Fall is in the Air (and on the ground)

I just read my daughter's post on facebook about putting her blogs in book form. So, I decided to come over here and read some of my old posts. Some are pretty interesting to me because I had forgotten about things I wrote. Others not so much. I noticed that the last few were all about playing games on the computer which kept me from having time to blog.

I'm not promising anything, but I'm going to try to get back into blogging more regularly if only for myself to be able to go back and see what I have been doing. But I still plan to farm and play hidden object games. We'll see how it works out.

Today is all about leaves falling. We have a lot of wind today and leaves are falling everywhere and swirling around on the ground. The temperature is a balmy 80 deg. That's pretty warm for us in late Oct. Just walking outside made me think about being a little girl and raking up leaves to jump in. I guess WV is a pretty good place to live as far as seasons go. We definitely have all four. Hot summers, warm springs, cool falls, and cold winters. We have an abundance of rain and wild flowers, oodles of trees for leaves to fall from, and plenty of snow to play in. Pretty close to a perfect climate if you are a kid with time to play and not an adult who has to go to work.

Blame in on Raspberries!!

Some people have asked me why I don't blog anymore. Two reasons - both internet related. One is my unlimited game pass at Shockwave. For a set price you can play full versions of all kinds of games on Shockwave. So, I spend endless hours searching for everything from hammers to boiled eggs in hidden object games. Some of them have very entertaining little puzzles you have to solve to get to the next level. I love the challenge and it is usually very relaxing, until you can't solve the puzzle, then it is very frustrating. Most of the time, you can find someone on the internet who has played the game and can give you some help.

The second reason is that shortly after coming home from El Paso after my new grand-daughter was born, my sister and daughter got me hooked on Facebook. I love it. I have made contact with lots of family and friends and get to keep up with what they are doing on an almost daily basis. But the real time killer is Farm Town. When you are on Facebook people send you invitations to play this farming game with them and once you start, it is hard to stop. I don't know why we do it, because if you describe it to anyone they would think you were out of your mind. But we sit here for hours clicking on tiny little squares that represent our plowed and planted fields. You plow and plant and harvest crops, as well as lots of fruit trees. And if that wasn't silly enough, we also go to other farms and click on their fields to harvest and plow. Even now I am shaking my head at how ridiculous it sounds, but I can't wait to finish this blog and see if my cabbage is ready to harvest! I think I started it because I liked placing the buildings and fences and flowers, etc. to decorate my farm. But now I am determined to reach the ultimate level 34 and buy the big mansion that sells for $1,000,000 coins in the Farm Town store. Level 34 is the accumulation of 150,000 points for plowing and planting. That means thousands of mouse clicks, day after day, just to be able to buy blueberry seeds or a windmill. And of course, ultimately, the mansion.

So if you don't see me back her for a while, come on over to facebook and check out my farm.

What a trip!!

We had a pretty interesting 10 days while we were out on the road this time. To begin with, Kirby got a sore throat a couple of days after we left and it got worse and worse, especially at night when he would try to sleep. Of course, I got it too. We tried mouth wash and throat sprays and tylenol and hot soup, etc. etc. During the day it would get better, but at night it always got bad again.

After a few days, we brought a load close to WV and figured we would be able to come home and get rested up and see the doctor. Instead, they gave us a load going to Idaho! We didn't want to turn down such a good load, so we headed west and hoped for the best. After a few more days of sore throat, we finally stopped in Wyoming and went to the emergency room of a small hospital there.

They tested us for Strep and it was negative. The doctor said it was just a virus and would have to run it's course, anywhere from 5 to 14 days!! We had already had it for at least 7 days. He wouldn't give us antibiotics, but gave us steroids for the swollen neck glands. The steroids really did help, but even today, my throat is still a little sore.

Kirby decided he would come back home and try out for the Yankees after getting the steroid shot and taking the pills, but my sister told him not to waste his time because he would never be able to make the Hall of Fame when they did the random blood tests. She's probably right.

Anyway, here are some pictures I took in Freeport the other day. Our terminal is about a mile or so from Quintana Beach and the sunset was really pretty that evening. The other picture is the first thing we saw when we drove down onto the sand. Apparently, this guy sells Mexican fruit on the beach. I've never seen that at Myrtle Beach!!

Jafar? Are you in there??

This is my new grandbaby, Jenna Beth, wearing the same dress her mother wore home from the hospital 33 years ago.


I know it's been a while and I'm not sure anybody is even reading this, but as an excuse for part of my downtime, I spent three weeks with my daughter in El Paso to welcome my new grand-daughter. She was born May 12 weighing 9 lbs. 9 ozs. Babies run big in my family, so she was pretty typical for us, but she looked like she was 3 months old already.

Only my grandson, Bailey, will get the title of this post. Jafar is the bad guy from the Aladdin movie. This was a running joke while I was in El Paso. The parrot, Iago, knocks on Jafar's head at one point and says "Jafar, are you in there?" Bailey and I would do this to each other everytime something happened and we wanted to get the other one's attention. I enjoyed watching several movies with Bailey. Speed Racer and Rattatoui were my favorites.

The Rattatoui movie inspired me to let Bailey (age 4) and Maverick (age 2) help me cook one day. They were so funny standing on step stools, mixing eggs with milk and salt and pepper and Maverick's secret ingredient for perfect scrambled eggs, parmesan cheese. Bailey left after the mixing part was done, but Maverick saw it through all the way to frying his eggs and buttering the bread. He loves helping with anything from mopping the floor to changing a diaper. Bailey, on the other hand, hates being asked to do anything that interfers with his agenda.

Here are Bailey and Maverick with their versions of a milk mustache.

Who Says??

I've been contemplating who decides what is a waste of time and what is a constructive use of time. Mainly because I've been wasting a lot of time lately! But who says it's wasted?? It all started when my daughter blogged about Spring time. That got me to thinking about spring cleaning, which unleashed a torrent of activity in my bathroom. I cleaned and dusted everything in there from top to bottom and cleaned out shelves and drawers and mopped the floor. Then I decided the next day I would start on my bedroom, but Rusty found a new hidden object game on the computer and we played that all day. Then I helped him finish Mortimer Beckett and then he got me started on Detective Stories Hollywood and one thing lead to another and my room never got cleaned. I felt bad about it for a little while, then I realized that the time I spent with Rusty and the time I spent relaxing, while stimulating my mind, in front of the computer isn't wasted time. Maybe my bedroom isn't super clean and my furniture didn't get treated with liquid gold, but I washed the sheets and comforter. OK, I still have some Christmas stuff on my dresser that I need to put away. But so what if it's still there next Christmas and I don't have to "waste time" getting it out of the closet??

Paula Deen or Mortimer Beckett??

This week I've had a hard time deciding who I want to be. If you recognize those two names in the title, you have some idea of what I'm talking about. Paula Deen is, of course, a cook. Tuesday we decided to create our own Japanese Steak House at home. We made a huge pot of fried rice, stir fried veggies, shrimp, chicken & steak. Then I made the creamy sauce they serve in the restaurants. We also had some spicy mango sauce and some onion blossom horseradish dip. It was all delicious. We invited my sisters over to eat with us, and even took some "take out" to my Mom.

Wednesday, my husband promised to make my nephew a pan of bread pudding. My grand-niece came down and decided she would make the bread pudding with Kirby's instructions. So, while they were working on that, I fixed the rest of the steak from the night before, along with some oven roasted garlic potatoes. When my nephew came for the bread pudding, we ended up feeding steak and potatoes to him, his wife, my grand-niece and nephew, and one of their friends. Everyone loved all the food, but grand-niece Jessica said she would rather have my sloppy joes than steak.

You probably know what happens next. Thursday we made sloppy joes for everyone, along with a special request for my cole slaw (from my nephew). Dessert was peanut butter cookies with M&Ms (one of my favorites).

So what about Mortimer Beckett, you ask? He is a character in a computer game. I have become obsessed with hidden object computer games lately. Between all the shopping for food and cooking, I sit at the computer and download free trial versions of games. Some, like Mortimer Beckett, I enjoyed enough to actually pay for the full version. Others, I play for 30 minutes and decide they are not that much fun. Right now I am going through Escape the Museum. It's pretty good, but the objects are very well hidden (to the point of being impossible to see). Yesterday I played Unicorn Castle all day. The day before that it was Hide & Secret Treasure of the Ages. I have my sisters playing these now, too. They finished Mystery PI - the Lottery Ticket and now they are playing Mystery Quest Secret Island.

I have probably played upwards of 20 of these type games and so far, Mortimer Beckett is still my favorite. There are two of them in case you are interested. Secrets of Spooky Manor and Time Paradox. Both are entertaining and sometimes challenging. Be prepared to waste a considerable amount of time if you start playing. They are addictive. But it's a relaxing, good for your mind kind of addiction.

Pay it Forward

This was a game that a neighbor and friend of mine (a young woman who is in Germany with her Army husband) put on her blog. I thought it seemed like fun, especially since I was one of her first three to respond. Read the rules and post a comment so I can send you something from Wild, Wonderful West Virginia. I may even go more than three people if I don't get too many. Then post the rules on your blog and pay it forward!!



Here are the rules:


1.Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me - something crafty or yummy, who knows?!

2. Winners must post this challenge on your blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward by creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

3. The gift that you send to your 3 friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember - It’s the spirit and the thought that count! (I think 365 days is too long myself, but that's what was in the rules. Believe me, you won't have to wait that long to get your gift from me!!)

4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate Linky Love! If you are not one of the top three commenters on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same!

That's it. Pretty simple. Hope some of you decide to play along.

Sick!!

Isn't it funny how thinking of one thing gets you to thinking of another thing and pretty soon you are thinking of things that had nothing to do with your original thought? I have been sick with a head cold for the last couple of days and for some reason, all my wadded up tissue this morning made me think of an old Brittish comedy we used to watch in the 80's called the Young Ones. If you ever watched it, you know it was outrageously crazy and disgusting. Perfect for a teenage boy (my son) and his friends. The Sick episode was one of the funniest, along with Have We got a Video and University Challenge.

Anyway, then I was reminded of a time when my Mother was sick and she was in her bedroom and heard us coming toward the room and she started yelling "unclean" like the lepers did in the Bible. She didn't want us to get her germs, but I always thought that was so funny.

But unclean made me think of the laundry I had in the washer. So as I was putting that in the dryer, I had to clean the lint filter. Which made me think about the air conditioner filter.

So I checked that, and of course, it needed to be changed. When I tried to throw it away, the trash can was full, so I had to take the trash out.

When I got outside, I noticed my car was facing the wrong way because my last trip had been to my mother's house. Which reminded me that I needed to go back to her house and fix her kitchen light for her.

I got in the car and there was the mail in the sunvisor that I had forgotten to take inside the day before. And in the mail was a coupon that I had sent for. $1 off cat litter.

Which reminded me to check the cat litter, which needed to be changed. Which reminded me that I can't smell anything because of this head cold. Which got me right back where I started. I need to get rid of all these wadded up tissues and take something for this cold.

Finally a Trip to El Paso!!!

It seems like forever since we got a chance to go through El Paso and stop to visit with the kids and grandkids. We had to stay out almost three weeks, but it was worth it to take the California load that got us through west Texas. I tried so hard to get some good pictures of the boys, but they never hold still. Here are a few of the better ones. I don't think I ever got Bailey to look at the camera.

coupon clipping craziness

While we were home for a few days I meant to put some pictures of our snow storm on my blog but every time I sat down at the computer I was distracted by coupon websites. I didn't know there were so many places you could find money saving coupons. I must have printed 20 or 30 coupons to use at the grocery store. Then of course I went to the store and didn't take the coupons with me because I didn't want to waste them at Savalot when I can double them at Krogers. Now I need to work on my grocery list that I can print out every week so I get the best deals and use the right coupons. No wonder people pay for someone to watch the sales and tell you which coupons to use. Saving $.50 is a lot of work. Every time I print a coupon they also include an ad or a recipe. When I have to replace the ink cartridge in my printer I hope I can find a coupon. Of course, I won't be able to print it if I'm out of ink. Guess I'd better plan ahead for that. This is getting so complicated. Where did I put that coupon for Excedrin?

Snow Storm Blues

We are trapped in Cincinnati today. We have a load going to Akron but the weather stopped us in Cincy last night. We have been sitting in our truck for over twelve hours. Worst thing is our Sirius radio bit the dust. But Kirby found a station here playing old radio shows. We listened to William Powell in "One Way Passage." I love him with Myrna Loy on the old Thin Man movies. This story is about a woman dying of heart trouble who meets a man on his way to be executed for murder. They meet on a ship sailing from Shanghi to San Francisco. Of course they don't tell each other the truth but fall in love and plan to meet in Mexico on New Year's eve. Reminds you of Cary Grant in "An Affair to Remember." Cary Grant certainly had a happier ending but this is a great classic anyway.

Luckily we keep snacks with us so we dined on crackers, cheese spread, beans & franks, and celery with peanut butter. Thank goodness for the IPhone. We can entertain ourselves playing Whack a Mole. Or get online. I need to go now and make a phone call. Today is my son's birthday.

Historic Event

I bet you thought I was talking about Obama! No, this is even better. Last night I talked to both my grandsons on the phone and it was the first time Maverick said "Grammy" to me. He talked and talked and told me about his screwdriver and said "I love you" just as plain as could be. Then he said hi to Pop and I thought Kirby would never stop talking about it. I can't wait to see them in person. Hope I don' t have to wait til May. Also, this is my first blog post from my Iphone. I didn't think I could do it but today I figured out how. I had to switch to HTML. Oh, yes, we do have the first black president. But have you heard my grandsons talk on the phone??

We are on our way to Denver where it is supposed to be 65 degrees. Thank you global warming! At home in WV we are having a new ice age. So I'm not complaining about being on the road this week. But I'd gladly brave the cold and snow if I had to in order to go to El Paso! Maybe next week.

Our Sweet Kitty, Muffin

Almost 12 years ago, one of our neighbors asked us if we wanted a kitten. We went to look at them and ended up bringing home a tiny little fur ball we named Muffin. She was such a good cat. She did like to go in and out a lot. As you can see in the picture, she's waiting at the door for someone to let her out for five minutes so she can scratch at the door to be let back in for five minutes. Very often in the summer she would stay out all night and we would wake up to find what Kirby called "a rump roast" on the door mat. She tended to eat the top half of a mouse and leave the bottom half for us. Sometimes she brought us a chipmunk or a mole.

She was one of the most affectionate cats we ever had. She loved to be held and petted and she could purr like a motorboat. She liked to sleep near my head, on my pillow. We have a dog who begs whenever we eat. Muffin thought she should get in on that action, too. She loved it when I sat in the living room with a plate, because she knew she could get on the couch behind me and reach over my shoulder for a bite, while the dog sat at my feet whining. Needless to say, I didn't eat in the living room unless I was prepared to share.

A month or so ago, we took Muffin to the vet and he gave her thyroid pills. I blogged about that at the time. Unfortunately, the thyroid pills helped a little, but didn't solve her problem. Our sweet kitty, Muffin, passed away early Sunday morning. Rest assured, there will be no mice in Heaven when you get there.

Busy New Year

It's hard to believe that it's already 10 days into the new year. We've been pretty busy since we left on New Year's Eve. We drove to Cincinnati and picked up a load going to Louisiana. From there we got a load going to Wisconsin. After we delivered that, we went to Chicago to pick up a load going to New Jersey. We had some time to waste waiting for the New Jersey load, so we did two of my favorite things. Number one, we ate at a Chinese buffet. We found a really good place in Joliet that had great food. Across the street was a KMart, so number two - we shopped. I didn't buy a thing after Christmas this year. I didn't really need anything, and when we finally went to WalMart two days after Christmas, the selection was pretty slim. Not so at the KMart in Joliet. We spent almost two hours in the Christmas stuff looking at trees and candles and table settings and ornaments and more. We ended up buying not one, but two Christmas trees!! They are standing in the bunk of my truck right now, so we have to sleep with our feet touching them.
KMart had pre-lit trees with both regular lights and fiber optic lights for $12.50. They are four foot trees and we got a green and a white. You can use both lights at once, or either set you prefer. I can't wait to get home and plug them in. We also got three sets of lights for our front porch. One spells out Merry Christmas and the other two have ribbons and bows to put on either side of the Merry Christmas one. Is it too early to decorate for next year?? I'm really excited to see how these are going to look.

Believe it or not (and I'm sure if you know me you will believe it) we bought some placemats and napkins and napkin rings. I know!! But at 75% off you just can't pass up pretty Martha Stewart placemats. Besides, Kirby was helping me pick them out and he loved these. I'll have to take pictures when I get home. We're going to decorate the table with them for a while even if they are gold and white and Christmasy looking.

I knew after we left I would kick myself for not buying more candles. We picked out some to use at home because we burn candles a lot. But they had some beautiful decorative candles with brass snowflakes on them that I could have used for myself, or even as gifts. I don't know why I didn't get them. At that point our buggy was running over and we still had another aisle to look through, so I guess I got distracted by the wrapping paper and boxes.

I may have to make a trip to our local KMart and see if they have anything left!!

Happy New Year, Almost!!!

It's just after midnight, so it is officially New Year's Eve here in WV. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has been reading my blog this year. I know it isn't the most productive thing you could be doing with your time, and everyone is so busy these days, so again, I thank you for spending a few minutes with me now and then.

As you probably know, I'll be having a new grandbaby this year. My daughter, Jen, is having a girl to go with her two little boys. I'm really looking forward to spending some time with all of them this summer. My son-in-law will be serving overseas in the Army in 2009, so she will not only be taking care of her sons, but having a new baby while he's gone. Pray for them whenever you think of them - they'll really need it!! My husband thinks they will have their own TV show pretty soon - "Jen & Jake plus eight" I'm sure at times the two boys seem like eight already.

My other four grandkids are growing up too fast. Last time we saw them, only Brandon was still shorter than me!! I'm sure he'll probably outgrow me this year.

I have so much to be thankful for. I couldn't begin to list the prayers that God has answered this past year, or the blessings he has provided. I hope all of you have been as happy and as blessed in 2008, and I pray all of you will have a wonderful 2009.

Happy New Year, from the Rhodes family!!

Christmas Eve Lunch

Normally we have our Christmas Eve dinner with my sisters and Mom about 5 or 6 pm, and then we all exchange gifts. But, since Christmas Eve fell on Wednesday, the church was having a candle light service tonight, so we decided to have our Christmas Eve dinner/gift exchange early. I had considered the idea of Italian food, but we finally went with our usual Mexican feast. We all love Mexican food, and besides, I had these nifty new cast iron fajita skillets to try out. They were a gift from my in-laws. So, here's our delicious beef fajitas fried with some onion and poblano peppers.

And we had my favorite, chicken enchilladas. Along with some shrimp poppers. These are large shrimp stuffed with cheese and jalapeno pepper, then wrapped in bacon. They were absolutely the best part of the meal.

The gravy boat makes a perfect dish for serving your queso dip. Add some chips, condiments for the fajitas, and warm tortillas, and you've got a wonderful Christmas Eve Mexican feast. If you think it sounds like a lot of work, think again. The fajita meat is ready to go in the freezer section of the grocery store. Just add some onion and peppers, heat it all up, and you're done. Even the enchilladas are easy. I start with large taquitos from the grocery freezer, pour enchillada sauce over them and top with cheese. Put them in the oven for an hour and it looks and tastes like you've worked all day. The shrimp poppers were a lot of work, but soooo worth it.

The real job is cleaning up the mess. I make it harder on myself, because I insist on washing my Christmas dishes myself. I'm so afraid someone will break one, so I always wash them and put them back in their boxes personally. So, here's a couple of pictures of the kitchen just after we finished eating. All the Christmas dishes go back in their boxes and back into that bottom cabinet. My cat had been playing with that bubble wrap that's on the floor.

The stove is covered with pots and pans used to make rice and beans and heat other things. Tomorrow morning, all those blue pans will be replaced with my brand new Cook's Essentials eggplant colored pots and pans. I love my Cook's Essentials from QVC. These blue ones are still in great condition after years of daily use, but my Mom got me the new ones for Christmas. I guess I'll have to post a picture of them, if I ever get this mess cleaned up!!

Another idea for wrapping up your gifts!!

Ever have the perfect size box for a gift, but didn't want the recipient to think they were getting a toaster (or whatever was originally in the box)? The other day I realized most boxes are only glued together on one corner. I have taken three different boxes apart this year and simply turned them inside out and put them back together. Now the box is plain white or brown on the outside and has all the features of the toaster on the inside. When they tear off the paper, they see a plain box. If the inside lists all the features of last year's toaster oven, they won't notice because they will be enjoying the gift you put in the box for them.

Investing in one of those packing tape dispensers is well worth the money, too. I've had mine for years and you can ask either of my kids or grandkids - when Grammy tapes it up, it takes an act of Congress to get it open.

These are my Poinsettia & Ribbons Christmas dishes. I started collecting this pattern about 8 years ago when I bought a set half price at K-Mart after Christmas. That year I got a service for 4 of the dishes, as well as a set of salt & pepper shakers and a gravy boat. Naturally, K-Mart never had them again, but I learned that many people had matching pieces on EBay. This is my first year with the stemmed goblets, and I live in fear of breaking one. I have seen them on EBay several times and wanted them, but wasn't willing to pay the asking price of $8 each (plus shipping). A couple of months ago, someone had 12 of them for about $3 each (including shipping) and I couldn't resist. I have many other matching pieces that are not on the table, including flatware, but I decided this year to use the gold flatware my mother-in-law gave me.

There's a funny story about the bowls in the picture. I was at a local store here called Ames and saw a woman trying to return two sets of bowls. When they told her the bowls didn't come from Ames and she would have to return them to wherever they came from, I approached her and offered to buy them from her. I think at first she thought I was a little strange, but when I explained that I had several sets of dishes that matched her bowls, she was happy to sell them. They had been a gift to her and she had nothing else to go with them.

I bid on napkin rings several times and stopped when the price got too high. Then one day, I misspelled "poinsetta" and found a whole new bunch of auctions where hardly anyone was bidding. Since then, I have typed in both versions whenever I search.

Christmas Decorations

I've been completely blown away by some of the decorations on the Tour of Homes that one of my daughter, Jen's, friends has on her blog. I don't know how to do the fancy links to other blogs, but this should get you to hers - http://boomama.net/2008/12/15/christmas-tour-of-homes-2008/ There are over 900 homes on the list, so enjoy yourself if you go there and look at some of them. Meantime, I decided to put a picture of my pitiful little tree on here. In the past, we have put up our 6 ft. white tree with all blue lights and blue/silver decorations, or with all red lights and red/gold decorations. This year, we put up a little 4 ft green tree with very few lights or decorations. We just weren't in the mood to decorate for some reason. I did insist on having an angel, but ours were all too big for this tree, so I got this little one at WalMart on sale the other day (then almost cut her off in the picture).






I got really ambitious the other day and took pictures of all my napkins, placemats, and table cloths. I'm sure right now you are thinking I have too much time on my hands. Actually, I was looking for my blue napkins, and didn't realize how many sets I had, so I decided to organize a little better. I made a folder on my computer and put pictures of all the ones I have so next time I decide to decorate the table, I'll have a good idea of what I have hidden under that china cabinet. Anyway, here are the blue napkins with some placemats that I forgot I had!! I used those blue candles and snowflake candle holders last year with some different placemats. That little plate of cookies in the center is actually a plate of tarts for a tart burner. They smell so good, but look so pretty I couldn't bring myself to melt them.

Tonight, this blue stuff is going back in the china cabinet to make way for my Christmas dishes. I'm going to put the leaf in the table and get it ready for Christmas Eve dinner. In the past we have done Mexican food for our Christmas Eve meal. One year we had chicken fried steak (special request from Todd). This year I'm planning an Italian feast. I'll post pictures of the Christmas dishes tomorrow.

Are you Ready to Wrap??

These are my special Christmas gift wrapping scissors. They always make me smile. I was thinking this morning about some of the things I have learned over the years about gift wrapping and started making this list.

1. Obviously, you want to buy all your supplies at after Christmas sales. I store bags and boxes flat in a plastic storage container and wrapping paper in a tall kitchen trash can in the back of my closet. Tissue paper is kept in a gift bag stored in the container. Tape, scissors, name tags, and pens are all in a shoe box in the storage container.

2. My Mom taught me years ago that the ironing board makes a great place to wrap gifts. It's a good flat surface and the height is easy on your back.

3. I've tried several methods for saving pretty gift boxes. First of all, I never tape them shut. That just ruins a perfectly good box. I tried putting the tags on the bottom one year to save the pretty tops, but it was hard to sort gifts when you had to turn them all over to see who they went to. When I got them out the next year, I had the same problem of old tags that couldn't be pulled off without tearing the box (even if it was on the bottom it looked tacky). Then I had a great idea. The first year I use a box, I use the smallest gift tag I can. Every year, I reuse the box by putting a larger tag over the smaller one. After the third tag, it's usually time to trash the box anyway, but tags do come in all shapes and sizes.

4. I love gift bags. For one thing, I sometimes have to peek to remember what gift is in which package, and bags stuffed with tissue make this sooooo easy. But, I had the same problem as with tags on boxes. When you try to remove one, it often ruins the bag. The first time I use a bag, I use the tag that's attached to the handle. If its a folded tag, you can write on one half the first year, then cut that off and write on the other half the second year. On some bags I used the smaller to larger tags method for a while. Finally, I realized I could put the name tag on the tissue sticking out of the bag and the bag itself remains like new.

5. Be creative with your tags. Years ago my family started giving gifts to each other with tags that said it was from a movie star or someone famous. Kurt Russell gets me something every year. I know that's why Goldie won't marry him. He always leaves it with my sister. Just once I wish he would deliver it in person!!

6. As pretty as bows are, I've stopped using them. I like to stack boxes and you just can't do it with bows on them because it messes up the bow. But for packages that I'm taking to someone else, I sometimes attach a bow just before I deliver it. The bow is fresh, and my packages can still be stacked in my bedroom until I need them.

7. I've already talked about my spreadsheet gift list in an earlier post this year, but I'm mentioning it here to add one thing I didn't mention before. I write ideas for gifts on my spreadsheet. This really helps when I see something on TV but I can't actually go shopping right then. If I don't write it down, I forget about it. Some are eventually bought and some are not. When something is bought, I use a highlighter so I can tell with a glance who I still need to shop for.

Can you tell I spent years working in a law office??? I think I enjoy organizing my gift stuff almost as much as I enjoy buying and wrapping the gifts. Anybody have some tips they want to share? I always appreciate a great new idea.