Information to know

Where to find size sixteen Nike athletic shoes? Why shoe carnival of course !

OK no Clown shoes being found at the carnival jokes. Mike has heard them all from me already ! Anyway, there are now many area locations and though size fifteen and sixteen are still not plentiful, they do carry them . I suggest buying a couple pair if you can find a style you like as they will not have them on your return visit. By the way , shoe carnival offers many buy one get one half off sales throughout the year( one is going on now ) and they are the cheapest place for Nike shoes that I have found even without the sales. They also carry sizes for toddlers and up for those of us without mammoth feet.

Almost to Advent

Here I am only a few days from Advent. The Christmas shopping is ninety percent done but that is about as far as I got. I was hoping to have new homes for all the puppies by now but since I still have two, I have to find a place to put their box so that I can put up a tree. In addition to this I still have to bake. This in itself is proving to be a thorn in my side as my oven is old and acting up from time to time and my new one is in lay-a-way ready to be delivered but I found out that the gas line was not upgraded to code before we moved in so I have to have a plumber come and upgrade the flexible pipe to solid and add another shut off before I can have the new one delivered. Add to this the fact that I need to clean before the plumber comes and of course clean again for Christmas, wrap, and plan and prepare dinner. No doubt I will get through it but it could get ugly. I have decided to put it all in God's hands and let him sort it out and get back to me. Isn't it great that we all have that option ?

After eight months.....

Michael has left for school wearing two shoes ! He had an appointment yesterday where x rays were taken and his foot / ankle inspected. All looked good and he was told that he could try going without the air cast. The catch was that we were advised to get new shoes so that neither shoe was worn more than the other nor molded to a foot before surgery. This was no big deal other than we got out of the doctors office, had to leave immediately to take Robby to karate , then go to Shoe Carnival a half an hour before they closed. This annoyed the employees and then we had to first find what size was needed since the reconstruction has changes the foot physically . Luckily we found the size and then a pair of Nikes that were stylish and fit comfortably. We were out of the store with five minutes to spare. It was then that we realized that we did not eat dinner. The kids had grabbed some leftovers but Mike and I had not eaten . Thankfully Arby's was having a sale so it was roast beef for all.

Today's agenda looks almost as busy as yesterday's so I best get busy. Prayers for Michael's continued recovery are certainly appreciated.

Farewell Masomora

Masamora left today for his new home. That little runt of the litter had captured all of our hearts and left us in tears as he was carried away. I think he will be happy with his new Human Mommy , Daddy, and four year old human brother. He moved across town with his own fenced in yard and lots of love. May God Bless Masamora and his new family

Hot wheels event

Because Mike was offered overtime today and because we seem to always need money, the kids and I agreed to go to K Mart hot wheels day this morning for him. I was slightly discouraged in that there were forty people and only sixteen boxes of cars to go through . There was even a shortage of posters which are usually in great supply. Tickets were handed out and drawn .Out of our four tickets only one was drawn. Much to Mike's pleasure, our box contained a treasure hunt. The kids then picked out the exclusive event cars and we were on our way to the check out. As I passed the new store employee who was put in charge of the event this year ,I overheard him telling another; "That wasn't near as bad as I had anticipated." I thought to myself. No, it really wasn't. Enjoy your Treasure hunt Mike.... We love you !

It is always better when Mom pays for it !

Since my kids were little, Mike and I have always tried to teach them that Christmas giving can be as fun as receiving. In doing this we would take them shopping ( usually a dollar store or Santa's workshop when they were in elementary school) and have them pick out a gift for each member of our family. The rules were simple; one gift per family member( this has changed to a dollar amount per person now that they are older and not shopping at everything is a dollar) and nothing for themselves. The latter has honestly never been a problem as they know that their siblings would be getting for them.This afternoon , while Mike was at work, the kids and I started talking about the Christmas shopping that they will be doing.Since Cindy is working this year other than mowing my parents yard , she proudly stated that she would not be needing money from me for this. She then went on to talk about her friends that she intended to exchange gifts with this year. I reminded her that,after Christmas last year, I bought some things on sale for her friends this year . She was pleased at this and we ended up going through a box of things remembering what we had bought for whom. This particular box also contained things that were bought for no one in particular but were just a good deals. These things are usually used as donations for charities, anonymous gift exchanges or for the extended family auction which funds a yearly Christmas Party / reunion for my Mother's brothers and sisters and their families. After Cindy had gotten all of the gifts for her friends from the box she looked at me with a smile. So mom, she said, what would you like for Christmas. How about this..... Gee Cindy, I guess that since your shopping with your money this year , you are keeping costs down ! We both just laughed.

I wonder if all of those people in line knew?

After my last post, before crawling back into bed, I checked my E mail which contained an ad from Staples. I opened it to find the four gig thumb drive that I didn't get this morning was available online at the seventeen dollar price. Wait a minute here. It seems that all of the advertised values that people were waiting out in the snow, probably for hours for are available online. OMG I would be sooooo mad right now had I stood in line for this.I am mad that I even drove there and didn't realize this. Anyway I just went to the site and purchased the thumb drive. It will be sent to me by one day delivery (I will have it tomorrow) for free. Yes I didn't have to stand in line and don't even have to pay shipping. I wonder how many of those people in that line ( especially at the end of it) knew this? Amazing !