My daughter has a "military ball" coming up for her JROTC class. This is a formal event for the kids. I've been invited to chaperone this event and I'm torn about what to wear. Some parents get very dressed up for this event and others just dress nicely. So, I'm not sure what to do and I really need some help. I know that *I* would be more comfortable with just dressing nicely because I could wear slacks and a sweater, but I don't want to stand out either. I thought my days of worrying about this stuff were over, LOL!

Shannon

Every year, as I enter a "new year", I make all sorts of lists for myself. Always on the top of my "need to do list" is cleaning out my closet. I have such a hard time each year deciding what to get rid of and what to keep. I KNOW that I will buy new clothes as spring and summer approach and I have to make room for the new stuff. I just have such a difficult time deciding. I wonder how everyone else decides. Do you have a system?

I would love to hear how everyone else handles the "Great New Year Closet Clean Up". Shannon

What traditions does your family have during this season? Some friends of ours were telling us about their Christmas Eve ugly sweater contest. I thought that sounded really cute. Do you have an fun traditions like that?

Our traditions are all sort of lame when I compare it to the ugly sweater contest. LOL I'm looking for some neat new ideas.

Shannon

Okay, so I found these beautiful shoes. I fell in love with said shoes immediately. They were black patent leather shoes with this adorable gold buckle across the toe. The heels were very high. So high, in fact, that my toes felt like they were going to fall off. LOL! Like I said, I LOVED these shoes. I had to have these shoes.

As I wore them around the shoe department at the store I commented on how I could really "deal with the discomfort" in an effort wear such cute shoes. My son shook his head at me and said, "WHY would you suffer just so you could wear those shoes?". Males! They just don't get it.

So, I buy the shoes. I bring them home and I begin preparing for the holiday party. I wore the shoes around the house to "get used to them" before we left. I'm just not as tough as I used to be, I guess. 15 minutes after putting the shoes on, I took them right back off, tucked them into their box and found my comfy shoes. I'm just not the fashion warrior that I used to be.

How many of you would have toughed it out and worn the shoes?

Shannon

::::::Sigh::::: Every year I set a budget. Every year, we set boundaries about gift buying for our kids and every single year I feel like there is not enough under the tree. Why do I feel like this? Why do I feel as though my kids need every single thing that they've asked for over the past 4 months? Is it just me?

How do each of you budget for the holidays? How do you make certain that your gifts are thoughtful without going completely overboard?

Shannon

Never, ever again! I don't care how much money I save. I don't care how good the deals are. I got the paper on Thursday morning and realized that if I went to just ONE store (to remain nameless) I could save about 200 dollars (If I was lucky enough to get my sought after items before they were out of stock). I usually never go out on Black Friday. Sigh

I made an exception this year. I really wanted to save this money. Finances are tight everywhere and it just made sense; if I sacrificed a few hours of sleep and some of my sanity, I could save some money. Yeah, right.

I get to said store. I wait with this crowd for the doors to open (Keep in mind that parking was awful). People are slowly surging forward in anticipation. I see folks going in but they're coming in via a line that wraps around the building. So, I follow the line, get in at the end and meander towards the door with the rest of the crazy people. As I shuffle forward it suddenly hits me that I'm seeing tents and sleeping bags. People really are nuts enough to camp out for these things!? Sheesh. I finally make it in the door and I am not kidding when I tell you that the crowds were amazing. Shoulder to shoulder, back to front. I could hardly breath. I kept shuffling towards my most desired item. People are shoving, and swearing under their breath (yay for Christmas spirit!). I finally make it to the aisle that holds this wonderful bargain only to find that they are all gone. I watch as an older, grandmotherly type walks away with a cart filled with 8 of these items (this particular store had lifted their cap of 1 item per customer). I wanted to cry. I'm disappointed. I'm realizing that I just gave up my only day of sleeping in to be shoved around and sworn out, only to walk away empty handed.

Okay, so I didn't leave empty handed. My husband found some things for himself and we waited in line for an hour (yes 1 full hour) to check out.

So this Black Friday experience was not great for me. I learned a great lesson. I won't do it again. I will stay home, sleep in and then wake up and make a great breakfast for my kids. After that we will veg out all day watching corny Christmas movies.

So the lesson here is that I can save money every day by going to T J Maxx, I don't need Black Friday! LOL

So did anyone else brave the crowds? Did you get some great bargains?

Happy Thanksgiving!! I cannot believe that Christmas is less than a month a way. WHERE does the time go?? Sheesh. I'm avoiding Black Friday this year. Shopping on that day totally ruins my holiday spirit. I can't stand to see people so desperate and inconsiderate of one another.

We are staying home this entire weekend and just hunkering down. We'll put our tree up and decorate the house. We'll watch tons and tons of Christmas movies and eat lots of leftovers. Next week we will shop for pants just a size bigger/ LOL!!! Just kidding. Sort of.

I hope that you each have a wonderful Thanksgiving full of family, friends and love.

Shannon

I posted in forums regarding my dilemma concerning the family that we "adopted" for Christmas. As I was looking at the letter from the mother I found myself being very conflicted. I'm pretty conservative and I'm extremely particular about what my kids wear. I'm selective about the stores that the shop in and I watch carefully to be sure that any of the T-shirts with phrases on them are not offensive. So, now you know where *I* stand about things like this.

This girl has asked from clothes from this skater type store that shall remain nameless. The clothes that come out of there are just not something I'd allow my child (any of them) to wear. Most of the shirts are vulgar or disrespectful. Because I am not fond of the items in this store and what they represent, I decided to get her a T J Maxx Gift Card. This way she can still buy what she likes but I'm not giving my money to a store that I don't support value-wise.

My husband says that I should put my personal feelings about this store aside and give this young lady what she wants. So now, I'm conflicted. Sigh.....

Shannon

We all know how much I adore Reese Witherspoon. I think she has such a classic look about her and she is always dressed so appropriately. I know that to many folks, I sound stuffy. The thing that I like is that I've never seen her wear anything that she would be ashamed to wear home to meet her boyfriends mom or anything that would cause her kids embarasment. She's not out for the whole "shock factor" deal. She just seems so real and so down to Earth. Her new movie is coming out this week (Weds) and I am so excited to see it. Here are pictures from the premiere of Four Christmas's.

This is Reese with one of her co-stars.


Full length shot.


Check out the shoes!! They are SOOO cute!


Shannon

Every year I find it hard to refrain from going overboard for my kids. I blame my mother for this. My mother loved to shop for my sister and myself. We had a sectional sofa in our living room and half of the sofa would be filled with my Christmas stuff and the other half would be filled with my sisters. We would have perfumes, dolls, earrings, barbies, cassette tapes, etc. It was amazing and very exciting. The only bad part was having to find a place for all of the new stuff. Being the pack-rat that I am, it was nearly impossible for me to weed stuff out. It was just overwhelming. So, as I was saying; every year I have to resist the urge to go overboard. I want make the holiday great for them, but I also don't want anyone to loose site of the true meaning of the season. My friend told me about something she is doing (she heard it from someone else) and I thought that I would share it here with you all. Being T J Maxx shoppers means that we are looking for ways to cut costs and not scrimp on quality, right?

This year we are giving the kids 4 things
1) A want. This can be a toy, electronic, etc. Probably something more expensive
2) A read. This can be a magazine subscription or a book.
3) A wear. This will be an outfit 4) A video This has cut our Christmas budget in half. I'm amazed and so excited to giving them each something they want, but maintaining reason. How is everyone else saving money this year?? Shannon

I am sitting here, in front of a nice, cozy fire trying to relax. I'm sort of planning my holiday decorating (yeah, I know; a little "type A"). I was enjoying the quiet and the scent of the house. My house normally smells like Cinnamon and spice during the fall and winter and then in the summer I use lighter scents (clean laundry smelling scents). How do scent your home??? What scent makes you just sigh with relaxation?
I love that I can go into T J Maxx at any given time and find a nice array of scents to use in my house. How lucky are we??

Shannon

I adore Miley Cyrus. I think that she is just the cutest, 'lil thing and my boys all think she's "really pretty" or in the case of the 13 year old, "She is SO HOT" (insert an eye roll here). I kept seeing headlines about Miley sparkling on the CMA red carpet and I had to check it out. I was a little disappointed. I don't think that either one of these dresses did her any justice at all. The first one looks like someone sewed a bunch of scrap, ribbon type material together and the second one? I just don't like the big, giant , flower looking things around the bottom. I think more than anything that the dress int he second picture is just too "old" for her. I thought I'd share the pics and let everyone else comment.





Shannon

There are times that, as I am perusing fashion blogs and what not that I come across things that initially make me wonder, "What on Earth was she/he thinking". Then, there are times that, if I look a little longer, the outfit sort of grows on me and I start to wonder if I might not wear something similar, given the opportunity. Here are 2 examples.


I think that Beyonce is incredibly beautiful. My initial thought on this outfit is, "Dang, she forgot her pants." Upon closer observation, though, I sort of like this one.


Then we have Fergie. She is so gorgeous. I love her hair. Her body is to die for (not literally, of course). My first reaction to this picture was, "Uhhh , you're a grown up. Put some clothes on." Then I thought about it; if I had body like Fergie's I think I might be tempted to show it off like this.....

Shannon

I'm talking about holiday decorating. I LOVE the holidays and I LOVE to decorate for theme. I was at my T J Maxx yesterday and they had some of the most beautiful Christmas decor that I've ever seen (sorry but my little digital camera decided to have malfunction, so I have no pics to share.). The decorations got me thinking about my own Christmas decor and that of others. I have friends that do themed tree's and some that do traditional. I, actually, some years do both. LOL! When the space allows I do an Americana themed tree and a traditional tree. The Americana tree has white lights, red. white and blue bows, silver and gold glass balls, and my white house ornaments. It stands in my "nice living room" in front of the window. On the years that we do 2 tree's, the traditional tree goes in the family room next to the fire place. It has multi colored lights and all of our special little family ornaments. I pick up a salt dough ornament every year at the local craft fair that in some way represents my crew (7 snowmen with our names on the hats or 7 stockings with our names on them hung over the fire place). This year we will do only one tree. I can't imagine getting the little one's at my house to leave the family room tree alone and I just don't want to fight that battle every day of the holiday season.

I love to drive around during the holidays and see all of the lights and decorations and tree's. How do you decorate for the holidays? Do you go all out like Clark Griswald or do you just put up a tree and call it good? Tell me about your Christmas decor. Post pics if you'd like. Make my day!!

Shannon

So, I was getting my weekly dose of celeb news, gossip and fashion and I came across two pictures that made me stop and say, 'hmm". I thought I'd share them with you all along with my thoughts (I know you're all just dying to know what I have to say here).


Okay, seriously. What is the little flappy thing over the top of these boots? What purpose does it serve? I suppose if it didn't look so preposterous I wouldn't be asking that, now would I? Combined with the fact that the boots are GRAY!? Sheesh> I rest my case.


The style of this dress is not bad at all. I think it's cute (the style). The belt is a sweet touch and I like the shoes as well. My problem with this is the fabric. It's just too much, in my opinion.

Shannon