Not much sewing going on here...

....and that's just fine for now. I've been busy organizing my pantry and cabinets. I'm preparing for Christmas. Sounds silly, but when I realized how much we needed to purchase, I decided that I'd better get things organized!! So that's what I've been up to this week.

I cleaned out our rather small pantry and tried to organize all the boxed foods, flour, sugar, cereal and other baking supplies. I found crazy things like two opened salt boxes and two opened pepper boxes. How does that happen? I also found three or four bottles of corn syrup. Now, granted, we use more this time of year than any other, but why do I have 3 or 4, different sizes and different brands??



Since our house is a bit snug, I have shelves out in the garage where I store canned and paper goods. When organizing those, I found lots and lots of beans.....black beans and kidney beans mostly. I use those in soups. I have LOTS of soup recipes I fall back on for a hurry up meal and beans are a great source of fiber and protein. And, they're cheap and filling!!!

And, you can NEVER have too many canned tomatoes. I use them in EVERYTHING....literally, ok maybe not literally, but almost everything. My mom has a dear friend that lives nearby, and I frequently try to take a serving of food from our meals. The only problem is that she can't eat tomatoes of any kind. I didn't realize how many meals we have with tomatoes in them, until I started trying to share our meals with Mrs. Harriet.

I've added to my food storage by filling large jars with things like oats, some cereals, nuts, spaghetti, snack mixes and other dry goods so that they are easy to get to. It also helps to keep our pantry thinned out enough to be able to find things better....well, except for that salt and pepper and corn syrup!

I cleaned out both refrigerators and organized the stuff in them and threw some things away. Someone gave us some canned figs and I did try them....but they must have been REALLY old, cause they were nasty. Yuck.

Here's a kind tip....please, if you have old preserves and don't want to throw them out, don't, just keep them....forever.....but please....please....don't give them to others. If they are old, do the right thing and throw them away yourself. Ok...tip over.

And, if you've been married for a while, you may have discovered as I have, that things have to be replaced. Last month, mom and I purchased new dinner ware. We bought three sets. This is my third set in 25 years. I used Corelle for the first 15 years, purchased stone wear next and now I have this lovely set from Sam's. I love them!

Then this week, mom and I also replaced our cookware. Our non stick pans were sticking and looking awful, so we picked up two large skillets. And, we also purchased this set of cookware by Paula Deen. By the way, they are cheaper in the store. I think our set was $59. I would love to replace everything I own with stainless. Looks like I've just about done it, because I really think this set of cookware combined with my other large stainless pots will be enough.

Mom and I went to Walmart yesterday and did all our Christmas meal and candy/cookie making shopping. A huge task! I'm so glad mom and I were able to do this together. It sure made it much easier on both of us. So, now all we have to do is wait for the Christmas meal prep to start....we're all set. And, man, I'm glad to have these jobs out of the way!!

I'm waiting for a package from an online quilt shop. Once I get it, I'll be able to start on those sweet Melly and Me patterns. Maybe I'll get them done by Christmas. I read the pattern and it looks pretty easy. Can't wait to get started!

If you've read this far, please, give yourself a gold star!

Happy Quilting!!!!!!