It's nice and quiet at my house. First time I have noticed it over the past day or more. I know it is only because everyone is asleep still. It's another one of those mornings where I woke up too early, and couldn't get back to sleep. Though, how very nice to enjoy some quiet after the hustle and bustle of the whole Christmas season.
Our day was spent very well with family. We started off about 8:30am with the opening of gifts here at home. My kids each loved their "Big Santa Gift" and the Wife and I are just excited that each was accepted with the enthusiasm we hoped. Even Rusty, Cat Spawn of Satan, got a few things and was happy. Though, how easy to please a cat give him a decorated tree, and some treats - what could go wrong?
After that we headed over to Reverend Mother and Preacher Tom's place. We did our gift exchanges, and RM had a nice ham sandwich and sides layout for lunch. I decided today was the day to really splurge off my watching the weight. I had extras. Stuman and his family showed up there as well, and we did our family gifts. Then we were off to the In-Laws. The Wife had a brother's family in town as well, so again, gifts were exchanged. The kids were happy to see some cousins they had not seen in several weeks. Lastly we headed up to Sis' house for the final giving of gifts. We hung out there, snacking on more ham and other goodies for a few hours before I returned to the domicile. The Wife and kids headed back to the In-Laws to do more visiting. I spent some time at home, unpacking some of the 4 yr old's stuff, and putting together a couple other toys.
Our Christmas was, once again, a very happy event. I made out with some clothes, beef jerky, music and movies.. not to mention some home made goodies as well. Though, I need to go easy on them from now on.
So now we have just under a week to the new year. I never do resolutions, as I can never stick to them. Though I do have some guidelines I want to try to follow, they are just what I have been doing the past couple of months either way. My family is getting together for New Year's Day lunch, where we have a traditional (for my family) ribs. We need to decide if we are going to join everyone or not. Yeah, tough decisions, huh? The Wife will want to go so she won't have to cook I am sure.
Okay, I need to go. I have camera pics to download, and I need to figure out how to do the video stuff from the new camcorder we got. Video editing... wonderful.
PeacE
Showing posts with label Christmas 2010. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas 2010. Show all posts
Sunday, December 26
Saturday, December 25
Friday, December 24
T'was the Night Before ...
... and the headache was going strong. Christmas Eve is here, and the boys are seemingly trying to do everything they can to make sure they are on Santa's naughty list. The sibling fighting and nit-picking is just wearing me a bit thin tonight.
I did go out and make one more purchase today. I am soooo glad I had finished all the shopping beforehand. The one store I was at, was crowded, and I was quick to anger with the impoliteness of people. Either way, I got in and got at pretty fast. The Wife and I decided on a present to ourselves, and I picked up a new Sony Handycam. I had looked at camcorders before, and settled for a particular Sony model, but they were out of stock on it. He went back to see what he did have left in stock, and came back with a more expensive Sony cam, that I ended up purchasing. It had more memory included, more features, and I would spend less overall than had I gone with another model, and had to purchase the extra memory, etc. They threw in the carrying case at 15% off too, because I was purchasing the camera at the same time. I was very happy with my deal. And now we have the camcorder to help with those memories to come.
Most of the presents are wrapped. I think the Wife still has a few more to do. Tomorrow will be a busy day for us running to 2 sets of grandparents, and then Sis' house at some point as well. Not sure what order we are doing all the running. Figure it out as we go I guess. It all starts first at our house though. Just need to figure what time we are getting up to do it.
If you are stopping by here, I wish you a Merry Christmas tomorrow!
PeacE
I did go out and make one more purchase today. I am soooo glad I had finished all the shopping beforehand. The one store I was at, was crowded, and I was quick to anger with the impoliteness of people. Either way, I got in and got at pretty fast. The Wife and I decided on a present to ourselves, and I picked up a new Sony Handycam. I had looked at camcorders before, and settled for a particular Sony model, but they were out of stock on it. He went back to see what he did have left in stock, and came back with a more expensive Sony cam, that I ended up purchasing. It had more memory included, more features, and I would spend less overall than had I gone with another model, and had to purchase the extra memory, etc. They threw in the carrying case at 15% off too, because I was purchasing the camera at the same time. I was very happy with my deal. And now we have the camcorder to help with those memories to come.
Most of the presents are wrapped. I think the Wife still has a few more to do. Tomorrow will be a busy day for us running to 2 sets of grandparents, and then Sis' house at some point as well. Not sure what order we are doing all the running. Figure it out as we go I guess. It all starts first at our house though. Just need to figure what time we are getting up to do it.
If you are stopping by here, I wish you a Merry Christmas tomorrow!
PeacE
Thursday, December 23
Crossing my Fingers and Hoping
So it's Thursday, and only basically, two more days to Christmas. I am hoping that after yesterday that there is absolutely no reason the Wife would send me back out to another store for anything. Yesterday, one store, crowds... reminded me why I hate shopping so much. Inconsiderate assholes.
SO the son and I caught the new Narnia flick. I enjoyed it better than the first two Narnia movies. Afterwards, we stopped at Best Buy for the last minute pick up stuff. I got a bit pissed. I had priced an item there online the night before, and checked store availability (which it said in stock). I know that can change from opening to the time I get there, and we didn't arrive til about 1'ish. I picked up the last 2 of this particular item. Notice I say item, in case it is for someone that reads here....
So we go to the checkout, to stand the typical 45 minutes in line as I seem to have to do EVERY time I am at Best Buy (which I hate, because they are a fucking pain in the ass store and I hate their whole policy about returns and I think they are owned by the French - though they probably really aren't, I just hate them). Just as we reach the front of the line, Customer Service says they can help whoever is next. So now I have to back track (excuse me, excuse me) through the line to go out and around to the customer service desk. By now, I am cranky, sweaty (it's exercise all that waiting in line) and just ready to leave. She rings me up. I look at the total, and say how much did you charge me?
The two items I got (same thing, just 2 of them) rang up at $20 each. I asked why online, they are advertised at $13.49, and why are you charging me $19.99? She started in some memorized spiel about how the online prices are "always" different than the actual store prices. I asked why? Another version of the same story. Again, I asked why. This time she says that this particular store does do price matching. I nodded okay. She then asked me if I would want to match a price on the items. I wanted to do a Bill Engvall here and hand her a sign....
Looking her straight in the eye, I said yes, I would want the price to be matched. Then, while looking me in the eye, she asked if I had a price from a competitor to match it to.
At this point, I just wanted to slap her. Reach right across that counter, and swing putting all of my tremendous bulk behind it, and just connect to her head.
I took a breath. I counted to 10. I quietly said, "I want you to match the price from the website of your employer, on these two items. There is no need for a competitor's advertisement to do this."
Okay, she says, and starts pushing the buttons. She had to call for some manager or something to ok the discount. We are still standing here... 5 minutes go by, she calls again, then says..."Sorry it's taking so long. Would you like me to go ahead and ring it up like normal?"
She needed it badly. I mean, maybe I just needed it badly. My arm was ready to just beat the shit out of her. I said "No. I will wait for the manager to give me the correct price on my purchase. I do not want you to ring it for 6 and a half higher - each! - just so I don't have to wait."
Another 5 minutes went by before someone came over and put in there seemingly 5 digit auth code and I was able to leave.
It just galls me, that companies do that shit. Advertise somewhere a price, then when you get there, it is higher and no one complains because it is the Christmas rush, or it was the last one on the shelf. I mean, I saved $13 just because I inquired about why the price is different than their website. AND, because I bought 2 of this item, I got a FREE $5 gift card. Which I will never use, as I have no plans to ever go back to that store again.
As I said in the past, things like this make me fucking hate Christmas.
PeacE
SO the son and I caught the new Narnia flick. I enjoyed it better than the first two Narnia movies. Afterwards, we stopped at Best Buy for the last minute pick up stuff. I got a bit pissed. I had priced an item there online the night before, and checked store availability (which it said in stock). I know that can change from opening to the time I get there, and we didn't arrive til about 1'ish. I picked up the last 2 of this particular item. Notice I say item, in case it is for someone that reads here....
So we go to the checkout, to stand the typical 45 minutes in line as I seem to have to do EVERY time I am at Best Buy (which I hate, because they are a fucking pain in the ass store and I hate their whole policy about returns and I think they are owned by the French - though they probably really aren't, I just hate them). Just as we reach the front of the line, Customer Service says they can help whoever is next. So now I have to back track (excuse me, excuse me) through the line to go out and around to the customer service desk. By now, I am cranky, sweaty (it's exercise all that waiting in line) and just ready to leave. She rings me up. I look at the total, and say how much did you charge me?
The two items I got (same thing, just 2 of them) rang up at $20 each. I asked why online, they are advertised at $13.49, and why are you charging me $19.99? She started in some memorized spiel about how the online prices are "always" different than the actual store prices. I asked why? Another version of the same story. Again, I asked why. This time she says that this particular store does do price matching. I nodded okay. She then asked me if I would want to match a price on the items. I wanted to do a Bill Engvall here and hand her a sign....
Looking her straight in the eye, I said yes, I would want the price to be matched. Then, while looking me in the eye, she asked if I had a price from a competitor to match it to.
At this point, I just wanted to slap her. Reach right across that counter, and swing putting all of my tremendous bulk behind it, and just connect to her head.
I took a breath. I counted to 10. I quietly said, "I want you to match the price from the website of your employer, on these two items. There is no need for a competitor's advertisement to do this."
Okay, she says, and starts pushing the buttons. She had to call for some manager or something to ok the discount. We are still standing here... 5 minutes go by, she calls again, then says..."Sorry it's taking so long. Would you like me to go ahead and ring it up like normal?"
She needed it badly. I mean, maybe I just needed it badly. My arm was ready to just beat the shit out of her. I said "No. I will wait for the manager to give me the correct price on my purchase. I do not want you to ring it for 6 and a half higher - each! - just so I don't have to wait."
Another 5 minutes went by before someone came over and put in there seemingly 5 digit auth code and I was able to leave.
It just galls me, that companies do that shit. Advertise somewhere a price, then when you get there, it is higher and no one complains because it is the Christmas rush, or it was the last one on the shelf. I mean, I saved $13 just because I inquired about why the price is different than their website. AND, because I bought 2 of this item, I got a FREE $5 gift card. Which I will never use, as I have no plans to ever go back to that store again.
As I said in the past, things like this make me fucking hate Christmas.
PeacE
Monday, December 20
Countdown to Christmas
Whew! This past past weekend sure felt like a long one! I can honestly say that I feel a bit tired and worn out from all the walking I have done! But, the good part is all the shopping I need to do is completely done... no more last minute ideas, or extras. Now I just got to wrap all that, and the stuff the Wife picked up. Did I mention I hate wrapping? The Wife had a good idea though. At one of them dollar stores, she picked up quite a few different sized bags to put some of the presents in, so less wrapping, and some of them we can re-use next year.
I took the boys out yesterday afternoon to get a couple final things for Mommy. Then we headed out to the buffet for dinner. The daughter's boyfriend had asked my Wife out to dinner last night. It was a surprise birthday dinner for her, and his mom, as their birthdays are only a couple days apart. So she had a nice dinner out, had good convo, and time with her daughter as well. I was in on it, which is why I took the boys out for a few hours.
Today, the daughter and I are taking her car into the body shop to get the work done from that asshole backing into her car. We are dropping it off, and hope to have it back tomorrow or the next day. This afternoon I have a cleaning at the dentist to do. Not looking forward to that. I have not been flossing and brushing as well as I should be. Oh well. Just going to be prepared to hear the condemnation they hand out. I know I am not the only one that gets it.
This week should be pretty slow. Wednesday I know the oldest son has a youth group event to go see the new Narnia movie. Thursday I am meeting a friend of a friend in person finally. We have been communicating back and forth on Facebook, and just now made plans to meet up for a couple drinks. That leads into Saturday, which will be a busy day since it is Christmas. Then the next week I will be opening toys, and hopefully not putting together too many. New Year's Eve a friend invited me over for a Guys Only party. I am looking forward to that, as long as the Wife doesn't mind that is.
PeacE
I took the boys out yesterday afternoon to get a couple final things for Mommy. Then we headed out to the buffet for dinner. The daughter's boyfriend had asked my Wife out to dinner last night. It was a surprise birthday dinner for her, and his mom, as their birthdays are only a couple days apart. So she had a nice dinner out, had good convo, and time with her daughter as well. I was in on it, which is why I took the boys out for a few hours.
Today, the daughter and I are taking her car into the body shop to get the work done from that asshole backing into her car. We are dropping it off, and hope to have it back tomorrow or the next day. This afternoon I have a cleaning at the dentist to do. Not looking forward to that. I have not been flossing and brushing as well as I should be. Oh well. Just going to be prepared to hear the condemnation they hand out. I know I am not the only one that gets it.
This week should be pretty slow. Wednesday I know the oldest son has a youth group event to go see the new Narnia movie. Thursday I am meeting a friend of a friend in person finally. We have been communicating back and forth on Facebook, and just now made plans to meet up for a couple drinks. That leads into Saturday, which will be a busy day since it is Christmas. Then the next week I will be opening toys, and hopefully not putting together too many. New Year's Eve a friend invited me over for a Guys Only party. I am looking forward to that, as long as the Wife doesn't mind that is.
PeacE
Monday, December 13
Trying to Get Motivated For the Day
I woke early today. I mean, after all, 4:30am is not my usual wake-up time. No idea why I awoke so early, and being unable to fall back asleep, I went ahead and got up. Maybe because I was in bed and out by like 9:30'ish last night. I know I have been sleeping better since the CPAP machine, and maybe was body was just saying I got more than ample amounts of sleep last night. I definitely do not feel tired at this point.
Monday morning. I was reading through my friends' Facebook status messages this morning. Many of them are back in the Midwest area and are mentioning snow. Especially those up in Michigan. One friend commented that in her area, they have closed (at the time of her posting earlier this morning) 163 schools. She is up near the UP of MI. Several others commented on varying amounts of snow, but the main message was if there was some out there, be careful driving and being out in it.
I miss the snow. Growing up in central Indiana area, we always seemed to have snow by Christmas. Some years were heavier than others, but that I can remember, nothing like 1978. I remember walking to school in less than 12" (Lincoln Elementary was only like 6-7 small blocks from our house - though, it is completely gone now). I remember one of my winter chores being to shovel out the walk in front of the business my step mom ran. We lived in the apartment above it. Then my Dad would let me warm up, then tell me to go across the street and do Mr. Robinson's walk. He was a retired gentleman I am guessing in his late 70's. By 6th grade, I was as tall as he, though he was a bit stooped. During the summer, Dad could always find me over at Mr' Robinson's, shirking my chores, just to hear that guy tell stories of growing up. Sometimes he would pull out his guitar and play some tunes. Other days it was a harmonica, or a banjo. He was very talented, musically, and with story-telling. I am happy I got to meet him in my life, and somewhat regret not ever knowing what happened to him. After I moved away, I am sure he passed away at some point.
Well, I got a few hours to kill before I need to get up and out of the house. Today I ABSOLUTELY need to get go shopping for some clothes. Tomorrow is the scheduled date for my Jury Summons. Though I am supposed to call after regular business hours tonight, to get a recorded message that will state what group numbers are required to show. I am hoping mine is not mentioned, so I won't actually have to drive downtown. As it is, having to get up like 2 hours early, drive the 3-40 minutes to downtown, find the "free parking garage" they tell us jurors to use, wait for the free shuttle, and arrive at the jury summons room - all by 8am.... Not looking forward to that hassle. That's the main reason I hate these things. Either way, I need to get out and fins a nice pair of pants r two. And maybe a new shirt. I am hoping to get the next size or two down in pants. Crossing my fingers, at least one size. For some reason, the sizes differentiate between denim shorts, and say, slacks, or Dockers type pants. Example, if I were wearing a 36 waist in blue jeans, it may actually be a 38, or sometimes a 40, in slacks. I don't know if it is because the denim has a bit more give, or it is measured before wash shrinkage - I have no clue. Just seems to work that way. And I wish I WAS back down to like a 38 or 40....sigh. Getting there SLOWLY.
The Reverend Mother invited our three boys over last night, to do her "Annual Bake Time with Grandma". She loves getting each family's kids for a few hours at some point before Christmas to "help" her do some baking of cookies, and other treats. I believe she gives most of it away as gifts to co-workers, or people from church. Or maybe donates it all to some shelter - I never paid attention. I know the kids usually come home with a ziploc bag of samples they made. Usually for them, but my boys are nice they will offer some to Daddy... though, come to think of it, they didn't last night, and I would have to say no anyways. Damn diet. Besides, the Wife brought home Cold Stone Creamery ice cream for her and I last night.
Daughter will be in sometime tonight for an overnight, then back to school for the week. Saturday they start the break at college, and she will be home until about the 11th of January. During her break we will need to get her car in to the shop to fix that damn dent. I got a shop that says they can do it during that time, I need to call them later this week to see about scheduling a time for next week.
That's all I got for now. If you got snow, and gotta be out in it, be careful.
PeacE
Monday morning. I was reading through my friends' Facebook status messages this morning. Many of them are back in the Midwest area and are mentioning snow. Especially those up in Michigan. One friend commented that in her area, they have closed (at the time of her posting earlier this morning) 163 schools. She is up near the UP of MI. Several others commented on varying amounts of snow, but the main message was if there was some out there, be careful driving and being out in it.
I miss the snow. Growing up in central Indiana area, we always seemed to have snow by Christmas. Some years were heavier than others, but that I can remember, nothing like 1978. I remember walking to school in less than 12" (Lincoln Elementary was only like 6-7 small blocks from our house - though, it is completely gone now). I remember one of my winter chores being to shovel out the walk in front of the business my step mom ran. We lived in the apartment above it. Then my Dad would let me warm up, then tell me to go across the street and do Mr. Robinson's walk. He was a retired gentleman I am guessing in his late 70's. By 6th grade, I was as tall as he, though he was a bit stooped. During the summer, Dad could always find me over at Mr' Robinson's, shirking my chores, just to hear that guy tell stories of growing up. Sometimes he would pull out his guitar and play some tunes. Other days it was a harmonica, or a banjo. He was very talented, musically, and with story-telling. I am happy I got to meet him in my life, and somewhat regret not ever knowing what happened to him. After I moved away, I am sure he passed away at some point.
Well, I got a few hours to kill before I need to get up and out of the house. Today I ABSOLUTELY need to get go shopping for some clothes. Tomorrow is the scheduled date for my Jury Summons. Though I am supposed to call after regular business hours tonight, to get a recorded message that will state what group numbers are required to show. I am hoping mine is not mentioned, so I won't actually have to drive downtown. As it is, having to get up like 2 hours early, drive the 3-40 minutes to downtown, find the "free parking garage" they tell us jurors to use, wait for the free shuttle, and arrive at the jury summons room - all by 8am.... Not looking forward to that hassle. That's the main reason I hate these things. Either way, I need to get out and fins a nice pair of pants r two. And maybe a new shirt. I am hoping to get the next size or two down in pants. Crossing my fingers, at least one size. For some reason, the sizes differentiate between denim shorts, and say, slacks, or Dockers type pants. Example, if I were wearing a 36 waist in blue jeans, it may actually be a 38, or sometimes a 40, in slacks. I don't know if it is because the denim has a bit more give, or it is measured before wash shrinkage - I have no clue. Just seems to work that way. And I wish I WAS back down to like a 38 or 40....sigh. Getting there SLOWLY.
The Reverend Mother invited our three boys over last night, to do her "Annual Bake Time with Grandma". She loves getting each family's kids for a few hours at some point before Christmas to "help" her do some baking of cookies, and other treats. I believe she gives most of it away as gifts to co-workers, or people from church. Or maybe donates it all to some shelter - I never paid attention. I know the kids usually come home with a ziploc bag of samples they made. Usually for them, but my boys are nice they will offer some to Daddy... though, come to think of it, they didn't last night, and I would have to say no anyways. Damn diet. Besides, the Wife brought home Cold Stone Creamery ice cream for her and I last night.
Daughter will be in sometime tonight for an overnight, then back to school for the week. Saturday they start the break at college, and she will be home until about the 11th of January. During her break we will need to get her car in to the shop to fix that damn dent. I got a shop that says they can do it during that time, I need to call them later this week to see about scheduling a time for next week.
That's all I got for now. If you got snow, and gotta be out in it, be careful.
PeacE
Wednesday, December 8
She Ain't No Spring Chicken
Happy Birthday to my Wife!
My Wife is now officially the same age as I am. That makes me glad. There are those three months of the year between our birthdays where she likes to tease me about being older than her. I usually don't mind, because she is not that far behind.
This morning we let her open one of her gifts before she left. A pair of Isotoner gloves for the "chilly" mornings here. Of course, she wasn't real surprised. She had mentioned to me a few days ago she wanted to go to the store to look for a pair of gloves, and I told her to wait until after her birthday. Another reason I gave that one to her this morning. I am not real original with gift ideas....except the ones I can't afford maybe... and even then I still am not great.
Today I hope to get some running around done. Have a couple store in mind to hit for those last gifts on my list to get. Not looking forward to it, but it will be good exercise again, and actually accomplishing something. Also gives me a chance to get out and get some clothes for that damn possible Jury Duty.
PeacE
My Wife is now officially the same age as I am. That makes me glad. There are those three months of the year between our birthdays where she likes to tease me about being older than her. I usually don't mind, because she is not that far behind.
This morning we let her open one of her gifts before she left. A pair of Isotoner gloves for the "chilly" mornings here. Of course, she wasn't real surprised. She had mentioned to me a few days ago she wanted to go to the store to look for a pair of gloves, and I told her to wait until after her birthday. Another reason I gave that one to her this morning. I am not real original with gift ideas....except the ones I can't afford maybe... and even then I still am not great.
Today I hope to get some running around done. Have a couple store in mind to hit for those last gifts on my list to get. Not looking forward to it, but it will be good exercise again, and actually accomplishing something. Also gives me a chance to get out and get some clothes for that damn possible Jury Duty.
PeacE
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