holidays | The Angel Forever

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Black Friday 2009

Posted on November 27, 2009 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

I have to admit, I do not think I have ever gotten up before the sun comes up to go to Black Friday sales. My mother never did it, so I never caught the bug. Sure, there are things that interest me, but I am not into fighting crowds of people hounding the same deal of which there are not enough to satisfy the masses. I would rather stay home, cozy and warm in the house. My hubby works today, so the boys and I will stay home and do something special together. If we venture out it will likely be to a quiet lunch location and maybe the newly library.

On Thanksgiving I did head out shopping. I pulled out the newspaper and looked at the CVS and Rite Aid ads. A few things were very interesting to me because they were free or 99 cents. NHL was up and watching the parade while JSL and TechyDad still slept. I went to CVS first. The items I bought were close to $50 on sale, once I used my ECBs (which were expired, but this store accepts them), my total was $3.50 for the tax.

I could have done a little better had my coupons not disappeared. Still this was a great deal and I still have almost $35 of ECBs to use for another CVS visit. Oh and the candy was free with ECB and needed so I would not forfeit additional ECBs that I had to use.

After this I went to Rite Aid and had my $5 coupon from Fall Spending. I almost bought NHL the $20 Guitar Hero for the Nintendo DS, but my trusted friend that works at a gaming store said it was not a good plan for a child. So it was a no go. I spent just about $20 on sale items – my coupon. Of the $14 that I spent out of pocket, $12 will be coming back in Rite Aid rebate. The cost of the Hot Wheels cars was $3, so this was a fabulous deal, even without my missing coupons.

So, I bought all of the above items for under $7 out of pocket! It was so nice and quiet in the stores Thursday without many bargain hunters. Sure, I would love some of the deals on Black Friday, but I will enjoy the day home without the crazy stores. Now to see if there are any Cyber Monday specials.

My question this week:

Will you or have you already gone out to shop this Black Friday? What are your favorite places to go to? Please feel free to share the deals that you got.

BTW – Be sure to check out three giveaways that are going on right now: Softlips Winter collection, Movie Moments Prize Pack (4 movie tickets and cereal), and Sweet Ones Prize Pack. Another one for the kids will be coming soon (hint – it will be a Crayola product).

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #76

Categories:
Aloha Friday deals holidays me moments photos shopping

Happy Thanksgiving 2009 – visit with first grade

Posted on November 26, 2009 1:21 pm by TheAngelForever

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with your family and friends. Today, the boys and I will be going to my Aunt S and Uncle M’s house to have dinner with many members of our extended family. My parents will be there, but sadly my brother and his family will not. Luckily we will see them in a few weeks for Chanukah. Since TechyDad has to work tomorrow, we were not able to be with his family.

Yesterday, JSL and I went to visit the first graders for their Thanksgiving dessert party. When it was time to eat some of the goodies, we went to NHL’s seat. His teacher even set up a place for JSL to sit down. Here is the cute Thanksgiving item that NHL made yesterday before we got there:

All of the kids enjoyed the sweet items that were sent in. They quickly and quietly gobbled up most of the things that were offered.

Once they were finished reading the kids were told to go and read a book while others cleaned up. NHL and JSL went to the main rug. The little guy seemed at home and wanted to join the first grade.

Seriously, JSL did not want to leave. He had taken on the role of teacher of sorts and the kids kept going to him.

We had a nice time visiting and celebrating with the kids. JSL enjoyed seeing the kids that he knew from last year and NHL loved having his little brother there (me too – I think).

Categories:
fun holidays jsl nhl photos school

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

Posted on November 23, 2009 8:40 pm by TheAngelForever

TodaysMama and Provo Craft are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What 5 items are on your holiday wish list this year?

A new laptop that does not make funky noises, has all of the letters visible on the keyboard (not worn off), and is ready to roll. This is more practical than diamond earrings.
Train tickets and entry tickets to BlogHer ’10 for TechyDad and me to go in August.
DVC Membership – all Disney people will know what this is.
A nice new, bigger house with more space for all of us (dreaming big here)
Season passes for Six Flags again – lots of family fun.

2. What is your favorite handmade gift you have received?

Love the afghans that my Aunt T and Mimi have made for us (hoping to have their patience to knit/crochet something that big one day). They are gorgeous. Also in love with the quilt that my Cousin M made us – wish I had her talent.

3. What handmade gift have you always wanted to tackle?

Would love to make some larger knit items. Working my way up by knitting a baby blanket now for my nephew due in February.

4. What was the best ~~Christmas~~ Chanukah gift you received as a child?

Loved my original Cabbage Patch Kid that my parents nearly were killed trying to get for me. Her name was Christina and I took her all over for a long time.

5. What items are on your kid’s wish list this year?

My 6 year old would like the Toy Story Mania Nintendo Wii game (loved the ride when we were at Disney World in May), Up, Bolt, books and not sure what else.He is at a tough age to shop for.

My 2 year old would like more Duplo LEGO blocks, Leap Frog Text & Learn, Cars/Trucks, Kota & pals Triceratops, Transformers RPMs, Nintendo Wii game for his age, and books.

6. What is your favorite holiday food?

Love potato latkes with apple sauce.

7. What will you be hand-crafting for the holidays?

Will be knitting some items for people. At least I think I will since Chanukah starts December 11.

8. What is your favorite holiday movie?

A Rugrats Chanukah

9. Favorite holiday song?

Hanukkah Blessings from Barenaked Ladies gives me chills. It is the most amazing and beautiful song (blogged about the song and our traditions here last year).

10. Favorite holiday pastime?

We’re Jewish . . . is there something other than eating?!

Feel free to play along. The amazing prizes up for grabs can be found here. Thanks to TodaysMama for all of the fun. You have until December 13 to join in.

Categories:
dreams holidays me moments photos web fun

Halloween 2009

Posted on November 4, 2009 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Stuck home and not happy to be in the chair.

Luigi with the lame mustache that came with the costume. It covered the mouth so talking was not possible (Hmmmm. . . . )

Fixed the mustache on the fly. Thank you Avon eye liner!

TechyDad wearing his costume from a wedding he was in last Halloween.

Of course, the rain started right when we went out in the neighborhood:

Having fun with Pluto hat and glow bracelets while waiting to give out candy to those that braved the rain.

As a mostly Wordless Wednesday, I just had to put a few filler items in to explain the photos. Thanks to his febrile seizure Thursday, the little guy was not able to get dressed up and go trick-or-treating. He was still celebrating in his own way. Big kid was able to head out to a few houses after being fever free three days after the week long flu battle.

Categories:
fun holidays jl jsl my boys nhl photos weekend Wordless Wednesday

No school and some Halloween Photo Fun

Posted on November 3, 2009 2:21 pm by TheAngelForever

As you probably know, today is Election Day. The schools in our district are used as polling places, so there are no classes today. Instead, we signed up for parent-teacher conferences and were able to get NHL’s report card. So we packed up the boys, our pumpkin chocolate chip cake to donate to the bake sale and things to keep the boys busy.

At 8:00, we met with NHL’s teacher. He is doing at or above grade level in all academic areas. The areas that he needs to work on are all in the behavior/social realm and developmentally appropriate. One of the items mentioned is that he likes to tell the teachers what other classmates are doing. So we have to reinforce what being a tattle tale is and to mind your own business.

At the end of the 15 minutes, NHL’s computer teacher came to chat with TechyDad. He also happens to be the head of the Chess Club that NHL is a part of. They talked for a few moments about what we need to do to channel NHL’s clear mindset/strategy for Chess. After this, we went to drop off the cake to the cafeteria and went on our way.

We went to vote and saw Papa at work while there. Then we were off to try to get a few things for lunch at home and a chess game for NHL to practice at home.

When we came home, the boys played for awhile. Then, while showing NHL the photos from Halloween, I decided to go into Picnik within Flickr. He wanted to play around with one of the photos of him in the Luigi costume. Check out what NHL made (with a little assistance from me):

He decided that he wanted orange eyes, vampire skin, a ghost with a witch hat on and spider on the web. Then he helped to pick out the colors for the frame on the picture. He thought it was really fun. I think the only complaint he had was I did not have a Premium membership for some of the other fun Halloween features.

When NHL was done, I had some fun with a photos of TechyDad with NHL. Here they are as Zombies:

I will post some of the real Halloween photos soon. Before I go, I was wondering, do you use Picnik? If you do, do you have the Premium membership? Just curious because I have been toying with it for a while now, but not really sure what the paid version includes that I am missing now.