Christmas Creep is a condition I seem to suffer from every year. I start thinking about Christmas fairly early, and I figure everything will fall into place in plenty of time. And then Christmas gets closer, and closer, and closer… and I’m broke and haven’t even come close to getting all of my shopping done.
I know it’s not even December yet, but I already know that I won’t have much money coming in between now and Christmas. So instead of an iPod for Pumpkin and some nice TSW rims for Hubby, it’s going to be more like some warm clothes for Pumpkin and a pocket knife for Hubby. And I’ll be lucky to scrape up enough for that.
As is so often the case in recent years, I’ll be glad when the holidays are over. It’s all way too stressful.
Pumpkin made a list of stuff she’d like to have for her birthday. It was a loooooong list, and it included several expensive items. She got two of them, a microscope and a telescope, because I found a ridiculously awesome deal on them. But now all I’ve been hearing about is how much she’d like to have one of the other expensive items on that list for Christmas: an iPod Touch.
She has a PSP, and it does just about everything an iPod Touch can do, except it doesn’t have a touch screen. I know you can’t put apps on it, but I don’t think she really gives a flip about anything but the game apps. And games are what a PSP does best.
I’ve explained this to her, but she just thinks the whole touch screen thing is so cool. So I’m trying to come up with a less expensive compromise. I haven’t really found a viable alternative to an iPod Touch, but I’ve run across some killer deals on tablet PCs. Hmm…
I’m thinking about getting her one. She’s mentioned in passing that she’d like to have an iPad, and an Android tablet is very similar as far as what it can do, but much less expensive. The biggest difference between a tablet and an iPod as I understand it (other than the OS) is that the tablet is larger. And she’d probably like having a larger screen.
If anybody knows more about this stuff than I do (yes, I’m hopelessly behind the times on these technological wonders), please fill me in!
Father’s Day was two days ago. I had intended to write a post about my dad in honor of the holiday, but I didn’t get around to it. I’m such a slacker. I will write that post one of these days, but not today. I want it to be good, and I just don’t have the time to put into it right now.
I was too broke to buy Hubby anything. But I didn’t feel too bad, because he was too broke to buy me anything for Mother’s Day. I just tried to be extra good to him and make sure he had a nice, relaxing day.
Our anniversary is coming up next month, and I’m hoping I’ll at least be able to get him a little something. Maybe I could get him a Personal Creations keychain with our names and anniversary date engraved on it. They’re really pretty and not too expensive. And with one of those, he’ll be forced to think about me every time he starts his truck. 
Well, I got up early so I could get some articles written and some clothes washed, not so I could sit here and blog. So I’d better get to it. Later!
Hope everybody had a nice Easter weekend. Mine was good.
On Saturday we went to my brother-in-law’s house for a cookout. I was dreading it, but we actually had a good time. But Pumpkin ended up bringing a puppy home, much to our chagrin. Don’t get me wrong, it’s adorable, as you can see in the picture. I just didn’t really want any more creatures to take care of. I think I’m going to have to send Pumpkin to Los Angeles detox rehab to get her over her pet addiction.
Sunday was fairly quiet. Hubby’s cousin came over and helped him work on his dirt bike, and we ate a nice, juicy slow-cooked ham for dinner. We bought Pumpkin some clothes and a little candy, and since she no longer believes in the Easter Bunny, I just threw them in a gift bag for her. She was very happy.
So that was my Easter weekend in a nutshell. Now it’s back to regularly scheduled programming.
I didn’t get around to wishing everyone a Merry Christmas before the fact, so I’ll just say that I hope you had a good one. As for me, mine was alright. Nothing to write home about, but no disasters like the basement flood we had last Christmas, so that was a good thing.
I did have a bit of a meltdown on Christmas Eve. I have no idea why. For the first time in years, I was actually ready for Christmas. I didn’t have much capital to work with, but I managed to come up with gifts for everyone on my list. All the presents were wrapped and under the tree well in advance, with the exception of two that still haven’t been delivered (and won’t be until I can safely travel down the mountain). Yet I woke up extremely irritable on Christmas Eve morning, and things deteriorated throughout the day and into the night. I think Hubby was ready to check me into one of those inpatient rehab centers like the one where Demi Lovato is for “physical and emotional issues.”
My anxiety meds weren’t helping much, but I managed to keep from totally flipping out by keeping to myself and constantly reminding myself that Pumpkin deserved a nice, drama-free Christmas. The medication did help me get to sleep, which was a good thing. And when I woke up Christmas morning, I was feeling much better.
Anyway, Pumpkin did have a good day. She called it the Best Christmas Ever, and while I think she might have been saying that to make us happy, she did get most of the gifts on her list (since we had a little help). And we got enough snow for her to do some sleigh riding, which she always loves. Just seeing her happy and having fun made my Christmas a good one.
I have to go to the doctor later this week, and I’ll talk to him about the mood issues. He’ll probably up the dosage on my mood stabilizer, and I’m okay with that if it works. Things have improved tremendously since I’ve been on it, but a little more stability would be a very good thing.
We got our first accumulating snow of the winter over the weekend. It started on Saturday morning, and resulted in the cancellation of Pumpkin’s first basketball game. Despite strong winds, we ended up with 3 or 4 inches before the day was out. It has snowed off and on since then, and it still is.
Hubby and Pumpkin had a ball on Saturday. The had a snowball fight and rode the four-wheeler quite a bit. I was extremely tired for some reason, so I stayed in and slept. I was awoken from my nap by loud Christmas music, and I got up to find that they had brought in the artificial tree and decorations. They had even put the tree together, but I had to redo it because Hubby didn’t pay any attention to the color coding of the branches.
We started decorating the tree, but the only strand of lights we had decided to quit working. So as of right now, it only has tinsel on it. But we bought a new strand yesterday, and we’re going to finish it up today.
Between the snow and the decorating, Pumpkin is now in full Christmas mode. She took the liberty of making us a list of what she wanted, which was helpful, but I told her not to be disappointed if she didn’t get everything on it.
In other news, it has been bitterly cold for the past few days, and is supposed to stay that way for a while. We’ve been keeping a fire in the basement in an effort to keep the water from freezing, and it has worked so far. I’m hoping that our biggest plumbing issue this winter will be deciding which of the kitchen faucets I’ve been looking at to buy, and we won’t have all the water problems we had last year. We shall see.
How was your Thanksgiving? Mine was good, thanks. Mom and Big Sis fixed an awesome dinner, and I got to see all of my side of the family except for one of my nieces. Hubby spent most of the time hovering over the kids, because he was afraid that my sister’s youngest daughter, who happens to be a rambunctious tomboy, would influence Pumpkin to step out of her comfort zone and do something dangerous. I know Pumpkin better than that, but at least watching them kept him occupied and less bored than he otherwise would have been.
So today is Black Friday. For those of you who went shopping, I hope you caught some killer deals. As for me, I haven’t left the house. I had hoped to get some shopping done from home, taking advantage of sales and online coupons from my favorite etailers. But it was not to be. Pretty much everything that was on sale was out of my price range, even if it was deeply discounted. And the few things I found that I could have bought, I had no use for. Oh well. There’s still a month until Christmas.
I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ll probably be doing a great deal of my shopping at Dollar Tree. All the kids on Hubby’s side of the family are very rough on toys, so it wouldn’t do to buy them anything expensive anyway. Hubby will probably buy his parents and brothers cigarettes like he usually does, so all I’ll have left to worry about are Pumpkin, Hubby and the kids on my side of the family, since I’ve already got plans for my mom’s gift. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Pumpkin and I are psyched about going to my mom’s for Thanksgiving. I think we’ve even talked Hubby into going, although you can’t really pin him down on anything until the last minute. I just hope I’m able to get everything together without a hitch before we go. We’re not spending the night, but we will need our medications and I’ll need to make sure that everything we plan to wear is clean and dry tonight.
I’ve also got to make a strawberry cheesecake to take up there. When I asked Mom if there was anything she needed me to bring, she said no, but that if I took a notion to make one of those, that would be fine. I took that to mean that she would like to have one, so I picked up the ingredients last time I was at the grocery store.
One thing I’m super-thankful for this year is that there’s not a chance of snow. Whenever I go up there, if there’s a flake or two of snow, Hubby gets in a big hurry to get back home. I don’t know whether he’s really that scared of getting snowed in or if he’s just looking for an excuse to come back, but he won’t rest until we’re driving back up the mountain. But according to the forecast, all that we might possibly need to contend with the weather are an umbrella and some rain boots. And there’s not even that big of a chance of rain.
This is probably the last you’ll hear from me here until after the holiday. So have a good one!
It’s hard to believe that the official start of the holiday season (AKA Thanksgiving) is coming up this Thursday. Well, to me it is. If you listen to the retailers this year, it’s apparently already well underway.
As for me, I’m not in such a hurry for Christmas to get here. I’m looking forward to Turkey Day. If I were spending it at home, it wouldn’t really be a big deal. But I’m planning to go up to my mom’s for dinner, and I’ll get to see my brother and sister and their families. Since that doesn’t happen very often any more, it’s certainly something special.
I don’t know yet whether Hubby will be going, but I hope he will. If I were spending the night and going shopping on Black Friday, I’m sure he would opt to stay home, as long as he could find someone to hang out with while Pumpkin and I were gone. But we’re just going up there for the day, so maybe I’ll be able to talk him into joining us.
While I’m on the subject of Thanksgiving, I hope all of you out there have a happy and safe long holiday weekend. Just wanted to say that since I’ll probably forget if I wait until closer to the actual day.
Christmas is getting here way too quickly for my tastes. I hate it when I don’t have the money to even get all of the kids (plus Mom and Hubby) a decent gift, but that’s the way it’s looking this year. I’m not sure how much we’d be able to get Pumpkin if we weren’t getting some assistance on that front.
I might do the whole baking thing again this year. Just bake some of my best holiday goodies and send a package to each family. But even that has been getting more expensive each year. One of my most beloved treats is toasted pecans, yet pecans are just about too expensive to buy unless you just want a tiny little bag that’s fit for a snack for one person.
I’ve just about given up on even sending out Christmas cards. I usually get no more than one or two, so what’s the point? Sure, those fancy address stampers and holiday themed postage stamps are nice, but if nobody cares about getting a card any more, what’s the point?
It’s not that I’m not in the Christmas spirit. Well, at least I’m getting there. But it would just be so much nicer if there were an easier way to let our friends and family members know we care, without obliterating our bank accounts and stressing ourselves out in the long run.
