I was able to get so much done today without the kids, it was sooo nice. I mean-love the kids to pieces but they are not so easy to shop with-I mean really shop-and you can't blame them. Here's where I went:
Walmart, Target, bank, Post Office, dollar store, Walgreens, Starbucks, grocery store. All by myself.
I love Judy. Love, love , love her. When I called to tell her I was on my way she told me not to come yet, they still had a few more things to do (!) so I did my grocery shopping and then took the groceries back home before picking them up. The kids painted, made Christmas ornaments and had a great day. Oh yeah, I did have to buy a little something for myself, I've been wanting to watch it since last week so I bought myself Love Actually today. Oh and in all my excitement this morning over my shopping day I almost forgot about Bench Monday so I had the kids jump up and take a quick picture on the way to the car. We got a teeny, tiny bit of snow last night and you can just barely see it here. The kids were so excited though.

 

Hope you had a great Monday!

Making My List

 This will be me tomorrow morning except I will have a hot cup of coffee from Starbucks in my  hand and I will be playing the music really loud:

Tomorrow a friend has offered to watch the kids for the day so I could do some Christmas shopping ALONE. Did you hear me? ALONE. Now, I did go out the day after Thanksgiving alone and I ran out yesterday to do a couple quick things too but this is for the day, folks. I'm so excited, I'm thinking I may actually make a little progress tomorrow. I am really hoping to be done earlier than usual this year because I want time to bake and make other gifts closer to the holidays and I don't want to stress about shopping at the last minute like I usually do. Tonight after the kids go to bed I'm going to work on my list and see what all I still need and where I should go tomorrow.
Oh, and what's on my own list? How about acne medicine for someone in their 30's who should not still be getting pimples like this anymore?  The other day when I was in the bathroom getting ready Charlotte got my make-up brush and said; "Don't worry mommy, I'll cover up all your nipples. " She meant pimples. And it was pretty funny so I couldn't even be offended. Wish me luck tomorrow!

Ring Around The Collar....

 

I fell in LOVE with these little displays at a store in Chicago (okay, it was the American Girl doll store...shhhh...) this  past weekend. These were for "Julie" the doll from the 70's.

Oh, the hanging beads, record players, lava lamps, bean bag chairs, Dallas, Good Times, Fat Albert,  cheesy commercials, bell-bottoms, carrying your comb in your back pocket, the music (both good and bad), The Brady Bunch, Coke and Pepsi in bottles, Kool-aid ....... I love it all. 

Since I was a young child in the 70's I think it would be so cool to be able to go back 

as an adult and see what it was like from that perspective. 

After taking these pictures on Saturday, 

then talking about a *fondue party* with my brother on Sunday, 

I got to thinking about all things 70's ...which got me to watching commercials and 

listening to some popular songs from the 70's...so FUNNY.

So, which era or time would you go back to if you could?

Oh , you have to watch this commercial, if you were around in the 70's you'll remember it:

click HERE.

.......and Have A Nice Day.

 

thE WindY CitY

Saturday was our annual train trip to Chicago for a little Christmas shopping. Usually we go in December but after having horrible weather the last couple of years we went a little earlier this year and we were so happy we did because it was in the mid-60's and beautiful. No ice, snow or wondering if we were going to have to cancel this year. Our group is usually anywhere from 10-20 people...cousins, aunts, uncles, moms, sisters, nieces. We eat lunch, shop, talk, people watch and then later on there's a little more eating, gossiping and shopping, it's a great day. This year my sister couldn't go and we were a little lost (literally) without her as she is the "Cruise Director" if you will....makes decisions, tells us which way to go, etc. And I'm wondering if she had been there if we would have gotten ourselves into the predicament we did at the end of the day. Let me just say that we were at the train station an hour early but somehow missed the boarding announcement (too much gossiping?), were not paying attention to the time and had to run from inside the station all the way to the train-everyone had boarded and we were yelled at by various Amtrak workers along the way, and not a nice encouraging yell, but yelling. It was pretty embarrassing-a big group running like that, carrying all those bags- and pretty humiliating realizing how out of shape I am too. BUT, it was a great day, it's a family tradition that I love and of course we really had something to laugh about the whole way home.

Can't wait until next year!