What I Did vs What I Should have Done

I got an unexpected day off today.

I immediately started thinking of all the things I should get done...Especially since I am hoping to pick up  a shift tomorrow to make up for today's lost shift.

As soon as I get back home I'm going to:

1.  Clean out my closet.
2.  Clean my bathrooms. 
3.  Paint my toes.

The list goes on, but I am too tired to think of much else.  After all, as you can guess by the blog title I didn't accomplish anything on my "should have done" list.

I was in the mood to shop.  Strange, as I never want to shop.  Of course the mood would strike me when I'm short a shift.  I decided to make a trip to the local consignment shop where I combed the racks for decent yet cheap clothes.  I left with three pairs of jeans, three shirts and a black sparkly dress.  All for my kids, of course!  And best of all I didn't even spend thirty dollars!

But that's not even the best part!  While there I got a great idea for a craft!

Yes, I the official noncrafter saw a craft idea and said, "I can do that!" 

Yay me!

After I left there I went to Walmart to purchase a new brush for a certain child who has a bit of a temper.  The kind of temper that leads to throwing things.  And perhaps breaking them.  Apparently the child threw her brush on the ground a few weeks ago when dealing with some particularly nasty tangles and the handle broke off.  She has been bumming off of her sister ever since.  This morning I realized that this sharing of the hair brush was adding to the rush of trying to get out the door and to the bus in the morning.  Originally I had decided she could just suffer and not have a brush, but for obvious reasons that didn't work.  By the way:  I am certain that no members of my family can relate to the urge to throw something when they are particularly angry.

So, I ran to Walmart and I got a new brush, plus the gift that I had signed up to bring for the local children's home gift drive.  While there, I decided to peruse a certain department to see if they had what I needed to make my craft.

And of course they did.

So, I came home and I made a practice version of the craft idea...

Guess who already has her gift idea from the heart idea for the family gift exchange?

Me!

Oh, and for anyone who is confused, my family has a tradition of exchanging homemade gifts at Christmas.  I both love and hate it.  Love the thought of getting a gift that someone crafted with love.  Hate the thought of having to come up with a gift that is not food...Because I could totally do food every single time.  But then everyone would always know what to expect from me...

And that would lead to disappointment, and the fervent hope that they don't get Andi's gift.  Again.

So.  I have an idea for a gift.

And I think it's pretty good.

But I can't even share a hint of it on this blog because my family reads it!  I am simply bursting to share my idea!

Seriously?  I just succeeded in keeping a secret for an entire month, and now I have to start all over again, and it has to last until Christmas?

I am so in trouble.

The Neglectful Blogger Does a Post

First you need to know that this little beauty, complete with chipped fingernail polish went to church camp.

And left her little sister all alone with nobody to play with. The same sister who is dependent on knowing the exact whereabouts of her big sister at all times...Even if it means lying on the floor outside the bathroom door, waiting (im)patiently for her to finish so she can bully her about playing a game...

Then, my brother in law and his two oldest came and helped paint our house. I did not take a single picture as I was determined that Studmuffin had my camera and placed it somewhere unknown to me...


However, after my children returned yesterday from five DAYS at my sister's house, and she sent this mug to me, I became desperate in my search for the missing camera. After all, a gal has her priorities, right? Of course, after Studmuffin continued to deny misplacing aforementioned camera, I decided to investigate with the girls....

Who also claimed complete ignorance on the whereabouts of the missing item...

Then, I had a small epiphany.

I had placed the camera in my work bag to show off pictures of my family at work!!!

And promptly forgot all about it and did not share one tiny snapshot with a single coworker!

Now, if that ain't motherly love and pride and all that jazz, I do NOT know what is!


So, here I am today, doing a post inspired by a mug given to me by my sister Paula. You remember, the sister who doesn't have a blog, but totally should?

Yeah. That sister.

Anyway, my kids HAD to be gone all week, as my nanny was at camp, and Studmuffin was going to be traveling this week, and really, who wants to have a friend dump their kids on them for undetermined periods of time so their mom can work?

Well, apparently, aunts are just the solution for such a dilemma.


And, WHAT ABOUT THAT MUG? Is it not too perfect for an obsessed coffee lover such as myself? I texted her that I love, love, LOVE it, and she said she saw it and thought of me and knew she had to get it for me.

What a great sister!


This morning I enjoyed using my new mug to get myself perked up to work on painting the trim of the house. Bryan (Studmuffin's brother, whom I did not take one single photo of) came last weekend and used his super duper power painter to do the gables....



As you can see, I still have some trim to go. We worked until about noon, ate lunch, and after cooling off in the house, we decided to wait until this evening to start in again. Well, the heat and the fact that we ran out of brown paint put a stop to our productivity!

Anyhoo, now you have a brief update on the goings on in this rambler's house.

You may now all resume your regularly scheduled lives...

Gift Bags

Popcorn has a tendency to get attached to things. Things that I consider junk. Like a rock. A rubber lizard. A teeny tiny seashell. A bird nest that is carefully wrapped in tissue paper and stored in a shoebox in the closet. Don't tell Studmuffin about that last one. He told me to throw it out. I thought it was too sweet to trash. The same as the cardinal feathers I found in her window sill. There is a strict rule of "no feathers in the house. They carry mites." But, when you find the feathers so carefully hidden, and you know they've been there for months, because you remember forbidding them in the house, it's like, what's the point now? The damage is done.

Well, Popcorn tends to feel the same way about certain gift bags. She had a Scooby Doo gift bag that belonged to "this family" and we could not use it for anyone who did not reside in this house,because then we'd no longer have the Scooby Doo gift bag, and she liked it. Every time I wrapped a present for anyone at all, she would hunt me down and say, "Mommy, please don't use the Scooby Doo bag, that bag needs to stay in the family." And I would find it amusing, so I kept it...Remember, I'm cheap, and I love free stuff (click here to read more.) I feel very passionately about this when it comes to gift bags. My goal in life is to never actually buy gift bags, but to repurpose (how green am I?) them for the next present.

Well, the last party the girls were invited to, I made Popcorn part with the bag. Number One, it was time to leave for the party, and we were frantically wrapping the present. I had no gift wrap, so this was our only option, short of bags with poinsettias or baby motifs. She was upset, but decided to make the sacrifice for the love of her friend.

Tonight we were frantically looking for wrap or a bag for the gift she needs for a party she's going to tomorrow. She is going to the party from the babysitter's since I have to work, so I can't exactly wrap it and take it their tomorrow. Our bag supply has not improved because, alas, nobody has received a gift since last time.

Aha! We have bags the right size!

Dangit!

Houston, we have a problem....The bag is yet another bag that she loves. This time it's Tweety.

Okey dokey...I'm calm. I'm patient. I'm loving.

Aha! Strawberry Shortcake....

Dadgummit...

This one is too babyish. Popcorn doesn't like Strawberry Shortcake, so neither will Amanda.

How about this one?

Too Valentine-ish.

This one?

It's boring. Just a plain brown gift bag. And no. She's not going to decorate it herself. She doesn't "feel like it."

I'm calm. I'm patient. I'm loving....

Then she spies it....A Taz gift bag! That's perfect!

Happy, happy, joy, joy....

What?

It turns out the Taz bag is the Tweety bag...Different picture on the other side....

No. She doesn't want to use it. It's the family bag. She wants to have this bag in our house.

I'm calm. I'm patient. I'm loving...

I honestly did not lose my temper. I know. My tolerance is nothing short of a miracle.

We finally did find a bag. We settled on one that is way too big for the present.

Only to discover that I'm out of tissue paper.

Dangit, dangit, dangit, dangit!

We found some packing paper, fluffed it just so, and called it good.

*WHEW!*

So, to all interested parties who may be purchasing presents from my children: Please send gift bags. I'm cheap, I like to reuse gift bags, and I'm too lazy to wrap gifts, plus my brain is too weak to remember to buy bags or wrap at the store. So please, please include a cute bag with your gift. I promise it will be put to good use...Unless it is too baby-ish, or Valentiney, or Christmas themed, or Popcorn becomes inexplicably attached to it, in which case it will be looked at every time I drag out the wrap box, but will be forbidden to be used...

In review: The bag should be cute, but not so cute Popcorn becomes attached. The bag cannot be too big or too small. Avoid themes if at all possible, because they will inevitably be the wrong ones. Unless it's the right theme, in which case we will have it for all time, because it will become a "family bag, that needs to be in our house."

Thank you for your consideration in this matter. Remember: My problems are your problems.

Am I a Mooch, or WHAT?!

I was reading through my blogs, (I never denied being egocentric) and I noticed a very disturbing pattern. The doggie bed my sister gave my dog....The table Studmuffin's aunt gave us....the girls Halloween costumes...the Desert Rose dishes from The Original Prairie Woman... I did not like what I was thinking. "Andi, you are a serious mooch! Go out and buy your own stuff!"

I'm not a mooch! I'm not! Seriously! Cheap, maybe, mooch......Nope!

I had a sudden flash of packing for college....Most of those possessions were thanks to my sister, Paula...the iron, the lamp, the clock, well it goes on and on. My cell phone is from my niece, because a neighbor girl ruined mine, and then the one my sister gave me broke (notice neither of these instances were my fault...that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!) My mind started to spin circles (more than usual for those of you who wonder), I began to sweat (again, more than my usual sweat...this is paranoid sweat) and I became a tad concerned.

That caused me to take a brief inventory of my humble abode.

My bedroom furniture is thanks to a gift from The Original Prairie Woman....

My end tables are from Studmuffin's growing up years....

I have a dining room table that was my great-great grandma's...

The furniture in the kids bedrooms were thanks to my mom...

The hutch in my dining area was refinished by Studmuffin, but originally came from my mother-in-law...

The decorations are just as bad....

Have I bought NOTHING for myself?

Have I?

Huh?

Tell me?

What about my....? Never mind, that was a gift....

Thinking,

Thinking,

Hey I know! I bought my....Nah, that was a present too.

Think, Think, Think

Oh, this is getting painful,

Hmmmmmmmm


Oh crud, this ain't working out so well in my favor....

Remember that show Spin City? (I had such a crush on Michael J Fox as a kid, until I realized that I was probably taller than him, and like the rest of the short guys I knew, he might call me "Andre the Giant." Yes, my childhood was painful, but somehow I survived.) I'm sure I can spin this to my favor....

Let's see....

Okay, so maybe I get lots of gifts from people. Maybe it's not because I'm a mooch, but maybe it's because they all love me and want to bless me! I'm pretty darn lovable after all. Hey, who am I to rob someone of their blessing by helping me? (Thanks Paula for that little saying. I've been waiting for an opportunity to use that example...What do you mean you didn't mean it that way?)

Maybe I really am cheap...cheaper than I realized... That is a scary thought, dear reader, because I already thought I was pretty darn cheap.

Wait! I'm not cheap! I'm not a mooch! I'm eco-friendly! I don't waste a single item! It's called recycling! Not CHEAP, not a MOOCH, it's called RECYCLING!!!

Hey! Whoddathunkit? I'm green! Yeah me!

P.S. Aren't my posts boring without the benefit of photos? Maybe someone will give me a camera since SOMEONE washed mine! Again, I claim little to no responsibility for the aforementioned broken items.... So, as I was saying, if you'd like to bless me with a free camera, I'll bless you by allowing you to bless me. Hey, I'm just generous that way. Yep, that's me...I'm a giver!