I have, and it worked pretty well the first day, but I got 2/5 of my items back yesterday. I also tested it when the Gold Accounts were able to a few days before it opened for all users. I'd say they're still working out a few bugs. But hopefully soon it is working well!

Good to see you ! Ouch! My mom has had gout in her foot, so hand sounds worse! Glad to see you again though :D May you have a good holiday season <3

We have work Secret Santa on the 17th. I have to go get my gifts for the person still. Green tea and chocolate-a self care duo!

Ooh I hope his first day is uneventful and smooth!

Oh, nice Beth. - well except for you getting your items back. I've been reading the news post comments and I read through a forum as well.... then decided to go ahead and join. I did not join the beta testing.

Our secret Santa is a 12-day event. Small items (like a note, or sweet treat) for the most part, with a slightly larger final gift the last day. Suggestions were given for each day, but we can choose anything if we can't find something to fit.

So far I have been given a baggy of chocolate candy, slippers, a sweet encouraging note with a "teacher" pen and cup, a candle and a mini picture frame, a cute little decorative "gift" box filled with ornament type items (but the whole thing is like an ornament itself, that you just place on display), and today was the little reindeer candle holder (like tealight holder) - it had a mocha peppermint mini candle in it, and a mini penguin magnet as well as a magnetic notepad.

So far, I have given to my secret Santa giftee, some peppermint bark Ghirardelli's, a plastic holiday cup (with straw/lid) filled with a pair of socks (holiday) and some candy canes, a Christmas card with an encouraging note and a holiday lanyard, a mini wreath pin and a light up lantern ornament, a candle and some potpourri type sent bags, and today was a holiday sign (I included a mini art easel so they could stand it up on their desk) and a homemade reindeer ornament. Tomorrow I will be giving a little mini spa type kit (lotion, bubble bath/body wash and body mist) as well as a couple of bath bombs. The following days are "snack attack" "holiday beverage" "gratitude" "personal interests" and "final gift wrap up" (the previous days were labelled as "sweet treats" "cozy comforts" "words of encouragement" "festive decor" "scent of the season" and "desk refresh" - tomorrow is "self-care"

We are also doing 12 days of Christmas dress up for the whole school system (anyone who wants to participate can). We started out with grinch/green, sock day, plaid, holiday/bells, today was elf day. Tomorrow is reindeer day, and then friday is ugly sweater day. Next week is PJ day, holiday glow (bright/light/shiny), winter wonderland (blue), snowman day (white) and final day is dress in red/Santa day.

[edit] Good Morning Everyone in my group added 5 items, Melody added 8. I got 6 items. Ranged in price from 111k to 700k. The items I put in ranged from 220k to 640k, except 1 item I chose was 2.2mil ;) To be extra nice. I'll probably play again this evening.

[edit] Wow. gotta love feedback like this: Outstanding job with your Literacy Centers and Lesson Plan for Preschool. I hope that this was a learning experience that you will carry into future classes. You should be proud of your completed project. and: Katherine, you’ve been such a dedicated and exceptional student throughout the course. Your presentation was clear, engaging, and truly insightful—everyone, including myself, learned a great deal from it. Those were the comments from my two final projects in the two classes! I have one assignment still not graded. I have a 99.07 in the one class and a 100.5 in the class where the assignment needs to be graded. :D

Awww, that's WONDERFUL feedback!

Welcome back Lupe, sounds like a great.. and NEEDED break!

Speaking of.. I come back after a few days and the forum is all weird now, things are in different places :P

Also.. what a freaking day. Wake up at 5am and the fridge isn't working.. 48 minutes later I get everything into the other fridge (in the unheated sunroom.. brrr!). Go to bring one of the three bags of freezer stuff upstairs, and the railing falls off. I mean, the bolts HAVE been there for 54 years, they've lived their lives, I can't blame them for snapping in half I guess :P Alex fixed the railing and the fridge is thawing for 24 hours and then we'll look at it but like.. eesh!

Hi Mieke - that is weird? The forums haven't changed for me? Unless you mean like the order of them when you are on the main forum page? That does sometimes change as they add or remove a forum choice....Freaked me out when they moved battle due to adding something.

YIKES fridge and railings. Glad Alex was able to fix the railings. Hope the fridge gets fixed too.

Yeah, the order of them. Chit Chat is all the way up top now and feedback is on the other side than it used to be. Weird.

I hope the fridge gets fixed too but like.. it'll be fine. It'll all be fine. It'll be fine! :P

WOW Its so crazy changed now. I'm never going to find anything for quite a while. Glad this is a subscribed thread!! I read in one of them that the forums were merging because a lot of them were barely being used and apparently it had been discussed back in like March or May? *(an M month anyway, now I don't remember!)

Yes! It will be fine, it will ALL be fine! (was it fine?) :P

Also, I'm STILL waiting on the last item to be graded. Come on already! I need my grades :P Oh did I say that my final score on the learner differences presentation (the one where I already had all "proficient" or "excelled" on the rough draft) - I got all "excelled" and yet only got 49/50 points? No note on what that 1 point off was for. BUT I also got 2 bonus points for doing the survey on how well the class went, so really I got 51/50 points hahaha :P

They keep changing it, I guess to figure out what works best?? But it IS very confusing!

Forgot about the CW pawn shop, but got two things off my wishlist and then a couple more things that I found that I wanted :P

It's fine.. probably?! Alex plugged it back in this morning, there was a lot of water on the floor though so it looks like the coils froze again. All teh food is fine, though :P

Maybe it's one of those teachers tha tnever gives full points for anything? Which doesn't seem fair to me really but.. YAY for the good grades.. and I hope the last one gets graded!

All done Christmas shopping, everyone? Or still thinking about stuff?

Nah, thats not it. I've gotten pretty much full points on all my assignments. (Like only one or two per class has lost a point or two, and that was MY fault, due to selecting wrong answers on quizzes, not items graded by the teacher MOST of the time).

Yuck water on the floor. I hate when that happens. BUT glad the fridge is working again.

Ummmm. I impulse buy. So I am done, but will probably pick up MORE things next weekend when I go grocery shopping, as I've done every weekend since stuff appeared on the shelf for Christmas hahahaha I'm terrible. I really need to figure out how to limit myself. I have TWO ideas for myself and implemented neither one this year - I TRY to do a "savings" envelope with cash for gifts, welp. It ended up spent earlier this year and I forgot to add back to it. And TWO - I thought well instead since I didn't do the cash savings for gifts, I'd just do the 4 gift thing (something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read) with adaptations (for like, those who dont read or don't want clothes, get a different category gift) WELLLL I went way beyond that. So. Yeah. :P I think everyone has at least 7-8 gifts of random types? PLUS the household supplies for the two couples and Nathans snack pack I did for him since he doesn't need household supplies on his own.

I went a bit overboard too, even though I still stepped wayyyy back! But there's a good amount under the tree.

Iz is so easy to buy for though, and honestly, so is Lily.. though I think Lily ended up with less than everyone somehow? LOL.

Thanks, gals. :) The swelling is down enough that I can finally type again. Hubby is so thankful because he was getting tired grabbing my Melody items each day.

Congrats on such good grades, Kat! Now you've got a nice long holiday break to look forward to. :)

Mieke, I'm sorry but I snort-giggled when I read that your railing fell off. I'm not sure why, it just struck me as funny. Yeah, I don't get out much. 😂

Whatevermaycome - Thanks!It's not easy living with gout in my hands but I do my best. Mainly, it gets me waited on but I tell you, the stuff hurts! No wonder King Henry VIII was such a turd. 😂

Nothing is under the tree yet. Not sure if the puppy will tear stuff up or not. Belle has already tried getting away from her by going under the tree/around behind it. Didn't work. I've had several ornaments knocked off. And the popcorn tin knocked over. Have wondered if maybe the gifts would block them, but don't want them tearing up the wrapping. It's all in my closet still.

Hahaha poor you and poor king Henry. I cant imagine dealing with that.

I've been spending a lot of time reading for fun. Instead of textbooks and articles.

[edit] Good Morning all (its 720am on Sunday the 15th now)

Going back to gifting - one reason I go overboard is due to spotting something I know someone will like, or it fits their "theme" (Like Katie and Jack Skellington) and I know if I don't grab it NOW it will NOT be there later. So I grab it.

Forgot to do MM yesterday so I joined earlier today. (I've been doing it in the afternoons after I get home from work, so decided I'd wait til afternoon and then forgot! LOL)

Tomorrow after work I'll be leaving home, and headed to Katies. Going to spend the night there, spend time with my dad in the morning and KATIE GRADUATES that afternoon (Tuesday)!!! Then head home practically right after graduation. I haven't been to a college graduation before, I really hope that she can come and join us after she walks the stage, and that we can leave or at least get some pics before I have to leave, because I know I can't stay super late since I have a 4hr drive home and have to work the next day.

Your poor tree, Kat. I remember when my kids were little and the bottom half of the tree was empty because the kids kept grabbing the ornaments. So, we moved all the ornaments to a height they couldn't reach. That doesn't work with energetic puppies, though. 😂

Congrats to Katie on her graduation! Does she know what she wants to do after graduating or is she going to contue schooling? Good luck and be safe on your 4 hour drive. It will be totally worth it to see her cross that stage, though. :D

Aww I don't think I had that problem? Or not much since I don't remember the kids messing with the tree much. I always let them help hang the ornaments so maybe that's why they never tried to take them off that I remember? I also made sure to use cheap plastic ones when they were little lol Or other types that wouldn't break. Kind of like what I've got right now. Unbreakable ornaments. I did not put on anything that might be broken.

She is currently working at longhorn as a server, and also currently sort of working at a karate studio while taking classes, once she gets her black belt from them, she'll be a paid instructor. She also want to do freelance art, like book covers and images for fantasy type books. I know she keeps looking for art type jobs but not having much luck. She is getting her bachelor's in fine arts. I don't think she plans to do any more schooling.

I always had problems with the Christmas tree and my little ones. My oldest, when he was about 18 months, picked up a strand of lights my ex was testing, said, "Candy!" and proceeded to put a bulb in his mouth and chomp down on on it. I about had a heart attack. Of course we couldn't get to him in time to stop him so we ended up spending the evening in the ER trying to see if he swallowed a piece of glass. Ugh! He was all right but it really did a number on my neerves. We laugh about it now, of course.

Iff I ever actually write a book I'll remember your daughter for the cover. :D !

Yikes for your son! Glad he was ok. Broken lights aren't fun!

hahaha!! She would love that. I found out yesterday that she quit longhorn - her last day was Sunday. She will be working full time at the karate studio now, and they are going to pay her to also do some graphic designs for them. She will still be looking for other artwork to do of course!

Graduation went nicely - at the end, there was a double rainbow (and it looked like it COULD have actually been a triple or quad, because there were very very teeeeny bits that looked like it above and below the double, so it was very hard to tell). We took a bunch of pictures and then I dropped my mom and dad and papa off at mamas' car, they were going to Katies house, me and Nathan came home. Also, there were Wes's family (her fiancé) they all went back to Katies too. Then Wes's mom and dad took my papa to his hotel, since my mom and dad had to go the other way to get home. Also, Ryans dad came, he left before I did even, because he had another hour longer than me to drive.

I am absolutely exhausted, because I didn't sleep well the past two nights before, and then those two long drives. I slept better last night. And I let Nathan drive home since I was so tired - and I was so freaked out. Did the kid forget EVERYTHING I taught him about driving? I swear it felt like he kept going over the midline/edge, he played leapfrog around cars (instead of slowing down), got too close to cars ahead of us, and was a speed demon. It did not help at all that OTHER cars were being idiots too, and a truck nearly came over into OUR lane while he was passing it. EEEEEP My nerves were shot by the time we got home.

Oh! My last assignment was graded while I was gone (I checked this morning). Full points. Now I just need the official grades to be released so I can send them to DECAL for my scholarship. Also I need to do the FAFSA. Guess that is my plans for the next few afternoons.

Congrats Katie, AND Kat! You raised a good kid :)

The kids never really undecorated the tree, but the cats have.. I still always put the unbreakable ones on the bottom though, of course! Because.. kids. And cats :P

I'm glad Katie's graduation went well. It sounds like they had a good turn-out. I remember my oldest daughter's graduation and it was nice but hot siting there with all those other people in the sun (it was May.) Then we had a nice long drive back, too and missed the graduation party after but hubby had to work the next day. I'm glad you got home safely despite Nathan's attempts at the opposite, Kat. I remember being 18 and learning to drive (I learned late.) I was so cautious that my friends said I drove like a granny. Then again, I worked for Geico as an auto claims adjuster and knew first hand what accidents look like. :/

We still don't have the tree up. I can't do it on my own and everyone else is too busy to help. I guess we'll get it up sometime before Christmas, even if it's just 1 min before. 😂

Congrats on the excellent grades, Kat. Oh, the Fafsa was not fun filling out. It kept asking me if I listed all the info requested and it made me a bit paranoid. XD

They've made the FAFSA so much easier this past year or two. It took me all of five minutes. And thanks! I'm glad to get good grades

Ugh there is a bug flying around my house and it's annoying. I think it's a stink bug Daisy keeps trying to catch it too

Oh, boy, those things stink when they're caught. I hope she doesn't catch it because it would be awful for her to stink for the holidays.

Well, last night we finally got our llittle tree put up. Now, we're having an "ornament war." My hubby will subtly move an ornament. When my youngest comes back in the room, he notices the change and moves it back. On it goes, round and round. 😂

Now we just have to get the gifts wrapped and put under the tree. We don't have a pet to worry about with the gifts being out. What I'm worried about is if someone gets curious and decides to open their gifts ahead of time. I'm talking about my hubby. He loves to snoop. I think I'll hold back on putting his out until Christmas eve. ;)

Kat, I'm glad the Fafsa is easier. 5 minutes and you're done? What will you do with all that extra time? 😂

read? :P Do some quests?

sleep!

I'm working on quests now. I need to go check my portal and see if my grades have posted properly so I can turn them in later. I have 3 classes that have books, the other two say they don't require books, but last time I ordered books super early, I ended up having to get a 2nd delivery when the teacher ADDED A BOOK. So I am waiting a bit longer before ordering my books. I don't have class until Jan 6th anyway. I could order it like Jan 2 and they'd be here in time. (At least, last time they arrived 2 days after I ordered them anyway, and we usually don't need the books the first week either!!)