Why, hello, internets!
How are you?
I’ve missed you terribly.
And even though I haven’t written a post because I knew lots of you were visiting the houses on the Tour of Homes and I didn’t want to interrupt the festivities, all of the boring information that rattles around my feeble mind has reached some sort of critical mass, and unfortunately, I have to post again or else my head will explode.
I’m sure you understand.
So today I snuck off while Alex was resting and went to the grocery store.
(Do not worry. I did not leave him home alone. His daddy was here. We are not planning to leave him by himself until he’s at least five. We are quite protective.)
We have all manner of family and friends coming to visit over the holidays, and one of the greatest joys in my life is figuring out what to cook for big, festive occasions and making a list of all the necessary ingredients and then organizing the list and then typing the list and then taking my list to the store and crossing off every single item (WITH A BLACK SHARPIE! IT MUST BE CROSSED OFF WITH A BLACK SHARPIE OR CHRISTMAS IS RUINED!) as I put it in the cart.
It’s a very loose, flexible process for me, as you can clearly tell.
Today I actually went into the store with my list ON A CLIPBOARD, and before you think I’ve lost my mind, I have to tell you that a clipboard? In the grocery store? IT IS HANDY. I really feel like I was able to take my grocery shopping game up to the next level, and if you’re thinking to yourself, “Um, missy? I didn’t know that grocery shopping was a contest,” then let me just assure you that OH, IT TOTALLY IS.
(And today? I was surrounded by amateurs. But that is another tale for another time.)
Anyway, when I was finally in the checkout line and unloading my cart, I heard the woman behind me say “WOW!” And when I turned around to see what was going on, do you know what she was doing, y’all? Do you know?
She was looking at my grocery list! With a look of awe on her face!
Or perhaps it was horror. But still. We’ll pretend like it was FOR SURE a look of awe. Because that is a much more pleasing scenario.
And I confess right here before the whole wide world interweb that it tickled me to death.
I think that I might have some grocery list pride issues.
But, I mean, LOOK. IT’S BEAUTIFUL.
Or at the very least the Methodist side. The Methodists will do just fine in a pinch, but the Episcopalians, well, they are professionals.
OH, I DO KID.
I’m actually going to the liquor store tomorrow. I’ll be wearing large, dark sunglasses and a t-shirt that says, “HELLO, I’M NOT BAPTIST.”
OH, I DO KID. AGAIN! I AM A KIDDER!
And in a surprising development, I only had three blocks of cream cheese on my list. I for one feel that this demonstrates remarkable restraint on my part.
Also – because you know that I have to share grocery bargains when I run across a particularly good one – you can buy a carton of Land O Lakes butter for two dollars in Walmart right now.
Which means that there are currently sixteen sticks of butter in my refrigerator.
In addition to a few other items that had to be put away.
And I don’t know if you realize this, but all those groceries? HAVE TO BE COOKED AND STUFF.
So we’re going to be spending the next few days getting everything ready for our company. I’m going to start on a few things for Christmas dinner and bake this cake and listen to James Taylor and wrap presents and pretty much just soak up the season.
I really do adore this time of year.
Make it merry, y’all.
*It’s Pioneer Woman’s recipe. And it is very delicious. You should try it.
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James Taylor at Christmas is my all-time favorite CD, EVER. “I Wish I had a River” is playing in my head right now.
Wow, I got really excited about that. I also saw that recipe over at PW’s and I hope you’ll report back to verify its’ tastiness.
And good luck with the rum. I just had to make a cooking sherry run myself. Just a question, is it tackier to take the kid in the liquor store with you or to leave him in the car in the liquor store parking lot? Mine’s over five and all.
Your grocery list looks just like mine, except I print mine on pink paper. Doesn’t it feel good to see your whole list crossed off at the end of a trip? :-)
Baptist here, too. I’ve never been in a liquor store in my life. But if a non-tee totaller will bring it to me, I love Bailey’s Irish Cream. I guess that makes me a 90 proof hypocrite, hmm?
Have you ever made that pumpkin cake, or is it a maiden voyage? It sounds absolutely delicious. I may have to send my son in law to the liquor store soon…
Hope y’all have a very happy and blessed Christmas, Sophie and Sister.
(And to Sister, thanks for your get well wishes. I’m feeling much better now. ;-)
Love and hugs,
Diane
Looks like fun! I just finished making peanut butter kiss cookies…YUM! They were barely cool enough to eat before I was popping one into my mouth! At 11pm!
I love your list, and your clipboard! Do you have a cute one? A friend of mine makes ADORABLE clip boards. She decoupages them with vintagy paper and ties cute ribbon remnants on the clip part…TOO CUTE!
Whoa, sorry, I got a little side tracked! I was going to say that a few years back, one of our local grocers put calculators on the shopping carts. Now, I’m not much of a budget shopper, so I didn’t use them. I’m sure some people liked them, but I’m thinking a clip board would be so much better!
You know what they say – where’s there’s four Episcopalians, there’s a fifth. Get it? A Fifth? LOL! I crack myself up. I can say that – I’m Episcopal!! We are such fun.
I love the list and admire the restraint it must have taken to just write the pie crust on there instead of going back home to print off a fresh, new, complete list. Because I for one would know nothing about such things. I would not be the kind of person that twitches violently when her child, say, mixes play-doh colors or completely disregards symmetry in our crafty projects or wears down the crayons in an uneven manner. Nope. I’m an easy going, think outside the box kind of girl.
Stop, I said, STOP! I am ON THE FLOOR .. and my side, oh my side is exploding! You are WAY to funny for just this blog .. ever tried the Improv’s open mic night .. you should .. oh, you really should. What’s gonna happen once you actually have the liquor? Can’t imagine that post at all …
I love the clipboard idea, however, I’d be finding a smaller discreeter (not a word) one. :)
The Baptist and Episcopalian stuff cracks me up! I was raised Baptist but now I’m a hard drinkin’ Presbyterian. Just kidding. But I am Presbyterian.
OK I am really wondering how you have time to do all of this! Seriously, I have toured some of the homes and I am starting to get in condemnation mode that I can’t seem to get it together! Seriously! Even your list…I am in awe!
jenny in Alabama
Oh and LOL about the alcohol! I am so dramatic when it comes to that…my husband wanted to make some sort of bananas fosters or something dessert one time and I about freaked. No offense to anyone else that is just for me and my house.
I do enjoy the “real” version of Chex Mix. I made it a couple of years ago for the neighbors, because I knew it would be something easy for Anna K. to help me make. We all loved it, and just tasting it brought back some wonderful Christmas memories of childhood. You can check out my version of the chex mix I’ll be giving the neighbors this year. It’s mixed with WHITE CHOCOLATE! Yum…it’s on my “Tour of Homes” post at the very bottom.
Have fun at the liquor store tomorrow. I’ll pray you’ll be unseen and unheard! Ha!
I’m feeling like I have a kindred spirit down South right now. I LOVE making the company’s-coming-what-will-I-serve grocery list. It just makes me happy & no one else around me seems to understand. I’m even happier when the shopping trip involves multiple bricks of cream cheese! It occurs to me every now and then that maybe not EVERY dish I serve my guests should contain cream cheese.
The James Taylor Christmas CD is my absolute favorite. It’s been on constant loop in my kitchen for a week now. “Some Children See Him” gets me EVERY time.
Oh, I’m a Methodist, but if I lived close enough, I’d totally make a liquor store run for you! I’m a giver like that.
i am one of those amateur shoppers. i have a list in which i hastily scribbled items on my sticky refrigerator pad and sometimes i remember to bring it with me.
i am having the same dilemma. i need some beer for making beer bread and i am not going to cart a whole six pack of beer around in walmart when i only need one can so i’m going to ask a family member to bring it. we baptist think alike.
I think you showed remarkable restraint in the cream cheese department, especially since during the holidays there are many, many an opportunity for cream cheese dips to be made and consumed.
Our Wally mart has the same deal, i have 36 sticks of butter and 9 containers of cream cheese in the frig. Sadly I will run out of one or the other before the holidays are over.
I personally LOVE the clipboard idea and I think the woman was staring in wonder and awe because SHE
had never thought of it herself. (Don’t ask me HOW I posted that first part before I was even finished!!!)
Also – - – I’m not Baptist, I’m Wesleyan, but I can totally relate to the tee-totaler part and not quite knowing how to get the stuff when I want it for cooking. Guilt – - – what a rotten motivator!!!!
Love the t-shirt for the liquor store run- you should market those:-)
Oh, those Whiskey-palians, they are pros! I was amazed at their prowess when we first started hanging around them.
You mean everyone doesn’t take a clipboard with them to the grocery store? Nor does everyone have a two-page, three-column list that is pre-printed with routine shopping items that need only to be circled as one runs out of them hanging on the fridge? The sharpie may be taking it too far, though. A blue pen works fine. Really.
I am so glad that someone e;se appreciates the REAL DEAL Chex Mix.
It is totally worth making just for the smell that infiltrates the entire house and neighborhood.
It’s also worth making for the 47 handful that I can consume in just one day.
Your list looks like mine, except mine is not nearly as neat. Your clipboard idea is GOLD! I love it….and I’m sure you get home with everything on your list..unlike me :)
Merry Cooking!
Sarah, TN
I do my grocery list in Excel and put in estimated prices so that I have an estimated total at the bottom. I’ll have to try the clipboard!
I am just like you with my grocery lists when I know I’m having company (and any other time). If I have time – I organize it according to the layout of the store. :-)
BUT a clipboard – I love it! I think I’m going to try and get one. Am I crazy or is yours real cute? With possibly zebra print? Because I NEED one like that!
Totally going to steal the clipboard idea!!!
I know what you mean about crossing things off with a black sharpie…if you just cross it off with a pen you can still see what’s underneath and therefore feel like the job has not been completed.
My shopping lists never look so nice…well they temporarily…when I decide I’m gonna do something different like have a pre-printed check-off list or such – but that never lasts long.
It would be embarrassing to show my shopping list right now b/c it’s on a torn scrap of paper with stuff scribbled horizontally and every other which way – and in the middle of the groceries are the times I gave my kid some Tylenol and her temperature at the time.
And really how much does it matter b/c I’ll just end up forgetting it or thinking I’ll do fine with just a quick glance at it before I leave, and then I’ll come home with another bag of coconut -to add to my already 15-bag stash.
For your shopping pleasure…
http://seejanework.com/ProductCart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=15&idproduct=890
I can’t help you with your Chex Mix problem because here it is 6:30 a.m. and I am still checking out the Christmas tour and eating Chex Mix. (The wheat Chex are my favorite so I am picking them out as I click through the tour).
I use a clipboard in WalMart! I have the store mapped out by aisle, and the things I buy most often on each aisle. As I’m making my list, I just circle what we need and write in extra stuff in the margins. I get in and out in no time flat and I don’t have to run all the way to the back because I forgot yogurt!
And this is where I sigh with relief that every single one of my four big Christmas dinners/celebrations will be at the house of a parent or grandparent.
Praise the Lord, for he is merciful to the terrible housewife.
*PERK*
Huh? Did someone say “cheap butter?”
—-
Oh BooMama. You cannot know how happy it makes me to know y’all listen to the James Taylor CD. It is perhaps that I am an emotional basket case right now, I will grant you, but when I read that little mention, tears sprang to my eyes.
There is nothing in this world (besides reading and reflecting on the Christmas story in Luke, or hearing Linus read it, you know) that makes my soul DROP EVERYTHING and latch itself entirely to the joy of the season, the birth of Jesus, the amazing wonder of such!!! Like James Taylor’s version of Go Tell It on the Mountain. Nothing! And MY Alex loves it too. Loves the whole CD, and can sing it all, including throwing in a few EXTRA “Yeah, Babuhs” here and there throughout Jingle Bells. OH, THE WILD ABANDON!
Makes me feel a kindred spirit with y’all, picturing you doing something of the same.
And. The big question. Chex Mix. Homemade, or out of a bag?
And the second big question. Was there a whistle around your neck to go with that clipboard? RRRRRRALLY!
The clipboard is genius… simply genius.
And the black sharpie -like, Duh! Is there any other way? :)
okay – i’m giggling that you wrote down and crossed off items not on the list.
I do that very thing. I feel I’ve accomplished so much more than if I simply threw the extras in the cart.
It’s a sickness. really.
it’s always good to have one of us “whiskey-palians” as a friend! ;)
I love grocery shopping…after all you have to eat so you can’t feel guilty about spending lots and lots of money.
Was your list organized according to the store too? It just makes sense, I think, to list all the produce together, all the canned items, all the dairy, and so on. Can you tell I can relate to your list?!
I’m doing another giveaway–a Beth Moore Bible study workbook cover…so pretty! Come on over and enter here: http://thesimplewife.typepad.com/the_simple_wife/2007/12/announcing-gi-2.html
Joanne
I would totally take a clipboard to the grocery store with me. BUT. I’d have to go with a green Sharpie.
1: It’s festive
2: It’s my favorite color
3: It’s on my keychain
I am ALL about multi-purposing.
Amen!
P.S. I thought the Baptists were supposed to bring the liquor? Oops! ;)
I do all of my grocery shopping at walmart!!And I am in awe of your list. I usually go in there and get stuff off the top of my head. And end up with only half of
a spaghetti dinner. Shame on me!
I have 3 versions of my grocery list on the computer (they vary by which store I am going to). They each have typical stuff that we always need on them, but in the order they are arranged in each store. It is most helpful to keep one on the fridge and highlight as we run out of something. And then as I get to the store, there is less running back to another aisle becasue I forgot something. This is just about the only organized thing I do. I can email you the one from Wal-Mart if you like.
P.S. I love your site and the Tour. I didn’t get it together to join this year, but maybe next time.
OMG, did I just write that blog entry?? Or did you channel into my mind? Even down to the details, because, I too bought 3 bricks of cream cheese! &, my only question this year was who is bringing the chex mix???
Love it! Thanks for the laugh!
I have a cute little decoupaged clipboard with sassy ribbons on the clip to hold my grocery list. Now, it’s not typed, but it’s handwritten in a cheerful handwriting. :-) I’ve even been known to recopy my list if it’s not up to snuff (or if my husband has been writing on it). But there’s nothing like grocery shopping with a tidy list on a cheerful clipboard! I cross off in a fine point roller ball pen usually, although if the children are with me, I go for pencil because they like helping me cross off and I don’t like ink on their clothes, hands, faces, my clothes, purse, etc.
You should consider moving to Louisiana. They have a drive thru window at the liquor store. No dark glasses needed! You might want to rent a car for the occasion, though…
So you needed 3 cream cheeses. Surely you bought 5…just in case. :)
I am OCD about sour cream.
LOL! I’m Anglican (i.e.Episcopalian)and some time I’ll tell you about our weekly bottle bank trips during seminary! The real professionals are the Irish Catholics though!
I do think your list is a thing of beauty. I have also thought a clipboard with a pen attached would be really useful on supermarket trips – you have just encouraged me to try it out for myself!
If I saw someone in a supermarket with such a professional clipboard, I would be sure she was from a rival supermarket, ticking her check list for the competition!
I’m a Methodist and would have NO problem getting you your alcohol from the off-licence (that is what we call them here).
GREAT- JUST GREAT..now I have clip-board envy.
Lord I repent.
Kelly in Mi
You just keep me laughing. Merry Christmas!
I grocery shop with a clipboard, too! I *LOVE* my clipboard. I love *grocery shopping* with my clipboard. And I will be headed out to WallyWorld first thing in the morning with my clipboard to stock up on Land O Lakes!
(I have to say, though, that I prefer *colored* Sharpies. ;-))
That list is a thing of beauty. My big Walmart list is in my bag now and even has two pieces of ribbon stapled to it because I have to find some to match. I also LOVE the clipboard idea. I usually tear a hole in my list and stab my hand with the pen!!!!!
Merry Christmas! Bitsy
I organize my list by section: produce, meat/dairy/deli, frozen and other. I color code the section as well (in case you must know produce is green (duh), meat/dairy/deli is red, frozen is blue and I get kicky with the other). I type the whole thing up and sometimes I play with fonts. I have a huge fear that someone will find this list and laugh at it and then show it to their friends who will laugh. This fear got worse when I hear about a website where people post grocery lists they find!! I can only imagine the horror of seeing my list up there and the accompanying comments about what an anal-retentive control freak must have made that list. I once sent my husband to the store with one of these lists- the man behind him in store just about fell over when he saw it, and my husband was quick to point the finger at me. The thing is though, it works! And I am an anal-retentive control freak, so no use fighting it:) Glad to know I have a kindred spirit out there!
Being an “A” type personality myself, I can SO relate to your grocery shopping list! It releases endorphins to cross things off any type of list! But, please, don’t let me down…please tell me you put the items IN ORDER on your list according to how they are placed in the store?! Help me breathe a sigh of relief that I’m not just a little crazy and that there are two of us in this world!
LOVE the clipboard idea…I simply MUST steal that. :)
I’m a transplanted Yankee, and I’ve been living in the South for almost 14 years. Did you know that in Yankee land you can buy liquor in the grocery store?! Truly you can. You just casually pick up a bottle of rum and stick it right in the buggie with the sanctified cream cheese and away you go.
We are going up North for Christmas this year; I must remember to stock up. I hate creeping into the ABC Store like a criminal to buy some liqueur for a cake! Plus my 6 year old expects to see phonics books at the ABC store…
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