“Just in the nick of time” seems to be the story of my life. Especially during the holidays. Can you relate?
I was inspired to write about this when my friend Kathy shared with me that she recently got her upstairs wood floors complete “just in the nick of time” before her son, Jeremy comes home from college. We moms just seem to work on that timeframe, don’t we?
My floors are NOW IN! Last week, 24-hours before my our Annual Progressive Dinner was to take place, my floors went in. Just in the nick of time.
I love that phrase, it’s so “me” with the busyness of life!
Would you be willing to share your “just in the nick of time” experience as of late? If so, you’ll be eligible to win a Wild Wool scarf (a perfect Christmas gift, valued at $48 internet, $70 retail), for you or a Christmas gift for a loved one!
I think about eco-friendly a fair amount. I think about if it is authentically eco-friendly, how expensive it is, how practical it is, and how good looking it is. I have found the ultimate combination of these factors in Wild-Wool products. They are cashmere-like scarves, throws, and gloves etc. that are softer, warmer and lighter than plain wool, and are 100% natural fiber. Not only that, but they are 100% sourced and manufactured in New Zealand. (The story behind them is compelling and so, so interesting. If you check out the website, read the entire Ecological Profile.)
Abby and I were tussling over who would get to wear the denim one, when the boys and Paul pointed out that the scarves are uni-sex and would look mighty good on them as well!
And now you can see for yourself how soft and wonderful these scarves are! I’m telling you, we’re all fighting over “who’s going to wear the scarf!” They are so amazingly soft.
Here’s how to win
Leave me your “just in the nick of time” comment. Or, what are you feeling rushed over? Winner announced on Friday, December 11th. Tweet or FB, and you get 2 chances. Good Luck!
Thank you Wild-Wool! A huge thank you to Chrys, at Wild-Wool, for donating this beauty to one RE reader!
Hi, I'm Sandy. Five years ago I stocked up on beautiful glasses from the Dollar Store. As I started writing about dinner parties, I realized that this “icon” portrays a great message. 
Going to do some Christmas shopping today with my husband…and have no idea what to buy! I’m hoping to find some inspiration when we get to the mall!
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My daughter’s birthday falls on November 27th. I find it so fun to start the holiday decorating the week of her birthday. It’s a little mixture of fall, birthday and Christmas. Makes for an extra special birthday celebration when it does arrive, just in the nick of time.
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That’s easy… we finally got our new carpet installed yesterday “just in the nick of time” (after the flood) so that we could finally start putting our home back together just in time to decorate for Christmas, just in time to start entertaining for the Holidays! YEH!
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My “Just in the Nick of Time” situation happened last year. We had been living with an older woman in our church for 2 1/2 years while we built our home. We moved in last year right before Thanksgiving AND right before our biggest snow storm in years. I was so thankful to be in my own home during that snow storm, being snowed in in my own house, not someone elses!!!
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When we moved into the house we’re currently living in, one of the bedrooms became a storage room for boxes full of “stuff” and unused furniture. It was packed to the rafters! After almost a year, I got around to chipping away at the room to make it into a guest bedroom and, seriously, the next day, an outof state cousin called to tell us he was relocating to our area and needed a place land for a few weeks to get things established for himself. I was amazed at the timing. Now who could have planned that out more perfectly? Hmmm…
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The Saturday after Thanksgiving I had 30 family members over for a family gathering/birthday party. I was bound and determined to have my home decorated for Christmas. The day after Thanksgiving I began with the tree, and the next afternoon I had the house done in the nick of time!
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We have an annual Halloween get together, much like yours… the kids are teens now, but we order lots of pizza, ice down lots of drinks and everyone comes over… loads of fun, and the grownups plan to continue after the kids are gone! Anyway… last year we replaced almost all the flooring in our house. Late Halloween afternoon, the furniture from our entire house was still piled in our living room. I kept telling myself, “These are good friends, they won’t care…”. The carpet installers finished and got the furniture moved… just in the nick of time!
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Making Christmas gifts! I always have too many ideas and never enough time! Somehow I manage to get it done “just in the nick of time.”
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Frantically trying to declutter before we host the Christmas dinner. P.S. I could really use the scarf our overnight low was 15 degrees with a high of 31 forecast for today. brrrrrrrrrrr
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That first photo of you and Abbey is lovely. Those scarfs look so toasty warm. My just in the nick of time is usually answering the door buzzer then running into the bathroom – quick wipe round, bleach down the toilet, scrub with the brush, flush, wash hand then answer the door – I get about 1.5mins while people walk up the stairs!
Jade
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My “just in the knick of time” story happened about 10 days ago, on 11/28/09 I decided to “tempt fate” and drive out to the suburbs to do some Christmas shopping, I was 9months pregnant and ready to pop, I happened upon a HUGE selection of Men’s TALL shirts on sale at a department store (my husband is 6’5″ and hard to buy shirts for) as I was shopping and scooping up great deals my water broke, so I checked out, drove home and our precious little girl Maryella Grace was born just before midnight—-but I got my husband some Christmas gifts just in the knick of time!
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Mine was decorating up until the very last minute before a party last Saturday…thanks for the chance to win!!
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My “just-in-the-nick-of-time” story is when my son broke my water at 5:45 AM. I couldn’t get in touch with my husband because he left his phone at home. I had to have his work track him down. He got home at 8:00 as I was trying to dry my hair after a shower, but the contractions were so fast and hard I couldn’t stand. My contractions were 3 minutes apart. He got me to the hospital where they told me I was 7 cm dialated. I was GOING FAST. They told me I had to wait 30 minutes to get a full bag of fluids in me before I could get an epidural and at the rate I was dialating it might be too late. Fortunately, I only dialated .5 cm and they gave me an epidural.
“Just-in-the-nick-of-time!”
Ow.
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That scarf would have been lovely this morning! Only 2 degrees here, with -8 windchill! My just in the nick of time was for a friends baby shower this weekend, all my help backed out or got sick, but I was able to cook, clean and decorate… just in the nick of time so the mommy to be was still surprised and everything was completed!
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I am feeling rushed over everything that has to be done. I am working full-time and my family is all getting together next week to celebrate Christmas, the first time we have all been together in two years.
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I am feeling rushed to visit, call, or write so many precious friends. Something about this time of year makes me yearn to connect with everyone, give them greetings, see how they’re doing. I need to remind myself to ‘make lists’ and ‘get through one day at a time’.
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The colors of these scarves are just gorgeous. I especially love the blue one. Did you see my lemonade post with my thank you in it?
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When I make deadlines for myself I always get them done just in the nick of time.
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For me/our family we have to walk to the bus every morning and it seems we are always getting there, just in the nick of time.
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My entire Christmas season seems to be handled just in the nick of time. I prepare all of the holiday meals at my house..and seem to get it all done just in the nick of time. My birthday falls on Dec. 14th and I always feel like it falls just in the nick of time before the holiday hits! And wrapping all of the gifts seems to go right up through Christmas Eve…just in the nick of time!!! Thanks!
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Oh dear, I cannot seem to get a good Christmas card photo! These cards are going to get out “just in the nick of time”! (If ever?!)
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Hi Sandy,
Because our family travels to visit our son (who serves in the military) every year during Thanksgiving, it seems I always run late getting my Christmas cards out. But I’ve learned that our priority is family time, and even if my cards aren’t mailed on December 1st (my former “have to” date), it’s okay.
This year I mailed them all out on December 6th, and to me, THAT was just in the nick of time!
P.S. Blue is your color, girl! That scarf accentuates your eyes beautifully!
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This morning I got 3 kids ready for school,showered went to church,volunteered at school,vacuumed all the pine needles out of my van,grocery shopped for the preschool party tomorrow, dropped off the books at the library and picked up my preschooler with 2 minutes to spare: just in the nick of time. Whew!
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I’m feeling rushed over school. Presentations, papers, exams. It’s never ending!! But I seem to be getting things finished just in the nick of time.
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Last week my daughters asked me on Tuesday to host the girls basketball team for dinner on Thursday… I worked all day both days, and was able to decorate my house, put up the tree, shop for groceries, and have the meal prepared by 7:00…. just in “the nick of time”
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Well we may be going on a job interview for four days next week in the next province. If that is the case, I’m going to have to seriously adjust my to do list because there is no way I’m going to get to it all. No big deal though as a job is WAY more important than filling my freezer with cookies that are only going to make me fat
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We are sports fans, so we often say we beat the buzzer or “it was a buzzer beater” when we just finish something in the nick of time.
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Yesterday, I invited a friend to come for lunch today. She surprised me by saying that she could spend even more time than I anticipated, arriving at 8:30am. I was stoked! She has a 12 month old, so after waking up late (oh no!) this morning, I raced around the house putting away baskets of laundry ( just folded last night), making sure all cords were out of reach, wiped down the bathroom and picked up any large crumbs off the floor…….just in the nick of time! Just as I finished tidying, the doorbell rang.
We had a wonderful visit. The house wasn’t perfect, but she didn’t seem to notice. Her little one happily played with my two. We even visited in the kitchen while I (embarrassingly enough) washed dishes (left from the night before for good reasons). After dishes, I made a delicious salad for lunch. It was simple, but appreciated.
I used to be a perfectionist, but knowing that would mean NOT having people over (because I needed to get the house spotless first) changed my expectations. I’m so thankful!
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Just in the nick of time, I hope to run out tonight and buy some stuff so that when my daughter who will be 9 tomorrow will have a gift and a nice breakfast. Truth be told, we went clothes shopping for her birthday a few weeks ago, but as I explained to my husband, you HAVE to have something on the special day!
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Twenty-seven years ago, during our first year of marriage, we drove two beater cars. Hey! He was in seminary and I was still in college. One night, the phone rang, but it was only a wrong number. The nice man on the other end of the phone asked, “By chance would you be interested in joining AAA?” I said we’d been thinking about and so we joined on the spot. The next afternoon, the water pump died on my car. AAA to the rescue, just in the nick of time!
And if I win a beautiful scarf, it will also be just in the nick of time and, hopefully, come before Christmas. We are taking our adult children on a special trip to Germany to walk in the steps of my father at the end of WWII. We will need a cozy scarf!
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Twenty-seven years ago, during our first year of marriage, we drove two beater cars. Hey! He was in seminary and I was still in college. One night, the phone rang, but it was only a wrong number. The nice man on the other end of the phone asked, “By chance would you be interested in joining AAA?” I said we’d been thinking about it and we joined on the spot. The next afternoon, the water pump died on my car. AAA to the rescue, just in the nick of time!
And if I win a beautiful scarf, it will also be just in the nick of time and, hopefully, come before Christmas. We are taking our adult children on a special trip to Germany to walk in the steps of my father at the end of WWII. We will need a cozy scarf!
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My life is lived ‘just in the nick of time’ since I seem to do best when pushed into a corner time wise! Today I prayed and shopped, realizing I’m not as rushed this year but still feeling the pressure. Also, I want to have neighbors in for soup. You are such an encouragement! Thanks for the scarf giveaway, such beautiful collars.
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My nick of time situation: I lost my cell phone. Gone. Could not for the life of me figure out what had happened to it. So I caved and went ahead and sprung for a new one…$200. Ouch. They said, “You have 30 days to return this at no cost, in case you do find your missing phone.” 28 days later, I reached up into the snack cupboard for a box of granola bars. Guess what was inside?!? Like finding a $200 bill.
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Hey, I want to see those finished floors!
I had a nick of time moment just tonight…I went over to Seattle to pick up my middle daughter from college. YAY, it is winter break! We had a nice lunch with her sister and then noticed we had just 20 minutes to get from Queen Anne to the ferry if we wanted to get home in time for a phone meeting I had tonight…so as long as we didn’t make any wrong turns, hit too many lights or run into any traffic, we MIGHT make it. Easier said than done in Seattle, especially for us Portlanders
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If we were to miss the ferry, that would mean sitting in a COOOLLLLDDDD car for one hour in the dark waiting for the next ferry. Didn’t sound fun. We zoomed across Seattle towards the ferries hoping for the best. When got there IN THE NICK OF TIME, the ferry was already loaded but they let us drive on! We were the last ones on. NICK OF TIME!
Lovely giveaway!
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Well, my 83 year old father announced that he would like some pajamas for Christmas–you know, the “old man” cotton kind, but not flannel! I have spent the last few days at every store, Macy’s, Kohl’s, Penney’s to no avail. There are numerous flannel sets, but no, that’s not what he wants! Tonite, on my way home from work, “just in the nick of time”, I stopped at Sears! What do you know? They had one last set in large!
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I was about to go to bed and I looked down to see this post’s tab open in my reader. I remembered to comment in the “ta-da!” nick of time!
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Beautiful scarves! Sounds like a lot of us could use some extra warmth right now! (It’s -4 here, but feels like -15!) My just in the nick of time is usually getting the Christmas gifts wrapped, this year I vow on getting that task over much sooner.
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I am WAY behind……….in shopping, everything. I keep saying I will start earlier, but it just doesn’t work. Since my daughter was born on Christmas, I have a double whammy of things to get done. I do try though to start making things a bit simpler, one task, idea at a time, year after year.
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My “just in the nic of time” happened last year as I decorated for our progressive dinner. We were the first stop along the way for soup and salad and I didn’t start decorating our house until that morning!! We hadn’t planned on decorating BIG because we were going out of town and thought we’d just put up a few little things. Well, we got one box of decorations out after another looking for a few of our favorite things and ended up doing up the whole shebang!
I’m nearly afraid that I’m going to make this an annual “nic of time” event as our progressive dinner is this Saturday and yep, you guessed it, I STILL don’t have my decoration up yet. I keep saying “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!” in hopes that I can start early Wednesday and be done by Thursday afternoon with Friday as a bonus day for some really creative thinking stuff
I love how the scarf looks on guys or gals. I don’t think I’ll let my hubby look at the pics here though or he might confiscate it if I win…LOL. Thanks for the chance to win!!!
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Just in the nick of time, I finished an education paper on Monday that was to be turned in Monday night! Whew, that was a close one.
I would love to win this!! But who wouldn’t?!
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This was the year I was FINALLY going to prepare a printed photo album for my parents with all 5 daughters, my sister, 3 step-sisters, and myself. It took me awhile to gather all the digital files, I had to actually GO to people’s homes and download them myself to get it done! After fighting with the program last Saturday and submitting the project for printing, I was very frightened that after all my hard work the albums wouldn’t arrive before we celebrate Christmas on December 12th. The website said that it was a 3-4 business day processing time and I used express shipping for 2 day delivery. They don’t deliver on Saturday.
Boy was I happy to see a package arrive today! They must be printing through the weekends to keep up with demand or something because they should NOT have gotten here that quick!
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This year, instead of spending the entire day Christmas eve cooking and cleaning for my guests, I’ve decided to order food from a yummy local Italian restaurant. I will have the whole day to stroll downtown in my beautiful seaside city and be thankful for so many wonderful things…not stressed out about dinner..
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My sweet friend DD made me fresh garland and decorated my front walk and door for me…just in the nick of time (since I had done nothing out there yet). I thank the Lord for friends like that!
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I think I will be ready for Christmas, “just in the nick of time!”
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I’m hoping my christmas shopping will be done just in the nick of time. At the latest!
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One story?!?! I live my life in “just in the nick of time” mode! Will continue the ‘tradition’ this year by getting ALL the cooking, cleaning, decorating, shopping done “just in the nick of time”.
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Looks like I’m going to be decorating in the nick of time this year. Been so busy just with everyday life that we’ve thrown up the Christmas tree, but haven’t decked out the house to an appropriate level of festive-ness. I’m hosting dinner so I’ve got to get going with this project. More garland, ribbon and lights please.
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Probably still painting my guest room as my grandma called and said she was only 10 minutes away – eek – which finish the last few touch up spots and wash up before she got there. Eek!
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With this weather, I got to work just in the nick of time this morning to get set up for a client breakfast. I gave myself an extra time but it still was down to the minute!
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I hope to get all the teacher apron’s made “in the nick of time”
The scarf looks cool
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My husband scraped, retextured and painted our family room ceiling 24 hours before Thanksgiving. ‘In the nick’ is our mantra!!
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My just “in the nick of time” experience had about two years ago…but it was memorable. At 8 months pregnant I decided to have the floors in our house fixed (some were wood, some vinyl, some carpet, etc. – we went all wood). The floors were finished and the furniture moved in 2 days before I gave birth (a little early)…then the hot water heater went out, the same day my water broke…and the nice plumber rushed our job.
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We frequently feel rushed to get things done before having folks over. We’re trying to slow down enjoy the journey. What’s done is done.
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we totally remodeled our home in 2005…it was completed christmas week…i know what you are going through
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In the Nick of Time would be getting anything done for the holidays with our Beagle puppy (Daisy)!
Everything we do, she undoes. We do love her though! The scarves are beautiful. There is nothing like a soft and warm scarf for winter. Many thanks,
Cindi
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“Tweet”~ http://twitter.com/cmh512/status/6522863012.
Happy Holidays!
Cindi
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Right now im feeling so rushed about getting everything ready for christmas, including more christmas presents I have to get!
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Still feeling the pinch to get the house ready for friends…and get the rest of our trim up (two years over due). Ack! Will it ever be finished? (no)
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I’m a teacher and I’m feeling rushed over grading student papers! I always hate the stack of papers at the end of the semester, but ohhh the joy when I enter the last grade and know that I can fully kick back and relax for the holidays!
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Just in the Nick of Time is almost the motto for my life! We had Thanksgiving at my house this year and my sister who is always late called and said they were running late and start without them. I wanted the whole family to get to eat together so I said the rest of us would wait 30mins. At exactly 30 mins later their family came running through the door!
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I broke my foot a month ago & have been off it till a couple of days ago, when the orthopedist said I could walk on it (still w/ a boot & crutches). The Christmas merriment is really kicking in around here – last night 2 of my kids were in a band concert (& dh had to work), tonight 1 is in a choir concert, tomorrow is a party, Sun. is church & another choir & party, & Mon. are 2 more parties. I can walk & get around w/o falling on my face just in the nick of time to help the kids w/ their celebrations & performances!
Thanks!
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