How to Lead a Charmed Life

Friday, December 23, 2005

Shopping at Christmastime

It's been years really, since I've hit a shopping center in the middle of December. I've worked studiously to avoid them as I don't do well in large crowds. I went out yesterday for a few errands that took me by way of a couple of stores. One was Lowe's. It was actually pretty smooth sailing. Perhaps the fact that the nearest shopping mall was quite a ways away had something to do with the near emptiness of Lowe's but I was rather surprised. Frye's on the other hand had a parking lot that looked like the airport. There were cars actually circling looking for a spot to park. I took one look and decided we would try again perhaps a couple of weeks after Christmas....my Christmas shopping was done, this was something for me so it could wait. Then I went to the Dollar Tree. I don't know why but I really do love this store. They have some of the neatest JUNK! It has really become an addiction for me. Whenever a new store opens or every other week or so I have to take a tour through some type of Dollar store to see what they have. They have awesome photo frames and candles most of the time and all kinds of little 'goodies' for the little ones. It's a store after my own heart. At any rate, the store was packed. I mean a huge line and only one register opened. I know it's Christmas and in order to keep the costs down they have less staff than many other stores, but I'm just imagining the money that didn't get spent because people didn't want to wait in the long lines or how having two registers opened could have doubled the income because the lines would have moved twice as fast or the many other reasons it was just bad business to have only one line open. But it was only a couple of days before Christmas and I got a few extra goodies for those on my list so it wasn't a wasted trip. Though looking back I'm seriously thinking I should have picked up some chocolate to soothe my "I don't like to wait in line or deal with crowds" mentality. Well it's over now. Have a Merry Christmas all!

Posted by Andrea :: 8:49 AM :: 0 Comments:

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

After a few days off

Things seem new again. We all need time off occassionally and the holidays are a good time. The kids are out of school, there are last minute preparations that need to be made for Santa's big trek, and there is a need to appreciate family and simply enjoy each others presence. I know it's been a good time for me to enjoy watching the kids play with early gifts from the big family Christmas and work on clearing out space for all the new items received and yet to be received (you know what this means...clearing out the happy meal toys from the bottom of the toybox and the broken things that no one ever plays with anymore or toys that are no longer age appropriate...which always instantly become their favorite can't live without toy when faced with the rubbish bin).

It's also been a time of cooking, gift wrapping, and getting back to things that are really important...like vegging out on the couch all day in our PJs watching old Christmas movies. We even made a huge mess with the popcorn. We've made some of our favorite dishes (homemade pizza, lasagna, and chicken strips) it has been a great time not worrying about page rankings and revenue and what I am going to write about tomorrow.

But the one thing that was sort of surprising to me is how much I missed the daily routine or writing. Of putting words to my thoughts. I've really enjoyed my time off but now I'm ready to get back to work.

Take care everyone!

Posted by Andrea :: 9:59 AM :: 1 Comments: