Thursday, November 17, 2005

How to avoid the holiday rush

I don't like crowds, traffic, or having to search for a parking space. Each year I do my best to avoid these situations by planning ahead as best as possible. If I could avoid all stores, grocery included, between mid-November and January 2nd, I would be a very happy girl. So in my attempt to get as far ahead of the game as possible, I made a list of all the upcoming events for which I would need to shop:

  • Saturday 11/19: Local Adoptive Parents pot-luck bonfire evening.
  • Sunday 11/20: Parents arrive for the week...need food in the house!
  • Thanksgiving (at the home of our friends Al & Anita, but I am still making lots of yummy things to bring with us.)
  • Day after Thanksgiving (because we are having turkey day at Al & Anita's, Eammon would miss out on his leftovers if we didn't recreate the meal!)
  • July Dragonfly December Secret Pal Gift. Theme: Welcome to your forever family.
  • August China Blossom December Secret Pal Gift. Theme: Welcome to your forever family.
  • CCAI December Secret Pal Gift. Theme: Picture frames or albums.
  • Miscellaneous holiday parties
  • Wednesday 12/14: Neighborhood bunco group holiday party with cookie swap and Yankee swap.
  • Christmas Dinner
  • Christmas prezzies
  • New Years Eve
  • July Dragonfly January Secret Pal Gift. Theme: Chinese New Year.
  • August China Blossom January Secret Pal Gift. Theme: Chinese New Year.
  • CCAI January Secret Pal Gift. Theme: Chinese New Year.
I've already purchased all of my December and January Secret Pal gifts and they are ready to be posted. If I could, I would take them to the post office today, but that wouldn't be any fun. So, I will get them into the mail very early in December and then the January gifts will be mailed after the holiday rush so that shouldn't be too bad. I have finished all of my holiday gift shopping for everyone and in addition, I have an abundance of hostess gifts so I am set for almost any situation. Now no more department, specialty or mall stores!

On to the groceries. I realize that I can't do all the grocery shopping now, for the rest of the year, but I can get myself through the end of the month and get pantry items though the end of the year. So, yesterday started my two day shopping frenzy. I started at , list in hand and I got everything that I need, so I am done with that store until 2006. Then last night I made my weekly call to IKEA, to see if my desired desk, which has been out of stock since the store opened, was available. They told me that they had 2 in stock and could only put a hold on one until 9PM! Well, that was at 7:40PM, so I hopped into the jeep, raced downtown and bought my new computer desk! Now we shall see how long the boxes sit in the family room before we get the thing assembled. By 6:30 this morning, I was on my way to Super Walmart to do the majority of my grocery shopping, stocking up on all the pantry items I need through the end of the year! By 8:30am I was at BJ's getting the final big items that I needed...Another store off my list until next year. On Monday, I need to make a very quick run to Harry's to get the turkey, some specialty items, and fresh veggies. Then I am DONE!!!

Now I'm able to sit back, relax and enjoy my newest addiction, tea. A few weeks ago when the MTB meet for lunch, Sonia introduced me to a delightful herbal infusion. Magical Garden Rooibos, a blend of roses, lemon grass, botanicals and rose hips with Rooibos. This infusion is caffeine free and I can drink it even in the evening. While at the tea shop, I found a tea which is truly intoxicating. Winterdream, a blend of black tea, coconut, chocolate, mint and whole red peppercorns. This tea could be dangerous to my precarious sleep situation and I must limit myself to one cup per day, and only before 8am. Though after one cup...OK, as you can see in the picture, a large and quite adorable mug...I can still smell this tea and I crave it all day long. I think I'm addicted! So now I am battling two addictions, blog stalking and tea! Guess it could be worse.

7 comments:

  1. Lisa -
    Can I tell you how much I envy you? I hate to shop. Hate it. And I wish I could be as prepared as you are! Sincerely, you are my new hero. That is amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Holy cow! I'm exhausted reading that list. I want to try some of that tea you're on to wake myself up. When my paperwork gets finished in a couple weeks, do I have to commit to all that gift giving, too?? Not that I mind the giving part, but well, whew. That's scary stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ok, is it just the angle of the photo or is that the BIGGEST MUG IN THE WORLD?! Hee hee. No wonder you have to restrict caffeine if you're drinking it out of that little baby.

    PS: you are a shopping queen. if you lived in my area I would pay you a full-time salary to teach me to shop half as well as you. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous10:23 PM

    Try Celestial Seasonings Madagascar Vanilla Red tea. I think it is that rooibos kind.

    Anyway, it is soooo good!

    ReplyDelete
  5. DUDE. I am WOWWED by your ability to plan ahead. I haven't purchased a single gift. Wait, no I take that back. I bought stacking cups for my nephew. That's it. I suck. I bow before your Planning Highness.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm soooo jealous at how efficient and organized you are! Or am I just jealous that you have a Costco, BJ's, and a Super Walmart all within driving distance from your house!?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ok, sitting here with my mouth hanging open. Holy crap girl.... you kicked booty!

    ReplyDelete

I love and adore your wonderful comments, so please don't be shy and let me know that you visited.

I also love responding to your comments but I can't do that if you're a no-reply blogger. Please link your e-mail up to your profile so that I can reply to you.

It's a simple change and here's how you do it.

1. From your PROFILE, go to your DASHBOARD.
2. Go to EDIT PROFILE
3. Click 'SHARE MY PROFILE'
4. Click 'SHOW MY E-MAIL ADDRESS'
5. Enter in your e-mail address.

Easy-peasy and now I can reply to all your e-mails and questions!

Related Posts with Thumbnails