Jim has been dropping hints all school year that he wants a drum set for Joshua for a Christmas gift, and that he is hoping that the whole extended family will chip in a buy one for him. Most of the people in our family is completely ignoring him; they are tired of him expecting us to furnish his kids with presents every year while he gives our kids nothing! So this year I decided to buy one of the affordable cowbells at Musicians Friend and give that to Jim towards the drum set that he keeps talking about. I’ll smile sweetly and tell him that was all that I could afford, and that I hope it helps in some way to get him closer to the drum set that he wants. And I hope he doesn’t act indignant that I didn’t get him more.
Giving Back to the Community
As a part of giving back to our community this year we have put together a few baskets to donate to families in need. We picked out a few toys to donate to children that don’t have any. We also did a culling of all of the toys in our home to make room for the new ones the kids will get for Christmas. We cleaned out three big bag fulls of toys to donate. The kids were happy to do it because we talk to them about how they can help others and make a difference even though they are so young still.
In addition to the toys we are donating, we’ve also put together food baskets and toiletries for men and women. I used coupons and got a large variety of health and beauty items for free or next to nothing. I always use these items to give to shelters. It seems silly not to take advantage of the sales when there are people in need that can use these things. Each toiletry basket has tooth brushes, tooth paste, body wash, deodorant, as well as a comb and a brush.
We’re taking everything to be donated this afternoon. We enjoy giving back to the community. How does your family or work give back the community you live in?
Gift Bags or Gift Wrap?
Which camp do you fall into? Gift bags or gift wrap? As a child I loved getting gifts covered in wrapping paper and tearing into the paper to see what was inside. It was a thrill to hear the paper shred and discover what lay waiting behind that magical paper. As I got older I stopped tearing the paper apart on my gifts.
Instead, I very carefully peeled it away from the gift, trying very carefully not to tear it so that I could use it again in the future. My mother was always very grateful for the extra paper. I folded the paper up nice and neatly in a pile and handed it to her once we were finished opening all of our gifts.
You can do the exact same preserve and reuse idea with gift bags, and a lot easier too. You don’t’ have to worry about paper tearing or opening something ever soo carefully so you don’t put added wrinkles in the paper. Unless you crush your gift bags they are easy to reuse. Simply fill the bag again and you’re ready to go! You might have to add more tissue paper, but I even reuse that in my house. I have a big box of tissue paper that I’ve collected from all of the gifts we’ve received and I just pull it out to stuff the bags as needed.
Reusing our gift wrap and gift bags is just one of the ways I save money for our family. So my question to you is, do you reuse gift wrap or gift bags? And which do you prefer?
Considering Joining A Book Club
I’ve been considering joining a book club. I used to always be reading something new. I haven’t picked up a new book in some time. I think it would be a lot of fun to get back into my daily reading habit. I always used to read before bed. It helps me relax and feel calm before heading to sleep.
Although, some times it would keep me up longer when I was reading a good book. It would be difficult to put it down. I would tell myself I’ll stop at the end of this chapter in order to avoid it getting really out of hand.
The reason why I’m thinking of joining a book club is because I would love to have someone to share and discuss what I think about the book. I love chit chatting about what I watch on television with my friends so why not do the same thing with the books I read. I think it it would be lots of fun to talk about what what the characters are doing and why they are doing it.
Digging deeper into the meaning of books is really exciting. I know it would be neat to hear the perspectives of others on the same book I’m reading. Perhaps they caught something I didn’t or view something in a total different way that I had never thought about.
Ignoring advice
When Marcia announced to the entire office that she needs to find a place that sells cheap trumpets, I pretended that I had not heard her. She is always telling me that she needs to find a place to buy something and then she never follows my advice. I get tired of sharing my experience and advice with people, just to have them completely ignore it. Sometimes I think about asking people why do they even bother to ask me for advice if they have no intention of even thinking about following it!
A good place to be
When Chuck told me that he was thinking about going to work as a paralegal for an office of immigration lawyers in los angeles I told him that was probably a very good place to work in that field. From what I understand there is a high concentration of people in that part of the country that may need some legal help to enter this country legally and become American citizens. I think that immigration law is probably a very secure field to be in.
What’s For Dinner? Time To Menu Plan
It’s almost 5 o’clock and I still have no idea about what is for dinner. I’ve been pretty bad about this for awhile now. It’s so darn stressful having to think of something for everyone to eat at the end of the day when I’ve been working all day. I enjoy cooking but I hate figuring out what to cook.
I really should work on meal and menu planning. It would be great to come home at the end of the day and just start dinner, or even better have it all finished in the crock pot and waiting for me to serve. That sounds much more relaxing than standing in front of the fridge, freezer, and pantry every night for 30 minutes trying to figure something out. It makes me cranky sometimes when I can’t find something easy after a long day and I’m exhausted and just want to eat and sit down.
I think maybe I will start meal planning I know it would make grocery shopping easier because I would only have to buy what’s on my list from the meals I have planned. Sometimes I can spend hours in the grocery store just wandering the aisles and tossing stuff in the cart. I can spend $100 or more easily and get home and not have anything to make a complete meal. I guess I just have to get to it and start. In the mean time, pizza it is for tonight.
Wedding Planning and Research is Relaxing
Jill has been totally amazed by how much stuff I’ve been doing for her wedding. They haven’t even set a date and I’ve been looking up all sorts of things from wedding favors, to unity ceremonies. She called me this morning to say thanks you when she was reading my blog while having her morning coffee.
I told her it was the least I could do. But really I might even be more excited to do this than I have been about anything in a very long time. That’s probably why I’ve jumped in head first and have been going a little research crazy about planning her wedding. Her only fear is that I will get burned out because I’m doing so much. She doesn’t want me to overwhelm myself.
I told her not to worry because doing all of this fun research is actually really relaxing. It makes me feel excited and I get a rush browsing wedding websites and Pinterest in search of new ideas and themes I had never even dreamed of when it came to a wedding and reception.
The way I see it by the time I’m done planning her wedding I’ll be an expert and can help other friends and family do it all over again. I’ll have all of the research done and we’ll just have to browse my stuff. Then again, I could be dreaming and completely delusional. I guess we wait and find out.
The Best Birthday Presents To Get and Give
What is the best birthday present you have ever received? Was it some elaborate and expensive gift or was it a service that some one provided for you?
I think the best gifts are those that tell me that the person giving me the gift really took the time to think about what I would like. I enjoy gifts that people give from the heart and of themselves. I love it when someone decided that they want spend time with me instead of just tossing a gift card in a car and calling it a day. Don’t get me wrong I love gift cards because I can pick out what ever I want to get for myself, but some times I would rather just spend an afternoon with some one and or maybe share a meal together.
I love date nights for gifts too! These usually involve a gift from more than one person too. My hubby of course and then who ever volunteers to watch our kids while we go out and enjoy ourselves. Babysitting is a fantastic gift, it gives me a chance to have some alone time to get out of the house to be an adult or run errands. I’ve also used baby sitting to just catch up on sleep.
You know when you have those really long weeks and you don’t get more than 5 hours a night for a few days in a row. Those are the times when I cash in those coupons that my friends make for me for a night of free baby sitting. My friends come pick up the kids and then I can go back to bed and I love it! If I’m smart I’ll try to plan ahead and see if the kids can do a sleep over so I can sleep in.
So I guess date nights and baby sitting are my top gifts. What is the best gift you could receive or have received?
Tips to Selecting Wedding Favors
Wedding favors are the little items that every one gets to take home at the end of the celebration to remind them of the union of their friends or family. There are a wide variety of wedding favors to choose from that will compliment any wedding theme and style.
Affordable Wedding Favors – When I had my wedding the most important aspect of our wedding favors was that they were affordable. Affordable does not mean some cheap toy that will break after the first use. Now days you can purchase very reasonably priced wedding favors or even buy materials to make your own. As with most things, when you buy in bulk the cost per item goes down.
Practical Wedding Favors – Once you set a price point for your favors you have to determine what kind of favor you want to give. I enjoy receiving wedding favors that are practical and something that I will actually use. Functional items are nice and will remind your friends and family that you were thinking of them every time they use your favor. Bottle stoppers and led key chains are among my favorite in this type of favor.
Personalized Wedding Favors – Then there is the question of whether or not you want to personalize your wedding favors. You can do this by adding stickers or gift tags to bags, boxes, or tins. You can also choose to have something embossed or engraved. The possibilities are endless when it comes to making things your own. And don’t forget you can personalize both functional and consumable wedding favors. For example, if you want to give away those yummy almonds just put them in a favor bag, box, or tin with your label on it and you are all set.
I hope these tips make determining what wedding favors are right for your wedding that much easier. What do you look for in a wedding favor?