Happy Friday!!

mrsconn23

This week has been long AF.  It always is the week after time off for a holiday. 

I cannot believe it's the END of November.  I can't say I'm going to be sad to say goodbye to 2018 soon.

What's up for the weekend?

Tonight, we're dropping DefConn off at my sister's so we can go shopping without him.   
Tomorrow, we have two parties we might hit up.
Sunday, hopefully the weather will be clear and we can finish putting up Christmas lights and other outdoor decor. 

charlotte989875

Also happy the weekend is finally here. The week after a holiday always seems to drag. 

No no big plans this weekend; helping a friend move tonight, then trying to see Fantastic Beasts tomorrow and maybe dinner out. It’s been so long since we’ve had a date night. 

Other than that just just trying to put the last of the boxes away, finish decorating the Christmas tree, and some much needed napping. 

sparklepants41

Happy Friday!
@charlotte989875 I cannot wait to see Fantastic Beasts! I expect a full review on Monday lol. 

Tomorrow we are taking Babypants to meet Santa for the first time. My BIL is retired USCG and is the Flying Santa who goes around to various USCG stations in New England. He got Babypants on the list so tomorrow morning we are headed down the Cape to meet Santa! It could go one of two ways, so we have been showing her photos of Santa and playing/singing Christmas carols so that hopefully we end up with a happy Santa experience. 

Then on Sunday I am headed to a friend's house for a ladies' brunch/jewelry party, so I will be able to get some more Christmas shopping done. 

We may also get our tree this weekend, but H needs to patch up our foundation in the basement (original 1920s fieldstone, so it's gotten a bit drafty down there), so we may push off getting the tree until next weekend. 

ShesSoCold

Happy Friday ladies! 

That sounds very cool, sparklepants! I hope she loves Uncle Santa!

I'm super scroogy. I don't decorate, I don't even like to buy gifts. I despise Christmas music. The only thing I like about this season is baking and eggnog. 

H and I have nothing this weekend. Nothing. It will be glorious. The house is still clean from last weekend, so cleaning will go super quick and we can start attacking the list of shit we've got to do to make the house sell-able. I'm making a "Cold Family Weekend To Do" list and I'm all excited about it. It's the little things. 

H and I effed up. His tattoo place gives you 50% more free when you buy gift cards on black Friday. So we do that for H every year as his annual tattoo budget (and abuse the shit out of it - we get at least $1,000 so he gets $500 free). This year we got $150 gift cards for his brother and sister. Last night Step MIL sent us lists for each kid and BIL's girlfriend also wanted one of those gift cards. So we either have to go back and spend the full $150, get her less or not get her one. There was a bunch of other shit on her list so I might just get some of the other things. I hate to be all "here BIL & SIL, go do something fun and for you, GF, a cookbook and some lotion". 

short+sassy

Me and one of my coworkers yesterday were looking at a calendar and counting down until the long weekends for Christmas and then New Year's Day, lol.  FYI, they both fall on Tuesdays.  I have plenty of vacation time to take the two Monday "eves" off.  Oh yeah!  But it is still not coming soon enough.

Then there are no holidays.  At all.  For the entire months of Jan. and Feb.  It's like a calendar desert, lol.

Last night, my H and I were hanging out on the porch with the current AirBnBers staying on the other side of our duplex.  Great guys and it was some fun, unexpected social time.  Then my H and I watched the abysmal Saints-Cowboys game, smh. 

So our combo Home Depot/Walmart trip has been pushed to today.  While we're out, maybe we'll go try somewhere new for lunch.  Nothing planned for the rest of the weekend, but I'm feeling adventurous.  And by "adventurous", I mean I might try and twist my H's arm to leave the house and do something for a few hours, lol. 

VarunaTT

Tomorrow, the new president comes and gets all 7 boxes of Pride out of my apartment and everything is officially over.  I think I'd been avoiding this final step and it did throw me back into my feels, but this will all pass.  

K works all weekend.  The big Toys 4 Tots drag show is this weekend and it's usually fun; it's also usually packed AF and I'm not sure I'm feeling up to that.  I might just play it by ear.  I'm glad it's Friday though, I'm ready for a break.  

6fsn

I kinda felt like this week flew by.  Tonight we're doing homemade pizza and coke/orange crush floats.  I resurrected my mom's pizza dough recipe and the kids love it.

Tomorrow 6let has 2 futsal games and we have a neighbor's 1st bday party. 

Sunday we're making buckeyes.  I have to take 3 dozen desserts for something Tuesday and for something else Wednesday.  Buckeyes seem perfect for that sort of thing.

Along those lines- does anyone have a good gingerbread recipe?  I look every year, get overwhelmed, and go buy a mix.  I'm not opposed to the mix just curious.  I like to make them into sticks and dip in white chocolate for better coffee stirring. 

climbingsingle

What a shitty week. I'm glad it's over. 

Tonight - gym, then hibernating for the night 
Saturday: getting my hair done, then my nails, then cleaning the house 
Saturday night: game night at my friend's house. 

Sunday - H's sailing awards luncheon, which is as exciting as it sounds. On the plus side, the food is good (brunch buffet). 

mrsconn23

climbingwife said:

Sunday - H's sailing awards luncheon, which is as exciting as it sounds. On the plus side, the food is good (brunch buffet). 

A brunch buffet is my jam...bonus if there is mimosas.   

short+sassy

ShesSoCold said:

Happy Friday ladies! 

That sounds very cool, sparklepants! I hope she loves Uncle Santa!

I'm super scroogy. I don't decorate, I don't even like to buy gifts. I despise Christmas music. The only thing I like about this season is baking and eggnog. 

H and I have nothing this weekend. Nothing. It will be glorious. The house is still clean from last weekend, so cleaning will go super quick and we can start attacking the list of shit we've got to do to make the house sell-able. I'm making a "Cold Family Weekend To Do" list and I'm all excited about it. It's the little things. 

I'm super scroogy with you!  The extent of my presents are buying a Christmas card for each my niece and nephew.  And putting checks into them.  And I still haven't even done that, lol.  Even my H and I don't exchange presents with each other.

I don't bake.  But I'll get on board with you for eggnog.  Preferably spiked with rum.  Sometimes I'll decorate with a Christmas tree.  We have an artificial one.  We just don't put it up every year, lol.

I am a "bonus" gift card hound!  I love that so many restaurants have those offers in Dec.  I've already purchased a $100 one to get a free $20 one, at a restaurant my H and I go to every couple months.  I haven't gone yet, but Blaze Pizza is giving a coupon for a free pizza with every $25 in gift cards purchased.  I go there about once a month, so I usually get $50-$75 worth.  I'd buy even more than that, but the coupons always expire in Feb. or March, lol.

Oh!  FYI, everyone.  This Sunday, Target is selling their own gift cards for 10% off.  The offer is good either online or in-stores.

kvruns

S+S your Saints defense got me 15 points so I'm happy. They haven't gotten me much this season except these last 2 games. 

Speaking of gift card bonuses, if you like Cheesecake Factory you get 2 slices of cheesecake for each $25 gift card. The ILs asked for gift cards to there last year so we got them and we kept the cheesecake LOL. I think it was just 1 slice last year. Not getting them giftcards this year though which makes me sad on the cheesecake front

CharmedPam

Happy Friday!  I have a list of movies we have to see. Fantastic beasts is on it.  There's only 2 of us in the office today so we're listening to Christmas music.  Actually it's hard for me to read and focus and listen to music at the same time. Never realized that before. 

Saturday I have a wedding I'm going to solo (I mean my parents and their friends are going).  I don't know what I'm wearing yet but I'm more nervous about my footwear because I'm going to uber it and don't want to wear boots outdoors and my flats indoors...to much to worry about!   Sunday I want to see play "The lady in black" downtown.  H should be off. But who knows with his stupid job?

@shessocold, I vote get her stuff off the list and save the tat gc's for H!
@VarunaTT, I think you may like more time for yourself! Enjoy!
@sparklepants41, as much as I want the Santa visit to go well - I think the cutest pictures are of babies who are so unsure of Santa. Because they have every right to be.  Santa's scary, yo.  I have one of me and my sister that I love.  I'm on his lap crying my eyes out. And my sister (older) is standing up, with a candy cane in hand, and she's all cool and calm and looking at the candy cane bin next to him wondering if she can get another. 

banana468

Happy Friday! 

Packed into today:
-Work
-Climb into attic and grab the non-tree decorations
-Get to grocery store for food for tomorrow.
-Try to start to decorate house for holidays sans tree & make/assemble baked ziti.

Tomorrow: 
-Chiquita confession at 9 AM
-Maybe convince DH to get the tree right after
-Either decorate tree and prepare for guests OR we just prepare for guests for Saturday night
-Family party for Chiquita and GrampaBanana

Sunday:
-Church
-Clean up and prep kids for overnight at ILs
-DMB! 

levioosa

I slept so hard last night and it was glorious. It’s been so long since I got a decent night’s sleep. Today I’m studying and trying to pick up the house. FI is the holiday decorator out of the two of us and he brought in all of the Christmas bins last week. We’re done decorating now so the empty bins can go back in the garage. They’re taking up so much space. I might try to wrap some Christmas presents today too. They’ve all been shoved in my closet and I’m having a hard time getting to my stuff. 

Casadena

We have to go to a bday party for H's grandma tomorrow.   The entire family celebrated at thanksgiving last week but since MIL wasn't there (they were with the other side of the family) MIL decided to throw another get together for the entire family that already celebrated the birthday.  Love H's grandma, so i'm not mad about attending, just rolling my eyes at MIL. 

Other than that, I have to finalize all the Christmas shopping.  I'm particularly scroogy about it this year.  I need to find a generally appealing ~$30 gift for a white elephant exchange (we don't do joke/gag gifts).  Any ideas?!

short+sassy

Casadena said:

We have to go to a bday party for H's grandma tomorrow.   The entire family celebrated at thanksgiving last week but since MIL wasn't there (they were with the other side of the family) MIL decided to throw another get together for the entire family that already celebrated the birthday.  Love H's grandma, so i'm not mad about attending, just rolling my eyes at MIL. 

Other than that, I have to finalize all the Christmas shopping.  I'm particularly scroogy about it this year.  I need to find a generally appealing ~$30 gift for a white elephant exchange (we don't do joke/gag gifts).  Any ideas?!

Depending on the crowd.  The most popular gifts I typically see for these kinds of exchanges are the ones that are a nice liquor bottle.  Perhaps one of the gift set options that comes with two glasses in it.

For something a little off the beaten path, a cute Christmas mug or container stuffed with a variety of scratch-off tickets.  Someone brought that to a gift exchange I attended and it was SUPER popular.  It was one of those exchanges where people could steal/trade gifts.  That gift was stolen the max. # of times during the exchange, lol.

ShesSoCold

6, I've made this gingerbread biscotti and it was super good. I don't remember the regular gingerbread recipe I use, but it's not super great anyway. Generally when I need a recipe, I'll search AllRecipes, sort by ratings and go with the one with the most high ratings. Usually pretty successful.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/43941/gingerbread-biscotti/?internalSource=hub recipe&referringContentType=Search 

Anyone have any sewing experience? If I wanted to make (by "make", I mean pay my friend Ellen to make) a casual knee-length skirt (size 6-8ish) out of t-shirts, how many would I need?

VarunaTT

ShesSoCold said:

6, I've made this gingerbread biscotti and it was super good. I don't remember the regular gingerbread recipe I use, but it's not super great anyway. Generally when I need a recipe, I'll search AllRecipes, sort by ratings and go with the one with the most high ratings. Usually pretty successful.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/43941/gingerbread-biscotti/?internalSource=hub recipe&referringContentType=Search 

Anyone have any sewing experience? If I wanted to make (by "make", I mean pay my friend Ellen to make) a casual knee-length skirt (size 6-8ish) out of t-shirts, how many would I need?

Somewhat of a loaded question, b/c it would depend on how much of the t-shirt you were using.  You'll probably want a lining or something for the t-shirts to attach to that are heavier too.  Are we talking straight skirt or a full swingy skirt.

CharmedPam

oh, and I forgot to mention, I think it was @climbingwife (?) who recommended it to me, but yesterday I started Nailed It on netflix.  I LOVE it. I was laughing so hard during the 2nd ep.  For some reason I thought it was a show about nail art design competition....and I never really looked into it.  LOL. But nope, it's cakes.  Right up my alley. 

ShesSoCold

VarunaTT said:

ShesSoCold said:

6, I've made this gingerbread biscotti and it was super good. I don't remember the regular gingerbread recipe I use, but it's not super great anyway. Generally when I need a recipe, I'll search AllRecipes, sort by ratings and go with the one with the most high ratings. Usually pretty successful.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/43941/gingerbread-biscotti/?internalSource=hub recipe&referringContentType=Search 

Anyone have any sewing experience? If I wanted to make (by "make", I mean pay my friend Ellen to make) a casual knee-length skirt (size 6-8ish) out of t-shirts, how many would I need?

Somewhat of a loaded question, b/c it would depend on how much of the t-shirt you were using.  You'll probably want a lining or something for the t-shirts to attach to that are heavier too.  Are we talking straight skirt or a full swingy skirt.

Hmmmm...probably just the front of the shirt and a little swingy. 

I bet this would be more trouble than it's worth. 

PMeg819

I am sitting at home waiting for people to return work to me. It is the worst. On the plus, I have an interview for a job today and I'm really hoping it leads to more interviews/an offer. I love the people I work with currently, my job is easy but I started having to travel more the last 3 months and I just can't do it anymore.

Today I am volunteering at DS's school. Then it's the phone interview, then picking up DD for dance class, back to DS's school to pick him up, make dinner and then crash. Tomorrow is DD's other dance class, my usual errands, and I have to finish up the details for a Polar Express event we hold at DS's school. I need to find someone to dress as Santa too. Sunday will be relaxing but depending on weather, I might see if we can take a drive north to do breakfast and easy hiking.

VarunaTT

I'd probably plan for 10, depending on length of skirt/t-shirt ratio.

Jen4948

I had thought that I didn't have available vacation time to take time off at the end of December, but I found out last night that I have a week available. So I might use it, but I don't know yet where I might go.

short+sassy

@PMeg819, good luck on the job interview!

Casadena

short+sassy said:

Casadena said:

We have to go to a bday party for H's grandma tomorrow.   The entire family celebrated at thanksgiving last week but since MIL wasn't there (they were with the other side of the family) MIL decided to throw another get together for the entire family that already celebrated the birthday.  Love H's grandma, so i'm not mad about attending, just rolling my eyes at MIL. 

Other than that, I have to finalize all the Christmas shopping.  I'm particularly scroogy about it this year.  I need to find a generally appealing ~$30 gift for a white elephant exchange (we don't do joke/gag gifts).  Any ideas?!

Depending on the crowd.  The most popular gifts I typically see for these kinds of exchanges are the ones that are a nice liquor bottle.  Perhaps one of the gift set options that comes with two glasses in it.

For something a little off the beaten path, a cute Christmas mug or container stuffed with a variety of scratch-off tickets.  Someone brought that to a gift exchange I attended and it was SUPER popular.  It was one of those exchanges where people could steal/trade gifts.  That gift was stolen the max. # of times during the exchange, lol.

lottery tix is a great idea!  I'm probably going to do wine for one entry (H and I both submit) but that would probably be popular and I will suggest it to H!

ILoveBeachMusic

I got my hair cut and colored this morning. Boy those gray roots were a hot mess! Then I had a make up session with my personal trainer - I've been going to see various kids so much I have to make up times with her. This afternoon is nails and hopefully getting the second baby's stocking finished! Yay!!!! H and I are going out to dinner and to see the play How the Grinch stole Christmas tonight.

Tomorrow is the Home Tour I've volunteered for the last seven years. This is the last year it is being held. It has run its course. Tomorrow night a Christmas open house. Sunday I think I'll clean after church and maybe just veg out! It has been a pretty busy week.

Keep your fingers crossed y'all. DS1 had a job interview today!

ei34

Volunteered at the kids’ school decoratin wreaths for the wreath sale earlier- actually took more time than I thought.  Bringing them to a tree lighting at my school tonight, then we’re all (even H is coming!) going to NJ tomorrow for a Polar Express train ride.  I think we’re shooting to put up the tree Sunday.  Do lots of nice Christmas-y things  

@Casadena Are gift cards allowed?  That’s my go to Secret Santa gift 

ShesSoCold

VarunaTT said:

I'd probably plan for 10, depending on length of skirt/t-shirt ratio.

Oh wow so definitely more trouble than it's worth. $200+ for the shirts alone is a bit much for a random "oh this would be cool" idea.

Thank you!! 

Jen4948

@PMeg819, good luck on your interview!

Casadena

eileenrob said:

Volunteered at the kids’ school decoratin wreaths for the wreath sale earlier- actually took more time than I thought.  Bringing them to a tree lighting at my school tonight, then we’re all (even H is coming!) going to NJ tomorrow for a Polar Express train ride.  I think we’re shooting to put up the tree Sunday.  Do lots of nice Christmas-y things  

@Casadena Are gift cards allowed?  That’s my go to Secret Santa gift 

Gift cards are definitely allowed, I know that a few others will probably do that though so I'd like to get a physical gift if I can think of something that would be (relatively) universally appealing!

6fsn

How is it after 4 already?  I swear I just put those kids on the bus and they'll be back in 10 minutes!  I did make Max work this afternoon- he stuffed, stamped, and put the return address label on my Christmas cards.