Author: suzanne day by day

Wish List Wednesday: Gift Ideas for a Tween/Teen Girl
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Wish List Wednesday: Gift Ideas for a Tween/Teen Girl

I mentioned yesterday that I have only the vaguest of ideas for holidays gifts for anyone this year. What better way to solidify those plans than by doing a little online shopping? Well, or at least online putting-into-my-cart-ing.

All images in this post are from amazon.com, except for the 3Doodler Candy, which is from Target.com. Links to amazon products are affiliate links.

The one thing I KNOW I am getting Carla is this drying hairbrush tool.

She’s recently gotten into crocheting. I don’t know a single thing about crocheting, but I love this kit with a bunch of brightly-colored yarns.

Oh! Or this little crochet project kit, where you can make CATS. I mean, this is enough reason for me to want to learn to crochet.

On a recent family trip, Carla noticed this board game and immediately requested it for Christmas.

We’ve got kind of a cat theme going, so why not lean in? This book about cats in myth and folklore sounds perfect for Carla.

I don’t really know if she NEEDS this little mindfulness Yeti, but it is SUPER cute.

Carla adores popping boba, and I found this great variety pack with different flavors. I would pair it with a package of fun fruit tea.

I tried to find a boba Jellycat and failed, but I did come across this bagel with shmear, which is darling. I don’t get the Jellycat craze, and certainly don’t understand why they are so expensive, but they are very soft and very cute.

Speaking of trends I don’t understand: Carla would love these squishy sticks of butter.

She has been wanting a little Polaroid camera for a long time. My biggest objection is buying film once she goes through what it comes with… but maybe that’s something she can spend her allowance on?

In terms of vintage/retro gadgets that are back in style, I think she would get a lot of use out of this MP3 player.

I’m pretty sure this flip book kit was in the running for last Christmas. It didn’t make the cut, but I think it’s SO cool.

Or maybe she’d like this create-your-own-filmstrip kit?

Carla and her cousin have gotten really into collecting Pokémon cards, and they require special storage. It’s amazing how quickly one can fill up a binder with these cards. Carla is in need of a new binder, like this one. Probably I would pair it with a bunch of Pokémon cards; apparently the Dollar Store is the best place to get those.

Speaking of Pokémon, Carla spotted this Pikachu in a store somewhere (Target?) and asked me to put it on her Christmas list. She is a sucker for an animatronic anything.

Ah, yes, it was Target. She spotted this 3D candy pen while we were there and wants that, too.

Every now and again, Carla dips into a bit of a witchy vibe. I think she would love these oracle cards.

Carla continues to love miniatures, and building things; this build-it-yourself greenhouse is the exact intersection of those two loves.

To that end, she would adore this Mini Brand bakery.

This feels like a good start for brainstorming. Are any of these items on your list for the tweens in your life? What is the Hot Gift among the tweens you know?

Tuesday Randomosity: Feeling Overwhelmed Edition
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Tuesday Randomosity: Feeling Overwhelmed Edition

It is Tuesday and Day Three of NaBloPoMo. I am already feeling Wildly Overwhelmed. It’s a GOOD overwhelm: I am so excited! So many new posts! So many thoughtful comments! And yet, I am feeling a bit like the toddler being attacked by puppies. The joy! The delight! The inability to do anything but lie there helplessly!

A humorous meme depicting a man looking back at a woman in a red shirt labeled 'New Blog Post,' while a woman beside him, labeled 'All the blog posts I still haven't read,' looks disapproving.

What is your strategy for reading and commenting on blog posts? I have no strategy and am therefore already behind.

Perhaps if I had planned my posts, and did not have to write those in the moment, I would have more time to read/comment and be feeling better about the whole thing. (If you have post suggestions for me, please feel free to share them via my Ask Me Anything form.)

Speaking of feeling overwhelmed, I am also feeling overwhelmed by:

…election uncertainty.

I voted. That’s all I can do. While I have no idea what’s going to happen – especially in my state, which feels like it could easily go either way – I am very much looking forward to the end of all the spam texts. There are so many and they are SO RIDICULOUS.

Screenshot of a text conversation featuring humorous comments about a person's candidacy and a playful remark about voting conditional on receiving a text from their dog washer.

…Christmas anticipation.

How’s your Christmas planning going? Mine, so far, encompasses some vague thoughts about potential gift ideas. Like, super vague. I may share some of them in post form, because that helps me organize my thoughts. We’ll see if I can get my act together.

A humorous meme featuring two characters from a sitcom discussing the stress of coming up with Christmas gifts in November. One character expresses their overwhelmed thoughts, while the other responds with a concerned comment.

…exhaustion.

My cat is not dealing well with The Time Change. He is surly and accusatory and runs away from me when I approach him. He came into my room at THREE AY EM to scratch the carpet, which is one of his tried-and-true It’s Time to Wake Up alarm settings. Even if the time hadn’t changed, that’s too early.

My husband and I are not dealing well with The Time Change. I thought we would feel more rested! I thought we’d pop out of bed an hour early! But no. We are both hitting snooze and grumbling at the cat, whose secondary alarm setting is to climb onto various surfaces and knock things onto the floor.  Maybe if the cat would chill out, we’d be able to get some sleep?

A humorous social media post about a cat's mischievous behavior, featuring a caption that contrasts the phrase 'you're such a good girl' with the cat's history of causing trouble.

…fluff.

Speaking of the cat: Lenny is experiencing his fall shed. We got a very brief reprieve from his spring shed, a reprieve of about a month. It was a wonderful month. But now we’re back to tumbleweeds of fur littering our floors. My dutiful robot vacuum Rocky is on the job, although sometimes the fur is too voluminous for him to handle and he has to reroute himself around it. I’ve also purchased a new handheld vacuum for the stairs and furniture. So far, I like it a lot. Our regular vacuum does a great job of cleaning the carpeted areas of our home and I’m contemplating getting a second one, to minimize the amount of lugging it up and down the stairs I do. While I would be 100% happy just getting the exact same vacuum, I kind of have a wandering eye. If you have pets, what kind of vacuum do you use to stem the fluff?

A cat lying on the floor next to a robotic vacuum cleaner in a modern living space.
Lenny loves to lie directly in Rocky’s path, so that Rocky has to go around him.

…routine shakeup.

My child has begun a new set of activities, but they are so new that we haven’t established any sort of a routine. Sometimes it feels to me as though the adults in charge of said activities take the same approach to planning that I have taken toward NaBloPoMo. I do not care for that.

A woman with a stylish black bob hairstyle and dramatic fashion, sitting at a table with a cheerful expression, captioned with a humorous remark about chauffeuring her child.

…fall beauty.

We have had the most glorious, luxuriously long fall. The first photo I have of fall leaves is from October 2. And now, more than a month later, our trees are still gorgeous. Sure, some of them have lost their leaves (do you think they feel jealous of their still-frocked friends? or are they relieved to be able to rest?), but many many are still decked out in the most fanciful array of crimson and gold. I cannot get enough and I have been taking mental pictures and actual photos as often as I can. The photos never quite do justice to the beauty of my surroundings, though.

A close-up view of autumn leaves on trees, showcasing vibrant orange and yellow foliage against a clear blue sky.
A bright, sunny landscape featuring a vast green field, with colorful autumn trees in the background, including vibrant red foliage on the right.
A vibrant autumn scene featuring a tree with bright red and orange leaves against a clear blue sky.
Autumn scene featuring vibrant trees with red, orange, and yellow leaves beside a calm pond under a clear blue sky.
A view of a blue sky filled with white, fluffy clouds, framed by silhouettes of tall, leafless trees and a few trees with autumn foliage.
Scenic view of a tranquil lake surrounded by autumn foliage, featuring trees with vibrant red and orange leaves under a partly cloudy sky.

What’s got you feeling overwhelmed today?

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Dinners This Week and Last

All right, last week, I planned to make three meals: fried rice, pork chops with something green, and Guinness beef stew. Somehow, even though I only made two of those meals (plus two others), we have an ENORMOUS amount of leftovers. Some of which have already outlived their time and must meet the big garbage disposal in the sky. I mean, in my sink.

The first meal I made was pork chops. I’d planned on pairing them with broccoli, but the broccoli I’d purchased the previous week had gone moldy. So I made some roasted potatoes and sautéed some peas and shallots to go alongside the chops. (Confidential to Allison: They were nice and thick, but not quite as thick as they could have been.) The meal was good!

Next, I made fried rice with sautéed shrimp. It was fine! I was in the mood for fried rice, and it definitely scratched the itch. My husband ended up having a work meeting that night, so I made him a chicken breast and had plenty of fried rice for him to eat when he got home… and then it turned out they’d eaten at the meeting. Neither of us has eaten any of the leftovers, which have long since reached the point where I need to toss them.

Next, I made roasted salmon with roasted asparagus and mango salsa and rice. My daughter had a big test the following day, and I figured salmon was good brain food. Not only does Carla LOVE salmon, she requested that I make the asparagus! Um, yes, I will make you asparagus anytime, my love. I bought two mangoes and one was ripe but all grey inside and the other was beautifully yellow inside but not ripe, so the salsa was fine but not great. We have some of that leftover as well. I also made apple crisp, which was quite yummy.

My husband was not in the mood for beef stew. As an alternative, I suggested chicken tortilla soup. That did not appeal to my husband. He was in the mood for chicken pot pie. I am not sure if this will surprise you or not, but I do not like chicken pot pie. So we made a compromise: I made a vat of chipotle chicken tortilla soup and he made chicken pot pie. We now have leftovers for this week (and beyond; we both froze a LOT of leftovers) and we each got to eat something we wanted.

Of course, there are still multiple days of the week to account for, food wise. So I suppose it’s time to plan a few meals.

A bowl of soup topped with sour cream and cilantro, surrounded by tortilla chips, on a blue plate with the text 'Dinners this week' overlaid.

Dinners for the Week of November 1-8

Jenny suggested that I make a poll and allow you all to vote on which meals you think I’ll make and which I’ll skip, which I find hilarious. Let’s give it a try.