High Five for Friday #98 | Thanksgiving!

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H54F - A weekly link up, hosted by Cup of Tea, Bright on a Budget, Coffee with Caitlin & Della Devoted

Welcome to High Five for Friday – hosted by me, Tif, and Della! Come, read up on what we’ve been up to this week and get to know some amazing bloggers down below!

Today’s featured blogger is Laura from Lot 48! A girl who loves television and old Hollywood, Lauren blogs about so many lovely adventures she and her husband partake, including a trip to NYC right now! Swing over and say hello!

Who’s tackling Black Friday shopping today? I have only done Black Friday shopping once. My family was buying a computer and we went out in the afternoon. One store. And I was pooped by the time we got home. So I vowed “never again”. Personally, I love this whole “Cyber Monday” thing!

i-want-to-see-black-friday-televised

1. Thanksgiving is probably my top holiday. It was a full day at my in-laws yesterday! Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade first thing. Then play with Elizabeth. And then a delicious supper and dessert. What a glorious day! If you didn’t catch yesterday’s post full of random, not-so-typical things I’m thankful for, read it now.

2. Friends… if only I could have FB Lived all of Elizabeth’s little Thanksgiving day program on Monday! It was precious!!! They did four songs, and I was grinning from ear to ear! All of our pictures are floating around somewhere I am not…. but use your imagination.

3. Last Saturday we had beautiful weather, so we decided to be “nature explorers” (to quote Elizabeth). She decided that in order to hike, she needed a bucket (for treasures) and binoculars.  She ended up collecting so many treasures that it got dark and we could barely see the path… next time we need to pack a flashlight.

4. Did anyone watch the new Anne of Green Gables movie on PBS last night? Thoughts?? I tried not to have high expectations… but it was a tad disappointing.

5. Is there anything better than a tidy fridge? Something about all the products lined up so well…. it’s just delightful! I’ve been playing around with a new way to organize the ol’ fridge and snuck in a blog post about it on Tuesday. But I definitely caught myself earlier in the week staring at the fridge, doors open. PLEASE tell me someone else has done this???

What was your highlight from the week? Can’t wait to hear about it!

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I’m also linking up with Oh Hey, Friday, Meet @ the Barre, 5 on Friday & Diary of a Real Housewife

 

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I’m Thankful For…

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Happy Thanksgiving! This is my favorite of all the holidays! You get all the excitement and anticipation as other holidays, but without the pressure of cramming in all the pre-holiday activities. It feels calmer, more peaceful, enjoyable.

I hope this day finds you with friends and family, enjoying wonderful food, and taking the time to think of all we have to be thankful!

In general, I would much rather crack a joke than be serious… so in the spirit of the holiday, here’s a run down of the not-so-obvious things I’m thankful for:

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Washing Machine – I mean… if I had to hand scrub and agitate all those bibs and burp clothes that William generates… I’d die.

Mini-Van – the fact that we packed enough stuff to sustain a small army for this Thanksgiving trip and we didn’t feel claustrophobic on our car trip is a miracle and testimony to how wonderful it is to have a van.

Amazon Prime – because I plan on not setting foot in one store this season (unless it’s a local store for fun local things… because I’m hip like that)

Elizabeth’s School – they do crafts! Bless them.

Instagram Stories – it’s a lot more fun to record a chatty video than take a “pretty” IG picture.

Hiding my FB app on my phone – election season just took it out of me. It had to be done.

Harris Teeter Express Lane – it’s just a glorious thing. Order groceries online. Hit up the drive through and have someone load them into your car for you. A mother’s dream! (Although Elizabeth is always disappointed that we can’t use the shopping carts that look like a little car)

Fall Leaves – I just love that smell of Fall leaves! Why doesn’t anyone make a candle like that? It’s like the “fresh cut grass” smell.

Baby Sitters – because date night has to happen at least a few times a month, even if it’s just a quick meal out.

Emojis and Auto-correct – making text messages oh so hilarious, even if it’s an accident.

thanksgiving-meme-bach-bach-bach1

In all seriousness, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

The very fact that you’re reading this means you are so kind to keep up with me. I am OH so thankful for you!

The BEST Way to Organize Your Refrigerator

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Organize FridgeAnyone else have a fridge that can quickly get disorganized? Mine certainly does. My biggest problems were loosing track of food I did have and loosing things to the very back of the fridge.

I had a light bulb go off about a month ago with a new way to organize my fridge. Since then, I’ve been test driving different things, but I think I have finally hit a winning combination! And just in time for it to be stuffed with holiday cooking.

Do you have two produce drawers? I used the one on the left for fruit. The one on the right for vegetables. But they were ALWAYS overflowing, which meant I couldn’t exactly see what I had. So I was tossing out food that got lost.

So what did I do? I stopped using the produce drawers for produce!

Here’s how it is organized now!

Organized Fridge

If our goal is to eat fruits and veggies, and NOT to let them go to waste, then why are they hiding? I pulled them out of the drawers and onto my fridge shelves. I then noticed we were eating it all more often. I pulled out veggies to use in a salad because I saw them right at my eye level. I grabbed fruit for the kids because I could easily see it.

I’ve got a space in the main area for all the things we reach for often, like yogurt. And even a space for leftovers, which also got lost regularly in here.

And what’s in the drawers now?

organized fridge

In the left drawer I now stick all our cheeses. That bin in the back holds the “specialty” cheeses, like goat cheese and the feta. The front of the drawer is for the cheeses we grab more often, like cheddar, as well as anything currently open.

The right drawer holds our onions in the back. Our bread and tortillas go in the front of the drawer.

We also have a flat drawer below.

This is the BEST way to organize your fridge!

That drawer holds unopened backs of cheese. But it also holds our cheese sticks (we have so much cheese!!) and small individual containers of hummus and guacamole for quick snacks.

So there you go! A brand new, but BEST way to organize your fridge. It’s been great having the important foods right at eye level instead of tucked away.

And all those fancy, clear organizers? Most are either plastic storage containers missing lids or produce containers from Costco.

Honestly, this is the best thing ever!

Now, if only I can figure out how to better organize that freezer drawer…. tips???

What is your fridge organization struggle? Any fun tips you use to keep your fridge tidy? I’d love to hear them!

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High Five for Friday #97 | Fastest Week in History

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H54F - A weekly link up, hosted by Cup of Tea, Bright on a Budget, Coffee with Caitlin & Della Devoted

Welcome to High Five for Friday – hosted by me, Tif, and Della! Come, read up on what we’ve been up to this week and get to know some amazing bloggers down below!

Today’s featured blogger is Jessica from Life. Love. Reality! As a wife and mother of 2 girls, Jessica loves sharing their life story. They are all constantly on the go, but she finds the time to sit down, type and share! Swing over and say hello!

Anyone else feeling like this is the fastest year ever? And this week absolutely blew by. In fact, yesterday I was convinced it was actually Wednesday… I woke up rushing everyone around trying to get out the door on time for Elizabeth’s school…  except that it wasn’t a school day… There are zero pictures from this week. ZERO! All that’s on my phone are random pictures from a Victorian gifts magazine… I was taking pictures of all the weird doodads in it and sending them to friends. The assortment included the “lady in waiting” bottle opener. Yep… those are the pictures on my phone.

On to the week!

1. Saturday we spent another day with people sick. Both hubby and Elizabeth said they didn’t feel good. I had to leave them at home to go teach a class at church, but otherwise we had a super quiet day. I think Elizabeth ended up finishing the day watching The Nutcracker clips on YouTube and replicating their dance moves. You should see her curtsy.

2. Sunday was a super fun day! It’s rare that I get a chance to hang out with my friends from church outside of church, but Sunday afternoon we met for pedicures and dinner! I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time. I probably monopolized the talk time because I got on a story roll… but we had SUCH a good time! Such a good time, in fact, that I took zero picture evidence.

3. Anyone start pulling out Christmas decorations? I’ll probably pull everything out on Sunday. I refuse to set anything up (especially the tree) before Thanksgiving, BUT the storage room we keep all the Christmas stuff in needs a serious reorg, and everything needs to come out before everything can go back in. Ugh… be jealous for my Sunday.

4. Thank goodness for friends who are willing to do last minute playground runs! Wednesday morning started off super crazy and we were lucky to make it to school with everything. I just knew Elizabeth needed extra run time, so I asked a friend if she was up for a playground play date in the afternoon. I swear, playdates are more for mommies than for kiddos. We got to chat, decompress and just enjoy the outdoors while our kids played together. We had to stop and come out of mommy bliss land a few times, but it was delightful! Friends with small children, NEVER be afraid of the random “hey! want to meet at the playground in an hour?” text. Just send it. Even if someone says no this time, they will say yes next time.

5. The BIGGEST thing I’m waiting for next week? Not Thanksgiving… it’s Elizabeth’s Thanksgiving program on Monday! I’m so giddy! I’ll be that parent cheesing it up big, super proud, recording every moment. Every day she comes home with a new song or poem, and I just know they’ll be stringing them all together to do a performance. So cute! There may be picture overload on IG OR I may just be in the moment and forget to take a single one.

What was your highlight from the week? Can’t wait to hear about it!

 Follow me: Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Facebook | Google | BlogLovin’ | Pinterest

I’m also linking up with Oh Hey, Friday, Meet @ the Barre, 5 on Friday & Diary of a Real Housewife

 

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High Five for Friday #96 | All the Happy Things

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H54F - A weekly link up, hosted by Cup of Tea, Bright on a Budget, Coffee with Caitlin & Della Devoted

Welcome to High Five for Friday – hosted by me, Tif, and Della! Come, read up on what we’ve been up to this week and get to know some amazing bloggers down below!

Today’s featured blogger is Mariah from Like Honey! Mariah loves to blog about family and fashion, and she’s my go-to girl for super cute, comfy but fashionable outfits. She’s also a GREAT decorator. If you haven’t seen her daughter’s big girl room reveal, you have to see that awesome tropical-themed room! Go over and say hi!

Well, this week was wild, right? I thought I would share my five favorite pics from the week.

Baby Animal Mask
1. We went to a birthday party this last weekend and I couldn’t resist slipping this animal mask on William! HAHA! He was fine at first until it slipped and he couldn’t see. Then Baby Panic!

Elizabeth Meets Fancy Nancy

2. Sunday night we went to the Ballet! A local dance theater was putting on a show featuring various stories, including Elizabeth’s favorite Fancy Nancy! After the show, the dances came to the lobby so you could meet them. Elizabeth tackled this girl with a big hug and was just so thrilled to meet the “real” Fancy Nancy! Elizabeth also adored the ballet too. She sat perfectly still, watching. And when it was clapping time, there were no polite golf claps with this girl. It was full on slap clapping, with enthusiasm! I’ll always just cherish that day. What sweet memories!

3. I’m a politics junkie, so clearly this has been my year to be all absorbed. We decided to make the most of election night by doing a little themed decorating. Elizabeth forgot that it was an Election Day party and instead declared it a suuupwise party for Daddy. We actually didn’t start decorating until he texted saying he was on his way home! But when he walked in the door, Elizabeth yelled “Suuupwise DADDY! It’s Election Day!” HAHA!

4. I did stay up (technically) all night on Tuesday. To make it more entertaining for myself, I printed off a blank US map to color in. Based on when I dozed off it was before Wisconsin or Pennsylvania was called…. so I stayed up SUPER late and missed all the critical announcements. Oh well… But Wednesday morning it was all coffee, all day….

5. This little guy. As I type this he’s awake, in his bed, just gabbing away. He’s a keeper. And Elizabeth is such a sweet girl. I love hearing her questions, asking William if he would like a toy, or declaring “I need a sna-ack!” in her little Southern drawl (that she picked up somewhere….). Some days it’s hard to be a parent. But some days it’s a joy. And usually it’s the joyous days that stick in your memory.

What was your highlight from the week? Can’t wait to hear about it!

 Follow me: Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Facebook | Google | BlogLovin’ | Pinterest

I’m also linking up with Oh Hey, Friday, Meet @ the Barre, 5 on Friday & Diary of a Real Housewife

 

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