Gift ideas

Footwear
Youngest has these boots and loves them. I got them for her birthday last year. I was lucky. She has other pairs of Rockports, so I knew the size. And I was confident of the style. I had to order because she is an odd size. I ordered, she loved them, it was a surprise, I think. (She wears an insert for added support. We all wear inserts or have cookies added to almost all our shoes for more support.)

Middle is considering these same boots for her birthday. They are great.

If you have a teen or young adult where shopping for them is now really hard, consider taking them shoe shopping. It works very well for my kids. But you have to be okay spending $$$ because it is going to cost. I did this for oldest for the last two years. His birthday and xmas are close. It is extremely hard to guess what he might like. Shoe shopping worked great. And he needed the shoes. I think he got new running shoes both years. Plus two pairs of work shoes the first year. Plus a pair of casual shoes the second. So, yes, major $$$ but he needed them and it worked.

FitBit
Last year middle wanted boots for her birthday all year. There was a lot of boot talk. I got a lot of boot pictures. I got a lot of boot links.  I just kept saying - that is fine, we will buy when it gets closer. Then when we were a week or two out from her actual birthday, she switched to fitbit and that is what she got. I bought the insurance. It has already been replaced once. The insurance started over the moment it was replaced. No extra fee. Best Buy. She really uses her FitBit - sleep and steps mostly. Her

On Black Friday, I bought a FitBit for youngest for this Christmas. Target. I bought the insurance. I did it online and they held it at customer service. I knew the size (small) because middle had one. I picked it up on Saturday when we were back in town. No crowd, no wait. I gave it to youngest early (now) because she will be gone for xmas. And with finals coming, she can use it. We buy the ones that track sleep and monitor heart rate (plus all the other stuff).



OTTLite
If you have someone who does a lot of handwork of any kind, an OTTLite is wonderful.
http://www.joann.com/ottlite/
JoAnns carries a variety of styles. They go on sale often. JoAnns has coupons available all the time. Our local JoAnns also accepts the 40% coupon from Hobby Lobby.
I bought one for my mother for Mother's Day. I bought one for myself for xmas. Both of ours are floor lamps. We both also have short ones too.





HAIR
Bed Bath and Beyond for these first two. If you register online, they will send you coupons regularly.
(The Hair Turban does not work for people with really, really, really thick manes of hair. It works well for both of my girls.) Youngest has three Hair Turbans, two at college, one at home. She has two Turbie Bands (one at home, one at school). Middle has a Turbie Band for herself and buys for the gift bags she assembles for high school graduation gifts. (She has two graduating this spring and she has her bags filled and ready. Painted letters, Turbie Bands and manicure sets.)

A close friend swears by the Wahl Peanut. She cuts hair regularly, the boys go thru beard phases. Sometimes they arrive for family functions, she takes one look and gets out the peanut. Groom two days before wedding, for example. I do not cut hair. But middle cuts her boy's. And we have beards here too. So I have one of these on hand. As you can see, it has not been used yet. But it will save the day on some future occasion. So this is a good gift option too, in my opinion. I bought mine on sale at beauty supply place.

Doll House Explanation Post - tomorrow is the pictures

2011:
Youngest and I were walking through a local store and saw a floor sample doll house on clearance for $100. One of the front porch posts had been broken, it was dirty(ish), there was glue residue from signs being taped to it over the years, but it was assembled with the outside finished. And it was very cute.

I bought it.

It sat, upstairs, from 2011 to May 2013.



2013:
When middle came home from college (this spring), one night I had middle and my husband up in the attic with me, combing the shelves/floor for my old cartons of doll house furniture.

We found three cartons, one at a time.

I wasn't sure how many there were, but as we opened the first one, and then the second one, I could remember missing pieces, so we kept looking until we found the third. 

I had kept all the original (tiny) boxes.  So in each carton were more little treasures to be opened.

In one of the cartons was a full inventory. We can tell from the list that there are still a couple things missing. Not enough for another box. Tiny things that some how were lost.

So that night, very late into the wee hours, middle and youngest unpacked cartons and opened tiny little boxes in sheer delight.

Yes, it was charming and fabulous stuff.




And that very next day, we started working on the inside of the saved, clearance doll house.

We went to the craft store and bought the very lightest pastel acrylic paints (because middle did not have any pastels in her massive paint collection).

And we started blue taping and painting.  Youngest did half the attic over that first weekend. (She is not very arts and crafty, so half the attic was about right.)  

Middle did most of the painting.

I did a couple wee hours stints after everyone else had gone to bed. Getting a lot done those nights, when middle was stuck on an area, as the week progressed, and I had inspiration, so she could be thrilled when she got up in the morning.

If you are in your 50's you may relate to this. I tend to get things right up to my nose for detail work (eyes aging). In a doll house, can't get your nose all the way to the inside back of a room, because your head does not fit.

I left this note for Jane: Do you remember hunting for something in your car with all the garage lights off, and using a flashlight, CSI style? Middle and youngest and I are painting the inside of a dollhouse. It is setting in front of a HUGE window. During the day, sunlight aplenty, I can't see. At night, room lights off, using a high power reading light like a flashlight, I can see perfectly.

We got started the weekend just before middle's wisdom teeth. But most of this (painting) happened after wisdom teeth, during her recoop time.

Middle painting. We went and bought that lamp specifically for the project. It was my over sized CSI flashlight in the wee hours.

Middle still painting. We tried to do the stairs in two different colors (brown where your foot steps, white on the vertical part, but it was too difficult with the house assembled. 

She came home from surgery, with a shake mixed with protein powder, and a spoon, and instead of taking a nap, she listened to Say Yes To The Dress and resumed painting. She loves a good project. It was a very quiet, sit down project. It might have aided in pain management, it gave her something to do with her mind.

When I worked on the house with her, we had to switch to another show, but by the end of the week, I was watching Yes To The Dress too (amazed at what people will spend on a dress, and amazed at all the people whose breasts should not be in a strapless dress, like anyone over an A cup, but they buy it anyway).

At the end of that same (wisdom teeth/painting) week, our little 4 1/2 year old friend was coming to stay. So, we sort of had a deadline. We could either pick everything up, unfinished, or we could push to finish so we were picking up for real. We did finish. So, by the time our little 4 1/2 year old busy bee arrived, the painting was done. The furniture was in place. A scattering of wee rugs had arrived with the UPS man.

The 4 1/2 year old spent a great deal of time peering into the doll house and telling us all that she saw. She loved it. She understood she could not touch.




I am (now) on the hunt for a one room house for a detached kitchen.

My/our doll house kitchen stove is massive. I must have been attracted to kitchen stuff, because there was a lot of it in those three cartons. Since I was just in Charleston where most all the old houses had separate kitchens, it is an easy solution.

After painting an assembled house (challenging) we are looking for a shell to paint and then finish the details. Painting the walls before windows and doors (and stairs) are in, would be much simpler.




This was the explanation post.

Tomorrow's is all doll house pictures.