Good grief! I wonder how many times I have started a blog with those two words…I am also wondering about where the time is going>>> Both of my adult children are on their "winter breaks" (which seems to be the term the universities now use to describe what used to be called "Christmas break") and I have been enjoying the time immensely.

My son has converted to a "night-owl species" which means that he is awake while the rest of us are asleep. Some of our time overlaps… which is when we try to catch up with all of his goings-on. My daughter, however, is still on a normal schedule, so I am enjoying seeing her during the day.

I am getting barely any cozy mystery audio book time, as I am rarely alone in my car. So far, the only time I have had to listen to my "Barbara Rosenbladt/Davina Porter" melodious readings is when I am driving to the grocery store or going to gas up the car. And, of course I don’t listen to my audios while others are in the car… so most of my car listening has been Christmas music (or should I say "winter break music"?) playing in the background.

I have been trying to come up with some little stocking stuffer types of things lately. Just little things that fill up a small amount of space… Things that take the place of yesteryear’s oranges and nuts…. Things that could actually be fun to get, rather than simply added into the nut bowl or the fruit drawer in the refrigerator.

I found these little gadget/things called Tangles last year that my (grown) son enjoys keeping by his computer. I think that they are ideal for people who fidget… people who just can’t seem to keep their hands from moving. (I probably could benefit from having some of these Tangles by my television chair… Instead, I cross stitch while watching television. I simply can’t seem to stay still!)

Another idea came to me the other day while going through a box of things my (grown) daughter no longer needs… She had a copy of Almost Perfect Crimes by Hy Conrad. It is a book of "Mini-Mysteries for You to Solve." I am not sure for what age the mysteries are intended, but I found myself trying to solve a few, and I now have the book by my bedside… so that I can solve more!  (I just looked up Hy Conrad and found that he has several Mini-Mystery books, some which are definitely intended for children… Kid’s Whodunits: Catch the Clues!)

I am still trying to come up with ideas for small gifts… but am sort of at a standstill. Do any of you have really good "stocking stuffer" types of ideas for any age group? If so, please send me a comment…

Have you been to the post office recently? I really planned and organized this year so that all of the packages I had to send out of town were actually sent before Thanksgiving. However, one thing I didn’t plan for was running out of stamps. I was the only person in the post office line who didn’t have any packages in my arms…. I felt somewhat out of place there. And, I also felt like an idiot for being able to get the obvious post office tasks done early… just to be standing in a long queue in order to buy stamps.

I do most (if not all!) of my holiday shopping online. Of course, that means that I pay for each item’s postage two different times, but I prefer getting the items so that I can wrap them, and then repack them. The online shopping is so convenient that I feel like I should do something personal… cutting the glitzy paper and adding the bright bow makes me feel like I have selected the gift personally… There’s something about actually having the item in my hands.

To get back to the point I was going to make at the beginning of this blog…. If you did your planning and have already sent out the packages you have to send out…. I hope you don’t run out of stamps! Your feeling of "Wow! I beat the mad rush!" will soon be a thing of the past…

(Of course, you would think that someone who admits to doing almost 100% of her holiday shopping online should be able to do something as easy as ordering stamps online, also!)

Good grief! Where has the time flown?!? I have been very busy these past few days. I am guessing that most of you have been busy, too…. Rushing around getting things accomplished before December arrives.

My husband and I are so lucky that both of our grown children can be with us during the holidays. We had a terrific Thanksgiving visit…. And, I was actually able to see my college roommate during this past week! She was visiting her niece in Austin, so I drove up and we had lunch. You know the sign of a great friend… someone you haven’t seen in over twenty years, yet you are able to resume your conversations as if you had seen each other a day ago. (Of course, now that we have e-mail and cell phone capabilities, we actually are connected, even though physically we are distant… me in San Antonio and she in Iowa.) It was wonderful to see her again… Next time she is in Texas, it will be for a vacation… not because of a family emergency. She has an open invitation to stay with us…

I have been busy getting my Christmas preparations started. I have been listening to seasonal music, trying to get myself motivated. And, I am just about finished with M. C. Beaton’s Kissing Christmas Goodbye. I have really been enjoying this book… it reminds me of Beaton’s earlier Agatha Raisin books.

Well, I just wanted to write a quick blog… It has been a while since I last blogged… and I don’t know where the time went!