Thimbleanna – Page 120 – My little online diary.

Grocery Shopping

63 Comments / June 19, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Books, Chat

Last weekend, TheManoftheHouse came home from his weekly shopping trip (he does the grocery shopping, which works for us — I’d rather be outdoors and, although he wouldn’t admit it, there’s great sightseeing to be had in a grocery store) and told me about this conversation he had with a woman in the checkout line.

She was meticulously placing her groceries in piles on the conveyor belt and he said “Wow, you’re organized.” She explained her system to him and proceeded to show him her shopping list on a sheet of paper torn out of a notebook. So, TheManoftheHouse showed her his shopping book list. He said the lady loved our shopping list, so I thought you might be interested too.

Each January, I buy one of those calendar books that tracks each week in a two-page spread. They’re usually available half-price. Then toward the end of each work week, I plan the meals for the following week. I write the menu for that day right under the day of the week. The groceries are written below the menu, organized by areas of the grocery store (dairy, vegetables, meat, etc.) It’s also a great place to keep notes about recipes, etc.

The book has little tear-corners on each page, so we can always open it up to the correct week. TheManoftheHouse takes the book to the grocery store each week. He keeps a red pen in the spiral spine of the book and he crosses the items off as he puts them in the cart. Then he brings the book home and I use it all week to remember what we’re having for dinner.

It’s been a good system for us for several years now. No lost grocery lists and (in theory) no lost recipes. No standing in front of the pantry after a day at work wondering what we’re going to eat. And when I’m in a menu rut, I can go back to previous years and get some ideas for things we’ve eaten in the past and liked. TheManoftheHouse is an excellent shopper and he’s great at sticking to the list.

How do you handle your menu/shopping? Have any secrets you’d like to share? And while I’m asking questions, do you have any big plans for the weekend? I’m hoping to get a little sewing done and then this sty will need some cleaning as my family is coming over for a Father’s Day cookout. I’m also hoping I don’t get sidetracked — for you readers out there, I’ve just started a new book and I Love it so far — if there’s even a hint of rain, I’m thinking there will be no yardwork and lots of reading. ;-)

Have a great weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

Yippy Skippy!

60 Comments / June 16, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Quilting

Wow! Thanks for all of your wonderful comments on the last two posts. You are all so very kind, generous, AND clever! I’ve had a great time reading every one — and laughing a lot too. Talk about making a girl happy — thank you!

Several other things are making me REALLY happy — starting with this adorable little silver bird.

This is another one of my fabulous prize winnings from the last month or two. This time from Sweet Emma of SilverPebble. I love birds and I Love Love Love this little silver bird. I’ve been wearing her since she arrived and this picture in no way does her justice. Emma’s work is so precise and professional. Thank you so much Emma — really…I can’t begin to tell you how lucky I feel to be wearing one of your creations. And how happy it makes me! If the rest of you haven’t been to Emma’s blog or shop, you should definitely go and visit. Emma is adorable and she has lots of gorgeous jewelry in her shop. I even saw some birds in the shop, just in case you want to be my twin! (Remember friendship rings when we were kids?)

Another thing that’s making me VERY happy is the end. The. END. of the t-shirt quilts that have been hanging over my head for the last few years. Yipeeeeeee!!!! As some of you know, we had a good friend who was tragically killed while riding his bicycle a few years ago. His wife asked me if I knew someplace where she could have his t-shirts made into quilts — one each for their son and daughter.

Their son is TheFirstChild’s best friend and they have been so good to TheFirstChild that I really wanted to make these quilts. (In spite of all my wailing and gnashing of teeth with the process.) Our friend was the coolest guy — everyone often joked that he was just one of the kids. When they all came home for visits from college, he was the one father who was always welcome to hang out with all of them. I think that is reflected in his shirts too — they’re all so fun and adventurous.

I used flannel on the sashing and on the back so they’d be nice and soft. I hope my friend is happy with them — it will still be several weeks before I see her to give them to her. She probably thought she’d never see these shirts again.

Hey…who’s peeking in here? It looks like PaulKitty. But no…I took these pictures at MeMum’s house. This is Sally, their sweet black cat. Sally is getting old and she came by to rub up against the quilts. I caught her picture in mid-meow. ;-)

And speaking of PaulKitty, there’s been new evidence in the Kitty Paper Caper.

Caught him — red-handed and trying to get away!

XOXO,
Anna

True Crimes

85 Comments / June 13, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Around the House

9-1-1: Nine One One, What’s your emergency?

Me: We have a toilet paper molester.

9-1-1: A What?

Me: You know. “Some”one has molested our toilet paper. Shredded it. Left it for dead.

9-1-1: Do you want me to send a squad car?

Me: No. It’s too late. We just need help finding the perpetrator. We think it has fur.

9-1-1: Well then. You can come down to the station house and look through our mug shots.

We think it’s the monkey.

XOXO,
Anna

It Happened

85 Comments / June 8, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Sewing

{Snap.} {Fizz.} {Ahhhh.} Time to sew. Finally! Saturday’s weather was gorgeous and I sat out on the back patio with my diet pepsi, animal crackers, and Mama Bunny and sewed down a binding. It was soooo nice.

Last week, when we were on our way to move TheSecondChild, we stopped in and spent the night with TheFirstChild and SweetiePie. (I know you’re wondering what this has to do with sewing, but hang in there.) They live in a cool little big city apartment and they have everything at their fingertips. The grocery store is a few blocks away and SweetiePie happened to mention that her first shopping trip involved the difficulty of hauling potatoes, milk and a bunch of other stuff home in her arms. So, we popped into the hardware store across the parking lot from the grocery store and picked up a shopping cart on wheels for her.

But that poor cart was looking a little naked, so we decided to make a liner for it. SweetiePie pulled out her stash (Yes! she has a stash — I’m so proud!) and found some zebra and pink fabrics, but her little sewing machine was on the fritz, so I decided we could whip that baby out with hand stitches. I felt a little like Cinderella’s wicked step-mother, making SweetiePie work on that seam.

Yeah … that lasted about 15 minutes. My eyes are bigger than my stomach. We decided we’d rather have time to go to dinner with the boys, so I brought it home to sew on my machine. Which meant I could add a monogram and play a little with it.

I had to bite my lips and sit on my hands to keep from frou-frouing it up. I really wanted to add some ric-rac. But SweetiePie doesn’t like ric rac. (We’re working on that, aren’t we, SweetiPie.) Well, then, how ’bout a scalloped border under that monogram??? Nope. So, I settled for a quick stippling job on the pink part to give it a little more body.

I’m pretty happy with the way this turned out. It looks just like SweetiePie. And it was all from stash fabric (no peeking at the back side of the pink fabric — it doesn’t match). The ribbons on the side were even rehearsal dinner favor leftovers from their wedding.

I wish I needed a cute shopping cart. Mine would be all girly. I’d probably have to make it have the elements of this gorgeous pillowcase — bright colors and crochet and maybe those scallops I wanted — wouldn’t that be cute???

XOXO,
Anna

Mail Call

34 Comments / June 5, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Chat, Quilting

Well hello there! Have you all had a good week? Are you ready for the weekend? I’ve had some excitement in my mailbox this week. Looky what’s here:

The Siggy Swap blocks are in the house! I opened them in the car and I had so much fun reading through all of them. They’re all so pretty. I saw old (haha, how old is old in blogland?) imaginary friends in there and a lot of new blogs that I need to check out. I haven’t decided how to set my blocks yet, but I have a few ideas. I’m making myself wait to work on them until I finish a few other projects. (It seems like I’m always saying that. {Sigh}) Thank you Connie for all your hard work on this swap. It’s appreciated much more than you know! And thanks to all the lovely ladies who participated — it’s been a really fun swap.

But Wait! There’s More!!! Look what else the mailman brought me!

OhMyGosh! Can you believe it??? I won Jodi’s Sew Mama Sew giveaway a few days ago. I couldn’t believe it when she e-mailed me to tell me. (There was an audible gasp!) Isn’t it beautiful???

And talk about speedy mail service! When we picked up the mail, I hurried into the house, grabbed some rags to clean the patio table off and ran outside to put this adorable topper on our table. It’s just beautiful outside with all the beautiful greens in our yard. (Those are the very last of my lilacs – boohoo.) I LOVE LOVE LOVE this cute topper Jodi — I really can’t thank you enough. That Darla fabric has been my very favorite fabric this year, so that makes it even MORE exciting! To all of you who didn’t win, you’ll be happy to know that I’m contemplating not entering any giveaways for awhile so that you’ll have a better chance of winning. (I’m embarrassed to say how many giveaways I’ve won in the last month and all from such fabulous women.) And I’m thinking I should run out and buy a lottery ticket — if only the lottery was as easy to win! Anyway, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Jodi — you’re a fabulous imaginary friend!

So…on to the weekend — WooHoo! Hello June and good riddance May. Not sorry to see you gone Miss May — you didn’t give me one free weekend, you old hag! This weekend is MINE. All mine. I’m hoping (no, I WILL) get some sewing in this weekend. I hope you all have a Super weekend too!

XOXO,
Anna

P.S. Thanks for all your thoughts on the pretty egg. Quilty Peep Junie has a nest of Killdeer in her backyard and she thinks our egg looks like hers. And Teresa sent the picture to a biologist and he thinks it’s either an egg from a Red-Tail Hawk or a Red-Winged (Shouldered?) Hawk. It’s definitely not a Cooper’s Hawk’s (which we had nesting in one of our trees last year) egg. Whatever it is, it wasn’t watching it’s egg!