Tuesday

ei34

How’s everyone? 

I had a festive and fun weekend and a busy Monday…my right knee is bothering me but I’m not sure why. Told myself I’d try to stay off it today but there’s not much sitting at my job. 

ei34

And only read if you like first world problem suburban mom ish- each year when Girl Scout cookies go on sale I print out DD’s scan code for her mobile cookie site, paste on a photo of her in her element and tape it up in my school’s faculty room.  It’s nice bc everyone passes by it, my daughter ends up with 30-40 boxes sold, but no one feels pressured to buy bc I’m not approaching people to ask. I’ve been doing it for a few years. Last year a coworker who is also a scout mom commented on it being such a good idea.  She’s her daughter’s troop’s cookie mom and brought in a paper form last week saying “now taking preorders”, even though cookies don’t go on sale until after the holidays I didn’t bat an eye bc it was on her desk in her dept office, didn’t effect me.  It only got two bites so this morning I see it spread out in the faculty room where I always put mine 😳 she’s going to poach all of my regulars and she’s cheating, at the cookie mom meeting they were told that the paper order form was only to peruse, absolutely no preorders allowed 😩 so I’m annoyed, in the most FWP way. And wanted to share lol 

flantastic

@ei34 what part of "Go Day is January 6" does she not understand? I get it. I'm the troop leader here and we just had our meeting where our cookie manager handed out these embargoed forms, lol. Sorry. While a small problem, it is actually annoying and I'd be annoyed.

Casadena

That's super annoying @ei34. 

Weekend was great! We took the day off and the boys out of school on Friday so we could all go to the trampoline park for G's bday. The boys (including H!) had a blast jumping and launching all over the place. I'm a chicken and terrified of getting hurt, so i jumped, but didn't anything crazy. Saturday was birthday party prep and my holiday party (just ok, hardly any food, at our new office, kinda boring). 

Sunday was G's birthday - we have a 4 year old! We had both our families over and my cousin came out from the city to hang for the afternoon too. Lots of Portillos cheese fries and cake for the birthday boy. 

I'm WFH all week bc i just don't want to go in. I still have to wrap all the christmas presents and buy a few as well. I'm very not on the ball this year!

levioosa

I’m annoyed for you @ei34. Also all I can think of is that Office episode where they were competing for Kevin’s order. Lol

Today is the start of the last four days before vacation. I don’t wanna be here lol. Otherwise SSDD. My Christmas wrapping is all done thankfully. The only things I have to do left are buy some gift cards for staff and make and buy my shopping list for Christmas brunch. Still seems like a lot though. 

CharmedPam

I get you @ei34.  Poach is a good word for that. Stay in your lane, other mom!
Happy belated to G @Casadena. Glad it was a good day for him.

i got off the ship and got my texts all at once.  Oddly enough ExH texted me after all those memories of us on that ship.  It was “I swear I saw you or your doppelgänger on so and so street” where he lives and I’d never drive to even if I wasn’t currently in Florida still. 

“Nope. Not me”
”lol found your doppelgänger lmao”
I don’t know why the extra lmao? I don’t want to know what my “doppelgänger” looks like to him.  When someone says “I saw someone that looks like you” it’s almost always never a compliment. 

short+sassy

@ei34, that's BS!  I'd be upset also.

At my workplace on my floor, there is one employee who's been grabbing all the GS cookie orders for years.  I don't know if anyone else has a daughter in Girl Scouts, but she is the only one with a form in the breakroom every year.

It was fun for me last year.  We have an employee from China on a work visa.  I happened to be in the breakroom when he was looking at the form.  He asked me what the Girl Scouts were and if the form was for ordering cookies.  How did it work, etc.  I was delighted to share an iconic piece of US culture with him!  I told him what the GS were, about their annual cookie sales, and a little bit of description for each cookie type.  Plus how the process worked to order.  We both placed an order for cookies!

Are they going to have those new raspberry ones on the form?  Or is it online only sales like it was last year?


My H and I did a major Costco trip yesterday.  Usually we go on Friday or the weekend.  But I'm assuming that place will be a nightmare as it gets closer to Christmas.  I have a few more items plus a prescription to get at Walmart.  I was going to do it on my half-day Friday, but I'm rethinking that for the same reason.  I will probably go after work today instead.

We decided to cook our Christmas dinner on Sunday so we can start the leftovers early, lol.  We're having turkey and stuffing, so very Thanksgiving-like.  We weren't here for Thanksgiving, but I got a free turkey during that time and it's been sitting in our freezer.  It's also nice to have a few other food options now because things were getting scant.  I got some Tilapia to cook up and we also got a box of pork lumpia (Filipino eggrolls).

I put together a super easy, but healthy dish last week and it's my new go-to.  1 lb. of lean ground beef cooked with taco seasoning.  Throw in some peppers and/or onion (if desired).  Mix in one can of fat-free refried beans as the meat is almost done cooking.  Use it for tacos, burritos, or by itself.  I usually add cheese and one of those 100-calorie avocado/guac cups.  It's my "ode to Taco Bell" lol, but better tasting and way fewer calories/fat.

flantastic

@short+sassy raspberry is discontinued! I think they had too many issues with production last year. Maybe they'll return later but you can't order them at all this year.

DS1 had his tonsils out a week ago and he seems to be getting crankier the last few days. He woke up crying a lot last night and his baby brother decided that was en vogue and copied him. Between that and my own cough I think I got 2 solid hours of sleep last night.

short+sassy

CharmedPam said:

I get you @ei34.  Poach is a good word for that. Stay in your lane, other mom!
Happy belated to G @Casadena. Glad it was a good day for him.

i got off the ship and got my texts all at once.  Oddly enough ExH texted me after all those memories of us on that ship.  It was “I swear I saw you or your doppelgänger on so and so street” where he lives and I’d never drive to even if I wasn’t currently in Florida still. 

“Nope. Not me”
”lol found your doppelgänger lmao”
I don’t know why the extra lmao? I don’t want to know what my “doppelgänger” looks like to him.  When someone says “I saw someone that looks like you” it’s almost always never a compliment. 

When I was younger and thinner, I looked freakishly like Pia Zadora in her heyday.  But only in certain pictures.  Because she looks very different from herself in some pics I've seen, lol.  Her heyday was in the 70s and I was a young adult in the 90s.  A lot of people didn't know who she was anymore, but someone would mention it a few times a year.  

She married one of the wealthiest men in the world.  Hhmmphh.  No offense to my H, but where was my super wealthy guy sweeping me off my feet?  Lol.

VarunaTT

For those with an Alamo Drafthouse in their city, they are doing 25% off gift cards right now.  I usually buy a $50 one every month and use them for the ticket fee (even for passholders, which annoys me to no end) and eating at the theatre, just so I don't have dozens of transactions there to keep track of.  So I splurged a bit and saved myself some money.

Otherwise, SSDD.  My motivation is LOW, I'm going to have to find a big project that takes up time, to keep me focused.  I"ve had a bunch of little things to do.  That gives me WAY too many opportunities to lose focus.  They're also building offices out on our floor, so there's a lot of noise here right now.

MyNameIsNot

flantastic said:

@ei34 what part of "Go Day is January 6" does she not understand? I get it. I'm the troop leader here and we just had our meeting where our cookie manager handed out these embargoed forms, lol. Sorry. While a small problem, it is actually annoying and I'd be annoyed.

This confused me way too much. I was scratching my head trying to figure out what Girl Scouts had to do with January 6. I need more coffee.

Anyway, nothing much for me right now. Tomorrow is my last work day of the year and I don't have much left to get done. I've got interviews in January and I ought to get a jump on prep, but I'd rather watch tik tok videos and reorganize my desk. We're leaving for Utah this weekend, so I'm also working on figuring out what to pack. 

banana468

ei34 said:

And only read if you like first world problem suburban mom ish- each year when Girl Scout cookies go on sale I print out DD’s scan code for her mobile cookie site, paste on a photo of her in her element and tape it up in my school’s faculty room.  It’s nice bc everyone passes by it, my daughter ends up with 30-40 boxes sold, but no one feels pressured to buy bc I’m not approaching people to ask. I’ve been doing it for a few years. Last year a coworker who is also a scout mom commented on it being such a good idea.  She’s her daughter’s troop’s cookie mom and brought in a paper form last week saying “now taking preorders”, even though cookies don’t go on sale until after the holidays I didn’t bat an eye bc it was on her desk in her dept office, didn’t effect me.  It only got two bites so this morning I see it spread out in the faculty room where I always put mine 😳 she’s going to poach all of my regulars and she’s cheating, at the cookie mom meeting they were told that the paper order form was only to peruse, absolutely no preorders allowed 😩 so I’m annoyed, in the most FWP way. And wanted to share lol 

Honestly - this is the GS mom in me: she should be reported to council.  She's breaking the rules.  It's pretty much the antithesis of raising strong women if the answer is that they're being taught to elbow each other and shove one another to get ahead.

Our leader also reported troop moms who were attempting to sell the Raspberry Rally cookies at table booths.  It's against the rules that they agreed to. 

charlotte989875

banana468 said:

ei34 said:

And only read if you like first world problem suburban mom ish- each year when Girl Scout cookies go on sale I print out DD’s scan code for her mobile cookie site, paste on a photo of her in her element and tape it up in my school’s faculty room.  It’s nice bc everyone passes by it, my daughter ends up with 30-40 boxes sold, but no one feels pressured to buy bc I’m not approaching people to ask. I’ve been doing it for a few years. Last year a coworker who is also a scout mom commented on it being such a good idea.  She’s her daughter’s troop’s cookie mom and brought in a paper form last week saying “now taking preorders”, even though cookies don’t go on sale until after the holidays I didn’t bat an eye bc it was on her desk in her dept office, didn’t effect me.  It only got two bites so this morning I see it spread out in the faculty room where I always put mine 😳 she’s going to poach all of my regulars and she’s cheating, at the cookie mom meeting they were told that the paper order form was only to peruse, absolutely no preorders allowed 😩 so I’m annoyed, in the most FWP way. And wanted to share lol 

Honestly - this is the GS mom in me: she should be reported to council.  She's breaking the rules.  It's pretty much the antithesis of raising strong women if the answer is that they're being taught to elbow each other and shove one another to get ahead.

Our leader also reported troop moms who were attempting to sell the Raspberry Rally cookies at table booths.  It's against the rules that they agreed to. 

I’m such a stickler for the rules that I’d be inclined to do this too. She’s breaking the rules and as Cookie Mom of anyone she should know that. My mom was a troop leader for YEARS and would be pissed if she heard someone in our group doing this. 

banana468

banana468 said:

ei34 said:

And only read if you like first world problem suburban mom ish- each year when Girl Scout cookies go on sale I print out DD’s scan code for her mobile cookie site, paste on a photo of her in her element and tape it up in my school’s faculty room.  It’s nice bc everyone passes by it, my daughter ends up with 30-40 boxes sold, but no one feels pressured to buy bc I’m not approaching people to ask. I’ve been doing it for a few years. Last year a coworker who is also a scout mom commented on it being such a good idea.  She’s her daughter’s troop’s cookie mom and brought in a paper form last week saying “now taking preorders”, even though cookies don’t go on sale until after the holidays I didn’t bat an eye bc it was on her desk in her dept office, didn’t effect me.  It only got two bites so this morning I see it spread out in the faculty room where I always put mine 😳 she’s going to poach all of my regulars and she’s cheating, at the cookie mom meeting they were told that the paper order form was only to peruse, absolutely no preorders allowed 😩 so I’m annoyed, in the most FWP way. And wanted to share lol 

Honestly - this is the GS mom in me: she should be reported to council.  She's breaking the rules.  It's pretty much the antithesis of raising strong women if the answer is that they're being taught to elbow each other and shove one another to get ahead.

Our leader also reported troop moms who were attempting to sell the Raspberry Rally cookies at table booths.  It's against the rules that they agreed to. 

Or - the nice mom in me would say, "Oh you may not understand this but the paper orders are categorically not allowed until sales start.  I appreciate that you want to sell the cookies and understand that we can work on something together knowing we both  have girls involved in the program but I wanted to call your attention to this so you can remedy it now." 

charlotte989875

I’m on PTO until January and it’s amazing. Seriously so good. I’m doing some shopping now, only my niece, SIL, and my mom left to do! 

Here’s my FWP complaint: H doesn’t realize (or maybe doesn’t care) that we’re the ones who have to make the magic at Christmas. That we need different Santa paper, different Santa bows and tags (and handwriting). That M is at the age where he would start to get it and we have to be the ones to actually do the magic. We’re not even doing much just a few presents and stockings, but they still need different paper and we need small things to go in the stockings. So I’m doing it. But I wish he remembered we needed to actually be the ones who do it. 

short+sassy

charlotte989875 said:

I’m on PTO until January and it’s amazing. Seriously so good. I’m doing some shopping now, only my niece, SIL, and my mom left to do! 

Here’s my FWP complaint: H doesn’t realize (or maybe doesn’t care) that we’re the ones who have to make the magic at Christmas. That we need different Santa paper, different Santa bows and tags (and handwriting). That M is at the age where he would start to get it and we have to be the ones to actually do the magic. We’re not even doing much just a few presents and stockings, but they still need different paper and we need small things to go in the stockings. So I’m doing it. But I wish he remembered we needed to actually be the ones who do it. 

I never really thought about it until your post.  But my mom always used multiple, different wrapping papers for our presents.  It IS prettier and more festive that way.

Nowadays, she only mails a few wrapped gifts for me and my H.  And the presents still have different wrapping paper, lol.

It's nice to still discover small ways my parents made my childhood better.

flantastic

Apparently, my mom kept track of which wrapping papers got used for what by only using papers with Santas on them for Santa. Does Santa come across a bit self-absorbed? Maybe. I never noticed, though, so it was just a simple enough code for her.

banana468

flantastic said:

Apparently, my mom kept track of which wrapping papers got used for what by only using papers with Santas on them for Santa. Does Santa come across a bit self-absorbed? Maybe. I never noticed, though, so it was just a simple enough code for her.

That's basically what I do.  Santa stuff is in Santa wrap.  

I also need more  gift tags to keep the stuff separate. 

mrsconn23

Good afternoon!  DH and I got a ton of our Christmas shopping done over the weekend and I have a couple things from Amazon I'm waiting on.  We still have a few people to finish up, mostly small things and gift cards, but we're pretty much done.  I have wrapped three piles so far and I have another pile adding up at the moment. I left some presents in the office that I forgot about, whoops. 

I used to try to go with different paper for Santa vs. regular presents, but I've never had my shit together to keep it up.  There are some super creative women in my mom group that do some amazing wrapping or other things for Santa presents.  They also do all the Elf hijinks with the creepy doll.  LOL 

I work tomorrow and then I'm off until the 27th, save for being on-call this coming weekend.  I'm hoping it's low-key.  I do need to finish shopping for Christmas dinner stuff.  Luckily, we're doing Italian, so it shouldn't be hard to find all the stuff we need.  

Life has been absolutely crazy recently.  I'm not ready to really talk about it all.  It's nothing life-threatening or anything, but just...a lot.  Some good, some...we'll see how it works out.  I'm beyond ready for our Puerto Rico trip in early Feb. 

CharmedPam

charlotte989875 said:

I’m on PTO until January and it’s amazing. Seriously so good. I’m doing some shopping now, only my niece, SIL, and my mom left to do! 

Here’s my FWP complaint: H doesn’t realize (or maybe doesn’t care) that we’re the ones who have to make the magic at Christmas. That we need different Santa paper, different Santa bows and tags (and handwriting). That M is at the age where he would start to get it and we have to be the ones to actually do the magic. We’re not even doing much just a few presents and stockings, but they still need different paper and we need small things to go in the stockings. So I’m doing it. But I wish he remembered we needed to actually be the ones who do it. 

And change up that handwriting! Lol.  When I heard the rumors at school that parents were santa, I was going to match tag writing to another sample.  I never got around doing it, but I was gonna!
@short+sassy, never heard of Pia Zadora, but I googled and I can see it! 

We saw someone the other night eating dinner next to us that kinda sorta (but not really) looked like Jason Bateman. My mom, not shy as she is - went up to tell him that.  He never heard that before but loved the comment.  His wife was like “ooooh yeah I see it”.  How long were they married?!? Lol

banana468

We had a great day in NYC Sunday!   Got into park right at noon, grabbed some street food and were into Radio City Music Hall in plenty of time.  DH had never seen the show before and neither did Chiquito and both loved it.  We walked outside to Saks and loved the window display put on by Dior and then walked to eat. Our restaurant was in Times Square and we hit up the Disney and M&M store before heading back to the car.  We missed a lot of the rain and were home by about 8:30 with the kids showered and in bed on time. 

Yesterday I took off and cleaned/shopped and napped.  I still have a residual sinus issue but I'm dealing with it OK.  

I do need DH to confirm w/ his parents that they're hosting Christmas Eve.  They moved into their new house in September and when we were there about 4 weeks ago it looked like they'd just moved in.  Neither DH nor I thought the move was a great idea.  They sold for less than they thought they would because of foolish decisions they made inside the house, the new (to them) place has a lot of work needed and I think they're going to get tired of it fast.   I also think they will not say anything until MIL is at her breaking point because they know how DH feels.  But they opted to go from a place that's for 55+ to a ranch that is OK but I think they do not estimate how quickly they're aging.  It's going to be frustrating and sad.

short+sassy

CharmedPam said:

charlotte989875 said:

I’m on PTO until January and it’s amazing. Seriously so good. I’m doing some shopping now, only my niece, SIL, and my mom left to do! 

Here’s my FWP complaint: H doesn’t realize (or maybe doesn’t care) that we’re the ones who have to make the magic at Christmas. That we need different Santa paper, different Santa bows and tags (and handwriting). That M is at the age where he would start to get it and we have to be the ones to actually do the magic. We’re not even doing much just a few presents and stockings, but they still need different paper and we need small things to go in the stockings. So I’m doing it. But I wish he remembered we needed to actually be the ones who do it. 

And change up that handwriting! Lol.  When I heard the rumors at school that parents were santa, I was going to match tag writing to another sample.  I never got around doing it, but I was gonna!
@short+sassy, never heard of Pia Zadora, but I googled and I can see it! 

We saw someone the other night eating dinner next to us that kinda sorta (but not really) looked like Jason Bateman. My mom, not shy as she is - went up to tell him that.  He never heard that before but loved the comment.  His wife was like “ooooh yeah I see it”.  How long were they married?!? Lol

I should have added that I totally understood the meme because I've had experiences like that also.  But always took it as a compliment when compared to Pia.

flantastic

banana468 said:

flantastic said:

Apparently, my mom kept track of which wrapping papers got used for what by only using papers with Santas on them for Santa. Does Santa come across a bit self-absorbed? Maybe. I never noticed, though, so it was just a simple enough code for her.

That's basically what I do.  Santa stuff is in Santa wrap.  

I also need more  gift tags to keep the stuff separate. 

I just write the recipient's name with a Sharpie on the paper. No gift tag. And disguise the handwriting, because I did do a writing sample comparison as a kid (and my parents were way ahead of me).

banana468

flantastic said:

banana468 said:

flantastic said:

Apparently, my mom kept track of which wrapping papers got used for what by only using papers with Santas on them for Santa. Does Santa come across a bit self-absorbed? Maybe. I never noticed, though, so it was just a simple enough code for her.

That's basically what I do.  Santa stuff is in Santa wrap.  

I also need more  gift tags to keep the stuff separate. 

I just write the recipient's name with a Sharpie on the paper. No gift tag. And disguise the handwriting, because I did do a writing sample comparison as a kid (and my parents were way ahead of me).

The problem is I have years of gift tag use and abandoning it will just increase the Catholic mom guilt.  

short+sassy

flantastic said:

banana468 said:

flantastic said:

Apparently, my mom kept track of which wrapping papers got used for what by only using papers with Santas on them for Santa. Does Santa come across a bit self-absorbed? Maybe. I never noticed, though, so it was just a simple enough code for her.

That's basically what I do.  Santa stuff is in Santa wrap.  

I also need more  gift tags to keep the stuff separate. 

I just write the recipient's name with a Sharpie on the paper. No gift tag. And disguise the handwriting, because I did do a writing sample comparison as a kid (and my parents were way ahead of me).

When my mom ran out of gift tags, she would take a small piece of the same wrapping paper, fold it in half, and then write the person's name on the bottom half.  She'd tape it to the present and you could lift the "flap" to see who it was for.

MobKaz

My kids always received ornaments from St. Nick.  Because I only had 2 children, they hung their ornaments on different sides of the tree.  That is what signaled to Santa where to place the gifts.  Labels were not needed.  Santa built many toys at the workshop, for example, a Ghostbuster's Firehouse, so they might be found under a large, wrapped cardboard box.  Barbie gifts might be found inside a patent leather hat box.  For gifts that were wrapped ahead of time, there was a hidden icon to designate each child in the upper right hand corner on the back of the box.

When wrapping paper was used, it definitely was different from other gifts.  I got lucky one year and found paper that actually said "Santa's Workshop" on it.

When my grandkids help trim the tree, they have learned of the Santa tradition.  They know if they find an ornament from mom's childhood, it gets hung on the left side of the tree. 

kerbohl

My parents didn't do Santa, so not sleuthing was involved in my childhood!  I did notice that my mom did always write the names on the presents, not my dad.  I was shocked the first time I saw my dad's handwriting - it is really fancy.  He should have been doing it the whole time!
I went to Maurice's and got those bralettes we were talking about last week - they are great!  I'm so happy for the recommendation.  
I wish this week were over already - overtime every day. I was hoping to actually come in late tomorrow to even things out but just got stuck in an early morning meeting.  Can't wait until Friday at 4pm when I am done for a 5 day weekend!

CharmedPam

@kerbohl, what was the Canadian price on that? Wondering if it’s worth begging for a ride to the store while Imm here since the exchange is good.  Taxes aren’t.  Or maybe just buy them online before the sale ends and have them shipped.

ILoveBeachMusic

flantastic said:

@short+sassy raspberry is discontinued! I think they had too many issues with production last year. Maybe they'll return later but you can't order them at all this year.

DS1 had his tonsils out a week ago and he seems to be getting crankier the last few days. He woke up crying a lot last night and his baby brother decided that was en vogue and copied him. Between that and my own cough I think I got 2 solid hours of sleep last night.

I remember when DS2 had his tonsils out - he was around 4. It was horrible. I figured it would be a quick recovery but it took a solid week! Hope your DS improves quickly.

We had a fun weekend with DD celebrating her birthday. We came home Monday and hosted a Christmas party for our church book club. Yesterday I started baking cookies. I hope to finish up today. I have a couple of gifts that came while we were gone that I need to wrap today. Everyone arrives on Friday so I also need to get the house ready. We are going to the symphony's Yuletide celebration on Saturday - first time for the twins. I hope they love it as much as their mother did/does.

I don't wrap Santa presents and neither did my Mom. DD doesn't wrap them either. When I was little (same for my kids), Santa brought one big present and filled the stockings. It was always obvious whose present was whose. One year I accidentally bought wrapping paper that said it was from Santa. I never used it and can't remember what I did with it. I use a variety of Christmas wrapping paper because I think it looks festive. I also use and reuse gift bags. Tags are always an issue. I don't know why I just can't seem to remember to get them on sale!

kerbohl

CharmedPam said:

@kerbohl, what was the Canadian price on that? Wondering if it’s worth begging for a ride to the store while Imm here since the exchange is good.  Taxes aren’t.  Or maybe just buy them online before the sale ends and have them shipped.

$10!  Not bad at all.

CharmedPam

kerbohl said:

CharmedPam said:

@kerbohl, what was the Canadian price on that? Wondering if it’s worth begging for a ride to the store while Imm here since the exchange is good.  Taxes aren’t.  Or maybe just buy them online before the sale ends and have them shipped.

$10!  Not bad at all.

It’s not! My phone automatically switches to the currrency of the country I’m in, so when I saw $10 still, I’m like “did my phone not switch?” But I guess it did.  Still, Maurice’s is 20-25 minutes away from where I’m staying so it doesn’t make sense for that drive. $50 CAD is around $37.50 ish USD.  We’d spend that savings in gas.
I was in price heaven at the Canadian Walmart.  Most things are the same price or lower than American prices! Not all though. When I got to the make-up section, everything was really overpriced even with the exchange rate.  American’s still have the one up on cheaper make-up and skincare. But I charge everything to my cc and then immediately go to my app to find out my real cost.  It’s a fun game! Lol.  Where else can I shop? Not that I need anything or have anymore room left in my suitcase.