What I Wore Wednesday

A couple of the blogs that I follow have been participating in What I Wore Wednesday for a while now.  I enjoy seeing all sorts of different outfits and thought that I would join in and share what's in my closet.

Elf on the Shelf Ideas

Last year I really wanted to do Elf on the Shelf with my daughter, but she was only 1 so I figured she was a little too young.  Her grandma got her the Elf on the Shelf kit for Christmas last year so that I could start it this year with her.  So far, it has been a lot of fun!

In November, I started to plan out what Elf was going to do each day starting December 1.  I created a calendar on Google Drive and starting looking at different pins on Pinterest to get the ideas flowing.  Here is the calendar that I have created - December 2013 Elf on the Shelf.

On the first day, he appear sitting on the coffee table in our living room with his book.  I read the book to my daughter and at the end, you need to come up with a name for your Elf.  She decided to name him Jeff.  Throughout the entire month of December, I will come back here and add more pictures of Jeff and the cute ways he greets my daughter morning.  Enjoy!

What I Wore Wednesday

A couple of the blogs that I follow have been participating in What I Wore Wednesday for a while now.  I enjoy seeing all sorts of different outfits and thought that I would join in and share what's in my closet.

November Recipes

Here are some new recipes that I tried this month:

Pumpkin Scones
I am up for trying anything pumpkin.  These were very good.  I didn't have any powdered sugar to make the glaze with and they were still good, so I am excited to try them again with the glaze :)

Pumpkin Pancakes
This is another great pumpkin recipe that I tried this month.  I loved how the pumpkin and maple syrup tasted together.  I am sure you could use this same recipe and turn them into waffles.  Maybe I will try that next month.

Pumpkin Smoothie
With the different pumpkin recipes that I tried this month, I had extra pumpkin pie filling.  I found this smoothie recipe to be a great way to use it up.  The graham crackers were a nice finish to this smoothie.  Through this recipe I also discovered that I could freeze the filling so I can enjoy this smooth at any time.

Caramel Pecan Pie
I am always in charge of bring the pecan pie to Thanksgiving dinner.  This year I wanted to try something new and this looked delicious.  It was very easy to make and everyone at dinner enjoyed it.

I try very hard to not cook the same things over and over.  Of course we have our family favorites, but I also enjoy cooking new things.  I try to cook something new each week.  In the past, I have subscribed to many cooking magazines to get new ideas.  I would tear out recipes that interested me.  Just recently I create a new organized way to store and save these recipes.  You can read about that here - Recipe Binder.  Now I have Pinterest :) The nice thing about Pinterest is I don't have to print off the recipes.  I can pin them to my boards and quickly access them on my iPad when I am meal planning and cooking.  Here are my recipe boards if you want to take a look:
Yummy Snacks                           
Slow Cooker
Delicious Desserts                         
Soups
Drinks                                           
Daily Dinners

Good Morning Breakfast                 
Lunches

What I Wore Wednesday

A couple of the blogs that I follow have been participating in What I Wore Wednesday for a while now.  I enjoy seeing all sorts of different outfits and thought that I would join in and share what's in my closet.

Preparing for Black Friday Shopping

I am not one of those crazy people who gets up extremely early or never really goes to sleep on Thanksgiving night so that I can hit up the good deals on Black Friday.  My mother and I do go out every year, but it is usually not until 8:00 a.m. when most of these people have probably retired home already.  I usually try to get all my Christmas shopping done on this day so we still find great deals, we just don't have to deal with such big crowds.

Here is how I prepare for this big shopping day:

1.  I gather all the Black Friday shopping ads and my iPad together on the kitchen counter.  I also have my Christmas list and a notebook to create my shopping list in.

2.  As I go through the ads, I compare them to my Christmas list and jot down anything that is on my list onto my shopping list.  I also look for possible gift ideas for the people on my Christmas list who I don't have anything for yet.

3.  When I jot down the item that I would like to get, I also jot down what store I need to visit and if the sale only goes until a certain time.

If there is something that I really want that is one of the early morning sales, I will see if I can order it online on Thanksgiving.  This way I don't have to fit the big crowds and some stores will have Black Friday prices earlier online so I can order the items on Thanksgiving or even earlier.  Some stores even offer good deals on shipping if you purchase a certain dollar amount.

4.  After I have gone through all the ads, I look at the shopping list I have created and use this to compile a new shopping list categorizing the list by the hours of the different sales I need to hit.  For example, if there was a sale that ended at 9:00 a.m., I would list that store and the items I need to get there first.  This becomes like my agenda for the day.

On Thanksgiving, my mother and I will sit down after dinner and discuss a game plan for the next day.  What time do we want to leave? What stores do we need to hit up first? etc. 

The morning of the big day, I grab a smaller purse that is easy to carry and only holds my wallet, phone, keys, and shopping list.  I also try to dress a little warmer than usual because I don't want to have to carry a coat around with me.  Usually this means that I am wearing a vest, long-sleeve shirt, and jeans.  

It is a long day of shopping, but I enjoy spending time with my mother and kicking off the holiday season with this tradition.  How do you prepare for Black Friday shopping?

What I Wore Wednesday

A couple of the blogs that I follow have been participating in What I Wore Wednesday for a while now.  I enjoy seeing all sorts of different outfits and thought that I would join in and share what's in my closet.