Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Shopping, Surprises and Decorating

These are a few of my favorite things. When it comes to shopping, I love the deal hunting and the perfect item quest. Compliment my shirt and I will be all to happy to tell you that I got it for $3. Admire my shoes, and I'll tell you all about my small sample size feet and my friend in the shoe biz. And in case you were wondering, I am wearing a $5 shirt and free shoes today. And do you know what I love about my free shoes? They are always different then what everyone else is wearing. Usually because they are marked for a different country because they are considered to "fast" for the US. But I LOVE them. But enough about my fabulous shoes, back to Christmas Shopping and Surprises. Ooh, speaking of surprises, my sorta boss just brought me a scratchers ticket and a dove bar. Only one of which was a winner. I'll give you a hint, it wasn't the scratchers ticket.

Anyway, I went shopping really early on Black Friday this year. I mean, the sun isn't up yet and I am parked outside my cousins house to pick her up. My sister got wind of a midnight madness sale at Gymboree and ended up not going to sleep at all, so she was quite entertaining. We all knew the moment she stopped talking she would be out, so she didn't stop talking. One of our stops included Kohl's, where I was looking slippers for Mason, but decided I didn't want to pay $18 for it, even though it was originally priced at $32. So I thought I would go back on Monday when my Kohl's Cash was good and buy them. Lucky me, when I went back they were on sale for $15, and with my $10 Kohl's Cash, I spent only $5. What's even better, I went back on Tuesday to get something else, and that same item was now $20! That's right, I'm a shopping genius.

If there is one thing I love more then finding awesome deals on something you are going to get anyway, it's surprises. I love giving them and getting them. I love to torture people with obscure clues that will drive them crazy more then it will help them figure out what it is. I even love being tortured with those obscure clues. And I am the queen of secret keeping. Except for Mason's big gift. I just blurted it out one day. I asked him what else he wanted since I won his gift I could buy him a little something else. Then I said, "I do need to get something else to go with your cam." I caught myself there, but a little to late. I so was focused on not saying "memory card," that I completely blanked on not saying camera. And of course I couldn't think of anything else that started with cam. You know, like camping equipment. Duh. But I do still have a few things up my sleeve, so all is not lost.

Decorating. This year the outside of my house is finally getting some attention. Thanks to Rachel there is now a 9 ft inflatable Santa in my side yard and thanks to Tami, two deer in my front yard. But I have to say, the most decorated area is my cubicle. Did I mention that it is a prize winning cube? Yeah, it really is.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Why I Love Decorating For Christmas

Aside from the fact that I LOVE this season, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and 5-6 days of not being at work and still getting paid. Not to mention all those wonderfully cheesy Christmas movies. What could be more wonderful then that? I love transforming the house to be all festive. Plus, once a year, I get Mason to help me rearrange furniture, no questions asked. And if that weren't enough, I also get to vacuum under all that furniture. Would you like to know what we found this year? Under the coffee table was a stick (thanks Koby, I really wanted that there). Under the sofa was a flash light, a flash drive and some paper. Behind the sofa, resting on the window ledge was a sprinkling of finger nails.

Excuse me while I gag a little. When we first discovered them, there was some confusion. "Is that really what I think it is? Did someone really bite or tear off their nails and drop them over the back of the couch?" The longer they sat there, the more grossed out I got. I quickly grabbed the vacuum and sucked those suckers up. Then I made Mason sterilize the sill. Then came the debate, clearly they weren't mine, they were too big for my little fingers. But Mason was trying with all his might to figure out if he did it. If he would do such a thing. He debated with himself for quite some time before I stepped in and came to his defense. If he were to rip off his nails, he would probably leave them on the coffee table instead of behind the couch. Which he did once or twice a long time ago until I informed how gross that really was. There are only two other men that sit on our couches often enough and for long enough periods of time to leave that many nails behind in less then a year. And to those two men, I'm watching you (you too Mason, just in case). When I catch you, I'm going to hand you all my cleaning supplies and put you to work on the ENTIRE house. And then I will throw a party, cause my whole house will be clean.