#3, the kid that helped me out Saturday at the former Lair is one that I’ve known casually for a couple of years, and there are several layers of small-town attachment above knowing him directly.
I had been posting on Facebook that I needed a couple of teens to help, and there would be $$ and lunch for their efforts. Craig was the only one I got. Let me throw in that he turned 18 the day before.
He worked his butt off for me for about 3 hours, but had to leave for another committment, and I never had a chance to feed him. As he was leaving, I asked what he thought was a fair price.
“Uhh, maybe $20?” I looked at him, and handed over two twenties.
He mumbled, “That’s a lot more than I had in mind…”
“I promised lunch, and didn’t get to it, so happy birthday.”
He just about swallowed his own head grinning, because he was leaving for a hot date with the neighbor’s daughter to go to the UNC basketball game, and didn’t have much money to spend.
I can’t believe how quickly Christmas snuck up on me. I haven’t wrapped anything and I was going to get my dad one more gift. I don’t know if I’ll have time.
I still need to create my New Years’ card and I have no idea what I’m going to do.
For the life of me I can’t remember exactly when this was or what, but I think it was something like I needed help loading boxes from a truck. A lot of boxes. And I didn’t know anyone in the area as I was new. It may have even been the SDMB that made the suggestion to me, but if you ever need teen labor like that, (and it’s not like the middle of summer vacation*) contact your local high school’s football coach and tell him you need a few strong guys for a few hours of labor and you’re paying/feeding. (Failing that, try the other sports teams’ coaches). It worked out well for me.
Just for the future, a handy tip. Or for anyone else who finds themselves needing some extra muscle for pretty cheap.
*though actually, don’t they practice before school starts?
I feel the same way! I’m wrapping this week and sending the box to Tennessee (about the only gifts I got anyone this year, for financial reasons, were for my husband, son, and my half brothers/sisters who live with my dad and stepmom in TN) and hoping it gets there in time. It should.
It’s the card I’m worried about. We had a family portrait taken at JC Penney specifically for this purpose. What we do for cards is use the postcards from Vistaprint. They’re really affordable, and you can put your own picture on the front, and have text pre-printed on the back (our version of the annual “holiday letter”*) and then label them (I admit it: we print the labels) and mail them out. The problem this year is that I won’t even have the picture until Saturday** when I can go pick them up, then I have to go onto Vistaprint and design the card and order it, and they have to make it and ship it to me, then we have to label them and get them in the mail and… well… I think there is a high probability that people will be getting their holiday cards a little late this year.
my stepmom is the champion of these. Last year’s letter was 8 pages, both sides!
** When I called to make the appointment, we had plenty of time… I didn’t realize that they booked up so quickly and fully and so the appointment was for like 2 weeks after I called. I also didn’t realize how long we’d have to wait after getting the pictures taken to when we could pick them up (I had assumed that at least the one on disc we’d be able to get same-day, but no.)
Almost got to bed at a decent time and then slept til just 10 mins ago. Caffeine sounds necessary for life right about now. And a shower cause I slept on my hair funny. Rather the dog slept on my hair funny. Why?
She’s read the rules and initialed the forms. ‘No sleeping on people’s heads,’ ‘especially when they have appointments and don’t want funny hair and to smell of dog.’
The tamales I ordered are supposed to be here tomorrow. Four dozen yumminess bundles for Christmas. I may have to bunk some at my aunt’s 'cause my freezer is full.
So enough about me; what’s all y’all doin’ for Christmas Eve or day dinner?
When I lived in Tucson, you could pretty much count on (especially on weekends) Mexican women standing outside most grocery stores selling fresh, homemade tamales in the parking lot. I bet they were really good. I never bought any because they always had meat in them*, but I bet that those really authentic, really fresh tamales were good. They were probably cheap, too.
I haven’t totally planned what our Christmas dinner will be, but I think it will probably feature another one of these roasts. Sooo yummy. Definitely stuffing (Pepperidge Farm, as I’m too lazy to make it from scratch and that’s the only prepackaged one I’ve seen at a regular grocery store that doesn’t have some sort of chicken product in it). Not sure on what veggies to cook. We always do green beans so maybe I won’t do them this year. Possibly artichokes, even though they’re messy and expensive–they’re just so tasty with butter garlic sauce…mmm… Pumpkin pie is a must. Not sure if I’ll make or buy. I’ve never made one before (I’d use canned not fresh for the pumpkin–again, too lazy)–anyone have a really stand-out recipe? Or should I just use what’s on the back of the can?
Definitely going to make the two family tradition cookies for the holidays: Mace cookies and gingerbread men. Note, these are both crispy cookies. The gingerbread men are not the thicker, chewy kind. They’re really good, though. The mace cookies are better, IMO, but I like both and make both every year.
*I actually have had a vegetarian tamale before–it was quite tasty!
Yeah, good on both Opal and Bobbbio! Thanks for the link to the rolling pin on amazon.com, btw, Opal; I only get money at the beginning of the month, though (retirement) and the December one had been already budgeted, so it will be ordered in January.
Snow and rain have finally stopped here, at least in Albuquerque and hopefully we’ll have a couple of warmer days before any more cold weather arrives. Hopefully! The rain is a good thing here, though, and much needed, so it’s all good in the long run.
HOME!!! * YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!
*
My sweetie is drugged and bundled up in bed with the mattress pad on low since he was shivering. He was discharged around 1:30 and it took just over 2 hours to get home - we missed rush hour, so huzzah! Daughter just left after she and I shared some really bland chicken-n-dumplins. I’m tired but I’m not going to bed too early - that way lies madness. I’m waiting for poor Ziva to venture out from under the bed.
**tarra **- I stopped in a grocery store today to get a treat for my sweetie and some thank-you goodies for the floor nurses, and I saw plain wooden rolling pins for sale. Unless I read the wrong tag, they were only around $4! So maybe take a look in a few grocery stores?
We have to go back in 4 weeks to see both surgeons. Fortunately, he can go to his regular doctor to get the staples out next week or so - that’s a relief. He wants to shower tomorrow and I’ll have to help him because we don’t have a chair that will fit in the shower and we can’t risk him falling. According to the doc, the next couple of days will probably be the worst. Keep a happy thought…
Thanks for those stories of holiday cheer, Bobbio and Opal. I wish there were more like you out there that embody the true spirit of the season.
I think I figured out the perfect gift for my girlfriend’s cat. I’m going to find a box the right size for the cat to curl up in and then wrap it, leaving the top open, covered only by paper. That way the cat can enjoy unwrapping it and also snuggling inside it for what’s bound to be a much needed nap after all the excitement.
If I’m feeling ambitious, I might even wrap up the usual bi-weekly cat food donation too. Last time I was checking out at the supermarket, the clerk saw all the cat food and asked if I had a cat. I told her no, but I was putting my girlfriend’s cat through college.
May all you mummpers have a very happy holiday season!
I have no clue why y’all think I’m so good, when I know what a mean and rotten SOB I really am…
Ol’ Fred the former neighbor, the same one I owe a pan of brownies to tomorrow, would tell me that I was his guardian angel. I told him right back that my halo was so tarnished that they took away my wings.
Yeah, I agree. If **BBBobbio **was all that great, he’d be here at least weekly presenting me with chocolate love offerings. But has he ever? Of course not. **gt **was in town for a few days, and she brought me chocolate. **BBBobbio **lives down the road and he acts like he doesn’t die a little every day because I’m not in his life.
Yay for drugs! What? That’s not the point? It’s cause FCD is home? Well then yay! for FCD– that other stuff was a typo.
A tip for tamale buying: do not buy free-range tamales unless you like adventure. We always know someone who’s making tamales, or can hook us up. It’s how you avoid black olives instead of green. Or food poisoning.
Fifteen bucks a dozen is the price this year, and a good tamale is worth five hundred million times that much.
More tamale talk-- in Tucson, my mom’s friend had us over for green tamales. Jack cheese and green chiles and I’m still not sure about the masa, but not vegetarian, Opal.
They managed to be completely tasteless. Quite an accomplishment and I even had an extra. The hostess thought it was because I liked 'em, but really I was just trying to figure out how they managed such a feat of magic-atude.
Their house was a beautiful old Tucson style home and their family and friends were great. Just the sort of event a southwest match girl would watch through the window. Only in Tucson she wouldn’t die in the snow. A jumping cholla or luminaria fire would get 'er.
I have an owie. I gouged my leg on a open desk drawer. Lots’o’blood and BIG bruise. I will be keeping an eye on it lest it get infected like Bro’s GF’s did.
Week and a half before I’m unemployed and my boss tells me to hand out the new employee handbooks. Not just put them in people’s mailboxes like I’ve done before, but hand them out. I have no idea where to find most of these people. I don’t know their names. I don’t know what they look like (although I can look that up - I have access to way too much info). I’ve gotten about 80% of the people and I put up a note by the timeclock so the rest will find me.
I’m not having a good time, but I can fake it well.
Ouch Rosie! What’d you go and do a thing like that for?
Home, martinied, floor vacuumed. Gordie is hiding in his cage. wonder if there’s a connnection? Found out my “just friend” is out of town on business this week.
rosie, ow! You need to be wrapped in bubble wrap.
Opal, ya done good. Vbob, for $50, I don’t sully your street cred with this good deed.
Yay for a home FCD!
Nut, my friends and I just gift each other booze. a fifth is truly “One size fits all”.
is out of town on business this week. 