Packages in Limbo

45 Replies

I mailed a USPS priority package to Paul’s sister on December 11th, and it was supposed to arrive on December 15th, which was this past Tuesday, three days ago. I thought just now to check to make sure it had arrived—and it has not, and it is marked as “arriving late.” The last time it was checked in was on the 15th, the same day it was supposed to have arrived at its final destination, when it instead arrived AT OUR LOCAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER IN THE NEXT CITY TWENTY MINUTES AWAY. Its status is “in transit to the next facility,” even though there isn’t the usual progress line about it leaving the local distribution center, so I think it’s more likely it’s still sitting there 20 minutes from my house. This is a little stressful/frustrating. I am trying not to think about it. It will not help to worry about it: there is nothing I personally can do about that package at this point. I’m extra glad I mailed it two weeks before Christmas, because it’s been traveling a week so far and MAY NOT EVEN HAVE LEFT THE STATE

I heard on the radio this morning that I am definitely not alone in shipping woes, and in fact am luckier than most because I only have a couple of packages in limbo. But I wish those didn’t include THIS PARTICULAR package: if it were something for Paul or one of the kids or my brother or my parents, I would just print out a picture of the item and wrap that, and they’d have the actual item soon enough. (I’m probably going to have to do that with some used D&D magazines I ordered from eBay for Henry, which shipped on the 11th and have been stuck at a processing facility since the 13th.) But Paul’s sister is the one where I feel like what we send is MOST of her Christmas, and so it’s important to me that it be there in time for Christmas. Well. There is nothing I can do about the package at this point except go back in time and mail it EVEN EARLIER. Or send it UPS instead, which didn’t even occur to me to do. And I wish I’d insured it.

I’m also trying not to order anything by mail right now that I don’t need sooner than Christmas, to avoid clogging the system still further.

Gift Ideas for Medical Staff: Follow-Up

13 Replies

I am so glad and grateful that Beforetimes Swistle was the kind of person who couldn’t resist buying that cute box of Christmas cards or that cute roll of wrapping paper even when technically she already had more cards and paper than she needed, because that means Pandemic Swistle did not have to go out to buy either cards or paper. I am down to the scraps of wrapping paper, but frankly probably still have enough cards for another whole year.

Thank you for all your input on gifts for medical staff—even, unexpectedly, thank you to the people who ignored the pretty specific instruction to NOT tell us what gets thrown in the trash: in normal times, I don’t want to hear that a team tosses all homemade food because they’re assuming their patients live in disgusting squalor or whatever, but IN A PANDEMIC it turns out I DO want to hear that some medical establishments have PANDEMIC rules that mean they are required to throw away food. (And the TONE of those two types of comments is so different that the making of the latter type of comment doesn’t feel like it breaks the rule against the making of the former type, and it is so pleasing to have a comments section intuitive enough to instinctively understand that.) I absolutely don’t want to spend eighty benevolent dollars on Kringles just to have the Kringles literally thrown away, and was glad to feel saved from making that potential disheartening mistake.

But…is there no better way to handle this, considering we are NOT seeing any evidence that the virus spreads by two people each taking a slice of danish an hour apart? IS that really different than two people picking up a snack-size bag of cookies an hour apart? Wouldn’t “standing around a basket of individually-wrapped items” be exactly the same as “standing around a plate of cookies,” and wouldn’t we just avoid both of those standing-around situations? And aren’t we talking about trained medical professionals who know not to touch and breathe on every portion before selecting one? Must we really THROW AWAY perfectly safe and edible food? “No one gets anything and the food is thrown into the trash” doesn’t seem like the FIRST AND ONLY solution that should occur to us. I don’t have any sort of medical degree, but I can think of two possibilities:

1. Have one trusted staff person designated to carefully wash hands and wear gloves and then divide up brought-in communal food into baggies or onto plates or whatever, so that it is now individually-portioned.

2. If for some reason that can’t work (I can’t think of any reason that can’t work), AT THE BARE MINIMUM an entire food item could be sent home with one person, and then the next entire food item could be sent home with another person. It could be done by drawing names out of a hat, and could be considered a Fun Pandemic Holiday Raffle.

Anyway. That’s kind of a lot of attitude in those paragraphs, considering how much fun I had choosing individually-portioned things, and how happy I was with what I chose:

I started with a base of individual coffee drinks: four 4-packs of canned Starbucks drinks, one pack of each flavor available: espresso & cream, espresso & cream light, black, and mocha. I considered the 4-packs of glass-bottled Starbucks drinks, which I find very satisfying (they come in more treat-like flavors than the canned drinks, and I use the empty bottles as small vases), but I felt uneasy about transporting breakable stuff / bringing glass into a hospital, so I just went with the cans.

Having four packs of drinks made me feel inclined to choose four packs of snacks. I went for a variety of types: salty Gardetto’s / Chex Mix / Bugles mix, sweet Pepperidge Farm cookie packets, sweet fudge-dipped mini Oreo packets, and hearty Caramel Cashew trail mix packets. I was fairly limited by what was available for curbside pick-up, but that kept me from getting bogged down in choices. I placed the order, went and picked it up, and brought it with us to the appointment. It all fit in two of the handled paper bags the curbside grocery store has been using, so I could write “Happy Holidays to Pediatric GI from the Thistles!” on both in Sharpie marker. I gave the bags to one of the nurses, figuring (1) she knows where food for the whole department is supposed to go, and (2) if for some reason the food CAN’T be shared department-wide, the nurses are the people we spend the most time with and have gotten to know the best, so I’d most want them to have it.

It turned out that our hospital doesn’t have a policy about non-individually-packaged food: I heard the nurses discussing an apparently impressive cookie plate a co-worker had brought in. But since they were also talking about how they were going to get through everything before it went bad, I was still very glad I’d brought individually-packaged, shelf-stable stuff: it can easily be set aside for a time of fewer cookie plates. It’s the kind of idea I may want to continue to use after the pandemic—especially since it really was fun to CHOOSE things.

Gift Ideas for Medical Staff

61 Replies

Last year I wanted to bring some sort of holiday gift to the pediatric GI department where Edward gets his Remicade infusions. We are there for hours and hours each time, and it used to be every 7 weeks but now it’s every 5 weeks which is basically once a month, and it’s been years now so we’ve gotten to feel warmly about everyone there.

But I couldn’t decide what to bring. The nurses are always talking (amongst themselves, I mean, not to us, but the nurse’s station is right outside the door so we can hear them) about how they have to eat better and exercise more, and also I imagine that MOST people who bring holiday gifts would bring treats? Perhaps I am wrong. But I know Paul’s office is always just FULL of treats in December. (But probably not this year, with the pandemic.) I would love to bring treats if they’d love to have treats, but I don’t want to BURDEN them with treats. And in a pandemic there is the additional issue of whether they’d feel comfortable with food brought in, even though (1) the overwhelming evidence seems to be that food does not pose a threat, and (2) I’d be bringing something made by someone else—like treats from a bakery or grocery store.

Anyway, last year I got overwhelmed and did nothing, and felt at peace with that decision until AFTER our December appointment, when I wished I’d powered through it and done something, ANYTHING. Holiday tasks feel overwhelming beforehand and wonderful afterhand, in my experience: like, even when it’s NOT in a pandemic I always dither and fret about the mail carrier, and I always feel SO HAPPY AND GLAD after I’ve put the gift card in the mail box. So I made a note for this year to DO SOMETHING FOR THE PEDIATRIC GI DEPARTMENT.

Here are the things I’ve considered:

1. Grocery store fruit tray. For $20-25, I can get a nice big tray of assorted fruit, which should feel somewhat treat-like while still fitting into most people’s eating plans, and without adding to the possible overload of cookies/bars/etc.; I could add a container of caramel dip and a container of chocolate dip, or anything else I see sold by the fruit trays, to increase the treatness for anyone who would LIKE to increase the treatness. Downside: fruit this time of year may not be terrific and it doesn’t last long; also, I’d have to go to the grocery store to get it (I’m okay with that, but in a pandemic anything “going inside a store” has to count as a downside).

2. An order from O&H Danish Bakery. A dear friend sent me two of their Kringles, and they were SO DELICIOUS AND FUN. They’re big oval ring-shaped danish, and you cut off pieces and eat them. And they freeze gorgeously: I cut a bunch of pieces and put them in baggies in the freezer before my children could locust everything up, and I took out a piece every afternoon to have with my coffee, and it was glorious. Anyway, I could send the department a few Kringles, or there are also other holiday packages involving, say, two Kringles and two coffee cakes, things like that. Downsides: could possibly be adding to burden of too many sweets/treats; also, rather expensive. Upside: they’d be shipped, so they’d arrive as a surprise and I wouldn’t have to be there! (I don’t like the part where I’m bringing in things and people might feel they have to make a big deal about it, and in the case of our Remicade appointments different people keep coming into the room so maybe they’d ALL say something, and it’s so agonizing.)

3. An order from See’s Candies. This is another of my own favorite special treats, and I feel like I could put together a nice selection of chocolates and candies. Downsides: again, expensive and adds to potential overburden of sweets. Upside: again, SHIPPED, so I don’t have to be there; also, they keep for a fairly long time, so they wouldn’t have to be eaten at the same time as any other possible resident treats.

4. A bunch of assorted things that I can get with Drive-Up at Target: basically the pandemic care package concept. Like, what about some of those four-packs of bottles/cans of Starbucks coffee? And a big parcel of those snack-size chip bags! And some packs of festive Milano and/or Pepperidge Farm cookies! And some hand lotion! And so on. Upside: this would be super fun for me, and everything would KEEP really well in case they didn’t want it now. Downside: heavy/bulky to lug through the hospital; also, I was estimating the cost and it would be comparable to the Kringles/See’s ideas, but for something that doesn’t seem like it has the same impact.

Do you have other ideas? And I hope we can all remember that, as when discussing teacher gifts, no one likes to hear their careful and lovingly-intended ideas called “crap” or “junk” or “a waste” or whatever, and that too much of that kind of talk makes people just give up and do nothing instead, and with bad unfestive feeling about it too. And also, we should all keep in mind that there is no single Right Answer that meets every department everywhere: for example, some departments get too many sweets and feel burdened, while others hardly get any and would greatly enjoy getting more. So if for example you are or know a nurse, perhaps you could list things your/their department would love to receive, rather than dishearteningly listing all the stuff that gets thrown in the trash immediately. And if you have brought gifts to medical staff in the past, I hope you will feel free to say what you decided on, without this cautionary paragraph making you feel self-conscious that other people will criticize it.

Follow-up!

MAILED IT

16 Replies

I am feeling high with relief to have dealt with one of the biggest tasks of the holiday season: getting Paul’s sister’s Christmas package completed and mailed. It was ready a week ago, except for items from ONE delivery that still hadn’t shipped two weeks after I’d placed the order. I finally emailed the company, and they didn’t answer my email but the package shipped the next day, so. Anyway, those items arrived today, I swooped the box into the house and opened and it and put the items directly into Paul’s sister’s box and taped it up and took it to the post office, where I was prepared to come back another day if it was too crowded. It DID look crowded, but I’m glad I decided to look inside, because as I got out of my car THREE of the cars in the parking lot left, and two more people were coming out of the building as I was going in, and when I got inside I was first in line. I haven’t been inside the post office in a long time; there were big clear plastic sheets hanging from ceiling to desktop, and there were taped-off waiting areas on the floor to keep people six feet apart, and there were signs asking people to please keep themselves, other customers, and the postal workers safe. When I left there were three people in line, so my timing was exquisite.

It was about $40 to mail the package, but we are not even going to think about it. Honestly it’s a bargain, if I picture how much I would want to be paid to take that box to where Beth lives. And when I was calculating the price online before heading out, I experimented with how much would it cost if I added another pound, if I subtracted another pound—and even when I suggested taking out a pound and a half the price didn’t shift, so I think I was just in a size/weight range that was going to be about $40 whether or not I took out the package of candy. So I put IN another package of candy and felt happy.

ANYWAY IT IS DONE. IT IS MAILED. It is OFF my dining room table and off my time-sensitive to-do list and out of my hands and on its way to her, and even with increased mailing delays should have enough time to get there. I wish I could have sent it a week ago but it’s fine, it’s FINE.

Annual Calendar Post, 2021 Calendar Edition!

46 Replies

IT IS TIME.

Isn’t it odd, thinking of us at this time last year, browsing calendars with no idea what 2020 was going to be like? My calendar is full from January until mid-March with normal stuff; then it is full of crossed-out things from mid-March through April (with more cross-outs later as we cancelled later and later stuff, but the real THICKET of cross-outs is the first 4-6 weeks); then it is full of contract-tracing-type information (when/where we went, and at what time).

Well! We shall hope for better for 2021. Or at least part of 2021. Or anyway it’s fun to have a new picture to look at each month!

I use my calendar to keep track of my schedule, so I need one with squares to write in, but I don’t need one of those “”””MOM”””” calendars that have no room for the picture because they’re all squares. I look for a nice balance of picture on top, squares on the bottom, so that’s my screening process for these choices. LET’S GO.

[I might continue adding to this post, but am posting it NOW because calendars were dropping from “Only 9 left!” to “Only 7 left!,” etc., AS I WAS ADDING THEM TO THE POST. Apparently this is calendar-buying week. It was making me jumpy and unwilling to wait to post.]

(image from Target.com)

Fresh from the Garden calendar (Target) (Amazon). This is so bright and colorful with so many things to look at, and I feel like Fresh Produce is a cheery theme almost no matter what the new year brings. (If it brings a massive produce shortage, then never mind.)

(image from Target.com)

Happy Hedgehogs calendar (Target) (Amazon). Similarly, I feel as if we will not be SORRY to see a hedgehog each time we glance at the calendar. (Though if 2021 brings us an invasive attack of hedgehogs—and who among us could muster the surprise at this point?—then never mind.)

(image from Target.com)

Space Cats calendar (Target) (Amazon). Last year I actually DECIDED ON this calendar (in large part because of imagining how surprised my Fundraiser Calendar Twins would be, receiving that in the mail!), and it had SOLD OUT. That experience gives this calendar a head start in the running this year.

(image from Target.com)

Take Me There calendar (Target) (Amazon). Are you someone who PINES to travel again, and will only be cruelly taunted by these photos of beautiful places you can’t go right now? Then this may not be the right calendar for you. Are you on the contrary a person who would like to think of themselves as someone who travels, but you never actually do, and so you would like to look at beautiful places and for once not feel as if you ought to actually go? Then this seems IDEAL.

(image from Target.com)

Flowers calendar (Target) (Amazon). Nice and colorful and won’t taunt you with what you can’t have (unless 2021 is the year the bees die off and there are no more flowers).

(image from Target.com)

Nature’s Bouquet calendar (Target) (Amazon). Flowers again, but more field-of than zoomed-in-example-of.

(image from Amazon.com)

Birds & Botanicals calendar (Amazon). Miss Grace drew my attention to this one and I LOVE it. I like the Parlor Wallpaper vibe. [The link broke when it sold out; it didn’t originally go to an owl calendar!]

(image from Amazon.com)

Llewellyn’s 2021 Greenwitch Botanical calendar (Amazon). HOW CHARMING IS THIS??

(image from Amazon.com)

Botanical Gardens calendar (Amazon). This is so frilly and extra and I am so here for it. Writing spaces are kind of small because of all the decoration.

(image from Amazon.com)

Illustrated Order of the Animals calendar (Amazon). I love this and I think I would LEARN from it, but I need more writing space than that.

(image from Amazon.com)

Inside Poland’s Majestic Churches calendar (Amazon). This is not a calendar I would have predicted I’d be including. But just LOOK at those churches!!

(image from Target.com)

Furry Friends calendar (Target) (Amazon). They are furry; they are friends; perhaps all could be right in the world.

(image from Target.com)

Home Sweet Home: Our Happy Place calendar (Target) (Amazon). So. Okay. For ME, this feels a bit too on-the-nose/bright-siding. But Elizabeth has a friend whose house is just FULL of Live Laugh Love, Faith Friends Family, With Coffee All Things Are Possible, In This House We…, etc., and I would think this could be just the calendar for emphasizing the cozy positive side of being housebound? Or it might be too much even for that.

(image from Amazon.com)

World of Color calendar (Amazon). Sometimes when I see something that is a mad riot of color, I think “My eyes were STARVED for color and I hadn’t realized!”

(image from Amazon.com)

The Art of Daniel Merriam calendar (Amazon). This is not quite my style, but I think this passes the test for “a page that would be interesting to look at for an entire month.”

(image from Amazon.com)

Farm portraits calendar (Amazon). I feel that the duck is the shot and the widdle bunny is the chaser—but without feeling entirely sure I understand the metaphor of shot/chaser.

(image from Target.com)

That Dood Squad calendar (Target) (Amazon). I don’t know what’s going on here, but it’s making me feel happy to look at it.

(image from Target.com)

Corgis calendar (Target) (Amazon). Edward wants a corgi very badly, based on their cute appearance; I have looked into the breed and have broken the news to him that, while undeniably VERY VERY CUTE, a corgi is Not The Right Dog For Us. Perhaps a calendar instead, for admiring their undeniable cuteness.

(image from Target.com)

Unicornucopia calendar (Target) (Amazon). I don’t know either, but I added it to my cart. This feels like pure 2021 energy to me.

(image from Target.com)

Sweet and Sassy calendar (Target) (Amazon). Elizabeth happened to be passing by, and she and I both liked the cover page. Then we saw one about how girls want to have fun, and also nice handbags, and also equal pay, and we were like “Ooooooooo pretty good?” Then we saw the one about how all you need is love…and also a million dollars and fabulous shoes, and in unison we both said sarcastically “GIRLS AMIRITE??” And then we saw the one about how what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, except bears which will kill you—and I would have to put a different calendar page over that one because THAT IS NOT A PLACE IN WHICH THE WORD “EXCEPT” MAKES SENSE. IF BEARS WILL KILL YOU, THEY ARE ALREADY EXCEPTED BY THE PHRASE “WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU.” Then we were looking at the whole back cover and Elizabeth said, “Hm, and they’re all white.” EVERY SINGLE WOMAN IN THIS CALENDAR IS WHITE. IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 2021. Which may not be 100% accurate (I don’t know their genes, and the pictures are small), but. Anyway, I just wanted to make you feel mad too.

(image from Amazon.com)

The previous calendar could learn a lot from the Hot Guys with Cute Animals calendar (Amazon), which I use purely as a good example of better diversity.

(image from Amazon.com)

Posters for Change calendar (Target). I think this is such a cool idea, but January’s poster would make me sad and anxious all month, and I don’t think that’s what January needs. Also, Elizabeth, who had gotten sucked into this calendar-choosing project, thought some of the posters “looked like middle-school projects.” If I DID get this calendar, I think it would be neat to combine it with the goal to make a donation each month to a cause related to that month’s design.

(image from Target.com)

Christmas is Coming calendar (Target) (Amazon). The entire calendar is Christmas-themed. I admire and enjoy the thinking of whoever came up with this idea and then just went with it.

(image from Target.com)

It’s a Good Day To Crochet calendar (Target) (Amazon). Oh, this is so fresh and pretty.

(image from Target.com)

Landscapes calendar (Target) (Amazon). Tranquil and pretty—and it’s a little sad how comforting it is now to see wide open spaces with NO PEOPLE in them. Too many of my bad dreams this year have involved being in a crowd.

(image from Amazon.com)

The Legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg calendar (Amazon). *WEEP*

(image from Target.com)

Can’t Kill Me calendar (Target) (Amazon). The cover of this doesn’t appeal to me per se (I don’t have a cubicle, I am not known for killing plants), but I love the pictures: just an entire plant on a plain white background, being a plant. This is a strong candidate.

(image from Target.com)

Farm Yoga calendar (Target) (Amazon). I am briefly drawn to each funny yoga calendar (Cow Yoga, Horse Yoga, Sloth Yoga, Llama Yoga, Unicorn Yoga, etc.), but, because it’s the same kind of animal each month, the calendar doesn’t seem visually interesting enough to last a whole year. THIS one has a different animal each month, which puts it into much stronger consideration.

(image from Target.com)

Peaky Blinders calendar (Target) (Amazon). My understanding is that some of you have a bit of a thing for the gentleman on the cover.

(image from Amazon.com)

Animal Crossing calendar (Amazon). If we’d been choosing calendars back in April or May, I think this would have been the household’s choice.

(image from Amazon.com)

Star Trek Cats calendar (Amazon). Omg.

(image from Amazon.com)

Bob Ross calendar (Amazon). I bought a Bob Ross calendar one year and found it a very soothing choice.

(image from Amazon.com)

Teapot calendar (Amazon). To go with all the tea I am drinking.

(image from Amazon.com)

Mandalorian calendar (Amazon). Did I mention we’re watching this? Sure is a lot of shooting and killing and racing and crashing and swaggering and being all tough-guy, considering how many of us are only watching it for the cute baby.

(image from Amazon.com)

Pusheen calendar (Amazon). We had a Pusheen calendar one year, and it was such a satisfying calendar I almost buy it again each year.

(image from Amazon.com)

Backyard Foraging calendar (Amazon). Oh, that’s a fun concept, and also I really like the artwork. I don’t like how small the squares are.

(image from Amazon.com)

Feathered Friends calendar (Amazon). I can’t remember if I’ve actually had this calendar, or if I’ve just had it in my top three so many years in a row it FEELS like I’ve already had it.

(image from Amazon.com)

Este MacLeode calendar (Amazon). Gorgeous. A finalist last year, but sold out before I could decide.

(image from Amazon.com)

Masha D’Yans calendar (Amazon). I have had a Masha D’Yans calendar twice, which is the most I have ever had a calendar by the same artist or else I might be tempted to choose it again.

(image from Amazon.com)

Klimt Landscapes calendar (Amazon). I was strongly considering this one last year, but waited too long (“Is it…too many little dots of color?”), and then I had regrets—which makes it a stronger finalist this year.

I’d say I’m down to Space Cats, Can’t Kill Me, Este MacLeode, and Klimt Landscapes—and most strongly toward the last two, especially since Elizabeth thinks she wants Can’t Kill Me for her room.

If you use calendars: what are you choosing this year?

Christmas Card Photos; Grocery Shopping Report Including Tea Update

46 Replies

Well, I have gotten to my tipping point, where “too early to worry about Christmas” turns into “IT’S TOO LATE!! IT’S TOO LATE!!” Such a magical time of year.

I’d thought we would do our annual family photo to put in with the Christmas cards, but that went from “We need to do that pretty soon” to “Welp, too late for that now.” At first I thought I would just skip it: my feeling is that people really like to receive photos in holiday cards, because I really like to receive photos in holiday cards—but I don’t delude myself that OUR PARTICULAR family photo will make or break someone’s holiday-card-receiving experience. “In This of All Years, it is fine to skip,” I told myself. But then I thought, “…or is it In This of All Years that it’s More Important Than Ever?”

There I sat, getting a headache imagining trying to get my two college kids assembled/cooperative during daylight hours, getting the tripod set right so we’re not just a sea of underchin/nostrils, trying to get Henry to (1) look at the camera and (2) stop goofing/talking and (3) no, don’t GLARE at the camera—and I couldn’t face it. So I took a pair of Thanksgiving pictures, one that Paul took from his end of the table and one that I took from my end of the table, and I got them put together on one 4×6, and I ordered them for delivery, and they’ll be here by next Tuesday. Good enough is good enough.

I went grocery shopping in person today, to get the things we haven’t been able to get curbside. My anxiety about grocery-shopping, which had gone wayyyyy down between March and November as I got used to it, has gone back up: not to early-pandemic levels, when we didn’t know if we should be wiping down our groceries or not, but…up, as hospitals report running out of beds and as people post photos of their happy maskless Thanksgiving get-togethers. And it is frustrating to be TRYING to do curbside pick-up instead, but then to pick up the order and find a little paper informing me that they were unable to fulfill my requests for milk, meat, or bread. WHAT IS GOING ON. There are no shortages of those items right now!

Well. I will say that even after only two curbside pick-ups, I have newfound gratitude for being able to go into a store to choose things myself. The anxiety is higher, but so is the happiness. And, since curbside is giving a false feeling of scarcity by somehow not being able to acquire certain basics, finding those basics at my store (WHERE THERE IS NO SCARCITY OF THEM) gives me increased feelings of relief and happiness. My in-person trips now feel like treasure hunts where I always find the treasure.

Today, for example. The curbside grocery store claims not to have cheddar cheese in block form, in any size or brand. I go through a LOT of block cheddar cheese. So buying three nice big blocks of it at my usual grocery store was THRILLING. I came home and lovingly tucked my three bars of gold into the cheese drawer.

Curbside has had no ground beef for two trips in a row. My usual grocery store had ample ground beef in every percentage. I bought three packages and felt like I’d won a prize.

Curbside had NO WHEAT BREAD. I had checked the “any substitution is fine” box, but STILL no bread. I bought three loves (I appear to have had a Three theme going on for some reason) and felt content.

And treats! I feel more reluctant to put treats/non-necessities on the curbside list. I DO put them on there, I DO—but I put fewer than I would if I were shopping myself. It’s partly self-consciousness + unnecessary caring about what other people think, and it’s partly that it feels a little less comfortable to ask someone else to bring out a pack of Little Debbie cakes and a container of ice cream than it feels to ask them to bring out bread and milk. Whether or not it SHOULD feel that way. Anyway! Today I got flavored seltzer! And several kinds of packaged holiday cookies, including one of those “sewing supplies” tins! And a package of Pepperidge Farm Bordeaux, which are my favorites and I could not get them from curbside or from Target and thought maybe they weren’t made anymore! And a couple kinds of candy for stockings! And Christmas-themed Little Debbie cakes! And diet Coke!

Oh and! They had crushed tomatoes!! I haven’t been able to find those for over a month! I bought three cans!

And I nearly wept right there in the store as I put two large packages of frozen broccoli florets in my cart: I don’t know if I just got a bad bag or what, but my first bag from the curbside grocery store was TERRIBLE. So, so mushy and soggy, even when I tried again and microwaved another serving for much less time than usual; and many pieces had gross brown sections. Maybe it was just a bad bag! I will try again! But…in the meantime, I have two large bags of Good Familiar Reliable Broccoli.

They had Kraft macaroni, which curbside was out of and I could have gotten from Target Drive-up but I wasn’t planning a trip there soon, and it’s an Emotional Support Food for two of the kids.

They had the jarred pasta sauce we use, which curbside was out of and I couldn’t get from Target.

They had stuffing mix, which curbside said they were out of and I couldn’t get from Target. (It has to be a vegetarian one, which limits options.) Every year we eat the leftover stuffing disappointingly quickly and I wish I’d made two batches. I’ve made a note for next year—and in the meantime, where is the rule saying I can’t make stuffing as a side dish for a normal meal? NOWHERE.

And then there was The Tea Aisle. You all gave so many good tea suggestions, and some of them were not available from the places I normally get things shipped/curbside, so I was VERY EXCITED to check my grocery store to see what they’d have. I will start by saying that, sadly, they did not have any holiday teas—or if they did, I missed them in my flustered anxiety, which is fully possible because I know NORMALLY they have a cardboard display of holiday teas. Maybe I walked right past it. I might have. I really might have. Well, let’s not dwell on it. The point is that I didn’t want to LINGER but I wanted to come home with SEVERAL fun suggested teas if possible, and I DID!

I am drinking a cup of Bengal Spice right now, and I am going to try the Ceylon Orange Pekoe this afternoon when I need a little caffeine!

Tipping Delivery People at the Holidays During a Pandemic Year

28 Replies

I am getting nervous about gift cards for delivery people. Normally I give one to the mail carrier, and in recent years I’ve started putting one out for UPS. But this year is different, OBVIOUSLY. I have been getting a LOT of things shipped. Here are my anxieties:

• Even the top amount I’m thinking of tipping a delivery person seems pretty flimsy at a time like this—almost insulting. Like, *tossing coin, making them catch it*

• Also, I just went to double-check what the rules were, and for USPS mail carriers the maximum gift they may receive is something valued at $20—and they may not receive ANY cash or gift cards in ANY amount. (Source.) Er, I have been (1) giving gift cards and (2) at times exceeding that value. And I got a nice thank-you note from the mail carrier, and she did not give the gift card back to me saying she couldn’t accept it. So I am guessing those rules are not followed/enforced, but now that I KNOW the rules I hesitate to deliberately break them. But. They strike me as…not-good rules. And maybe…I will just continue to break them, pretending I don’t know? I WOULDN’T have known, if I hadn’t deliberately looked it up! It’s just, I am QUITE SURE my mail carrier would rather have a gift card than a Thoughtful Mug or whatever. (Perhaps I could leave a giant bottle of hand sanitizer, and a package of toilet paper?)

• According to this AARP article, Fed Ex drivers are not allowed to accept anything. But…quite a few of our packages have been coming Fed Ex. (We’re not choosing Fed Ex: the company that ships the packages is choosing.) Do I leave out a card anyway, on the idea that, as with USPS carriers, Fed Ex delivery people might just…go ahead and accept anyway?

• Wait, what about Amazon delivery people? It’s different ones all the time! Maybe put $5 in an envelope on four separate expecting-a-delivery days and just hope it works out?

• That worries me about UPS, too: I am pretty sure we have one main driver who does our route (that’s the way it was at our old house)—but during the holidays, maybe it would be an extra holiday person running the packages up to the house, and THEY’D get the gift card! (I realize I could…I don’t know, call UPS and ask or something, but let’s be at peace with the idea that I am just not going to do that.)

• I have just realized to my dismay that I must have missed the Target 10% off gift cards sale. I remember seeing something about it, I remember INTENDING to act on it…and now, I don’t see anything. Well. Into each life a little rain etc.

[Edited to add: I should mention that we tried to do the good idea of setting out a big basket of snacks/waters, and the squirrels absolutely destroyed it. So that is now out of the running.]

Tea

119 Replies

Now that the election is over and the current administration is nearly out the door, I am hoping to get back to normal coffee-drinking without my reflux panicking and thinking it should tell me we’re probably choking/dying. Early experiments are promising (two days in a row I have had a small mug of coffee with no serious ill effects), but in the meantime, would you like to recommend teas you like? Either caffeinated or not is fine: I started with all non-caffeinated ones (because sometimes it’s the caffeine causing reflux symptoms, not the coffee), but have gradually added in a large full daily mug of caffeinated tea and that works just fine—but I haven’t found a caffeinated tea I LIKE much, yet.

I want to clarify that I am ONLY talking about tea bags at this point: the whole world of infusers/strainers and loose-leaf tea and whatnot is charming and I love it but let’s save something to look forward to in case I can’t go back to coffee after all.

Obviously I should have gotten a Tea Advent Calendar this year but sadly I did not think of it.

My favorite teas so far:

(image from Target.com)

Bigelow Lemon Ginger. No caffeine. This is the one I most want to drink in the morning.

(image from Target.com)

Bigelow Lavender Chamomile. No caffeine. I don’t like the FLAVOR of this one as much as the Lemon Ginger, but I like the VIBE. I like drinking it and feeling as if I must be being soothed.

(image from Target.com)

Celestial Seasonings Peppermint. No caffeine. Peppermint can irritate reflux, which is counterintuitive for me: I think of peppermint Tums as the ultimate in soothing, but apparently not. But peppermint is GOOD for various esophagus stuff, which I also seem to have. So I drink this with caution. I like the flavor a lot. (I don’t like spearmint, in case that is springing to mind as another option. I do like wintergreen.)

(image from Target.com)

Tazo Wild Sweet Orange. No caffeine. This is sweet enough that it makes me nervous and I keep side-eyeing the nutritional information to make sure there is no sugar in it. It’s quite good, though sometimes I find it A Bit Much. (The children, mocking me: “Oh, this tea is TOO FLAVORFUL for me!”)

(image from Amazon.com) (I don’t buy six boxes at a time; I buy it at my grocery store)

Stash Licorice Spice. I’d read that licorice tea was good for reflux/acid stuff, and I thought, “But I detest licorice.” I tried it anyway—and either I do not detest licorice, or this does not taste the way I think licorice tastes, or both. Anyway, I like it and I’m on my second box of it.

(image from Target.com)

Celestial Seasonings Country Peach Passion. No caffeine. Pleasant. Not a complex flavor: just sort of…peach. I sometimes get tired of it before I’ve finished a mug of it, but I like it enough to keep it on hand.

I haven’t found a caffeinated tea I like enough to add it to this list, and would love to try some new options. I like Earl Grey pretty okay, and I thought Constant Comment was pretty okay (it’s like black tea combined with a little bit of spice and a little bit of the Wild Sweet Orange), and I am drinking a Vanilla Chai that is also okay but I thought I’d like it more than I do. The SOUND of it was so good. I probably won’t buy it again, unless I forget I’ve already tried it and think “Ooo, that sounds good!” (I think actually this has already happened once before.)

I have not yet found a green tea I like. I have tried jasmine, lemon, and ginger flavors. I am willing to try maybe one or two more kinds—especially since all the kinds I’ve tried have been Bigelow, so maybe it’s the brand and not the green.

Stocking Stuffers in a Pandemic

41 Replies

I have turned my mind to the issue of the kids’ stockings, and I guess Paul’s and mine too, but I feel like Paul and I could have some pretty sub-par pandemic stockings and not really worry about it, whereas more than one kid has commented in the past that they almost like the stockings better than the gifts.

Normally I shop for stockings bit by bit, when I’m out and about anyway. Maybe I’m shopping with my sisters-in-law after Christmas and find some good stocking stuffers on clearance and set them aside. Maybe I’m shopping with my mom at HomeGoods and we find some fun gadget or useful little item. Maybe I find some nail polish or earrings or socks and set them aside. And I fill my own stocking by seeing little things I want while out shopping, and thinking “Yes, but do I really NEED that?,” and then thinking “OH I can get it for my STOCKING!”—and then tucking those things aside in a bag in the closet, without looking into the bag as I add each new thing—so that things I bought earlier in the year are genuine surprises. Then, closer to Christmas, I buy a whole bunch of candy and snacky things to fill in the gaps, plus useful supplies they need anyway (socks, hair elastics, new toothbrush, anything anyone puts on the shopping list during December), plus little bottles of interesting boozes for the grown-ups.

But this year I am not shopping as I normally would. I do have a few things I bought on clearance back before the pandemic started. But everything else feels WAY more difficult, because I have to THINK OF the thing and go looking for it online, rather than letting the ITEMS find ME. And I haven’t been finding things on clearance all year, as I normally would have. And searching “stocking stuffers” brings up a lot of stuff in the $20+ category which…is not how we do stockings. And I think this is going to end up meaning that this year’s stockings will be heavier on candy/snacks, lighter on everything else.

Here’s what I’ve been finding online, in addition to what I’m already considering from the post about Paul’s sister’s stocking box:

Holiday Fruit Snacks:

(image from Target.com)

(or if you need more, there’s a 28-pack box). It’s rare to find something packaged with the same number of items as I have children! I bought two 5-count boxes, because the kids all like fruit snacks; if I’d seen the 28-count box, I probably would have ordered that instead BUT OH WELL. [These have arrived, and it is only 1/2 ounce per fruit-snack packet, so now I definitely wish I’d ordered the 28-count. I might order those TOO.]

Cute hot chocolate:

(image from Target.com)

Interesting hot chocolate:

(image from Target.com)

Duke Cannon soap for Paul:

(image from Target.com)

These giant bars are his favorite soap. They also have Big Ass Lump of Coal and Frothy the Beerman.

Rice Krispies treats:

(image from Target.com)

I panicked and bought five of these, then realized I could have bought a 32-count box of minis for much less money per ounce.

Razors for the college boys: disposables for Rob and refills for William.

(image from Target.com)

Shaving cream for the college boys:

(image from Target.com)

New hair brushes for Henry and Rob, because theirs are gross:

(image from Target.com)

Hair elastics for Rob, Elizabeth, Henry, and me:

(image from Target.com)

Scrunchies for Elizabeth:

(image from Target.com)

If you have a number of people who would enjoy scrunchies, may I recommend this bizarrely inexpensive set of 40, which sells in the $8-10ish range?

(image from Amazon.com)

Elizabeth wanted to buy them with her own money a year or two ago, and I was all, “Oh, honey, at that price those are not going to be any good”—and I was completely wrong, and Amazon tells me I have bought them FIVE TIMES now (they’re great to donate for fundraisers/auctions).

Similarly, this surprisingly inexpensive set of pom-poms to clip onto backpacks:

(image from Amazon.com)

You can put some in each stocking and let people trade colors.

I thought Elizabeth might like to try this hair-drying tee that may be no better than the actual t-shirts she’s been using:

(image from Amazon.com)

These dumb over-priced M&Ms tubes I buy anyway because the kids inexplicably love them, and now it’s been so many years it’s become Tradition:

(image from Target.com)

Ring pops:

(image from Target.com)

My favorite kind of Junior Mints, I buy a dozen boxes each Christmas just for me:

(image from Target.com)

Candy cane Tic Tacs:

(image from Target.com)

Chocolate oranges:

(image from Target.com)

Socks (last year Rob commented, “I can tell I’m getting to the boring grown-up stage of life, because I am genuinely glad to see these!”)

(image from Target.com)

(image from Amazon.com)

Gum:

(image from Target.com)

This hand soap for Paul, who loves lemony stuff:

(image from Target.com)

Ticonderoga pencils (thanks Alyson for the reminder!): black for Rob and William, metallic for Elizabeth and Edward and Henry, and NOIR HOLOGRAPHIC for Paul.

(image from Amazon.com)

A metal 2-tablespoon measuring spoon for Paul, who every morning uses the 1-tablespoon measure twice for peanut butter and has already broken two plastic tablespoon handles:

(image from Amazon.com)

Bonds of London Pear Drops. I don’t know who was eating these online but SOMEONE was, and I wanted to try them, so I ordered a bag for my stocking. I am appalled to see that “pear drops” (I love pear-flavored things) are apparently also BANANA-flavored (I am…not fond of banana-flavored things), which I didn’t notice until after I ordered. I also bought the sherbet lemons for Paul, so perhaps I will just…switch bags.

(image from Amazon.com)

According to Amazon, I have bought these Kikkerland pens 15 times, and that doesn’t even tell you how many packs I bought each time. They are my favorites and my sister-in-law’s favorites, so I buy some for our stockings each year when they’re in the $6-7ish range.

(image from Amazon.com)

I don’t know where all the gloves go, so I buy inexpensive ones for the stockings every year (or, better yet, the year before on clearance).

(image from Target.com)

And Paul’s sister had these fingerless gloves on her wish list:

(image from Amazon.com)

These paper glasses are so odd, and I don’t know how they work, but this is our third Christmas playing with them and the kids exclaimed upon seeing them come out of a box. They turn lights into pictures, I don’t know how. So if you wear the “snowman” pair, and you look at Christmas lights, you will see a little snowman in place of each Christmas light. And if you look out the window and a car is driving by, you will see snowmen where the headlights are. It is BIZARRE, and well worth the price.

(image from Amazon.com)

Glitter Decorate-a-Christmas-Tree mini Dover book (kids are too old for it; this is for me):

(image from Amazon.com)

Pepperidge Farm Chessman cookies:

(image from Target.com)

I had some of these leftover from doing care packages for grown-ups, and I put them into the kids’ stockings. Henry surprised me by REMEMBERING them the next Christmas, mentioning in December that he hoped there would be Chessman cookies in the stockings again. They ARE yummier than one would expect. And there’s also Milano snack-packs, if you prefer a little chocolate.

Oreo dippers:

(image from Target.com)

I’ve been getting these for stockings since Rob was a toddler. I like to get the big pack so I have enough for my niece and nephew and for at least some of the grown-ups, but if you don’t need as many they’re also sold in a 6-pack. And there are pretzel-and-cheese-dip, breadstick-and-cheese-dip, and crackers-and-cheese-dip versions, if you prefer savory: sometimes stockings get kind of overfull of sweet.

Speaking of which: Pringles.

(image from Target.com)

And Chex Mix.

(image from Target.com)

Trail mix packets:

(image from Target.com)

Caramel Cashew is a favorite, but they also have Monster, Peanut Butter Monster, Cashew Cranberry Almond, Omega 3 Walnut, and Simply Trail.

If you know someone doing keto and you don’t mind spending more money than you’d expect, there are some pretty yummy Quest bars and cookies and snack-size bags of chips sold individually for about $2 each (I KNOW) at my grocery store. My own favorites are the chocolate-chip cookie dough bar, the double chocolate cookie, and the nacho tortilla chips. The past couple of years, Target has had some seasonally-flavored Quest items in the stocking-stuffer section: a peppermint-bark flavored Quest bar, a snickerdoodle/gingerbread flavored Quest cookie, things like that; I’m not seeing those on the site, but they might have them in the store. I’m getting these Quest Peanut Butter Cups for my own stocking, because I have been longing to try them and they’ve only just become available for shipping:

(image from Target.com)

(I will of course be eating ABSOLUTELY NOT KETO AT ALL for Christmas, but it’s nice to have a “fun” “treat” to look forward to in the sad aftermath.)

Paul likes the O’Keeffe’s brand, so I usually get him hand cream (Target) (Amazon) and/or lip balm (Target) (Amazon) for his stocking.

(image from Amazon.com)

And you could get the nice foot cream (Target) (Amazon) Nicole recommends, for your own stocking. (I want to try the Night Treatment.)

(image from Amazon.com)

(image from Target.com)

I got a couple packs of these holiday Chapsticks last year and distributed them among the stockings.

(image from Target.com)

And I got myself an adorably wee little mini-Vaseline in creme brulee flavor, which I can still find at my grocery store but I’m having trouble finding online. Here it is in a 3-pack of flavors from Amazon. Or there’s a cocoa-butter two-pack or single. Or a rosy-lips single or two-pack.

(image from Target.com)

Mini staplers are the kind of thing I prefer to get on clearance:

(image from Target.com)

Fundraising/political t-shirts. These are on one hand WAY too expensive for stockings. But what happens is that the kid feels neutrally-positive about having the shirt (not strongly enough to put it on their wish list, but generally positive toward the organization/politician), and I feel high-positive about supporting the organization/politician, so I buy the shirts (or get them free with a donation), and I will put the shirt in someone’s stocking. Or one year, ACLU had their basic tee for $10, so I bought one for each of the three kids who were mildly interested in having one. It isn’t so much a stocking gift as something I would have bought them anyway if they’d wanted it, and it takes up a nice amount of space in the stocking.

(image from HRC.org)

Shipable Pandemic “Stocking” Gift Boxes / Christmas Care Packages

31 Replies

Elizabeth and Paul and I just spent a good 20 minutes trying to figure out how to spell shipable/shippable. We still don’t know. We had good arguments for either one; spellcheck was not persuaded. In the end we felt “shipable” looked more likely.

Every year I mail a large Christmas box to Paul’s sister Beth. I struggle mentally with how much it costs to ship (just think of how many more presents I could have gotten her with that money!), but my sense is that what we send her is about 90% of her Christmas, so I use a lot of coping thoughts and I just DO IT. I could have things shipped directly for free, but then they wouldn’t be wrapped and labeled, and that feels grim when it’s 90% of someone’s Christmas; or else they WOULD be wrapped, and it would cost $$$ extra per gift, so I might as well channel that gift-wrapping expense into the shipping costs and then I get to use ribbon and festive tissue paper and tuck little treats into the crevices and so forth.

Where was I? Oh yes! But there are some things I wouldn’t wrap anyway—more like stocking stuffers or general holiday treats. Some of them are lightweight, and those are nice for the aforementioned tucking into crevices. But some of the things are heavier or bulkier, and take up a really surprising amount of room in the box, and what I would rather do is ship them separately for free. We talked about this idea before, for pandemic birthday boxes and pandemic Mother’s Day care packages, and now I am working on a Pandemic Stocking (box), for Beth. This would also work as a Christmas care package gift for someone: address it to Firstname GIFT Surname, and tell them to put the whole box under the tree as-is. (Not that it will all come in one box. No. It will come in like EIGHT boxes.)

Some things ship for free with $25+, other things require $35+. I’m willing to spend $35+ (we don’t budget quite as much for Beth as for my brother’s family of four, but…we do adjust disproportionately, keeping in mind that my brother’s family has two sets of parents/siblings shopping for them too, while Beth does not), but it’s something to be aware of as you’re shopping, so you don’t put together the perfect $25 package and find it doesn’t qualify for free shipping. And some things are drifting in and out of availability for shipping, or are only shipable/shippable to certain zip codes—but this is just to give a general idea of some things that might work for a Christmas care package / stocking box.

I briefly considered starting with an actual stocking, just to be cute—but Beth already HAS a stocking, so it would be more like an unnecessary increase in the cost. I was still tempted, for thematic cuteness.

(image from Target.com)

In normal times, I would not have included a box of tissues, but these are not normal times. (They sometimes have the store-brand available for shipping even if nothing else is, though I’ll start by looking for Puffs or Kleenex to be fancy.)

(image from Target.com)

Hand soap and hand sanitizer, too: the new ways to say I care about you.

(image from Target.com)

And I feel a LITTLE silly about this—but I have been HUNTING DOWN this Lysol cleaning spray since March, and finally Finally FINALLY found it available for shipping from Target, and it comes in and out of availability, but if it is available when I’m ready to send a package to Beth, I AM INCLUDING A BOTTLE OF IT.

(image from Target.com)

Is this a lot less like a Christmas stocking and a lot more like a standard weekly Target shopping trip of yore? YES. THESE ARE ODD TIMES, MY FRIENDS. I AM LEANING INTO IT. I will maybe get her some paper towels and toilet paper, too, and I will KNOW SHE WILL BE HAPPY TO SEE THEM AS IN NO OTHER YEAR OF HER LIFE THUS FAR!

Okay, now for some better / more normal stocking things. These cute little Thayers face mists:

(image from Target.com)

William got me started on Thayers when he went on a skin-care kick and was participating heavily in online skincare message boards and so forth. He got a bottle of Thayers, so then I wanted a bottle too, and then Miss Grace was talking about all kinds of other face-mist options, and anyway now my cabinet is filled with like a dozen face mists but I always want more of them. This set has three little bottles to try: the unscented, the rose, and a seasonal cranberry orange.

Seasonal dish towels:

(image from Target.com)

Seasonal Lindt truffles:

(image from Target.com)

Seasonal pretzels (these dumb things are so good; I don’t even LIKE white chocolate OR pretzels and I can eat a whole expensive little bag in one sitting EASILY) (I tried the dark chocolate ones ASSUMING I’d LOVE them, and they did not hold the same magic for me, there is no explaining it):

(image from Target.com)

Seasonal Ferrero Rocher:

(image from Target.com)

Seasonal Oreos:

(image from Target.com)

Seasonal Pepperidge Farm:

(image from Target.com)

Seasonal Belvita bars:

(image from Target.com)

Seasonal Larabars:

(image from Target.com)

Shortbread cookies:

(image from Target.com)

Glazed nuts. They’re kind of expensive, but they’re good hearty food while also being coated in delicious sugar/salt.

(image from Target.com)

Fun trail mix:

(image from Target.com)

Reese’s Peanut Butter Trees:

(image from Target.com)

Seasonal lip balm:

(image from Target.com)

Fun little skincare samples to try:

(image from Target.com)

(They also have cosmetics samples, haircare samples, “clean beauty” samples.)

Lotion sampler:

(image from Target.com)

Cute seasonal face masks (FACE MASK SURE HAS A DIFFERENT MEANING THIS YEAR) (these are the old meaning):

(image from Target.com)

(Or just one: reindeer, snowman, gingerbread, moose, penguin.) (I couldn’t find the polar bear sold on his own, so he must be a bonus that comes with the set.)

Seasonal tea: