Today.......

I baked 3 batches of buns, 1 batch is for us to eat at home and 2 batches will go with husband to work for a birthday dinner there.

I had some yummy tea from my friend Elizabeth in a silly Santa mug.

Mended a bath towel

Put fresh sheets on the bed and added a very warm afghan and a fuzzy blanket

Because.........

This is our weather forecast. It will be below freezing for a week!

I think I will just stay home and hibernate until it warms back up. 

How to see what is under a scratch off

I get a mailer from DressBarn every so often that includes a scratch off.

The store clerk scratches it off to reveal the discount after the shopper picks out their purchases.

This is meant to only be a helpful hint and

I hope this is not cheating, but I discovered if I shine an LED flashlight behind it, I could read the discount without scratching and voiding the coupon.

Sadly, mine is just 15% this time. I have no plans to shop their right now anyway, no matter what the discount is. But it kind of fun to know either way. 

CVS this week

I had to go to CVS to refill a prescription so I did this small deal.

Tide was 5.94 and I used a $2 coupon from yesterday's newspaper on each. 

Charmin was $9.99 and I used a big 25 cent coupon also from yesterday's paper. 

I also used a $6 ECB from last week 

So total purchase price was about $12 and I got back a $5 ECB.

I also bought some stocking stuffers while I was there, but shhh, they are a secret. 

And this CVS had a lot of interesting stuff, on a table by the front door, marked 75% off. 

CVS tip- the coupon machine is also a price scanner if you want to quickly the price of something or see it something is on sale. 

I am really enjoying our new range. It was especially nice for big Thanksgiving cooking.

Right now, I am testing out a recipe to see if it would work for some little Christmas gifts in jars. 

It's baking in the top oven. 

I'll let you know if it works.  

Nuts!

My husbands coworker, the one with a pecan grove, asked us to come out and pick up more pecans "on the halves" meaning we keep half of what we pick up and give the other half back to the owners. 

This is our haul from 2 afternoons. I helped one afternoon and son Bobby helped the other.  The owners had some fancy wire baskets that rolled along the ground that picked up the pecans with a lot less kneeling. So we did some bending and stooping but not nearly as much as we would of without those handy tools. 

I tried weighing these pecans on our bathroom scales. I am no sure exactly how much the containers weigh but my best estimate is we have about 50 pounds of pecans, just waiting to be cracked and shelled. 

I am just amazed with this bounty!

More son bragging and Thanksgiving stuff

A little more son bragging....

Youngest son Jim knew I was very busy this week and offered to take care of supper for the 10 of us at this home tonight.  He ordered take out from Olive Garden- big pans full of piping hot baked tortellini, chicken cutlets with veggies on top of angel hair pasta and lasagna. 

It was all delicious and so fun to have 3 entrees for supper instead of the usual 1 choice. 

And with all the other cooking I've done the last week, it was especially nice to have meal prepared and planned by someone else.

Sons Bob and Jim are just 14 months apart but are very different. One is really handy with tools and the other is really skilled with words.  

I am thankful for their loyality to each other and to our family and how they jump right in when something needs done or just because they want to spend time with us. 

I am one those crazy people that had to do some grocery shopping today. I went to Walmart (which was so messy but not busy at all) and Aldi. It was a little busy but not much different from any other day.  

I am thankful my shopping time was not full of aggravation like I thought it might be and also thankful it is done!

Meals are planned for the next 3 days and much of the prep work has been done already. 

I hope all of you are ready for your Thanksgiving activities and I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving-turkey day.