Copy of a post from a BB.

We have had a couple of years where the rule is supposed to be only homemade and second-hand gifts allowed (Except stocking stuffers). It is a very low budget (usually) way to make for a Christmas when things are tight, I haven't had time to do any crafty stuff for Christmas this year because the the business and all of the baking. Also, all the financial investment in that has left me poorer than ever!

I have two projects I would like to finish and that will all the handmade that happens I think. I did find a great gift for Hippie Boy today - a cloth belt, made from hemp fibers. It was on clearance for three dollars - not secondhand, but too good to pass up. He has been wearing a belt he made from a bike inner tube and a buckle from an old belt. He likes it so much, though, he may not like the new one. There may be times that I will have to insist the inner tube belt come off and the purchased belt be worn. Sometimes as a mother, you just have to be cruel like that.

I NEVER know what to get my mom and dad. They don't really have any money, but they always buy too much stuff and have whatever they want anyway because they are hoarders. I have tried to give them stuff that will get "used up" like bath products and the like. Even then, sometimes I will ask my mom why she hasn't used the lotion/gel/body wash/whatever and she will reply something like. "I don't want to use it all up. It was such a nice gift." Then sometime when I go clean their house for them I end up throwing away my gifts because the clutter is out of control again. It is very frustrating.

I DO have a gift for my mother - Earlier this year when I was working in their kitchen I pulled a cord that I thought would turn off the hanging light - turned out the light had no switch and you had to unplug it to turn it off. I have purchased the stuff to make a nifty little hanging light to replace that one, and this one will have a switch!

Dad is a different story. I don't know if he can even read now, after the stroke. Maybe I will break down and go buy a DVD of some adventure or mystery movie. I looked for used movies and stuff today, but didn't see anything good. Maybe in the $5.00 bin at Wal-Mart it can happen.

Not too much time left and I have been working, eating, and sleeping at all the wrong times. I don't know if I will be able to do my norm. I guess my family will have to accept that the norm may either be changing or that it just can't happen this year.

I do wish I had my big Christmas tree out. I have out three of my little ones and I gave the medium one to Mom and Dad so they would have one easily. The corner where I put my tree, however, is filled with boxes and crates of ingredients and packaging and baskets for gift baskets, etc. Also the tree is in a back corner of the garage buried behind bicycles and furniture I intend to reupholster (daughter of hoarders, remember) and all kinds of crap and I can't get to it. Michael has been SO busy that he hasn't really had time to help like he normally would.

Part of Michael's busy is college application forms and essays and STUFF. We already have a good acceptance to IU with a $9000 a year merit scholarship for four years so he has his "fall-back" school. He applied early decision to a tiny, expensive school near Philadelphia. If he gets accepted there he is contracted to go. They swear if they accept you they make it possible financially for you to attend. We'll see....

I have written much more than I intended and really off topic. Sorry. I probably ought to copy this to my blog. I did write some today about my emotional difficulties with shopping, but I have been neglecting both my blog and my regular writing lately.