I almost got all of my Christmas shopping done tonight. Well, at least for the immediate family. I have some friends who will probably end up with gifts after Christmas. Jay and Ada’s Santa presents are not bought. We usually keep those for the bigger, more expensive gift. Ada wants a camera. Her only requirement is that it’s pink. I’m trying to decide whether I want to get her the crappy, but plastic and more durable, V-Tech camera or put in a little extra and get her a much better, but less durable, Nikon Coolpix. Jay wants a puppy. I warned Mac a long time ago that the first kid that requests a puppy is getting a puppy, however, with Jay, he’s all puppy talk and no puppy walk. He talks up about how awesome puppies are, but if you get him near an actual real dog, he freaks out and acts like, well, Mac. Because of this, I’m not getting a dog. I suggested that maybe we get a fish and name it Puppy because it is in a bowl and won’t try to come near Jay. Then I saw one of those Leapster game systems that had a game where you took care of virtual pets, and I was like, “Oh, I’ll get him a game that involves dogs.” Jay loves games. However, I don’t really want a Leapster. I’d rather get him a Nintendo DS because, well, you should see him play the Mario games on the Wii. However, I also don’t think an almost four year old really needs a Nintendo DS. I do feel confident with the correct types of games, he’d have no problem playing the DS. I don’t feel confident that he wouldn’t break it. Nintendo has a lot more games geared towards the younger crowd, so if we got a portable gaming system, it would be that over the PS. I haven’t decided with him either.

We bought a mattress today, but it won’t be in until January since, yeah M, our frame is a Cali-King and those have to be ordered because none are kept in stock. We did try Tempur-Pedic. They feel awesome, but we could not spend that much money on a mattress. Tempting, but no. Until January, we have to sleep in the guest room or the living room sofas because our broken mattress has been drained–unless we go buy an air mattress, which is tempting to have one on hand again for extra guest situations.

My house is a big disastrous mess. I get up to get ready at 5:15am, leave at 6:30am and return back home with the kids at 5:45pm. Then I get to make dinner or run. Then we have to get the kids in bed. It is usually 7:30-8:30pm before I have any time to do anything. I will unload/load dishes in the mornings and during dinner prep. I try to throw laundry in the morning, night, but because everybody is still asleep except Ada, I don’t get stuff put away in the morning. I’m not keeping up. In January, we are going to start looking into hiring housekeeping. I’m tired of my weekends being mostly catch-up chores. I am more than willing to just pay someone to clean my kitchen and bathrooms once a week, preferably at the end of the week so I go into the weekend with them clean and I’m not tempted to do it myself. In the spring, I’ll be hiring lawn care service as well because I just can’t do it all. I’m not getting enough sleep or running time or fun, and I’m going crazy. People in Lawrence have any recommendations, please pass them my way.

I made coffee, then bacon, then a shopping list. I went out in search of good deals on milk, eggs, fennel, swiss chard, mushrooms, sun dried tomato, garlic, scallions and butter. There was no crowds at all during that trip. That was it for my planned Black Friday shopping trip. I have no desire to stand in line in the cold to get trampled by crazy people for crap you can get the rest of the day. It is super rare to get the actual really good deals. They are counting on your buying all the other stuff they set out.

After I got home and my grocery finds put away, we decided to head out to lunch, landing at Esquina. We parted ways after with our kids going with their aunt and uncle, and Mac and I having time without them. So we went to Old Navy because I was there with Ada on Wednesday looking for leggings, which I found and tried on, but they weren’t on sale. I said, “I bet they will be on Friday” and put them back, thinking if I came here and they were, great. If not, I’ll get them later.

They were on sale. For $5. And they still had plenty in my size. And I got another long-sleeve tee for $5. And some camis. And a scarf. Mac picked up a handful of $5 tees and a sweater. We slept in and fought no crowds. Here is where I scored big though: coats were 50% off.

I had convinced myself to wear the coat I have for another year. It’s fine. It keeps me warm. I’ve only had it for about four years. That’s the part that bugs me about this coat. I’ve had it for four years. In other words, I was pregnant with Jay, and thus, it is an extra-large.

I tried on a few coats and ended up with two I couldn’t decide between easily, so I ended up with both thanks to Mac who got me one for my birthday. I now have a casual black peacoat and a dressier white trench with a faux-fur collar^*. Here is the part that thrills me the most about the coats. I can fit into a small. What that means for me is that for the first time in a long time the waist on my coat actually falls at my waist.

*That can easily come off should I decide I really don’t like that part of it.

Why, yes, I would totally wear an octopus necklace.

Ada’s class has a share box which is for the kids to bring educational items that the class then can use or something. I don’t know what they do with the box, honestly. Tonight at dinner, Jay suggested that she bring his underwear to put in the share box. In other words, I’ve got your educational item right here.

The story of first grade girl who almost gave up her Star Wars water bottle because she was being picked on generated a lot of positive support and confidence for one Little Girl of Awesome. Then ThinkGeek doubled the awesome by sending her a gift consisting of a Tauntaun Sleeping Bag, Wampa Rug, and Yoda Saber.

I decided to go to the Legends, making a beeline for Ann Taylor–my workplace clothing source with a stock of petites. Not only did I see what I wanted within one minute of walking in, they had my size for everything but the jacket, and everything in the store was 40% off. Not only that, but I get to thank Ann Taylor for still having a curvy fit among the popularity of skinny pants. Now I can wear pants that fit both my waist and my hips and thighs. There was no need to get one size bigger and utilize a belt to keep the waist on my waist. I went one size bigger with the jacket. The size smaller may have been pushing tight, but the size bigger is a little loose. Thanks to it being a petite cut, having one size bigger doesn’t make me look like a Hobbit.

Oh, did I mention 40% off? I got a cami, sweater and blouse while I was there.

I am currently talking myself out of buying this shirt. Do I want it? Oooooooh, yes. Will I get it? Hmmm…

I’ve also been thinking about the Think Geek customer action shots. They posted recently about the Top 5 Overdone Action Shots. I rarely find many action shots that interesting. Yippee, ladies, a cam whore shot of your boobs in a Think Geek tee. Original.

Most people know that I already have one shot up there^*. It would be an interesting project to take action shots with a purpose. And an excuse to get the BaCoN shirt.

*Yippee, another shot of your kid in a Think Geek tee. Original. But, Jay’s face. There is no shirt on that site more appropriate for him than that one. I even bought a bigger size once he outgrew the one he’s wearing in that shot.

I did go after I dropped the kids off at their respective schools. I passed up new running shoes, but I was tempted. I’ve never, ever had the same shoe desire that apparently is popular among females, except for tennis shoes. I suspect it is because most all shoes kill my feet, except for tennis shoes. However, I think I may know the cause. For my last pair of running shoes when I decided I wanted to really, really run on a regular basis, I decided to find the right kind of running shoes for my foot. My problem is supination: aka, high arches. Problems with people who supinate? Shin splints, knee pain and sprained ankles. Like I used to get when I was a kid all the time. There were times when I had an ankle brace to help, but that isn’t what I needed. I needed the correct shoes. I bought running shoes for people who supinate, and I haven’t had shin splints once. I can’t think of a time where I have run and not had mild shin splints. The difference is amazing. I’d bet you money if I found the correct insoles for dress shoes, I wouldn’t have the hideous pain that I normally feel after wearing them more than an hour and I just might grow to like shoes.

Here is one salad recipe. I got this from Veganomicon. I’m typing it mostly as written. The original ingredients are listed anyhow. I added notes.

Green salad with roasted portabella mushrooms and spicy mustard dressing

Roasted mushrooms:
1/2 cup cooking wine
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp soy sauce (which I did find wheat free, if not, add salt instead of soy sauce)
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 large portabella mushrooms, remove the stems

Combine all the marinade ingredients in a casserole dish. Put the mushrooms in upside down and spoon a lot of the marinade into each cap. Let marinate for about 20 minutes.

Cover the dish with foil (or on my case, put the lid on the dish) and bake for 30 minutes. Then remove the foil, flip the caps over and cook uncovered for another 10 minutes. Let them cool and then slice.

Salad Dressing
1/4 cup prepared spicy, smooth mustard
2 Tbsp grapeseed oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp maple sugar (or in my case, agave, but about 1 Tbsp^*)

Salad
8 cups mixed greens
1 avocado, peeled, halved, pitted and sliced thinly
1 small red onion (I always leave off the raw onion — ick), sliced very thin
1 15 ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (I’ve left these out as well, and instead put in goat cheese or feta cheese)

Put all the salad ingredients into a bowl and toss together with the dressing. Then put some slices mushrooms on top after you’ve served the salad on a plate.

I have also put in toasted, sliced almonds. I’ve been toasting them myself, but I found a package of already toasted sliced almonds that did not have any other ingredients listed on the package other than almonds. No fake flavors to make it taste toasted. They are really toasted.

*Mustard, vinegar, oil and sugar are a common combo in vinaigrette. I have left out the sweetener, but I do find that I like a tiny bit of agave. It does improve it.

No Deal
There is a blog on the LJ World written by two coupon cutters/deal watchers. I was reading it more the first time I found it, but after a couple of weeks, I realized that I don’t buy 90% of the things they post. It isn’t really their fault. There aren’t many coupons for actual food. There are very few packaged items that I get, and that is what most coupons are for. A lot of coupons are just a marketing ploy to get you to buy something you otherwise wouldn’t. My favorite No Deal was one that Mac found on a Facebook page sponsored by Nabisco. They were offering a free gallon of milk when you buy two bags of Oreo cookies and 1 gallon of milk. The saddest part of it was all the people complaining that they had to buy a gallon of milk because it is so expensive. However, not one person complained about having to buy two bags of Oreos, at $2.77 a piece^*.

Speaking of food cost, I was thinking of getting in on a CSA to see if it would lower the produce bill of local food. I still go to the farmer’s market, but it is the most expensive way to buy produce, and I’ve been cutting down on how much I buy there. It would also challenge me to change how I cook since I’d have to do meals around whatever happens to be in my recent food delivery rather than me plan meals and then get food around that.

*I checked the price this morning on my grocery run, so in my store, that’s how much it would cost you.

• table runner
• pepper mill
• water bottle
• salt & pepper shakers
• more salt & pepper shakers
• even more salt & pepper shakers
• duffle bag
• locket

We did go to Oak Park Mall because I had $40 in Build-A-Bear gift cards that we needed to use. I had a $10 coupon from my Build-A-Stuff card, or whatever it is called, but I couldn’t find it. I had a talk with the kids so they were clear that we were not building any bears. We have two bears, two dinosaurs, a dog and a snowman. That is enough. We were going for accessories only. Ada picked out a sundress, which Frosty the Snowman is now wearing. She also picked out a Hello Kitty chair for her bear to sit in. Jay got a soccer outfit and then lost interest in everything except punching on the computers. I picked out Star Wars jammies for his dog. Then we went to Lush. Ah, Lush. How I love you. How I wish you weren’t in the mall. Indoor malls give me headaches. I want to go in and get out as fast as possible. I really wish Lush was in an outdoor mall. Mac’s lucked out with this one. We picked up some bath bombs and bubble bars and lip balm. Ada is enjoying her think pink bath bomb right now. It smells really good, turns her water pink and fills it with little hearts. I’ve shoved all the extras into drawers and in our closet. The sales associate entertained the kids by letting them create bubbles in the tub of water while I stocked up. They are nice that way. It makes it easier on me when they aren’t grabbing at things.

Now I need to encourage Ada to be done so I can get them to bed. I have a mall headache.

However, they will be releasing a women’s sized pair soon. I just wish they’d define “soon.”