Where have I been.......

Here, seriously I have. My intentions where good. Really.
My thought is, I will do that tonight. Then tonight comes and goes and its another tonight.
My shopping weekend was so great. We shopped, we made truffles and toffee. We laughed, we talked and we shopped. It really was great. I have two great women as my best friends! I am very lucky.

Black Friday

Okay since I'm looking at a couple of inches of snow outside and it has not stopped, I'm most definitely getting in the Christmas mood. I mean I listened to Christmas music this morning, Straight No Chaser, love those guys! Also this weekend I was doing a little online shopping/price checking on some things and checking out gottadeal to see who's ads they had up for Black Friday. I noticed that some stores are doing online deals earlier. This has started to be a trend in the last few years online and in store, get you in sooner and spend more money. Does not necessarily mean the earlier sales are the better deal, although last year I did buy some things at Shopko a few weeks before Black Friday, that where on sale for BF, but the sale earlier was better. You never know. Most stores will let you take the items back or show the receipt the morning of BF and get the difference back in credit.
Years ago, I used to sign up for a ladies black friday email, who lived in Utah who literally spent Thanksgiving day going over the ads and comparing to her price book, created by her. She then would let you know what things where really good deals, what was a steal and what was not to be in a rush for. She no longer does this. Now I know the prices on the big ticket items I'm after for Christmas, so when I do go over the ads, I know if they are a steal, deal or no big deal. Now, there are always things being on sale that I was not thinking of, which gottadeal usually has some reference to if its a good price or not. Honestly it pays to know your prices, or otherwise it is very easy to get caught up in the excitement of Black Friday. From what I have been reading, from news, articles, columns, blogs etc. Very few deals going on now are the best deals, which is fine, I hate to think I might have spent more than I needed to, which I can honestly say, is very very rare for me. I love to shop, but I love a great deal and I love to not overspend! Anyway, just some thoughts on Black Friday. Now back to some Christmas tunes, and wondering if its going to stop snowing.

PTO and mice

Okay I turned down the PTO Newsletter Editor. I enjoyed parts of it last school year, but not all of it. Pressure to get after everyone for their columns. Updating ads, not to mention creating some of the ads. Sometimes it was very time consuming and always on a deadline.
With trying to sell the house, I just felt I would not give it 100%, which I would feel bad. I already feel guilty for saying no. Ah the guilt we Moms feel. Chris has no such qualms. I have a buddy who works at her kids school and she loves that. Sometimes I think that would be fun, schedule the same, summers off, but she does it for a little extra money to go towards their remodel not as a second income. (C, I'm talking about you-yes I'm jealous) Cannot believe school starts in two weeks.
Chris is actually the one who is going to get Cait registered today. Chris is very involved which I think is so totally amazing and hot! Should be interesting, not to mention I wonder how many phone calls I will receive. But I could not get it done, with the other commitments of today. So glad that I have a Super Hubby, who will do these things. I'm willing to bet my one brother would not do it, he would expect his wife to take care of those things, my other brother would do it in a heartbeat. Interesting the diff between the two.
Anyway its cool.
Yesterday we had a mouse in the house!!! EEEK. Tried to find our older cat to bring her in, of course she was out prowling. So we brought in KitKat, she is just a couple years old, anyway, she failed the task.
Last night, Miss Kitty (Nephews and niece named her) showed up so we brought her in. She disappeared in our bedroom for hours, so hopefully its gone. However large quatities of De-Con have been put out in containers that mice can get to, but not cats. Yuck, I hate mice. The joys of living in the country. Hate mouse traps, I just throw the entire thing away, I'm not taking the mouse out and using it again. GROSS.
Did school clothes shopping online. Not that much, she has plenty of clothes, PLENTY! I admit to that. Online is so nice. I search for coupons or offers for the sites I want and just about everytime I can find something, free shipping, 25% off, $30 dollars off, plus I get mailers alot to. Makes it such a great deal. Not to mention, I'm done in minutes. I hate the mall, besides a couple of my fav stores are not here, so I would have to go to SLC, which is not a bad thing, just no time right now. Besides I'm thinking if we do get the house we want, we will be taking a trip to IKEA, World Market and Taipan Trading, that will probably require a U-haul to bring it all back. That could be one very fun and expensive trip. We cannot get away from IKEA cheaply. Not that I mind, my wallet might mind, but it will recover.

Furniture

Okay we decided that we needed a new chair in the living room/family room. Our house is small, less than 1200 sq ft. So the living room is the family room. Anyway, we have a sofa and a recliner. We decided to get a club chair or chair and a half with a ottoman. So Saturday we went looking. In my mind I am thinking about 800 bucks should probably do it. I was wrong, wrong wrong. The first store we went to was Interior Accents in IF. Its a really nice furniture store, smaller but fabulous pieces. Anyway we found a gorgeous club chair, that has the combination leather and fabric. So nice, 1600 bucks. Then we wandered around looking at others and I found a sofa table, not looking for one, but found one that is so neat. Then we found like a side table that we could use for under the TV (wall mounted) and put the cable and dvd players on. Anyway for all of it 2778 buckeroos. So we had her write everything down and we went on to other stores. NOTHING came close. So while we ate lunch we called her and did a little negotiating and got everything for less the 2300. Now I am having a little buyers remorse, I want the furniture I just think, we kindof went overboard a bit. Yes they are all quality pieces that will last, just kind of a shock to me. We have never really spent alot on furniture. A few hundred here and there, 800 for the coach. Worldmarket find. Love it. Never big purchases, I guess this is big for me, maybe not so for some of you, but for us it is. Anyway, it will all be delivered on Wednesday. CANNOT WAIT!
BTW when I got home Friday night, Chris told me that one of the cows calved and the calf died. Chris was pretty upset. She gave no signs that she was ready so perhaps something was wrong. Its frustrating though. I mean a dead calf is like losing 500-600 dollars. Hopefully we will have better luck with the others.

Countdown to shopping

In less than 48hours I will be laughing my head off with my friends. That's is what happens when we get together, we enjoy eachothers company. Its not even the shopping, although we do well with that, its about spending time and gabbing. We talk and talk. We go to our favorite places, see what is new, look at what we wish we could buy, or would like to if we had the space.
Mostly we buy Christmas decor stuff, ornaments that kind of stuff. Rarely do we buy clothing. In the words of my husband, its STUFF. Stuff we cannot live without or do not want to live with out. Things we enjoy. Each item that I have bought I can recall what we where talking about when we found this or that. MEMORIES!!!
I love this weekend, it is so great. So good for the SOUL.

Every November for quite a few years a couple girlfriens and I get together for a girls weekend. We shop! Not much clothes shopping, mostly home decor, Christmas decor stuff. Originally we always shopped in Idaho, the Bonneville Craft Fair, started it all. Now we rotate homes every year. This year we are back to my place in Idaho and Bonneville. First we are shopping in Jackson on Friday. That begins the fun.
We are different in so many ways, but so similar in what counts. The weekend is one of the best parts of the year. Its a weekend to rejuvinate as a Mom, Wife etc. We have so much fun. Taunting eachother into buying what we think we cannot live without. We eat fabulous food and laugh till we cry or pee our pants.
Girls weekends are a must. We are thinking about making it twice a year. Some of the thoughts are that one of the years we take a trip.
I so look forward to the weekend, this year we have a few new stores to check out in Idaho Falls, so that adds to the fun. Also, its been a couple years since we shopped here. That alone makes it fun!!!
I cannot wait for next weekend.
So get together with your gal pals and enjoy the friendships.