Just My Rambling

Since we are planning to tighten our belts financially next year, it means we will not be buying any more furniture for our house. Even though we really do need some more furniture, I guess we will have to make do with whatever we have for now. Sigh, there goes my long wish list which includes the nice plush home theater seating that I have my heart set on.

With only 3 weeks left in 2008, it is a good time to start thinking about my plans for 2009. One of my highest priorities next year is to be more financially savvy. Then first thing that I would like to do is to come up with a budget and see if I can reduce some expenditure and increase savings. It is always a good idea to have extra savings in this gloomy economy. I also plan to revisit some of my insurance policies like my home owner insurance and car insurance and get new quotes. Who knows, I might be able to get a lower rate for them. Hopefully with some careful planning, I will be able to come up with a comfortable financial plan for next year.

Wow, I can’t believe it’s been 3 weeks since I’ve done Photo Hunt. Life has been a whirlwind for the last month. Anyway, I am back with this week’s Photo Hunt. This week’s theme is Breakfast and I have lots of that in my food blog. So how about some . . . . . . .

Crepe with chocolate sauce

Or Pretzel

Or Dim Sum

No, I do not eat like this everyday. These are usually what we eat for weekend brunch. : P

Thanks for visiting my PhotoHunt. Have a great weekend , everyone & Happy Breakfast Hunting!

November and December are usually very busy months for us filled with birthday parties and holiday parties. The parties are always fun but they also wreck havoc to my diet plans. I can already feel the weight gain. Even the wood flooring is creaking under my weight! Yikes!! I think that I really need to make sure that I do not overeat at these parties this month else I might have to spend a lot of time at the gym next month.

It’s back to school for the little one and back to work for me yesterday. After 1 week of food, fun, friends and travel, it’s hard to settle back to routine again. Then after 2 weeks of routine, the little one will be off again for the Christmas break. Currently we have no major travel plans for Christmas. I am really looking forward to a quiet Christmas at home and maybe a sledding/skiing day in the mountains nearby. Got the tree up and the house decorated. Will post a photo soon.

I’ve got Lil’ C’s birthday cake post up in my food blog. So check it out to see the cake that caused me a lot of stress!! hehe…

Just wanted to wish all my readers in US a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! Enjoy your turkey dinner!! Anyone planning to camp out for the Black Friday sale?? When I lived in Florida, it was easy to go shopping at 6 am but now in the Pacific Northwest, it is just TOO COLD!! It is 34F as I am writing this. It will probably be the same on Black Friday and I am definitely not going to be standing in line in that freezing weather.

Yup, it’s gingerbread house time again. After having so much fun with last year’s gingerbread house, Lil’ C wanted to make another one this year. So I got this kit for $9.99 at Costco.

Lil’ C having fun putting it all together. Unlike last year where she wanted to eat the candies, this year she was the one who reminded me that the candies are not for eating but for making the gingerbread house. : )

Ta-da….the finished product now proudly sitting on top of my fireplace mantel.

These past few weeks, I have been taking a lot of photos of birthday parties and kids. It seems like we have been going to birthday parties, including Lil’ C’s, almost every weekend. However, I haven’t been able to find the time to download the photos to my laptop yet. I have also been using up all my memory cards. Looks like it might be a good time to stock up some flash memory during the Black Friday sale. Usually they are very cheap during the sale.

It has been a while since we last went on vacation. We were thinking of taking advantage of this holiday weekend to go on a short vacation. Gas prices are really low right now, so it will be a great time to take a road trip. I guess I’d better start looking for a hotel room before they are fully booked. Hopefully I will be able to get a hotel room with sleep number bed. They are usually harder to find but it’s always worth the effort.

Besides trying to catch up on all my work, I have been also been checking out all the Black Friday deals. Usually there are lots of great deals during the Black Friday but with this dismal economy, I wonder if the sale will be as good this year as the previous years. I don’t really have anything specific to buy this year but it will be great if I can find some great deals on camera accessories.