Shopping (to make money for more shopping)

Thank you all for your support and comments on the last post. The situation sucks and is painful and I don't really want to talk about it anymore. In the words of James, "I loved that little shitbag." and I suppose that sums it up as well as anything. We really did. He's going to be fostered with the head of the rescue group for a while and I think it will be a very good landing place for him.

On Tuesday evening I took the kids to a skating rink for a PE program fundraiser at our school. It was pretty much the last thing on earth I felt like doing after a full day at work and a draining day of arranging for Winston's new foster situation, but the kids were so excited to go, so I got home, threw together a dinner we could heat up when we got back, and piled everyone in the car to drive out west to the roller rink.

And, though I would still totally have rather been home, it was really so fun. It was Cora's first time on skates and she totally rocked it. She fell a bunch, laughed maniacally the whole way down, and then popped back up and skated some more. She participated in the games in the center of the rink. Every time I tried to get us to take a break after "one more time around" she'd quickly negotiate with "no, TEN more times!". The big kids were great- they got roller skates and blades for their birthdays this summer and skate most nights before dinner. Lots of friends ended up coming. It was a good time.

(And now Cora is getting roller skates for Christmas. And even better, I bought them off our neighborhood buy/sell facebook page for $10 the morning after our skate night! I love a bit of buy/sell serendipity.)

I'm going to move on to something utterly frivolous because frankly I need it. We leave for Disney in 16 days. Cora's birthday is in 16 days (with her party in 9 and our little family celebration in 15), the weather is finally sort of slowly turning, Christmas is on the horizon and as a consequence, I'm doing a LOT of online shopping. A lot. We need many things for all the things coming up and our doorstep is littered with boxes and bags. This is what happens when your only free time is between 9 p.m. and midnight and no physical stores are open.

First up, I really must give another plug for Ebates. If you are an online shopper, you really just have to sign up. As of today (2+ years after joining) I have received $1,446 in rebate checks. 1,446 dollars! Do you know how much MORE shopping you can do with that? Which in turns earns you MORE money for your family? You have to spend money to make money, that's just science. I'm still mad I didn't sign up when I first heard of it, a few years before I opened my account. I thought it was a credit card, but it's just an online account with your name, address, and email and you search for the store you want to shop at (Sephora! Gap! Target! Shutterfly! Almost anywhere!), click to open a webpage, shop as normal, and then Ebates gives you a %1-10 rebate for your total purchase in your account. Every quarter they mail you a check. I love it. If you use the referral link you automatically start with $10 in your account. (This isn't sponsored, though that is a referral link, I just really like that I've gotten $1400 extra dollars to spend at more stores with rebates; I find it almost painful to shop in a physical store now because I don't get my ebate. I basically feel entitled to be paid to shop at this point.)

Anyway, moving on to some of my favorite things I've bought lately. (With regular old non-affiliated links to facilitate fulfilling your own ugly sweater shirt needs.)

First up, this shirt from Nordstrom.

I love the color, love that it's the first "knotted" type tee that doesn't show skin above my waistband, and love the scarf and layering possibilities. It's already a fall staple with shorts, leggings, or jeans- whatever the Texas weather requires on that particular day/hour.

My other new favorite shirt? This baby.

It has a tiger on it! Multiple tigers! And when you wear it to work with black pants and a black cardigan or blazer you can't really tell there are jungle cats hiding among all the professionalism until you have a long conversation with someone and suddenly they're like, wait, is that a tiger on your shirt? And you can say yes, I prefer predators on my clothing at all times. Also, it's just a really beautiful shirt (though wait to get it until it's half off again like I did).

These shoes. I've been looking for cute comfortable shoes FOREVER, but the effort really got stepped up with our Disney trip on the horizon. I have some Vans and they're cute but they're super heavy and I didn't think I'd want to wear them for a million miles of walking over 6 days. But I have huge feet- I'm a size 11 in flats, so most flat lace-up shoes look absurd on me. Like clown shoes. My feet are also super narrow, so I end up with all this puffy extra material sticking out the sides when I lace them up tight enough to not shift around on my feet. This eliminates almost all shoes. I know because I've tried on every single pair of every single brand everywhere. But then I found these!

They're not exactly Cinderella's glass slipper, but the thinner fabric on the sides means they mesh to my narrow feet when I lace them and I don't look like I have giant boats on my feet. They're super light and comfy and I love them. I even wore them once instead of a cuter pair even when I wasn't going to be walking a lot! That's a true sign of shoe favor.

Also related to Disney shopping, this purse! I wanted a little cross-body that was light, wouldn't press on my shoulder, and with a skinny strap that wouldn't create a great cross-body boob-divide to haunt my every picture from the magical day. I found this little guy on Amazon, agonized over which color to get, and now have a perfect little Rose Pink purse sitting in my "to pack" pile. I love it and it looks way nicer than the $13 I paid for it.

Next up - THIS SHIRT. I've been looking for a cute/funny Christmas tee for most of us to wear on the first night of our trip to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom (and then wear throughout the holiday season because I already have guilt for buying a Disney tshirt (or two) I'm totally excited about wearing in the park but would absolutely never wear outside of it). And today, my Amazon searching brought me to the BEST find for the obsessive swimmer in your life:

This, our Christmas light-up necklaces, and a pair of Mickey ears? Party Perfection.

Cora will be wearing her birthday surprise Aurora dress she's getting at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique that afternoon, Claire is wearing a snazzy red dress that just looked like her to me, Landon has an ugly sweater tee that involves a dinosaur, and I am still struggling to find my perfect fit. I currently have these two items headed my way:

James said this amazing dress was "pretty!" I tried to explain it's actually supposed to be ugly, but he emphatically followed up with, "I like it." Possibly just because it's really short?

And this one just brings me joy. They both do. And at $8 and $12 each with free returns, I feel like it's a no-lose situation. I'm leaning towards the short-sleeve dress because I could add a coat if it gets cold later, but when we're entering the park at 4:00 to ride rides and wait for the party, I feel like long sleeves might be hot.

Recently I have also purchased disposable ponchos in adult and child sizes, light up Christmas necklaces, and push-click sharpies for character autographs. I felt like you didn't pictures of those. And my family's Christmas presents, but I can't ruin surprises (they're so great!). And Cora's birthday presents, a plasma car among them, just to keep my deliveries eclectic and in many varying sizes, but we'll cover those on the big day. Obviously, a box or two was from the Disney Store.

I also have a semi-drafted post on skincare because that's one of my new favorite topics from the last year, with reviews on the products I first tried over a year ago and what I'm using now (which is still much of what I started with back then, that C E Ferulic is liquid gold). I'm back to the dermatologist tomorrow to get my stitches out, so maybe I can finish it after that. I'm not sure I've ever left the dermatologist without buying something to slather on my skim to make me feel better, but there's always a first time for everything. Especially since the dermatologist does not offer an Ebate.

What are your favorite things you've bought lately? Do you know which ugly sweater I should wear to the Christmas party we're going to before Thanksgiving? Or have other suggestions? Fire away!