A Nice Surprise and a Minor Freak Out

If you've ever lived far from home, you probably know how nice it is to get packages in the mail. Packages!! Squeee!!! Usually, if my mom or Jason's mom is sending us something we ask them to throw in some of our favorite things. Crest Vivid White toothpaste, for one--I've rhapsodized about it and other stuff we miss here. It's just nice to get a little slice of home in a box, and lovely to know someone is thinking of you.

A couple of weeks ago Beth, who blogs at Remarkably Domestic, sent me some little barrettes that she'd made for the girls. Cute, cute, and more cute.

They're little felt barrettes, and Beth made a beaded butterfly on this one. Ava loves it! Beth made two for Grace: one with a little ice cream cone:
If she would've held still--I don't think Gracie has a future in catalog modeling--you could see that there are little beaded "sprinkles" on the ice cream. And here's the other--it's a red balloon. Sorry for this weird photo. I was holding her still with one hand and snapping the pic with the other. She was a hostile witness.Since Gracie loves to thwart my grooming attempts, she promptly pulled it out, so I can attest to their durability! Thanks, Beth! If you need a little stocking stuffer for a little girl in your world, check out Beth's website here.

Speaking of stocking stuffers, I have feverishly been trying to score some stuff on eBay for Nate. Auctions stress me out. Jason laughs at me, I'm sure you're surprised to read that. Why won't these people just sense how much I need this thing and let me buy it? Is that too much to ask? One night last week I was out shopping and Jason texted me to let me know we'd lost an auction at the last minute. We were bidding on a toy that Nate really, REALLY wants. In fact, he told us if Santa doesn't bring it, he'll be mad. Not sad, not disappointed. But mad. Watch your back, Santa.

About the auction. It was locked up, baby. That things was ours. Until it wasn't, with 4 seconds to go. Four seconds! Who does that!! That was my introduction to eBay sniping. It's a fast world out there, folks. A fast, cold world filled with sniping, toy stealing, snipe-faced snipers. I was pretty bummed that we lost and moped around the store. Until I remembered that I was out at that moment buying toys for two children in our community whose parents are unable to afford Christmas presents this year. And then I realized it wasn't that bad. Okay fine, Perspective. You win this round.

So cross your fingers. We found the same toy on eBay again and won the auction yesterday. Ha! The sniped becomes the sniper, y'all. But I emailed the seller and haven't heard back yet. It's been, like, 28 hours. This makes me nervous. Do you think he'll call? I hope he calls. What does it all mean? WHAT IF HE DOESN'T CALL?

If he doesn't, I'm totally sending Nate to find him.