jbdinos

I realized two things long ago: 1. If you ask what they want they will tell you what is "hot" or "cute" at the moment. Once they are done with it you are just out the money for a few days of fun. So I pay attention to what they actually play with and seem really interested in without asking and buy accordingly without asking for a list. They can make lists for Grandma/Aunts/etc.... but not for mom! 2. If you wait to ask what they want you cannot take advantage of clearance throughout the year.... and here at GD you know we have to take advantage.... :-) As they get older they realize that if they see something they really like in February to ask then.... and then if it continues to be something they enjoy they might get it IF I find a good deal..... I think lists are overrated.... I have taught my children to be happy they get gifts because so many kids don't. By not making lists they are never disappointed because they haven't asked for anything that they have their hearts set on believing it's their right as the list maker to get something from that list. We all know our kids better than they know themselves so many times..... so you got things she will play with long past Christmas... I say don't feel bad at all about not getting the things on the list. She is old enough to realize how much cooler the things you got are compared to the toys on her list. On the other hand my neice is 11 1/2 and dearly loves and plays with her littlest pet shop toys all the time and is getting more for Christmas... but she actually plays with the ones she has so that is a big difference if yours is already not playing with hers.

No colts

Too "girly" according to DS10 when I asked if he wanted it for his room...

There wasn't any good clearance on Friday at the Target my sister and I went to.... but on BF I did end up with one pack of the MM juice! Thought to check it at the last minute and it was shoved all the way in the back.... kids were excited when I got home that I brought them something they could actually have instead of just saying "stay away from the bags and no one gets hurt".... LOL

Remember since space is limited... that the postal service has two sizes of "flat rate" boxes.... and you can fill them to bulging as long as you can get them closed. Depending on what you are sending each time you may want to consider those. And don't forget to check each time on weight if you have enough stuff that is too much for one box, check weights, size, and cost... sometimes it's cheaper to send 2 flat rate boxes than one larger one anyway.

DH did all the outside decorating today before I got home from work.... looks great! It's a day early, but he has to work from tomorrow through Sunday and it was 70 degrees here today, going to be only 40 tomorrow and dropping from there over the weekend so I think it was a good idea to go ahead..... scared me though when I found out he took DGD3 up on the roof with him..... he tied a rope around her and also around the chimney, but still... she's THREE.... then again she probably wouldn't let Papaw go without her... lol Inside I have put the tree together and all 3 DS will decorate it while I am out shopping Friday morning... well my niece is babysitting and will probably let them sleep till noon so they will do it Friday afternoon.... lol.... then I will do the rest of the house over the weekend...

Call your insurance company and ask to see if the state pays anything on deer accidents. I have not tried it as in Indiana we have comprehensive on our vehicles whether we have collision or not and the comp pays for deer accidents as they are considered "acts of God".... but I was told by a friend that hit a deer with only the minimal insurance that the state is considered the owners of the deer here and that there is a fund to pay for deer accidents for people without sufficient insurance. Now I haven't checked that out and we are in a diff state than you, but might be worth asking and also checking to be sure you don't have comprehensive or something as hitting a deer is not collision, it's a diff kind of accident. I do understand how you feel, only when my DD was 17, she hit another student from her school, he ran out in front of her, she couldn't stop but it totaled her car and left him with a slight limp for the rest of his life. They grew up together so it was really hard when the other parents wanted more than our insurance coverage was.... finally settled it dirt cheap with the insurance once we found others to testify but it was a long process..... Be glad she is safe... enjoy your day Friday and hopefully something will work out .... have a great Thanksgiving too!

I called my 24 hour store and asked.... they said they start at 6 am on Thursday

I know how you feel.... but the PP's are all right... you have to be above it for one day for your DD and DH since it appears they aren't hurting as much as you are. I agree to the smile and be polite yet distant. Last year on Thanksgiving, my DH's aunt decided to talk my DD12 into running away. Because our rules were "stupid" and she was "old enough" to decide where she wanted to live and they would "love" to have her stay. I was SO mad. The police of course were called and not nice words were exchanged both during and after this situation and I have not talked to the aunt nor has DH for a year tomorrow. This aunt has 5 kids and all have been arrested more than once except for the youngest and she's only been arrested once .... so far..... they all drink, smoke pot, etc. Not a good influence anyway. DD won't be there this year, she is in a behavioral center court ordered by probation for intensive in patient counseling because to this day she believes that she does not have to follow our rules or the court's rules. But DH has to work so it will be me, all 3 DS and DD19 and her family going together. I plan on smiling and being polite in front of other guests and totally ignoring the aunt when no one else is around so I don't upset the other guests. Plus DH's grandma always hosts and the aunt is her daughter, although I don't know how the nicest woman on earth could give birth to one of the most evil... but that is another story.... lol Long story short, just keep smiling in front of the other guests and if you are alone with MIL, feel free to ignore or walk away even if she questions you. Just walk away to guests you care about and smile and ignore her the best you can... .when I am ignoring the aunt, I will think of you and say a prayer that you are having good luck with the whole day and that you find things to make good memories on. GOOD LUCK

if you use 2 1/2 yards per side, how big does that make it? I am considering doing these for my boys for their January birthdays with a football print on one side and baseball on the other and they have twin beds and would like to do them big enough for their beds.

If she loves music I would go with the I Can Play Piano.... or maybe a small karaoke machine if she likes to sing along to music? My DGD is also 3, well she'll be 4 in March and all she cares about is that she likes the toy. Money means nothing at that age and while I understand trying to be as "fair" as you can, it's better to get something she will love than something she will only like that cost more. Another thing she might like that my DGD would enjoy might be the Fisher Price digital camera.

We have a 24 hour CVS... do you know what time on T-day that this sale is valid? I have to get up really early to get hubby off to work... and trying to work a way to buy a few with the ECB's I have, take those back for more, etc... to basically get most of it with no OOP expense

The code from the OP changed the price of one item by 7.00 but didn't take 10.00 off and shipping was well over that so I can do better at the store..> but thanks

try www.hsn.com they have a football shop for NFL. And each team might have their own proshop too. I know our Colts do!

I work at a small company and there is one other manager besides myself. Each year the other manager goes out and gets everyone a 20 dollar gift card to walmart (we have 10 employees). I, however, cannot afford that and I started it all with plates of homemade goodies tailored to how many are in their immediate families several years ago. I no longer have the time to make that much candy, etc now that my kids are older and more involved in activities. So I do something different each year. This year they are getting the organizers that Office Depot had on clearance during the summer for 99 cents each. Their favorite was two years ago. I bought little baskets on clearance for 25 cents at Dollar General. I put a gormet hot cocoa pack in each one (got these on sale at 1.50 for an 8 pack and used only one pack per basket), 1 pack of micro popcorn. and I added in 2 votive candles (.20 each), a cheapo Christmas ornament (on sale 2/1.00), and then tossed a handful of mixed Christmas candy into each one. I called them "relaxation" baskets and they didn't cost me more than 2.00 each. To this day they are excited about them and each year they ask if I have found any more of those "cute little baskets" and they say it with a smile to where you can tell they are hinting. Last year I did little Christmas tins from Big Lots filled with a variety of Christmas candies and small candy canes. I think they enjoy the fact they don't know what it's going to be but that they know how much thought I will put into the gifts. In fact, they seem to enjoy it more than the 20 dollars to walmart. I think they would be unhappy if I fixed up the breakroom even if it cost a lot more. I think they wouldn't find it personal and would feel left out. But if you do as some above say and do a coffee pot (or hot water maker for those that dont' like coffee) and then some cocoa/coffee/etc in a mug that would be nice too.

DH and I have 5 children. None of them are biologically both of ours. The oldest is out on her own, the 3 middle ones live with us and the youngest lives with his mom about 2 hours away. We don't count money, we count gifts and make sure they come out to a comparable value total. For instance the one that doesn't live with us is getting an ESPN football table, originally 129.xx and I got it on clearance for 15.xx. But since it's such a large value compared to some of the other kids, then his smaller gifts are a bit less value than his brothers/sisters. We treat all 5 of the kids, our son in law, and our granddaughter (age 3) the same on gifts. Ok, so maybe the granddaughter's gifts a bit over the top.... but the others all adore her and want to do it also. We would not consider treating any of them differently because they didn't live there or lived too far away, etc. I had an ex that was hiding my DD from me one year at Christmas and I was waiting on the legal system to assist. We spent the same on her and couldn't even see her and didn't know if we ever would. We just wrapped them up and mailed them to a relative's home where we knew she would get them. Regardless of how often you see a step child or how much support you pay out, kids notice... My DD is 19 and my DH's mother is the only one that treats her differently than the rest... she notices.... it hurts her and me that my DH is the best male role model she has ever had and no one else considers her anything but family and that one person has to ruin it and make us dread going to visit her and her boyfriend for Christmas because one child will be treated differently than the rest. I say do for the step son what you would do for him if he were living in your house the same as the others... you won't regret it and he will remember and appreciate it and know you care.

For cute nametags on a family gift basket, what about the engraved ornaments from walmart that has the family name "The Smiths' and the year on it? Then they will remember what a cool gift each year as they put up their trees.

Even the candy has been bought at our house. Our kids don't care as much for the chocolate candy as they do nerds, airheads, etc. So I got Halloween candy that wasn't in halloween packs inside of their favorites and just using it. An air head is an air head and since there weren't any pumpkins or special colors on them I figured it was good enough. Why pay more to rot their teeth and hype them up for Grandma's house???????? All I have to buy is socks for one stocking, and 2 adult gifts ... :-)

My DD13 likes to help wrap gifts. The last two years I have had her help me wrap. I hand her the gift and when she is done I had her the tag to put on it. All the while I am also either wrapping or dragging a few more gifts from hiding spots. Anytime I could get one of hers out and in a plain box with no print, or in a box it didn't come in that looked either boyish or very uninteresting I would slide it over, she would wrap and then I'd hand her a tag with her name on it. She was so frustrated cause she would start checking them all and when she was certain I was done with the games I would do it again. She wrapped over half her gifts the first year and about a third of them last year. TOO FUNNY!!!! This year they are getting older (8, 10, 11, 13)... the three older ones all have birthdays in Jan/Feb too. So I am considering putting the wrong names on the tags .... so maybe DS10 will have DD13's name on his and so on..... he is the snoopy one so his has to be really good.... lol..... that would throw them Christmas morning.... hehe..... like if I say ok, DS10 and DS 13 get up and switch gifts... One year I did numbers and I had a list which numbers went to which kid and what was in it.... Last year at our family name draw my DS7 got FIL's new gf's son. He is shy and wouldn't tell me what he wanted so I told him to make a list or it would be a barbie. He was 14. He said "oh a barbie, I have always wanted one". So indeed he got a barbie... he was so embarrassed but laughed and then at the end I "found" his other gift... the Xbox game he was dying for.... he gave the barbie to our GD2. All in all a lot of fun.. but those that have snoopers... try the wrap your own gift thing... it is tooo funny.....

My receipt says: Energizer, Spend 20 get 10 EB Amount Toward this Reward 22.77 Amount Needed to earn Reward 20.00 Does not say limit reached though.

There are no signs at our store, not the sale sign to show they are on sale for 8.99 and no ECB sign. This is not unusual. About half the ECB signs are ever put up. I checked online and both versions of the ad are online depending on which store I put in. The second store is very close to where DH works so I'll see if I can talk him into checking it out. Gotta have batteries for those Christmas toys as I don't like to give a gift that requires batteries without sending them along as well. Thanks for the info, even the ads don't say one transaction so at least I got that part now... thanks !!!!

Hi everyone, and I am SO sorry that I have searched and not found the answer to this..... I went to CVS today and purchased 22.79 in Energizer batteries and got a 10.00 ECB back for purchasing 20.00. Now, if I go back to get more batteries to get a 2nd deal on my card would I need to purchase 20.00 more in batteries or 17.31? In addition, I have 2 papers delivered to my home. My local ad for CVS says offer on batteries limited to 1 per card. But an ad for CVS 35 minutes from here says limited to 2 per card. How does the system work with 2 different limits printed? That same ad that says 2 per card on one page shows rechargeable energizers on a different page and says limit 1 on that one, but doesn't say it's 2 different deals. I was finally getting the hang of the ECB and this one has me baffled. Any help greatly appreciated.

Anyone know how the sizing runs on the bras?

Flavors? Sorry I was just picturing you all standing there tasting them

Either the year before last or two years ago WM had some games like candy land, monopoly, etc on sale on BF. Getting there prior to 5 am, we went around and tried to see what was in each black wrapped skid and also pick up things that were not the doorbusters so we could check out quick when the doorbusters were out. Well they had the same games on the regular shelves. We scanned them and they scanned at the BF price. A clerk saw them in my cart and tried to take them away from me. I told her I didn't think she would touch them as I got them from the regular isle and that merchandise was available for sale. I figured if she pushed the issue I would go checkout and put them in the car. Finally she asked a manager and I showed her where I got them and she said I could keep them. She radioed someone to remove them from the shelf... by the time he got there they were gone... others heard the exchange and they all got the ones they wanted to so they would have one less thing to fight over 45 min later... I think it was the same year my sis needed a bike and everyone was pushing and shoving with carts and they were not getting anywhere so I slid between the skids and the shelving unit for bikes and got to the skid. Then picked up the one my sis needed, handed it to her from behind where I was and then got one for an older man that was waiting... just picked it up and stood there in a little hole holding it until the crowd got done fighting and walked away with it and gave it to the man. He was thrilled, my sis was happy, and a clerk slid into the hole and stood there with me and said I was smart to just stand there and be safe... lol.. I wasn't trying to be safe, I was being greedy.... LOL