Christmas Shopping...Bah Humbug!

Yep, its that time again…..presents under the tree, mistletoe and bright colored lights. I enjoy Christmas, but always dread looking for presents for our grandchildren….we have seven, ranging in age from 18 years to age 2….both boys and girls. What on earth do I get the older ones that is up-to-date, trendy and something their friends wouldn’t find at the local mall…...or do I just settle for gift cards? Its a no-brainer this year… its time to visit Ed Hardy .

What! You’ve never heard of Ed Hardy !! Ed Hardy is one of the great clothing lines featured at Zappos, an online store. Ed Hardy’s line has unique clothing, shoes, fragrances, belts, eyewear, hats plus Ed Hardy kid’s shoes. I let my grandkids each pick out one item from the store.

Jenny and Becca usually choose one of Ed Hardy’s colorful, fitted tee shirts or one of the new fragrances, Connor, Mason and Hayden look for sunglasses or the wildest shoes they can find, Austin wavers between shoes and hats.

Our little 2 year old grandson Andrew, isn’t old enough to choose, so Mom gets to pick out his gift. Ed Hardy has some really sharp clothes for the little guys too. And when I buy Ed Hardy items from Zappos, the shipping is FREE!

H1N1 Flu Shots - Got mine..Did you?

Hi....have you received your H1N1 flu shot yet.....how about the kids?

We've been having a mega push towards getting the shots....all kids in school, with permission slips, received shots either yesterday or will get them today. I've never seen such a frantic drive to get everyone inoculated.

Nancy, Rebecca, Andrew, Ken and I got our shots at Burke High School yesterday. Shots were to be given between 4:30 and 8:30 at Burke and Benson High Schools....they will eventually be given in more areas in Omaha, but these were the only ones this week. Supposedly you were not supposed to be there until 4:30.....ha, people were lining up at 1:00....and making a real mess with school traffic. Practically every kid in Burke High has a car and at 3:00 it is a ZOO ... add a thousand extra cars and it was chaos x 10.

Soooo, since the traffic around Burke was horrendous, we decided to walk up and back. We only live 5 blocks away from the campus and it was a fairly decent November day. We started out at 4:15, when we got there we went to the end of the line....according to the newspaper, it stretched for 1/2 mile around Burke and ended at the edge of the Soccer field. Ken was fit-to-be-tied and was ranting all the way..he has no patience and standing in line does NOT make him happy.

We took our place in line at 4:45 and didn't get into the school to get our shots until 8:15....they said there were more than 4,000 people in line waiting. At 8:30 they cut off the line and anyone standing behind a certain spot would not be able to get the shot. I would not have wanted to be the person who announced that. And, for 4,000+ people, there were 2 porta potties....the lines there were L-O-N-G .... can you imagine all those little boys tinkling into a porta potty or at least trying to.

Luckily the temperature wasn't too bad but did get pretty chilly after 7:00. However live-wire Andrew was happy as a clam....he was running as fast as his little legs could carry him around the campus green area. Both Becca and I were busy chasing him. When we got closer to busy Burke Street and the school gravel parking lot, I put his "child harness" on him....don't know what the people in line thought as they watched us. I was waiting for some one to say "poor little boy on a leash" or some other comment....I would have set them straight right away...."would you like to be holding or chasing a 2 year old for 3 hours"

Ken and I had to get the shot because we "take an aspirin" a day...Poor little Andrew had the shot because he had a regular flu shot a month ago. Nancy and Rebecca were lucky and just had the mist.

All in all, we're all glad it's over!

Our Sweet Boy is now two!

Our little Andrew will be two years old on October 17. The time has just flown by and he has changed from a colicky newborn to a know-it-all two year old. His favorite word is “NO”, accompanied by a vigorous shake of his right hand. Obviously he heard the word “NO” from adults since I don’t think babies are born with that word in their vocabulary.

On his way to becoming a two year old, Andrew went through a period of colic - the worst pain he had ever experienced. (I don’t think childbirth counts)

Hours upon hours of crying, not sleeping and being walked, walked, walked was guaranteed to make his mother burst into tears. “What is wrong with him?” “Should we take him to the hospital (this is usually at 2:00 A.M.)” and the old standby “Call MOM!” (also at 2:00 A.M.)

We finally did find something that helped….Colic Calm Gripe Water. I didn’t know if “Gripe” meant to complain or annoy or if it meant a pain in the stomach but whatever it meant, it did the job.

Andrew is now old enough to tell us what his problem is – generally it’s the dreaded GAS!! He still gets a drop of Gripe Water if necessary!

Love that kiddo!









Are we done yet?????

3 ways to make money at home

Making money at home....Nope, I’m not talking about a “get rich quick” scheme….you do have to work a little. These are three of my proven favorites.

1. Big Crumbs …BigCrumbs is free to join, and to start using it you simply need to login to the BigCrumbs site through JeansJeans and use their links to retailers to shop, rather than going directly to EBay or the retailers' page.

BigCrumbs is completely FREE! It costs you nothing to join so you can’t lose! You not only get money back on your own shopping, but you get cash back on the shopping of everyone who signs up under you. And it never costs you a dime! You just keep collecting money. It’s a win/win situation.

I use BigCrumbs every time I shop, both on Ebay and on the listed stores. It only takes a minute to sign up ...Put BigCrumbs on your desktop..as a reminder to start there. I travel a lot and it’s amazing how much money is deposited in my PayPal account every month thanks to using Ortiz or Travelocity for airfare and hotel charges. It just keeps coming and coming.

2. Ebay...the tried and true online auction house. I have recently opened a new store Finally Foundit Collectibles .

I offer New & Used items including: books, glassware, Home Decor, model trains, S&P shakersPlus clothing items : Tee shirts, jeans, toddlers and pre-teen, women, teen girls, men, teen boys

Mark us as a favorite and come back often as we list many items each week.

PLUS, purchases in this store will qualify you for BigCrumbs refunds. (be sure to join BigCrumbs by clicking on JeansJeans )

3. eBid....eBid is a new-kid-on-the block sales site. It is similar to Ebay but since eBid does not have the high listing, plus Final Value Fees and requirement that the bidder/buyer use Paypal, items tend to be less expensive. You can find me at MJ's Closet.

For the musically inclined two year old!

Andrew is 20 months old now and is knocking at the door of the "terrible twos". Actually he is jumping the gun because he is opinionated, stubborn, inquisitive, and his favorite word is "NO". He has a passion for lights, wanting to turn them on and off, on and off...our electric bill will see a definite increase this month. He wants to do everything himself and has a tantrum if he cannot. When I threaten him with "do you want a time-out", he'll mellow out, shake his head and say "no, no". His time-out is spent in the much used play-pen.

Andrew's cousin Mason lives in Naperville, IL and plays in a band, Runaway Freight Train....Mase is a senior in high school as are the other 3 band members. Mase sent us a video of one of their 'gigs' at the RibFest Festival in Naperville.

Andrew loves the music and stands in front of the TV singing and dancing to the beat. Or, he will pull out his set of bongo drums, a pair of his sister's old drumsticks and whack the dickens out of the bongos, alternating with clang, clang, clang on the cymbols. Its a hoot!