Christmas Shopping...

It is that time of year again. The Christmas decorations are out in full force in all of the stores. The pressure is on. The pressure to buy Christmas gifts for everyone in my family and my husband's family. Deciding who do I buy for? How much do I spend? If I get the kids a gift do I also buy for the adults? Is my husband going to kill me when he sees the Discover bill?

I'm already starting to get stressed. My husband sets the budget then it is my responsibility to select all of the gifts and wrap them and decorate the house. That includes the gifts for people like his father whom I have NO CLUE what to buy. I purchased my first three Christmas presents today from Speaking through me purses. These will be for my mom, my grandma, and my husband's stepmom.

I also stress after the gifts are bought. I look and look and look, second guessing everything I pick out until I talk myself out of everything I picked out. It would be so much easier if everyone just came with an updated Target wish list. Except Target charges an arm and a leg for shipping plus you have to pay tax....I take that back. Everyone should come with an Amazon wishlist. And there are so many people to buy for and so little budget to do it in. I have to get really creative so I don't look cheap. And my sister and her twin boys have December birthdays, my dad, my husband's nephew and my son all have January birthdays. So all those people need Christmas gifts and birthday gifts.

I love Christmas. Hands down, it is my all time favorite holiday. But the gift buying stresses me out. And the travel to see everyone stresses my husband out. And the Discover bill stresses us both out. I want to just enjoy the twinkling lights, carols, crisp weather, my tree and not think about all the materialism. Don't get me wrong, I love a great gift as much as the next girl. But every year the Christmas shopping list gets longer but the budget isn't any bigger. It is hard. It is times like this that I really wish I was creative and could make presents for everyone but that is just not happening.

Who doesn't love jewelry?

So I have been expanding my google reader lately with some great blogs. In my excitment over the Fall Y'all giveaway I came across a blog for Beading Mommy. She sells jewelry over here. She has some really cute stuff for amazingly cheap prices. She is also struggling right now and has a baby at home and a baby on the way. If you haven't been to her store yet, swing by and check out her stuff. I ordered 4 pairs of earrings today and I can't wait to get them. I especially love her holiday stuff and I believe she may be adding a few more things soon. The earrings in the picture above are only $3.00 and shipping for USPS is only $2.00 for regular mail or $5.00 for priority.

I have no shame

So Walgreens is hosting a photo contest for cutest Halloween photos of kids and pets to win any of 130 prizes including a $250 Walgreens Gift Card and LOTS OF FREE photo credits. For those of you who know me (which is none of you) I should buy stock in Walgreens as much money as I spend in there printing photos. I seriously took 110 pictures of my child in his Halloween costume and tearfully narrowed it down to my top 55 to order from Walgreens. Because every child need 55 pictures of their 1st Halloween costume. I (of course) think my child is the most beautiful thing to grace God's green earth and have ABSOLUTELY no shame in entering him in said contest.

However, the way that Walgreens set it up you have to basically hunt through all the photos one by one to locate a particular child to vote on. With over 12,000 kids and pets entered it is like a needle in a haystack. I located Bear as number 1872 after much much scrolling but it wouldn't let me get a link to his page so I can ask my friends and family to vote for him. I don't know if he will stay that number or if the pictures will cycle through. It is actually a little frustrating because it is mind boggling how many pictures there are. But if you are interested in seeing some really cute Halloween pictures and helping people win for their kids and pets stop by the Walgreens photo contest here. I would shamelessly ask you to vote for Bear if I thought you could easily locate the picture but I know from experience that is practically impossible (I entered the picture from my October 31st post). But enjoy the pictures anyways.

Murphy's Law

Why is it that if the grocery bagger is going to forget to give you one of your bags it has to be the bag with the peanut M&Ms and the new Mojito gum you wanted to try? Why is it that you never realize said items have been forgotten until you get home and begin unpacking your bags? Why is it that the grocery store check out clerk considers it a compliment to say (when I show him my ID to purchase my wine) that he knew I was 21 but he didn't think I was THAT old? I am 27, that is not THAT much older than 21 or so I thought.

My day was going perfectly fine until then. I went this afternoon and got a pedicure and an eyebrow wax, scheduled my son's Christmas pictures with the studio, put out the chicken to defrost for dinner, picked up the 180 pictures I had developed at Walgreens, bought the items I needed to complete my dinner and got myself a treat, or so I thought. Perhaps this is the universe's way of telling me that perhaps the big bag of M&Ms is not in my best interest. Well screw you universe! I want my $6.00 back! (3.99 for M&Ms and 1.99 for gum).

Ok. I had to vent. Luckily they did not forget the two bottles of cheap wine I bought. Without which my day might be a complete loss. Well, that and the pedicure.

The Random Number Generator has spoken

And the winners of the 2 Wondertime Magazine subscriptions are :

Jean from Working Momma 247

and

Megan from Half Pint House -

Congratulations, Ladies! I will be emailing you shortly to obtain your information on where to sent the subscription to.

Thank you to all of the wonderful people who came by and checked out my blog this week. I hope you will come back and visit.