Friday, November 25, 2005

Black Friday Schmack Schmiday

Call it whatever you want but Black Friday is a scam, a heist, a flimflam. I barely saw any sales worth mentioning. Certainly none that were worth getting up at 6am for. I did have fun shopping with my sister but I didn't need to get up at 6am for that to happen. I did, however get a chunk of my Christmas shopping done. Mostly for the girls. McKenna is getting a ballerina tutu, a Cinderella-themed Color Wonders set, and Candyland. Kyla is getting her own first baby doll, Baby Einstein Nesting Barn (we figure even if she can't technically use it yet, she'll love looking at it and watching McKenna play with it), and the Singing Stars Gym. That last item was our big find. Normally retails for $39.99 and we got it for $19.99. We'll probably pick up a few more items for each of the girls but we hadn't decided entirely what else to get and I was on a strict $100 or less budget today. We also picked up a few stocking stuffers and I bought a handful of pink snowflake tins at Target to make "Snowman Soup" that I'll be giving out as small "Thinking of you" gifts to people like our landlord, bosses, neighbors, etc. I figure I can do that and then cut waaaaaaaaaaaay back on the amount of cookies I need to bake. I'll just include a few cookies with the snowman soup and bundle it all up in the snowflake tins. Should make a cute/easy gift!

The BEST sales though were online for digital products! I bought (all for a total of $20) Gina Miller's Amber Romance kit, Gina Miller's Birthday Blitz kit, Sara Carling's Frippery kit, Manda Bean and Robin Carlton's OMGosh! kit, and Michelle Coleman's Winter Wonderland kit. I had transferred $20 to my paypal card because all of these digishops only take paypal. So I was obviously stuck with my budget and let me tell you - I was just sick to my stomach having to leave behind so many beautiful kits out there at half price. There are just so many fantastic products out there to work with and it was at rock-bottom prices today. Totally kicking myself for not transferring more to my paypal. Damn.

So I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We definitely did. A big chunk of my family was in Tennesse for the holiday (miss you guys!) and Erick had to work (missed you the most!) but the girls and I as well as my sister and her family were able to get together with my Dad's side of the family. We had a really enjoyable time. McKenna got to know my Uncle Jerome and she just loved him to pieces. She so rarely gets to see any of my uncles or my aunt on that side and it was really a treat to see her warm up to him so quickly.

Plus the kids got a special treat from Gramps and Cheryl - McKenna and Kyla got their very own Disney Princess Christmas Tree and Luke and Gavin got their very own Winnie-the-Pooh Christmas Tree (surprisingly hard to find links for these two items). McKenna was so excited about her tree (and NOT surprisingly, has already convinced us to have the tree up and displayed right on top of her princess table).

Anyway - back to Thanksgiving - the food was delicious. Dad and Cheryl cooked a fantastic meal and Cheryl set the most beautiful table. It really felt like a special occasion and I appreciated all the effort they put into making a nice Thanksgiving for us all. I did a little cooking for the day. I made two batches of Broccoli/Cheese/Ritz casserole (check out this easy-delicious-guaranteed-to-please recipe here, a no-bake pumpkin pudding pie and a New England apple pie. I sent one batch of the casserole and the pumpkin pie to work with Erick for their potluck and I took the other casserole and the apple pie to our family dinner. The casserole especially was a huge hit at Erick's work. I'm telling you - I have not met anyone who didn't like this dish.

After we got home, I set right to scrapping. This has become a serious addiction. But I had a picture that I just loved and had recently attained the beautiful "Sugar Cookie" kit by Robin Carlton. I knew the two were perfect for a LO together so I got to work. I am TERRIBLE about time management now that I'm into scrapping. I knew full well that I would need to feed Kyla around 5:30am AND I would need to be up at 6:45am to go shopping with my sister. So I really should've gone right to sleep. But no. I worked on my LO, finished up, logged off my computer.....and then I thought and decided "No, I'm not happy with how this turned out." So I logged back on and continued working on it until 1:40am. I couldn't put it off. I wanted to finish it THEN. So although I am dead tired this afternoon and paying for my decision quite dearly, I am at least pleased with my finished product:

Undeniably Kissable
Credits: Robin Carlton's "Sugar Cookie" kit. Staple and wired bookplate from Shabby Princess. Fonts are: Artistamp, Chalk, MA Sexy.
Journaling says: My little Ky - Everyone comments on your beautiful face. You are remarkably precious, wildly adorable and undeniably kissable. Those little cheeks are too hard to resist and we just have to smother you in kissies before you're old enough to protest.

Well, I think that's it for now. I should have some pictures to share soon. Some from McKenna's Thanksgiving luncheon at school and some from our first Thanksgiving with Kyla. Maybe I'll have time to post some of those tonight. Hopefully....

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG Emmie SO needs that Princess tree for her room! LOL Cute!

Shannon Bieger said...

Yeah she does! AND she needs some of those Glitter Girl ornaments to go on it as well. I'm thinking about going shopping for a handful of super-girly ornaments and just making the tree all thinks "little chica".

Jen said...

that stinks that you didn't get many bargains. We have that classical chorus thing- BOTH kids love it! LOL. Micah lays under it with Addie and tells her the colors and sings her the songs. So cute!