I’ve decided it was best to just send our grandchildren a card with money so their parents can enjoy shopping for whatever they might need since I’m clueless as to what they need. Thank you for all of your wonderful suggestions. I think they own most of what LeapPad has to offer for their age groups (infants, preK and Kindergarten).

I need to learn to make crafts. I’m the most uncreative, uncrafty person I know. If I start making keepsakes for our grandchildren I hope they realize how much of an accomplishment it will be for me to complete or will they have a confused look on their faces when they hold up the keepsake and ask their parent if Gramma’s losing it.

I suck at shopping. No, seriously. I hate shopping for gifts. What I’m saying is that we have two presents under our tree and both were gifts from Meg’s friend. One for Meg and the other for Kamalani. I haven’t done anything that even resembles shopping. Ok, I did some online window shopping but made no purchases.

I never thought I’d ever be this bad. As each year passes, I have stronger feelings that buying toys for the kids is money wasted. I watch shows like Clean Sweep and see how much stuff people accumulate without even realizing it only to have it tossed out or sold at a yard sale for a tiny fraction of what they paid for it. I’ve sat for weeks trying to decide what to get my grandchildren that won’t make me feel like I’ve thrown away hard working money and I couldn’t think of anything worthwhile. Seriously, they all have so much toys they don’t really need anymore.

I don’t know how Santa does this year after year. I’m having an anxiety attack! I need ideas.

Santa was spotted today at the NEX main store posing for the camera. Actually, we knew ahead of time so Meg took Kamalani to take a picture with him and also to see if Kamalani could squeeze by on his “nice” list. We’ve been using this line for the past month to make her behave.

This past week we sent out Christmas cards so Kamalani got her art supplies out, and made a card for Santa. It was decorated with punch-outs in different designs and colors. On the inside, she wrote a list of things she wanted for Christmas this year. She only listed the things she could spell and write by herself:

After she was done, she brought it down for us to look at. She was so proud of her work and so were we. Meg made her an envelop for the card and addressed it to Santa at the North Pole. Then we gathered all of the addressed cards and headed for the post office. She made sure we took her card into the post office to be sent off. She promised to be good so Santa wouldn’t put her on his “naughty” list but that only lasted for 15 minutes. She forgets so quickly! I told her that we can’t have pets so she said, it’s okay because she meant dolls (stuffed animals). When I asked her what Princess set she wanted, she replied, “All of them!”

I’m sure Santa won’t be able to grant all of her Christmas wishes but he’ll see what he afford.

I’m Home Improvement Show junkie. No, really. On Fridays I watch the TLC lineup and if you’re looking for a fight, just try changing the channel. Of all the numerous home improvement shows out there, my absolute favorite is TLC’s In A Fix. The In A Fix crew goes to a home that has been demolished in preparation for DIY projects that the homeowner hasn’t completed, comes up with a design and completes the project while the responsible party (usually the husbands) work alongside the crew all the while wearing a shirt that says, “It’s ALL My Fault“. The crew works well together and they always seem to have so much fun even during stressful times. It helps too that they give helpful hints while they work on different things. They make me just want to go and break down a wall in my house so they’ll come out to work on it. Oh, and I’ll definitely need to get some electrical work done too so that Sparky comes out to do his thang! Woo hoo!

It’s official, we were just notified that we are the recorded owners of our house. Yippee! Now that the closing is over, we get to look forward to 30 years of mortgage payments and paying utilities and home repairs for the first time in 28 years. What were the advantages of homeownership again? I seem to have forgotten.