Well, our Polar Express Party was full of family, fun, food, and lots of love. I think everyone had a great time and it all seemed to have gone well despite the bad weather we were experiencing.
The cousins had a lot of fun visiting, playing hide and seek, enjoying all the sweet treats, and having a special movie night experience. The grown-ups also got to talk and enjoy the movie… I love these special memories that our kids will be able to fondly look back on when they are older.
I’ve definitely been trying to streamline things around here… in some ways, we need to look at our homes as a business and try to find ways to make things run a little smoother. I’ve had a master shopping list for a while although I’m not sure if I’ve shared it here. I might’ve been a little inspired by these vintage-style grocery boards**:
The problem with our previous shopping list was that it was outdated and our diets/tastes have changed quite a bit. I wasn’t quite as health conscious when I first made my grocery list so I did have things like Koolaid and Bisquick on there. We’ve also been growing some of our own veggies and making some of the convenience foods like ranch seasoning and onion soup mix so we don’t buy them anymore. We really want to try to grow some of our own herbs to make them even better!
I took a little time one evening while Mr. Awesome and the kiddos were out to look through our grocery purchases over the past year… yeah, it did take a little time to sort through the orders we have placed but it was worth it. I know the orders I went through didn’t show EVERYTHING we bought over the past year but it did give me a good idea of what we are buying regularly and how much we are buying. Some of those things were quite surprising!
When we did our pantry makeover, I really wanted to see just how much space I needed to dedicate to certain items before getting too happy with my organization.
Hey, ya’ll! It’s been a bit busy around here with this pantry makeover. I know I’ve mentioned it a few times but I haven’t really posted many pictures because it wasn’t really to the point that I was quite loving it.
How many times does it take to get a pantry just right?
Well, after seven days and about seven different configurations, I think I have it where I like LOVE it. The best part is that this isn’t permanent(although it could be) and it would be a great option for anyone renting or just needing something temporary. It has definitely brought things to my attention and helped me create a better flow for our kitchen areas. Here is the post about my original DIY Pantry that I have been missing!
Here is the best picture I have of where we started from:
It worked but it wasn’t the best use of space and I just wasn’t happy with it. We have a second refrigerator to the left of this picture and I really didn’t like it being in that area.
We had drawn up some ideas to build a room here to use as a walk-in pantry but we decided that we needed to do some other projects before we do this so I needed to do something very budget-friendly as Christmas is coming up soon too! I’ll post links for the supplies at the end of the post.
Continue reading “DIY Walk-In Pantry Makeover #2”
Recently I posted our favorite bread recipe that we have been keeping on repeat around here… it is seriously good and all my previous homemade bread haters have been begging for more. I’ve been making double batches (four loaves) at a time and keeping half in the fridge for later in the week so I don’t have to do anything more than shape it and pop it in the oven.
Well, this week I mixed up my double batch and then realized I hadn’t added the salt. To fix this I made two more regular batches with twice the salt and incorporated half of the first batch into each new batch. Then I made one of the double batches into honey oat bread and left the other plain.
Continue reading “Pan Biscuit Sandwiches”
We’ve had a busy weekend… well, I have. I’ve been working on my pantry makeover and I’ve completely moved things around 3 times already! I will post pictures as soon as I have it the way I like it but it is an improvement already and I think it makes better use of the breakfast nook space that just didn’t work for us.
Continue reading “Update with more pictures! Preparing for Christmas… St. Nicholas, Gifts in a Jar, and so much more!”
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