pool table

Holiday Gift Ideas: Chocolate Uranus? Suitjamas?

/ Jodi / 10 Comments

It is December 3rd.     22 days till Christmas.     That’s like a blink – right?

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And I have not even begun my Christmas shopping.

When the kids were young, I had organized lists well ahead of time, letters to Santa sent early, Christmas club accounts cashed out, layaways picked up, gifts wrapped and hid… and likely all done by December 3rd.

Not so much these days….

So even though I’m saying again this year we are downplaying the gifts, I’ve been scouring the internet looking for “just the right” little sumthin sumthins.

Here are a few things I am considering.  What do you think?

Did you ever wonder whSolar system Choco Kaiseki (nine sets)at Uranus tastes like?

For my chocolate-loving friends, Chocolate Boutique Rekura RIHGA has these gorgeous chocolate planet balls each with their own unique flavor.

For $50 a box, I think I’ll pick up a dozen or two to keep on hand for those last-minute gifts you always find yourself needing.

suit-pajamas
And you know how hard it is to find a gift for your boss that pretty much can buy anything he wants?  Well, I’m betting since he loves being in a suit so much all day that he would just be super-thrilled to have these suitjamas from ZBoss to wear all night too!  And they are quite the steal at only $99.95!    Check √

Now for that hard-to-buy for hubby…

Well – If I would not have just spent $100 and several hours of Jake and Nick and Colleen’s time buying and re-felting the pool table Marty got on Craig’s list, I would for sure have got snatched up this Ford Mustang pool table, which is a total steal for $9,995.  Dang!  It’s even in his favorite shade of red.  Oh well – sorry dear!
1965 Mustang Pool Table

pet-hoodiesBut I did find just the thing for my grandkitten!

Wonder if she will love her pet hoodie as much as her Mom and I love wearing our hoodies?

Score!

So thanks to the This is Why I’m Broke website for the great start on my holiday shopping!  If you have any more great ideas, please share.  I’m still looking for a bit more inspiration…

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

 

New Birthday Balls

/ Jodi / 25 Comments

I have to admit.  I love a good theme.
Party that is.

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Birthday, holiday, any ole’ special occasion.

You would think I’ve had my fix raising my two sons, celebrating birthdays, creating Halloween costumes, being homeroom mom every elementary school year.

But nooooo – my boys are in their twenties, hubby in his fifties, and I’m still “theme”ing it up when I can.  They always harass me about it, but “I’ll betcha a nickel,” (as Pap used to say) they would be disappointed if I didn’t….

So when Marty said all he’d like for his birthday this year is some new RED felt for a beautiful gently-used pool table Nick helped him find on Craig’s list for the “man cave,” I couldn’t resist going with it.

The kids came over one evening while Marty was at a meeting and did an amazing job re-felting the table from an ordinary green to an extraordinary burgundy red.  (and saving me $300+ labor to boot!)

pool table red felt

Going with the theme, the boys bought Marty some beautiful new balls (which we had fun with all evening) 🙂 and some other pool table accessories.

pool balls

Of course I made a pool ball cake…

pool balls cake 1

…which consisted of RED velvet cupcakes (they don’t make red felt cake mix) decorated as stripes and solids (even if not the exact colors and numbers to match as was pointed out to me – and THEY give ME a hard time about my themes!?!) with white Necco wafers I numbered with black icing.

And you don’t want to know how many rolls of those things I had to go through to get 15 whites – that were NOT broken!?! 🙂 I now have a pint jar full of all the other colors if anybody has any creative ideas for using these little disks of hard sugar that pretty much taste like nothing.  (C’mon Jill – I know you’ve got something in you!!)

And by the way – no need to purchase all the different colors of sugar.  Did you know you can simply add a couple drops of food coloring to a scoop of sugar in a jar, shake, and Voila! – colored sugar!

pool balls cake

And, of course,  I had to make a little card to go along with the theme too.

pool table cake

I got lucky and won ONE game of pool….

and ZERO games of “Smart Ass” – but we sure had a lot of fun.

Happy Birthday Merv!

Cheers & Hugs & Lots of Love,
Gert