The Sewing Mom

Today I’m tackling the last minute preparations for the holiday. We won’t be having company this year so that takes some pressure off, but there are things that must be done, whether there is company coming or not.

The first item on my list is the grocery shopping. I don’t have a very long list, but we’ve decided to have a turkey dinner on Christmas day, so I need to go get my turkey and stuffing plus a few other items to go along with it. My daughter and I always bake our Santa cookies on Christmas Eve, so I need to get the refrigerated dough for that. I used to make the dough from scratch, but it makes way too many cookies and I always ended up in the kitchen by myself trying to finish baking and decorating, so now I just buy the roll of refrigerated dough and it’s much more enjoyable.

The 2nd item on my list is the gift wrapping. I had intended on getting this task done last week while my daughter was still in school, but I’m a procrastinator, so here I am, 2 days before Christmas and the gifts need to be wrapped. I’m usually wrapping late on Christmas Eve, so if I can get it done today while my husband takes my daughter out shopping, I’ll feel pretty good about things.

What are you tackling today?

We are definitely turning into a softball family and softball supplies aren’t cheap. Yesterday I even had to make an emergency trip to a sporting goods shop to get warmer sweats because my daughter’s team was playing in a tournament and the temperature was 40 degrees at 8 a.m., the start time of their first game.

The team practices once a week, plus attends batting practice once a week. In between, it’s important for my daughter to practice her pitching, but it would be great if she could also keep her batting practice up on a more regular basis. I think I’ve found the answer, a batting cage that we can put in our backyard.

I found this one at Sears, and, even better, I can attend the Sears Friends & Family VIP Night tonight at the store from 6-9 p.m. or, I can even take advantage of the discounts tonight online from 6 p.m.-6 a.m. The discount is an extra 10% off almost everything, and an extra 5% off home electronics.  Plus, apparel and jewelry are an extra 15% discount and outerwear is an extra 20%.  That’s really good news considering how cold we were yesterday out at the ball fields, we could all use some new outerwear to prepare for the next softball tournament that is just 2 weeks away.

Besides shopping for softball, I plan to have all of my holiday shopping done soon and there is no way I’m venturing out of the house on Black Friday to deal with the crowds. With the Sears Friends & Family VIP Night I don’t need to wait until Black Friday to get the good deals, I can get them tonight, and so can you!

That’s it, we’re done. Our back to school clothes shopping is complete, right down to the outfit required for band.

This weekend was tax-free weekend here in Texas and we took advantage of the fact that we could buy clothes and not pay the 8.25% sales tax. The tax free advantage only applies to clothing and shoes and that works for us because that’s exactly what we were buying.

After hitting two malls, one on Friday and one this morning, and a few shops outside the mall, my daughter has all the clothes she needs to get her through 7th grade, unless she grows! We even managed to find the black pants, black shirt and black shoes she needs for band, and they’re even stylish! Adding it all up, we spent just under $300 and saved about $25 in sales tax. Out of that, one pair of shoes was for myself (hey, I did all the walking and paying, I deserved something!).

Now we have all of this week to relax and enjoy the final week of summer vacation.

I’m taking my daughter shopping for back to school clothes, including shoes, and then we’re going grocery shopping.  The shoe shopping will be interesting.  Since she was a little girl, I’ve always tried to buy her quality shoes.  I had trouble with my feet as an adult and I still believe it came from buying myself cheap shoes.  I want to do my best to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen to my daughter.  I have to tell you, I used to love buying those little bitty shoes!  Now I get to buy them for my granddaughter.

I’ve got dinner going in the crockpot this morning.  It will feel good, after a full day of shopping, to know dinner will be waiting for us when we’re done.

This is one of my favorite recipes, it’s so simple, it’s done in the crockpot, and it tastes delicious.  What more could you ask for?

3-4 lb. boneless pork loin roast

1 medium onion, sliced

3 cloves garlic, peeled

salt & pepper

1 c. chicken broth

Brown roast in skillet in 1 tbs. oil (approximately 10 minutes), sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place onion and garlic in the bottom of the crockpot.  Set roast on top of onion & garlic.  Pour broth over the top.  Cover and cook on low setting for 8-10 hours.

We just got home from spending time at the outlet mall.  We only went in a few stores, but they were exactly where I wanted to go.

You see, I just had to go shopping for our grand baby!  I love buying baby clothes, and it’s even more fun when she’s here visiting.  We went in the Carter’s store and OshKosh.  I lost track of what all we bought, but I have to say, it was so much fun!  We bought pajamas, onesies, coordinated outfits, and even a cute little pair of sun glasses.  We also went into the Converse store and got her another pair of sneakers that are no bigger than my hand.  This is one well outfitted little girl!