Since we moved in September I have been organizing and planning. My kitchen is totally different then it was in my old house. I had a large open kitchen with plenty of storage. Our new farm house has a good size kitchen for most but it is a bit small for me with less cupboards.
I did not make a choice to live here based on the kitchen but based on the whole home and the 30 some acres of room to roam 🙂 My spice rack was another item that I left behind. Why? I wanted to revamp and refresh all my spices. Spices only last so long and if you do not use them up you best toss them out.
I am browsing spice racks and man oh man there are a lot to choose from. First I look at my kitchen and decide where to place the kitchen spice racks I want to make sure to keep it away from the heat and out of the sun. I have huge windows above the sink and really do not have an area for spices on that wall. I have herbs growing on my window sill and am preparing a plan for my husband to build newer shelves to grow a larger assortment of lettuces. A wall spice rack is not going to work for me.
I have two cupboards that are lazy susans. This will be the best place to add a rack and it will ensure everything stays cool. With the holidays here I am making my lists for my kids and for myself. I cut out pictures and attach them to my fridge to add little hints. LOL, do you remember to leave little hints or ask for something special for yourself? Even a back rub can get gift wrapped with a little card to your sweetie.
This time of the year has me making many lists. I have a list for who wants what, what I am preparing for dinner all week, when I am going shopping, what am I shopping for etc.. I have to make lists because I tend to do many things at once. I tell myself to stay on task. I eventually get it all done but if you were watching me you would find me a bit crazy. I have been running a lot with my daughter whew stopped off Sunday in between shopping for an early brunch.
This year feels so different to me. We are in a new home, my son just graduated from college, my youngest moved into a house with her girlfriend and my oldest lives here a few days a week.. My husbands business treats him wonderfully and they are generous each year with a huge holiday bonus. We are very fortunate.. I am grateful to not having to punch a clock every day from 9-5 and plan my days around myself and my family.
I am shopping every weekend and dinner sometimes is forgotten. As much as I love to cook, it happens. I make sure I have my Tyson Mini Chicken Sandwiches in the freezer so we are taken care of. I also remember there special offer: Buy 2 Tyson Mini Chicken Sandwiches at a participating Walmart and receive a $5 Walmart Gift Card. To find out what Walmarts carry the product go to there store locator.
My husband and I headed out to Walmart with our list to do some grocery and furnishing shopping. We were an awesome festive mood.. I was happy to find my Tyson Mini Chicken Sandwiches too! You can see my whole shopping experience at my Google Profile
This was early for us too, our goal was to get home and get everything put away then head back out for more shopping. I was feeling fatigued. But ready to make a great day of it.. We got a ton of stuff shopping, I was feeling blessed once again.
My Husband through the cat Litter in and it exploded we started laughing so hard! We loaded up the van and were headed home to get moving again. We are lucky to live ten minutes away from Walmart.
We got everything put away and then I headed back out to do more shopping, I met up with my daughter and had a drink and got caught up with her. Then headed back home, I got home around 5:00pm. My husband was still out shopping, umm I think for little old me:-)
It was a great day! I got a ton of shopping done but had no time to make a big beautiful dinner.. It was time to grab something to eat..
I had some soup that was cooking on the stove so I figured this is a great quick nutritious meal.
I just pop them into the microwave on one side for about 45 seconds then the other for about 30 seconds. Easy Peasy!
Now onto wrapping my gifts!
This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper
My son Justin graduated this weekend with his BA in Marketing and International Business, this is his girlfriend Brie who he has been dating for a few years, she has a year and a half left in her studies to be a Dental Hygienist. She was so cute and proud of my son! Justin is my middle child. I cannot believe how fast the time has gone since he graduated from High School!
We drove down to Mankato Friday evening and got a hotel, if I was smarter I would of worked on getting a room for review! But not me, I decided to go with The Best Western, generally not my first choice but it had a pool, hot tub, sauna, full service restaurant and a bar. The bar was on the top of my list because after a two and a half hour drive all I was going to want to do is head to the bar with my hubby have a few drinks and order dinner. The room it self had a King Size bed and WiFi etc. I got the room for a mere $70.00 and some change by reserving on line.
We get down to the bar and discover the restaurant closed at 2:00pm, what?? It said full service restaurant and bar. So we had to find a place that delivered and it was already after 9:00pm. We had a couple beers and had to get back up to our room to get our pizza, my husband ordered a pitcher of beer and we headed upstairs to relax. Ha, there was only basic cable, I so wanted to enjoy a movie, we ended up watching Frineds, that Joey still makes us laugh.
We woke at 6:00am and headed down to the Hot Tub to unwind before breakfast, our plan was to leave the hotel at 7:45 to arrive at the Colosseum buy 8:00am to get good seats. I put on a bikini that I had not put on in two years, and was looking forward to a hot tub and a quick swim. We get down there and the Pool and Hot tub were all locked up, they did not open until 8:00am, aaah man, I was bummed! But we laughed about my skills in picking a hotel. We decided to go down for breakfast and found out that did not open until 8:00am, WTH.. We had to settle on Continental. I said that is cool, we can get a hardy lunch after the ceremony then do some shopping 🙂
We got there just about when the doors opened. We had perfect seats which made me totally happy!! I was ready with my camera and flip video, it was so hard to not cry, I was so overwhelmed listening to the speakers. Congrats Graduates!
There he is smiling for mom! I know you have no clue which one he is but I was so happy to see him s, smiling at me!