gift ideas

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Wish List Wednesday: Gift Ideas for the Dudes

I have a handful of very specific dudes in my life, and each one of them is exceedingly difficult to buy gifts for. Also, two of these dudes have Major Milestone Birthdays coming up, in addition to the winter holidays, and so I am twice as stumped.

All images from amazon.com unless otherwise noted.

Mens Sunday Slipper My husband hates having cold feet, and these look warm and elegant. Or maybe these slippers with arch support? (Image from bombas.com)

Puzzle Mania: I could see three out four of the dudes on my list enjoying this book.

Murdoku: Speaking of puzzles, I got this logic puzzle/Sudoku mashup for my husband for Father’s Day and he LOVES it. Ooooh – there’s a new one out. Maybe he needs it?

Darth Vader Fortune Teller: This little fortune teller cracks me up and I think my brother would love it.

Upton City Coat: My husband mentioned recently that he’d like a new fall-weight coat he can wear to work. This is lovely. (Image from Johnstonmurphy.com)

Messenger Bag: Speaking of workwear, my husband is also on the hunt for a more adult work bag. His current bag holds a TON of things, though, so it’s hard to find an adequate replacement. (Image from buffalojackson.com)

Insulated Lunch Bag: Maybe if I got my husband a heavy duty lunch box, he wouldn’t need to stuff IT into his messenger bag.

Smart Bird House: Not sure if this would be better for my father or my child, but they would both get such a kick out of watching birds nest.

The Rolling Stones: The Biography by Bob Spitz: I think my dad would enjoy this biography, as he’s a big Rolling Stones fan.

Joggers: I got a pair of these for my husband a couple of years ago and he loves them and wears them all the time. Maybe my brother and my father-in-law need their own pairs?

Footed pajamas: These are another thing that I got my husband ages ago that he still loves and wears. The best part is that you can wear them and take your feet out of the feet part, just in case your tooties get a little toasty. (Image from feejays.com)

Apocalypse Survival Set: Perhaps you, too, have a prepper in your life. Although if you have a REAL prepper, they probably have heavy duty versions of all these things already. Maybe this is for the not-quite-a-prepper person in your life? (Image from uncommongoods.com)

Bubble blanket: My husband is often chilly and my daughter and I tend to hog the available blankets all to ourselves. He clearly needs his own. Also, I want about four of these for our house. *Oprah voice*: Everybody gets a blanket!

Waterproof headphones: Maybe this would be better for Father’s Day, since we live in a part of the country that has winter, but I think my husband would enjoy swimming laps a lot more if he could listen to his tunes.

Animal Print Socks: These make me super uncomfortable but I think my brother, who loves a good gag gift, would enjoy them. (Image from wanderprints.com)

Merino Wool Socks: For the less quirky men in my life, these Bombas might be more appropriate. (Image from bombas.com)

LED Sports Ticker: This would be a major splurge, but I bet my husband would LOVE this.

Flight Tracker: Oh wow, he might like THIS even more. He has always been obsessed with airplanes, for as long as I’ve known him. He would get such a kick out of this. (Image from theflightwall.com)

Backyard Hammock: Hammocks make me kind of nervous, but I think my brother would get a lot of use out of one.

Ring Toss Game: Maybe he’d get just as much enjoyment out of a game for the backyard? Or there’s always axe throwing.

Cordless Smart Jump Rope: The ceiling in our workout room is too short to use a real jump rope, so this would be a cool alternative.

Cordless Screwdriver: My husband and my father both need one of these.

Thermal Imaging Camera: This is another tool that I think my dad and husband would enjoy. Do I have any earthly idea WHAT they would use it for? Not really, but I think they would love walking around our homes and seeing what’s hot and what’s cold.

Portable Tire Inflator: If you have a person in your life who enjoys gadgets and/or tools and/or cars, this is another one of those surprise mega hits with my husband.

George Washington Cap: My father-in-law loves a good cap, and he also loves history and the United States. This cap seems like the perfect intersection of those interests. (image from thehistorylist.com)

Promise of a Nation: He might also really enjoy this coffee table book. (Image from smithsonianstore.com)

Funko Pop: My brother and sister-in-law 100% need me to create mini figures in their likenesses. (Image from funko.com)

Laser Measuring Tool: I think every guy on my list would enjoy measuring all the things with this digital tool.

Diagnostic Scanner: I definitely want to get this for my husband; I bet my brother would like one, too. My dad has one and it allows him to diagnose (and then repair, because he is A Car Guy) issues with his engine. I might need to look into it a little more to see if this is the exact right one for their specific vehicles, but this is definitely a contender.

Anything Speaker: Ah yes, yet another gadget that I don’t 100% understand, but I think would really appeal to my husband and probably my brother, too. Using some kind of bone conduction vibration technology, it turns anything into a speaker.

Fancy Sweatshirt: My husband is always a sucker for a good sweatshirt, and he tried this one on earlier this year and loved it. I don’t know if I can behind the yellow, but it does come in other colors. (image from jcrew.com)

Scent Subscription: My husband has been really into fragrances for awhile now, and I think it would be fun to get him a fragrance subscription service to allow him to sample a bunch of different scents. (image from luxesb.com)

Dopp Kit: A nice travel toiletry bag is always a useful gift. Just depends on whether the people on my list already have one or not.

Travel Hoodie: My brother has some long distance travel coming up, and I keep seeing this hoodie with built in eye mask everywhere. I love how efficient a use of space it is.

Well, this list got a wee bit out of control. But I do feel as though I have a better handle on what I might get these fabulous men in my life.

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?

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Six for Saturday: Frets and Shopping and Shopping Frets

I am loving the thoughtful comments about whether or not I should tattoo eyebrows on myself. THANK YOU. I have truly found My People. 

Here are six things on my mind this morning. 

School Year Frets In Session: While it seems like a lot of the country has already headed back to school – in fact, school buses appeared this week in my neighborhood like a noisy flock of migratory birds – we are still holding onto the last tatters of summer with our teeth and fingernails. It has become increasingly difficult to ignore the impending school year, though. And I am STRESSED. Middle School, y’all. 

Maybe I need to write an entire post about all the things that are freaking me out about Middle School (top of the list: MY TINY BABY IS GOING TO MIDDLE SCHOOL), but right now I am thinking mainly about the schedule aspect of it. A bunch of wonderful extracurricular activities have manifested themselves, and I am doing my very best to walk the fine line between “my kid would LOVE that” and “if she does this activity we will all go insane.” For instance, there is a local activity that she would enjoy SO MUCH, but it begins at 3:45 after school and school pickup begins at 3:10 and it takes 30 minutes to drive between school and the activity, so it would be doable but only if I got to the carline at, like, 2:30 and she got out the door immediately at 3:10 and we didn’t hit any sort of traffic or need to pee or any of the other delays we have faced in the past. So. That activity is just not going to happen this year, and I have to trust that it will be available in a more workable form at some later time, or it just isn’t Meant to Be. 

We have also signed her up for two sports this fall, which is GREAT. But the one sport is notoriously weird about assigning practice slots – like, they wait until the week of to say, “Hey, your practice day and time is X,” and then they are unable to accommodate any change requests. I learned this the hard way last year, and fortunately the coach was very kind about allowing Carla to be on the team even though she was fifteen minutes late to every single practice because she had a conflicting extracurricular. So: I am trying to wait to find out the sports schedule before I schedule her for anything else, but that’s HARD, because spots are filling up. 

I did reach out to an instrumental teacher who comes highly recommended, because I guess I thought we would have some sort of conversation about Carla’s experience with this instrument and how practices go and whether there are recitals and what practice expectations are etc. etc., but instead the teacher wanted to know Carla’s availability and I don’t know that. Whoops. I guess I should have waited to reach out????

The other sport is going great, but Carla has no set lesson time. This worked fine during the summer, because it was the only thing we had going on. But I need to KNOW. I want to have a calendar that has everything arranged very neatly IN ADVANCE. 

There is an academic extracurricular I want Carla to take as well, but I am waiting until we know the schedule for the previously mentioned activities, and ideally I would want to see how school goes for awhile first, before adding it on, but I don’t know if that’s feasible???? 

And then Carla will probably try out for the school play, but auditions take place later in the fall so I cannot worry about it now. 

I know this sounds like A Lot, but it feels a little bit more workable than last year’s extra curricular schedule. At least now, when it is half formed and entirely theoretical. I just want things SET. 

Friend Visit Fret: While I am fretting about things, I might as well fret about an upcoming visit from my dearest friend. We have known each other for THIRTY-TWO YEARS which sounds bonkers to me. Anyway, she is coming to visit and I am so excited I can think of little else. It’s quite an emotional ping-pong match in my brain right now, what with the Middle School Scaries bopping around with the more Happy Excited Anticipatory Anxiety of hosting my friend. What will we DO? What should we EAT? Would it be nice for her to meet some of my Here Friends, or would that be weird for everyone? Do I need to schedule a bunch of touristy-type activities so she can experience the city? Or should we just take relaxing walks together and then hang out by the pool? I think she is looking more for the latter, in which case I need the weather to cooperate, but it might be nice to do one or two touristy-type things, just so she can say, “Yes, of course, when I was in City I did The Thing That City Is Known For” when people ask. 

Listen. This is my best friend. She is probably still going to be my best friend even if she has a boring time here, even if she hates my cooking, even if hanging out with an intensely enthusiastic eleven-year-old drives her bonkers. I KNOW THIS. 

Here’s why I am fretting: We have never spent this much time one-on-one together! In fact, the bulk of our relationship has taken place via phone. We used to see each other regularly once or twice a year, but I haven’t seen her in two years now, and before that it had been about a decade. Will we have enough to talk about? What if she gets annoyed with me???? Or sick of me??? Despite knowing each other for a million years, we are fairly new at voicing our needs with one another, so I am a little afraid she will just agree to whatever I suggest even if it doesn’t sound good or fun to her. Also, I am a little shy about her seeing me in Mom Mode, which sounds silly even as I’m writing it, but… the shyness is still there. She’s only met Carla once, and for a very short time, and I don’t know, it just feels weird to be this whole other person than I was when we grew up together.

Also, I have asked her some questions like if there are any foods she hates/won’t eat, but my knowledge of her likes and dislikes mainly comes from high school. It’s kind of amazing how LITTLE you can know about the day-to-day life and habits of someone you love very much. 

I am EXCITED, and I trust that it will be okay. But still, underneath all the happy anticipation is a little trepidation. 

My Garden Continues to Delight: Let’s move on to LESS STRESSFUL THINGS, shall we? My garden is still producing flowers and I am loving it. The hydrangea bushes are scaling back, but we have several hydrangea trees that are in bloom and they are SO pretty. We also have an abundance of coneflowers, which are not my favorite flower, but which look quite stunning in a big bunch. The hibiscus are blooming as well, and they are ALSO not my favorite flower (and wayyyyy too big and unwieldy to cut and display in a vase), but they are pretty and a nice vivid red. Now I just need the garden to continue to look gorgeous for a little longer so my friend can enjoy it. 

Who Recommended These Shoes? Because I LOVE Them: My plantar fasciitis is pretty well controlled these days, thank goodness, and I attribute that to regular shoe-wearing in the house. Usually I wear sneakers, but I have been wanting to try out some flip flops because I hate wearing socks, and it is a pain to tie and untie my sneakers all day long. I’ve had this pair of flip flops in my amazon cart for AGES, and I am pretty sure someone told me they were amazing which is why I added them to my cart. But I only just bought them in the past few weeks, and I love them so much. If you were the one who recommended them: THANK YOU.

They are much cuter than I expected; I guess I thought because they are “orthotic” that they would automatically be clunky and ugly, and they are not. Best of all, they are SO COMFORTABLE. I am getting a second pair to wear outside of the house because I love them so much. (Also, they are $30 right now, down from $50, so if you are looking for magic flip flops, this is a good time to go for it!)

How to Eat a Cucumber: There is just no way to write this bullet point that doesn’t sound like a euphemism, but please trust that I am looking for RECIPE IDEAS. 

My husband brought home a cucumber one of his colleagues brought home from work. I am looking for creative ways to prepare this cucumber for consumption. (I don’t really like cucumbers.) I could make a big Greek salad, which I enjoy. But it is QUITE a large cucumber, and also I feel like that’s a little boring??? Maybe I should make this green goddess cucumber salad? Or this creamy cucumber salad? Or this smashed chili-soy cucumber salad? What’s your favorite cucumber recipe?

The Fall Birthday Procession Cometh: Okay I guess we’re back to fretting. ALL THE BIRTHDAYS are coming up in September and October and I am wholly unprepared and have no idea what to get anyone. My brother and his wife are typically very “no gifts, thanks” kind of people, but I would love to get them something little if possible. (They are both outdoorsy, they have a cat.) My sister-in-law and mother-in-law are always baffling, from a What to Give Them perspective. My friend who is visiting will have just had a birthday when she arrives, so I kind of want to have something here for her. (She is a runner and an avid gardener. I am thinking something garden-y? We don’t usually give each other presents, so I have no idea what she might want or need!) My husband’s birthday is also coming up! I have NO IDEA AT ALL what to give him! My mind is a complete blank. The only things that I know he has been looking at buying are a) a new external hard drive, which is a useful but way-too-boring gift, and plus I would need him to give me the exact specifications of the one he wants which would spoil whatever level of “surprise” goes along with “I got you an external hard drive for your birthday,” or b) a new travel backpack, but that again seems like something he’d really want to choose for himself. I guess it’s more exciting than a hard drive, but that’s not really saying much, is it? 

Help???? Do you have any idea, based on the Very Limited Information I have shared about all of these complete strangers to you, what should I get them???? I am so bad at gift giving, and this year I feel especially useless. 

And all these birthdays are right before CHRISTMAS, so there will need to be gifts for all of these people – and more! – again, and ugh. 

Okay, Internet. That’s all I have for you today. Shoe recommendations and flower brags and double entendres and tons of random fretting. Hope you have a glorious weekend!