Roo, I agree! How does he manage to cut to the front of the line everyday!

Stop shopping if it's stressing you out! Are you able to shop/order things online?

Oh boy, a seven year old girl who has too much.....how about a seven year old boy? Just kidding. Gift card? Not original, I know. Some kind of a craft, maybe?

@roo - Books. Lots of books. Books are always a win in my family and with most of my friends. I can't recall what books my dd liked, but that was 5 years ago.

And to go with the books, how about a denim backpack with glittery fabric markers. She can take it to school and have all her friends from this school year sign her pack for next year?

Heck even worse, I just got notified of one of Robin's posts from 2 days ago and I'm sure it wasn't there before.

Bobbi, the shopping doesn't stress me out, it is quite good for me as it gets me out of the house and away from everything I have to do. I'm seem to be at the point where the more I do the more I find to be done. Added to that it seems to be suddenly very dusty here, much more than normal and the housework is never ending. I'm just looking at my bedside table we thoroughly dusted my whole bedroom on Wednesday and you could write your name in the dust already. The windows and fly screens are looking terrible too, worse than I have seen in ages. I think we need some rain, has been a while since we had anything decent, in fact unless we get some substantial rain soon we will have the dryest May on record.

I need to chose doors for the walk in wardrobe in the spare room so have to go to the showroom and then they will come and measure, make and instal. Also need to find pots for my new plants I bought - at the moment they are sitting on the floor in the family room in plastic bags so I can water them, I want to get to the fabric shop to get fabric to finish the curtains, my library books are two days overdue and, oh yes, I think I need some food.

Hmmmm ............... craft, that might be an idea, she is so into everything. DD thought up a wii singing or dancing game and then found a singing one that would be right up Miss 6's alley, but then we read the reviews ............ it rates the kids on their performance, comes out with things like "you suck"!!! Honestly, it is no wonder kids are so mean these days.

Thanks Robin, she is an avid reader - and a good one at that - and has books laid on. She gets a lot of Australian story books or books about Australia from family and friends here as they are easy to send. I'm really trying to avoid more clutter for dd. Backpack is a cute idea, I know she has quite a few of them anyway. I usually spend around $100 on their birthdays, when I don't see them through the year to buy them treats or clothes.

$100? Could I be added to your b-day list?

Movie tickets (or a gift certificate for the movies)?

A date with mom at the spa?

How about a few magazine subscriptions? The gift that keeps on giving. She'll be excited every month when her new issue arrives!

My husband is trying to burn the house down by burning tortillas in oil on the stove! (Black cloud in the house...he started it and went out to garage)! I had my nose in the laptop viewing a murder-mystery program & was close to going to see what the smell was when he came back in! He also attempted to bring more crap home to hoard from city wide "clean up week"..(everyone leaves their cast offs on berm)...He was informed he must get rid of something in order to bring something home!!! He did find a fairly decent gas grill!

Now he is lighting incense to help with the odor!

Who?

He is nuts tonight!
@Roo...I like the subscription idea too and the backpack one! My Jay-Bird is 7 & he loves a Lego magazine he gets...likes to get mail!

How was everyone's day? I went to Costco with my mom and then out to a greenhouse just outside of town. Came home with tons of plants and got most of them planted.

Question: what is wrong with people today? I had two hanging baskets on my cart in Costco, and I turned around for three minutes, and when I got back one of them was missing! Then... I was pulling out of a parking lot, and some lady is laying on her horn at me, waving her arms and making this face, probably swearing at me. WTH? I didn't do anything wrong. Jeepers!

@kimdee..sounds like a few loons!
The day the guy in the big pickup tried that on me, I stopped and stared at him and mouthed "You got a problem?"....He looked incredulous..like he couldn't believe I stopped and basically didn't take it.

So first day of school done and the two stupid kids are old enough to be my daughters. I am trying to figure out why they are in school because they are stupid. I am the only one in my group that wants to work with geriatric population how crazy is that. One of the class that I am taking this semester is Crisis Intervention and the professor gave us all an egg that we have to keep and care for the whole semester. The egg has to be on my possession for 24/7. I am currently trying to find a way to store and keep my egg safe so that it does not break or gets damage.

I did the egg assignment in school, I think....

Weird kimdee, of all the things she chooses an egg.

Angela, maybe they're in school because they're stupid?
Cut off a piece of an egg carton, wrap it in cotton and put it in another box? Is it a real egg? Isn't it going to stink by the end of your semester?

kinda silly to have an adult who has raised a child drag around an egg!

Thanks for your suggestions guys, they rarely go to the movies because the Little Bloke is still a bit young, but she does love going to the Ballet - but then I would probably have to pay for mum too. Don't know about over there but here that would cost quite a bit. DD does manicures and pedicures with her often, so that won't be such a treat, I think it is at "normal part of life" level now. They will be back in LA for half the summer, maybe there might be a course or a camp I could pay for. Are there any magazines for her age? I remember I tried that idea once for my grands here but there was nothing suitable. What is the Lego Mag Jayme, she is right into that, especially now they are making so many things for girls. She already gets her "bible" regularly, the American Girl Doll shop catelogue, she reads the print off the paper with that. Hell if this is 7 what is 21 going to be like!!!!! I know they get Legoland passes from their US grands but with school now they don't have as much time to go as often as they used to. I did get my grands here Zoo passes for a while but they were for Christmas as they all had to get one. There are probably other things like that too but they would be more family things. They get free passes to Disneyland any time they like, they have been so often they mainly only go now when visitors come from Oz.

I will throw these to DD - it might bring something to the surface in her mind. Ta muchly, all.

Angela - is this egg marked in any way? How would anyone know whether it is the same egg or not?

Linda, I just broke it already trying to protect it.

Egg stored appropriately in a Army coffee cup

Angela, you are lucky you only have the egg. Can't you cheat and boil it?? I remember the local high school did that here one time - the girls only, they were all given a duck egg and had to carry it in a basket with them everywhere. When the eggs hatched they then had to care for the ducklings, take them to school and have them with them all the time. I think it might have been an alternative form of contraception actually. At least the teacher that came up with the idea was mad enough to have the ducklings in class all day. Of course in time the ducklings grew to big ducks but they used to follow the kids to school every day - it was hilarious to see kids and ducks walking together to school. Ducks ended up taking over the neighbourhood, enjoyed everyone's swimming pools or anywhere they could find water. I don't think they enjoyed a very long life and the school never did it again. Don't know what effect it may have had on teenage pregnancies either.

'Spose you have all gone to bed now - conferred with DD with present ideas also thought of possible activities for her during the school holidays. Well she really wants to do a cooking course, 5 days, 3 hours a day - great idea for a 7 year old!!!! AND ONLY $390!!! What the heck are they cooking!!!! How could you justify that. I'm guilty of being generous but I'm not a sucker. Also found out someone is giving her a subscription to National Geographic.

I'm still up. It's only 10pm here. Cooking classes are a great idea, but wow, that's pricy. Maybe you can get her something cooking related, if she's into that.

Do you have favorite recipes that you made for your family over the years? That would be a gift I'd have liked to have had from my grandmothers -- I'm the youngest granddaughter on both sides, so they were both very elderly by the time I came along. Nobody was around to teach me to make perogy.

How about a Kindle if she likes reading, she can even use it to borrow books from her library. I sign up for ereader and they post free books every day.

Or how about a second generation ipod

She is already doing a gym camp and a science camp that are cheaper and go for 5 hours a day - honestly this kid eats learning and never stops, she can't learn fast enough and is into everything. Maybe some time out at home learning to cook with mum might be a good thing. I did get one of the grands here an apron, hat, pot mitt all that sort of thing and a kids cook book. There is quite a bit around in kids books. DD has brought her a knitting set of some sort (not expensive) as she wants to learn to knit so I have been nominated to do that with her when she is here. I can even teach her to crotchet as well, she could have a lot of fun with that.

I've got to get to bed now as I'm definitely up past my bedtime...heck, it is a good thing that we have 9:00 pm news here as half the time I can't stay awake for the 10:00 pm news.

DD is home from college and she and some friends are attending a comic convention this weekend. It's the major event of her year with several friends and they've arranged to have a limo pick them up at one girl's house and take them down to the hotel. (easier than last year when the parents drove them). This is in a convention center down by the airport so about 25 miles away and they all chipped in for a hotel room.

She's made quite an elaborate costume with armor made from cardboard and paper mache and now she and her friend are trying to get the holes cut to attach straps to hold the shoulder section of the armor. I gave her a cordless Dremel tool for xmas two years ago and she's finally getting the opportunity to use it. (she's not allowed to have it in her dorm room). My daughter was looking for help earlier today with getting the sewing machine threaded and I showed her again as this was a slightly different machine than the one she normally uses. I told her that she couldn't really screw up the machine by getting it threaded wrong and even if she was to do something crazy and destroy the machine, I could always replace it for less than $50. That machine is an old Singer from the 1950s and does only straight stitch, but the tension is always even and the machine is all metal, not like the newer ones with nylon or plastic pieces on the inside

She does gym classes all year, she did start dance once but it got out of hand with the concerts and the umpteen outfits dance teachers expect mothers to provide at the drop of a hat. She also does art classes, swims and learns piano as well as playing soccer, basketball, and baseball. Probably does more that I can't keep up with - oh yes she goes to Girl Scouts. This is a kid that at 5 wanted bunk beds for her dolls but when DD refused to pay $225 for the one she wanted she converted her doll change table she no longer used into a bunk bed.

She got an iPod for her last birthday, but the Kindle is a thought, I'm looking at trying to reduce clutter in her bedroom - the whole house in fact.

Linda that sounds so funny you giving your daughter tools, but why not, especially when you can teach her as well. Great idea getting the limo and accommodation, that is the sort of thing I would always chip in for, the peace of mind makes it so worthwhile. From what I have heard, Singer still have much of their machines in metal, I just traded my 50 year old one in last year on a nice new one. Mine did everything but cut the fabric out but the new one is just so much simpler and easier. You can stuff your sewing if you thread the needle wrong. I found that out the hard way a few weeks ago, took me ages to work out what I had done wrong.

Ahhh. It would be great to teach her knitting and crochet. My moms mom was a great knitter -- I used to get homemade mittens every year that were the best! Of course that's not something you truly appreciate until you're older.

Linda -- they just don't make stuff like they used to. My mom gave me a singer years ago and it's good but it was never as good as the one she had.

Kd - I think the problem things aren't made like they used to be is that no one would pay the price for them these days. When I think back, my old machine, 50 years ago was 124 Pounds, that would be $248, back in the days I was earning $20 a week. My new one cost me $270, if I were still working, I would be getting around $1,500 a week.

Hi all...
Hey Roo... How about some art work of a ballet dancer? Something she can put in her room?
She is at the age when her bedroom is going to be a focus of who she is...

Hey, guys check your cookie jars

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/2013/05/17/10/27/man-facing-eviction-finds-lotto-ticket-in-cookie-jar

I always reckon I'm just not poor enough to win.

What a great story!

Patty, I don't think she has much wall space left with shelving and her own artwork. I know a friend of my dd did her a gorgeous painting of a hula dancer when she was little. At the rate she is going, I think who she is, is one very and involved little girl. Going to check out the Kindle with DD, just not sure how much reading she actually gets time to do. I know she loves to read The Little Bloke a story every night.

Yes, you never begrudge someone like that winning do you. Sounds like he has a good job too, so he isn't a no-hoper.

Oh... just a thought Roo... I think a Kindle would be good... If she likes to read, then probably the best idea yet..

My MIL used to keep stuff in her Cookie Jar... Nice story tho... The only cookie jar we have is for the dogs...

I have multiple sewing machines, all of which are singer except for the Brother serger my mother gave me when she bought a newer one and an about 10 year old Pfaff computerized machine. When the Pfaff machine is working, it is wonderful but I've had trouble with hitting a pin and then having to take it in to be retimed. It needs fixed again now and I haven't used it for over a year since I have been too busy to sew much anyway

The old Singer straight stitch sewing machines are very desirable for quilters. The favorite model for them is known as a featherweight and rebuilt ones are five hundred dollars or more, depending on whether they have a table also. They are really cute little machines that have a small carrying case and they are known for perfectly even tension.

I have a lovely yellow fish cookie jar I bought for decoration - don't think it has ever had cookies in it because I don't cook anymore, it is always empty but it looks good.

I belong to a Leisure Group where a lot of ladies do quilting but they all have fairly new machines. They then take their quilts to some local people who do the all over stitching, costs them a few hundred $$ to have it done but they have some special machines I have never seen. They would have to be very open to allow all the quilt to move freely around the needle. Quilting was once on my bucket list and I did help one DD with one she had to do for her final year school exam but I really don't have the need for quilts now so I have lost the inclination to make one. Still love to admire them though, some people are amazing.

Yeah... I need to find something a little nicer for the dog treats... The one we have is just a regular cookie jar that a friend gave the dogs for Christmas... Something from Costco... not really that nice looking...
I used to bake all the time too... Just too many calories in that stuff..

I find by the time I buy all the ingredients and then throw half of them away because they go out of date before I use the whole packet it is much cheaper to just buy ready made. All my tins and pans went rusty over the years, I needed new ones, and then there is the cost of electricity and cleaning up afterwards, there is so much more variety available now and so much cheaper, it just isn't worth the effort for the few times I need things.

I love to bake. Except there's nobody around to eat it all except me. So I don't often.

Ez, it is a bit hard to get money to her, but at 7 I think she is still into fun things. I would like to put money into an account for her towards her college education but I need DD's co-operation to do that and she just isn't organised. I don't even know if it is possible. My older grands here get something small and then cash or all cash which they love to put into their bank accounts. The 10 year old is saving for a motor bike already, but I hope he grows out of that idea.