Not sure if organized is the word. Remember...I can't remember where much is hid. Hahaha. But I don't have to think really for gifts...just when we need something as simple as coffee...get extra to gift. Usually food or things that have worn out or broken. Probably a book or two. And then something different.
We only have to buy for each other...so husband and daughter. She needs nothing as lives in a closet-sized condo in Toronto. So hers are usually consumables...a few sweets as she is not a sweet-eater normally. Maybe socks or underwear. But we save up our Walmart dollars from using our Walmart Mastercard...and when she comes she goes on a shopping spree. Anything like deodorant to bras...to small furnishings, paper products...she gets to spend it all.

Go see Ashlee...her garden is looking good. Your garden blessed me...so I am off the market. But will pop around when about to make sure that yours are caught.
I am off to get something prepped for lunch.

I hid the dog's advent calendar as she was snooping about. And then Ashlee mentions that she had ones...and I went...oh, oh...where did I put it. I spent a good half hour searching...and finally found it tucked away in our closet on the upper shelf. I had to look there twice if you can believe. The first time I did not do a good enough inspection. So I open the little door...the dog won't take it from the calendar...so pull it out and offer it. She takes it gently and then spits on the floor. Great. Hahaha.
I buy things when I see them...and most stuff are things that we need and just buy and save until Christmas. So my husband pretty much knows what he is getting because there is a shaving head, a little tool box, a Keurig mug...and then I won a microwave popper from the church online auction. I was the only bidder! So he gets that. And then some fudge that the church where my exercise classes are had on sale to fundraise. Some Reid chocolates that he likes. And now the medals...and I put in this little wood box that I bought at a Christmas market in Paisley. Best prices on crafts as a village and not high overhead.

My husband is really into history...especially military..aka World War II. I saw some book marks made with military ribbon and then had a brass military button attached at the end. Forty dollars. I thought...a bit pricey for me but could I make one. So I hunted about...and there is a place out West that you can buy military medals from. New ones. I never knew this. They had miniature reproduction WWII medals...and one that is real and issued to commemorate King Charles and his coronation and are given to persons who have done something significant in their community. So I bought both...in the miniature versions. They came with ribbons. I had to pay an arm and a leg to be delivered because of the mail strike...but they arrived and will see if he wants them mounted, left loose or made into bookmarks. They are really shiny. Hahaha.

I am not either. I am now on the hunt for Christmas gifts that I hid in a safe spot and can't remember where that might be. Husband is out at a meeting so will be a whirling dervish looking...

I went down the back wall of your daughter's garden...and saw you. I talk too much...so many messages from me. Hahaha.

I just found you...and you left a note. Hahaha. I followed the trail of bird poop in the snow.

Yes I believe that is where the veterans were. I was going through an old scrapbook and had a picture of first day of wards at Westminster...our teacher took our picture. But I didn't put what ward we were on. Might be in my diary.
The fellows where we student nurses were seemed to like the attention from the young students. An extra someone to talk to.
Wow...your mother has lived a long life. You are fortunate to have her still with you. I think that it is a mother who holds a family together...like glue. She wouldn't recognize the area now with all the old buildings demolished.

Was in London last Friday as husband had an appointment at Westminster hospital. He plugged the details into the GPS and I told him that I knew exactly where to go...turn down Baseline Road. That was where I did my first ward rotation...51 years ago this month. I remember taking the bus from the nurses' residence to Westminster and had no idea where I was going. The hospital front seemed so futuristic at the time....and still does. It was a blast from the past...although where I did my rotation was in the old buildings where all the veterans of World War Two were...in a ward setting. It is where I did my first bedbath and took vitals. That was the extent of our capabilities then. My first patient had a French last name so I tried to speak to him in French using my high school French...and he only spoke English. Hahaha. How naive I was.

Happy birthday 🎂🎉