Dreaming of Gardening! A few of my Favorite Xmas Gifts!

A few of my Favorite gifts I received this Christmas! It probably won’t surprise anyone to hear that my Amazon wishlist is pretty much full of VERY practical items. My cousin was like, “You’re no fun, add something fun!” BUT I LOVE PRACTICAL AND USEFUL. Still though the majority of it might be practical but its many things that I won’t buy for myself because they still feel like something I don’t ABSOLUTELY NEED. (Miss frugal here, its a sickness…) Which means, every Xmas, I feel utterly and totally spoiled! Here are a few of my favorite gifts from this years holiday!

Socks

You’re damn right socks are on this list! Not too long ago the only socks I would wear were ankle socks.

Anything above the ankle was just too Steve Urkel for me to handle and I have horror images in my head of tube socks pulled up to the knee worn with shorts and flip flops… To be fair, I won’t be doing that ever in my life lol.

HOWEVER, I happen to live in the #1 state for the worst winters in the country and let me tell you: a tall pair of warm socks are an absolute treat! I wear them over fleece lined leggings AND a pair of ankle socks, and then I put on my jeans and head to my day job (or wherever) I am so totally over being cold in my life!

Hooded Sweater Vest

I’m actually not a HUGE vest person. Back in my golfing days vests were an absolute must but I’ll never forgot a comedian joking about vests that I heard, “Seriously is it winter on your body and summer on your arms somehow!?”

He’s a got a point!

But this lovely vest I received as one of my gifts is absolutely WONDERFUL. Its warm, lined and looks nice enough to wear to my day job!

Fleece Sheets

I’ve heard of flannel (or fleece) pajamas and sheets but I have never actually owned them!

Oh how I have been missing something wonderful for the last 33 years of my life. These are SO WARM! I had absolutely no idea how much just a different fabric could help! This frugal gal never lets her house get much above 60 all winter long so these are now my winter staple, I will never go without fleece sheets again!

These are truly one of my very favorite gifts!

Highlander Grog

I am a SERIOUS coffee drinker. And what I mean by that is that I do not take anything in my coffee. I love it absolutely as it is with no frills, no milk, no sugar, no creamer etc.

With that being said I love trying different flavors of black coffee. This is my favorite assortment that I keep at home: it comes with several dark roasts, medium roasts, light roasts and even a few fun flavors like hazelnut, caramel and vanilla but with NO added sweeteners or anything.

Lodi took me to a little restaurant for breakfast one day and I couldn’t believe it when I saw them serving up highlander grog. I HAD FORGOTTEN!

MANY years ago my mom and I had discovered the wonderful highlander grog roast when we got into grinding our own beans. Somewhere along the way of life it was simply one of things we forgot about.

Guys this is absolutely the most delicious black coffee I have ever experienced. It has notes of caramel and vanilla and yet its still REAL coffee. It makes my house smell like HOMEMADE TOFFEE! And, even better, the k-cups are recyclable!

Dreaming of summer…

I know I said last year that I was so ready for summer to be over and I also mentioned I would be, of course, eating my words. I think I also said that I was SO sick of making pickles I couldn’t stand it anymore!

Well, January is here and I’m so ready for winter to be gone so I can plant my garden. I received a wonderful set of gardening tools and a garden colander for gifts this year!

Gardening Tools

I lost my trowel last summer… I THINK Its under my deck somewhere because I used it to dig in a few more posts for beams for better support… But I looked and looked and looked…

crawled all over under there and never found it.

Kind of a bummer because it was my Grandma’s but, to be fair, it was ANCIENT and barely holding together. So, when I received a whole new set of gardening tools I did a little dance this holiday!

Garden Colander

I’ve had a garden before in my life but never to this extent! With my garden full of beats and carrots and cucumbers and beans last year I found myself with a dirt filled kitchen sink OFTEN even after hitting them with my garden hose.

Besides that I was hauling SO MUCH produce from my garden to the house that I struggled figuring out what to haul my dirty wet vegetables in. I ruined MANY grocery bags (both cloth and plastic) and MANY boxes with my hauls… and plastic beans were awkward and just not practical in that application.

I did look at plastic laundry hampers at Walmart but they were all WAY bigger than I needed.

Then I saw this lovely idea on Amazon and immediately added it to my wishlist! A plastic garden colander!

YEP I am officially ready for MAY!

We just got dumped on (nearly a foot of snow) and I’m not the only one who is looking at the next couple of winter months with dread. So, until spring finally arrives, I’m going to be enjoying my fleece sheets, new warm socks and a cup of highlander grog!