Welcome to Thrifty Gifts Day at FBC!
Bring ideas, not money!
Coffee & Tea under the window, platters of treats on every table.
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Newbies,lurkers,& regulars welcome!
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Please recommend (and unrecommend previous Cafe).
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May the budget be with you!
Last week, Raging Hippie had the idea of trading suggestions for thrifty gifts.
Here’s one to get you primed:
And another one I found by googling:
I’m going back to bed to see if I can get back to sleep. I wonder if SantaBoo will leave lots of cool cheap gift ideas while I’m snoring?
to post the diary so early.
And I sincerely hope you don’t read this for several hours because you’ve gone back(?) to bed.
Yes it was hard to get back to sleep, what with my arm stretched over my shoulder like that as I patted myself on the back.
But I’m baaack, and I’m glaaad.
On a sunny and (very) cold morning, please, have a croissant:
And a cup of fresh coffee —
can’t quite escape food cafe, can we? Well at least this one won’t be concentrating quite so much on food 😉
I think yesterday’s breakfast diary had some of the most stressful temptations possible. And you must realise that I’ve never said that I have to stop eating anything (it just has to be at meals).
But, yesterday — I found myself wanting to eat things I’ve never thought of. And, frankly — I don’t need that!
Yeah, booman needs to give us a way to filter comments.
On the plus side, though, at least you couldn’t smell what was being talked about — I find that am much more susceptible to the smell of food that the actual way it looks.
Oh heavens! Just imagining that kind of gives me shudders . . . .
What if we could actually smell each other?
Yeah like roasted chestnuts… it just smells like Christmas… but the taste does not live up to the smell.
No kidding! Years ago I bought a roasted chestnut from a street vendor during a snowfall in New York City. Perfect, right? Oh, may I say yuk?? The very definition of disillusionment is: roasted chestnuts.
I finally gave up… it tooks years of being fooled…. now I just walk by and breath in deeply.
“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire”…it says nothing about eating them… 😉
Morning folks — ticked off at the spouse again this morning. At this rate he’s never going to get a proper sleep…and neither will I. 🙁 We’ve got four freakin’ days to get him used to being up at 4:30am. Needless to say, I’m not a happy camper today.
Plus, I’m totally clueless when it comes to thrifty gifts; I like to crochet stuff for people, but when you count in purchasing the yarn, the gifts aren’t exactly thrifty.
I’m tired this morning, but need to get stirring…back in a bit…
This must be akin to the feeling of being a normal Republican these days. After years of being fooled by the roasted chestnut in the WH. With Karl Rove playing the role of street vendor.
What did you think of your first cafe hosting experience? For those of us who do it regularly, it’s really a treat to get to see fresh blood pour in. Pardon the disgusting figure of speech so early in the day (for some time zones). Apparently, I miss Buffy and Angel.
I loved it!!!
There is a great bunch of people here and it is easier to get to know them better when not talking about something as devisive as politics.
That’s really true, isn’t it? I wish everybody would come by here at least once in a while, but I do understand that this kind of thing is not everybody’s cup of coffee. I think maybe some folks like to use Open Threads as a kind of Cafe, too, which is great.
Will you do it again??
I hope so in the new year :0)
You guys are the greatest–supplying the coffee and croissants while I catch up on the z’s. I’ll have a basket of those, please.
Have you ever tried to make those in your own kitchen?
It’s a gas, especially if you don’t care whether they are visually recognizable as croissants. All those sugar-crazed yeasts fluffing up the sheets.
Perfect Gifts for the Administration:
1. Bungee Cords- for them to bail outta the White House, (and may they all let them hit the ground)
2. A Free Ticket to the Middle Eastern (Prison) of their choice. (and their gaurds will be well trained 😉
3. A tour of the working class American Job Site (my personal favorite, in which they get to work along side of the everyday worker, before they get their new job of cleaning the Porta-John’s, 3 days after the Burrito Wagon has been on the job site in mid July ; )
Now, for all you Boo-Triber’s, add to the list, and ENJOY….afterall, it is a Wish List
LMAO….peace to all
Sure, sure, drop in here and say something hilarious and then disappear again. Although, I have to admit I’m getting rather fond of your drop-bys. You always cheer the place up.
And cheers to you, too, Ipig.
And for Dubyuh’s gift? I’d like to send over that truth-telling fellow Diogenes was looking for. What? Never found him? Oh, well.
Our main one is to buy bulk amounts of the best cookie ever made, “Montana Monster Cookies” and give people a from a half-dozen to dozen of them (they come in packs of 2) . We’ve been doing this for several years and it’s a grand success (one giftee is a great-grandfather who hides them from his great-grandkids so he doesn’t have to share).
Montana Monster Cookies
We also like giving engagement calendars. They are very useful, aren’t too expensive ($10 – $15), and there are so many of them that you can pick something that is very specific to the person who is receiving it — making it a very personal gift.
You swear these are fabulous? I am very very picky about my cookies. Grrr. They cannot be hard and crunchy, must be out-of-the-oven soft. Chocolate chips must be meltable in the microwave.
Good morning,
got any diamond handcuffs in here for sale? I’d like to buy a pair for Tracy.
No explanation forthcoming! ;o)
No explanation forthcoming
That’s just the way we like it — we believe in free-range imagination.
About the lifestyle of someone who could consider diamond handcuffs a “thrifty” gift.
Maybe you could explain yourself there? Because I think diamond handcuffs are out of the scope of this diary.
What other “thrifty” ideas do you have?
Gosh!!!
“no explanation forthcoming”
Use your free range imagination ;o)
Marmotdude wants to know if your son’s first day as an adult driver went as well as his and to tell your son that “Volvo wagons are da bomb!”
Wow – thanks! I just watched my son pull out of the driveway with younger brother aboard on thier way to school for the first time. Yikes. That Volvo looks like it’s been through a demolition derby, but as long as Marmotdude is still in one piece I can sleep well at night.
Gotta go folks, got an early court date and that parking garage fills up FAST! See you all later and hope to read some awesome frugal gift ideas!
how great I know you’ll do so instead this message will be waiting here when you get back to supply your virtual pat on the back for a job well done.
Marmotdude doesn’t have his shoulder harness on… I think he’s bumped his head once too many times. He really should come east… Marmots sell everything here in Pa from Lottery tickets to furniture.
Dudes Mobile 🙂
cue Blue Brothers soundtrack 🙂
Matt Murphy: Say what?
Mrs. Murphy: They look like they’re from the CIA, or somethin’.
Matt Murphy: What they want to eat?
Mrs. Murphy: The tall one wants white toast, dry, with nothin’ on it.
Matt Murphy: Elwood.
Mrs. Murphy: And the short one wants four whole fried chickens, and a Coke.
Matt Murphy: And Jake. Shit, the Blues Brothers.
(it has a microphone) and it’s coming through the speaker of our spy-monitor — Sounding just like coffee dripping. It’s very confusing.
Well, I still haven’t finished reading “Oh Pure and Radiant Heart”. Maybe I should take it to work and hide it behind a programming manual? I am sure I could finish reading it by the end of the day. . . . .
Because I don’t think I’ve done much more than pick it up and move it since Saturday night (
Is anyone else still reading it? Or have you all even finished your BooReports?):
I’m done! I’m done! But I have an excuse since I knew I was going to be gone from home all this week and had to have it done beforehand.
Yes, but what about your BooReport?
Why do I have a feeling that it’s just going to be you, kansas and me on Saturday at BooBooks?
I’ll be there, but I ama pathetically slow reader these days (I keep falling asleep, but not because the book is boring), and only finished the first hundred pages…
Don’t anybody worry if you can’t finish it on time, unless you fear spoilers. There’s plenty to talk about anyway. I finished it last night, but I skimmed some to do it.
I wondered if that’s what you were up to. And then I realized you were probably resting up for today and the weekend (I hope it was some of both?)
Resting up. Yes. We won’t mention my heavy teevee responsibilities last night, like finding out about Kate on Lost and seeing what happened on Invasion. Speaking of which, ew.
ew indeed. Did that guy chop off his arm?
Could someone (cough)(mumble)kansas(clear throat) post this picture and something cheery about BooBooks on the next newish Open Thread?
I’m about to disappear. . . .
Good morning to all! If you’ve got a Home Goods store in your neck of the woods, that is a good place for all kinds of reasonably priced gifts.
Thanks for the heads up Boran2 on the Homegoods Store. My daughter-in-law is always saying what a great place it is to shop. Will have to check it out.
I am looking for an idea for this year’s gift to my tenents…all 52 of them. I have done the Danish Cookie tin and last year the popcorn tin. I usually only spend $5 or less. Any ideas gang?
Your link wasn’t working for me, boran2, so here it is again:
LINK: HomeGoods Store.
Is that the company you mean? I’ve never even heard of it before, so I guess we may not have one around here.
I’m not sure, our industrial strength filters here at work won’t allow me to view the site. I’ll have to try it again later. Thanks.
Spices are one of the things that I give…
We do a lot of cooking and people ask about the combinations….so I mix small jars.
Mild Grilling Spices – by the 8’s
8 tsp dried Rosemary – crush the stems a little
8 tsp dried Thyme
8 tsp garlic powder
8 tsp sea salt (regular salt works…but different consistency)
8 tsp black pepper
Mix all together in a small bowl throughly with a fork.
Using a coffee spoon scoop into small jars…stirring regularly. (The salt and pepper settle). Tie with ribbon and label.
Labels: list the ingredients in a nice font…I just use computer mailing labels and put pretty stickers on them.
I like the small square jars like this one – in 1.5 to 2 oz size. The recipe above makes 2 jars. Also it can be made from ingredients on hand in my house…no extra spice buying needed. Jars about $0.79 – 1.19 at the craft stores.
The spices are not pink – it was the only jar picture I could find!
Nice gift, Sally. I’d be delighted to get something like that.
Here’s an idea I found googling, but I do wonder if the spoons would melt?
For getting up so early to post a fresh cafe. I don’t mind stepping over all the sleeping frogs to get to a clean table. But, it’s sad when all our early morning wit disappears with the new cafe after just an hour or two.
This way all the sleepy heads can see all the fun they usually miss.
Hey, kb, in your ginormous family, how do you handle gifts? I have some friends who have added four new spouses to their family in the last year and they have all opted to go the White Elephant route starting this year.
We used to do a drawing. But, I opted out of it last year. I don’t like buying “on demand”.
This year, I’m going give photographs and mister and I will make the frames and mat them.
One per family.
(and maybe a small check for each of the cousins)
That’s a lovely idea–the photos and the personal matting and framing. Will they be nature shots or of you guys, or what?
katiebird I think the pictures are a wonderful idea. I used to do that with old pictures of the family. What I’m doing this year is scanning in all the pictures my brothers and sisters have of everybody and putting them on disc. One disc to each family. That way we all can share all the pictures.
I’m doing framed photos for folks this year, as well. I’m exhausted and I overspent my annual budget last month already, so it seemed like the right solution to both problems. Plus I always hate to participate in the whole Capitalist Orgy For Jesus, which strikes me as…distasteful.
Slaps forehead! You guys have reminded me that I have a photo my mom would love and that I had intended to get it framed for her this year. And then I forgot. Thank you!!
Here’s one of ours. ABE Books is a an online clearinghouse of independent used book stores throughout the U.S., Canada, Britain, and Australia. You can just about anything that’s ever been in print and sort by price, cover style, edition, signed, etc. It’s amazing what you can find. 13,000 book stores, 70,000,000 books. The advanced search function is particularly nice.
Kelly, I subscribed to that internet magazine that has your story, but haven’t had a chance to read it yet, alas. I’m really looking forward to it though. What are you working on right now?
I hope you enjoy it when you get the chance to take a look at it. On the project front, I’ve got a couple of things going.
Three weeks ago I finished my first young adult fantasy and shipped the last two chapters off to my writers group, the Wyrdsmiths. I’ll get the last of the comments back on that next Thursday and it should take me a bout a week to get all of those taken care of put it into a beta draft for my first readers. That’s priority two, since I’m writing for an editor who requested it. Hopefully she’ll buy it.
Last week I finished up a revision of my fifth novel, a moderately serious piece of Shakespeare scholarship disguised as a contemporary fantasy built around theater magic. That’s out with some beta readers.
Then I seriously started Cybermanacer which is the under-contract sequel to WebMage, and my primary priority. I’m about 10,000 words in.
Monday and Tuesday of this week was going over the copy edits for WebMage so I can get it back to my editor.
The medium term goal is to get to a place where I’m putting out one YA and one adult fantasy each year, along with 2-8 short stories. Long term, if I can handle that schedule with some time left over, I’d like to see if I can add a third book a year, either YA science fiction or mystery, probably the latter. I’ve got two mysteries plotted out at the moment, one built around a contemporary version of the lead character in the Cosmic story, the other a murder in a writers group.
What are you writing at the moment?
Man, that is some writing schedule. The only reason I’m not prostrate just reading about it is that I’m guessing your YA’s can be shorter than your adult fiction?
I’m about 25,000 words into a new book and awaiting galleys on the one I just finished. Also awaiting contracts on a couple of short stories and hoping to do several more in the next year. I love writing short stories, do you?
Hey Kansas, do you mind if I ask you what kind of word count you wind up with for one of your completed manuscripts? All my writer friends are theory dorks so no one writes novels (heh, I should properly say that none of them are able to publish a novel) and I really have no idea how long a “regular” novel is supposed to be anymore.
Well, my contract calls for them to be “approximately 100,000 words,” which accords with what Kelly says below about his adult fiction. The one I just finished came in at just over 101,000, which I did not plan. It just happens.
For a while now I’ve thought it is kind of a shame that traditional mysteries of the detective or cozy types have been almost forced to greater length by the popularity of suspense novels, which tend to be fatter. Those earlier forms of mysteries are meant to be short, imo, and are happiest at around 60,000 words. Anything more, for that kind of novel, is padding. Again, though, just my opinion.
Thanks (to you both!). That helps. I’m diddling around with it again lately. I’ve assumed that the sort of thing I’m working on would be expected to be somewhere around 75K words, but it’s good to have that reality-checked. 🙂
In F&SF they can range from a low of 80,000 for a summer read kind of Science Fiction quickie up to about 275,000 for a BFF, or big fat fantasy, like Robin Hobb or Robert Jordan might write. At the moment, both my agent and editor are encouraging people to come in under 100,000 because of major increases in paper and production costs. A number of folks higher up the food chain than I am have been predicting the return of the 60-75k novel as a staple of the industry and I’d personally love to see that, as more variation in what’s acceptable means more to read.
Thanks for the info, Kelly. I’m a longtime fan of your genre, though I haven’t read your work yet. I tried to do a novel up freaky physics/metaphysics alley once but I kept getting overwhelmed by my lack of expertise with the science. It’s harder than it looks, what you speculative-fic guys do. 🙂
You’re most welcome. It does no one but me any good as long as it stays in my head. There’s not an enormous amount of my work that’s easily available just at the moment since all the publications to date have been short stories. The story Kansas mentioned above can currently be downloaded free as part of a PDF magazine here if you’re interested–down at the bottom of the page.
The science thing can be a pain. I tend to have the opposite problem with SF, in that I get bogged down by knowing too much of the science–comes from living with a physics prof. I think the perfect place to be at with that is to know enough science to know when you need help and to have someone you can go to who will answer the question at hand and no more. vigorous handwaving to cover up the iffy bits can do wonders too. Sounds from this and other posts the thread like you’re doing quite a bit of writing in the areas where I work. I hope it takes off for you.
That would be so cool. While I love a good fat book, it seems to me that in the past few years it is impossible to find a nice short standalone novel. Makes me yearn for the classic 50’s and 60’s SF. I’m not too big on Fantasy, but I will definately check out your work.
FWIW: I think some young adult SF geared towards girls is sorely needed.
I agree, it will be really cool if we get some shorter novels. Plus, maybe the price of books will go down a bit. Or maybe I’m dreaming.
I often check out the YA shelves for reading I’ll like. There’s a supernatural series, kind of for girls, that I think is terrific. If I can remember the author, I’ll come back and post it.
FWIW: I think some young adult SF geared towards girls is sorely needed.
Amen. It sure would be nice to see more sci-fi with female protagonists, whether for kids or adults.
The only YA I’ve ever tried to do is a sf/f serial. The first book is only very roughly drafted and there are barely outlines for others, but the stories are about a tween girl who inadvertently becomes a time traveler on a series of missions to “fix history” when it “breaks”. (The backstory on how history breaks is a little too long for a comment, but my liberal viewpoint does shine through it.) I love my main character and her little group of sidekicks, and the adventures they have soaring around through various historical times and places while keeping it all secret from the adults, and I think a good chunk of the Harry Potter market would respond well to it, but I’m still too damn sick to do this kind of work because there’s an incredible amount of research involved.
Sounds cool. I hope you’re soon well enough to get back to it and make it a success.
Thanks. My current efforts, feeble as they are due to health concerns, are geared toward a more pomo/genderfuck/punk kinda thing. Picking a genre is not something I’ve ever been able to do, my writing is all over the place. I always figure if anything ever turns out good enough to sell, that’ll be my genre, lol.
Meanwhile, thanks also for that link. I downloaded the magazine and enjoyed your story while I had some brunch. Laughed a lot, too — not just because of the fun irony in your theme, but also because I’ve been heavily considering the cola wars as a detailed political metaphor lately, so it hit the funny bone on a couple levels. I like your style and your voice, though, and now you’re definitely on my “buy this author” list.
I’m totally with you on the YA SF for girls. I did a collection of educational SF shorts for a National Science Foundation funded middle school science curriculum. One of the important goals of the curriculum was to help increase the participation of girls and minorities in science. The lead characters were four aliens, two male, two female, with one of the female aliens as the commander of their small ship. Balancing who rescued whom and why and keeping all of them equally to the fore was both one of the pleasures and one of the difficulties of working on the project. I’d love to do more of it.
I do horror and SF as well as fantasy, but only short fiction at the moment. In longer form, fantasy outsells SF by a huge margin so it’s much easier to make a living that way, and since I enjoy writing both… Maybe if the YA takes off, I’ll have a little more freedom of action. I put a link to one of my SF stories currently available for free in my response to IndyLib above, in case you’re interested and missed it in earlier posts.
The YA runs quite a bit shorter. The one I just finished is 55,000, and will probably be 58,000 when it’s polished up. Most of my adult stuff runs 90,000-110,000. The latter is what feels most natural, but my editor wants me to try and hold things on the shorter end where I can.
The interesting thing I found with the YA is that it may actually be a more natural length for me. With a full length novel I tend to be emotionally done about 5-8,000 words short of the actual ending, so I have to finish it up, take a break, then go back and undo any problems I created by rushing things. With the YA I was still really excited by the time I hit the end and pretty much ready to write a sequel.
I’m not a natural short story writer, but early on, after writing and not selling three novels I decided to take a crack at the short story markets. I’ve gotten so that I’m pretty good at the art, but it never flows as well as novels do. I do enjoy them, but it’s a learned taste rather than a natural love. Poetry, on the other hand, I love. My big problem there is time in vs. money out. A good poem takes me almost as long to write as a short story or 8-10k of a novel, and of course they pay next to nothing. So I try to only write them when I’ve run out of any in inventory, which is where I’m at right at the moment. But I just haven’t got the free time.
For my mom, because she likes best the gifts that bring us out to her house, and because I am so broke right now. . .I’m combining this idea. . .
. . .with this idea.
One month it will be her garage that my son and I will clean, another month her basement, another month we’ll do a closet, another month we’ll do her kitchen cabinets, etc. And what we’ll all like best is the time we’re together at her house. Stuff like this makes her feel loved, which she is.
… a happy Annual Day for Freedom of Religion or Belief.
Why thank you very much, mrboma!
Warning: do not touch the spices directly, wear latex gloves if you have sensitive skin. Keep damp paper towels nearby if you get a burning feeling on your skins. Do not inhale to close.
Sally’s 4 Alarm Chili Spices
aka “Sally’s Beer a Bowl Chili Spices”
(1) 1 oz pkg Chile Chipotle Molido (Ground Chili Pods – Hot)
(1) 2.5 oz pkg Chile Quebrado (Crushed Chili – Hot)
(1/2) 1 oz pkg Comino Molido (Ground Cumin)
(2) 1 oz pkg Chile Pasilla Molido (Pasilla Ground Chili)
(3) 1 oz pkg Chili New Mexico Molido (New Mexico Ground Chili)
(2) 1 oz pkg Chili California Molido (California Ground Chili)
(2) 1 oz pkg Chili Arbol Molido (Ground Arbol Chili)
2 TBS Cayene (Optional)
4 TBS Cilantro (Optional)
Mix all of these spices in a large airtight container – stirring gently with a slotted spoon. I add the Cilantro and Quebrado Chili’s last as a means of making sure that everything is thoroughly mixed. Makes 8-12 small jars. My friends like the spices so I use ½ pint jam jars.
Use a coffee spoon to fill sterilized jars – or if small jars – use a small funnel.
Cost: in the cellophane bags these spices cost me .69 – 1.19 per bag = $12+/-
Jars – above comment $0.79 to 1.19
I buy the spices at my local Hispanic market or at Cost Plus if whichever neighborhood I’m in when I think about it.
To use the spices: Add 1 – 2 teaspoons to any Mexican food dish or anything where you want an extra kick. Warning 2 these spices do not taste hot when you first taste them in a dish…they have a kick back…3rd breathe out is amazing! ;^)
Tie jars with ribbons and label. Gift tags trick – I buy discontinued business card stock at the office supply store and print gift labels. Punch a hole and tie with ribbon.
And I know you are NOT kidding about not touching them. They sound fabulous but I don’t think I’d try making them without wearing asbestos.
I got a tiny bit on my hands ONCE….
We started making this because the Mexican spices in the store are $6+ for a small jar and predominantly cayenne. After living in LA for a while I realized that cayenne was notably absent in traditional foods.
Using this recipe – 1/2 to 1 tsp goes a long way…
We make 4 or 5 batches a year of this for friends and our own use. Not a bad mix for a scottish/irish anglo!
Receiving can be a headache also…
My mom is 80 and on a tight budget…she just feels compelled to do the shopping thing (blaming and ranting at my materialistic little sister here…)
When she calls and wants to know what I want for birthday and Christmas since they are so close…we figure out unique items. Mom has a lot of old doilies and embroidered table runners and that kind of stuff that belonged to my grandmother and great-aunts. Now each year I ask her to pick one or two items that she thinks I would like from her Mom’s things.
Mom is delighted to pass Grandma’s things on to me, I’m delighted to get them, and there is no cost to Mom.
Giving in the spirit of giving a legacy.
Kinda early for this but here’s a nifty kitchen gadget…a very cool, bright red and inexpensive, Norpro Egg Rite Egg Timer @ $7 ea.
Goes in pan w/ eggs and works like a charm…highly rec’d for anyone who, like me, never gets boiled eggs right…sometimes the simplest things are the hardest to get right.
Later
Peace
Ooo, cool. I need that. NEED it.
Ooooh, very very cool. I like it! (Amazon and one-click are wonderful…)
San Jose Sharks just got JOE THORNTON!!!! Oh MY!!!!!!!!! This is incredible!!!! 🙂
Anyways, I’m okay, kids are okay. Just six more days till the van pulls out of our drive way and we’re on our way to Oregon. (Where it’s snowing like a mad dog) so we’ll probably have to go up the coast – 101 which adds 4 hours to the drive. Yuck.
Been missing you guys these past few days which feel like forever. The poison oak is GONE! No scarring on my face – whew!
Just busy with getting the house packed, painted, the details.
((((Booman Family))))))))) I love you all!
And we’ve been missing you back!!!!
Ding dong, the wicked poison oak is gone, the wicked poison oak is gone!
Is Joe Thorton one of the best gifts a hockey fan could get?
JOE!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s fucking awesome!!!!!! a real treat. However I’m sure Bostonians are “wicked” pissed.
Just been super duper busy here and it’s about to get even busier. ACK.
I tried to call Tracy yeseterday not knowing that anything was wrong. My biggest and best wishes to her and all you guys.
Does anybody have a clue why the following happens to me?
My “comments” are set to minimal dynamic threading, which they revert to when we get to 40 comments. I love it like that, BUT when it gets many more comments than that (I have never stopped to figure out how many), it stops registering my ratings. Sometimes it will not let me rate the first comment in a thread, but it will record the ratings under it. Sometimes, like now, I don’t think it’s letting me rate anybody new.
I feel like a rude little bunny, but it’s all the site’s fault, honest.
Any ideas what the problem might be?
I don’t know the answer, but I also lose my preview at that point.
So, I set the changer-over to 100 on the days when I’m hosting.
(and actually I usually forget to set it back)
Weird. I may have to go to the l00 mark on hosting days, too.
Thanks for providing the great crafts link to your library, kb.
You’re welcome. I don’t know why I didn’t think of posting it before. I’m actually working on cleaning it up a bit (and the recipes – those are great also & the puzzles) We’ve got a great collection of activities for kids.
My Library has been creating web pages of Craft projects for years and we’ve got nearly 200 of them now.
If you kids would like to make their gifts this year, you might get some ideas from this page at the KCK Public Library
Okay, this is a repeat of something I posted last week (?) when we started talking about this topic…
I’m going to be doing some mix-CDs this year as well — as I have a new sister-in-law to bring up to speed!
I love these! I make a mix CD for my dad every year for Father’s Day, but no one ever makes them for me anymore. ::pout::
Fantastic idea!!!!
My christmas list just shrank… when one’s family decides to disown them… it’s a money saver LOL
This year instead of cards, Danni made window clings that are of a snowman and say PEACE.
Artsy stuff. I’ve given out a photo I’ve taken, and put it in a nice but cheap frame. Or copied a meaningful poem/quote/story in calligraphy or a whimsical way and framed that too. Last year the ex- got a framed black ink sketch of his favorite covered bridge.
These ideas here are good, I definitely need them this year. Anyone got some extra time to pass along, eh?
Broken record time:
Because of youuuuuuuuuuu… and my constant thinking of you and the other great greats here… (you know who you all are)
I did not toss out my cuffs. I re-hid them and am keeping them 🙂
Cripes, is everyone moving? Ill? or otherwise super busy??
But… I see brighter times ahead for us all. I really do. Really really. (at least I hope there are)
You know I derive a perverse pleasure out of learning that I’ve contributed in any small way to the ongoing delinquency of your adulthood, right? 😉
I’m glad to see you posting a bit today, was worried about you, and am very stoked to know that you’re {mostly} well. I sure hope the rest of your move goes easier than the first parts have.
And yeah, it seems lots of people are going through “an intense personal thing” of some kind right now. Weird how that always seems to hit lots of people all at once. I share your optimistic hopes for the future, though. Hopefully this time next year we’ll all still be partying hard to celebrate good election returns.