Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Happy Christmas! (Part 2)

I woke up Christmas morning and made orange rolls and bacon for our Christmas breakfast! This year was different because Matthew and I got to wake up and do our Christmas first thing. I guess it will be like that once we have kids, but it was weird not having Santa with my parents first thing. Signs of getting old! haha Matthew ended up with a couple of Jos. Bank's dress shirts, a Duke hoodie, some face wash, organizer for his car, can coolers, a mechanic's set, monogrammed beer mugs, hairclippers (to cut his own hair), and a reversible belt. I got a craft table, a purse, socks, underwear, a trashcan (for recycling), a watch, season 2 of Modern Family, and a ChickFilA calendar!

After wrapping a couple of last minute gifts and separating and packing them all up in the car, we headed to Matthew's grandparents' for Christmas lunch. We had prime rib (that was cooked more like a tough roast). I can't remember the other food. I rarely eat the side dishes there haha. Then we exchanged our gifts. His parents gave us a $50 visa gift card. His grandparents had already given us $100 each. And his sister and her husband gave us a set of 4 frames with a saying in each one. We gave his sister a gift basket with all sorts of bath and body stuff, makeup stuff, candles, etc. And we also gave her husband a basket of car wash stuff. His dad got a suitcase for all the mission trips he goes on, and his mom got a facial at the day spa. We gave his grandma a scarf, dishcloths, and bath and body stuff. And we gave his grandpa bedroom shoes and a wallet. Everyone liked their stuff, and if not then they did a good job of lying haha.

Around 2 p.m. we made it to my grandma's to celebrate with my dad's side of the family. There was more food to be had! They just had sandwich stuff, potato salad, chicken salad, deviled eggs, shrimp, sausage balls (from Biscuitville.. do not buy those), cheesecakes, candy and nuts, and chocolate pie. Matthew got a pair of Clarks (for work and church). I got a coat and a bunch of school stuff (like bandage scissors, safety glasses, notebook, binder, pens, and pocket notebook). And together we got a globe from Pier One along with a $20 gift card. I've already got my eye on something!

Finally we headed to my parents' house to open the majority of our gifts. It was weird opening them at night! Matthew got another Jos. Bank's dress shirt, a Chaps shirt, bedroom shoes, more face and body wash, a Carolina hoodie (blah!), a sweater jacket, a windbreaker, and some money. I got a couple of sweaters from Talbots, long sleeved tshirts, bras, sound machine, the olay prox facial cleansing brush, a set of 3 mirrors (for my clock wall), bearpaw boots, a hand mixer, and some canisters for the kitchen. And together we got a ceiling fan, new lights for the hallway, a light for the kitchen, 2 island lights, and a front porch light.

Christmas was fast paced and full of stops this year, but it was still great! Now to start shopping for next year! I have to do even better this year with my $50 a person budget!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Merry Christmas! (Part 1)

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and enjoyed spending time with their families! I know we had three days to celebrate because of it being on a weekend, but time flew by. I didn't even get in a Christmas nap! haha

After working Thursday and Friday last week, I still had to buy groceries to make mini cheesecakes for Christmas. I wanted to get up early Saturday and do them all but I was making a triple recipe and they needed to chill for a couple of hours. So I stayed up Friday night until they were all done. If that's what it feels like to get off at 6 and come home and cook for children and put them to bed, then I'm not ready for that at all. I was worn out! The tripled recipe should have produced 72 cheesecakes, but I ended up with 57. And 12 more were burned and thrown away. So I came really close to the right number!

I woke up on Saturday and put the cherries on all the cheesecakes, got the gifts separated and packed for all our stops, and off we went! My mom's side of the family was first on the list. There was soup, shrimp, a cheese ball, sausage dip, cheesecakes, lemon meringue pie, coconut pie, spiced pecans, pimento cheese, ham, turkey, pickles, cheese, meatballs, chips, pigs in a blanket, and I can't remember what else. It was all so good!

We had to be at Matthew's aunt's about 6 p.m. They had even more food, but I didn't eat anything there. Then all the gifts were passed out to the kids. This year we begged to play dirty santa, and we did! I think everyone enjoyed it (because we got a lot of thank you's for coming up with the idea). We had a $5-$7 limit which isn't much, but some of the gifts were pretty good! There was a pack of charmin, a sign with a Bible verse on it, coasters, a fleece throw, a picture frame, a lot of candy, a massage set, a bottle of wine, a movie, a money jar, a gardening tool, and a tv remote caddy. I ended up with the fleece throw and Matthew got the massage set. Somehow everyone started joking that it was a sex toy, but it's not and that's disgusting and the dang thing was made out of wood. Pretty sure nobody is using that for any purpose other than a massage. But everyone had fun playing dirty santa, so we are doing it again next year!

Afterwards, we went over to my parents so I could fill all of the stockings. That's one of my favorite things to do! I am a master of stuffing stockings. But I even shocked myself at how much I fit in my mom's haha. I know the thing weighed at least 10 pounds!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

A Few Baskets!

I have made a few more gift baskets but just haven't had the opportunity to get them up here to show ya'll! Plus, a couple were gifts for people that may or may not read this blog, so I didn't want to spoil anything.

This basket was made for a lady at work who is having her first grandchild any time this week! I had a lot of fun putting this together! There is a ton of stuff in that basket, including a very large Classic Pooh blanket! I'll try to list everything but I will probably forget something: hooded towel, 2 bottles, book, bank, 2 photo albums, 5 onesies, 2 hats, 3 washcloths, a scrubby duck, a stuffed dog blanket, brush scrubber, 5 bibs, 6 pairs of socks, and 2 packs of baby body butter. I feel like I'm forgetting something though. This basket sold for $80. A smaller basket can definitely be done though.

SOLD!
This car wash basket was $35. It's got an ice scraper, windshield cleaner, 2 microfiber towels, a microfiber mit, a microfiber sponge, a bug sponge, 2 wax applicators, glass cleaning wipes, tire foam, cleaner, and I can't remember what the other bottle is. It could also be put into a bucket. I just used what I had at the time.
SOLD!
This coffee basket sold for $25. It's got 2 large mugs, a large bag of coffee, 2 small bags of coffee, coffee creamer, a coffee dishcloth, and coffee flavored candy.
SOLD!
This foot spa set is $20. It comes with a pair of flip flops, a pumice stone, toe separators, a loofah, foot scrub, foot lotion, nail polish (not pictured), and emory boards (not pictured).

This snowman bath set sold for $25. It has the cutest snowman loofah, a snowman candle, 3 snowman themed body washes, 2 snowman themed lotions, and a Bath and Body Works peppermint hand soap and hand sanitizer.
SOLD!

Christmas Is Coming!

School is done!!! I ended up with A, A, B, C. Woohoo! I wish I could say these three weeks would be a true break, but then I'd be lying. I have to work several days over break, which is not a complaint. I am extremely thankful for my job and that they are so willing to work with me! Words will never be able to express my appreciation! And with all that I make working, I will basically be making back all that I spent on Christmas haha!

We already did our gift exchange at work last Thursday! I got some great stuff that I really needed: a small pocket notebook (for clinicals), Burt's Bees chapstick, Bath and Body Works lotions, some chocolate truffles, and a $20 Target gift card! Everybody got some really great stuff!

This week I've been finishing up my Christmas shopping. I've been to Raleigh every weekend for the last three weekends haha. And the last two times I bought one thing each time. It's just so nice that when school is out I can actually relax and breathe and do things because I have free time and not just because it's necessary to do! It's so much more fun that way.

I've got to finish making some gifts for Matthew and my brother-in-law, Jeff. I have to return some stuff to JCPenney's just to buy it back with a coupon (that's coming out on Wednesday). It's worth it to save $10! I've wrapped all but 4 gifts I think. Matthew still has to finish shopping (and he only has to buy gifts for me) and wrap it all. We did manage to finish buying stocking stuffers last night. Those are always hardest to buy because you want to buy small stuff that the person would like but also maybe some creative ideas and you don't want to pay a lot for each item. I've found that the smaller the item, the more outrageous the cost!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Where's the Light at the End of This Tunnel?

There are 8 days of school left, 8 ridiculously packed days! The last few days have been a whirlwind, and I really can't even remember everything I have done.

I went to Raleigh for the weekend to go shopping with my sister. I've still got a few things left to buy though.

When I got home Sunday, we went and bought a real Christmas tree! I grew up having a fake tree (except for a couple of times), and we have been using a fake tree. But when Matthew pulled that thing out of the storage room, I tried my best to make that thing look as real as I could. It was impossible. I don't know what happened in that storage room in the last few months, but it was not nice to the fake tree! It had so many bare spots. There was just no help for it. So we went to Lowe's and got a Douglas Fir. I think the other kind is a Fraser Fir, which looks more traditional I guess. But I thought the Douglas Fir looked fuller and even. And it was a steal at $30! I thought they were more expensive than that, but I'm glad it wasn't!

I learned after a week of trying to get Matthew's help with Christmas decorations that I should just do it myself. So I did just that! It took me about 5 hours to do the majority of it, but I wouldn't trade that for 2 hours full of complaining. I still have a couple more things to put out and then I'll be done. I also set myself up a little wrapping station. And I have wrapped 2 gifts so far haha. I don't have any gift tags or ribbons or bows or tissue paper yet. I'm trying to put that off until after the 2 tests I have this week.