I've been under the weather, so offline mostly.
What's been happening?
**I felt better Friday but woke up feeling pretty bad yesterday. I had to cancel my volunteer shift at Scholastic Warehouse. They specifically said "Do NOT send a replacement" but dh called and they were kind of like, "if you want to come in." So he went. He said he was glad he did - they NEEDED help. So I felt really bad, but then again he would have been home with kid duty - not like he had big plans or anything. But he pretty much woke up, went, and came home closer to 6:00, exhausted.
I was extra glad I didn't go. I wouldn't have been up to it. I made a mental note not to sign up for all day, next time.
Because dh went we will still earn 16 hours if he can pull his shifts, so we will still have a lot for the school, and some for ourselves.
**Dh got our new webcam - Logitech 9000 - and we aren't particularly impressed with it. Not as great as it was touted. Dh thinks it might be better with faster internet, but not worth it for now. We'll see. Just an FYI if anyone took my advice. (I think my advice was run out and grab it while it was on sale - so may be too late to warn).
It's a fine webcam, but we didn't notice much improvement on the other one we had tried. So not worth the extra $$.
**Got the PERFECT gift for preschool. KIVA gift certificates. I am not sure if Ms. Preschool has heard of them, but it is so totally and completely her speed. So I got her a $50 G.C. & a $25 G.C. for her assistant. They will LOVE it.
We paid the gardener an extra $30 for December. I usually give him $20, but threw in a little extra with the economy. I figure he has got to be hurting.
Sad to say but I almost completely forgot about BM's teacher. LOL. I was so wrapped up in last year's Christmas budget, I forgot I had new items to add. I am thinking G.C. to Target. BUT I wonder about how obliged we are to get gifts for other teachers. Of course, we could always bake cookies, etc. There is P.E., Spanish and Art teachers to consider as well. I have to think on it.
**In other news, I am ecstatic that we are skipping the Christmas festivities this year at work. We usually have a nice gift exchange on Christmas Eve, and will still do that. But no more Christmas party outside of the office. I think everyone is happy with this. You know, just one more thing to worry about. We are a small office so it is never very exciting anyway.
**I expect a $250 Christmas bonus. I usually allocate $50 towards the boss's big gift. If the other $200 materializes this year (quite confident it will) I will donate the $200. I did last year, among all my favorite charities. Dh is not one for charity, but I asked him this year if he wanted any say. To make it more fair. So I think we both will take $100. (He said he had some things in mind. I am rubbing off on the guy, a bit).
I usually give to Red Cross & a charity that does free oral surgeries in 3rd countries. (I was born with club feet AND had many jaw/oral surgeries and I appreciate greatly my quality of life vs. how it could have been if I had could not have corrected all my deformities). So that is VERY important to me. But I am thinking of replacing the Red Cross with the local food bank this year. They seem to be really struggling. So, maybe $50 to both.
**So yeah, I do need to shop for the work gift exchange, but I don't have much else to shop for - the rest was done before December. I have a few more donations for relatives, etc.
We'll see how the month goes. Dh just filled up the van for $20. !! It's crazy. (Paid $1.50/gallon the other day for gas. I mean we had the MOST expensive gas prices for a time. & I do think like $1 of that is taxes. It's crazy). So I am hoping to have a little extra cash at the end of the month to add to the charity pile. We'll see how the month goes. We might make it with these gas prices - might shave a couple hundred off the budget.
I am also thinking of squeezing the health insurance increase out of the lowered gas prices and just saving my entire raise come January. We'll see. Maybe have 2 budgets - one for when gas is down, and one for when it is high. I don't know. I don't expect this to stick, but I know I can save a bit more, with prices this low. Another angle is to make more mortgage pre-payments when prices are low. We'll figure something out.
December 7th, 2008 at 06:24 pm 1228674283
I love your idea of giving Kiva certificates and donations to the food bank. There is so much need and this is a simple way to make difference.
When I worked, I used to love getting home baked goodies, esp. since I never had time to bake. Treats in cute holiday containers would probably be appreciated by BM's teachers.
Another idea for BM's teachers: Bath & Body Works has a 3/$10 or 4/$10 promotion of their anti-bacterial hand soaps (and lotions, too). Great selection of fragrances and also practical for those who work around kids & all the germs that can go around. They are usually $10 each.
December 7th, 2008 at 06:45 pm 1228675530
Baked goods are nice, but there can just be too many of them to enjoy. And I don't really recommend Bath and Body. They are nice and personally, I love them, but everyone has their favorite brand and scent of that kind of thing... and it's actually a pretty popular idea.
For one of my kids' teachers at the end of last year, I got the parents together. Everyone donated what they wanted to in terms of money. The secretary at the school kept an envelope for me and people just took donations to her. Some brought $2, some brought $40... In the end, there was $260 total. I used it to buy a gift certificate at a local, pricey, trendy but comfortable shoe store. Every pair of shoes in the place costs over $100, but they are high quality and teachers ARE on their feet all day. She loved it! She special ordered one pair and got another pair off the rack. We've done this a few times for teachers and it's always a hit.
December 7th, 2008 at 07:24 pm 1228677860