Welcome to Friday 4 U, Lazy Housewife - December edition, where I ramble about mundanities and pass on tips for you to use or just chuckle about =) Plus it's interactive! With questions!
Shopping
Grocery shopping is a chore I don't mind, it just eats up a lot of time. (CAUTION! Big but ahead, followed by RANT!) BUT I cannot stand anyone else touching my food. All the stores where I used to be able to scan and bag my own groceries have folded or taken away that option =( I may have to write a letter to Kroger and offer them my services to teach a class on "How to Properly Bag Groceries" - drives me nuts when one bag weighs a ton and others weigh nothing. Equal distribution! And common sense says to put the lighter items on top! Am I asking for too much here? (rant is over, you may proceed)
Speaking of food, holiday parties and meals mean lots of yummies! Here is an easy and scrumptuous appetizer recipe for you!
Orange Cranberry Spread
Beat 8 oz softened cream cheese, 2 Tbsp thawed frozen OJ, 1 Tbsp sugar and 1/8 tsp cinnamon on medium speed until fluffy. Stir in 1/4 Cup finely chopped, dried cranberries. Refrigerate at least 1 hr. Serve with town house crackers. Also delicious on bagels!
Q1 - What is your favorite holiday treat?
Got your gift list checked off? I'm doing well. I love having a list of specific items for my nieces and nephews. Makes shopping so easy. Gift cards are easy too. I like them, but I also like a well thought out gift and that's what I'd rather give too. It's a hard call sometimes.
Q2 - How do you feel about giving/receiving gift cards?
Technology
Gift cards are great online too. You can buy books, music, games, apps, etc. And they have an app for almost everything. Here are a couple of things I wish they had an app for:
- face matcher - I don't doubt this might happen some day soon. I imagine it to work like a barcode scanner. Scan a person's face and name it in the program, can even match to more info. Then when you see the person again, scan the face and recall it...No more, "What was your name again?"
- lie detector - No explanation necessary. Great for parents of teens and so many other uses!
Tips!
- It's sweater weather here in the US! Where do you keep your sweaters? Folded on a shelf? They don't stay neat and tidy for long, do they. And hanging them in a closet gives us shoulder pooches from the hangers!...Here's my suggestion: For light sweaters or any knit shirts, hang them inside out - then the shoulder pooch is on the inside when you wear them!
- And since I'm running out of room, I'll leave you with 5 alternative uses for a top sheet (my boys do not like using them, try as I might to get them to...)
- couch protector - keep germs off the couch when someone is sick =P
- fort/tent building - the obvious one and my favorite
- dog bedding - we have lots of spare sheets to cover the spots where our puppy likes to lie
- toga!
- ride for tots - when my boys were 1 & 2, my teenage niece would drag them around the living room on a sheet. they rolled off, and ran back to sit on it again, laughing hysterically. I should post it on youtube!
That wraps up (get it, wrap, xmas =) this edition of LHW! See you next year for the next installment!
Face matcher!!! Awesome. I need that.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'll properly bag your groceries for you if you do my actual grocery shopping.
deal, alex!
ReplyDeleteYou need to teach that class at my grocery store, too.
ReplyDeleteHappy Friday!
I want that face detector ap! And I always said you can tell when teens are lying...thier lips are moving. Not nice, I know.
ReplyDeleteLove #2 and 5 for sheet uses - I've done both with my kids, but they're older now . . sigh.
ReplyDeleteFavorite holliday treat: Gingerbread - the making, the eating . . .it's all good.
Gift cards: I prefer presents, but gift cards are fun if I get to shop with the ones who received them.
App?: I definitely want the face matcher!
Great Post Tara!
I love anything orange and cranberry.. yummo! I love book gift cards, for sure!
ReplyDeletehaha i love this---great alternatives:)
ReplyDeletehaha i love this---great alternatives:)
ReplyDeleteI would definitely pay for the lying app!!
ReplyDeleteAnd the cranberry spread looks amazing. :)
I despise bagging groceries. I don't care how they do it as long as I don't have to! It's back breaking work! I am a freaking wuss!
ReplyDeleteMy first job was as a bagger at Stop and Shop (a grocery chain in Massachusetts). As part of our training, we watched a video on how to properly bag. I took pride in how well I packed my customers' bags, and ever since have been horrified at how so many baggers at other stores just toss everything in till the bag gets too heavy. There's a whole science to bagging, like putting cold stuff in the same bag, not putting meat and cheese with bleach, putting non-food items together, and not putting delicate things in with heavy stuff. They made us use paper bags for the eggs and bread because they were so delicate.
ReplyDeleteHee I want a face matcher!
ReplyDeleteI'll have to try the spread. It sounds delicious!
ReplyDeleteHang the sweaters inside out - I never would've thought of that.
ReplyDeleteThat looks like a delicious recipe!
ReplyDeleteI myself don't mind getting gift cards. I'd go for a gift card any day over a [insert word for an item that takes up a lot of space that I don't need]!
Excellent suggestion for the sweaters. I hate shoulder pooches!
ReplyDeleteI have an aunt who is very picky about the way her food is bagged and will make sure the checker and bagger know before they start messing things up :-)
ReplyDeleteMy gift list is almost complete. One more thing some round things out. Then it's hide everything so Chipmunk can't find it time.
My sweet treat for the holiday is sweet potato pie. It is my kryptonite. lol!
Yeah that class would definitely help the supermarket close to my home. One of the baggers put food for the fridge in the same bag as the cleaning supplies. Seriously? Where do they get these people.
ReplyDeleteI love gift cards. I really do.
Gift cards -- Love getting them...but hate giving them (makes me feel like I didn't try hard enough to find the right gift).
ReplyDelete:)
I'm definitely trying that recipe! I don't really feel any way at all about Xmas cards. I do love gift cards though. I know people who hate giving them because they seem so insubstantial but they are my favorite!
ReplyDeleteMy kids refuse to use their top sheets too, but I'm being stubborn about it. I leave the sheet on their bed and pull them up from where they have been shoved to the bottom each morning. I tell myself I'm doing it for their own good. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat post! My favorite holiday treat right now is sugar cookies. I'm gobbling them up! I don't mind gift cards, but I wouldn't buy one for my husband or son. I want to give them something much more meaningful. Otherwise, it makes shopping for me who hates to shop easier for others. An app for... I don't know. I don't own anything that uses apps!
ReplyDeletethose are yummy sweet treats! and isnt it funny we like to get gift cards but want to do "better" shopping for others!
ReplyDeleteno one cares about our groceries as much as we do!
and glad you liked my tips!
thanks y'all!
That cream cheese appetiser sounds yummy! We don't use top sheets here but luckily we live in England so all we need is a fitted sheet and then we lie under our cosy eiderdown quilts which go inside a duvet cover (like bag made of sheet material with snaps to close it at one end). Do you have these in North America yet? There weren't any when I was growing up there!
ReplyDeleteDJ - maybe that's why my boys don't, we have some english blood!
ReplyDeleteyes, we have duvet covers. they love their comforters =)