You've Got Mail Monday

Lots of fun stuff around here. The Lil' Princess had a wonderful birthday party/sleepover this weekend. We survived, but it sure makes getting ready for Thanksgiving a challenge. I'm hoping to get most of the Christmas trees up this week, but I'm not stressing over it. I know the decorations will be up before it's time for Santa to slide down the chimney. I also need to focus on baking for the Christmas bazaar.

Last week was another fairly heavy mail week. Some Christmas presents for Dad and the girls arrived. I can't tell you what they are right now, but I will say that I'm loving Zulily and the pre-Black Friday deals from Walmart. I wasn't sure how much I would like Zulily when I first joined, but I'm using it more and more as time goes on. They have special sales events where you can get deals on brand name products for a limited time. Zulily places one bulk order with the merchant and it gets shipped to them and on to you. Now, there are times it takes awhile to get your merchandise, but I've been very happy lately with how quickly my purchases have arrived. My last order was placed on November 9th and it arrived today.

On Friday, my Hidden Valley® Ranch party pack I received through Crowdtap arrived. It included a Hidden Valley Team Ranch T-shirt, a bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch Original Dressing, a packet of Hidden Valley Original Salad Dressing and Seasoning Mix, a packet of Hidden Valley Original Ranch Dips Mix, and a party insert with activities, recipes, and a coupon. It also came with samples for my guests, inserts with coupons, and a surprise.

Prizes from the Penny's Tales Christmas in October Giveaway are still arriving. This week a copy of Due Date by Nancy Wood arrived, as did some swag from author Mary Waibel. I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but some lovely swag also arrived a week or so ago from Marsha R. West.

You wouldn't believe the sheer number of catalogs the mail carrier delivered last week. Some of the usuals showed up: FrontGate, L.L. Bean, Oriental Trading, and the Gardener's Supply Company (probably my favorite these days). Hammacher Schlemmer sent a catalog this month. I usually get one a few times a year. Bits and Pieces, which includes many clever gifts like unusual puzzles, has been coming the past few months. MindWare is an educational toy catalog. Already the Lil' Diva has circled potential gift ideas. Totally new and had never seen before catalogs came from Doctors Foster and Smith (pet care) and King Arthur® Flour (baking).

The Spring Classes catalog arrived from Springfield Technical Community College. I browse through it from time to time, but I haven't had the time--or money--to continue pursuing my degree. And with the girls getting closer and closer to starting college, I don't think it's in the cards for me right now, no matter how much I would love to complete my degree.

New issues of Health, Shape, and Traditional Home magazines showed up in my mailbox this week. For books, I received a Michael Neugebauer edition of Hansel and Gretel by The Brothers Grimm and illustrated by Sybille Schenker and two copies of Pursuing the Christ: Prayers for Christmastime. The author made mention of the limited time sale price from Christianbook.com on Facebook, so I picked up a copy for me and one as a gift. Along with that, came a copy of the new VeggieTales® DVD, Merry Larry and the True Light of Christmas. I'll share the DVD with the Sunday school kids.

Wow! That was a mouthful. Hope you have a great week.

You've Got Mail Monday

I certainly wish the grass around my mailbox was as green as in this picture. Alas, though last week was mild, we still have plenty of snow to keep us company. The kids had a two-hour delay on Monday thanks to some sleet and freezing rain, but some communities couldn't hold school until Tuesday. At least the kids had fun playing in all that snow.

Today kicks off winter vacation, so it will be crazy around here. I figured I better get my blog post done early or it might not happen at all. Vacation did not stop the Lil Diva's (11) teachers from giving her a boatload of homework. I think they missed the definition of the word "vacation." I'm all for letting kids enjoy their time out of the classroom.

So, back to my mailbox. It was definitely a book week. I treated myself to some used books from Amazon a couple of weeks ago. They finally arrived: The Gift of Family by Linda Ford and Karen Kirst, Nothing Special by Geoff Herbach, and The Mommy Diaries: How I'm Surviving Parenting without Killing Anyone by Dallas Louis.

I won a copy of The Tartan Shroud by Ken Dalton during a blog giveaway. A copy of Iced Chiffon autographed by author Duffy Brown came in, and my review copy of Beyond the Valley by Rita Gerlach arrived, which I'll be reviewing in March at The Book Connection.

The products I ordered from Zulily arrived, too. They have great deals. I bought a sundress for North Carolina. A new trash can for Dad's office. And the whole reason for my excursion to their website: a Chroma Dry-Erase 4-Piece Calendar Wall Decal Set, which I bought for the Lil Diva and Lil Princess (9) to play school with. These are peel and stick calendars that can be removed and used again. It came as a pack of four, so the girls and their friend that plays school with them each got one and I have one for my office. I also ordered a black belt to go with my bargain dress ($1.91) that I bought recently. I was disappointed that the belt had a little blemish, but I'll get over it. It's not overly noticeable and I got it at a steal.

Dad had ordered the second season of Simon and Simon. That came in at the end of the week. He and the girls watch a TV show before bedtime each night. We've run through all the seasons of Walker, Texas Ranger, and have been moving quickly through the seasons of Magnum P.I., so we figured Simon and Simon would give us something else to watch. I'm hoping to convince the girls they would like Murder, She Wrote. I watch it on Netflix.

The only other item of mention this week was a catalog from Grandin Road. Haven't seen this one before. Loved their Leather Julien Stools featured on the back cover, but so would my cats. As much as I love those furry little beasts, they are tough on the furniture. If they clawed a leather stool, I would have to get cranky. What I like about this catalog is that the decor is elegant and the prices affordable. I'll have to look at it more this week.

That's it from my neck of the woods. Hope you enjoy President's Day.