The Twelfth Day of Christmas

How could my holiday wish list be complete without a hoodie? And one I find on Cafe Press is even better! I'll always remember the great experience I had shopping (well, receiving gifts) through their site years ago, and I keep looking back for more great stuff!

While I love obnoxiously large hoodies, today I encountered the biggest problem with them - I literally can't fit any of my coats on over them! So I can tone the sizing down to a medium, I suppose... I liked this one because it totally suits my beliefs, without being remotely offensive to anyone else's. I could totally rock it.

The Eleventh Day of Christmas

Since we moved into this house more than seven months ago, my necklaces have been laid out across my dresser, haphazardly wrapped in a beach towel. It's the same way they traveled to this house, but they have no place to go since arriving! We had big plans to put little cup hooks on a few decorative shelves and put them on the wall by my dresser mirror. But it didn't happen. I'm scared of screwing it up, and then having not even a viable plan. Yeah, pitiful excuse.

Something like this over-the-door beauty from Amazon would make all my jewelry more visible and likely to be worn. And isn't that what I've collected it all for, over the years?

The Tenth Day of Christmas

The last few years I've used a spiral bound desk calendar for my personal calendar, but I've been thinking the last month or so that I'd like to go back to using my Franklin Covey organizer.

Luckily I already have the nice binder that I like, so I'm really just after refill pages. I probably would already have gotten them if either of the malls near us had a Franklin Covey store, but they don't. I'm not sure from looking at the website exactly what I want, so I need to make it to the store while the stuff starting in January is still on the shelves. Hopefully we can get it done during the week that hubby's off work around the holidays.

The Ninth Day of Christmas

Here's a super simple one - I want a gift certificate that I can use in the spring to get hanging flower baskets for the front porch. I wanted them all summer last year, and somehow never managed to move them high enough up my priority list to get them there! So I'm starting already for next year. I enjoy seeing the flowers on my front porch, and I somehow even enjoy the challenge of watering them regularly and keeping them alive. If I had a gift certificate ready to use in the spring, I could enjoy them for months next year!

The Eighth Day of Christmas

Although I just had a Thirty-One Gifts party a couple weeks ago, this hadn't occurred to me then...
Now that I'm sure Maggie is our last girl child and Jack is our last boy child, I'd love an attractive container like this to collect outgrown clothes in. If I put it in the laundry room on top of the dryer, I could just toss in the things I know they've grown out of as I take them out of the dryer, instead of folding them and putting them away, where Maggie will ask to wear them once again, or someone will try and cram poor Jack into something too small.

Something like this Large Utility Tote from Thirty-One Gifts would be pretty and practical, and save me a lot of seasonal sorting to get rid of old clothes. As the tote filled up, I could bag them and pass them along to hubby's co-worker whose wife is always collecting things for the charity where she works.

The Seventh Day of Christmas

I need some warm, dry boots. I thought I'd seen some darker purple-ish ones the other day while browsing, but I can't find them now. These look like they may work as well. I found them at Zappo's. I've never had a 'real' pair of Crocs, but I hear they're very comfortable. And I'm thinking the duck boot style will keep my tootsies dry.
Yay for dry tootsies!

The Sixth Day of Christmas

If you could see my office, you'd laugh at this next statement, but I'd really like all my stuff nicely organized. Of course that would start with my business stuff, but I already have ways to organize this, if I could just muster the discipline.

But with two kids now, I am feeling more and more guilt that I don't keep up on their scrapbooks (and by 'keep up,' I'm leaving off the fact that his isn't started, and hers is done through three-months old...but she's four YEARS old now). This craft storage center is AWESOME. Can't you just picture it with scrapbook paper in those big slots, photos sorted in the drawers, and a simple folding table nearby so I can work with it all in reach? Hey, a girl can dream, right?

The Fifth Day of Christmas

Sometimes free samples serve their purpose.

I got a free sample of this Fekkai Glossing Cream and LOVED it, but even the smallest size is more than $20! I just can't spend that kind of money on hair stuff, even though I really, really liked how much better my hair felt when I used it.

I made the sample last as long as possible, but now I'd really like a 'real' tube of Fekkai Glossing Cream for my hair.

The Fourth Day of Christmas

Somehow I'm sure I'll regret not picking out exactly what I want for this one, but I honestly don't really have it completely in my mind, if you know what I mean...

I need new sneakers. The tennis shoes I wear almost every day now are about 14 years old, as near as I can figure. They leak and the soles are coming off. Luckily I haven't worn them consistently the whole time I've owned them, so they don't stink horribly bad (or at least I don't notice!).

I think I'd like something other than the cheap, flat-bottomed ones with no arch support. What was comfortable most recently was a pair of Nikes. And really, if I get the boots I asked for, the sneakers will probably be fine to wait until spring...

The Third Day of Christmas

Since we've moved into this house (more than six months ago now!), I've wanted a bench to put by the front door so people can sit comfortably while putting on or taking off their shoes. While I originally pictured a wooden bench, this one from Target caught my eye today.

I'd never realized there was a such thing as a 'hall tree,' either, but there were several of those online too. It's sort of a combined spot to hang things up, sit down. and store things underneath. Basically they extended the back of the seat to be exceptionally tall, and put hooks there. Nifty.

So a hall tree could work pretty well where I'm picturing it too, but I think that was a bit more pricey.

The Second Day of Christmas

You may remember that a while back, my yoga ball broke. I tried to work around it and sat on the poor deflating ball for a few days, until I couldn't reach my keyboard anymore. See, I sit on the yoga ball as a desk chair. Now I've been sitting on a hard metal folding chair, and my back and butt are killing me! I even tried adding a pillow to the seat, but it really isn't helping much. I need my ball back. I was going to aim high and looked at some of the ball chairs online, but it seems to me that the base would keep me from rolling around when I was getting a little stiff. I'll stick with the regular ball. And I'll straighten the office before it gets here, so it won't develop the slow leak that the last one did.

The First Day of Christmas

I know I'm officially getting old, when one of my first requests for a 'gift' is a saute pan. Yes, of course we already have one, but all the non-stick-ness is peeling off the inside in a rather disgusting-looking way.

We got a full set of pots & pans when we were first married - I think they were relatively nice ones from Calphalon. But time is taking its toll. A few pieces have already been replaced, I think, or else I've just expanded our collection. We have a large fry pan and something else I got from Pampered Chef a while back. Maybe I just got them as freebies when I had a party? I really don't remember. But I'm sure they'd make a great saute pan to replace our rather reptilian one.