The most wonderful time of the year got the best of me!

Despite our low-dey approach to the holidays I managed to hyper myself into a frenzy on Tuesday, hence, my lack of updates.

It started with me trying to print photos on my photo printer. I have a nice one that produced decent quality prints, not quite wedding album quality, but certainly good enough for photos for the family and to hang on the walls.

But, when it spat out the test print I did, it was crap. The colors were all off, my printer is out of four colors. At $20 a cartridge it'd be a lot less expensive to order the prints through a store like Wolf's Camera or Walgreens.

I have a bunch of pictures uploaded to Walgreens already, I started there. To have enough photos for grandparents, great-grandparents and the lone uncle I need a lot of prints. Walgreens told me I couldn't place my order and wouldn't give me an option to pick up on a different day. To get prints at Wolf's, I'd need to burn the photos onto a disc and take it to the storefront with me to get them the same day.

I could easily place order through Shutterfly or Walgreens and have the prints shipped right to the recipients, but I was trying to save some money by printing and then putting the photo books together myself.

The fact that I couldn't get the pictures done drove me nuts and that I had chosen to start this project 20 minutes before I had an appointment didn't help.

I was able to let it go and I'll be letting the relatives know that photo gifts are on the way but it will be after the first of the year before they arrive.

Then I started thinking about all the stuff I have to do, the kids rooms to clean out, the gifts to wrap, the cookies to bake for Santa and I had myself a little panic attack in the car after I left the house.

After many, many deep breaths I decided to do everything one task at a time. I mailed holiday cards, meaning I had to go to the post office, but it wasn't bad. I had a book and everyone was in pretty good spirits. I'm averaging that because the man walking in behind me was cussing under his breath that I'd gotten in the door before he did, then when I held the door for him he pulled it open so hard he banged it against the way. Upon spotting the line, he cursed again and left the building. Merry fucking Christmas!

I wouldn't have had to wait in line at all if the PO hadn't taken out the stamp vending machines that took cash.

Yesterday, I took each of the kids out separately to pick out a gift for their sibling. Zoe got Will a Spiderman shave kit complete with foam and a plastic razor. Will got Zoe a set of two ponies with brushes and stickers.

It was nice spending time with the Zeester. She and I don't get very much one on one time since she's started school full time, so we went to McDonald's afterwards and had a good chat about not much of anything.

Today, I'll get presents wrapped and dessert for tomorrow night created. Let's hope I can find everything I've stashed in the garage!

Amanda's beauty tip of the day: Even though it's winter, keep up with your sunscreen!