My sister and the rest of the gang did their best to cheer me up. I got more presents than I’ve received in years! I didn’t need any of them, but I appreciated every single one of them. I think my sister alone bought me six or seven gifts. LOL One of them was one of those funny t shirts with a saying on it that I’d better not repeat here that made me laugh for a few minutes. It definitely fit what I’m going through.

Another reason why Christmas was different is because I actually stayed over at my sisters. I’ve never done that before. I stayed over Christmas eve until boxing day (3 days) and because I have a dog she also stayed at my sisters too. Oh and it was the dogs first time around cats so that was interesting. Luckily the cats and my dog got along fairly well so that was a good thing.

How was your Christmas or Holiday season?

She’s just started her own home business making all kinds of craft items -everything from hair clips to fancy dog collars to home made soaps and so on. I don’t even know the extent of what she makes but there’s all kinds of things. I don’t even know where she finds the time to it all. She’s always posting new pictures on her Facebook page of new items she’s just made.

Anyway, the other day I called my sister and my niece was busy making some kind of no sew blanket. My sister explained how she was doing it, but I think I’d have to see it to really understand – but it sounds cool. The floor was apparently covered with material, bead, yarn and all her crafting tools. I’m surprised my sisters cats didn’t get into any of the stuff that was scattered about!

The Christmas gift I got for my niece has everything to do with her craft business. I hope she likes it.

Do you have a crafty person in your family as well?

Obviously I’m still going to have to do some shopping in stores, but luckily it’s still early enough in the month that I can do a little shopping online if I can find some gift ideas for the people on my list. For example, one of my friends lives in a rural area and she’s always complaining about her cellphone service. She has a lot of trouble getting reception so .. I found this wilson cellular booster online and I’m thinking about getting her one. I’m sure it would help make her cellphone work better for her when she’s at home.

Ok .. time to start browsing online for gifts … How about you, are you all caught up on your shopping or are you still checking people off your list too?

I would like to get some, if not all, of my Christmas shopping done before November is over if that’s possible. I’d love to be finished before the stores and malls are crowded with people. Better yet – I might even be able to do some of my Christmas shopping online. I found a site that has some great ideas for personalized mens gifts and that might help me cross a few names off my list.

How are you doing with your Holiday shopping? Did you start yet? One thing that I know for sure – I’m going to try not to spend too much this year!

It’s funny, I’ll bet that those of you who’ve never seen a jeweler at work have no idea what kind of tools we work with, but you’d probably be surprise at just how many dental tools we use. In fact quite a few of the tools that I used when I did designs on pieces of gold manually with a spinning diamond (diamond cutting) I did with one of those dental foredom drills! I guess it’s kind of like a Dremel drill but more powerful. Anyway … the jewelery tool suppliers likely bought some of their supplies from discount dental equipment suppliers because I swear 25% to 50% of the tools and products that jewelers use are the same ones that dentists use too.

I bet you never thought that nice teeth and beautiful jewelery had something in common? LOL

Now what should I do with my old “jewelry” equipment?

She came to me a month or so ago asking for advice on how to start a small business and once I knew what kind of business she was working on I suggested that she set up on Etsy. However things have just exploded for her in the last month and I hear that she might be looking into unsecured business loans soon! Yes … that’s how fast things are picking up.

I hope that her business takes off. Of course if it does she’ll probably have to hire a few people to help her out. Anyway if you love craft items or need to get some as gifts for friends or relatives check out Muench Love Creations.

It’s hard not to be like that when the economy has been so bad for the last few years. Even in good times it’s a good idea to watch for deals and to conserve your money.

I’m always watching for coupons online or in flyers that come to my door so that when I go out shopping I can use them to get the best deals. Likewise, I do the same when I shop online. If I know I’m shopping online at a particular store I often do a search for coupon codes to see if I can find some deals on the products that I’m looking to buy. I just recently came across a website that offers walmart coupons. I’m sure I’ll put those to use at some point in the near future.

Do you shop around for bargains and deals? Do you use coupons when you shop in stores or online? What else do you do to try to save money?

This weekend my husband and I are going to go to the Canada Blooms Show downtown. I haven’t been to that Gardening show for a few years now. I’m going to bring my camera and my video camera and I expect that I’ll have lots of material for my gardening blogs after a day long visit! I’m sure I’ll also manage to find a few new plants to buy as well, as I always do at these kind of shows. Even though my garden is pretty much jam packed with plants!

While we’re downtown we might visit the jewelry district to look at watches. My husbands watch stopped working a while ago and he’s always liked momentum watches so maybe we’ll find him a new watch too.

Are you as happy as I am that Spring is almost here?

I can’t!

The iPod Nano is the iPod that most interests me. We have a large music collection – so I think the 16 gig model would be best — even bigger would be better, but 16 gig is a start.

Anyone have an iPod nano? Can you tell me how you like it? Pros? Cons?

We’re in a real budget crunch so I didn’t go nuts spending money at at any of the big sales. Oh and there was some good ones here in Toronto! Boxing day sales are the best! I really had to hold myself back from buying a new 8 mg flip camcorder when I saw it online for a really good price. A friend of mine wants a new rack mount lcd so I’m keeping my eye out for deals but otherwise I didn’t end up buying anything other than a Belgium waffle maker.

So .. did you buy anything at any of the big after Christmas or new year sales? What did you buy?