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That snow blowing around kind of adds to the haoliday thang.
Kinda funny, I dont know that area of town at all, so I'm trying to get a mental picture of what you two are talking about.
So far I see Gae and Trav driving by a vacant building with reason pulling on the locked doors of it tries to get in LOL [img]wink.gif[/img]
With no wife, no girlfriend and no kids I really do get off easy when it comes to holiday gift buying.
Got you PM gae, but cant reply until you empty your PM box.
As for your message, yes I did know that [img]wink.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/devil.gif[/img]
Ah, dear Big Sexy... do you mean the defunct business or the place on the south west corner to Nasir's fine establishment? You know the one I mean -- hand lettered signs advertising "hooooodeyies" and the like.
If you are talking about the defunct business, trav and I went by Tuesday night on our way to Bacalls and I opined that obviously having The Big Sexy bitch works.
BTW, check your email. You'll get a smile from it and I will simply say that it's obvious that my work is done.
The 'Droid procured two holiday* presents yesterday, the earliest on record for this curmudgeon. I thunk up another one today**. I'm done for another few weeks...
*not in Sears
** NY Times Sunday subscription for my formerly staunch Republican mother turning raging Democrat.
Jumper & D2 are actually way ahead of schedule this year. They have procured several presents for the youngsters in both families and have even discussed procuring gifts for each other.
Generally Jumper waits until Dec 20th or so before deciding to go shopping. Jumper thinks christmas is a colossal waste of time, money, and energy with all spiritual meaning subservient to the megamalls and the next great toy.
Merry fucking Xmas!
For once, I agree with Jumper. [img]frown.gif[/img]
Jumper,
Sometimes I wonder why people let the religion of commercialism take over their spirit. All you have to do is feel what?s in your heart and stay away from the malls.
Except for ourselves we are almost finished with buying and/or making all our gifts. Here is a short list of some of the things we are giving this year:
10-month-old grandson gets 30? x 18? x 18? wooden toy box with rope handles and his name on top. Box was stained dark walnut and then wiped down with stain remover to get a medium dark antique color. His name was added to the top and then the box was given two coats of high gloss polyurethane.
Toy box Kit $39.95 from The Hobby Lobby
Stencils $3.95 from The Hobby Lobby
Stain and polyurethane left over from refinishing our stairs.
Actual cost $43.90 plus tax and about four hours of my time making something with my hands and thinking about my grandson. Estimated cost from The Bombay Company at the mall $95.00.
Daughter is getting (still in progress) a sun catcher. This consists of two 3? x 3? and one 4? x 4? glass ornament hanging from a short 12? curtain rod. Tomorrow afternoon the ornaments are being constructed of two pieces of glass, one beveled and one flat with pressed flowers sandwiched between diagonally to turn the square into a diamond shape. The edges of the glass pieces will be covered with ?? copper tape and will be soldered together with a small fishing swivel at the top point. Thin copper wire will attach the ornaments to a short 12? x ?? curtain rod in a staggered pattern. The curtain rod is the type with a hole at each end that slips onto small ?U? brackets. The rod is mounted at the top of a window and the ornaments hang down spinning in the wind and reflecting colored light because the beveled edge creates a prism effect.
Glass $8.00 from the stained glass shop on Cheviot Road.
Copper tape $5.00 from the stained glass shop on Cheviot Road.
Curtain rod $1.29 from Home Depot.
Solder, swivels and copper wire from our basement.
Flowers from our garden dried and pressed by GAE this past summer.
Actual cost $14.95 plus tax and about 6 hours of our time. Estimated cost from a gift shop at the mall $65.00
Co-worker who covered for me while I was out of work for my neck surgery gets a four-ounce jar of Bahama Bob?s Jerk Spice rub and a pint jar of Mango Salsa. Spice jar has little label GAE made from clip art that has my recipe for Grilled Jerked Pork Loin. Salsa jar has tag GAE made from bright yellow card stock.
Jerk Spice estimate $2.00 from Jungle Jims
Mango Salsa estimate $1.00 from Jungle Jims
These are estimated costs because I made 12 jars of the spice rub and GAE ?canned? six jars of the salsa back in august when she also made the strawberry jam and habanera jelly we are also giving.
Our friend gets an 18? tall by 6? wide pressed leaf picture. This is a pressed and dried Boston fern leaf mounted vertically on pale yellow card stock about 3? from the bottom and angled about 30 degrees bottom left to right and a cluster of three small pressed and dried purple leaves from our ornamental plum tree mounted in the lower right corner.
Frame $.50 from E-bay (GAE got a box of 75 used frames for $35.00).
Spray paint to repaint frame $3.00 from Home Depot.
Glass $4.00 from the glass shop.
Card Stock $.25 from Kroger.
Leaves from our tree and fern pressed by GAE last month.
Total cost $7.75 and I have an almost full can of black spray paint left.
This same friend is also getting the Jerk spice and salsa gift and soup in a jar.
Soup in a jar is made from spotted pinto beans, pink beans, small dark red kidney beans, pasta Bow Ties and spices. Layer ? cup of each bean (in this case, pink, then spotted then red) in a quart jar then put ? cup pastas in plastic bag and spice mixture in another and place in jar. Attach tag with instructions.
Quart jar $1.00 from the Dollar store.
Beans, pasta and spices $1.00 from Jungle Jims.
Total cost $2.00
And before you say it, there are some hidden costs. Air compressor and nail gun $175.00 at Home Depot four years ago. Temperature controlled soldering iron $49.95 from the Hobby Lobby yesterday, but will be used for our new hobby. Next year most everyone on our list will be getting some type of stained glass item. We will be starting on them right after New Years.
<font color="#FFFFAA" size="1">[ December 04, 2005 02:11 AM: Message edited by: travelinman ]</font>
Trav forgot a few things, but did pretty well. Last year we spent too much time and too much money buying things that people didn't need and maybe didn't even want.
This year we've had a lot of fun putting things together for people. Maybe they don't need them and don't want them, but we've saved ourselves the stress of obligatory buying and that's a great present.
Maybe you should just celebrate "Festivus" [img]eek.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/hmmm.gif[/img]
Or maybe create your own holiday that involves some weird traditions and so forth. [img]wink.gif[/img]
[img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]cool.gif[/img] : [img]smile.gif[/img]
<font color="#FFFFAA" size="1">[ December 05, 2005 09:28 AM: Message edited by: cincygreg ]</font>
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Excuse me for thinking that sounds like an excellent reason for Wal Mart and Sears to call them "Holiday Sales" as opposed to "Christmas" Sales."</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I disagree. It?s the marketing and PC culture that has given birth to Holiday sales and the Holiday tree that is driving people out of the malls and big stores.Quote:
Originally posted by The Big Sexy:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Sometimes I wonder why people let the religion of commercialism take over their spirit. All you have to do is feel what?s in your heart and stay away from the malls.
While there will always be the lemmings that follow the marketing hype, more and more people are finding that instead of feeling joyful and happy during Christmas all the feel is stress and a desire to just get the damn thing over with. People are starting to understand that even if you?re not Christian, Christmas is a time for joy and being with family and friends, time for feasting and putting on a few extra pounds, time to let your anger go and accept and show tolerance, time to reflect and enjoy the feeling of giving to those you care about. Christmas is not a time for homogenizing society nor is it the time for buying the biggest, fastest or latest high dollar item some marketing plan tells you that your kid, wife, husband, boyfriend or girlfriend just can?t live without.
It?s a part of human nature to want and enjoy the Christmas sprit regardless of your faith or belief.