Macy's employees ruin our Christmas

With a baby at home it's hard to really go out and shop. So, this year I asked my husband and mom to go to Macy's, try things on and place them on hold (Saturday night at 9 pm).

On Sunday morning my husband took our son to see santa and I went shopping... That was when my nightmare began.

First, jewelry department at Macy's: the lady at the jewelry counter could not find the earrings and slippers which my mom had placed on hold. I looked frantically trying to find the earrings but I couldn't find them anywhere.

Second, women's department at Macy's: my mom placed on hold a few tops and sweaters. I had placed on hold a dress I had been after for months (it was on sale and could now afford it ). I arrived to the woman's department and the cashier informed me there was nothing on hold under my name. She took me to the hold locker and no sign of any of our items. At that point my husband had joined me and I had to tell him that the sweaters he had also place on hold for his great grandmother were gone. At that point I started crying, the few items I had remembered my mom admiring were sold out in her size. I had no Christmas present to give my mom.

Third, men's department at Macy's: after 20 minutes of trying to find someone to help me I received the same bad news; no items were on hold. By that point I just wanted to scream ! Agh ! Luckily I happened to glance around the store and I found a shirt with a 'hold' tag and my name on it. Yes, while the employee at Macy's had placed a hold tag on the clothing she failed to remember to place the items in the hold locker. Some of the items my husband wanted were still there.

For my mom though, I had nothing. For my husband a couple of sweatshirts.

Macy's ruined my Christmas. I had to explain to my mom and husband that the items they wanted were not placed on hold by Macy's employees. I felt awful, mostly my mom who had showed so much anticipation for her earrings. I was heart broken and frustrated this Christmas.

Thank you Macy's employees for ruining our Christmas this year. Last time I shop there !

My second casserole attempt

I had so much leftover tomato soup that I decided to test out a new casserole.
It was yummy, although I learned that oregano is a strong spice :)
Also, my tomato soup was extra thick due to too many canned tomatoes added.

My you tube video:
http://youtu.be/FS3hVQbk-sI

Chicken & Rice Cumin Soup

On a cold day like this, this soup is perfect.

My mom made it but I wrote down the ingredients (sorry, no measurements).
In our house things are always done on a whim. I will try and make an official recipe soon.

Chicken boiled in water with garlic, salt and cumin.

White rice was made separately in a rice cooker----> 1 cup of white rice and 1-3/4 cups of water

Canned hominy optional but added once chicken was cooked.

Putting it all together...............

To the chicken soup with hominy we added some rice as desired.
Garnished the soup with chopped onion, cilantro and chopped radishes.
I added a little bit of lemon juice for added flavor :)

Tomato Soup

A friend of mine recently made the most delicious tomato soup!
I tested the recipe out; I should have read the proportions and not added so many canned tomatoes. Even though my proportions were off, it a was delicious soup,everyone at home loved the flavor.
Here is the recipe:

boil about 10 tomatoes and peel them when done
2 of the large canned whole tomatoes
10 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of oregano
1 tablespoon of parsley
1 tablespoon of pepper
1/2 tablespoon of salt
1 cup of carrots cooked
chicken broth
2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

First, saute the garlic in some oil. add everything else. you can add or subtract the spices according to your taste. today i think i put less pepper for the kids and less garlic. use chicken broth according to how thick you want your soup to be.
once it boils, blend it all together.
oh and it always tastes better the day after for some reason.

Hand sewing felt bag for baby clothing

It took me an entire day but I finished hand stitching my first felt bag.

I'm going to put a superman logo in the front when I have some free time :)

Here is the you tube link :

http://youtu.be/YUj8vqaxOLI

Organizing : Spices

I have a tradition spice rack but I need to have more spices in the kitchen than the spice rack can hold !

This week I organized my spices, so exited :)

Finally something to get my life back in some order.

http://youtu.be/-9KMksKEbpg

1. Inventory list
2.Container to hold spices or boxes to label and place spices in.
3. Labeling the top of each spice bottle (makes finding the right bottle so much easier).
4. Year spices were purchased written somewhere on the bottle :)

Made my first casserole dish :)

I admit maybe only one can of Campbell's cream of chicken would have been enough (lesson learned).

http://youtu.be/6hQsAggUnXo