HOLIDAYS & SNOW MAKE GREAT FAMILY FUN

Way overdue and so much to say but I'll just let my pictures say most of it it since I'm so behind. Thank you Doody family for sharing part of your day with us shopping for a christmas tree. I also LOVED making cookies with the kids - great fun! And I have to say if it's going to be cold, there might as well be snow to have some fun with. Kristen fell quite a bit on her first trip out on skis but we totally expected that and just tried to encourage her but by the time we made it back to the house she was tell me that she hates skiing and she never wants to do it again - if only I could have gotten her little tantrum on video as it was VERY funny! She really DOES want to go again so we may try tomorrow!

INTERNET/TELEPHONE DEAL & FREE SHIPPING ONLINE

O.K. all you Deedaloos blog readers today there will be no pictures - sorry! Maybe another day I'll post pics of xmas tree shopping. Today is about being a thrifty consumer or an alert consumer I guess. Fairpoint Communications (they bought out Verizon) provides my basic telephone and internet service to the tune of about $42ish which allows for local calls only, no long distance (we use a prepaid card as necessary) and their entry level internet. I noticed an ad on tv a couple of weeks ago advertising for phone & internet service from Fairpoint for $33.66 and thought that sounded lower than our bill generally was but since I don't pay the monthly phone bill I needed to check. Sure enough . . . so I called and asked about the $33.66 and yes in fact that is an offer/promotion they're having FOR A YEAR. Further inquiring why we simply wouldn't be charged that I was told that when prices at Walmart get lowered for an item we bought a week ago, Walmart doesn't call me to tell me?! WHATEVER! Also she said that they can't make any changes to our account without our permission. Apparently they do put this information in with your bill in the notes section AND the most recent bill had a seperate slip of paper in with it about their offerings, neither of which I suspect my husband would take note of especially considering that he rarely uses the computer. Soooooo . . . the bill drops for 12 months AND the internet connection speed gets faster! Now in the 12th month I must remember to call and drop the speed back down or I'm certain the price will go up. I honestly can't say I notice a difference.

Another idea worth noting is with shipping. I've done a fair amount of shopping online this year and I despise paying for shipping when there's so many offers out there for free shipping but sometimes I can't find the coupon or maybe I find it and it's expired but I can get free shipping at LL Bean so when I found some things at Lands End that I wanted (twice) I called. The first call was more simple - "hi, I've found some items I'd like to purchase but I don't seem to have a valid free shipping coupon anymore. I'm sure I can find something comparable at LL Bean, but if I can get these items shipped for free, I'd just assume give you the business" Bingo! Days later I get a $25 promotion off of $100 purchase for Lands End and so I take ANOTHER peak and I hear that tiny little voice in the back of my head saying "oh Kim, it's Christmas and there must be some stylish gifts under the tree with YOUR name on them" This was a bit harder because I already had a $25 discount but what the heck I called, my order was already chosen and it was sitting up on my screen waiting for me to push the button. Unfortunately, the girl told me that there were no free shipping offers at that time and when I NICELY told her that I just couldn't justify spending that $14ish?? on shipping since I just had free shipping . . . she put me on hold and kindly checked again only to tell me that because I already had one promotional code she couldn't help me. Well, I no sooner hung the phone up when this screen popped up in front of me from Lands End asking me if I wanted live chat help to assist me with placing my order so I clicked on it and I stated why I was hesitating in placing my order and that if it were LL Bean I'd already have the free shipping and I'd be earning $20 towards a future order . . . Well, she told me to place my order, give her the order # and then she would provide me with a credit for the shipping immediately!

Yes, I admit I'm a bit frugal at times, but I love getting a good deal. Under the tree for me will be a winter vest which will be lovely for layering, a new winter coat and TWO pair of shoes all for UNDER a hundred bucks!

KRISTEN MARIE TURNS 5!

It's been a whirlwind last few days and it ends on a high note with Kristen's birthday party - pizza, cake and some great friends/family (we missed you Grammy Beck!). I found this cake idea when I was googling for such. It's from http://www.bettycrocker.com/Recipes/Recipe.aspx?recipeId=40760 and it's called the groovy jeans cake, although we opted to make our groovy jeans pink instead of their blue. It was simple but very cute and she really liked it. I'm not sure if my favorite part is the fruit roll-up belt or the rock candy rhinestones. Way too many presents and she's already been into her new Barbie markers to color her cuttlebug jr. alphabet cutouts she made as well as played with her Barbie laptop. She's set with lots of crafts to do between now and Christmas (and then some!). She's going to love doing the projects that everyone got for her!

GOBBLE-GOBBLE!

Big turkey, small group for the Therrien household. The inlaws shared the day with us which was great and my dad came solo. I invited my grandparents as well trying to convince my nana that it would be great and I was cooking this big bird and her response was "Kimmy, I've got a bird for you!" to which we both laughed. That's my nana for ya! Unfortunately, my mother had some insane, lame-ass excuse (ha, ha) of having emergency eye surgery on Tuesday and she's to lay on her side for one week to allow the surgery to hopefully do it's thing. Apparently she was having some issues with floaters??? I dunno . . . google it . . .

"Eye Floaters can have devastating visual and emotional consequences. All too often, doctors dismiss patients' symptoms as unimportant or natural. Patients often describe floaters as seeing bugs, strings, or unusual dark shapes in their vision."

Anywhoo . . . the floaters disappeared but then she was having trouble with a film over her eye and come to find out she had a detached retna and was pretty much blind in that eye - yikes! Hence the need for emergency surgery. This totally blows for so many reasons I just can't even explain but most of all because my mother is my family's rock and the rock has become a little loose. Anyone who knows my mother knows that trying to stay still is not an easy task for her. I think that she would have been proud of my thanksgiving feast even if my gravy did come out of a can. I'm sad that she isn't feeling well and I'm sad that she missed thanksgiving and I'm sad that she won't make Kristen's birthday but it's so much more important that she do what she's supposed to do and LAY DOWN DAMMIT!

Kristen's birthday is Sunday and she turns 5. She's sooooooo excited! I was looking for cake ideas because she was just being too simple (ya, call me stupid!). I found this really cool idea for making a cake to look like jeans. They did theirs in blue but I'm toying w/ pink sparkly pants?? I'll blog about it. It's really not too hard. The hardest part is that I have a craft fair on Saturday and I'm working Saturday night and I've gotta pick up some of my crafts from the Sawyer's house Sunday night. Never a dull moment I guess! Oh and my husband is working tonight (Friday) so he's done all he can do for the moment of helping but my children have graciously agreed to help me on Saturday.

CRAFT FAIR COUNTRY STYLE AT SAWYER'S, BARNSTEAD, NH

Tom & Penny Sawyer open their home on North Barnstead Road, Barnstead, NH to Pandee's, Deedaloos and other local crafters begining Friday, November 28th and going through Sunday, November 30th. They will have our fleece items - hats & mittens - along with some fun retro-styled aprons and pajamas. Pandees has ceramics, primitive wood decorations for the holidays, wreaths, kissing balls and more. I believe that I saw some handmade sweaters and I know that they're having some homemade jams & jellies. I hope to update this post tomorrow after I visit. It's totally worth the trip and if you're uncomfortable with googling directions, just send me an e-mail. If you do attend because you saw my blog post, please let them know that I sent you! kimsworld5@verizon.net. UPDATED - I WAS THERE! THERE ARE SOME ORNAMENTS, GREAT SNOWMEN PRIMITIVE/COUNTRY WOOD DECORATIONS, THE KISSING BALLS ARE GREAT, CHOCOLATE LOLLIPOPS, GOATS MILK SOAPS, BLACK AND WHITE PICTURED SPECIAL OCCASION CARDS, BEAUTIFUL FABRIC PILLOWS. I LOVE THE WINE GLASSES THAT HAVE PAINTED ON SNOWMEN AND I LOVE THE WOODEN SNOWMEN!

12 Days of Christmas with the EtsyKids Teams!

On the first day of Christmas, the ETSYKIDS team members gave to me….a Christmas event you really must see!

November 28th – December 10th, join EtsyKids for 12 days of fabulous, festive fun and dreamy holiday prizes. Here’s how to play: Each day the EtsyKids blog will contain a post showing an image that’s hidden in an item listing on a few different EtsyKids team members’ shops. When a contestant finds just one of the hidden images, they send an Etsy conversation the day’s entry collector with a link to the listing where they found it. Once their conversation is received, they’ll be entered into a drawing for an amazing EtsyKids prize. The Etsykids blog will also contain clues to find the hidden images, and let contestants know who to contact to enter, as well as the prize(s) that will be awarded that day. The number of prizes will increase each day and the winners will be selected at random.***Contestants can enter once each day.Within 24 hours of winning, the lucky winners will be contacted via Etsy Conversation, and MUST contact (via Etsy Conversation) the prize donor with their mailing address within 2 days of being contacted. If they fail to contact the prize donor within the given time, a new winner will be selected.

SEWING KARMA & MY WALK IN CLOSET/FLEECE STASH

If you like to sew, you must know that from time to time mistakes are made. I believe that even the most experienced have made foolish mistakes and here I will share one of mine. I recently acquired some new pj fabric. I think it came with a curse affixed to it. I never actually purchased it because while I was preparing to cut something out of it I wanted to relish in my bargain prices for my recent stash load so I pulled out the receipt and I simply couldn't find this fabric anywhere on my slip. Hmmm . . . freebie I thought with my next thought being that maybe I should go back cuz if I don't I'm going have some bad karma. Needless to say I was ready to cut and cut away I did. I completed the pj's, posted them in my store (now in my clearance/seconds section) and even shared a pic with a co-etsyian only to relize that the construction trucks print was UPSIDEDOWN! I guess that I had thought that these trucks were all on there randomly and not all going one way?! I'm sorry, but that's some seriously poor planning from whoever designed this fabric - bastards! Needless to say, these pj's have the front and one arm w/ upside down trucks and all the rest are right side up. I guess the little guy could look down and he'll see the trucks on his belly right side up - right???
I used to dream of a walk in closet. When my husband was finishing my upstairs the one thing I was insistant on was that I wanted a walk-in closet. I honestly think that I remember show - maybe it was home improvements - the guy built his wife a shoe rack that rotated. There was a time I actually owned a ton of shoes for every possible event and now I think I might have five pair that I wear. Well, he gave me my walk-in closet and needless to say it eventually made it's way into my fleece/ebay storage unit. It never actually had racks for hanging clothes and I suppose that's just as well. I just cleaned this out a couple of nights ago - wow, it was a mess and had I really thought ahead, I would have had before and after pictures to show the difference. Although the stack of clothes might appear messy, they are really well organized! I've been a bit lax on my ebaying efforts so it will have to wait until I'm sick of looking at the pile. Needless to say, I do have a couple of other buckets stashed behind my entertainment system which I haven't pictured and then there's all my buckets IN my sewing room, but those aren't really fleece, but other STUFF.
The rolls of fabric standing up are actually my moms. I borrowed them but then couldn't really find a pattern that I thought I had plus the fabric wasn't quite what I expected and . . . well . . . they belong back in her attic . . . maybe someday my husband will take them back over if ask. Thanks for visiting and enjoy the rest of your week!