My Appliances Play Beer Pong

Remember when you were little and you imagined your stuffed animals playing while you were downstairs or in school? (Think Toy Story if you didn't have stuffed animals that played.) Now that I am older, I am thinking that maybe my appliances, car and camera all hang out, play beer pong and decide which one should screw with my checking account and break. They must have gotten really carried away lately because first it was the dishwasher who spewed water all over the kitchen floor. A few weeks later, the maintenance light in my car went on and I thought, "No big deal, I just need an oil change." Well, when I went into the Honda garage yesterday, the man noticed my 10% off coupon and said, "Oh, that will save you about $30." Thanks to my stellar math skills, I knew that meant I was going to be spending $300 on my "oil change" (read: major servicing at 55,000 miles).

I have been having dreams about my camera not working properly and have seen a lot of pictures on my computer that were blurry, so putting 2 and 2 together (see, stellar math skills), I am thinking that I have to send my baby away to get checked out. My camera is like an appendage, this could be very hard.

Last night, I was finally sitting on the couch surfing Facebook on my laptop while watching TV while the girls finished up their homework (yes, a Walton's moment), when I could hear water running into the washing machine. That would have been music to my ears, but I had moments before just heard the load finish. That's right, the washing machine must have lost at beer pong yesterday and it became the next major appliance I need to replace.

I hope the girls understand and appreciate their presents under the Christmas tree this year. B's present will be a picture of the dishwasher, K's will be a picture of the washing machine, mine will be a picture of my camera and the family present will be a picture of the car. Who knew I could finish my shopping by the end of October?

Happy Holidays.....

I had to look back in my blog to see if I had written about the subject of Christmas in my family before, and oddly I haven't. Weird, I know. Yes, it is the beginning of November and we have been talking Christmas up in my house for months. Just for the record, we are not as bad as a friend of mine who's mother in law talks up Thanksgiving 13 months ahead of schedule!

Yes, I am one of those shoppers who often times starts Christmas shopping for the next year at the day after Christmas sales. Yes, I love Black Friday and hunt for the best bargains in the Thanksgiving day flyers instead of taking the typical turkey day nap. I don't mind Christmas music before Thanksgiving. I just love the time of the year that is Christmas.

However, my family is turning it into a rule run episode. Of course, my entire family will read this and there will be hell to pay, but I am throwing it out to you, my blog family to aid and assist. With my Mom's side of the family, we have a name draw. We are allowed to spend (I think this year it was dropped to $30) so much on the person's name we have. Unfortunately, for the past few years, we have not all gotten together around the holidays, so the opening has been done over the phone.

Then we have the stocking draw in my immediate family. It is fun, we each have one person that we spend $10 on and there is usually a theme involved. Sometimes you have to shop for a certain color, other times something that rhymes with their name, this year something that begins with their name. We have fun, we laugh and it is always amusing.

Then we have the name draw with the immediate family for one gift up to $100. This is where the major trouble comes into play. Some of us are crafty, some of us want to buy for everyone and some of us feel that $100 on one person is too much pressure. The emails between family members having been flying like wildfire for the past month! That's right month and I still don't think that we have a good answer. My brother's girlfriend even jumped into the melee today (God Bless Her). Because of her 2 cents, she bought herself the privilege of saying grace at dinner.

Help stop the insanity! Tell us what you do for Christmas or Hanukkah (Melisa). Our family needs help and is losing the real value of Christmas which is the eating, I mean the togetherness of family and friends!

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?