Holiday Shopping

In the last ten years, QVC and Amazon have taken a lot of the stress out of holiday shopping for me.  Every year, during November and December, QVC offers special pricing on multiples of items, such as small flashlights and ornaments.  It makes it simple to find unique favors for the holiday staff lunch and family Christmas Eve dinner.  They also have good holiday pricing on jewelry, making it easy to find gifts for the two women in our office.

Amazon is my go-to online store.  Once I get a gift idea, I go straight to Amazon for a competitive price, free shipping, no tax, and delivery within two days.  And that's what I did earlier this week.

Because my grand-niece, Anna, will have a new cousin next year named Abigail, I got the idea to give her an Abby Cadabby doll.  Abby Cadabby is a Sesame Street character.  I did an Amazon search and found the perfect Abby doll and DVD.  Anna's mom is an Alice in Wonderland fan, so the Abby in Wonderland DVD was a nice find.

Because I like to have all of my holiday gift shopping finished by Thanksgiving, I'm happy to already be checking one person off my list.  Thank you Amazon!

Cooking fun

Yesterday I made two different pestos and a large batch of chicken stock.  For dinner last night, I tossed noodles, roasted chicken breast, and fresh broccoli and tomatoes, with the almond pesto.  Today I used some of the chicken stock to make a creamy soup.  It was another yummy dinner, spicy pumpkin soup with bavarian pretzels from the bakery.

For awhile, dinners around here had been a bit redundant.  But the power tools (food processor and submersion blender) are back in action and I'm, once again, having fun cooking.

Re-Thinking My Garden

Yesterday I harvested 75 percent of my basil.  So, this morning, I made two different pestos.  First I made almond pesto because I had a surplus of blanched almonds.  I then made traditional pesto, using pine nuts.  Turns out, I prefer the almond recipe.  That's a nice discovery since pine nuts are so expensive.

This morning's production confirmed my decision to grow more herbs next year.  As far as anything else, I'll just do two fruits, tomatoes and pumpkins.  This year, most of the vegetables and fruits were not worth the effort.  The few herbs I planted, however, yielded nice crops, producing more than I could use immediately.  But I recently learned how to freeze herbs, so now I'll have "fresh" basil and thyme all year for soups and sauces.

So, next year, it's herbs over fruits and vegetables.  I love having a plan.

Truth About Missouri Weather

Today was supposed to be our annual visit to the local pumpkin patch until both grandsons were diagnosed with strep throat yesterday.  I always hate when they're sick, but it was especially too bad this time because today was beautiful. The sun was shining and temperatures never got above 70 degrees.

Now we're facing another week of temperatures in the low 80s.  That's just too hot for this time of year.  I'm ready to wear long sleeves, pants, sweaters, or jackets everyday.  It was so much fun over the weekend.  I wore jeans with a cardigan or jacket everyday.  And I wore my new faux leather jacket with ponte knit slacks to the Repertory Theatre last night.

It's just too bad we can't count on the return of many sunny days in the 60s in the near future.  But, unfortunately, odds are better we'll quickly pass the 60s and plummet into the 50s and 40s, barely getting a taste of true fall weather.

And that's the truth about Missouri weather.  We have four seasons, but spring and fall are way too short.