The Guy Across the Street

Despite the fact that we have been in our home over 2 years, we don't really know many neighbors. Neither of the neighbors directly beside us speak much english. We wave, but that's about it.

Right before our ice cream social, we went door-to-door to some of the closer neighbors, inviting them to meet our state representative. In the process, we met "Kevin".

Now "Kevin" has always seemed nice enough. In his mid-fifties, lives by himself, waves to us sometimes, and managed to completely BURN his entire lawn over the summer, despite the fact that he spent several hours a week watering, fertilizing, etc. Not sure what this has to do with anything, just found it very ironic.

Here would be a good place to mention that we happen to be in the awful habit of naming some of our neighbors, even though we don't really know their names. The man to our left is "Hector", his wife is simply known as "Hector's wife" (Don't ask me why). We don't mean any disrespect, and I am not sure how or where the names even come from. I think "Kevin" was dubbed "Kevin" because Gretyl thought he looked like a "Kevin". But for whatever reason, I was sure he was a "Scott".

Unfortunately, "Kevin" would be out of town and unable to make it to our ice cream social, but he did introduce himself. And that is how we found out his name was actually Bill.

When it came time to sell Poinsettias for the swim team, Gretyl went over and knocked on Bill's door. He didn't want any flowers, but he did give her $10 towards the cause. I thought that was extremely nice of him. I kept meaning to have Gretyl bake him some cookies and take them over as a thank you. I didn't actually get around to making her do that until a couple of days before Christmas.

So Gretyl bakes 2 dozen cookies and burns all but 11 of them. So I take all eleven of the somewhat sad looking cookies, put them in a baggie, and wrap them up in tissue paper and put them inside of an extra special tin that I bought especially for his cookies. I make out a Christmas card and add a little note, thanking him again for supporting the swim team.

December 23rd, I send Gretyl over with the cookies. His car is in the drive, but he doesn't answer the door. We make a couple of wise cracks about him not wanting to open the door because he doesn't want to give Gretyl any more money.

December 24th, Gretyl and Kyle walk over to try again. I say okay, take these to Bill but DON'T go inside of his house (after all, we don't know him all that well). I walk away and then come back and look out the front door a few minutes later. No Kyle and Gretyl to be seen. Hmmm...so much for not going inside.

When they come back, Gretyl has $20 he gave her to check his mail for the next 10 days! So now, I am feeling kind of bad that we gave him only 11 cookies! And also because every time I send Gretyl over, he feels the need to give her money!! But okay, I get over it.

Flash forward to today. We go out to get our mail for the first time since Christmas eve. There is the nice tin that Bill returned, with a nice little note thanking us for the cookies, re-iterating the request for Gretyl to get his mail, and wishing us a happy holiday. Along with the note is a $25 gift card for Red Lobster.

So altogether this man has given our family a total of $55 in cash and prizes. And we have given him 11 cookies. I wonder what would have happened if we actually gave him 1.5 or even 2 dozen cookies.

7 Interesting things about Gretyl

1. She likes broccoli. She likes cheese. She hates cheese on her broccoli.
2. She is proud that she coined the phrase "Faster than a cow can clap, whistle, and stomp it's feet." I'm not really sure that a cow can do any of these things. So I guess if she ever tells you she will do something as fast as a cow could clap, whistle, etc.... don't hold your breath.
3. She taught herself how to play the piano by watching youtube clips (over and over and over and over again).
4. When she was about 3 months old, her parents dropped a container from the bank's drive thru, on her head. They also caught her skin in the zipper of her little pink bunny snowsuit when she was about 4 months old. Poor thing. It is a wonder she survived her first year.
5. She tested at the 12th grade reading level when she was in 6th grade.
6. She changes her favorite color at least once a year. I think it is green right now, but it may be orange. I lose track.
7. She is way smarter than I are.

Gretyl's Blog

Plugging Gretyl's new blog now. The link is at the right, aptly named "Gretyl's Blog." It's cute, I promise.

Wrapping paper purchased, and as expected, there is no way I will be wrapping tonight. I am, however, closer to being done. Only three presents to buy yet. This week should fly by. I may not even get the wrapping done until next weekend. Better to be wrapping next weekend than shopping, though. So still patting myself on the back:-)

This week's agenda:

• Monday- (finish grocery shopping) Nothing major!
• Tuesday- Visit gramma, pickup/fill her scripts for the week. MAYBE wrap presents
• Wednesday- Swim Meet trumps date night
• Thursday- Kyle's Christmas pagaent
• Friday- Another swim meet followed by scratching head wondering where week went

The item I was worried about getting here, has been shipped!! Got a nice little email with a tracking number! On a Sunday, no less. Color me happy and surprised!!

'Tis the Season

So I just noticed that in November and October I blogged a whopping two times each! Kind of sad:( In the spirit of looking at the glass as half-full, though, this post will put me half-way towards my December quota.

Let's talk about the holidays!!

I always feel so badly for those poor folks that have to work on Christmas eve. Being the very empathetic soul that I am, I make it an annual tradition to visit all of these establishments as close to possible to closing time on December 24th. Sometimes I even walk out with them as they are locking the doors. I wouldn't want them to think there wasn't any point in them being there. And as long as I am there, I usually purchase a thing or two (or three or four...).

It's not like I need to be there, though. I do this for THEM. As a holiday gesture. I just pick up random things to be polite. A dozen rolls of wrapping paper, tape, ribbons, gift cards, and enough toys and sweaters to top off the cart.

Then, I usually stay up until 3 or 4am wrapping. Sometimes I get an entire 3 hour nap in before the kids come and get us to see what Santa brought.

THIS year, however, things are going to be different!! As I get older I notice two phenomenons.
1. We get better at managing our finances.
2. I hate the cold, more and more each year.
These are the two biggest factors that have enticed/enabled me to shop early and online!

I detest running from store to store in the cold, coming back out from each store and running 1/2 a mile to the back of the parking lot to hop into my cold car. Then driving to yet another store because the first three stores didn't have the *must have* item on the list.

I hate trying to push my cart through the crowds. I hate waiting in long lines. I hate buying something at a *not so great* price at store #1, just in case I can't secure said item at stores #2 thru #6. I hate finding it for half the price at store #2 and then not feeling quite as elated as I should because I know that only means I have to go back to store #1 and stand in line to make the return.

One might ascertain that I hate Christmas, but quite the contrary. I love Christmas. I just hate Christmas shopping (and to a lesser extent Christmas baking, but that is a whole other issue).

I am so, so, soooo proud to say that today is December 13th and I have almost ALL of my Christmas presents purchased. Online shopping has got to be the best thing ever. Don't get me wrong, I still invest the appropriate amount of time looking for good deals and comparing prices at different places and double checking *in-store* prices just to be sure I am not getting raked over the coals.

I honestly think I made out way better this way, though. For the last two weeks packages just keep pouring in. It's like....Christmas. I have a couple of guidelines that I try to follow.
1. Do not pay shipping unless it is a great deal or there is no other option
2. Thoroughly google for a promo code before checking out
3. Check out at least 3 other online prices

So far there is only one gift that hasn't already been delivered or isn't already in transit and trackable online. The one item is an absolute *must* have item and though it says the expected ship date is Dec 15th, I am secretly freaking out. (Is it really secretly freaking out if I write it here?)

Planning on wrapping tomorrow--which means that I will actually wrap sometime later this week, still putting me way ahead of schedule!