not quite fairytale living: November 2009

tomorrow at this time tom will be back!
he's been in florida since tuesday so he missed most of hayley's birthday.
he did get to wish her a happy birthday though, we went out to breakfast before he left.
we aren't doing anything big for her birthday till next saturday though when we will be in VA for thanksgiving.

i've been looking over a lot of 'black friday' ads
christmas is going to have to be on a very tight budget
very tight
with us having to buy a new engine and compressor for my jeep and tow it back here
that leaves us with very little money for christmas shopping
tom and i will probably go giftless again this year
i don't think we have bought christmas gifts for each other in about 3 years
my birthday is 2 weeks from christmas, and i usually go giftless for that too
i'd rather save the money to get the kids gifts
thankfully we've been blessed once again by being accepted into the sears 'hero's at home' program for military families
we get a gift card to sears/kmart
they put money on it 3 times between Nov 24th and Jan 1st
last year we ended up with almost 300 dollars
they also gave us a special card with an extra 100 for decorations and gift wrap and such
im not sure how much we will get this year
frankly any little bit will help
we also saved up all our change from the year and that alone as given us a pretty good amount of money, if i can hit up good sales.
i've made each kid a list at toys r us
people had better follow them this year
i make a list every year but it hardly ever gets followed
jonas doesn't really need toys
but i still want him to have some gifts of course
what i guess i mean is he does not need toys with 'parts'
like lego play sets, tool kits, train tracks
pieces get lost and then the play set is pretty useless
certain members of the family are really bad about giving him gifts like that even though every year we ask them not to
last year one of these relatives gave him 50, yes 50 hot wheels cars, even after a phone call asking what he needed and what not to buy for him
he does not need anymore toys like that
books are good, movies are good, a few age appropriate few action figures maybe
and he really wants a bop it haha

thanksgiving will be in VA this year
never done a thanksgiving in VA
since we have been married tom and i have had thanksgiving in St Augustine Fl twice, once at our 'friends' house, and twice on our own.
St Augustine thanksgiving will always be my favorite, with the exception of last year when hayley was with us for her first thanksgiving :)
jonas' first thanksgiving was in St Augustine
i love thanksgivings with lots of people.
im not sure how this thanksgiving is working since it's not at my house
tom's mom (God love her) is not the best cook, she will be the first to tell you that haha
but her sister is coming down.
i also like to be in charge in the kitchen, so this could be a problem
unless people have assigned tasks, like my side of the family has had for the 20 thanksgiving i remember, i like to take charge
i do know im making the pies
at least i am assuming as much, tom told his mom i was...
as for the rest of the meal i don't know whats going on for now
we are having a party for hayley on saturday
not really sure whats going on for that as of now either
i feel like i've dropped the ball on her birthday
again its not at my house so im not sure how they want to handle it
for jonas we just a big bbq
i really should be in bed right now
jonas has school in the morning
sarah palin will be on Ft Bragg on monday
trying to decide if i want to go
well i do want to go, really really bad
but rumor has it that her book signing starts at noon, jonas gets out of school at 11 20 and it is at least a 40 minute drive to that side of the base
blah it probably won't happen