- sounds like a great dinner to me! I don't do green bean casserole (GASP!) But I do like green beans. We always have a ham at Christmas (usually at Thanksgiving too). But we had baked potatoes and canned veggies with ours. And I'd made homemade yeast rolls. I used to do cornbread and biscuits when everyone was here. But never any stuffing. We dont eat it (again, GASP!) I totally forgot to get out the olives, so we're having those tonight hahah (Me and Nathan like black olives and we usually open a can for holidays as they're pretty pricey for every day eating!). We're having leftovers, so having the olives will make it a bit different than last night. I also forgot to bake the pies (pumpkin, of course! our fav!) and so I'm doing those tonight too LOL

I think that sounds perfect !

Alex made me a cheesesteak wrap for dinner because I NEEDED real food after three or four days of not having any haha. I can only graze for so long :P

Happy holidays, loves! <3 Thank you for being here to talk to and welcoming me as one of your own practically right away :D I'm just glad I could spoil you guys a little this year!

I hope you all enjoyed time with families and had some good food/celebrated however your family does :D I'm with you, Duckie, on the green bean casserole! Mom made Christmas cookies and dark chocolate chip pancakes, but no big meal.

Lego sets are so fun, Mieke! What kind of kits were there to make?

I got a guitar again for Christmas! My old guitar was stolen by my former neighbor when we were in the apartment. Mom got me it, and I am excited to be able to play again! I also had to work Christmas. I got time and a half pay, but still. It's why I was only on here yesterday to open presents and give a last couple of them.

Beth, I for one appreciate you being on our board hahaha It makes me feel like its not just the Mieke and Kat show (giggles). Sometimes we've been the only ones chatting. Which is fine (WE LOVE YOU LURKERS!!) But it makes the conversation flow better and more interesting with more people to chat to!

YAY for getting a new guitar (sorry your old one was stolen). My daughter wanted one, we got her one, she learned how to play it, then stored it and never touched it again sigh Can't complain too much. Nathan did the same with the keyboard we got HIM - although he did move on to drums in middle school so got a bit more use from learning it, as the drumline also learns the xylophone thingy (I forget what its called now) so he had a headstart on that.

Lego kits are fun :) I wouldn't mind getting some certain ones myself hahah but they can be so expensive!! (Real LEGO sets anyway). Nathan got a generic one of some anime character he likes and it was MINI pieces hahah poor boy. His fingers were so big. He worked on it for over an hour and then when he brought it to show me, he dropped it and part of it broke off so he has to fix it now. He didn't do it right then, he was tired of it LOL poor boy.

She did a small animal crossing one, a medium sized minecraft one, I don't remember what else, the nintendo gameboy set (this was a VERY cool build!), I don't remember what else, and now she's doing a medium megablox charizard kit LOL.

Basically obsessed :P But she hasn't really been on her phone at all?! So that's nice.

AND! We're so glad you're here, Beth!

- Not eeveryone likes the casserole or stuffing so to each their own. I once went to Christmas at my in-laws and they had nothing but Italian dishes. I just couldn't get my head around spaghetti for Christmas dinner. We went home and I got ALL THE FIXINGS AND A FEW DAYS LATER WE HAD a traditional Christmas dinner. XD

- I can get behind a Philly cheesesteak wrap myself right now but we're having Japanese hibachi food tonight. Hubby found a place on UberEats and wanted to try it. :) Legos are fun until you step on one in the middle of the night. That is not fun. My son got a Pirate Ship kit once. Took him months to put it together. He was about 8 at the time. :D

- I like that you're here. I think that means that I'm not the newbie anymore. :P 😂

All that talk about the bathhouse achievement, and what do I do yesterday? Forget to go to the bathhouse ROFLMAO Oh well. Good thing I realized I've already got the achievement, now I'm not so bummed at missing it!

- ooh yea, I'd be a bit weirded out by italian dinner on christmas!! But like you said, doesnt mean you can't enjoy the good food, and then do your own "traditional" dinner another day!! I plan to have ham again when my eldest is home, just so he has "christmas dinner" - I may or may not do pancakes for breakfast that day too ;) (I've still got his gifts under the tree, to and from him that we'll be opening on whatever day he wants while he is home)

when Nathan was littler and got lego kits, he would get SO MAD when they would break apart when he played with them. I began sitting down with him and supergluing the things together so they wouldn't break apart lol I think we did that for a year or two. Then he kind of got out of legos or at least out of PLAYING with them. Lego sets to me, just aren't meant to be PLAYED with. Built yes. Played with, not so much!

Alex and I do the Star Wars lego advent calendar most years (when there's something we want in it, anyway :P) and we just completed the annual divvying up of the legos haha. This one had a teeny tiny ewok that I wanted, and a jawa in a Christmas sweater!

And then the rest of the pieces get put into our giant lego boxes of doom. :P

Iz plays with hers sometimes, and I like that, too. Like, they're expensive, get some joy out of them! Though I think I'd be annoyed if she got annoyed that they broke when she played... haha.

We went out to dinner last night with Alexs parents, we went to Coopers (made famous on The Office, though it's been locally famous for a long, longggg time). I haven't been there since I was 18! (Though we haven't been out to eat ANYWHERE since my birthday at the beginning of October haha).

ANYWAY. They had crab cakes with NO BELL PEPPERS. OMG I was so excited, I can NEVER have crab cakes!

I was so very close to buying a Harry Potter Lego advent calendar I just could not get past the cost. One day. Maybe even next year!!! Ewoks are my fav star wars characters!

I think Nathan's legos were the Ninjago ones. He really liked playing with them.

Yay for you having crab cakes!! I'm having baked potato for lunch. Might throw some chili on it. We had chili for dinner last night.

I've gotten the harry potter one before, I can normally pick them up for around $28, that's what I ended up getting the star wars one for this year, too.

We had shark bites and crab stuffed mushrooms to share to start with, then I had the crab cakes and a side salad, took my baked potato home and Alex smashed it and cooked it for me this morning for breakfast, that was yummy, too!

We also brought home shark bites for the kids, Izy was SO excited that she loved them. She and Lily each had one last night, then Izy ate the rest for breakfast.

But last night she cracked me up "I LOVE shark. Is shark seafood? Wait, that was dumb" and she cracked herself up.. which is what I normally do LOL

Well considering if I get an advent calendar its normally the cheap $1 chocolate kind .... even $28 for a lego set is a lot. But like I said, hopefully next year, we will see what happens this upcoming semester, hopefully I get hired on as a lead teacher and get a nice paycheck bump!!

Shark!?! lol yes, I guess that would be seafood, but wow. I barely eat shrimp and some types of fish (I don't know what type. I know I've had catfish and tilapia and tuna and thats about it, but I've probably had other kinds and just don't know what it was. I think one year as a kid my gramma did a bass? Not sure).

Nathan did not sound too thrilled that I said we were having the leftover chili for dinner. Suck it up buttercup. Mom is on a tighter budget right now. I've told him, but I don't think its sunk in yet - but its about to. All my excess funds have dried up (mostly) and I will NOT be getting any big amounts in anymore. No tax return. (i'm a little scared I may end up owing). Very little refund from the school this semester. I will get like a $400 stipend from DECAL but that won't go far either! And I won't get it until like March.

Well, I will say, she didn't LOVE the cod that she had last night haha. My in-laws took all 22 of us out for dinner for my MiLs 65th birthday. It was loud, but a good time was had by all :P Our poor server, though! And my Fils poor wallet!

Ugh. Well, yeah, sometimes I'm not thrilled about eating leftovers, but like.. sometimes you've just gotta!

You know, I STILL haven't gotten last years tax return.. and it's IMPOSSIBLE to get someone on the phone?! and I've sent letters and I'm just not sure what to do.

Izy and I ran errands this morning. I haven't been to the city since two weeks before Thanksgiving, so we ran to Sams Club (needed red shrimp and crab legs and little potatoes for our anniversary. Still expensive, but definitely beats eating out!), and I got Izy her favorite muffins (she eats half of a chocolate chocolate chip muffin almost every single morning of the school year. She was very displeased by the walmart ones she's been getting!), and then we went to Walmart for groceries, then to Target so she could spend her gift card from Grandma. The lego build a droid set was $30 off, so only $70, so I chipped in $20 and we're going to share it, I get one of the droids. I'm pretty excited actually, because I've wanted it since it came out LOL.

Then we ran to Kohls to get my pickup order.. I had $10 kohls cash from ordering Alex long sleeve shirts (he needs talls :/) so got a pan for the airfryer and a spatula for only $1.86! Then finally we went to pick my nephew up so he and Iz could hang out. We were going to take him grocery shopping with us but the back roads were too icy, I felt awful that he woke up so early so we could pick him up at 7:30 and then couldn't get to him :(

Crab cakes..wish I could have those! Not with my allergy to shellfish-at best it's mild tummy discomfort!

Love ya guys! Hope you have a wonderful new year ahead! :D

Yes it has been a bit icy here too! It rained/freezing rained last night into this morning, and oh the wind today! Had Maddie barking at "nothing" (though I know their hearing can hear at least a mile away)

I hope you have a lovely anniversary Mieke! :D Ooh Izy has good taste! I like that flavor too :D Ahh that's exciting that you got a set you were wanting and get part of it! :D What is shark like? Is it rubbery like squid or more like a mild flavor or stronger?

Oh wow Kat! Hoping for good things and provision for you! I understand the tax return is a little different this year, or at least that's what my phone has been telling me!

you tease! :D Hehe but I appreciate you nonetheless! I hope the Japanese food was good!

Oh no! My allergy is VERY annoying, because bell peppers are in everything.. but at least I don't especially like them. I'd be VERY sad to not be able to eat shellfish!

Yes, the wind is insane here tonight, too! Kelly (the cat!) is kind of freaking out everytime it blows. Which is often :P At least she's much quieter than a dog!

Shark is.. it's kind of like a fish stick honestly? But like.. the high quality ones haha. It's not rubbery! And fairly mild, more mild than cod for sure.

Beth - my tax return status changed a lot over the past few years - first because I got divorced, (married/joint to head of household) and then this year because Nathan is 19 now (head of household to single). With no kids to "support" (ha!) I no longer qualify for the tax breaks, so it is stressing me out some, as I'm used to always have gotten some $ back (except that last few years I was married, for some reason, partly because 2 of 3 kids were over 19, and partly because of income amounts - he got a giant payraise plus me working - we had to pay - and he has told me he has had to pay since then as a single taxpayer). I see all those ads/news blurbs/whatever about taxes changing too, but I can only hope for the best. I'll figure it out, whatever happens.

Mieke - that is absolutely insane!! I know there has been all kinds of issues, but sheeesh. They should be contact-able or answer you SOMETHING at least (even if its just, sorry we are still working on things!) Also WOAH 22 people. Nice family get together hehehehe. Yes your poor FIL wallet.

Our weather was up in the 70s last week!! Its been so warm. Crazy. And now, this week, its starting to drop again, highs in the 50s and 60s. Eh. Whatever. It'll change again next week probably! :P

It DID make it up to 45 yesterday, that was super exciting! Back to 23 as a high today though LOL. And the wind is still a whipping!

Yeah, there's apparently NO WAY to get a hold of them anymore, which is like.. wtf?! I'm thinking of contacting an accountant to see if they can help, though I really don't have the money to do so?

Its much colder today than I remember my phone saying it would be! I don't think we even got to the mid 40s!! BRRR to me!! Still - it is supposed to warm up the rest of the week. I hope. I wanted to do more yardwork, but I hate doing it when I am cold :P I hate doing anything when I am cold except curling up and reading lol

Maybe a consultation won't be as expensive? To just ask questions? I dunno. But I guess it would really depend on what you need them to do for you.

Ugh yes the power went out here at least twice (though it comes back rather quickly generally!) I needed a bit of a nap this morning after not falling asleep until after midnight!

I hope you guys have some coffee/hot chocolate/sweaters to offset the cold! (It is only getting COLDER to start the new year) Do you guys have any plans?

Oh yes I didn't even realize that, Kat, because my parents claimed me as a dependent until 26-could've been Michigan laws/New York laws? I don't understand all that legal stuff. Just means you have to cook more or at least save where you can, which it seems like you're doing! (Nathan doesn't understand anymore than I did at his age what finances really matter and what spending does-it took me until I got a few credit cards to realize "hey I really DO have a spending problem!")

Yikes Mieke! I like peppers, but they don't like me as much anymore. I can only imagine, because spicy food is basically peppers! Recipes rely on salsa a lot for Mexican recipes, which salsa has peppers. I get it! And that's insane that you can't reach someone, though it is the IRS. They reach out to you if you do something wrong, but if THEY do something wrong-radio silence.

Beth - Probably has to do with going to college. You can claim students longer. Katies the only one of mine who went to college. Even though we didn't claim Katie on our taxes once she moved out since she was living on her own, working and doing her own taxes. Nathan isn't in school anymore, he is also going to file taxes for the first time this year (last year he had worked for all of 2 weeks so I don't think we even filed? lol) Yeah. He did really good at first when I started making him pay "rent" (really, insurance, phone and part of the household bills) and then kind of went off kilter and I didn't force it - but starting now I'm going to have to push on him to pay it. AND refuse to buy some certain things for him - I already stopped buying his sodas 90% of the time, and he usually buys those and his own snacks - he even got himself off the energy drinks he was on like crazy in high school - I think not having to wake up early made a change in that, partly. - Anyway like he likes these $5 red baron pizzas but then only eats like half of it and throws the other half away? YEAH. NO i am done with that - I am not buying any more pizzas. he can throw his own money away. But yeah, he just doesn't realize the expenses, even though I've explained it to him, because I am still responsible for everything, hes never had to be responsible except for his own subscription things (like netflix type stuff) which he got on his own after getting a job.

I have lots of throw blankets! :P I like to stay warm. I do drink hot chocolate sometimes, but can't too often because of milk (IBS issues). I have no New Years plans. You know that meme that goes around, with the tickets to "stay home in the living room" LOL Thats me. I may or may not stay up until midnight. Will probably be woke up at midnight if I do go to sleep by dog whining about fireworks. I have a couple of sparklers left over from the 4th of July that I'll burn if I'm awake. Nathan has a noise maker aerial plus firecrackers leftover. No idea if he plans to go buy anything else.

Sorry I've been quiet but my hands flared up and don't seem to want to stop. Hubby thinks it's from all the Thank Yous I've been writing on here. XD I still haveto do my tree Thank Yous. I'm never going to be done. XD

I hope you have a great anniversary. My kids hated when the legos sets broke apart but refused to let me super-glue them together. Go figure

- I know the tax code, etc has changed a lot but is there no where you or mieke can find some help? Maybe a website? (No, not the irs one somewhere else)? I'm no help. Hubby is on VA disability and I'm on SSDI and neither of them is taxable so I don't do taxes. (Thank God.)

- The Japanese was really good. It was grilled on a hibachi and came with fried rice and grilled veggies. It was a nice little treat. :D