"They say it's your birthday...."

In my family birthdays are a big deal. My mom makes us whatever cake and whatever meal we request and the family gets together and makes an afternoon of it. After growing up like that, it's hard to imagine a birthday not being celebrated. Here is an article on a woman in my area that set out to make birthdays special for area homeless children living in shelters. I tip my hat to her for not only thinking of a creative way to help others in need but doing it in an innovative way. Kudos.

For a good time call....

I have been a big fan of Etsy for a while now. I try to buy from there whenever possible. I love the idea of supporting an individual and their art. That being said... the combination of creativity, potential financial gain and the Internet can sometimes lead to disaster. I am referring to the flip side of Etsy, a site called Regretsy.com. This is all the stuff that is funny and disturbing at the same time. It shows that creativity is limitless but not always in a good way. If you're having a rough day and need a good laugh, check it out. Beware you may need to keep a box of tissues on hand to dry your tears of laughter.

It's a Wrap!

My blog has been quiet the past couple weeks because of a slight (but uncomfortable) carpal tunnel flair up. I blame work (with aspirations for independent wealth) so I was using what wrist tolerance I had toward Christmas knitting. Which is nearing completion, Hooray!

Now I have nearly 90% of all Christmas gifts purchased (I draw two names on Turkey day) and stashed away in our hobby room. I can't wait to wrap and put them under the tree. The tradition on our house used to be to wait until the Saturday before Christmas and my husband and I would wrap the presents together that way he could see what I bought for everyone. However that tradition turned into him eating pizza and watching a movie and doing very little wrapping and me glaring laser daggers at him while I wrap. So this year I decided I would wrap a little at a time during the week while hubby is at work. Now that he's on 2nd shift and working 60 hours a week I have a feeling that his interest in wrapping is going to be even less than usual.

I don't mind wrapping really. I used to work at Hallmark for a wrap Nazi so I learned how to do it fast and tight. The biggest challenge is to keep the curious kitties from laying on the gifts and tearing the paper. Sigh, I've given up on ribbons long ago.

Makin' a list and checkin' it twice...

Today I took a vacation day to do the bulk of my Christmas shopping. I have been doing this for years, it dates back to when I started working at a bank and we were closed on Veteran's Day. I decided it was a good time to do Christmas shopping as there were decent sales and it was far enough away from Christmas to avoid a crowd.

Today on my list are an outfit for my youngest nephews, Trio blocks, Starbucks cards for friends, pajama's for hubby, nice drinking glasses for my niece, who recently moved out on her own. That's just the tip of the iceberg.

Fall Back???

So today is the first day of daylight savings time. It is always a rough transition for me. This morning Sullivan woke me up at what we thought was 6:30 for his breakfast. Then I got up at what I thought was 8:30 and waited patiently for CBS Sunday Morning to start, and when it didn't start it dawned on me... I'm up an hour early. I know I should change the clocks at night but it always escapes me.

I know this week will be rough because Sullivan has been waking up right before my alarm at 6 so for awhile I know he'll be waking me up right before 5 (groan). No matter how much I try to explain to him the concept of daylight savings time...no matter how many charts and graphs I use, like most Indiana natives, he just doesn't get it. I say that because up until about 4 years ago Indiana did not observe daylight savings time. For half the year we were on Central time and the other half on Eastern time. So overall this is a relatively new concept for most Hoosiers. So I'll just drink my coffee and enjoy the extra hour today and not think about the fur-ball that is going to be waking me up an hour early tomorrow.

Sullivan: Doesn't understand daylight savings time...