floridasun5

Hoping we have some creative people here on this board, because I certainly am not LOL I have bought my husband a pampering type of set of gifts in the form of a gift card to our local barbershop, as well as a gift card for a massage parlor. Instead of just presenting each individually, I wanted to see if I could find or have someone help me make up a cute short poem or limerick that I could include in a card to present with the gift certs to kind of explain the purpose. Is there anyone good at poetry that could help me with this? Or even if you know of any websites where I could get some help? I just want it to be a cutesy type of card vs. a sentimental one. Thanks!

Back from Round 2 and Final round of shopping for the day :) Headed to our local mall where my husband bought me a new bag for Christmas, peice of software for my Macbook, Victoria's Secret set with the free tote and a Mrs. Prindables apple Finally got to another Target in that area where I got my daughters boots and just some more gift bags. This Target still had a few of the 26" LCD tv's left at about noon. So, now other than buying parents and grandparents gifts which are easy to just buy online and have them shipped directly to them, I am DONE Christmas shopping!

And just another reason why I refuse to step foot into a Walmart....ESPECIALLY on Black Friday! People are just nuts and it just appears that the Walmart shoppers are the worst! I know not everyone is like that, however Walmart always appears to be named in these types of cases.

Just got home from Round 1 Started at Lowes at 5:30am. Only about 6 people waiting and got everything I wanted - fire pit, wine cooler, storage totes B1G1F, and some wrapping paper. Headed to Target for boots which they didnt have, so just picked up some more wrapping paper, DVD's, tree stand, ribbon, bags, etc. Quick drive through Starbucks and over to Michaels to get some garland and ribbon. I have to say that everyone I have met this morning and all employees have been SO nice, friendly and extremely helpful! Everyone is so pleasant this morning, helpful and going out of their way to help! :) Im putting together my fire pit right now for later tonight, checking forums, going to get ready and then head out to the mall for a few hours :) Later on will be nap time LOL, and just relax the rest of the night in the jacuzzi with a glass of wine and a nice fire going :)

One of my rules of thumb and also a basic for chefs is always, ALWAYS taste things you are making before serving! LOL I've had some people before serve things...and unfortunately I've done it myself once or twice where I didnt taste it before serving to guests and it didnt go over well.

1 person in line at approx. 3pm in Altamonte Springs, FL Best Buy

I'm happy about the fact that Walmart has these ads trying to get people into their store because I dont have to go there! LOL Maybe less people everywhere else However, I do understand the frustration if that is a spot that you need to hit.

Im wondering if Lowes will have online ordering. They have online purchasing and store pickup and their ad doesnt appear to have any real doorbuster items that are only available for a short time, so I'd love to be able to order online. Lowes is the only place I need to hit on Friday.

Im not making a turkey for Thanksgiving this year as the parents are cooking, but I still do have one in the freezer for later. I roast it in the oven with butter and herbs under the skin and herbs, more butter and onion in the cavity :) I like drier stuffing so I dont like stuffing in the bird.

See, this is the kind of stuff that aggravates me. Sure, people have the right to camp out for days ahead of time, but this makes it so much harder for the "normal" people to be able to get what they need. When I say normal people, I am referring to those that have families, jobs, responsibilities, etc. that just cannot stand outside of a store for days in advance to get that wish list item for their child or the only way they can afford a computer is to get one of the cheap ones. The people who have no lives camp out for days and days to either get items just to sell or do it just for the publicity. Ridiculous! I SO wish stores would wise up and institute a minimum amount of time that people can camp out and imho, it shouldnt be any earlier than about midnight on Thanskgiving!

In my opinion, if people were more realistic about lining up for doorbusters and got tickets to resell them because someone decided to sleep in an hour or two later, I wouldnt mind so much. However, at least in my area, there are a bunch of college kids or younger people with nothing else better to do that start camping out days in advance and that to me is just not right if they are only there to resell tickets. I mean, I know that they deserve it, however most people that are just trying to get deals for their family have normal lives with families, kids, etc. that they just cannot camp out for days! So, saying to someone that is trying to get that hot toy or computer for their kid to get there earlier is just not realistic when the line has already formed for 2 days! So, in my opinion again, if stores would institute a rule that says people cannot line up until say, at least midnight on Thanksgiving evening, I wouldnt care if people resold tickets, but the camping out for days which is unrealistic for *most* people seems greedy to me and I dont agree with that. Luckily, one of our malls here did institute this rule of nobody being allowed on mall property until a certain time when the iphone came out in July...I just wish more stores would follow this policy.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both, depending upon the item 2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial 3. When do you put up the tree? Probably Friday evening 4. When do you take the tree down? First weekend after the New Year 5. Do you like eggnog? Ewwww, no 6. Favorite gift received as a child? Dont remember 7. Hardest person to buy for? Grandmother 8. Easiest person to buy for? Daughter 9. Do you have a nativity scene? No 10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Probably some ugly figurine that didnt match anything in my house LOL 11. Favorite Christmas Movie? Miracle on 34th Street 13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually start in October 14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No 15. Favorite thing to do at Christmas? Shop and just enjoy the shopping scene and festivities 16. Lights on the tree? Yes, only white. Dont like colored lights 17. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night 18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Go to friends or close family, but dont travel out of state 19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yep, but theyve already been named LOL 20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Neither 21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning 22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Nothing really. I love this time of year! :) 23. Favorite ornament theme or color? This year is changing, so dont really have a favorite. But usually just elegant, beautiful trees. 24. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? Ham or Turkey with good fixings and pumpkin pie 25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Already bought my new computer, bottle of Chanel No. 5 and the only other thing Im hoping for is a new bag I have my eye on.

I swear this site is lethal! LOL About a month ago, I made my Christmas lists of things I was going to buy dh and dd. After buying all those items and spending time here on this forum, as well as being out in the stores, I've since added 2 more things (so far!) for my daughter and 1 extra thing for my husband! I still have a month left to go and I have a feeling Im going to go broke! Am I the only one? I feel like I have an addiction LOL Ive got 2 things that will be under the tree for myself and I'm up to 10-11 each for dd and dh with still time left to go! Ack!!! This site is just a bad influence, but yet I just cant keep myself from clicking on the Online Deals forum!

For those like me, who were looking for a new Macbook for Christmas, Best Buy has them in their ad this week on sale! As you may know, Apple hardly EVER has a sale on their products and if they do its usually only to give away something free, never a discount. There has been a rumor that Apple will have a Black Friday sale this year, but it is also rumored to only be about $100 off, the same that Best Buy is offering this week! HOWEVER! If you use your Best Buy reward card, you can get a value of about an additional $20 back in rewards certificates (with the $1199 macbook), plus they are offering 15-20% off accessories, PLUS, if you use a reward credit card like I do with my Discover card, I get an additional 2% back! So, I got my Macbook for $1199 on sale (normally $1299) - $30 I will get back in rewards certificates (I bought some other stuff as well) - $23.98 I will get in cash back from my credit card! That is a savings of about $150! $150 for me at least is worthy enough of not having to stand in line in the middle of the night on Black Friday and not have to worry that they will sell out! OH, and because I am such a good Best Buy customer and this order took me over the $2500 mark for the year in sales, I just also got bumped up to the Elite rewards member so from now on, I will get greater discounts and more rewards! Totally worth it for me! Just thought I'd let others know who may be in the market for a new one!

STILL waiting on Apple to decide what they are going to do for BF and whether its worth it to spend hours in line. If they put on a decent sale, I'll be there bright and early. Some other stops are Lowes for 2 things that I personally want, Best Buy for some games and a tv mount and the mall for some small things. Otherwise, most of my other Christmas shopping is done, or will be done this weekend :)

WOW, LUCKY YOU!! I thought Orlando was the mecca of outlet stores and yet we dont even have a Gucci outlet! Im a huge Gucci fan and have been eyeing a few of their newest bags. I could definitely go for 30% off! We have places like Neiman Marcus Last Call and some other designer outlets, but no Gucci and even NM doesnt send most of the good stuff to their last call store!

I know for my parents at least that they are tired of coming home from work and cooking dinner, or even going out grocery shopping which I know my Mom hates, so I am going to be buying them a nice large Omaha Steaks gift set for Christmas where they get something like a week (or more) worth of meals that all they have to do is make the steak and heat up the rest. No struggling for ideas of what to make for dinner and no grocery shopping. Dont know if you parents would like something like that, but they also have a lot of really nice sets, like special occasion dinners and such that you could get for them, and then order a gift card for each of them that can be presented with the dinner to their favorite store/ salon or tickets to a special event, etc.

APPLE! I really wish they would let on what they are going to do. I need a laptop and dont like waiting when the majority of my other Christmas presents are done! :)

Big Lots has some of the cheapest crap you will find anywhere! And by cheap, I dont mean in pricing LOL All they are is a glorified dollar store and unless you want to get mugged, you better dare not hit any Big Lots in this area! However, the letter did give me a chuckle. Sounds like this guy was trying to act all official with threatening emails when much of it didn't even make sense and didn't use proper capitalization! LOL However, I think I would have been tempted to fire back an email that maybe if Big Lots spent more time in cleaning up their stores and putting them into areas that a normal population of the people would actually shop in, they might actually get some interest out of their ad

My dh used to get a nice Christmas bonus from his boss 2 years ago. However, the boss made so much money the last 2 years that instead of giving well-deserved bonuses (its the employees that make him the money!) he started going out and buying a $2 million dollar house, new car, expensive watches and expensive family vacations once every 3 months! So, needless to say, no more bonuses....we get to go to some half-a$$ed dinner that nobody cares for anyway instead and also needless to say, dh is looking for a new job!

Luckily, my immediate family is extremely small, however my dh has a huge family but luckily, they also live out of state However, when we did live in the same state, we would initially draw names, plus buy for the kids and it just got to be too expensive because the kids just kept on coming We just finally put our foot down one year and said we would buy for the kids only and thats still what we do, but since there are now so many kids, we also put a small limit on each. Maybe you could make the suggestion of only buying for the kids then, so the aunt feels good enough that her kids would get gifts from each of the brothers/sisters that are buying for the kids and that the kids can enjoy a nice Christmas gift without taking away because you also have to buy for the other adults as well. I actually have a problem with those that seem to get greedy at Christmastime because even though its nice to get gifts, that's not what the holiday is about. You are an adult now and really dont have to abide by what a greedy aunt wants. If you dont have the financial resources to buy for everyone, then dont! But, I would tell them in advance so they wouldnt feel obligated to buy for you as well.

Heck, I cant go to Walmart throughout the remainder of the year, much less on BF! We have some really strange people that shop in our Walmarts here, at least the ones closest to me. One of my closest Walmarts is in a bad area and the other is so dirty and small with terrible parking that I would never go there. Combine with the fact that all of our Walmarts seem to have the rudest, most miserable workers Ive ever met, I havent stepped foot into a Walmart in about 2 years and wont start now!

So far, the plan will probably be: Apple Lowes Target Mall stores for small things like Hot Topic, Claires, etc. Maybe Michaels? And then, if I can find a really good deal on a Steam Washer & Dryer set, I might hit one of those stores like a Sears, Best Buy, HH Gregg, or even Home Depot or Lowes.

Here is my list: DD15 DH (Dont keep prices for DD or DH, but they usually wind up with the same amount of gifts) Mom ($50) Dad ($50) Although Mom & Dad are going to get a Omaha Steaks Dinner Pack this year so it will be a combined gift for both of them. Grandmother ($50) Mom & Dad In-laws ($50) 4 Neices/Nephews ($30 each) 2 Secret Santas from work ($30 each) Male Friend ($30) Female Friend ($30) 2 Dogs Plus, then I buy food for the local holiday food drive, plus food or stuff for the animal shelter and probably a large gift basket for the elderly which I'll drop off at our nursing home up the street.

Anyone around and in the mood to chat tonight? Heading there now.. Need to stay awake until Lipstick Jungle