Good News! x 3

 First good news--The reindeer were on the front porch, not a victim of a porch pirate, thankfully. It took both of us, me inside and Tommy outside to get it into the house. I walked it across the living room and put it in the space behind a table that has to be out from the wall for me to use it from my recliner. 

Second good news--Someone is coming tomorrow to help clean. So, she will put together the reindeer. It would be a real struggle for us. If we had an attic, this would be left assembled and stuck there. Well, he does have an attic, but went up there once forty years ago. Neither of us can climb a ladder, anyway. 

Tommy brought in the little flag and the holder that goes into the ground. I took a Dollar Tree scarf I bought for $1 several years ago and tied a big fluffy bow. I have a large, spiky ornament, think six inches across. There is a loop from the cross bar at the vertical rod that goes to ground. He forced the metal loop enough so the ornament is held sturdy. It is not much and did not cost much.

Third good news. If you want Christmas for 75% off, Lowe's is the place for you. I would have bought a little yard flag, but none of the ones left appealed to me. So, I decorated the little flag holder for free. I was shopping to get the reindeer plugged up, so did not pay much attention.

Oh, there was Halloween left over that was available, too. 

I went to the bathroom and there was a mysterious little black speck on the commode seat. I leaned and flicked it into the commode. As I was flicking it, it looked just like a flea. I immediately leaned way down, and it was a flea! Last week, I sat in my chair and as my feet rose up, I saw what looked like two fleas on my foot. I managed to pinch one, put it in a glass of water with a tiny drop of Dawn. It was a flea!!! If you try to look at a flea as you pinch it up, it can escape and it can escape if you put it in the commode or try to drop it into the commode. 

Listen, I am an expert flea catcher and destroyer. I lick my index finger to glue him to me. Then, I immerse my fingers holding the flea into water with soap. It works every time. You are welcome. Now, you will never lose a flea to bite again. The best flea deterrent is an aerosol that on the front states--kills eggs. So, I have it and will spray before the carpet is infested. 

I had Tommy wake me early--11 am. I was exhausted but we left for Tiger Pride. I thought it was Tiger Rag. Tommy said it was that name. Of course, we did not venture to Bama Fever side. He got to pick out his Christmas present. I was disappointed he chose a t-shirt. I wanted him to get another shirt--collar and three button placket. I told him to pick out a jacket. He refused. He said he would rather have a flag or something. He picked out a flag 28" x 40". It is huge. He wants to hang it on the door before football games. I am glad he did not plan it to be living room decor. 

Someone behind me squeaked something. It was a rubber chicken, Roll Tide kind. So, I had them hide as Auburn rubber chicken for me to buy. He left to get the car, so we no longer had to hide it. The woman was so nice, looking for a box so it would not squeak in the car. So, the chicken and flag are wrapped and under the tree. He is going to wash the t-shirt first. Then, he said he wants to wear it new. So, it was dropped into a small gift bag. All done! 

The woman found a box for wind chimes to hold the rubber chicken. She was intent on his not hearing the squeak before Christmas morning. Very nice woman, all smiles at hiding it from him. Tommy will be mystified at wind chimes since he knows I would never purchase wind chimes. 

Tommy was peeling sweet potatoes because these are old--Sept 2022--and they have small black specks inside. I dig them all out, even though most people would eat them. I heard a tremendous noise from the kitchen as the baking pan clattered and potatoes thundered to the floor. I told him I would pick them up. Once he washed them, and I sliced them to encourage them to cook more quickly, he put them in a pot to cook. These will make a sweet potato pie. 

At Lowe's I bought flea killer for adults and eggs, Amdro fire ant bait, 100' extension cord, and a timer. If we did not have a timer, Tommy would have to go outside, down the ramp, around his car, beside mine on a carport off which he could fall, and into the utility room. He has nothing in which to plug anything outdoors! He paid for all this.  At my house, I had an outdoor plug installed at my house. 

Now, I have started to worry that he will accidentally squeak the chicken while I am asleep. 

I remember hiding Santa gifts with children with me while I shopped. That was fun. When the two older were about ten or thereabouts, I knew they would look for their Santa loot, so I put it all in the trunk of the car. That meant for about a month I had to carry three kids in the back seat of a two-door car AND many bags of groceries. They would complain. I told them Daddy had not gotten the lawn chairs from the trunk so there was no room. They complained to him. One day, the older, a boy said, "Just give me the keys and I will remove the chairs!" I had to make excuses--too dark, raining, never mind. It was fun. Twenty years or more later, my daughter asked me where I hid their Santa presents. "In the trunk of the car." She remembered that year when they had to sit crowded with brown grocery bags. 

Dinner tonight will be either chicken, sweet potatoes, and salad or loose ground beef, salad and sweet potatoes. Who knows. Maybe spaghetti, salad. 

Tommy does not know it, but he is making roux for my giblet gravy. I will not be denied. 

What kind of subterfuge happened when you hid gifts from children or spouse or someone else? I think we all have had to hide gifts from someone, especially as children grew up and realized toys might be around the house. 

I know you all have funny stories. 

Wrapping Gifts

When Anne at New Happenings at the Table wrote about her gift wrappings, I was reminded of some of mine.

I use different containers, also. When I put a gift in either a toothpaste box or toilet paper roll and wrapped it to send to my g-daughter, she asked her mother, my daughter, "Why does she do things like this?" I laughed so hard. I just wonder what other "things" I do.

Another time, I wrapped a suitcase for a teen. I dated her father and knew she did not have a suitcase and wanted one. For some reason I had a box from a vacuum cleaner and used it. So, I put the suitcase with wheels in the vacuum cleaner box. There was no joke or humor or deceit intended. Well, a box wraps easily and did disguise the wheels. About 15 minutes after she started unwrapping her present, we noticed she was sitting there with the unopened box and pouting.

When we asked what was wrong, she hit the box and yelled in a petulant tone that she did not want a vacuum and started to cry.  Why on earth would we give a 14-year-old a vacuum cleaner? She pretty much kept acting up about it, never thanked anyone for the suitcase which was exactly what she wanted. She managed to spoil a large portion of the celebration on Christmas Day with her brattiness.

My own children have gasped or laughed and continued to open something strange, i.e., in a strange box. They knew me too well.

Sometimes, I wrap in a different container for expediency. It is easier to wrap in a square box rather than have to tape something around an odd shape. Plus, the shape might give away the gift. A can like Anne describes would be easier to wrap and disguise the shape. Sometimes, the purpose is to throw the person off. Most of my uses are just to get the gift wrapped easily, not to trick the person into thinking another gift has been wrapped.

Today, I am thinking of gifts and wrapping as someone had twins. Well, I found board books half price and solved the problem of spending for two gifts. However, I did not wrap them, just tucked them into a tiny recycled gift bag.

Your turn
What are some ways you have wrapped gifts, either for expediency or as a disguise?

Christmas Gifts: Stored, Lost, and Found (sometimes)

When my children were little, sometimes I could buy a gift right under their noses,  store it  practically in sight, and wrap it on a table they could  not see over. Plus, they slept a lot.

Then, they grew up and were getting curious about everything. You know how toddlers become. Nothing escaped them. Things had to be hidden high and behind things and in a bag.

My children were about five and seven and volunteered to stay home while I shopped. Of course not! They confessed a few years later that they did a Christmas hunt when I was out of sight. Apparently, I did not have to leave the house.

One Christmas when son was nine-years-old, I bought a Boy Scout knife for Santa to leave in his stocking. Well, I brought it home from the store and never saw it again. I had to go out and buy another. I had hidden the original one so well and in the bottom of a large bag with other things that I obvious threw it out.

One year, they were old enough to leave home and very nosy. So, I hid all the presents in the trunk of the car. We had a two-door car. The three of them had to get in the back seat with a dozen bags of groceries. They were very unhappy having to ride so cramped. I told them the trunk was full of lawn chairs because their daddy had not gotten them out yet.

They harassed him to get stuff out of the trunk. Finally, my son said to just give him the keys and he would take everything out himself. Then, I had to guard my keys...for over a month!

Years later, when my daughter was an adult, she asked me where all the toys were that year because she and her brother had searched the whole house. That was the moment she told me they always hunted for their gifts.

The year they were getting rink skates, the older two did not know they were getting cases, too. I had to wrap those and say they were for my family. Finally, I told them I got them something extra but they did not know their skates were in the boxes.. Into each skate case I put a Tupperware tumbler with pecans and bells inside. So, they amused me and kept themselves entertained shaking those two boxes with skates and a case. The little one got plastic Superman skates that worked well on the carpet.

When I was about eight-years-old, Santa forgot to put some things out. My mother and father "discovered" something up about a foot from the floor in the limbs of our Christmas tree and near the trunk. Later, I remembered one of my parents disrupting our Christmas with something so the other could hide the gifts in the tree. They wondered aloud why Santa put gifts there.

For many years I used several drawers in a 7 ft. dresser to save gifts for any occasion. No one was looking for anything, so just sticking them in worked well. Now, I have things all over and often go though a feverish search for something I know I have stashed somewhere.

Your turn
Can you share a few stories of nosy children, gifts lost never to be found, or gifts misplaced and found? Any gift story will work.

Just Stuff

Last Friday, I think, I got a flu shot.  I have always suffered a tiny bit of pain at the injection site the next day, especially if it were touched. This last time, I had tremendous pain over most of my upper arm for three days. There seemed to be nothing I could do to stop the pain. I never take anything for pain, so I had nothing. Flopping around and moaning did not help one bit. Wonder why? I mentioned the pain today to the pharmacist today who said that was very unusual, that most people don't even know they got it. The second pneumonia vaccine is due, but I am loath to get it in case it brings on such horrid pain.

For several months I asked exbf if he had any of my Tupperware, especially the divided dishes for lunches. He replied every time that he had no Tupperware of mine. One day, after six months of questioning him and not believing, he brought me a bag of Tupperware! He just did not realize he had it. Now, how can a person not know he has a dozen containers and their lids? I am so happy to have them back.

I still don't trust this new dryer with a heavy king-size bedspread. So, today, J took it to the car, took it in the laundromat, shoved quarters in, and for $3 it is clean. Then, she put it in my dryer. I just drove and supplied quarters. I wish I had my old washer back. I don't believe it could not be repaired. I could have found another like it and cannibalized it to fix mine. I miss it every time I have to go out to wash.

When I get my pen and me ready, I am anxious to get new chicks. Someone promised to send me eggs to hatch. I am a glutton for punishment. I miss having chickens. I am so gratified that MamaHen took Dominique since D is happy and sticking up for herself. Of course, I won't rush out tomorrow for new little ones. I like raising them so they know me.

Since I am so overweight and have gained weight, today is the start of better eating. Maybe I should say--less eating. Weighing less would alleviate the pain in back and knees! The crockpot is still going, so I bought potatoes, carrots, and kale for the next "cooking."  Celery, onions, and bell peppers will be added for flavor. Potatoes are better than what I have been eating. I know what you are thinking. And, yes, I will have something chocolate or sweet every day, just not every hour.

Is it cool at your house tonight? My car ac sure is cold when it is not so hot. My ideal temperature is 80F for the day and 65F during the night. Of course, I am not eager for heating weather. The main thing about the weather these days is the low humidity. I can breathe.

I bought one Christmas present for half price today. Well, it is one part of the gift.

I found my favorite lipstick, Revlon, for $2.50 today at WM! Check your WM. The same lipstick is $8.50 at CVS,

Okay, I am off to eat a salad, take clothes out of dryer, put clothes in dryer from the washer.

Personal "Christmas Club" Postage Stamps Savings Account

Sometimes, I save stamps through the year and have enough stamps saved by Christmas to use them and not have to fork over money to the PO for mailing gifts. It is sort of like a Christmas club savings account, but with stamps. This is akin to saving change all year to spend it at Christmas. Saving stamps is my unique parsimonious scheme.

I did not set out to do this, but one year I knew I could not afford to mail my gifts that I had worked so hard to acquire for little throughout the year. As I scrounged for stamps so I would not have to come up with cash, I found a stamp here and a stamp there. Those single stamps, forgotten by me, helped to save almost the whole cost of mailing a box.

Often, I find envelopes stamped and never mailed. If you cut these stamps off and affix to a package with Elmer's glue, you have salvaged a stamp. Right now, I have an envelope with a 33 cent stamp. This will go into my stash of Christmas stamps. The stamp would never have been thrown away! But, now I have a new goal for stamps! It is my new Christmas tradition!

Some of the stamps were not adequate for mailing a letter after postage went up and I had forgotten to buy penny stamps. Others were just lost. Then, there were the penny stamps I bought and did not use. Yes, those packages had loads of stamps!

Using less cash and more forgotten stamps worked for me! Now, I just set aside the sheets with at least three stamps left and use those at Christmas for gift mailing. Setting aside three stamps each month for a year: 3 stamps x $.42 x 12 months=$14.12.

You must realize I don't use a book of stamps each month. So, I will not have deliberately set aside stamps that will mail a box without using some cash. However, if you do use many books of stamps during the year, this "savings plan" will work for you. A flat-rate box costs $10.95 or $14.95 at USPS, depending on the size box.

One year around September, I started saving change with the express intent of using it for mailing gifts. Since I mail gifts for three people to NYC and five in Texas, I put all gifts for one destination in one box. The weight of the gifts does not matter. However, they must all fit in one flat rate box.

I do and can use change during the year even if I am saving it. Stamps can only be used for one thing--mailing items.

Has anyone ever scrounged for stamps to mail a letter or box?