STOCKING THE PANTRY FOR WINTER AND BARGAINS GALLORE

I am determined to blog today in one setting. Lets see what has been going on in my vast world. Sister, Mom, and I went bargain shopping Saturday morning and then grocery shopping. By the time we left Aldi, Sister's car was packed to the gills. All three of us had the same idea of stocking our pantry for the winter. This time I bought a case of crushed tomatoes instead of a few cans here and there, because I always run out when in the mood to make a good pot of soup or a large bowl of pasta. Aldi's has the best crushed tomatoes for cooking and whole tomatoes too. All I do is add chopped onion, garlic, sea salt, fresh ground pepper, basil, fresh parsley is best, and oregano, then add pasta, and it is the bomb. I watched an Italian cooking show that advised, "the simpler the sauce the better." They are correct. I bought a case for 99 cents each of the large can. I also stocked up on pinto beans by buying a case of the large cans. Can you believe it, 99 cents a can. What a barg. I love chili in the winter. I bought a pound of jalapeno pepper and I'll need to core and chop them and then put in a plastic bag in the freezer. This is time consuming from the get go, but well worth it in the long run. Just open the bag from the freezor and add to my base, with no additional labor on a need be basis. My favorite thing to do is to stock up on different pasta varieties. I love cooking with different shaped pasta for mac and cheese, and spaghetti.

The best barg at Aldi was the stuffed clam shells at $2.99 for a package of 12. I love stuffed clams, calamari, and just about any seafood.

Yesterday Sister, Mom, and I went to our bargain shops and I found a gem of a sweater cardigan, hand knitted for $3 dollars! I wore it out when taking Caity out last night and was toasty warm. Not only that, it is one of my favorite colors, burgundy. I'll wear it around the house on days I decide to be energy conscience, which will be most days this winter!

Oh, for 50 cents I also found a old charm bracelet with nursery rhyme characters. When I was a kid, every year for my birthday my mom would give me a unique charm bracelet. Charm bracelets are an arm and a leg to collect now days, so I was quite delighted to find it. I showed it to my mom and we deemed it the find of the day! It's nice sharing memories with your mother.

The other gem I found was an old wooden and metal sled. It is rusted and you can just read the name of the sled, of course I can't remember the name right now. It is missing the strings to turn the sled, but I'll come up with something. I am going to tie a wreath around the top and lay it across my Christmas table that I usually place my small tree on, the one that I can't find the legs for. I put them up somewhere, but for the life of me I can't remember where. So, I will use my decorated sled this year, and stack my presents on top. I thought that would be a cool idea.

 O.K. the only draw back of stocking my pantry for the winter and barg shopping on the same day is unloading the car. Caity and I both have taken a tumble this week. As I was unloading my 2 cases of can goods, I had a novel idea of using my new girlie dolly to load them on, and then wheel them into the house in one trip. Only there was a snafu in that the lip at the bottom was too short. So, I scoot the dolly out from under it, and set it aside. Then I decided to take a few cans in my arms, but I forgot where I placed the ones on the ground, and turned around and tripped over them. I fell flat on my tummy. I mean we are talking dead man float face down and cans everywhere. The thing is though, it all happened in slo-mo and I didn't feel any pain. So I laying there behind Linda's car with the trunk lid up, and she doesn't see a thing, nor has she any idea what has happened.  She is probably listening to one of her new CD, she found as her barg of the day. Meanwhile, I'm down and I'm dazed, but I hear a car coming from the opposite directions and think it would be a good idea get up. And I do so, with the driver none the wiser.  Not to be outdid, I trudge onward and get everything loaded in the house, and even take Caity out. But last night, my knees were quite tender and still are.

Caity's tumble came as I was getting ready to take her out. When I take her out of her crate, she is super wild. Remember, she is a Silkie terrior. I mean spas-mic, all over the place, jumping up and down, running in circles, every thing. Some times I put her collar on in the kitchen, and other times I put it on her in the entry way. This time I put it on her in the kitchen. So out we go to the entry way where she gets caught up into our routine of putting her paws on the top shelf of a rack, I have there while I place her leash on her collar, even though I have already placed it on her in the kitchen. She still does it anyways. So I'm putting my coat on, and telling her, "Down Caity, you already have your leash on." Then she is like, "Oh yeah, I do don't I." Her next ditti is she jumps up and down at the door. Well, I inadvertently step on her leash, which throws her down to the ground as she is jumping up in the air. I'm like, "Oh Caity, I'm so sorry," but like her owner, is down for only a second or two, and back to doing her spas-mic routine. Lots of crazy, funny stuff happens in this household. And it's all good. That's all there is to smile and laugh about this time. I try to keep it light and airy when I post because there's enough crazy stuff going on just walking out your front door. So, COME TO THE PURPLE DOOR WITH THE FLOWER CHIC again so we can ponder life, and giggle a little about the small stuff. FLOWERCHIC