Serving my drinks in style

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Hear me out. I am sure you have seen some videos online of people taking their beverages and pouring them into carafes and putting them in their fridge then throwing away the container they came in. Even though I think that is wasteful I do have a use for carafes in our home. We often buy fresh, frozen, and ready-to-drink beverages. I use our carafes when we are mixing up our frozen drinks or making homemade lemonade. 

I really like this set I was sent to review. It is a pair of carafes with lids, and little signs and even has a chalkboard marker included to change out the labels as needed. Here you see it being used for our orange juice and fruit punch. My husband says it would also make a nice vase in a pinch. 

Easy to use and care for they make me feel like I am Serving my drinks in style and remind me of the orange juice container my mother had while I was growing up. Besides the lids, I like that the carafes are plain so you can put whichever beverage inside you decide. The labels are cute and let those who are serving themselves know what is inside. Also did I mention they look great in the fridge or at the table. Think lemonade on the porch in the summer. So cute. 

So if you use it like others on videos or just need it for things like we used them for you can find them here http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B8YP33D4 if you click on the photo below it takes you to my affiliate link which helps me out too. 

 

Getting ready for Christmas

 

Last year I knew going into the Holidays that we needed a new Christmas Tree and some decorations. Our old tree got moldy from a leak in our basement and most of our ornaments didn't make our last move. We decided on a red, white, and silver theme and went with that. I ordered a 7.5 foot tree with lights that could be either white or colored depending on how you feel each day. This tree was originally like 300.00 and I got it for I believe 43.13. I have to say it is the best tree we have had so far. Easy to set up and take down. We are very happy with it. 

I also bought new garland, penguin ornaments, gingerbread man decorations, and white, silver, and white decorations to go with everything. We even made a few decorations from crafts I had stashed for years. I also ordered a star in red. It isn't quite what we were looking for so I will be looking at new toppers for next year. The star goes well with the multi-colored lights but not so well with the white so we just left the star off when we had the white lights on. We live on a strict budget so buying things on sale is a must. I also ordered one of those glass trees with multi-colored lights because they remind me of my grandmother and aunts. It was also something my mom always wanted but never got. For a splurge, I bought a family of Moose decorations for our home. They are so cute. 

This year I would like to add a tree skirt (ours went missing) or tree box, a lighted wreath, some lighted pine garland, and some of those deer sets that light up for our porch. If I had to splurge I would buy those lamps that look like the lamps out of Narnia. I also want to get letters for each of the stockings so it is easier to keep track of whose stocking is whose. 

I showed my husband several ideas for how I want to hang the stockings this year and with a little thinking outside the box we are going to be able to make what I would like with things we already have on hand. Can't wait to show you all later in the year. Anyways those are my goals for Christmas this year. 

Great Gift Idea for mulitple people

One of the best things we did this year for Christmas that I would like to share with you was buying an assortment of candles. We got a great deal during the candle deal from Yankee Candle. The best part is that they were all shipped to my home. We still do most of our shopping from home. 

We placed them all on the desk in our living room and each of my children's family chose two scents they would like to take home with them as a gift and the rest we would use throughout the year to come. I think this went over well and I am going to do this again.

I did have a little insight into the scents they liked so I chose around those and then ordered some new to us scents. I loved a few that were chosen so we will be ordering those scents again. I know this is late but an early idea for next year for those who have multiple families to gift to. 

Reading Log 2022 for MarksvilleandMe

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This year was really hard on our family. Where I thought I would have all the time in the world to read I found myself instead fighting for my life. Stage 3 Colon Cancer really gave me a hard time. We did get in a few books though and I will share them below. One of my bucket list items is reading the whole set of Nancy Drew books. I have read many over the years some more then once but wanted to do them in order.  

Thanksgiving

 I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Last year this time I was still in the hospital not being able to eat anything due to having and NG tube in from complications after my surgery to remove my Cancer in my colon. 

Since I finished my Chemotherapy back in July I have been getting really excited for the Holidays. My oncologist office adopted our family for Thanksgiving which was really nice they provided pretty much everything we could need for dinner. With prices they way they are on food I also got a free turkey from our local Shop Rite from spending so much money on food during a set period of time. I tried to gift the turkey but no one ever responded so we ended up cooking 2 turkeys. 

Cooking the turkeys was a nightmare. When we moved here my Turkey roaster never made it so we bought one of those counter top roasters that everyone raves about. Well ours never cooked the turkey so when we should have been eating we were just putting it into our oven. I think we just got a damaged turkey roaster and I am not sure when we bought it so I couldn't return it to the store so we just had to throw it away. 

Once the turkey was done the feast was ready to be eaten, and boy did we eat. I had a little bit of everything and enjoyed every bite. So very different from last year. When we were done, and getting ready for dessert my daughter Nesie came with her boyfriend Paul to drop Bean off for the weekend. I get Bean (our nickname for my granddaughter Lillyann) most vacations and holidays so they can work without worrying about her. 

They had thanksgiving with Paul's parents this year and his mom decided to just do a turkey breast. Nesie's favorite part of the turkey is the drumstick and oddly enough it is also Paul's favorite too. Since we made two turkeys they took three legs and left one here for Dorothy to pick at since it is her favorite part too. It was awesome to see the joy on their faces when they were wrapping up their turkey legs to enjoy later at their home. 

I was so excited to have most of my girls home at some point during thanksgiving and just overly thankful to be alive and enjoying time with my family. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.