Christmas Shopping

With that $40 of birthday money burning a hole in my pocket (hee hee), I talked Buck into an afternoon of Christmas shopping. My primary goal, was to see if I could get my Welsh ring fixed as a birthday gift to me. I purchased it in college on one of my Ireland trips. I popped across the pond to Wales, and found this beautiful, dainty ring that looked like it once belonged to royalty. Silly me, I wanted it resized. They stretched the pinkie ring to fit my middle finger . . . and of course, it later snapped, because the gold was so crazy thin. I love it, but haven't worn it since we left California (that's how long it's been broken). So, I thought with my birthday money (not just the $40 :) I'd try to get it sized back down and maybe have a smidge of gold added to improve its durability.

We used to have a great jeweler who created custom pieces and did repairs for us before we moved. Here, we've been going to Kay's. Yes, every kiss begins with them, but they also have some decent prices in our very low budget range :) Unfortunately, the ring is European gold (10 K) which they do not work with in the United States. Over the phone, the sales woman told their main jeweler it was "the most beautiful ring she'd ever seen," which is quite a compliment from a lady who works in a shop filled with diamonds and gemstones. Since, I don't think my birthday money will cover a trip to Europe for a resize and fix . . .

We just went to Hu Hot to eat instead :) Birthday lunch! Actually, the Kay's lady did give us a suggestion of a place in a larger, local city that might do custom work. Otherwise, we'll maybe head back to our old town sometime and see what our jeweler friend can do? Someday I'll wear my pretty ring again!

After lunch, I had a stack of coupons and a vague list of gift ideas in mind. Buck can only take people for so long, so I had to strategize. I warned him this would be a hit-or-miss kind of shopping trip, because I (VERY unlike me) didn't know exactly what I was looking for, but he was a good sport and tried his best to stay cheerful . . . in a retail wonderland :) See, I even convinced him to sit in a Santa chair at Kohl's!

I also found this GIANT moosen!! It was so stinking cute! And probably a million dollars, but hey, people like us who can go to Europe to get a ring sized, we've got all kinds of fluff to spend. Ha, yeah. Just the fluff ;) I seriously think the moose was bigger than our Costco bear . . . and there are not many things bigger than that Costco bear, lol!


To my surprise (and Buck's delight), we ended up finding gifts for our remaining list-makers! Only Caelan remained, but I had a good idea of what I wanted to get for her. Back home we loaded the top bunk in the classroom/guest room with Christmas cheer (carefully boxed and marked with NO PEEKING, and then covered with blankets). Usually the December surprise treasure-trove is blocking my jeans, sweaters, and shoes. It is so nice to use my closet this year! Well, actually after spending several hours wrapping and reboxing, I moved everything up to my closet, so my mom and brothers have a place to sleep tonight, but I'll move them back and get my closet back again soon :) 

And what have the kids been doing while we're out running errands and they're on school break? Well, shooting lip sync videos of course! Here are some behind the scenes pictures--ooh, ahh! The making of a masterpiece, a.k.a. "The Day after Thanksgiving." I'll have to see if I can upload it here later.