The fourth house version in the Winter Village quilt only called for two blocks. They are essentially the same house as version three, except that they have chimneys. This took no time at all! Only one more housing development to make, and all the blocks for this quilt top will be done.
Dennis is off on his own to the Bay Area to have his infusions, so I have been tidying and doing a bit of baking. I made these cranberry orange muffins last night with a box of Krusteaz mix and can’t say I really recommend them. They seem to have a weird aftertaste. Next time I will make them from scratch, which honestly, can’t be that much more trouble. Strange, I have always liked all the other Krusteaz mixes I have used.
Eva made chocolate donuts after school yesterday. They were the baked type that we made in a special “donut” pan. I think we filled the cups a little full because of the whole donut effect, with an actual hole in the middle, didn’t really happen. They tasted pretty good, though, regardless. While the donuts baked, Eva got all her Christmas goodies bagged up in decorative holiday gift bags. She sure takes after her mom with her holiday organization. She plans ahead and gets it all done so she can enjoy herself during the holidays.
I have been having a devil of a time getting delivery people to actually leave my packages on my covered front porch. There must be a lot of temporary hires during the holidays and they aren’t always the brightest very well trained individuals. I have had packages left behind the wheel of my car and run over them, I’ve had packages at the top of my long driveway on the road, I’ve had them left out in the open in the rain, in the middle of the driveway…. anywhere but under my covered front porch. I’ve put up a sign saying “Deliveries on front porch please”, but maybe the drivers don’t read English. I don’t know.
Anyway, I saw on YouTube the cleverest way to get your deliveries placed right by your front door where you want them. This fellow I follow on YT filled one of those library/craft carts (you know, the IKEA type with three shelves on wheels) with all sorts of pre-packaged snacks and drinks for delivery drivers to help themselves to. He has a sign on his garage where they tend to dump things, saying “Deliver packages to front door please”, and when they actually follow the instructions, they get a reward of a drink or snack. He claims it is working!
Is that not the cleverest thing ever?
16 Responses
I am not much of a baker, but I do like the Krusteaz mixes. I use orange juice instead of water in the Cran/Orange mix-tastes much better.
Adding fresh orange juice is a great idea!
I have the same issues with my delivery “Team”. Maybe a little incentive would help, but most likely keeping my dog inside (who is very friendly, but talk-a-tive) would be a solution. FedEx once left a fifty+ pound box of dog food (ironically) on top of my mailbox at the end of my drive, rather than bring it down to the door.
We once bought a faux Christmas tree from Balsam Hill-don’t know if you are familiar, but they are extremely pricey. The shipment came in two large boxes, which were clearly labeled with what the contents were. The two large boxes were left in the road at the top of our very long driveway, quite a distance from our actual house. Luckily, we live in a safe neighborhood, and they weren’t stolen, since they were left in plain sight on the street. At the time, my husband wasn’t disabled and could retrieve them and bring them down to our residence. If that happened now, they would have to sit in the road until I could find someone to help me shift them!
I know that with some deliveries there has been a place on the order form to put delivery instructions. We live on a corner lot and sometimes they go around and put it on the back porch! So creative. My husband uses the boxes at our local gas station to get deliveries in bad weather, or when the package contains costly items we don’t want stolen.
Haven’t tried the Krusteaz muffins but I like Arlyn’s orange juice suggestion.
Leaving clear delivery instructions doesn’t seem to help. I seriously think the temporary people that are hired during the holidays either don’t or can’t read.
Your housing developments are coming right along! Eva’s donuts look delicious! As for bribing (which it is) delivery people…it’s their job! You’d think they’d take a little pride in doing it well, but I know that’s no longer a trait for many. So if putting out snacks gets them to place the packages where they’re supposed to be, you’ve gotta’ do what you’ve gotta’ do!
It occurred to me that rewarding poor service may not be a great idea, but you are right, whatever works.
Please tell us the name of the fellow you follow on YT! He sounds most interesting! That quilt is going to be so cute!
He’s Christopher Allen and this is the link: https://www.youtube.com/@christopherallen
He is the lovliest person and has great decorating and other ideas.
Those house blocks are adorable, too — can’t wait to see the finished quilt top.
Yay for Eva getting all her stuff organized early in the season. Hopefully she will continue with that trait as it will help her in practically every aspect of life. Chocolate donuts baked in a donut pan? That sounds delicious and something worth investigating. Hmmm…….
Eva found the recipe online somewhere. Here is the link: https://brooklynfarmgirl.com/chocolate-christmas-donuts/
They were good, but the dough is super soft and they kind of wanted to fall apart.
What cute houses and I love the fabrics you’ve used. Yes, this will be charming quilt!
Well done, Eva! It’s so wonderful that she’s a confident baker at her age – much thanks to you, of course!
Wishing Dennis well with these infusions. He will certainly be glad to be home again.
Our two stupid delivery sites were on top of the car trunk and against a log that frames a turn-around place. Really? You’ve got the winner in having a package behind your car. How could you see it?
We got about 8″ of snow yesterday so I’ve been out shoveling a bit with the snow shovel my Dad gave me the first Christmas we lived in a Chicago suburb (Elmhurst). I was unimpressed with that “gift” that year, but have surely used it over the decades!
Hugs!
I am so careful not to leave my garage door open for long! If it is open and these dimwits have a delivery, they will tuck it away in the chaos that is in our garage! I have found packages on top of paint cans, on shelves, behind the lawn mower. It is actually pretty incredible that they are so thoughtless. Or maybe they are just messing with me.
Our packages keep getting delivered to our next door neighbor……why? no idea. the little guy next door brings them over to us. ;p
this street is so quiet with lots of people home and moving about. I was really surprised when our neighbor across the street asked if we had a porch camera. he’s looking for video. someone stole a pkg off their porch during the afternoon.
I’m baking today. neighbors brought us cookies last year so I have to up my game and bake. I use to love to do that. now, I’d rather sew……oh well.
Love the houses! And those donuts look amazing 😍
I get sooooo frustrated – delivery people get out of their truck, come onto my porch and just drop the pkg right by the steps – only a few more paces and they could put it right outside my door. By leaving it by the steps, the pkgs are subject to weather- go figure!
Enjoy the holiday season everyone!