I don't dislike iTwelve Days of Christmas, but it is LONG!

I went Christmas shopping at a "Craft Antique Co-Op" today. It was Dickens Day and they were all dressed up and having fun. I am mostly done. Just really my mother to get. I think Maria suspected the things I got for her... It was so big, we couldn't even finish, and we were there for about 6 hours. My family was doing "one gift", but I decided that a themed thing (like a hat and gloves) counted as one. So I got my uncle an alpaca hat and gloves and my aunt two dish towels, a salt and pepper shaker and some foodstuffs in a basket. I got Maria an Alpaca Hat and gloves she admired and an owl salt and pepper shaker ((I already have an owl mug and an owl doorstop). I was able to get a little Lennox collectible for Maria'smom.. So now just Sylvia and Aidan and I want to get my Dunkin Donuts peeps a bag of treats like I regifted last year to take over when I get my Christmas coffee.

I also got myself a nice Ralph Lauren tweed hat new with tags for $10, a cute $1 bracelet with prices and frogs on it, and one Franciscan Desert Rose (my favorite pattern) teacup to have my tea.

I have decided to go back to my college source and become a lots of jewelry wearing person, probably because I found so much jewelry in my cleaning. I had great, costume jewelry and turquoise pieces from my grandma. We had very much the same taste.

My mother asked me for mittens, so I've already bought her two pairs, but I might return them both in favor of something else! Because her favorite store has matching mittens and a hat she might like (and I think she needs a new hat!), but they are $$$. So I have to decide. (The ones I bought were (a) on sale but possibly the wrong color and (b) at a store by my house I was already buying something at.)

I had the most obnoxious customer today, he took the crown away from the couple who kept saying all our fitting rooms were closed. My very first customers are all adults, Mom in her 70s maybe and her son who was in his later 40s to mid 50s maybe. And other family members. Dude starts in with "Did you take Valium this morning? did you take Valium this morning?" While his mother is trying to talk to me and someone else and then he goes "you're going to need it , she's difficult" about his mother.

Who was standing right there.

I was already hot, I'm tired, I'm over people's damn drama about the holidays and I am really over pushy, demanding white men who think belitting people is the most fun ever. So in a moment of frustration I said "I didn't sleep well last night, I'm sorry I won't be able to be entertaining for you today."

His mother was difficult but I managed through.

my coworker was like "Oh my god did you really just say "I'm not your entertainment?"

Oof, the next couple of weeks are going to be brutal, huh?

I was grocery shopping earlier, along with everyone else, and was still bagging when it was time to pay -- come to find out the cashier was thrilled to have one second to take a drink while she waited for me, so I may do that again on purpose....

It's only 9 days of shopping left , well after today. PANIC EVERYONE!

Next weekend is going to be BRUTAL in terms of scheduling. I'm scheduled 2:30 pm to 11ish on Friday. 9:30 am until 6:30 pm on Saturday. Then 3:15pm to 12:15 am on Sunday and 10 am to 7 pm Monday.I briefly talked to my supervisor about this and she said she'd have to print out hte schedule and look at it and figure out a change. I told her I could do one of the clopening shifts but not both unless there was no way to change it.

The managers are working 6 days a week 11 to 12 hour days. I think the actual store manager is working 7 days a week . He was out there today moving around displays when certain products got low to fill up space. Someone got one of the big bin/cart things and decorated it so it would look festive when they were out on the floor putting out boxes.

there were several nice customers who said they understood. Two said they could never work retail and had a lot of respect for those of us that do.

Work is doing a good job of keeping up moral.There is kind of a theme or someth9ing every day going up to Christmas. Today was hot chocolate and candy canes. Tomorrow is Christams movies and popcorn. Another day they will have Little Debbie Christmas tree snack cakes and (I can't remember). There is an ugly sweater contest and Friday is our Holiday meal.

Wow, askye, that sounds exhausting!! Good luck keeping it together through the holidays!!

I last minute Thursday night decided to come down to Portland to visit a friend for the weekend. We went out dancing last night and just hung out doing not much today, then saw "Knives Out". I feel like several Buffistas were liking it so I figured it would be good. I enjoyed it, not sure if my friend was into it though after she said she needed to pee for the last hour of it but we were all the way at the end of a row. So she may have just been distracted!

Sophia that all sounds really good. It's great to hear you sounding so happy!

In the drama of my car registration I don't have the paperwork from the bank yet. My days off this week are Sunday and Monday. I need to go to Brevard and get my meds Monday so I will do that as quickly as possible and pray the letter is here amonday so I can race around and get that done.

My next days off after this are Christmas and the Sat after Christmas. If my closing shift on Friday stays theoretically I could try and do something before work. But realistically it will take longer than I have considering I have to be at work at 2:30 pm but realistically that isn't enough time.

I am going to call Monday to see what will happen if my tag expiries. I may have to lie and register my car again in NC Monday and then pay for registration again in Jan in SC. I really don't know how unethical or illegal that is but I don't know what choice I may have.

I don't even know what to do about my income tax when I filed. I am feeling like a failure and like a tax cheat right now and very guilty.

I would do the lie, thing askye. What is up with the income tax? I think I forgot or never knew. I am terrible at adulting things myself, but I am pretty good at fixing other people's things.

My failure right now is that I am getting a couch delivered on Tuesday. But Petunia has a vet appointment on Tuesday, so I need to call and arrange.... something. But I left it to the total last minute and now I feel like a jerk calling. I was totally going to call Friday afternoon and then I got stuck with the 4 hour lunch and they were closed!

We have some very high level professors who do this sort of jerky last minute thing all the time, and LIE about the reasons to put the blame on other people, and they still seem like they are successful, high level people, so sometimes I tell myself to channel my inner Mxxxx Mxxxxx (name changed to protect the guilty) and do the sort of shitty thing. I do accept the blame and then I feel less guilty.

I think sometimes we are all failures and just trying to hide it from each other, but we need to just be honest, own up to our failure and people will help us. Or that is what I learned this year.

I do not know what to get my mom. So far I have a joke gift, and a pair of Alpaca socks. I was going to get her some CDs of new music I have discovered that I like, but Lizzo is out of stock on Amazon (she has successfully liked Pink, Adele, and Ed Sheeran in the past). I got a button maker for Sylvia. Aidan is still a mystery. Maybe for my mom a gift bag of fancy expensive foods she would get for herself? She doesn't want more stuff. What I really want to do is call a repairman to tell her that her oven is OK to use. The kittens pulled some insulation out of it, and she hasn't used it in two years because she thinks there will be a fire, and she can't adult either, so she wont call a repairman to set her mind at ease, and just doesn't use the oven

Can you set up the repairman visit for a day you are there? do that.

Can you pay Aidan to sit at your house for the couch delivery? or do you know any other college students who could do it?