(Grocery shopping and clipping coupons) John and I always go grocery shopping once a week.  We pick a night that we know the store won’t be crowded and we ALWAYS eat dinner first (we learned that one the hard way!).  We also always make a list and are able to stick to that list most of the time (we occasionally leave something off the list and don’t realize it until we get to the store).  Clipping coupons are one of my favorite things!  Any way I can save some money is good for me!   We clip coupons from the newspaper advertisement we get once a week and my sister-in-law recently told us about a website where you can get coupons online.  We also try to stock up on stuff that is on sale that week.

(Singing in harmony) Being a music teacher, I sing all the time with my kids.  We don’t sing in harmony (I teach young kids), but we do sing a lot!  I’m a flute player so singing WELL really isn’t my thing, but I was in church choir in seventh grade and we sang the university’s Alma mater in four-part harmony when I was in marching band in college.  You wouldn’t think 150 instrumentalists could sing that well,  but it sounded good!

This week’s task was making the most of a night in.  Now, if you’ve read that chapter, you know what she means by “a night in,” which is something I don’t think I should be discussing where everyone in the world can read it.   So, we’re going to jump back a little bit and talk about Turkey Day.

I am not a great cook.  I admit it.  I can cook basic things and make a few really good desserts, but cooking just isn’t my thing.  My husband does most of the cooking in our house.  For Thanksgiving, we went to my husband’s aunt and uncle’s house for lunch (they live about 45 minutes away) and to my parents’ house for dinner.  Needless to say, we were STUFFED.

John’s aunt and my mom were the ones who cooked the turkeys we ate that day.  They did all the hard work.  The thought of having to take out turkey insides and then baste and cook the bird in the oven for several hours scares me.  They also made the dressing and all the other fruit and veggie goodies we ate.  And I must say that my mom’s dressing is still the best I’ve ever eaten!

However, I did bring dessert!  I brought Kari’s pumpkin and chocolate chip muffins (SO good!!!), which get requested every time we have a family gathering (“Can you bring those really good pumpkin muffins????”), and also brought a homemade pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing and caramel drizzle on top.  I had never made it before.  It unfortunately did not turn out quite how I wanted it to.  The cake part was really good.  The icing…was not my favorite.  It was more of a whipped icing instead of the butter cream kind that I like (it had cream cheese and cool whip in it).  If I were to make it again, I would make the icing differently.  But, I’m glad I tried to make it!  And, everyone who ate it said it was delicious!  John says I’m just too picky.  He’s probably right. 

I was able to “give back” to my community by volunteering at a local swim meet as a timer. I wanted to give back in this fashion, as I enjoy swimming in competition, and I am aware that organizing a swim meet takes a lot of people and time to do well. While I was at the meet, I saw people acting as officials, children handing out awards to the competitors, and people creating the “heat/ psyche sheets”. So it really takes a village to do a job well. I also saw some incredibly fast swimmers at this meet, as there were some people who competed in Olympic Trial competitions or in collegiate meets, so that was also fun.

While this was an one-time opportunity to be a volunteer, I am sure there will be other opportunities to volunteer at swim meets or other athletic events. I can also volunteer at the local library, or the local pet shelter, as my other hobbies are everything literacy related and animals. Serve and Global Volunteers are other places where I can search for volunteer opportunities in my community and beyond.

Now that older (and wiser ?)..my bedtime reading consists of a combination of adult nonfiction or young adult books. Right now, I am tackling books by Ken Follett (“The Pillars of the Earth”) or young adult books such as “Whip It” by Shauna Cross. Other books that are on my bedside table includes “Scout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird’ which was edited by Mary McDonagh Murphy.

The people closest to me say that I am super organized when it comes to the holidays. Shopping, decorating, and cooking all happen on a strict schedule. I do this so I can enjoy the time. I do not like being rushed.  The end of the year at work is so busy. I just want to crash when I get home.  If I want to enjoy the season I have to plan to do so.

Erin’s recipe for scenting your home without using candles is a home run.  The use of cinnamon and citrus fills my home and helps me to refocus and enjoy the evenings after a long day at the office or running errands and reminds me to breathe.

I chop up an orange and a lemon and put in cinnamon, nutmeg, bay leaves, and cloves in a small pot and just refill the water as needed.

Trust me it works!

I don’t know about y’all, but counting sheep has never helped me fall asleep.  It obviously didn’t work for the Lion either.   However, Erin’s section on Getting a Good Night’s Sleep in How to Sew a Button has some great tips.  She talks about getting up at the same time every day.  This is actually kind of hard for me because I really want to sleep later on Saturdays.  But I’ve found that if I do sleep later, I’m tired for the entire day.  She also talks about exercising either in the morning or the afternoon so your body has time to cool down before you go to sleep, which makes total sense.  Eating dinner early is another tip in this section of the book.  That doesn’t happen every night, but we really try!  Finally, she says to have a bedtime ritual, whether that’s taking a bath or reading a book.  Just something that relaxes you.  I’ve found that watching a funny TV show relaxes me.

This week, I looked for clothes to sew and realized that all of my nice stuff doesn’t  fit anymore. And, honestly, it is  a lot  easier for me to buy things that I can pull over my head. Tee-shirts it is.