just so you know – i might not put out any thursday tidbits on thursday for the rest of the year. ok, i feel better that you know that now so your expectation level can be tempered.
we are flying through holiday card orders over here. i am making multiple week visits to my homies at the post office, the front door to our house is like a revolving door of clients picking up orders (which i love – it feels so personal instead of just sticking them in the post – plus no serial killers yet) and my new photo printing peeps have a box of photos waiting for me every time i go to pick up a batch. they always try to look for my order in the slim, light filing section and someone authoritative always bellows from the back – “IS THAT BURNETTE? SHE’S IN THE BOX. TOO BIG TO FILE.”
and there’s the visits from the UPS people. oh goodness, they are always bringing me envelopes, cardstock, liner paper and more envelopes. yesterday one of my regular guys was about to come up and ring my doorbell during naptime, so i thought i would just open the door and greet him instead. i asked if he was crazy busy this time of year, and he said yeah…we’re working really long days and this is the time of year they can’t even hide how much money they’re making (made mental note: in next lifetime, invest in shipping business). so i told him that i appreciate all that he does, i know he works hard, thank you! he stopped on my front steps as he was walking back to the truck, turned around to look me in the eye and said – “no, no — thank YOU. without you, there’s no me. so i’ll keep working hard for you. happy holidays!” then i started to tear up so i had to go back inside. humanity. it’ll get you.
in other non-holiday-card related news, i’ve been cooking a little bit. normally this time of year i would be brandishing every take out menu available, but we watched forks over knives last weekend and it inspired me to cook more healthy, fresh foods for my family. so i’ve been trying to plan ahead for the week’s meals and get organized. things run SO much more smoothly around here when i do a little forethought and one big grocery store run at the beginning of the week. sometimes i think: is this how an organized, non-over-committed person’s life runs all the time? oooo. i see why this is a thing.
a side i made recently – which really was chosen because i had some heavy whipping cream and gruyere cheese to use up from holiday cooking, not for its healthfulness – is the barefoot contessa’s potato and fennel gratin. OMG.
do you SEE how wonderfully crispy it is?! it was divine. n.b., it needs an hour and 1/2 to cook… we ended up eating a pretty late dinner this night!
i stopped by the fresh market yesterday though, as i was out of half and half. and y’all, with the amount of coffee i’m downing right now, that simply cannot happen. right next to the dairy products, i saw these and stopped because, well, there was my name. and i don’t see my name all that often. callie’s charleston biscuits!
but…do you see “carrie’s charleston biscuits” on the right? this prompted all sorts of questions for me. namely because, when i was little and everyone was wearing barrettes with their name on them, they never ever had a “callie.” so, my mom bought the “carrie” barrettes and elongated the two “r”s to make callie. i absolutely loved them. but back to the biscuits, is that a typo? or did someone in packaging really screw up? did somebody think “oh her name can’t be callie, too weird – gotta be carrie. i’m gonna go with that and hit print on these here labels.” or is there a carrie, a right hand gal to the master biscuit maker, callie? so many questions… and let’s not forget the question – are people really paying in excess of a 20 spot for frozen biscuits?
we had an extra passenger in the car yesterday. our really sweet thoughtful neighbors’ son was outgrowing his toy dinosaurs, so they brought them over to our house… and included in the bunch was this gory, bloody-toothed, savage tyrannosaurus rex. thanks neighbors! rush seems to love him for what’s on the inside.
rinne is on that 2nd child path to learning how to entertain herself… she’s learned how to climb on the time out (rocking) chair and rock herself. it tickles me so much to see her trying to get it going.
lastly, remember the favors we gave out at billie and rinne’s little shindig? well, i think they need to be available for big people too. so i’m now making 50 sheet chevron notepads JUST in time for stockings that need to be stuffed! they make great gifts, as they are just $25/per pad. colors and fonts are customizable. email me (callie@calliespondence.com) if you’d like to place an order!
these were for a client who wanted to make some for her husband to keep in his office (grey/green), and of course some for herself (aqua/red). FUN!
and juggling all of these holiday card orders? i’ll do that any day of the week and twice on sunday. but watching my beloved bulldogs play on saturday against alabama FOR A BERTH IN THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME?! my stomach is tied in knots just thinking about it, and i know i’ll be a mess actually watching it. since i started college (1998) and kind of cared about college football, we’ve never made it this far. heck, the last year we won the national title was the year i was born…hrm. so this is a BIG DAMN DEAL. i try not to get my hopes up, but how can you not? i have faith in my dawgs.
so i will close with…
SIC ‘EM.
have a great weekend!!
xoxo