Sheila and Sarah - Day 26 - NOT PREPARED:)

Sheila Day 26

After I did some of my Christmas wrapping over the weekend, I realized that I was going to have to make a dreaded trip to Grand Forks to finish up some of my shopping as was not prepared!  I actually panicked a little bit, because the crowds, and the cranky salespeople, and pushy folks that are a whole lot of Grinches have the tendency to make me a very, very NEGATIVE NANCY!  I much prefer to shop in the comfort of my own home where I can add thousands and thousands of dollars worth of stuff to a cart, dream of what I would like to buy, and then hit the send button when I find what I deem the perfect gift.  Often, I love the hunt for the item that I loved in the store and I search for the deal of the century that lets me get it much cheaper.  Plus, I just do not like crowds that much, and this time of the year, well . . . shopping for me is not a whole lot of fun!  However, it NEEDED to be done.  So I trudged to Grand Forks bright and early this morning.

My first stop was at Cabela's . . . weirdly enough, the parking lot was almost empty.  SWEET!  I literally had the entire store almost to myself.  I wandered around, found what I needed, and was out of there in record time.  One for me!  Second stop, Scheels.  On a good day Scheels can be swamped and I anticipated that it would be AWFUL on December 22nd.  NOT!  I got to wander again at my leisure, touch some things, pick out what I needed, and even made idle chit chat with a lovely saleslady.  WOW!  As I made my way through the mall, first one store, then another, and another, all the same thing . . . peace, quiet, and easy shopping.  The only place someone got a little cranky was Macy's when I asked a salesgirl to strip the mannequin to get a lovely sweater for my grandma to wear for Rah's wedding.  You would have thought I asked for the Holy Grail, but no matter, everyone else in the store was amazing.  I made it in and out of the mall with everything I needed in an hour and a half!!!  I was so incredibly proud of myself and more than a little bit happy.  IF I had known, I might have tried this last minute, unprepared, strategy MUCH sooner:)

Off to get my oil changed at Rydell's.  Again, I was kind of dreading this stop as it is really boring to sit there and wait while your vehicle is being serviced.  BUT if you have never been to Rydell's it is a customer's dream!!!  They have hot chocolate, flavored coffee, fresh cookies (3 kinds), and a slushy machine.  ANDDDDD they also have Ipads so you can sit and surf the web while you wait.  It was actually quite lovely and the service was AWESOME!  Additional bonus, because I bought my new vehicle there, I get 2 years worth of free oil changes!  In and out in less than a half an hour.  FREE!

Last stop was Target as I needed to get a few things to send to soldier Boe in California.  Strangest thing ever!!!!!  When I walked in, it was completely dark.  The power had gone out on the whole block and I cannot tell you how what I discovered made me feel.  Peace!  People were shopping in the dark, looking at the things they needed, smiling at one another, and sales people stood by the door and offered folks apologies and Christmas cookies. Nobody was disruptive, or looting things, or disrespectful . . . it was total peace.  It gave me the most incredible feeling.  THEN the lights came on and people made their way to the checkouts.  Midstream the power outed again and clerks had to wait for their cash registers to reboot.  Behind me there was a woman and she was holding back the tears.  Her purchases were at the till and she told me that she thought she forgot her wallet and headed home.  She found it and bolted back in.  She said something about how horrible the day was and mentioned getting to the airport, and the tears trickled down her face as she turned away.  I smiled at her daughter and told her to go ahead of me.

It took awhile for the registers to work again, but salespeople apologized, people laughed, and they handed out cookies for those in line.  Kiddos thought that was AWESOME!  The woman ahead of me finished up, smiled and said thank you, and bolted out of the store.  This trip made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside as I found a bit of peace on earth good will towards men:)

I made my way home from my days journey and stopped to get my mail.  I have to point out that I love this time of the year and all of the cards I have received hang on my wall; however, I totally STINK at sending them out!  It is not as much fun when flying solo.  There were several Christmas cards and there was an larger manilla envelop and the return address was Martin from Oklahoma.  Martin?  Could this be from my Tammy Martin and how on earth did she ever FIND me? Tammy and I worked together as youth directors and I miss her a lot.  I see occasional posts on Facebook, but we have not connected in awhile.  This was from my Tammy. Sigh . . . I made my way into the house, plopped in the chair, and opened the manilla envelop.  In it was the most beautiful letter and a CD of her church band.  I cannot put into words how much it meant to read that the blog has touched her and for her to share the other things that she did.  God landed in my lap often today and that letter made the ending to my day of preparation totally perfect!!

Peace,
Sheila

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Sarah Day 26

My post today is going to be a bit shorter than usual. I'm heading home tomorrow morning for 4 nights and I have NOTHING ready. I still have to pack my bag, load up Christmas gifts, clean up the apartment, AND make Jesse something for his potluck at work on Christmas day. I only have a few hours in the morning as I have to workout at 6:30 and manage to be on the road by 11:00 at the latest. So I must get my butt in gear!

Tonight has been a happy night! Jesse and I decided to celebrate Christmas with the cats! Well, I celebrated with the cats. Jesse just watched and laughed, and he managed to snap a few good pictures. I have always bought Christmas gifts for my kitties, so this year was nothing different. Although Jesse and I opted out of buying gifts for one another this year due to our . . . lack of funds . . . we still set out some money for the furbabies!  
On their wish list this year were some treats. Obviously! Booboo asked Santa for some catnip filled mice, Pea asked for some of his favorite balls to play fetch with, and Grayboy asked for some compressed catnip, and more treats because he's fat and on a diet. Santa Sarah brought them everything they asked for, and a bit more! A new fuzzy kitty blanket for the couch for them to sleep on! Santa doesn't like when the cats get fur all over every single blanket it the house, so the solution was a blanket of their own. 

Christmas in the soon-to-be Castle household is minimal this year with the wedding coming up. It makes me a little sad because I love to Christmas shop, especially for my main man. However, I feel fortunate that Jesse and I were able to have a couple hours to hang out tonight and celebrate Christmas with the kids. He has been working the last 3 days from 7:00am-7:00pm and he works tomorrow through Christmas day. Growing up in a household with a police officer, I knew that Jesse and I were going to have to celebrate most holidays on a different day. I'm okay with that . . . Booboo, Grayboy and Pea, though . . . not so much! But they are learning, so we are just trying to enjoy our Jesse time when we have it!

Christmas with the kids!

All done. And now they're high on life, and catnip.

Sarah