Mary Ann's House This Week

It has been a busy and productive week! I think it is safe to say that we have recovered from Thanksgiving and are getting on with life.

The major accomplishment for the week has been that I cleaned my oven. It has needed cleaning for some time, but after a banana bread spill on Tuesday, it really needed it! So Wednesday morning, I got it started. My goodness! Even with all the doors wide-open and the kitchen fan running, the smoke alarm was still beeping constantly. I finally took it off the wall until we were done. But it was worth it- the oven interior which I thought was naturally black is now a shiny gray.:-)

I have wrapped most of our Christmas gifts this week. We don't usually go all out with big gifts, but give fairly small gifts to each person. My family has always done Christmas more simply and I would like to keep it that way! My husband and I love doing stockings for each other, but if we are not careful, we can easily spend more on stocking stuffers than big gifts!

We got our Christmas tree last night. We were going to wait until tomorrow, but ended up stopping at a little "Amish" country store on our way home from town last night. They not only gave us a fairly good deal on a cute, short and round tree, but I might be able to bake some breads and cookies for them to sell through the holiday season. I am going to take him some samples tomorrow.

I finally used a spa gift certificate that we won through a radio contest last Christmas. I got a spa manicure which is very special. It was a very nice salon, but a little more pricey than I could pay on a regular basis. What a treat it was, though, to have a few minutes of pampering.:-)

I made my bi-monthly trip to Sam's Club and the health food store and stocked up on the essentials. We should be pretty well set on the basics at least through Christmas, with extra baking and company coming. We are trying our best to stay out of the stores on weekends all this month.

I am now babysitting here at my house 4 days a week. It is a great combination of what I love most- kids and staying at home.:-) However, it is a challenge to fit housework and everything in with a baby and 2 toddlers in the house. ( I haven't ever had all 3 at the same time, only 2.)I am definitely getting better at balancing baby schedules and still getting my work done, as well as playing and doing fun activities with the kids.

For tonight's dinner we are having Israeli Spice Chicken, a salad, pita bread and hummus. The chicken is one of our very favorites and is great for clearing out your sinuses while cooking. :-) We are planning to decorate the tree and house tonight, too!