Long Short Month! I am headed to Orange Beach in a couple of weeks for Spring Break, I recognize it's bad for hurricane season, but we are definitely hopeful for warmer weather that week.

Happy February! I don't even care what that groundhog sees tomorrow as long as January is over. We have some hockey related travel to do over the next few weeks, and then it will be spring! I'm ready for it!

for the life of me, I cannot understand how our local Macy’s store is still in operation. I TRY a to shop there, but they don’t have anything in store. I haven’t been able to buy clothes for my kids in at least two years. If I want something, I have to order it, and it’s 5-8 days for shipping. I went again at Christmas to see what they had, and there are huge open areas of the store with no merchandise whatsoever. What they do have looks like a yard sale. I’m glad they’re still there, I guess? But I’m not sure how.

Happy New Year! We kicked it off with some new furniture and I am typing now from my new WFH desk! I moved offices to a room in our house with a huge picture window to give me something to look at instead of staring at the wall all day. We're gearing up for a bunch of family travel with the boys' hockey team, and I'm trying to work out a trip for spring break, if anyone in this house can decide where we want to go. Hallmark channel is back to showing the Golden Girls in the morning, so I guess life is back to "normal", whatever that is.

This weather is for the birds, they say…well, I brought my birds (chickens) into the garage! LOL They can get frostbite, so I thought it would be best to keep them inside for a few days, especially because they weren’t smart enough to go inside their coop out of the snow. (We don’t call them bird brains for nothing) Tomorrow they are going outside for a bit! I’m sure they will be happy to see the sun again!

Checking in for December. Our household is fully engrossed in the World Cup this year (and are now tuning in from a new tv purchased BF!), and still spending every weekend at a hockey rink somewhere in the midwest to watch DS11and12 play. I had to move my WFH desk into a different space so I could set up a Christmas tree, so now I'm working from a balcony. It's great unless my pen rolls over the side lol

I left town Friday morning to go to a hockey tourney for the boys, so I didn’t do any in-person shopping at all. However, I have kept Best Buy online pretty busy for the past month and today. MacBook Pro 14” 65” Samsung QLED tv LG smart washer and dryer Thunderbolt 4 docking station A bunch of display adapters iPad for DS12 Three 32” monitors Apple magic keyboard PS5 games for DS12 Gaming keyboard and mouse for DS11 I also got a couple of cellular Apple Watches from Target, and random World Cup stuff for DS12 from soccer.com. I will probably get DS11 a new Fleury jersey from the Wild but I haven’t ordered it yet. I just need to figure out what to get my mama for her birthday and Christmas and then I’m mostly done. I think this is the earliest I’ve had this much stuff for the boys.

Bummed that the Game Pass deal I usually get for DS has apparently evaporated for this year. Still holding out hope

Am I the only one that feels like I have ad attention deficit disorder? Trying to keep up with what week, which specific item I might want to look at might be on sale? I much preferred it when the sales all happened together and I could make a game plan. I feel like I’ve spent so much less in the past few years because I don’t know if whatever catches my eye in a store might be on sale somewhere else, so I just don’t buy as much. It’s overwhelming and definitely not as much fun as it used to be.

I'll be in Chicago this year for a hockey tournament. Online shopping for the most part, I won't have time to do much else.

The only one I've seen so far is Michael's, 6-10pm. ETA: of course as soon as I hit "save" I remembered Meijer is always open on Thanksgiving. They usually have a decent Thursday ad for that day.

YES!!! In for another year!!

Well, I thought I had my shopping list mostly filled in except for the little extra gifts. DH just asked me to find a deal on a giant monitor for him to use for working from home. So I guess I can add that to my list.

I just bought 2 of the apple watch SE's with cellular from this sale. Thankfully it was on the first page of the ad, so easy to find. Those are probably the most expensive items I'll buy for Christmas gifts (DS11 and 12). Feels good to get that off the list!!

Yay November!!! The end of October was a flurry of travel to a work conference and one last fall season soccer tournament. We are back to a one sport family for a couple of weeks and I have nothing scheduled for the weekend! Took down the inflatable pumpkins this morning and put up the giant turkey. Moved my WFH office to the second floor where I have a better view and can watch the crows eat all the treats I put out. Does anyone else have a candy coma from last night? No? Just me? ok. LOL DS12 brought home the biggest candy haul I have ever seen, he could barely pick up the bag it was so heavy. Seems fitting for his last year of Trick or Treat.

Is that a decent price for the XBox series S? 239 seems lower than I expected. I don't NEED one, but.... LOL DH is looking for a gigantic monitor to WFH, that 49" Samsung looks kind of nice.

1. I think Walmart will probably have the best deal on sheets and towels (something I need) 2. I will likely be traveling for sports for my kids on Friday, so whatever shopping I do will be online. 3. I know I'm in the minority, but I miss the Thanksgiving in-store deals. My Mom and I would take off after we cleaned up the dinner mess and make a whole night of it before I'd come home and take off for a hockey tournament somewhere. Some precious memories there. I am not a fan at all of this "whole month of BF deals". I honestly don't have the attention span for it.

Our office is closed Thursday/Friday. We will probably leave early Friday morning for a hockey tournament, and since everyone is back to being closed on Thanksgiving my BF shopping will be limited to online shopping that day. I miss being out in person that day, but I spend a lot less money this way!

I am ordering these for everyone in our family this year! Custom socks! Just wait until they all get socks with MY face on them!!!! Muahahahaha! https://www.amazon.com/Custom-Personalized-Picture-Customized-Unisex/dp/B0B8G9TZNM/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=CSYSP7ROXGE5&keywords=custom+socks&qid=1665752865&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI1LjU3IiwicXNhIjoiNC44OCIsInFzcCI6IjQuNTQifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=custom+sock%2Caps%2C118&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyWkM2V1Q5WjZDWk0wJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNDUzMDkzMTI3UFBXNFZNUU9BUSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNTA5OTQzMVpKQkFBRTBJU1REWCZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

I too, have boys. I usually do a couple of stockings for each one. One will have bath stuff/shower gel, chapstick, little boxes of their favorite candy, deodorant, silly socks, little travel games, video game gift cards, usually an orange. The other stocking is geared towards their sports stuff - hockey tape, stick wax, skate laces, helmet repair kit, mouthguards, skate socks, soccer socks, random extra stuff i've collected throughout the year from a "hockey of the month" club we belong to, stickers, etc. For DH's stocking, I usually load him up with various jerky products, socks and candy. For my mom, I'll do nail polish, restaurant gc's, Red Hots candy, an orange (which was a tradition her parents did for her when she was young), maybe a nail salon gc, etc. I could easily spend a fortune on stockings, especially depending on how crazy I get with gift cards. My kids know they can open their stockings (and ONLY their stockings) before we get up on Christmas morning, so I feel like it's a fair price to pay to buy extra sleeping time! LOL

Thanks for the zippies, Brad! I am using them to corral my DS11's art supplies that seem to get scattered all over the car!