Been Shopping

Aside from groceries, I don't go shopping much. I don't have the funds to follow my whims. I am "cursed" with children just like my brother and me (MLB, "I'm bored. When will we leave?" while DLG works on her Miracle Worker audition by "seeing" things with her hands.) I don't really have room in my house for more stuff.

But the Christmas season seems to be when even I find the time to be kid-free for buying a few trinkets for myself.

For starters, I got my hair trimmed up this past Thursday (gasp! at a six-week interval!) at Beleza, my happy place. Then, with still another hour before I picked my daughter up from MMO, I went over to the Goodwill store. Lots of fun for a ten-spot & change.

These Melamine plates will be a part of my kitchen decorating scheme. I'd like to distress my upper cabinet doors and then hang plates on them. There's a small routing on each door that will make a nice "frame," especially if I paint it blue. These plate were only 4-bits each. The two alphabet plates were sold by Crocodile Creek and feature the animal ABC by Jessica Allen. The center plate is by Oneida; it has a family of teddy bears playing on a see-saw in the forest.

A small zebra ("Ziggy") for DLG & a floppy pug ("Arf-arf") for MLB. (Pugs are his favorite.) Also, "Baa-baa" has enticed MLB to participate in this year's Christmas pageant.

Chopstix,
a wrist rest

Ooo, shiny
snowflake!

Couple more purchases, fifty cents each. Am I a big spender, or what?

Next is a quirky sweater. The name brand is "Say What?" and it fits. The neckline is shaped by a drawstring with a pom-pom at one end. I'm guessing there were once pom-poms at both ends, but now there's one. Instead of a second pom-pom, I'll use a chunky, oversized, odd button to create a loop to catch the pom-pom. Let-out fully, the neckline is either a scoop or shawl, depending on how I'd wear it on my shoulders. If I were to pull the drawstring in, it makes the neckline less open. This should be a fun sweater for a few years.

I spent another day this past week darting about getting my gift shopping done. A few things for my parents & brother, a few things for the kids & my husband, gift cards or books for a few smallish relatives. And a few things at Hallmark for me.

I ought to stop buying ornaments, but I had these toys as kid and remember them vividly. The Peanuts ornament talks about catching snowflakes on the tongue, which is exactly what my kids try to do when it snows even the tiniest flurry (or rains, for that matter.)

Target sells $1 wrapping paper rolls in retro patterns, which go well with these photo ornaments (not Hallmark, but at Jan's Hallmark,) just in case the kids don't make photo ornaments at school this year. The cookie jar is a fun freebie from when I spent $50 at Jan's one weekend. Since it's got snowmen on it, DLG will be possessive of it. She has fallen in love with Frosty the Snowman. She is very close to wearing out that DVD. I'll have to take a picture of the glass ornament when it's on the tree; it says "Joy."

There's one more purchase, but I'll let it be it's own blog. Especially if I can get a few of her other pieces....