Recreational Equipment Inc., a mostly west coast sports supply retailer has a no questions asked return policy, incredible.

My husband happened to be in the Idaho store this past weekend (just for fun! he was way away from home) wearing the hiking boots he purchased from them over a year ago.

He mentioned to the sales person about the squeeze in the toe and that the boots never really fit great. The clerk encouraged him to return the boots right there. Sans receipt, worn for over a year.

Even my husband, Mr. Ruthless Return, was sheepish. But not that sheepish.

Up to the cash register, with the opening statement, "The sales person over there told me to do it..." and it was done. The year old transaction was instantly in the system. They took a return and he went over to find a better fit. And $9 later had brand new Vasque boots.

REI is a membership type place, no fee. You receive a check every summer in returned profit from the company. The check comes in the form of 'advance toward new items' or you can take it in cash soon after.

I joined this place many many years ago (think 25 or more) when they were way smaller. The Southern California population exploded in the 80s including a huge wave of outdoors enthusiasts (me too!).

This is one establishment, for some reason, which has not batted an eye in changing their culture in the wake of exponential expansion.

They are very worthwhile not just with merchandise. They do classes, charitable work, and environmental lobbying with out heavy handedness.

Check em out

http://www.rei.com

Since before there was such a thing as a blog, I paid attention to 'not driving' for a whole day. (It must be the environmentalist in me trying to win out.)

Yesterday was a no drive day. Naturally, this means more than it used to 15 years ago.

I love the idea of 'no spend' days, but they are a little second in priority behind the 'no drives'.

Here is a picture of the groceries I bought for $59.54 and this will easily feed my family of 4 for a week. Why? I cook, I'm creative with meals, I don't waste food. And there is ALWAYS something on special or marked down for fast sale.



What's in there?
-1 Big Flank Steak (to be used sliced thinly for BBQ steak sandwiches)
-1 Big Box frozen fish sticks (for kids meals, fish sandwiches, etc.)
-Package of turkey breakfast sausage
-fresh fruit: apples, bananas
-fresh vegetables: lettuce, carrots
-3 doz corn tortillas
-Cans and cans of hearty soup (8!)
-Cans and cans of Ravioli (4!)
-Cans and cans of fruit (3!)
-Boxes of pasta side dishes
-2 gallons of milk
-Bags and bags of frozen veges (3!)
-5 lb of whole wheat flour
-box of cereal
-Big bag of chips
-cream cheese
-Bag of cat food

and the 5 cups of yogurt aren't even showing.

So what's for lunch/dinner? with a few afterschool snacks thrown in:

BBQ steak sandwiches and french fries
Fish sticks and frozen corn and can fruit
Pasta side dish with tuna and salad
Ravioli and salad
Soup & salad
Smoothies (yogurt, banana)
Fish sandwiches with can fruit and salad
Quesidillas (I already have cheese) w/chips
Turkey sausage on pasta

and my cat gets to join in.

Yesterday was a work potluck (for May Day).

1 person brought pasta from Pizza Hut
1 person brought a large premade Cesear salad
1 person brought a bag of chips and premade artichoke dip
1 person brought a premade pie
1 person brought store bought brownies
1 person brought brie/blue cheese & crackers
1 person brought store bought cookies

This luncheon was planned 3 weeks ahead. There was plenty of time to budget for cooking and freezing a dish.

With all the news on higher grocery costs, I don't get it. What are they thinking? It is kind of a pet peeve of mine I guess, I like to cook. Even if you don't cook much how hard can it be to make an onion soup dip by hand?!

To be fair others brought:
Homemade muffin assortment (me)
Crock Pot vegetarian stew
Fruit Salad (a great choice for the non-cooks!!)

I'm off to the grocery store this morning. Sorry I don't see a huge price problem. A small price increase I suppose, but I:

Buy 'Day old' bread,
Use a $6 off coupon for $60 (pre coupon total)
Use a $3 off coupon for produce purchase
Use a $1 off coupon for Chef BoyRDee (my kids love)
Use a $1 coupon off store brand cereal
and many more

USPS prices are going up May 12, see here for info

http://www.usps.com/prices

I had foolishly bought a book of 41 cent letter stamps a few weeks ago instead of the 'forever' stamp. Why? I picked out something pretty and forgot there was even a forever stamp.

Normally that's too many to use within a month or so and I was not happy looking forward to purchasing those pesky 1 or 2 cent stamps to make up the difference.

Without rushing anything, I just so happened to have 2 fairly light envelope packages to send out (one was a prize to a winner in my trivia contest at Pretty Cheap Jewelry and the other was a request for items from my sister).

Weighing the envelopes at the post office scale, it was karma that I had just the right number of stamps to cover the costs for each!

Yay! And I will not make the mistake forgetting to buy forever stamps anymore. Even though they are not as pretty.

Happy Mother's Day?

We got it at Lowes: Bosch new washer, front load, low water use.

Original Price ~ $800
Marked Down Price ~ $700
Out Front 1/2 Off Price ~ $350
Verbal Agreement with Salesman Price ~ $200

Why? No matching dryer.
We grabbed it for our weekend home coming in May.

Drat! We were unprepared to take it with us. It was near my MIL's about 1 1/2 hours away. Not time or cost effective to go and get our pick up truck. So we paid $55 to deliver it to her house and will go and get it next visit.

So total cost was more like $275.

I was a vendor in a city sponsored, well attended art walk event over the past weekend. I had 2 spaces:
1. A single 6' table in the thick of the highly visited pedestrian area

2. Unmanned display in a room off the main drag

Cost of the first was $33
Cost of the second was $0

Sales from the first $150+ ****
Sales from the second nothing yet, (I haven't picked up my stuff yet).

It was a looooong 16 hours manning the table over the 2 day event, but I enjoy meeting and talking to my customers (otherwise it wouldn't be the right business for me).

Wonderful to feel validated by folks buying your crafts. I sold some of everything: bracelets, fancy earrings, casual earrings, men's jewelry, photo albums (like the little one shown in the left column), cross stitched cards, pressed flower cards.

Pooped but satisfied.

Zany trivia time:

'What do thousands of people do to save money that is not necessarily good for them?'

I'll put an answer here late in the day or over the weekend.

Have fun and don't read toooooo much into it!

I was accepted to display my jewelry designs in a venue for a city sponsored event called Art Walk. The host is an office/residential mix building; the downstairs has large, yet unoccupied, business space. One of the rooms is half used by an artist for the event, I was invited to fill the other half of the space.

The items are pinned onto fabric covered foam core boards and hung with wide velvet burgandy ribbon, (see below). Each board has an explanation of the item, including a contact number and price.

The cost of the set up was next to nothing. The fee for the space was nothing. I spent about $4 for a masonry drill bit. I already had made the boards long ago, and already had a very large spool of the ribbon from a marked down Christmas sale.

An easel (I already had from years ago) displays an entertaining biography and contact info. A stand which holds my business cards in a glass candy dish is next to the easel. (Bet you wouldn't guess what the 'stand' is made of).

I'm very happy with the results, and am so excited that it is ready for the show!

My husband (the big earner, and big spender) hates to let coupons like this go unused. So we went to Lowe's and obtained 2 new carraige lights for the house exterior (plus a widget he already needed) at for a total of close to $50. Which of course, came to $40 after the coupon.

So far so good. One of the existing outdoor lights was falling off the house and was in need of replacement for a couple years (they are 14 years old).

But they gave him another at checkout. Argghhh.

So he quizzed me what do we need? I came up with a few good ideas. Off he went back a day or two later. I credit him for taking hours walking around scrimping to find something we truly needed for $50.01 to take advantage of the coupon.

He did spend, it wasn't really necessary. But one thing was a 4 slice toaster for the weekend home we are building this summer and are going to have to SLOWLY furnish. OK. I'm in favor of that. We already have a coffee maker for the house. And are moving some of the items from our current house to the weekend place (we have enough to spare in the current home).

Not too bad, but I wish they wouldn't give him any more coupons.

Wow! I was accepted to be in two venues for Art Walk this weekend. This is a city sponsored event that has thousands of visitors, music, outdoor festival type fun.

1. A small space in a popular location.
The first venue I worked pretty hard to obtain. After pestering (nicely), the host store is letting me vend a table in the foyer of their front door. They have a resident artist take 3/4 of the foyer, and I am a little worried I will be hugely overshadowed by this woman and her work. She sits and demonstrates most of the event. I saw her last year and must admit it is beautiful work! But I paid $33 (half of the space) for the right to have one table in there. Thousands of folks will walk by this spot though, PLEASE let some of them visit me!

2. A big space in a quiet location.
The other space I got (today!) was in a building a couple blocks off the main art walk area. It is still visited fairly well because there is an artist's studio building hub very close which is big on the art walk scene. The downstairs contains a big unfinished room which has masonry block walls inside. There is one artist going to take half the room (and be present during the event). But there is a BIG other empty half of the room!

I am mounting my items on boards (already made) and hang them like 'paintings'. I brought several to try today and they look great!

The only worry is I won't be present at this venue because I have to vend the table 100% of the time at the first venue! If folks want to purchase anything on the boards they will have to contact me through my email. I have tagged everything with price and email.

I'm So Happy Tired! It's alot of work to get things ready on boards, tagged, sorted which items are going to which venue, etc.

AMAZING! Nearly EVERYTHING in my inventory is going to a show in April and May. My storage shelves are CLEANED OUT.

This art walk runs Sat/Sun and I am in another show in Texas (a jewelry invitational) in May which I already sent 18 items, a nice small collection. The host studio feels some items are sure to sell.

HERE'S TO HOPING FOR NOT GETTING MUCH BACK TO PUT AWAY! WHEE!

and someday it will be
3. A big space in a popular location
coming soon when I am famous...

This is just too hilarious not to pass out. Sent from my mom, an animal rescuer.

DOG DIARY
8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 PM - Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 PM - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 PM - Rode in the car! My favorite thing!
5:00 PM - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
7:00 PM - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 PM - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 PM - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!


CAT DIARY
Day 983 of my captivity. My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets.
Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape.

In an attempt to disgust them, I occasionally vomit on the carpet.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a 'good little hunter' I am.

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event.

However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of 'allergies.' I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded.

Fun and promotional games really DO attract customers to my internet shop.

Below is a 'treasury' (a gallery of 12 items in which Etsy members create choosing from the millions of items for sale in the site). Treasuries are wildly popular for Etsyians to view (kind of like photo sharing). And folks are usually VERY creative making treasuries of gorgeous similar colors, themes, etc.

Well I made a treasury game. The title was "Which one DOESN'T belong?". Players emailed me their guess. The prize was a gift certificate to my shop.

One lady won last night and was so excited she posted to the Etsy bulletin board about the whole thing. The post drew about 5 more players to my treasury. This is the kind of advertising you can't buy!

Want to take a guess? The bottom row is a little cut off, but the idea is intact.

No more gift certificates though, just a little fun. I'll post the answer after awhile.

I had a small percent of my total IRA account invested in oil (decline to say exactly here) which has of course doubled over the past year (maybe not even that long). My conservative advisor, who fits me to a 'T', sold it with my blessing yesterday so I capture a very tidy profit before things get too wild.

He says, "You can be a bear, you can be a bull, but don't be a hog." And I agree.

I would love to invest in gold but it is still high. It's come down some, but still going up and down. Sterling is going up.

WELL....stopped by the bead/jewelry supply store on my lunch break. WHAT WAS I THINKING?? I couldn't pass the 25% off gold-filled wire and sterling silver wire. This shop's prices are always a bit high, so with the sale their prices come down to what is available more typically to me with a little work (ie using a Joann coupon for sterling wire, although there is no choice in wire weight at JoAnns, or going to a different shop which sometimes but not always has the right weight).

Goldfilled and sterling work are never terribly inexpensive and 25% off doesn't come around too often.

These will be such a pleasure to work with! I made two pairs of chandelier earrings last night using sterling wire/silver plated chandelier frames and semi-precious stone briolettes.

no pic -- you'll have to wait! They will be priced somewhere in the $10-15 range.

I have a stack of coupons for:
Six Flags Magic Mtn (Valencia CA)
Six Flags Discovery (Vallejo CA near SanFran)

I have plenty, if you want some email me to obtain the address where to send me a self addressed stamped envelope. Include in your request how many you want.

The fine print on the coupons:
--------------------------------
Six Flags Magic Mtn (Valencia)
Buy One Get One Free Any Day/ Expires 4/30/09
6Flags $29.99/Hurricane Harbor $19.99
Good for up to 9 tickets
---------------------------------
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (Vallejo, near San Fran)
Everyone pays kid's price/ Expires 12/28/08
$29.99 + 2.5% city fee
Good for up to 6 tix

The black ink is drying!
Five vendors held an Artisan Af-FAIR at my home yesterday amidst food, friends and fun.

Sales averaged $100 a seller. Modest to good if I say so myself!

We kept expenses very low by volunteering for various tasks:
1. Donating snack trays and drinks for guests;
2. Donating goody bags to hand out for visitors who brought a coupon we distributed with a flyer in prior weeks
3. Making and posting street signs for about 1 mile in 3 directions.

I also provided a nice lunch for my sellers. We played radio music in lieu of finding a live musician.

These are new crafting buddies in my internet group the "California Crafters Club of Etsy".

I made a pin for each to wear, to serve as an easy lead in for offering a visitor a business card or coupon to their internet shop.

Our tug-o-war has begun! My DH is spending the tax rebate before we get it (Mr. Spender) and I am arm wrestling with him (ok, thumb wrestling) to save it.

He reminded me -- and all of you -- the income will be taxed on your 2008 return!

Don't spend it all therefore! At least 25% of ours is not really ours.

GOOD NEWS! We (mostly he) built a septic system for our weekend home which is scheduled for delivery in May (modular).

IT WAS APPROVED by the County Inspector this past week. A HUGE relief. Unbelievable what he did with a little bitsy tractor and loads of time. It meant:

--digging a big hole and placing a tank at 6' down, so it ends up with about 1.5 feet of soil cover (he didn't drop it!)

--digging 210 feet of some 5 foot wide trenches that had to be PERFECTLY flat. So he would dig about 6 feet, jump off the tractor, use a level to make sure it was flat (and hand shovel if it wasn't), put in a 'distributor' pipe, get the level and make sure THAT was flat, then get back on the tractor and do it again.

REPEAT 50 times.

Saving? LOTS. A septic system costs in the $5-6 thousand ballpark to hire out. Ours? In the $2-3 thousand ballpark plus sweat equity. A great way to save on exercise gym costs too!

Back to the tax rebate:
He wants a new bed to furnish this new house. He deserves it. I agree to whatever he wants basically, and fortunately he doesn't have extravagant taste. Just something long lasting, nicely designed and to rest his tired self after all the work he has accomplished.

Woweee! Gold is holding steady at about $1000/oz (pure).

For 15+ years I have stashed some bits and pieces of old gold jewelry to sell back, ie one earring (lost the other), damaged ring, broken necklace chain, etc. None of these items were of 'estate' value.

But I have always been afraid to take in the various old gold items to get cash or credit at a fine jeweler.

Because in the past I've tried and was disheartened at the pittance they were worth, as well as the very little value of any diamond or stone that might be involved.

Understand, of course the shop is going to weigh the items and give a percent of the gold value, and include no value for the item workmanship. I accept that.

Soooooo GOLD IS HIGH, right?

And I have three jewelry jobs I have been waiting on:

a. Repair a prong on a nice ring from my 16th Bday from my parents. This ring is a keeper and I want to give it to my daughter. It is fairly heavy 14K make.

b. Repair another garnet ring I gave myself upon the birth of my 2nd child (as a breast feeder reminder! put the ring on the other hand to remind me which side, get it?). This one of course is also a keeper.

c. The big job is to reset/redesign my wedding set. It is too small now (older hands, eh?) and I haven't been wearing it.

Very worried about the cost of 14K gold work, I still gravely went to one of the better jewelry shops and discussed.

YAY! The worth of the scrap was over $50! And the repairs (a) and (b) were a mere $58!

Why did I wait so long?! (Oh yeah, see paragraph #4 above...)

As far as (c), it is going to be alot more, but needs alot more thought and discussion. The shop was very very polite and I may work with them on it in the future. It needs another opinion from my second choice shop first.

Thanks for listening!

Today I took the (long-range) bus route to work. What a treat! It is about a 30 mile drive. Why did I wait so long???

Pros:
Gas ~ 3gal x $3.50/gal = $10.50
Bus Fare = $4.00
Savings = $6.50 (!!)

Convenient pick up TIME and LOCATION!

Add 1 hour of cross stitch time during the bus ride! Woo Hoo!

Cons:
I can't do it more often because I drop off kids at school M-W.

Riders were so nice, a friendly group. One fella brought the bus driver a coffee!
Am going to try this every Thur/Fri

But we will celebrate it tonight at:

an inexpensive chinese restaurant (the mall?!)

a 10 minute massage from the chair masseuse in the mall

That's all I want. Except a $100 canopy for craft fairs! hee hee, just kidding. My biz

Pretty Cheap Jewelry will pay for that with earnings during the year.

An internet colleague showed me this site

World Clock

I have no idea where the info comes from or if it is accurate.

But it is interesting for whatever it's worth.

Yes, while I was away for the weekend, my husband bought a new car!

And it was NOT a valentine's present....

Saturday: We talked by phone and he reiterated that our second hand Honda now had a leak in the radiator which he was attempting to seal as we spoke. Not to mention it needed new tires AGAIN.

Remember the Toyota Echo? We had looked at one about 5 years ago and weren't happy that it was too light weight. But now felt it was worth another look especially due to the high gas mileage.

I think he took a quick trip to the closest dealer (with the 2 kids) later in the day to see it in person.

But actually was happier with the Toyota Corrolla, which has been hugely improved in recent years. It was not much smaller than a Camry (we own one now), and very reliable, solidly built and priced aggressively.

Later that day he went on-line and contacted at least 12 dealers within 100 miles for competing prices on a Corrolla. As well as collected advertised prices in the newspaper, including one of those "come on" prices (there is only one at this price).

Sunday: During a trip to grandma's (I'm still out of town remember), he receives calls from 5 or so of the dealers on the Corrolla. He wheels and deals on the phone using competitor's prices and the newspaper prices.

On the way home from grandma's he visits one of the dealers for the Corrolla. No major dealing necessary, they agree to the bottom barrel newspaper "come on" price to start!

Including tax, license, this 2008 Corrolla was $14,500.

And by the way, on Saturday he had parked the Honda on the nearest corner with a sign in the window and sold it the next day for $2,000!

WOW, for a final cost of $12,500

and we paid cash

Work lunches are for running errands, taking a walk for exercise, and having a hot cup of soup (and maybe some crackers).

Dinner time leftovers also really hit the spot at lunch, warmed up in the microwave.

Only on a once a week or two basis is the treat of eating out. Just don't need it!

Ramen noodles are so cheap, why? OK, don't answer that, maybe I don't want to know. High sodium (and some high in fat as it was pointed out to me).

10 or 12 bags for a dollar or two! Incredible! In fact, I don't even eat a whole bag! These last me a month!

I let an acquaintance pitch me an unnamed business venture yesterday over coffee for 15 minutes. She didn't give a name to the venture, but it sounds very much like what Amway used to be.

Anyone have experience with them?

Supposedly entails purchasing your household goods directly from the manufacturer, saving a good percent of cost. No pyramid scheme, each purchaser makes their own profit.

Anyway, I am not interested. Just wonder why these organizations are not more high profile if they are so profitable.

In a fairly small office of about 25 employees, we now have or have gone through on the receptionist's desk:

2 bags caramel corn
2 bags fancy mixed nuts
2 lb chocolates
2 more lb chocolates
choc covered coffee beans
choc covered choc nibs
2 boxes choc dipped apricots
dried pineapple
dried papaya
small artisan choc squares

and I am sure I'm forgetting some.

These are from service providers to us of course.

We are the last ones who need anything like this.

There is nothing one can do but I wish these folks were more creative in the spending and gifting to company employees.

(Last year I took some of the leftovers and packed it into my kids lunchboxes. Fairly nutritious and/or treats for kids.)

Yesterday.

They were searching the house for a little eraser which my son had forgotten where he left. (This little penguin erasers which the kids are trading in school like Olympic pins).

Up high, and squished back in my closet, has been a stash of gifts accumulating since August or September. Even my husband doesn't think to look 'up' when the closet is open. We share one of those double sliding door closets with mirrors on the front. The laundry baskets are on my side and the doors are open frequently.

Well, I had just gotten done with ALL my shopping a couple hours prior and took the time to wrap the last 3 big gifts for the kids and husband.

Just in the (St.) nick of time!

My son, who has been walking around for 2 years brashly claiming Mom and Dad are Santa anyway... had been qualifying that with ...I just don't know where the presents are...maybe in the attic. My youngest wasn't so sure. Phfft, the attic my t*sh.

Their only problem yesterday was that they "didn't know for sure who all those presents were for, we didn't see any names".

(there's a tag on every one of them!

Ho Ho Ho!

Prologue
Just flying along on a Sunday morning back at the end of October with little to no other traffic around at the time. Oops, my mistake for forgetting on this particular stretch of 2-lane country highway the speed limit is 55. Of course I was not going 55. The CHP was fairly good about it and cited me for ten miles less than I was really going. I'm not going to argue.

Chap. 1
The saga? He advised me that I might not get a 'courtesy' notice in the mail and that it was my responsibility to show up in court on the date shown, or otherwise clear the fine via phone or internet.

Chap. 2
OK? About 2 weeks later I go to the internet and look up my ticket by citation number. Hmmmm...might not be in the system yet.

Chap. 3
Wait till the third week. Internet says 'system is busy' come back later. Went back later and system still busy.

A couple days pass and internet says no such citation, might not be in the system yet.

Now we are in late November. I am due in court by first week of January. No problem, eh?

Chap. 4
How about calling? The phone number is on the ticket, and look up the citation by punching in a bunch of numbers. Not found. Oh, how about checking via my driver's license number? Do so, no citation found.

Several days that week I try the phone system again. And it boots me off!! Too many callers.

YIKES. End of November, beginning of December. I do not want to take time off to appear in court if possible. Ugh. I just want to pay it, take on-line traffic school and get on with my LIFE!

Chap. 5
Early one morning I tried and got through on the phone lines. Just wanted to ask why my citation is not in their records.

I WAS 79th IN LINE ON THE PHONE QUEUE!!!

If it wasn't so ridiculous it would be laughable. But I stayed on the line with a death grip on the phone. The polite machine comes around every so often....Now you're 48th in line.....Now you're 37th in line....Now you're 15th in line...

A PERSON finally answers. She looks me up and confirms there is not record. The CHP has not sent it in yet as far as she knows. And there is NOTHING they can do.

I SHOULD WAIT 2 MORE WEEKS and do it all again. AHHRGHHH!

Epilogue
My husband says just go to court as the statistics are that 25% of the time the officer does not attend and the case is dismissed.

*sigh*

Should it feel like Christmas?

OK, Chanukah is only a week away. I light candles, say prayers, read stories, cook latkes and play driedel. But gifts are given later in the month with my husband's big Catholic family.

Regardless, the commercial world is in high gear. And I have completed the vast majority of my shopping.

Why? Early Planning Saves Money (not to mention my nerves).

For example;
--I've taken advantage of a moderately expensive buy one/get one toy for tots weeks ago

--More time to cost compare between retailers on a few items; and way better selection on the items I wasn't sure of

--Using coupons a few at a time at the bath/linen store

--Using coupons one at a time for ribbons and other goodies at the craft store

--Time to make many of the gifts for teachers, store owners/employees where I consign, and nurses where I have a relative living

--There will be NO last minute running to the overcrowded mall or big box store with mean spirited, desperate shoppers

--Relaxed fun at home finally with the kids to make cookies, decorate, hang out with neighbors

--The only shopping I have left are the important, unusual special things for my husband. I want to have a good feeling giving him a gift. Not anxiety over the price, or time to squeeze in getting things. He just wants a couple items from an independent dry goods (western type) establishment in town that is extremely less stressful to visit.

See you all round the fireplace with a cuppa hot chocolate.

Red world in my backyard (and my front yard) Sunday mid afternoon. It was 2pm about an hour after the Malibu had fire started. Now I live dozens and dozens of miles from Malibu. But it was scary.

I had planned a Seaworld trip with my kids for the Monday/Tuesday as school was out for the week. We headed to LA to stay with my MIL and my hubby and the dog went up to our weekend property (he had taken a couple days off). Good timing, so we thought, to escape the smoke. And there was a fire started far to the east near I5 as well to escape.

Down to LA, no problems there. Monday morn we got on the road after rush hour and went through another orange world in Orange County, (no pun this time). Not fun. Then into San Diego where a fire had started in Northeastern SD County. Our hotel was under mostly clear blue sky (except for a little smoke) but things were getting pretty hairy. More fires were starting by the hour and evacuations drove people to fill every room in the large area filled with hotels where we were.

Everyone was in good spirits but things were definitely getting worse. By Tues dawn I consulted with my husband via cell about the practicality of going to Seaworld. We absolutely bailed and got out of there by 7am practically flooring the gas pedal to make sure we could get north before something forced closure of I5.

We didn't stop until Sta Barbara and went to the zoo. Whew. Back home that evening things were in much better shape than I'd worried.

And the winds are gone. Thank goodness.

Today is my wedding anniversary, 13 lucky years.

DH asked yesterday (Sunday), so how much are we supposed to spend on an annniversary gift for each other?

*o* Uh oh. I hadn't spent any.

Just too many things to handle and I forgot (such as his birthday the day after our anniversary...)

Soooooooo I racked my brain for something that wouldn't cost more than $20, could get in 1 day, and be meaningful....

It isn't electronic, metal, or even plastic. It's something we both like, small enough, and tagged "Thank you for the sweet years". Oh yes, it cost $15.