nikkilugi

SS gifts received I will post pics when I open both my SS and OE gifts. Thanks in advance - I love this tradition and I'm glad I got back into it this year. My family all pretty much know what I bought them as they are all older and I prefer to get them what they want. My husband needed clothes and he is picky so I made him go pick out his stuff, lol. I am so happy I was able to buy and wrap items that will surprise my recipient. Of course I pretty much know everything I'm receiving as well but I draw the line at wrapping my own gifts so they are waiting in their shipping boxes (Hubby is an online shopper) for my daughter to get home from college to wrap them. These gifts from the exchanges are a few I will have no idea of what I'm getting and that is always fun!!

I received my ornament box on Monday - sorry for the late confirmation. I followed directions and opened the first package right away and will get yummy use out of that - thank you my OE friend. I will hold off on opening the others but probably won't wait until Christmas - I want to hang the ornaments on one of my trees before then.

Mailman just picked up both my SS and OE packages - yay!!!! I love buying and sending gifts - it's my fave!!

I got a couple of bigger items online: Walmart - Airpods Pro 2 and a Ninja Creami Target - Ipad Gen 9 Yesterday daughter and I still wanted to keep our BF shopping tradition alive so we got out at 6 am and visited: Walmart - bought 2 towels and then regular items like cat treats and dog itch wipes lol and some protein bars. No lines at all although we did get there around 6:45. - Spent $50 Dick's Sporting Goods - bought 3 of their cozy socks as those are always good for team gift exchanges and daughter will have one soon with her college softball team. Also found a pair of sweats on clearance and of course daughter found a couple of items NOT on much of a sale, lol. However, she has to wear Under Armour branded items when she wears her team gear since they are sponsored by UA. She has always been a Nike girl so we are slowly changing over some of her items since she wears her softball provided tshirts so much at school. - Spent $110. Macy's - I found some items at 50% off for myself and a couple Hurley tshirts at 30% off - spent about $90 there. Bath and Body works - bought 12 wallflowers for their b3g3 sale. I had a coupon on my app for $10 off $35 and also had a coupon for a free full size body care item so also got a body lotion free - spent $40. Then went into the mall where most stores opened at 9 am. The mall starts to get busier and busier as the morning moves along so we definitely prefer to get there early to avoid some of the madness of the later lazy people, lol. Parking was nonexistent as we left at 11:30. Most stores at the mall had between 30-50% off the whole store so we spent random amounts at different ones. Daughter was thrilled I actually let her buy something at PacSun - which was still WAAAAAY too expensive but I was distracted and wasn't paying attention so that's on me.... JoAnn Fabric - spent $80 but I did get a Woobles kit which I keep seeing online and saying I want to try but never actually pulling the trigger and buying it it was full price but it seemed like fate - not everything we bought was on sale and I didn't have any coupons on me (facepalm) but I wasn't putting stuff back. Vitamin Shoppe - B1G1 protein powder for daughter who eats it like it is going out of style. Did spend enough to score a free backpack which the company will send through the mail. Maybe will get that by spring We found some stores ridiculously busy with long lines - looking at Aerie in the mall and Ulta especially. We opted not to bother with those stores as I could just buy online if there was anything we needed. Most stores were not very busy at all. If there was a line it moved fast as all registers had cashiers which was like seeing a Yeti - I do like that. Stores need to provide enough cashiers because most days we go shopping there is a line of 10 people and one or two cashiers. It's awful.

Thank Bo - I was on immediately at noon on my app and of course there were "technical difficulties" so I switched over to the webpage (on my phone since I was out and about lol). Then that had difficulties too but after about 5 min I was able to add to my cart and check out. I decided to just have them shipped because I didn't want to bother with instore pickup on Friday since I wasn't sure which store I would go to. My daughter has been hounding me for a Ninja Creami (dang TikTok) so I also bought one of those, lol. So..... $358 bucks broke now hahahaha.

I'm pretty confused and disappointed in general this year. Airpods are on my list and since I am a Walmart+ member I was going to get on at noon today and try and score the $169 deal. I was doing some research and am on the Walmart site right now and see that they are current unavailable for shipping and not available at any stores nearby for pickup and that is at the $199 price. Do we think that Walmart will update stock at noon or are they truly sold out already before the $169 sale even starts? This is not the only store that has sold out / unavailable items even at the higher prices. Ugh.

So I already responded I want Airpods Pro - I was waiting for the noon $169 price for Walmart+ members. However, I am on the website and even at the $199 price they are out of stock for shipping and not available at ANY of my nearby stores. Do we think they hold items back and they will be become available at noon?? Honestly I am very underwhelmed - another item that was in the Home Depot ad for their sale that supposedly starts tomorrow on 11/23 already shows out of stock everywhere on their website. What the heck? Are the stores just not stocking many items?

We have already put up 80% of the inside decorations, lol. We decorate for Halloween so we decided to just take those down and put up all the Christmas decor. The only thing we are waiting on is our main Christmas tree because our daughter is away at college and she wants to help put it up like we have done in years past. What is funny though - in years past I have asked the kids to decorate it and they complained the whole time, lol. Now that she is away from home for the first time she realizes that she really did like doing it - or maybe she appreciates the tradition. We have at least 8 totes that hold our inside decorations as well as wall art that we put up. We moved to the East Coast 4.5 years ago and when we did I got a tree to decorate in the nautical style. I put that up along with our main large tree. I have an obsession with nutcrackers and have at least 25 of those. We have an Angel that my husband and I bought at Big Lots our first Christmas we moved in together - 28 years ago. She doesn't light up anymore and is barely holding on by a pipe cleaner (what her arm is made with lol) but she is still hanging out even though most of our other decor tastes have evolved throughout the years. The weather has been warm so yesterday I wrapped our outside tree in lights. I haven't gotten around to the porch but it is supposed to be almost 80 tomorrow and I will be working from home so I might put up some stuff tomorrow on the porch. We don't hang lights on the house anymore - nobody wants to get on a ladder. I will put up our inflatables in the yard though. Christmas is my jam!

I have resisted the Airpod craze for years and years. First because I have to have earbuds with those cushions and the original airpods just weren't comfortable to me. However, my hubby asked for a pair last year and I got him the new Pro version on BF at Walmart. He doesn't ask for much specifically so I was thrilled I actually had some guidance and jumped on it. I never tried them until a couple months ago when I didn't have my pair on me while we were traveling so he let me use his - and I was blown away. Seriously how have I missed these in my life? Or was it my other headphones were just that bad??? So I am going to be looking to snag some Airpod Pro's this year - unless anyone has a recommendation for another pair that sounds even better? I'm gonna be honest - I have used cheap buds all my life and thought they were just fine - then I tried the airpods and realized that is exactly what those other cheapies were - fine. I want spectacular.

I just messaged. It has been a while since I have posted or participated, lurking all the time though. Ready to get going again, yay!

don't need anything deals are too good to resist Black Friday frenzy

I received my SS gift - I'm sorry I haven't posted about it yet. It came in an Amazon box and right now I am getting so many Amazon deliveries I just thought it was one of those until I opened it and saw the absolutely ROCKING gifts. Thanks so much for the Deadpool Monopoly game as well as the Venompool (which I did not have). I loved both so much - I honestly love Deadpool and those gifts just made my day when I saw them. I also received my ornaments and want to say they are wonderful. The snowman with the L is perfect for our tree for sure. I showed my husband the frame ornament/wall hanger and said this is the perfect reason to take an updated Christmas picture this year Now we just need to find the perfect spot. Thanks again!!

I know I am close to the wire. I am mailing out both packages on Saturday. My hubby has been traveling extensively these past few weeks and it just messes my schedule up something awful. Will send tracking ASAP after I mail them.

I have the Cricut Air and I really like it. I can't give any opinion of the Silhouette since I don't have that one - but I can say that I like the Cricut a lot. There are lots of Facebook groups for Cricut as well with lots of video tutorials,etc which I think makes learning the system easier in my opinion.

Just sent my pm - I am excited to participate again. It has been a couple years but I am stoked that I checked this thread in time this year.