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Reheated With Love

I discovered a special freedom yesterday like I've never known!!!  Due to work schedules I just didn't know how we were going to pull the Thanksgiving holiday off.... it was suggested that I have it catered!   So slightly begrudgingly, my husband agreed that having it catered would be something worth looking into.  After pricing the different store's holiday offerings, I decided on Fry Marketplace to cater my Thanksgiving meal.

BRILLANT!!!  So two things:
  1. I chose Fry's solely on price and locale.
  2. There was going to be no way of knowing how brilliant the idea was until yesterday's Thanksgiving meal.
So three express meals and one gluten free meal at Fry's cost me $149.  With my $5 off digital coupon that brought my meal to $144 that was then quickly back up to $149 with the cans of black olives I had to buy.  Then the hubs brought home 2 Village Inn pies (something we do EVERY year) for $19, the whipped cream for $4.72 and rolls for another $5 bringing the total for the meal to $177.72.

I'm not gonna lie here... I have done Thanksgiving for less than that and I have done Thanksgiving for considerably more than that, but EVERY Thanksgiving comes with the same amount of preparation spending the hours the night before to prep and then trying to rearrange the refrigerator (always throwing stuff that you'd like to keep) to find room to store everything until you can put it together the next day, the same amount of mess that you inevitably clean up over and over because you have to clean up after prep, clean up after you cook and then clean up all the serving dishes after the meal, and the same amount of time away from your family.  No literally!  Every Thanksgiving, I am so tunnel-visioned to complete the meal on time that I feel like I lose 2 days of my life every year!  This year my preparations consisted of putting the meal in the oven.  I did doctor some of the dishes a bit.... I added butter and milk to the mashed potatoes, pepper and thyme to the stuffing, butter and herbs to the outside of the turkey, but this meal had NONE of the pressure I usually feel in preparing such a huge meal and I got to spend the entire morning with the hubs actually ENJOYING OURSELVES!!!! And when we ate this meal.....

IT WAS FABULOUS!!!!  The turkey was moist and succulent the stuffing was flavorful with that wonder crust on the top that we all love... everything was WONDERFUL!!!  The best part!  Dishes were done and food was put away an hour after the meal was done.  Instead of spending two days on Thanksgiving, I spent 2 hours!!! 

For those who would argue that my meal didn't contain the "love" of a home cooked meal... I contend that with the lack of stress and the abundance of time I got to enjoy my family this holiday, this one was reheated with love and I will DEFINITELY be doing it again!

P.S.  It was also decided when the hubs and I picked up our meal boxes, that for $45 for an express meal box containing all the fixins, it was worth buying an additional meal box to donate next year. We wished we would have done it this year!   Really, I just cannot tell you how positive this holiday experience was.  Thank you Fry's Marketplace!!!

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Past 7 Days....

BACK To Halloween.... WHEW!

Okay... BACK to Halloween gifting this week!  We're makin more goody boxes using The Cutest Halloween Bundle again this week, we are also featuring the tags and labels dies from the July - December 2021 Mini Catalog (lovingly dubbed "the holiday mini").  I've got to admit, this bundle really is the cutest and I'm having SOOOO much fun playing with it simply because of how easy it is to work with.  The fact that the punch ALSO punches out the images from the DSP makes this one a super-huge winner for me.  I mean.... three goody projects in under an hour!?!  That's right!  This week's Freebie Friday On A Monday was actually recorded in under 40 minutes!  SO DOABLE to get ready for Halloween gifting!  As always, the link to the free PDF with supplies used and measurements is below the last pic and if you place a $35 or more from my online store (click "Shop With Me" in the banner at the top of this blog) using this week's Host/Hostess code  GHRG

It's An Outrage.... ANOTHER Christmas Project Before Halloween??? You'll Thank Me!

 Okay you guys!  This is the last Words Of Cheer project for the week.  This one features the dies from the Bundle ( CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE ) and is CASED directly from the July-December 2021 Mini Catalog page 20: I just reimagined the card pictured in the catalog as a box... but not just ANY box..... A CRACKER BARREL PECAN LOG ROLL BOX!!!! Here is the list of colors/cardstock used (except for the vellum, it is ALL from scraps... YAY): 1 3/4" x 4 5/8" Vellum, Pool Party, Very Vanilla, Soft Suede and Brushed Metallic Cardstock.  I finished this off with a scrap piece of linen thread even!  THIS is why we keep those scraps!  Honestly... nothing went to waste with this one.  Below is the video on how to make the box.  Normally I wouldn't be posting Christmas projects before Halloween, but COME ON.... this one is SOOOO worth the preview.  Besides, now you can get a head start for Christmas gifting.... PECAN LOG ROLLS FOR EVERYONE!!!

Gorgeous Leaves Just In Time

  So this week's Freebie Friday On A Monday projects are just in time to kick off tomorrow's Seasonal Sale with Stampin Up!  WHOO HOO!!!   November 16-18th, you can stock up and save 10% on cardstock, 15% on ink pads, and 20% on dies. Build up your collection of crafting basics—and prepare for another year of top-tier projects—with a steal of a deal on papercrafting products!  SHOP THE SALE: CLICK HERE! This week's party/host/hostess code is:   K2JZGAZW .   Be sure to use this code before checking out this week to get each of these three project make-n-takes for FREE!!! I mean, you might as well earn some free goodies while you're stocking up, right?!?   Okay.... so this week's first project came HIGHLY requested!  It is just the perfect gift the perfect time of year.  I mean, imagine this as a Thanksgiving table setting "Thank you for attending" gift!!!  And this is really easy to make, you could make up 5 or even 20 (depending on how big your party is)