Tag Archives: christmas

Christmas Food

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I’ll do a post later on with family pictures, but I wanted to share some food we had. Mr. Gaunt and I celebrated Christmas Eve just the two of us. We made Pigs in a Blanket using organic lil smokies and Crescent roll from Whole Foods. We also made a premade (just add water and brocoli) Brocoli Cheddar Soup. We had wine and Christmas Beer. It was lovely.

I also made Almond Roca to bring to Christmas. Ms. G made Prime Rib, Brussel Sprouts with walnuts, Roasted Potatoes and big garden salad. It was all very good. Now I need to throw all the leftover candy out to start fresh on monday!

Cookies with my Mom

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I didn’t actually make cookies with my mom, but she was in my heart the whole time! We use to always make a ton of different kinds of cookies at Christmas time, we even had the best Christmas Cookie Parties! I’m very much looking forward to forcing all of my friends to come to my house and eat a ton of cookies next year (HEAR THAT LADIES! THE MELIM CHRISTMAS PARTIES ARE MAKING A COMEBACK!)

My favorite cookie (please note the Almond Rocca is my favorite Christmas treat, although I wouldn’t really put it in the cookie category) is a Thumb Print Cookie! Oh I love them! Little buttery cookies topped with jam! Whats not to like?

Last Saturday I went to a party at Ms. G’s house (I don’t know why I didn’t take any pictures) but I made Thumb Print Cookies. Thank god I left them at her house or I would have eaten them all!

The recipe I used is here.

 

Send boy out to get cute Christmas plate

 

 

I wore fun fluffy hair and a gold glitter headband and matching belt...yay parties!

 

 

 

Costco Eats and Work

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We went to Costco this morning.

It was busy and I had a few too many samples…so shoot me.

We bought some amazing Hummus and Pearl Couscous Salad! I usually don’t buy pre-made pasta dishes, but this was vegan and organic and $5 for 32 oz! And the Hummus was $5 for 32 oz, also vegan and organic. It was a special deal through Pita Pal. At Whole Foods they sell 8oz of their Hummus for $5! Such a better deal at Costco. The guy also said that it last 5 weeks, which is nice because it’s a lot. Sealing the deal he yells to the crowd “For those of you on Weight Watchers, it’s a 1/2 cup for 1 point!” ummm…done. I bought it.

With a crap ton of Hummus we needed a chip like product, so we bought these Blue Ginger Brown Rice chips which are 33 chips for 110 calories, plus 3 grams of fiber. I’m not usually a big rice chip fan, but these are brown rice, so they are much more like a POP Chip, not that weird Lacquered looking cracker product. They are good.

Plus part skim cheese, Apple Chicken Sausage, Salad mix, Lean Ground Turkey, and lunch meat. Costco it always good to us.

I have to work today at Pier 1, which I’m actually kind of enjoying. Its WAAAY better than my real day job, which I hate. On friday I had a total breakdown at work. See on Wednesday I worked my butt off getting my department in to tip-top shape, like really went above and beyond, because we had a big store walk with all the district managers and supervisors. On Friday they came back after the walk and told us that they only walked a few departments and mine wasnt one of them. It was such a let down because I was really proud of myself. I just sobbed in the bathroom. My job is already pretty pointless, and when I really try to work hard and make a difference, it doesn’t even matter. They don’t care, don’t see, and sure as hell don’t say thank you. Its sad.

The good news is that on Thursdays we did our first local delivery of a painting. It was a 1st time Grandma who bought a painting of her grandson for his parents. She was so in love with it, and sent me such a sweet email telling how great it looked and how wonderful it was to work with me. It was so nice. This was my first order done without the assistance of Etsy, and it was great knowing that it can easily be done with email and Paypal and not have to pay Etsy’s Fees. This job is so much more rewarding! You work hard and it actually pays off! It just made me want to keep building this business, I NEED to do this for me.

The big move is now 14 weeks away for me! EEEK! So much to do still, but I’m trying to just stay on top of it and not stress. Christmas is till on the back burner for me. I got a really nice email from my friend Rita talking about the importance of Christmas, and reassuring me that its ok to kind of take a year off. I feel ok about not pushing any holiday cheer on myself this year. I know not everyone agrees with me, but that’s ok.

Lastly Mr. Gaunt and I are both undecided about the gym thing still. I really want the both of us to get memberships, but its really hard to find an extra $70 a month to do that. If you buy a 1 year membership its only about $17 per person a month, but we sure don’t have $400 laying around either. Its so tough to know what to do. I do know that the only way I’m going to lose weight is buy either STRAVING or working out. And let me tell you, starving aint that fun.

 

 

The Giver

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click for source

 

I love the idea of small extravagant (not necessarily expensive) gifts.

Like fancy Vanilla Bean Paste in your stocking.

Or little bags of Teas from around the world.

A seriously Glam Apron?

The letters to spell your love.

For the kitty mama.

Gifts for the hostess.

And Gifts for the babes.

For a pup.

When you are newlyweds.

Or when you are strangers.

I think Gifts should be more about the quality than the quantity. More about the thought than the need.  A gift should show you know, not that you followed the trends.  Gifts should make you feel special to give and special to receive. This year take that extra time to search a little. Avoid the big box stores, and get to know the person you’re gifting to.